Thursday, October 29, 2009

Personal Libraries Library's First Books: Emerson's Essays, The Marble Faun & Paradise Lost



The Personal Libraries Library has acquired the first books of the Maria Mitchell Personal Library collection; the first being Emerson's Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson. This book is particularly special because it is also the inaugural book of the entire Personal Libraries Library.

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Maria Mitchell were good friends; when he lectured in Nantucket he was welcomed into the Mitchell household above the Pacific Bank on Main Street. Mitchell also found herself defending the work of Emerson to Dr. Whewell, the Master of Trinity College in 1857.




The PLL has also acquired The Marble Faun, Volumes I & II by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Paradise Lost by John Milton. Maria Mitchell traveled to Italy with Hawthorne and his family in 1858; after which Hawthorne wrote The Marble Faun. Mitchell also had a close connection with Paradise Lost, as she wrote an essay titled "The Astronomical Science of Milton," regarding the epic poem.

Members are invited to check out the inaugural books.