First Lady Jane Pierce manuscript notebook and journal President Franklin Pierce

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First Lady Jane Pierce manuscript notebook and journal President Franklin Pierce:
$26500.00

Manuscript album amicorum and notebook of quotations and poetry transcribed by Jane Means Appleton Pierce (1806-1863), future First Lady of the United States, begun while studying at Miss Catherine Fiske's Young Ladies Seminary in Keene, New Hampshire in 1821, and continuing until the year prior to her marriage to future President Franklin Pierce in 1834.

156 pages, 103 with text, primarily in Pierce's hand, with various ephemeral material laid in, including a watercolor sketch, newspaper cuttings, a page of labeled plant pressings from Brunswick, Maine, and inserted sheets comprising an additional 11 pages of manuscript material. In worn marbled paper boards, with ownership signature of Pierce – as Jane M. Appleton – to front pastedown.

An extraordinary record of the reading and notes of future First Lady Jane Pierce while an adolescent and young woman prior to her marriage to Franklin Pierce, with recorded dates ranging between 1821-1833. The manuscript includes over 100 manuscript pages in Pierce's handwriting, including what may well be a small quantity of her original poetry. Composed largely of poetry and prose copied from books and contemporary periodicals, the present manuscript provides substantial insight into Pierce's education and intellectual life by providing a chronicle of her reading interests, especially her youthful focus on death and mortality, including a transcription of Susan Huntington's poem "On the Death of an Infant Son," a theme which would take on exceptional significance later in Pierce's life.

In addition to the material in Pierce's hand, the beginning of the notebook served as her album amicorum while a student at Miss Catherine Fiske's Young Ladies Seminary in Keene, New Hampshire, encompassing approximately 15 pages, and which includes a dedication from Eleanor Marion Kinzie, one of the first settlers of present-day Chicago, as well as an attractive floral watercolor from Salluca Abbott.

Among the roughly fifty poems that Pierce includes in the manuscript are six poems which may be her own compositions. This bookseller has been able to track and record all other pieces included in Pierce's hand, and a full itemized list of all pages with text in the journal is provided below.

