Of the complete eight English volumes (six volumes in the French text), Giovanni Paolo Marana is credited with uncontested authorship and original ownership of volume one. Authorship of the later volumes, however, has remained open for debate, as a result of the convoluted publication and copyright history. Volumes Two and Three were also published by Marana; however, he simultaneously ceded copyright to Claude Barbin, who apparently did not hold onto those rights for very long. The next French edition was not published by Barbin but rather Etienne Ducastin in 1689. Barbin likely sold the rights to Ducastin, but that does not explain the legality or authorization of the Amsterdam single-volume edition that was published in 1688. The Amsterdam edition contained all 102 previously published letters, but divided them into four sections; this division only added to the later confusion regarding the correct number of volumes (918-919). By 1693, ownership appeared to be in the hands of John Leake and Robert Midgley. Scholars argue the possibility that hack writer William Bradshaw authored the later volumes under the direction of Robert Midgley (922). Both men participated in the publishing process of the English editions and, therefore, have raised suspicions of deeper involvement than simply translating and/or editing the manuscripts.
Marymount University's Gomatos Collection includes a full set of eight English volumes. The set, however, appears to be mixed; Volume One contains “The twenty-third edition;” Volumes Two through Six and Volume Eight contain “The eleventh edition;” and Volume Seven reads “The twenty-sixth edition.” The ESTC notes that the twenty-third edition of Volume One is most often found with the eleventh edition of Volumes Two through Eight. All were published in 1741 and printed for G. Strahan, S. Ballard, J. Brotherton, W. Meadows, T. Cox, W. Hinchcliffe, J. Stag, J. Clark, S. Birt, D. Brown, T. Astley, S. Austen, J. Shockburgh, L. Gilliver, J. Hodges, E. Wicksteed, J. Oswald, J. Comyns, C. Bathurst, T. Fisher, J. Carter, and A. Wilde.
Letters Writ by a Turkish Spy maintains a buzz around the authorship debate and history of ownership. It also provides an interesting window into 17th century cultural interaction by illustrating Parisian society and politics through “Arabian” eyes.
]]>
Of the complete eight English volumes (six volumes in the French text), Giovanni Paolo Marana is credited with uncontested authorship and original ownership of volume one. Authorship of the later volumes, however, has remained open for debate, as a result of the convoluted publication and copyright history. Volumes Two and Three were also published by Marana; however, he simultaneously ceded copyright to Claude Barbin, who apparently did not hold onto those rights for very long. The next French edition was not published by Barbin but rather Etienne Ducastin in 1689. Barbin likely sold the rights to Ducastin, but that does not explain the legality or authorization of the Amsterdam single-volume edition that was published in 1688. The Amsterdam edition contained all 102 previously published letters, but divided them into four sections; this division only added to the later confusion regarding the correct number of volumes (918-919). By 1693, ownership appeared to be in the hands of John Leake and Robert Midgley. Scholars argue the possibility that hack writer William Bradshaw authored the later volumes under the direction of Robert Midgley (922). Both men participated in the publishing process of the English editions and, therefore, have raised suspicions of deeper involvement than simply translating and/or editing the manuscripts.
Marymount University's Gomatos Collection includes a full set of eight English volumes. The set, however, appears to be mixed; Volume One contains “The twenty-third edition;” Volumes Two through Six and Volume Eight contain “The eleventh edition;” and Volume Seven reads “The twenty-sixth edition.” The ESTC notes that the twenty-third edition of Volume One is most often found with the eleventh edition of Volumes Two through Eight. All were published in 1741 and printed for G. Strahan, S. Ballard, J. Brotherton, W. Meadows, T. Cox, W. Hinchcliffe, J. Stag, J. Clark, S. Birt, D. Brown, T. Astley, S. Austen, J. Shockburgh, L. Gilliver, J. Hodges, E. Wicksteed, J. Oswald, J. Comyns, C. Bathurst, T. Fisher, J. Carter, and A. Wilde.
Letters Writ by a Turkish Spy maintains a buzz around the authorship debate and history of ownership. It also provides an interesting window into 17th century cultural interaction by illustrating Parisian society and politics through “Arabian” eyes.
McBurney, William H. “The Authorship of the Turkish Spy.” PMLA 72.5 (Dec. 1957): 915-935.
Weitzman, Arthur J. Letters Writ by a Turkish Spy. New York: Columbia UP, 1970.
There are thirteen hundred copies of The Hunting of the Snark, and Marymount University’s Gomatos Special Collection holds one, but the edition number of the Marymount text isn’t known. The pictures were illustrated by Henry Holiday and the book was published by Macmillan and Co. and printed by R. Clay, Sons, and Taylor, Printers, Bread Street Hill.
