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COLLECTION Identifier: 2003J-SJ1172

Doctor Johnson and the fair sex; a study of contrasts, extra-illustrated

Overview

Printed book with approximately two hundred inserted prints relating to the text, compiled and bound by collector Robert Borthwick Adam.

Dates

  • Creation: 1738-1840
  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1784-1837

Language of Materials

Collection materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.

Extent

.25 linear feet (1 volume)

The set includes prints of many of the people and places mentioned in Craig's Doctor Johnson and the Fair Sex, including individuals mentioned only in footnotes or as historical figures, who may have only a tangential relation to Samuel Johnson. No original art or manuscripts are found in this volume.

Arrangement

The Adams acquired prints to match places and individuals mentioned in the text of Craig's book. The names are underlined in red ink in Craig's text, and the corresponding items are mounted on facing pages (preceding odd-numbered pages and following even-numbered pages). The inventory is arranged as items appear in the volume.

The item number refers to the page number in the published text. The second digit, where necessary, refers to the sheet number of the insertion in cases where more than one item is inserted for a page. When two prints are mounted on the same sheet, they are lettered "a" or "b."

Appearing after Craig's table of contents and index, on pages xvii to xxvii, is a printed master index of inserted material. This was apparently compiled by Adam. The index has separate sections for portraits; views; and illustrations.

Physical Location

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Provenance

This volume was compiled by collector Robert Borthwick Adam (1833-1904) of Buffalo, N.Y. circa 1890-1900. It was inherited in 1904 by his nephew and adopted son R.B. (Robert Borthwick) Adam (1863-1940), who may have expanded it into its present form, and commissioned the present bindings from the Club Bindery. Bookplates show that in 1910, R.B. Adam presented the set to his wife Lena Stevens Adam (d. 1940). The set was purchased from the Adam estate by Donald Frizell Hyde and Mary Hyde in 1948.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

2003J-SJ1172. Bequest of Mary Hyde Eccles, Four Oaks Farm, Somerville, New Jersey; received: 2004.

Separated Materials

Three items, items (1. 1), (51. 1) and (51. 2), were removed from the volume by the Hydes, and can now be found elsewhere in the Hyde Collection.

Processing Information

Processed by: Rick Stattler and Marcia Levinson

A full inventory spreadsheet was compiled by Marcia Levinson while the set was property of Mary Hyde Eccles. This spreadsheet was expanded and developed into the present guide in 2006.

Processing Information

This finding aid was revised in February 2024 to address outdated and harmful descriptive language. During that revision, contextualizing processing notes were added to the description of one item that has been retitled. For more information on reparative archival description at Harvard, see Harvard Library’s Statement on Harmful Language in Archival Description.

Title
Craig, William Henry, 1835- . Doctor Johnson and the fair sex; a study of contrasts, extra-illustrated: Guide.
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hou01795

Repository Details

Part of the Houghton Library Repository

Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.

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