About this Item
Harkness, Albert. Second Latin Book; Comprising a Historical Latin Reader. New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1853. First Edition (1853), later printing ca. 1858. Title page dated MDCCCLIII (1853); copyright verso dated 1858, indicating a mid-century reissue of the original edition, typical of Appleton's practice for schoolbooks in active circulation. Small 12mo, original quarter-leather over cloth boards (now heavily worn), spine largely perished, textblock shaken and partially detached; substantial wear but complete enough to preserve its remarkable constellation of inscriptions. A compelling artifact of antebellum rural education in Fluvanna County, Virginia, this heavily used Latin reader belonged to Ann P. Williams of Fork Union, who inscribes the book repeatedly in pencil: 'Ann P. Williams / Fork union, Fluvany Va, February 1858.' Her practiced hand suggests a teenage student, likely 13-16, likely receiving classical instruction in a plantation-tutor setting. Additional 19th century hands enrich the provenance: 'Miss Ellen Self' in a confident ink signature (likely a governess or senior pupil); 'Sallie Gwath' (almost certainly Gwathmey/Gwathney, tied to prominent central Virginia planter families); multiple 'Fannie' pencil practice signatures; and an elegant formal ink hand reading "DeJarnette," a well-documented Huguenot-descended Virginia family. Together these names represent a single mid-1850s educational micro-community, connected through kinship networks typical of the James River corridor-Fork Union, Bremo, Palmyra, and Albemarle. This cluster strongly supports use in a plantation-based schoolroom rather than a public institution (Virginia public schools did not begin until 1870). The region's educational landscape included established plantation academies such as the Bremo Seminary (founded in 1820 by the Cocke family) and access to nearby classical academies in Charlottesville (e.g., the Albemarle Female Institute, whose 1857-58 catalog features Latin). Such settings regularly taught Latin to girls of elite households, and itinerant tutors, often drawn from allied families like the DeJarnettes, moved among plantations. The inscriptions reveal a shared tutor or governess, with the book functioning as a communal learning text passed among students in the same circle. Condition is poor but historically rich: boards detached, cloth worn smooth, spine covering mostly gone, gatherings loose or exposed; scattered foxing, staining, marginalia, and various owner marks consistent with intensive scholastic use. Inserted at p. 212 is a small clipped 19th century engraving of Maida, the beloved staghound of Sir Walter Scott and a familiar sentimental motif in Victorian gift books and literary annuals. Such engravings, typically cut from keepsake volumes or illustrated magazines, were often repurposed by students in the mid-19th century as bookmarks or personal tokens. Its presence here aligns with the dated ownership inscriptions, offering a vivid glimpse into the reading culture of its young owners. Rather than mere detritus, the engraving enriches the book's material history, representing the period practice of blending formal schooling with the domestic literary world. This ephemeral artifact is retained with the book as an authentic component of its lived history. Despite structural weakness, the book's survival, through Civil War disruptions and postwar household transitions, suggests retention in a trunk or secondary building where women's schoolbooks were often stored and forgotten. Its preservation in this state offers rare documentary value: the handwriting, names, and local references comprise a tangible record of an educational world otherwise sparsely documented. A rare, primary-source artifact for collectors of Virginiana, women's education, plantation schooling, genealogy, and classical curriculum history. A fragile but exceptionally evocative witness to Fork Union's antebellum intellectual life.
Seller Inventory # NF.HAR.1858.1
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