Louise Chandler Moulton, Poet and FriendWhiting, Lilian
General
Louise Chandler Moulton, Poet and Friend
Whiting, Lilian
Moulton, Louise Chandler, 1835-1908
"The exact number of authors represented has not been counted, but
probably the autographed volumes, of which there are about six
hundred, do not contain more than a fifth of that number of well-known
names. Some signatures are by unknown authors who sent their books to
Mrs. Moulton because of her prominence; and in a limited number of
cases such have been thrown out as obviously not worthy of a place in
the collection. The variety of the personal acquaintances among
distinguished writers, however, illustrates very strikingly the
breadth of Mrs. Moulton's sympathies and the remarkable extent to
which she kept in touch with current literature. In not a few cases,
moreover, the inscriptions show how often her encouragement or wise
counsel had been helpful to the writer. In 'The White Sail,' Miss
Guiney writes: 'To Louise Chandler Moulton from her lover and debtor';
Charles Bradlaugh, in 'The Impeachment of the House of Brunswick':
'From the author to his critic'; F.B. Money-Coutts, in 'King Arthur':
'A poor return for her kind interest'; John Davidson, in 'New
Ballads': 'From her obliged friend.' Others of this sort might be
quoted, and while dedicatory inscriptions are not always to be taken
too seriously, no one could know Mrs. Moulton and her helpful
kindliness without realizing to how many writers her sympathetic
criticism and judicious advice had been of marked value. C.W. Dalmon,
in a copy of the limited edition of 'Song-Favors' writes: 'To Mrs.
Louise Chandler Moulton for her kindness' sake, and for the sake of
"Philip, our King"; and the remembrance of that kindness in so many
hearts is to Mrs. Moulton a lasting monument.'
"From the many and varied inscriptions in these books I have selected
a handful which seem to me interesting, and which Mrs. Moulton's
friends will, I hope, find so. In going over the library I was struck
with the range in time which these autographs cover. It gave a feeling
of being in touch with a past almost that of our grandmothers' to
come upon Le Tellier's '_L'Histoire Ancienne_' with the inscription:
'Louise Chandler Moulton from Madame Emma Willard, Troy Female
Seminary, May 30th, 1856'; or upon 'Lucy Howard's Journal,' bearing
upon the fly-leaf: 'Mrs. Ellen Louise Moulton, with the love of her
friend, L.H. Sigourney, Hartford, Conn't. Christmas, 1857.' The latter
volume is dated by the publishers 1858, so that the trick of making
the title-page state its age with feminine inexactness is less recent
than is generally supposed. Who to-day knows anything about Madame
Willard, or has other remembrance of Mrs. Sigourney than that of
seeing her name attached to moralizing selections in the reading-books
of our remote youth?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account