Pope Criticisms

Charity shops can be home to a delightful array of curious objects and one of the most interesting, for me personally at least, are the book collections. I could spend forever pouring over the shelves, pulling out various titles and fawning over the covers.

I read an article today where in which a charity shop in Shrewsbury received a very rare 366 year old copy of Varia Opuscula Theologica by Doctoris Francisco Suarez. 

Suarez was a Spanish Jesuit priest, philosopher and theologian, not to mention a leading figure of the School of Salamanca movement, and is considered today to be among the greatest scholastics. 

Tom Cotton of Oxfram Bookshop in Shrewsbury with Varia Opuscula Theologica. Image: Catholic Online

This book was first published in 1599, and in 1679 this Latin text was forbidden and banned by Pop Innocent XI. With this came the destruction and burning of all found copies of the book. This copy sports a stamp signifying it's origin, which indicates it came from a Roman library collection.

The value of books should never be underestimated, and I commend and admire the individual who took the time and effort to hide and preserve this book.

Now, moving on to other Pope criticisms but in a very different context.

I found a book in a charity shop in York a week ago and admittedly the first thing that attracted me was the small, thin and rather faded red spine and gold lettering.

© Victoria McAfee 2015

Upon pulling the book off from the shelf I was delighted to see the intaglio detailing on the cover and then came the realisation of the name 'Pope'.

© Victoria McAfee 2015

Once home I realised I had a third edition in my eager hands. 

This was first published in 1896, and this particular copy is a beautiful 105 years old, published in 1910. The copy has been edited by John Churton Collins, and is also accompanied by a preface, a memoir of Pope, an introduction to the poem and in-depth notes on the piece.

The author of An Essay on Criticism, Alexander Pope, was an 18th century English poet, best known for his satirical verse, his translation of Homer and his use of the heroic couplet. Pope is the second most quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after William Shakespeare.

Alexander Pope by Michael Dahl

Bitesize Facts on the poem

An Essay on Criticism is one of Pope's first major poems.
There is some debate as to when it was first created. Most say it was first published anonymously in 1711. Collins addresses this in his introduction; it has been documented 'on the titled page of the quarto of 1717' that it was written in 1709, a date which is 'repeated in every succeeding edition', however Pope himself told Richardson it was written in 1707 and printed in 1709.

It was written in the heroic couplet style; a moderately new form of English poetry most commonly used in epic and narrative poetry, referring to poems constructed from a sequence of rhyming pairs of lines in iambic pentameter.
The poem is said to be a response to an ongoing debate on the question of whether poetry should be natural, or written according to predetermined artificial rules inherited from the classical past, [Rogers 2006].

Quotes from An Essay

"To err is human, to forgive, divine."

"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."

"Words are like leaves; and where they most abound,

Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found."

"True wit is nature to advantage dressed,

What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed,

Something, whose truth convinced at sight we find,

That gives us back the notion of the mind."

- VM

Question: Do you have any amazing charity shop finds? If so, let us know below!

Victorian Shakespeare?

Victorian gilt metal brooch, 1880.

This is a piece from my personal collection and I obtained it from an online auction that were selling various pieces from an estate clearance. 

Estate clearances inevitably pull me in, the thought of looking at and potentially owning little pieces of someone else's life is just too tempting, igniting an emotional response in me that can often be overwhelming.

Upon first glancing at the figure depicted on this delicate, slightly tarnished, circle it immediately made me think of The Bard and my suspicious were somewhat confirmed when I read the label that they had used for this dainty little pin; 'Shakespeare?' 

Admittedly this was the only piece in the auction that didn't have an extortionate reserve or starting bid attached to it, and the only authentication it came with was that it is from the Victorian era, specifically 1880. So it may or may not be Shakespeare's likeness depicted here, but the piece spoke to me and I had to own it.

Brief History of Victorian Brooches and Pins

The Victorian Era spanned from 1837 to 1901 and during this time there were vast developments in culture and technology, and jewellery was just one of the ways which marked these changes; a newly emerging Middle Class sparked new demands, one of which being for jewellery. 

This era is usually divided into subsections:

The Romantic Period, 1837-1861

The Grand Period, 1861-1880

The Aesthetic Period, 1880-1901

Brooches and pins were actually a Romantic Period favourite and cameo [high relief depictions, as can be seen with the Shakespeare pin here] and intaglio [the reverse of high relief] were used on both brooches and rings, and usually carved from shell, coral or stone. Sometimes these figures were surrounded by small diamonds, but just as frequently stood alone either in framed gold or set into a mount. 

Revivalism was a popular trend that impacted upon Victorian jewellery during the Grand Period. Here cameos became Romanesque in nature. As well as this trends from the Renaissance were also copied and applied to necklaces, earrings and brooches.

Gold dominated the Victorian era. The Industrial Revolution [1840] brought with it new technologies and techniques such as stamping and electroplating, which allowed for gold to be used in all sorts of new ways and for a more affordable price.

Interestingly because of this these gold pieces were rarely marked, so for contemporary collectors they can't always be sure if they are in fact getting real gold.

During the Aesthetic Period jewellery became a lot simpler in design and smaller in scale [as can be seen with this pin]. 

Question: Do you think this is Shakespeare's likeness? If so, why?

Make sure you comment below with your answers!

- Victoria McAfee

MEDIEVAL MORTICIA

Hello and welcome to The Curio Cabinet, Medieval Morticia's blog.

Medieval Morticia was established in 2015 and created by photographer, artist, writer and general creepy nightcrawler Victoria McAfee. We specialise in prints, books and works by Victoria, as well as an eclectic array of oddities and curio.

Our shop can be found here: www.medievalmorticia.bigcartel.com

The Curio Cabinet is an extension of Medieval Morticia.

This blog aims to give you an insight into the shop, as well as written pieces on things that interest us, and hopefully that will interest you!

- MM