My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean: Robbie Burns in Philly

by Alastair Johnston

Second (first Edinburgh) edition (1787).

Like many before him, a Scotsman emigrates to the New World. He is a success, prospers, and adapts well to his new home. But as he advances in years he starts to miss his homeland. So he decides, on turning 70, to go home one last time and see his native sod. He telegrams his brothers and gets on the boat that brought him thither many years afore. On Clydebank he gets on the wee puffer to Tannochbrae and heads back into the glens once more. But at the station no one greets him. Then he sees two old guys on a bench. Och, Jamie and Geordie, he says, aa didna ken ye, wi them lang white beards! Aye, says yin, when ye went aff tae Americay, ye tak the razor wi' ye!

                                   
                                     Perhaps it may turn out a Sang;
                                     Perhaps, turn out a Sermon.
                                       (Burns, Epistle to a Young Friend, May 1786)

A new acquisition by the National Library of Scotland sheds interesting light on the way authors' works circulated before publication in the 18th century.

This summer the NLS acquired a collection of newspapers printed in Philadelphia by John Dunlap, containing individual poems by Robert Burns. Dunlap (1747-1812), you may know, was printer to the Continental Congress. He'd been brought to the colonies from county Tyrone, in Ulster (Northern Ireland) by his uncle William as a printer's apprentice. When he turned 18, Dunlap took over the printing business and began publishing a weekly newspaper, The Pennsylvania Packet, or the General Advertiser. Like many colonial publications, its contents reflected the press in Europe, particularly Britain, from whence a lot of material was derived. Thus the Pennsylvania Gazette (which was bought by Benjamin Franklin in October 1729) was padded out with extracts from the Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen. In 1773 Dunlap married Elizabeth Ellison, niece of Franklin's wife. Three years later, a rush job for printing a broadside, brought to him by John Hancock, would put his presswork into the annals of American history. (I have often remarked how American Independence from Britain did not extend to print culture, for not only is the Declaration set in Caslon type, most of the printing in America continued to be cloned from British editions, text and typography.)

His paper was eminently successful and when Dunlap died he was one of the wealthiest men in America, owning large tracts of land. While the survival of old newspapers is not that remarkable, the contents of this group are. They are the first appearances of the poems of Robert Burns in America. Unlike the Lakers (Wordsworth, Southey, Coleridge), Burns was immediately popular on the appearance of his first book of poetry. Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (Kilmarnock, 1786) was a huge success and Burns would become the best-selling poet of the nineteenth century (followed by Byron, Milton, Pope, and then Bloomfield, whose own rustic character Giles is a complete hick next to the swinging Scotsman we find in Burns' poems and songs.) A review by Henry Mackenzie in The Lounger (no 97, Edinburgh, 9 December 1786), referring rapturously to the "Heaven-taught Ploughman," was picked up by the London Chronicle and brought the Scots bard to public notice.

The 1786 Kilmarnock edition of Burns' poems, set in Caslon type

A second edition of Burns was printed in Edinburgh (with 1600 subscribers) and copies quickly made it to the New World via the ports of Philadelphia and New York. With the peace of 1783 trade as well as immigration resumed. It was common for a bookseller to arrive by boat stocked with the latest books and start business as soon as he disembarked. As Anna Painter said, "Wherever Scotsmen had gone, the poems and fame of Burns followed, and Scotsmen had gone everywhere in the eighteenth century." The continued adoration (and memorization) of Burns' work has also meant the survival of the Lallans dialect.

In Philadelphia two Scots immigrants, Peter Stewart, a printer, and George Hyde, a bookbinder, decided to print the first American edition of Burns. There was no copyright agreement between America and its former government in Britain so piracy was rampant. They had been anticipated by some New Yorkers who were trying to get subscriptions from the St Andrew's Society in that city, but subscribers were slow in coming forward, for those who were determined enough were getting copies of the London third edition fresh off the boat. So it took over a year for the New York edition to get off the ground (today there's a statue of Burns in Central Park).

