James Cummins Features Two Centuries of Literature
Catalogue 91 of Literature from James Cummins.
By Michael Stillman
James Cummins Bookseller's Catalogue 91 of literature is filled with first editions and manuscripts of authors from the past two centuries. The names read off like a who's who list of great novelists. If you are looking for firsts, this catalogue is a great place to start.
A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers was Henry David Thoreau's first book. It was not a smashing success. If this had typified his career, Thoreau would probably have had to become a logger or some such thing. Fortunately, greater success lay ahead. At the back of the book is an advertisement, "Will Soon Be Published Walden, or Life in the Woods...." That was a harbinger of things to come for the young writer. With the success of his later works, "Concord and Merrimack" would earn its respect in time. Item 90 is a first edition of Thoreau's first work from 1849. Priced at $6,000.
One the greatest of American writers ever was Edgar Allan Poe. Poetic master of the macabre, mystery, and horror was he. Perhaps it is fitting with the strangeness of the man and his life that his most popular book during his lifetime was The Conchologist's First Book: A System of Testaceous Malacology arranged expressly for use in Schools.... This is a book about shells, a dull, ordinary book intended for school studies. While Poe was, if nothing else, a trailblazer, this book was about as unoriginal as it comes. In fact, it was mostly lifted from an earlier British text, with Poe paid a handsome advance to engage in this act of plagiarism. It was a great success, the first edition selling out in a few weeks, with other editions to follow. The money Poe earned from it would allow him to concentrate on the type of work for which he is remembered, and Poe would have to resort to such shell games nevermore. From 1839, Item 74 is a first edition of Poe's shell book. $1,750.
Here is another surprising work for its author: A Persian Pearl: and Other Essays by Clarence S. Darrow. This was Darrow's first book, and includes five essays, discussing topics such as poets Walt Whitman and Robert Browning and the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Clarence Darrow, of course, is not remembered for his literary criticism. He is remembered as the greatest attorney of his era, particularly his role for the defense in the Scopes Monkey Trial. You may well remember Spencer Tracy playing Darrow's role in the fictionalized movie of this trial, "Inherit the Wind." Item 26. $1,250.
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James Cummins Features Two Centuries of Literature
Rochefoucauld graces us with his moral maxims.
It seems a bit odd in these days when American television stations are fearful of showing the likes of "Saving Private Ryan," so intimidating has become the hand of government censors, but in 1920, D.H. Lawrence first published his final book in America to avoid the hand of censors. Lawrence had antagonized the sensibilities of England's censors, so when he published Women in Love, he did so on a subscription basis only and published it in New York. Only 1,250 copies of the first edition were printed, and item 62 is copy number two. $2,500.
Francois de la Rochefoucauld was a 17th century sometimes in, sometimes out member of the French court noted for his witty though often cynical sayings, many still remembered today. His book of maxims, first published in France in 1664, was an immediate success, which quickly went into five editions. Here are a few of his maxims. "Our virtues are usually just vices in disguise." "Good advice is something a man gives when he is too old to set a bad example." "Gratitude is merely the secret hope of further favors." "How can we expect another to keep our secret if we are unable to keep it ourselves?" "It is easier to be wise for others than for ourselves." "We all have enough strength to endure the misfortunes of others." "Our repentance is not so much regret for the ill we have done as fear of the ill that may happen to us in consequence." Do you want more of these gems? There are more. Lots of them. Over 500 in all. What makes Rochefoucauld's maxims so intolerable is that there is too much truth in them. He understood human weaknesses and was generous enough to share them with us. Thanks. Item 60 is the first English translation of Rochefoucauld's work, Moral Maxims and Reflections. Published in 1694. Enjoy the opportunity for introspection. $1,000.
One of the great literary forgeries took place in the late 18th century when William Henry Ireland came upon a trove of original "Shakespearean" documents. William's father, Samuel Ireland, was an illustrator and antiquarian book collector who totally idolized Shakespeare. Samuel's blinding desire to obtain anything Shakespeare, which made the father exceedingly gullible, led to his son's experimentation with forgery. Obtaining blank sheets from old documents and experimenting with inks, William created some minor Shakespearean documents and signatures. Samuel, and others, were fooled. William's success led to more. There were manuscripts, plays with Shakespeare's margin notes. Finally, there was the discovery of an unknown Shakespeare play, "Vortigern and Rowena." All supposedly came to William from a collector who insisted on anonymity. In 1796, one of the leading theaters staged a production of this new Shakespearean play. It was at this time that the ruse began to unravel.
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James Cummins Features Two Centuries of Literature
A first edition of Uncle Remus.
Those who were initially convinced of the authenticity of William Ireland's documents began to question. Finally, just days before the play was to open, Edmond Malone, the foremost Shakespearean scholar of the day, published an attack on the authenticity of the Ireland collection. The play would open, but run for only one day. It was not up to the level of work expected of Shakespeare. Samuel Ireland would fight back. Item 83 is his An Investigation of Mr. Malone's Claim to the Character of Scholar, or Critic, Being an Examination of his Inquiry into the Authenticity of the Shakespeare Manuscripts, &c. It was too late. William broke down and admitted it all, taking full responsibility to save his father from humiliation. It is still a question whether Samuel was entirely duped or an active participant, some believing that William could not have pulled off the fraud for so long without the knowledge of Shakespeare possessed by his father. This book stands today as a monument to either Samuel Ireland's foolishness or dishonesty, or perhaps a little of each. $1,500.
Joel Chandler Harris was a product of the transition from antebellum to post-Reconstruction South, and ultimately that may be the best description of him. In 1881 he published his first Uncle Remus book, Uncle Remus His Songs and His Sayings The Folk-Lore of the Old Plantation. These are tales told by an old, former slave, and Harris styled himself as a transcriber, not creator of them. The stories of Bre'r Rabbit, Bre'r Fox, all told in a dialect meant to emulate that of the slaves, is at times almost incomprehensible to others. As for Harris, some see him as hostile to aspirations of Blacks, putting them down in his stories. Others see the intelligence and cleverness of characters who were otherwise held down as a sign of sympathy. Harris' motives remain unclear, but he may simply have been someone attempting to tell amusing stories and preserve a bit of a dying culture, that culture viewed through the eyes of Southern whites who were unlikely to see it as being equal to their own. Harris was a product of his times. Item 39 is a first edition, first state of Uncle Remus in practically new condition. $5,500. Item 40 is a copy of the first edition, second state, also from 1881. $1,500.
James Cummins Bookseller may be found online at www,jamescumminsbookseller.com, or contacted by telephone at 212-688-6441.
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