The Hunting of the Snark is classified as a nonsense poem and was written to have no meaning whatsoever; nonetheless, many scholars and readers believe that there is some deeper message to be found within Carroll’s poem. They believe that his poem is an allegory due to the last line of the poem, “For the Snark was a Boojum, you see!” From this line, readers suggest the Boojum may be a representation of man’s unending attempts to search for something that can’t be found. Despite Carroll creating this poem with no meaning in mind, meaning was created from it in the most ironic way as readers and scholars take the poem’s last words and turn them into something that they were not meant to be.
Further Reading
Consenstein, Peter. "The Transmetrical Snark." Mln 131.4 (2016): 932-43. ProQuest. Web. 25 Oct. 2018.
Holquist, Michael. “What Is a Boojum? Nonsense and Modernism.” Yale French Studies, no. 96, 1999, pp. 100–117. JSTOR, JSTOR.
Wakeling, Edward. “Lewis Carroll and The Hunting of the Snark.” The Public Domain Review, 22 Feb. 2011.
Published in 1876, The Hunting of The Snark by Lewis Carroll is a poem about nine men and a beaver on a quest for a snark. The poem focuses on the journey the characters embark on and is so outlandish that some have called it an epic, but the tale the poem spins isn’t meant to hold any message or moral. Carroll wrote this poem without any intention for it to be seen as an allegory; it’s just a poem of nonsense about fictional beings and whimsical people. Throughout his life, Carroll loved writing stories and poems with imaginary creatures and made-up words. Between 1860 and 1863, he contributed much of his work to College Rhymes. Later on, he wrote his own book of poems and from those, one in particular stood out from the rest in which he called, “fits”, which later became The Hunting of the Snark. The poem was created one night when he went for a walk, and the line, “For the Snark was a Boojum, you see!” popped into his head. The rest of the poem was composed over six months and over time it became an inspiration for different works, such as parodies, musical adaptations, and more.
There are thirteen hundred copies of The Hunting of the Snark, and Marymount University’s Gomatos Special Collection holds one, but the edition number of the Marymount text isn’t known. The pictures were illustrated by Henry Holiday and the book was published by Macmillan and Co. and printed by R. Clay, Sons, and Taylor, Printers, Bread Street Hill.
The Hunting of the Snark is classified as a nonsense poem and was written to have no meaning whatsoever; nonetheless, many scholars and readers believe that there is some deeper message to be found within Carroll’s poem. They believe that his poem is an allegory due to the last line of the poem, “For the Snark was a Boojum, you see!” From this line, readers suggest the Boojum may be a representation of man’s unending attempts to search for something that can’t be found. Despite Carroll creating this poem with no meaning in mind, meaning was created from it in the most ironic way as readers and scholars take the poem’s last words and turn them into something that they were not meant to be.
Further Reading
Consenstein, Peter. "The Transmetrical Snark." Mln 131.4 (2016): 932-43. ProQuest. Web. 25 Oct. 2018.
Holquist, Michael. “What Is a Boojum? Nonsense and Modernism.” Yale French Studies, no. 96, 1999, pp. 100–117. JSTOR, JSTOR.
Wakeling, Edward. “Lewis Carroll and The Hunting of the Snark.” The Public Domain Review, 22 Feb. 2011.
The text in the Marymount University’s Gomatos collection is the first American edition, which was published in 1798, and includes a handwritten note on the flyleaf noting a sale price: "5 vols $25." The American and London editions varied by price and by printing method. The American edition, like the Dublin edition, is printed in octavo, while the London edition is printed in quarto.
Both editions are divided into two volumes, and they are further divided into four cantos, suggesting the Linnean principles of classification. Also, both editions contain detailed footnotes and illustrations. The first London edition of The Botanic Garden was illustrated by William Blake and Henry Fuseli, and the American edition was reprinted with the illustrations by Fuseli. Later editions comprise all content and illustrations in to one volume.
About the Author
Erasmus Darwin was born in Nottinghamshire, England in 1731, and he was the grandfather of Charles Darwin, whom wrote the Origin of Species in 1859. Darwin was a physician, poet, and botanist. His strong interest in botany, later, inspired him to write The Botanic Garden. He had also written Zoonomia (1796) and A Plan for the Conduct of Female Education, in Boarding Schools (1797). Darwin was a founding member of the Lunar Society of Birmingham, which greatly influenced the industrial revolution in the late eighteenth-century, which came to also influence the fashion, ideas, and beliefs of English and American society. In 1802, Darwin died due to a lung infection, and his last work, The Temple Nature,was published in 1803.
Further Reading
Browne, Janet. “Botany for Gentleman: Erasmus Darwin and ‘The Love of Plants’” Isis, vol. 80, no. 4, 1989, pp. 592-621. JSTOR, JSTOR.
Carroll, Siobhan. “On Erasmus Darwin’s The Botanic Garden, 1791-1792.” BRANCH: Britain, Representation and Nineteenth-Century History. Ed. Dino Franco Felluga. Extension of Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net. Web. Accessed 31 Oct. 2018.