To test the market Stewart and Hyde placed poems in the Pennsylvania Packet from 24 July 1787 to 14 June 1788, then issued their edition on 7 July 1788. The NLS mentions that Burns' poems clearly had a positive impact on their American readership; the selected poems were chosen to portray him as a sentimental, God-fearing ploughman, a working man at one with nature and sympathetic to the aims of the American colonists in freeing themselves from British control. Among the poems printed in the newspaper are: "The Rigs o' barley," "The Cotter's Saturday night," "To a louse," "To ruin," and "Epistle to a young friend."

I kiss'd her owre and owre again, | Amang the rigs o' barley
(Burns' first appearance in the New World)

Despite its arcane rhymes of "grozet" with "rozet", and "smeddum" with "droddum," "To a Louse" is one of the most magnificent poems ever composed in any language, striding boldly from contempt and arrogance to a transcendent observation on human nature in the last stanza. It still boggles the mind today. The putative publishers didn't need to cock the big guns, like "To a Mouse," leaving them for the discovery of the delighted reader. Two later issues of the paper ran ads for the American edition as a 'neat pocket volume.' It is likely the American edition was printed by Dunlap (who was a more commercial printer than Stewart, who only printed ephemeral jobwork), then the sheets were bound by Hyde.

Frank Amari Jnr, an American rare book dealer, attorney, and member of the Ephemera Society, sold (and partly donated) the collection to the National Library of Scotland where it will be a useful tool for those studying transatlantic commerce in books.

               L--d man, were ye but whyles where I am,
               The gentles ye wad ne'er envy them!
                                  (--Burns, The Twa Dugs, a tale)


Ref: Anna M. Painter "Poems of Burns before 1800", in The Library, 4th ser. 12 (1931-32), pp. 434-456.
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The 1773 Committee For Tarring and Feathering Invites You To A Tea Party

By Stephen J. Gertz

On November 27, 1773, Philadelphia's Committee For Tarring and Feathering issued a playful yet very stern warning to a British mercantile ship captain that his arrival in the city's harbor might precipitate action by Colonists who harbor ill-will. 

A scarce copy of this extraordinary broadside is being offered by Sotheby's - New York in their Fine Books and Manuscripts sale June 15, 2012. It is expected to sell for $18,000 - $25,000.

The text reads: 

To the Delaware Pilots.

We took the Pleasure, some days since, of kindly admonishing you to do your duty; if perchance you should meet with the (Tea) Ship Polly, CAPTAIN AYRES, a Three Decker which is hourly expected.

We have now to add, that Matters ripen fast here; and that much is expected from those lads who meet with the Tea Ship ---There is some Talk of A Handsome Reward For The Pilot Who Gives The First Good Account Of Her --- How that may be, we cannot for certain determine; But all agree, that Tar and Feathers will be his Portioo, who pilots her into this Harbor. And we will answer for ourselves, that, whoever is committed to us, as an Offender against the Rights of America, will experience the utmost Exertion of our Abilities, as THE COMMITTEE FOR TARRING AND FEATHERING.

P.S. We expect you will furnish yourselves with Copies of the foregoing and following Letter, which are printed for this Purpose, that the Pilot who meets with Captain Ayres may favor him with a Sight of them.

To Captain Ayres,
Of the Ship POLLY, on a voyage from London to Philadelphia.

Sir,

We are informed that you have, imprudently, taken Charge of a Quantity of Tea, which has been sent out by the India Company, under the Auspices of the Ministry, as a Trial of American Virtue and Resolution.

Now, as your Cargo, on your arrival here, will most assuredly bring you into hot water; and as  you are perhaps a Stranger to these parts, we have concluded to advise you that of the present Situation of Affairs in Philadelphia --- that, taking Time by the Forelock, you may stop short in your dangerous Errand --- secure your ship against the Rafts of combustible Matter which may be set on Fire, and turned loose against her; and, more than all this, that you may preserve your own Person, from the Pitch and Feathers that are prepared for you.

In the first Place, we must tell you, that the Pennsylvanians are, to a Man, passionately fond of Freedom, the Birthright of Americans; and that at all events are determined to enjoy it.

That they sincerely believe, no Power on the Face of the Earth has a Right to tax them without their Consent.

That in their Opinion, the Tea in your Custody is designed by the Ministry to enforce such a Tax, which they will undoubtedly oppose; and in so doing give you every possible Obstruction.

