Mr Collins Rides Again
I enjoyed this post on the University of Missouri's blog today - have they found another Fordyce-reading Mr Collins in their Special Collections?
'Books on proper conduct were popular in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, and James Fordyce's Sermons to Young Women was one of the most widely read and circulated. It became a staple in household and school libraries and went through multiple editions in a short period. One has to wonder, however, whether the young women who were subjected to its wisdom liked it as much as their parents, teachers, and clergymen did.
We have one copy of Fordyce's Sermons in Special Collections. It's a second edition in two volumes, printed in 1766 in London. It's interesting to read, especially as an insight into the world of Jane Austen [Mr Collins was a character in Pride and Prejudice]. But what's most interesting about it, to me at least, is that at some point in its early history, it was owned by a man named L. Buck, LL.D., who seemed to have appreciated Fordyce just as much as Mr. Collins did. Here's what he wrote on the front free endpaper:
This Book ought to be read again and again by every young Lady in the Kingdom. I do not know any Praise too great, that can be given to the Author of it. L. B.
Mr. Buck went on to take notes throughout the first and second volumes, underlining sentences and making short, summarizing comments in the margins.'
See the photos and comments at the source!
'Books on proper conduct were popular in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, and James Fordyce's Sermons to Young Women was one of the most widely read and circulated. It became a staple in household and school libraries and went through multiple editions in a short period. One has to wonder, however, whether the young women who were subjected to its wisdom liked it as much as their parents, teachers, and clergymen did.
We have one copy of Fordyce's Sermons in Special Collections. It's a second edition in two volumes, printed in 1766 in London. It's interesting to read, especially as an insight into the world of Jane Austen [Mr Collins was a character in Pride and Prejudice]. But what's most interesting about it, to me at least, is that at some point in its early history, it was owned by a man named L. Buck, LL.D., who seemed to have appreciated Fordyce just as much as Mr. Collins did. Here's what he wrote on the front free endpaper:
This Book ought to be read again and again by every young Lady in the Kingdom. I do not know any Praise too great, that can be given to the Author of it. L. B.
Mr. Buck went on to take notes throughout the first and second volumes, underlining sentences and making short, summarizing comments in the margins.'
See the photos and comments at the source!