1) Front pastedown, "Jane M. Appleton"
2) Laid in drawing in color, inscribed "Sallucia" on back
3) Copy of poem by Fitz-Greene Halleck, first line "The world is bright before thee" with added title "To My Friend"
4) Poem continues, signed Eleanor Kinzie, Keene, December 9, 1821, with "Detroit" written below in Pierce's hand (Eleanor Marion Kinzie, 1804-1860)
5) Copy of Stanzas by Thomas Moore Esq.
6) Moore copy continues, signed Anna Sophia, Keene, December 10, 1821
7) Possibly original poem "Friendship and Love" signed O. J. Hubbard, of Claremont, New Hampshire, Keene, Dec. 7, 1821
8) Lord Byron's "Good Night" (from Childe Harold)
9) Possibly original poem in same hand signed "GMS", with "Obit" in Pierce's later hand below
10) Poem, opening line "There is a love that lasts while", unattributed but written by J. H. Moss, signed Susan, with same "Obit" in Pierce's hand next to her name
11) Poem titled "To Jane", copy of Lord Byron's "She Walks in Beauty", unsigned but in different hand than any others, with same "Obit" next to her name
12) Possibly original poem titled "To my friend Jane", signed "from your sincere & affectionate friend A."
13) Beginning of poem "Recollections" by Bernard Barton in Pierce's hand
14-17) Inserted 4pp sheet of paper begins with quotation from Thomas Moore's "Lallah Rookh", followed by poem taken from the anonymous novel "Happiness; A Tale for the Grave and The Gay", followed by portion of poem "The Voice of Departed Friendship" by John Wilson", followed by portion of poem "The Dead Friend" by Robert Southey", followed by portion of poem "Weep Not For Those" by Thomas Moore, all in Pierce's hand
18) Copy of poem "The Advancing Christian in his Triumph" by John Greenleaf Adams in Pierce's hand
19) Poem continues, with additional paragraph inscription, signed S--a, Amherst, December 6, 1831, followed by a portion of "An Ode to Memory" by Henry Neel, signed S--a, Cincinnati, October 6, 1830
20) 8 line poem beginning "How rich are the spoils...", in Pierce's hand, possibly original, with no matching poem discovered
21) Copy of poem "Lines Written In An Album, At Malta" by Lord Byron, with decorative illustration at head, signed Frances Stone, Keene, March 20, 1822
22) Copy of poem "Love" by J. H. Moss, with title provided as "Song", followed by possibly original 8 line poem beginning "Tis friendship that can soothe the heart", in Pierce's hand
23) Copy of poem "On Music" by Thomas Moore
24) Copy of poem "Beauty" (commonly reprinted, but with no clear attribution), both poems in Pierce's hand, bottom 1" of page excised
25) Quote copied from an essay by James Beattie, followed by quote from essay by Robert Burns, followed by poem "Some Go to Church Just For a Walk" (commonly reprinted, but with no clear attribution), all in Pierce's hand, bottom 1" page excised
26) Copy of poem "The Evening Hour" by Mrs. Cornwell B. Wilson, in Pierce's hand
27) Copy of poem "To a Friend" by Mary Balfour, followed by copied commentary on poem "The Scholar's Funeral" by John Wilson, attributed to "Peter's letters", all in Pierce's hand
28) Possibly original poem titled "Christ Walking on the Sea", 18 lines, in Pierce's hand
29) Copy of portion of poem "Clio" by James Gates Percival, signed J. Gilbert, Keene, April 26, 1822
30) Possibly original 28 line poem "The Muse's Gift", in Pierce's hand
31) Possibly original 20 line poem "To E. - in affliction", in Pierce's hand
32) Copy of poem "The Chair of the Indian King" by Lydia Sigourney, in Pierce's hand
33) Sigourney poem continues, in Pierce's hand
34) Copy of passage from Walter Scott's Woodstock, followed by copy of prose fragment by Elizabeth Smith, followed by quotation from James Montgomery on Isaac Newton, all in Pierce's hand
35) Possibly original 20 line poem, in Pierce's hand
36) Pressed leaves, labeled "Brunswick weeds" in Pierce's hand
37) Copy of poem "Spring in Ravenna" by Leigh Hunt, in Pierce's hand
38) Copy of poem "Greek Authoresses" by Antipater, translator unknown, in Pierce's hand
39) Copy of poem "Oh! Fare thee well!" (likely spuriously) attributed to Lady Byron, in Pierce's hand
40) Copy of poem "The Birds of Passage" by Felicia Hemans, in Pierce's hand
41) Poem continues, in Pierce's hand
42) Copy of poem "The Gipsey's Prophecy" by Letitia Elizabeth Landon, in Pierce's hand
43) Poem continues, in Pierce's hand
44) Copy of poem "The Sunbeam" by Felicia Hemans, in Pierce's hand
45) Poem continues, with date of December 1828 at bottom of transcription, in Pierce's hand
46) Copy of poem "On the Death of an Infant Son" by Susan Huntington, in Pierce's hand
47) Passage from A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians by William Wilberforce, in Pierce's hand
48) Copy of poem "Robert Burns" by Allan Cunningham, signed Robert (or Roberts) at bottom
49) Copy of poem "Night-blowing Flowers" by Felicia Hemans, in Pierce's hand
