The
The
Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera
Henry
Francis du Pont
5105
Kennett Pike, Winterthur, Delaware 19735
Telephone:
302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883
OVERVIEW OF THE
COLLECTION
Title: Poetry
Dates: ca.1800-ca.1900
Call
No.:
Acc.
No.: [various – see detailed description]
Quantity: 1 box
Location: 34 B 1
SCOPE AND CONTENT
This
miscellaneous and still growing collection is comprised of both printed and
handwritten poetry, both original productions and copies of work by
others. Some of the poems are illustrated
or decorated. The poem "On my
honored Mother's Birth-Day" features seven small watercolor illustrations
depicting house interiors with figures; this is dated 1806. One poem is about a chandler’s shop and what
will be sold there; this is illustrated with an interior view of a shop. Pigs, tobacco, shipwrecks, fiddlers, and the
dear departed are commemorated in other poems.
ORGANIZATION
Arranged
by accession number.
PROVENANCE
From
various sources, both purchases and gifts.
ACCESS POINTS
People:
Howe, Julia Ward, 1819-1910.
Henderson,
Henry Dillon, 1840-1876.
Topics:
Fenwick Hall (Hotel : New
Saybrook, Conn.)
Amateur artists.
Birthdays.
Christian
poetry.
Clothing
and dress – Pictorial works.
Freemasonry
– Songs and music.
Interior decoration – 19th century.
Interior
decoration – Pictorial works.
Mothers
in art.
Mothers
– Poetry.
Mourning
customs.
Pigs
– Poetry.
Shipwrecks
– Poetry.
Stores,
Retail – Poetry.
Stores,
Retail – Pictorial works.
Tobacco – Poetry.
Women artists.
Broadsides.
Songs.
Calligraphy.
Poetry.
Watercolor
painting.
Poems.
Elegies.
DETAILED
DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION
Location: 34 B 1
58x24 An
untitled handwritten poem beginning "A planter of great reputation/ Rais’d
eighteen Pigs on his plantation."
The poem is about the pigs, all of whom had classical names such as
Adonis and Agamemnon.
Not signed, not dated, but possibly circa1810.
The paper is
watermarked Matthews.
72x163 "Chandlers Shop" and
"Lovely Night," both poems printed on the same sheet. At bottom is printed "Wholesale Song Mart,"
apparently the seller of the broadside.
The poem about the chandler’s shop mentions products which will be sold
there.
In upper left corner is a small
woodcut illustration depicting a man behind a store counter.
75x58.2 "Lines
written on the Shipwreck of the Medora," a printed sheet with ornate
border.
The
Medora apparently sank in Lake Ontario.
76x98.1097 “Zur
Erinnerung,” a poem in German printed on embossed paper. Part of the poem seems to been cut off.
This poem came in with a large group
of papers with a Pennsylvania German association.
77x267.1 "Tobacco an Ode," a handwritten
poem
On reverse is note "From the
papers of Thomas S. Lester of Southhold [sic], L.I.-dated above 1836." Also on back are a list of names and amounts
(this list is dated 1836). The back was
also used for arithmetical calculations.
78x242 "The Happy Ship-Carpenter: or,
The Heroic Damsel," a printed poem now mounted on card stock. Decorated
with a small woodcut illustration of barge or ferry on a river. Note written on
card stock says "
80x75 “Battle
Hymn of the Republic,” printed in honor of Julia Ward Howe, president of the
New England Women’s Club for a birthday anniversary,
(trex
8337)
80x214 "On my honored Mother's Birth-Day,"
a handwritten poem signed J.T. Jr., New Bond St.,
Includes
eight small watercolor illustrations showing one landscape and seven house
interiors with figures. Four of the
interior scenes depict two men sitting and drinking at a table in front of a
fire; one of the men is telling the other about his mother. (In the fourth scene, the mother appears as
an angel.) Another scene shows the
mother blessing her son James; a piano is off to one side and there are
paintings on the wall and a patterned carpet on the floor. In another scene, the mother is shown painting
at an easel. Portraits are on the walls
in this room, and a model of a house sits on a table. The remaining scene takes place in this same
room, but a dining table has been set up and the family is eating. The mother is wearing what appears to be a
laurel wreath.
Paper
is watermarked John Ball, 180[illegible].
82x72 Short untitled printed poem
beginning “If thou be borrow’d by a friend,” concerning returning books to owners.
