ANTIQUE BOOKS FROM MY COLLECTION

I derive great comfort from my collection of old books, the majority being handed down to me by late family members, primarily my parents and grandparents.  For any readers interested in such things, I feature a few of them herewith.

Shown here are six religious books of Irish origin, published between 1830 and 1840.  In spite of extensive research, I have yet to determine how they happened to come into Wright/Perry hands.  Inscriptions in the books indicate that they were gifts to members of the Hewitt family (Sarah J. Hewitt and Fredrick Hewitt) of Corunna, ON. at various intervals in the 1800s.    Last year I ran and ad in the Sarnia Observer newspaper in an attempt to connect with Hewitt family descendants still living in the Lambton County area but I did not receive any responses.  Included in the collection are (front, left) "The Lord's Supper" by Rt. Rev. Thomas Wilson, D.D., sometime Lord Bishop of Sodor and Man; "Irish Melodies", front centre, (oldest in the collection) by Thomas Moore, ESQ; "The History of Joseph", right front, by The Religious Tract Society, Instituted 1799; top left, "Solomon's Temple Spiritualized" by John Bunyan; top centre, "Prayer" book, The Church of England and, back right, "Haromy of the Gospels" compiled from the headings to the sections of Creswell's Harmonia Evangelica.  The mystery of the collection and how it came into my family's possession, will more than likely never be solved. 

Here's a prized collector's item, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" or Negro Life in the Slave States of America, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, published 1852.  "Uncle Tom" Josiah Henson, of course, found his way to Kent County in Southwestern Ontario by means of the "Undergound Railway" and settled on a tract of land called the Dawn Settlement which would eventually encompass the Town of Dresden.  In February, 1852, Messrs Jewett and Co., of Boston, Mass, put Harriet's manuscript to press in book form and on the 20th of March it was published, selling more than 5,000 copies in the first week -- a record in those days.  It is believed that this particular copy is a second printing of the book.  I regret its deteriorating condition and handle it with extreme care.

Interesting ads, reflective of the times, appear on the inside of the front and back covers of "Uncle Tom's Cabin".  Click the image to enlarge.

I still find remnants of Four-Leaf Clovers like this one pressed with wax paper in to books formerly belonging to my grandmother Louise Wright. This particular "good luck" clover leaf is at least 140 years old, by my estimation.