We are nominated to a very disagreeable, but necessary Service --- To our Care are committed all Offenders against the Rights of America, and hapless is he, whose evil Destiny has doomed him to suffer at our Hands.

You are sent out out on a diabolical Service, and if you are so foolish and obstinate as to complete your Voyage, by bringing your Ship to Anchor in this Port,  you may run such a gauntlet, as will induce you to, in your last Moments, most heartily to curse those who have made you the Dupe of their Avarice and Ambition.

What think you, Captain, of a Halter around your neck --- ten Gallons off liquid Tar decanted on your Pate --- with the Feathers of a dozen wild Geese laid over that to enliven your Appearance?

Only think seriously of this --- and fly to the Place from whence you came ---fly without Hesitation --- without the Formality of a Protest --- and above all, Captain Ayres, let us advise you to fly without the wild Geese Feathers.

Your Friends to serve,

THE COMMITTEE

The Tea Act of May 10, 1773 was not well-received in the American colonies. In September and October 1773, seven ships carrying a total of 600,000 pounds of East India Company tea were sent to America. Four were bound for Boston, and one each for New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston. In every colony except Massachusetts protesters were able to force the tea ships to return to Britain. In Boston, the tea hit the fan.

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Image courtesy of Sotheby's, with our thanks.

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The First Novel On Free Blacks And Race Relations In The North (1857)

By Stephen J. Gertz

The book which now appears before the public may be of interest in relation to a question which the late agitation of the subject of slavery has raised in many thoughtful minds; viz.--Are the race at present held as slaves capable of freedom, self-government, and progress?

The author is a coloured young man, born and reared in the city of Philadelphia...

Being one of the nearest free cities of any considerable size to the slave territory, it has naturally been a resort of escaping fugitives, or of emancipated slaves...

The author takes pleasure in recommending this simple and truthfully-told story to the attention and interest of the friends of progress and humanity in England.

                                                                                     - H.B. Stowe.
                                                                           

The Garies and Their Friends, by Frank J. Webb, the second novel by an African-American (preceded by Clotel; or, The President's Daughter by William Wells Brown, 1853) and the first to consider the lives of free African Americans in the pre-Civil War North was issued in 1857 - but not in the United States. Published in London, it required an ocean to separate it from its home.

Perhaps the sympathetic mixed-race marriage that forms the center of the book had something to do with it. Or, the violent racism and riots that free Blacks experienced  in the City of Brotherly Love, one of the most racially integrated cities in the nation  but intensely so. Maybe it was the author's satire of benevolent yet patronizing white Philadelphian abolitionists who preferred sentimental tear-jerkers ala Uncle Tom's Cabin and didn't appreciate criticism. Possibly, light-skinned blacks passing as whites inspired the heebie-jeebies in fair-skinned citizens. Perchance the idea that black Americans should become capitalists and gain wealth was too much,  the final Whoa, Nelly!

This was not subject matter that comfortable whites found palatable. Though sentimental in its own right, the novel was not an uplifting experience. It provoked anxiety. It was not a great beach read on American shores; it left too much sand in the shorts.

Moreover, it didn't dwell on slavery and its horrors; it was not an abolitionist tract condemning the moral stain. And it raised questions about whether emancipation would succeed. The novel was, for the most part, given short shrift in America, if noticed at all.

It wasn't published in the U.S. until 112 years after its original appearance, in 1969.

Author Frank J. Webb (1828–1894) was an African-American poet, and essayist. The Garies and Their Friends was his first and only novel.

He was born in Philadelphia and grew to become an active member of the city’s free African American community. He married in 1845, and his wife, Mary, gained admiration for her dramatic readings of works by Shakespeare, Sheridan, and Longfellow. Her work attracted the attention of Harriet Beecher Stowe; Stowe was so impressed by Mary’s readings that she adapted scenes from Uncle Tom’s Cabin expressly for her to perform.

HBS helped to arrange a transatlantic tour for Mary, and, armed with letters of introduction from Stowe and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Frank and Mary traveled to England in 1856. Mary’s readings gained critical acclaim, and the two received a warm welcome from many British nobles, including Lady Noel Byron (Anne Isabella Noel Byron, 11th Baroness Wentworth and Baroness Byron) to whom Frank dedicated The Garies..., and from Henry, Lord Brougham (1st Baron Brougham and Vaux), who wrote a brief though  enthusiastic introduction for the book.

