Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - July - 2009 Issue
A Michael Hurley Tribute from the Twelfth Street Booksellers
Fanny Brawne, the love of John Keats' life.
Have you ever wondered what Winnie the Pooh's opinions were on serious matters, like God, man and religion? Probably not. You likely assumed that the bear of little brain didn't even think about such matters, at least not coherently. Well he did. After all, Pooh was just an alter ego of author A.A. Milne, who wrote several serious religious works around the same time he was penning his tales from Pooh Corners. Among the gems of Hurley's collection were several exceptional first editions of Milne's classic Pooh books. Forgotten in there was that he also had some of Milne's obscure, scarce religious tracts. Item 122 is Affirmations. God in the Modern World. The Ascent of Man, by A.A. Milne, published in 1928. $35.
Item 114 was not from Hurley's collection, but surely he would have appreciated it, providing he had a sense of humor. It is a later (1987) edition of Mark Twain's The Jumping Frog. In English, Then in French. Then Clawed Back into a Civilized Language Once More by Patient, Unremunerated Toil. Twain was reacting to a translation into French of his famous "Jumping Frog" story, by a Frenchman who liked Twain, but didn't find this particular story that funny. The incident gave Twain the opportunity to apply his wit to the French language, ultimately re-translating the work back from French to English. It comes out in that garbled English you often find in instructions with products produced overseas. Indeed, and Twain never could have anticipated this, you can quickly do the same with any book by copying it into Google Translate from English to French, or any other language, and back again. $25.
Item 85 is a copy of the Letters of John Keats to Fanny Brawne, published in 1878. This book is from the Hurley collection. Keats was the noted British poet who died of tuberculosis at the age of 25, still mostly obscure and unappreciated at the time. After his brother died of the same disease in 1818, the year in which Endymion was published, Keats moved to the Hampstead section of London where he began a romance with his neighbor, Fanny Brawne. She was the love of his life, but the deteriorating circumstances of his health would pull them apart. In 1820, Keats moved from London to Italy, in hopes that escaping the cold and damp would restore his health. Instead, he died a few months later. Brawne would go on to marry another man, have children, and live for almost another half century. She kept her romance a secret from all except, late in her life, she told her children that she still had the letters Keats had written her. These were published after her unknowing husband died. The book includes an introduction by Harry Buxton Forman, which we will presume to be honest and accurate as it predates his notorious association with Thomas J. Wise and the forgeries they produced. $200.
While Ms. Brawne kept her letters from Keats, he ordered her letters to him destroyed after his death. However, one set of Miss Brawne's letters did survive. These were letters she had written to Keats' sister, Frances, and they were published in 1937 by Oxford in the Letters of Fanny Brawne to Fanny Keats, edited by Fred Edgcumbe. This book is also from the Hurley collection. Item 84. $50.
You may reach Twelfth Street Booksellers, whether about the Hurley books or their specialty in gemology, at 310-822-1505 or lcolebooks@vzavenue.net.
