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THBJonathan Swift Autograph Manuscript Signed
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About Auction
LiveOct 12, 2022
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- Lot Description
Autograph manuscript signed by Jonathan Swift, "Jonathan," one page, 4 x 6.5, no date but likely circa 1694-1700. A didactic manuscript defining the use of verbs, nouns, and adjectives, most probably prepared for use in one of the private lessons which he gave to a small group of intelligent young women, of whom the most famous is 'Stella' (his name for Esther Johnson). In full: "You may know a Verb in Speech by the sign it has of doing or suffering; as I love, I am loved. A noun Substantive is a Thing and has allways either expressed or understood (a), or (the), before it: as a House, the Horse, a Shovell, a Mouse, the Basin, &c. An Adjective is a Character or Quality of a Thing, and it is not understood without a Thing either expresst or implied: as a short Horse, a long Shovell, &c, or this Basin is short, this House is round." Professionally inlaid into a larger sheet and in very good to fine condition, with irregular light toning and staining.
Jonathan Swift's great craftmanship and ingenuity as a writer was grounded in a thorough appreciation of the basic rules of language and usage: in his 1720 'Letter to a Young Clergyman,' Swift wrote, 'Proper words in proper places make the true definition of a style.' In this marvelous manuscript, he defines the basic parts of speech—verbs, nouns, and adjectives—in a simple and straightforward manner, fit for consumption by a studious child.
Swift first met Stella, then eight years old, during his appointment as secretary to the former diplomat and writer Sir William Temple. A devoted and exigent tutor, he supervised her education, helping her with reading and writing. When he became reacquainted with Stella several years later, she had become the 'most beautiful, graceful and agreeable young woman in London.' Their relationship—and the potential of a 'secret marriage'—has been widely chronicled and the subject of intense debate. A notebook (now lost) of Swift's lessons in his own hand was seen (disbound) by Sir Walter Scott in the 1820s, and the present leaf may have come from one of these rare instructional volumes.
This autograph manuscript is described in Augustine Birrell's Appendix to the Rowfant Library: A Catalogue of the Printed Books and Manuscripts (London, 1900, page 46), as '12 lines in autograph, 8vo, Grammatical terms,' and listed in a collection of various portraits and autographs assembled by Frederick Locker-Lampson to be collated with the first edition of Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson; Locker, a man of letters, bibliophile, and poet, has signed his name, "Frederick Locker," at the foot.
Past sales history: Bloomsbury Auctions, Important Printed Books and Manuscripts, April 5, 2008. - Shipping Info
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