Previous owners
A name, a dedication, a date: the copies where someone who owned the book before us wrote in it.
- 01
$150A Folger curator’s copy, with a Kent librarian’s reply still inside
Robert A. Law signed both volumes in Austin in 1923. Giles E. Dawson, a Folger curator, added his name in 1959 and kept a Kent librarian’s 1958 reply inside.
Robt. A. Law / Austin / 1923
- 02
$100A Chicago doctor’s gift to a friend
Felix Cunha signed this copy of his privately printed alchemy stories for Dr. Leonard Carmichael, “with best wishes, always.”
To Dr. Leonard Carmichael / with best wishes, always. / Felix Cunha
- 03
$125From a Boston lawyer to a Boston writer, August 1858
Nathaniel Ingersoll Bowditch inscribed it to James S. Loring “with the regards of” the author.
James S. Loring Esq. / with the regards of / N. I. Bowditch / Boston Aug 5 1858
- 04
$100Sent with the author’s compliments, apparently to a Massachusetts lawyer
Edwin Reed’s argument that Bacon wrote Shakespeare, addressed to Willard Howland by one reading.
Willard Howland Esq., with compliments of the author.
- 05
$40A Christmas present in 1925
Raymond Havens gave it to Richard L. Greene. The record notes the donor may be the English literature scholar of that name.
Richard L. Greene / from Raymond Havens / Christmas 1925
- 06
$50A Highland romance, given “from her friend” in May 1883
Clement C. Dickey gave it to Miss Breckenridge.
Miss Breckenridge / from her friend / Clement C. Dickey / May 6th 1883
- 07
In a lotA crop-fungus study that probably belonged to a historian of botany
The flyleaf reads Jerry Stannard, 10 May 1971, Lawrence; the research reads him as probably the historian Jerry W. Stannard.
Jerry Stannard / 10 May 1971 / Lawrence; earlier initials A. J. [?] at upper corner
- 08
$120A history of programming languages, in a physics department by June 1970
Amarjit Singh of the University of Georgia’s physics department had it within a year of publication.
AMARJIT SINGH / DEPT. OF PHYSICS / UNIV. OF GEORGIA / ATHENS, GA. 30601 / JUNE 1970
- 09
$45Signed “from the player” by a former Chief of Protocol
James W. Symington’s memoir of diplomatic ceremony, inscribed to a recipient whose name is not certain.
To [Sigurd?] / Love and / with admiration / from the player / Jim Symington
- 10
$30A Christmas gift “from Cousin Carrie,” by one reading
A tentatively read inscription dated Christmas 1936, and a reader’s pencilled note about Kipling and Kay Robinson.
from Cousin Carrie / Christmas 1936 [tentative reading]
Most of these books were someone else’s first. A few of those owners left something to say so: a signature on the flyleaf, a dedication, a date, a bookplate, a name stamped in gilt on the binding.
A Folger curator, Giles E. Dawson, put his name in his copy of a history of Elizabethan acting companies, and the reply he got from a Kent librarian in 1958, about strolling players, is still tucked in it. A Boston lawyer inscribed his book of surnames to the Boston writer James S. Loring. A Chicago doctor gave a friend his privately printed stories about alchemists. A former diplomat signed his memoir “from the player.”
Every reading here is tentative and every mark belongs to one copy only. Where a name cannot be read, the page does not guess.
How it is assembled. Every copy with an inscription, a dedication, a bookplate or an owner’s name on its binding. Library stamps and bookseller labels are left out. It is a rule over the records, so it changes when the inventory does. 29 articles now.