Today in the studio we have a copy of John F. Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage, inscribed by the author to an interesting—but not especially well-known—figure from Boston’s history. We’ll use it as a jumping-off point into a discussion of signatures and inscriptions more generally: some are simply nice to have, others substantially increase the collectibility and value of a volume, and many turn out to be written by a secretary or printed with the book itself. A look at some of the most common and convincing faux signatures rounds out this 100% authentic #brattlecast.
Brattlecast #190 - An Emerson Letter
Today we’re talking about a charming 1835 letter—recently found in a New England attic and purchased by the shop—from Ralph Waldo Emerson to a girl named Lucia. In the letter, Emerson exhorts his young correspondent to listen in solitude to the voices of nature, to the “great old gray ocean” and the “withered leaves that chatter in the cold March wind.” These themes would recur in his 1863 essay, Nature, a foundational text of the Transcendentalist movement. Although this particular letter is not in perfect condition, the author’s voice shines through, kindly and respectful, carrying a message that can still touch our lives today.
Brattlecast #189 - A Whitman Letter
During the American Civil War, Walt Whitman left his bohemian life in New York City to volunteer at Union hospitals in Washington DC, spending time with wounded soldiers and distributing small gifts of fruit, paper, and money. To fund these efforts, the poet solicited charitable donations from his network of friends via letter, one of which we have in the studio with us today. Over its four pages he thanks the recipient for their gift of $75 (a substantial amount of money in 1864) and details overwhelming conditions at the hospitals as they received trainload after trainload of sick and injured men. The suffering and mass death he witnessed in the war—punctuated by quiet moments of courage and affection—would have a transformative impact on Whitman and his later work; these were, in his own words, “real, terrible, beautiful days!”
Brattlecast #188 - The Southern Workman
Today we’re looking at an issue of The Southern Workman, a monthly journal published from 1812–1939 by Virginia’s Hampton Institute Press. Founded shortly after the Civil War as the Hampton Agricultural and Industrial School, the Hampton Institute trained Black and Indigenous students to become teachers and community leaders, as well as offering vocational skills that would enable them to support themselves in the impoverished South. One of their most famous alumni was Booker T. Washington, who returned to teach at the school before moving on to the Tuskegee Institute. Interest in Black history-related books and ephemera is growing, and items like this—undervalued for too long—are waiting to be archived, studied, and discovered by collectors.
Brattlecast #174 - Maps of Old Boston
Today in the studio we have a pair of old Boston maps, from 1803 and 1863. Boston is probably built on more man-made land than any other city in North America, so its maps tell a dramatic story of geographical transformation spurred by prosperity, pollution, technological advances, and social change. The first map is from a Boston Directory—like an 1800’s Yellow Pages where you could look up your innkeeper or ropemaker—and depicts a slender peninsula between the Harbor and the Charles River; Washington Street exists already but becomes an island at high tide. Our second map is from an auction catalog selling plots of land in the newly created, or still in progress, Back Bay neighborhood (formerly a bay). One of Boston’s most desirable areas today, Back Bay was built to seclude affluent families from an increasingly crowded and impoverished downtown—essentially creating a miniature suburb in the heart of the city. Listen to learn more about Boston’s history and cartography on this orienting #brattlecast.