Includes the statement "Read
slowly, pause frequently, think seriously, return duly, with the corners of the
leaves not turned down."
82x93 Untitled poem beginning
“No never shall my soul forget,” signed George, dated 1848, written on sheet of
printed stationery with illustration of man and woman in a hay field, entitled
"Summer." The stationery was
printed by E.H. Knight of
85x108 "Shells of the Ocean," poem
printed on a sheet with ornate border.
Published
by Andrews, Printer 38 Chatham St.,
85x109 "Oh,
Breathe not Her Name," and “Choice of a Wife,” two poems printed on one
sheet, with ornate border. L.A. Jones
wrote the words and Frederick Buckley the music for “Oh, Breathe Not Her Name.”
(Music is not included,)
Published
by H. De Marsan, successor to J. Andrews, Publisher,
86x161.1-7 Set
of seven printed cards with poems and hand colored printed illustrations. On reverse of several cards are other poems,
handwritten. Not dated, but ca.
1800-1820.
.1 “The Child’s Morning Hymn,” with
illustration of a boy kneeling by his bed.
Initials M H L H are written on the back. [The H’s might be K’s.’]
.2 “Public Worship,” with illustration of
people in church listening to sermon
.3 “The Dying Christian to His Soul,” with
illustration of man in bed and another man sitting next to bed.
.4 “To My Mother,” with illustration of
woman sitting in garden outside a house; she holds a baby in her lap and near
her is a young daughter holding a toddler.
.5 “A Dialogue,” with an illustration of
two sisters in garden outside a house.
On back is a handwritten poem which begins “The rose that weeps with
morning dew.”
.6 “Bee,” with illustration of woman and very
young boy (still in a dress) looking at bee skeps. On back is a handwritten poem beginning
“Adieu ye verdant lawns.” One corner of
card is broken off.
.7 Untitled poem beginning “Behold! A
sweet and lovely child,” with illustration of a dead child laid out on a table
in a room draped in black. The child
appears to be in a winding sheet, but is not in a coffin.
92x113.2. “Funeral
Dirge,” a printed card decorated with a Masonic emblem and American flags
within a black border; printed by Whitehead and Hoag Company,
92x113.3. “Another
Friend at Rest,” a card printed in memory of H.D. Henderson, by B.M.D., October
10, 1876
[note:
This was printed possibly for Henry Dillon Henderson, who died in Peterboro,
New York, on Oct. 5, 1876. He was born
in 1840, the son of Caroline Malinda Coe and Alanson Henderson. He was married to Mary Elisabeth Northrup,
and they had several children.]
92x119 "Contentment," a handwritten
poem, signed M. Goss, Pokepsie.
Illustrated
with calligraphic eagle, over which is a banner with the words “Liberty Emblem.” The paper is watermarked S & A Butler,
US.
97x33.1 “A
New Song Made on the Death of a Young Woman, to Shew How Soon the Fairest
Flower Bows Its Head and Clo[torn] Earth Become Our Softest Bed,” a broadside
ballad backed by a Connecticut newspaper dated June 1805. The ballad is decorated with a picture
showing the Grim Reaper (albeit with wings and wearing a crown), a skull and
cross bones hovering over a coffin, and a skeleton holding an arrow, within a
border of skulls with crossed bones and hour glasses. Written in the upper left corner is “Jemima
Pain, her ballet [sic] given to her by John Lese[?].”
04x127.6 “The
Lonely Dove,” a poem with decorative borders and title, written on lined paper
12x155.1 “The
Fiddler’s Legacy,” not signed, no date, circa 1850?
12x155.2 “Christianity,”
written for L[?]sia Smith, from M. C. Raymond
12x155.3 one
side: poem: “Mercy,” printed by J.B. Bateman, Printer and Publisher, 26,
Paternoster Square, [London];
Other side: a short printed
meditation on Romans 6, verse 23.
15x30.4 Untitled
poem beginning “On the beach at Saybrook,” written in pencil on a piece of
stationery from the hotel Fenwick Hall located in New Saybrook, Connecticut,
from 187-.
The
stationery is printed with an illustration of the hotel, of which D.A. Rood was
proprietor; the paper is lined.
Initials, perhaps J.G.L., are written on the last page.
15x37.3 “Mother
Dear,” printed poem on piece of embossed stationery.
The
initials S P R A, and the words Sutton St. appear in the embossed design.