We’ve just returned home from a short trip to Virginia’s Eastern Shore. We stayed in Cape Charles, and while there, we visited the Peach Street Book Store – with books, coffee, and gifts.
Of course, you know what I looked for first – what they had in the way of Dickinson.
LOL – the first thing I saw was a book by Dickinson, but not Emily Dickinson. Nope. But right in front of my face was a book by Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson.
Of course, you know what I looked for first – what they had in the way of Dickinson.
LOL – the first thing I saw was a book by Dickinson, but not Emily Dickinson. Nope. But right in front of my face was a book by Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson.
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It didn’t take long, though, to find their poetry section, and they had two books on Dickinson.
The first was a small collection called “Emily Dickinson, Envelope Poems,” and it includes photographs of scraps of envelopes and papers with one and two line thoughts and poems in Dickinson’s handwriting. The book includes graphics of the scrapes with the words typed in since Dickinson’s handwriting is so difficult to decipher.
The other book completely surprised me. It was called “Hope Is the Thing with Feathers, Poems of Emily Dickinson, and I assumed it was just a random collection of some of her more famous and popular poems.
But no. It was much more than that.
The first was a small collection called “Emily Dickinson, Envelope Poems,” and it includes photographs of scraps of envelopes and papers with one and two line thoughts and poems in Dickinson’s handwriting. The book includes graphics of the scrapes with the words typed in since Dickinson’s handwriting is so difficult to decipher.
The other book completely surprised me. It was called “Hope Is the Thing with Feathers, Poems of Emily Dickinson, and I assumed it was just a random collection of some of her more famous and popular poems.
But no. It was much more than that.
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I opened to an early page in the book, and noticed (a) that it said “First Series,” (b) it stated “Edited by two of her friends” and named Mabel Loomis Todd and Thomas Wentworth Higginson, and (c) it included the introductory poem to Todd & Higginson’s first series of poems published in 1890.
This caught me completely off guard.
I turned to the table of contents and realized that this book was a compilation of the first three books published by Todd and Higginson, Series One, Series Two and Series Three.
I turned to “Because I could not stop for Death” to be sure – and sure enough, the poem was entitled “The Chariot,” it included the altered lines to create more perfect rhymes, and it was missing the stanza Todd and Higginson omitted.
This caught me completely off guard.
I turned to the table of contents and realized that this book was a compilation of the first three books published by Todd and Higginson, Series One, Series Two and Series Three.
I turned to “Because I could not stop for Death” to be sure – and sure enough, the poem was entitled “The Chariot,” it included the altered lines to create more perfect rhymes, and it was missing the stanza Todd and Higginson omitted.
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I bought the dang book!
PLUS -- I told the clerk and then the owner of the store all about what a find it was! LOL -- they were probably thrilled when I finally walked out of the store -- and they're probably still laughing about that crazy old man with the irrational fascination with Emily Dickinson.
PLUS -- I told the clerk and then the owner of the store all about what a find it was! LOL -- they were probably thrilled when I finally walked out of the store -- and they're probably still laughing about that crazy old man with the irrational fascination with Emily Dickinson.
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