"According to its many critics...The Garies and Their Friends seems to share [Harriet Beccher Stowe's] doubts concerning the capability of 'the race at present held as slaves" to govern themselves. At least that's one way to read an African American author's frustrating decision to write a novel in 1857 that spends little time detailing the horrors of slavery - a subject that contemporary black writers took pains to elaborate.

"The year that the novel was published, a London Sunday Times reviewer chided Webb for leaving 'untouched' the problem of how emancipation 'is to be effected, without as much injury to slave as slaveowner.' For the most part, time did not change critical attitudes toward the text...More recently, critics...have argued persuasively that the text deserves analysis, not only as the second novel written by an African American, but also as one of the first to deal with volatile questions of identity and loyalty within the black community.

"Yet Webb's text still continues to languish from a general lack of scholarly attention" (Duane, Anna Mae. Remaking Black Motherhood in Frank J. Webb's The Garies and Their Friends. African American Review, Vol. 38, No. 2 [Summer 2004], pp. 201-212).

The first edition is scarce, particularly in the original cloth. OCLC notes only a handful of copies in institutional libraries, and no copies of the book, in cloth or its simultaneous issue in wrappers, have come to auction within the last twenty-five years.

The Garies and Their Friends is an extremely important American novel, if for no other reason than it illustrates the question unresolved since Webb  first broached it in fiction: Can American blacks successfully assimilate into the American mainstream without losing themselves and their culture in the quest for the American Dream?

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WEBB, Frank J. The Garies and Their Friends. With an Introductory Preface by Harrier Beecher Stowe. London and New York: G. Routledge & Co., 1857. First edition (issued simultaneously in wrappers as a "yellowback"). Octavo. vi, [2], 392 pp. Publisher's original dark blue cloth.

BAL 19392.
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Images courtesy of Between The Covers, currently offering this item, with our thanks.
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Update: Philly Free Dodges Bullet

We are pleased to report a happy ending to a potentially dire story featured here recently. In an encouraging development for threatened urban public libraries, the Pennsylvania State Senate voted to pass a bill which allows the Free Library of Philadelphia to remain open.

Passed on September 17, 2009, Senate Bill 1828 allows the City of Philadelphia to avoid the "Doomsday" Plan C budget scenario, which would have resulted in the layoff of 3,000 city employees and forced the closing of all libraries.

According to the Free Library's blog, more than 2,000 letters were received by state legislators, along with countless calls and emails underscoring the importance of public libraries to the community. The legislation passed by a vote of 32 to 17, and provides monies to keep all 54 branches in the system open.

Pennsylvania is nicknamed The Keystone State. A keystone is the central wedge-shaped stone in an arch which holds all the other stones in place:

The public library is likewise a key supporting a state's social, economic, cultural, and educational life. Pennsylvania, the home of the Liberty Bell and the birthplace of the US Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Gettysburg Address, also boasts a citizenry strong enough to support the foundations of democracy: freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and the right to read.

Posted by Nancy Mattoon

City Of Brotherly Love Can You Spare A Dime? Philly Free Library To Close?

In a previous post Seattle Public Library's one week closure was noted as an example of the consequences of the desperate financial straits public libraries now face. But in a much more shocking development, the Free Library of Philadelphia's website now features a pop-up window telling visitors that it will close completely, forever on October 2, 2009 unless funding is forthcoming from the Pennsylvania State Legislature.

The Free Library of Philadelphia was established in 1891. By 1898 the Library had the largest circulating collection in the world, 1,778,387 volumes. The Central Library, originally housed in Philadelphia's City Hall, was relocated and renamed The Parkway Central Library when it opened in its present location on June 2, 1927.

The library is renowned for its Fine Art Prints and Photographs Collection. This archive includes thousands of graphic arts images dating from 1493 to the present. Included are prints by such artists as Dürer, Rembrandt, Warhol and Dali, as well as works by such photographers as Ansel Adams, Bernice Abbott, Ray Metzker, Eadweard Muybridge and Aaron Siskind.

