Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - March - 2006 Issue
Books About, and Not About, Books, from Oak Knoll
Here's to you, Mrs. Lydia Robinson.
This book is not quite about a book, and I hesitate to call it about a manuscript either. What is the correct name for a story carved in stone? Item 11 is about the Rosetta Stone, that ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic text carved in rock. It retells the story of its discovery and provides a translation of its words. The book is The British Museum Book of the Rosetta Stone, by Carol Andrews. $20.
Here is the history of a story we all know: Story of Mary and Her Little lamb as told by Mary and Her Neighbors and Friends, to which is added a critical analysis of the poem. Who would have thought someone would document the actual history behind this little children's rhyme? Mary was one Mary Sawyer, who attended a little red school in Sterling, Massachusetts. She lived from 1806 to 1889, but it was one day in 1815 that the lamb was said to have followed her, and inspired a boy named John Roulston to write the famous poem. Anyway, this is how the story goes, and one true believer was Henry Ford, who bought the Sterling schoolhouse in 1927 (and moved it to Sudbury) and published this book in 1928. However, in all fairness, we need to point out that folks in Newport, New Hampshire, claim it was written by their native, Sarah Josepha Hale (perhaps the authorship was split as some verses were added later). Then again, there are those who claim it was plagiarized from an older British poem. Ewe decide. Item 192. $35.
Some words change their meaning with time. Item 332 is The Gay Poet, The Story of Eugene Field. Field was married and had eight children. Some words had different meanings in 1940. However, it can be said that Field wrote happy poetry. His poetry was written for children. He is best known for "Wyken, Blynken and Nod." In dedicating a memorial to Field, Mark Twain said of this children's poet, he "made bright the lives of all who knew him, and by his literary efforts cheered the thoughts of thousands who never knew him." In 1940 parlance, Field was a gay man. $15.
Oak Knoll Books' website is www.oakknoll.com, and phone number 302-328-7232.