Emery, Clark. “Scientific Theory in Erasmus Darwin's ‘The Botanic Garden’ (1789-91).” Isis, vol. 33, no. 3, 1941, pp. 315–325. JSTOR, JSTOR.
"Erasmus Darwin." Britannica Academic, Encyclopædia Britannica, 20 Oct. 2008. Accessed 1 Nov. 2018.
“Erasmus Darwin” Poetry Foundation. 30 Oct. 2018.
Garfinkle, Norton. “Science and Religion in England, 1790-1800: The Critical Response to the Work of Erasmus Darwin.” The Journal of the History of Ideas, vol. 16, no. 3, 1955, pp. 376-388. JSTOR, JSTOR.
George, Sam. “Carl Linnaeus, Erasmus Darwin and Anna Seward: Botanical Poetry and Female Education.” Science & Education, vol. 23, no. 3, Mar. 2014, pp. 673–694, EBSCOhost.
Page, M. (2005). “The Darwin before Darwin: Erasmus Darwin, Visionary Science, and Romantic poetry.” Papers on Language and Literature, 41(2), 146-169.
Priestman, Martin. The Poetry of Erasmus Darwin: Enlightened Spaces, Romantic Times. Burlington, Ashgate, 2013. Print.
"The Botanic Garden: The Economy of Vegetation." British Writers, Supplement 16, edited by Jay Parini, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2010, pp. 129-131. Gale Virtual Reference Library, Accessed 30 Oct. 2018.
The text in the Marymount University’s Gomatos collection is the first American edition, which was published in 1798, and includes a handwritten note on the flyleaf noting a sale price: "5 vols $25." The American and London editions varied by price and by printing method. The American edition, like the Dublin edition, is printed in octavo, while the London edition is printed in quarto.
Both editions are divided into two volumes, and they are further divided into four cantos, suggesting the Linnean principles of classification. Also, both editions contain detailed footnotes and illustrations. The first London edition of The Botanic Garden was illustrated by William Blake and Henry Fuseli, and the American edition was reprinted with the illustrations by Fuseli. Later editions comprise all content and illustrations in to one volume.
About the Author
Erasmus Darwin was born in Nottinghamshire, England in 1731, and he was the grandfather of Charles Darwin, whom wrote the Origin of Species in 1859. Darwin was a physician, poet, and botanist. His strong interest in botany, later, inspired him to write The Botanic Garden. He had also written Zoonomia (1796) and A Plan for the Conduct of Female Education, in Boarding Schools (1797). Darwin was a founding member of the Lunar Society of Birmingham, which greatly influenced the industrial revolution in the late eighteenth-century, which came to also influence the fashion, ideas, and beliefs of English and American society. In 1802, Darwin died due to a lung infection, and his last work, The Temple Nature,was published in 1803.
Further Reading
Browne, Janet. “Botany for Gentleman: Erasmus Darwin and ‘The Love of Plants’” Isis, vol. 80, no. 4, 1989, pp. 592-621. JSTOR, JSTOR.
Carroll, Siobhan. “On Erasmus Darwin’s The Botanic Garden, 1791-1792.” BRANCH: Britain, Representation and Nineteenth-Century History. Ed. Dino Franco Felluga. Extension of Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net. Web. Accessed 31 Oct. 2018.
Emery, Clark. “Scientific Theory in Erasmus Darwin's ‘The Botanic Garden’ (1789-91).” Isis, vol. 33, no. 3, 1941, pp. 315–325. JSTOR, JSTOR.
"Erasmus Darwin." Britannica Academic, Encyclopædia Britannica, 20 Oct. 2008. Accessed 1 Nov. 2018.
“Erasmus Darwin” Poetry Foundation. 30 Oct. 2018.
Garfinkle, Norton. “Science and Religion in England, 1790-1800: The Critical Response to the Work of Erasmus Darwin.” The Journal of the History of Ideas, vol. 16, no. 3, 1955, pp. 376-388. JSTOR, JSTOR.
George, Sam. “Carl Linnaeus, Erasmus Darwin and Anna Seward: Botanical Poetry and Female Education.” Science & Education, vol. 23, no. 3, Mar. 2014, pp. 673–694, EBSCOhost.
Page, M. (2005). “The Darwin before Darwin: Erasmus Darwin, Visionary Science, and Romantic poetry.” Papers on Language and Literature, 41(2), 146-169.
Priestman, Martin. The Poetry of Erasmus Darwin: Enlightened Spaces, Romantic Times. Burlington, Ashgate, 2013. Print.
"The Botanic Garden: The Economy of Vegetation." British Writers, Supplement 16, edited by Jay Parini, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2010, pp. 129-131. Gale Virtual Reference Library, Accessed 30 Oct. 2018.