The Free Library is also home to a bona fide literary celebrity. Charles Dickens' pet raven, Grip, stuffed upon his death in 1841, has had the bird's eye view of the place since it opened its doors. This famous raven must now be singing in chorus with the celebrated bird of Edgar Allan Poe, wondering if his home is soon to be "nevermore."

The closure, if implemented, will end all of the Free Library of Philadelphia's services. The library's website notes the following cuts:

•All Parkway Central Library programs, including children programs, programs to support small businesses and job seekers, computer classes and after school programs, will be canceled. We are exploring the possibility of relocating the Philadelphia Author Series programs to other non-library facilities.

•All community meetings at our branch and regional libraries, and the Park Centrail Library will be canceled.

Clearly a drastic and simply unacceptable scenario for the City of Brotherly Love. One can only hope that Pennsylvania's lawmakers are as watchful as Grip, and will see their way clear to supply the funds the Free Library of Philadelphia needs to stay aloft.

Posted by Nancy Mattoon

Fighting Crime One Book At A Time

We are very pleased to welcome Nancy Mattoon to Booktryst with this, her first post. Nancy will be walking the library beat, covering news, issues, and human interest stories from the stacks with her thirty years of experience and perspective as a librarian.

As librarians are well aware, even in the book world no good deed goes unpunished. Getting the right book into the right hands seems innocent enough—until it isn’t. Headline hungry scribes sometimes seek to link books and crime; the permanent stain on “The Catcher in the Rye” after being found in the possession of both Mark David Chapman and John Hinkley post-crime is the most notorious example. And censors still have a field day with the “evil” items made available in the Children’s Room. Top targets on that hit parade: the “Harry Potter” series and Phillip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy.

But what of the notion that books can actually help fight crime? Two recent stories point out how the humble book may be a useful tool for the Thin Blue Line

As Cindy Gonzalez reports in the Omaha World-Herald, Police Officers in that city who work with Project Harmony, an advocacy center that investigates child abuse and sexual assault, now come equipped with a red backpack. Inside is a variety of books ranging from the obviously bibliotherapeutic, “Hug Me” by Patti Stren; to escapist fare,“9 Magic Wishes”, the only children's book by Shirley Jackson author of “The Lottery”;to simple distractions from an agonizing reality, “NFL’s Greatest Upsets” by James Buckley, Jr.

The idea came from project coordinator Steve Countryman, who hopes the books can serve multiple purposes for the Officers. Titles will be used to keep a child occupied while others involved in the incident are interviewed. They may also serve as a means to improve community relations, the gift of a book striking a positive note during an otherwise tense contact with law enforcement. Finally it is hoped the contents of those red backpacks may actually reduce the crime rate. Countryman believes studies show that “Youths who read and do well in school get into less mischief.” No need to tell that to Philadelphia bookstore owner Hakim Hopkins. Hopkins, owner of the Black & Nobel Bookstore in the inner city neighborhood of Tioga, was in juvenile detention at age 15 when a book changed his life. Hopkins’ Mother gave him a copy of Richard Wright’s “Native Son,” and reading the tragic tale of Bigger Thomas, a young black man convicted of homicide in 1930’s Chicago, turned his life around. As Hopkins told Kia Gregory of Philly Online “That book just took me out. I didn’t know a book could be that good. I became a book lover, and a thinker.”

Hopkins was transformed into such a devoted reader that he began selling his ever-increasing collection of used books on the street. After numerous run-ins with, yes, The Law, over the lack of a business license, Hopkins found a room of his own—in a flower shop. Neighborhood business owner “Aunt Brenda” gave him a space in the front of her store, provided he was willing to “deliver funeral flowers on Saturdays” in exchange. This later gave way to the now freestanding Black & Nobel Bookstore, the name chosen as a sly change-up on competition, Barnes and Noble.

The store is now a neighborhood institution specializing in urban fiction, and such titles as “Raw Law,” a hip-hop guide to jurisprudence. There is one other specialty of note. A banner on the front of Black & Nobel reads “We Ship To Prisons.” And they do, at least 100 titles a week. Perhaps one of those titles will have the same impact on the reader that “Native Son” had on Mr. Hopkins: redirecting a traveler down the primrose path onto the straight and narrow.

Posted by Nancy Mattoon