50) Copy of poem "What is that, Mother?" by George Washington Doane, in Pierce's hand
51) Copy of poem "I Remember, I Remember" by Thomas Hood, in Pierce's hand
52) Copy of poem "The Spirit of Beauty" by Rufus Dawes, unknown hand, small portion of bottom margin clipped where inscription would be
53) Copy of poem "If Thou Hast Crushed a Flower" by Felicia Hemans, in Pierce's hand
54) Poem continues, in Pierce's hand
55-56) Inserted sheet of paper, 2 pages, first side with copy of poem "Farewell to thee, Araby's Daughter" by Thomas Moore, signed A Bxxxxxxx at bottom; reverse of inserted sheet with four line poem, signed Augusta, possibly original
57) Partial copy of poem "Dreams" by Frederic Stanhope Hill, in Pierce's hand
58) Copy of poem "Ginevra" by Samuel Rogers, in Pierce's hand
59) Poem continues, in Pierce's hand
60) Poem continues, followed by quote from short essay "Albano", author unknown, all in Pierce's hand
61-63) Inserted three page sheet, first page with copy of poem "Song" by William Cullen Bryant, second page with partial copy of poem "Six Songs of Love, Constancy, Romance, Inconstancy, Truth, and Marriage" by Letitia Elizabeth Landon; final page with copy of poem "I Do Not Love Thee" by Caroline Norton, all in Pierce's hand
64) Copy of poem "The Waterfall", translated from the Russian by John Bowring, in Pierce's hand
65) Copy of passage from Walter Scott's Peveril of the Peak, followed by passage from Lord Byron's journals, in Pierce's hand
66) Copy of passage from John C. Symmes paraphrasing of William Whiston on the theory of a hollow earth, followed by passage from the missionary William Milne on China, all in Pierce's hand
67) Partial copy of poem "Absalom" by Nathaniel Parker Willis, signed 'Roy' at bottom of transcription
68) Copy of passage from Remains of the Late Rev. Charles Wolfe, followed by brief quotation from Alexander Pope, in Pierce's hand
69) Copy of another passage from the same text, in Pierce's hand
70) Copy of passage from Charles Samuel Stewart's Journal of a residence in the Sandwich Islands, in Pierce's hand
71) Passage continuing through next page, in Pierce's hand
72) Partial copy of poem "A Birth Day Poem" by Charles Wolfe, in Pierce's hand
73) Poem continuing through next page, followed by further prose passage from same Wolfe text above, in Pierce's hand
74) Copy of poem "The Last Wish" by Felicia Hemans, in Pierce's hand
75) Poem continuing through next page, in Pierce's hand
76) Poem continuing through next page, in Pierce's hand
77) Copy of poem "On Hearing a Little Musical Box" by Leigh Hunt, in Pierce's hand
78) Poem continuing through next page, in Pierce's hand
79) Copy of passage from Essays in a Series of Letters to a Friend by John Foster, followed by second passage, in Pierce's hand
80) Passage continuing through next page, in Pierce's hand
81) Copy of poem "They Have Gone" attributed to A. 5., published in The Bower of Taste, followed by partial copy of poem "A Fragment" by Charles Pond, with date below of October 19, 1830, likely both a memorial, in Pierce's hand
82) Copy of poem "Fairy Favours" by Felicia Hemans, with additional quote by Hemans as epigraph, in Pierce's hand
83) Poem continuing through next page, in Pierce's hand
84) Copy of poem "The Two Homes" by Felicia Hemans, in Pierce's hand
85) Poem continuing through next page, dated April, 1831, in Pierce's hand
86) Copy of poem "Address to the Stars", author unknown, in Pierce's hand
87) Partial copy of poem "Sunday Evening" by John Bowring, followed by copy of poem "The Burial of Arnold" by Nathaniel Parker Willis, all in Pierce's hand
88) Willis poem continues, in Pierce's hand
89) Willis poem continues, with Amherst, Aug. 31. at base, in Pierce's hand
90) Copy of poem "Absent Friends" by Jocelin, in another hand, signed Jane
91) Copy of poem "The Child of Earth" by Caroline Norton, in Pierce's hand
92) Poem continuing through next page, in Pierce's hand
93) Poem continuing through next page, dated Amherst, Decr. 1833, in Pierce's hand
94) Copy of poem "Alice" by Lydia Sigourney, with preface copied from contemporary review, in Pierce's hand
95) Poem continues, in Pierce's hand
96) Poem continues, in Pierce's hand
97) Poem continues, in Pierce's hand
98) Copy of passage from Confessions of an English Opium-Eater by Thomas de Quincey, in Pierce's hand
99) Copy of poem "Why is My Spirit Sad?" by Henry Glassford Bell, in Pierce's hand, with Amherst, June 12, 1831 at bottom
100) Copy of passage "Burleigh and His Times" by Thomas Macaulay, in Pierce's hand
101) Copy of passage from essay "The Life of John Dryden" by Walter Scott, followed by copy of passage from Scott's essay on Henry Fielding, in Pierce's hand
102) Passage continuing through next page, in Pierce's hand
103) Copy of passage from essay "Chateaubriand" by Archibald Alison, in Pierce's hand
104) Copy of passage from Fragments in Prose and Verse by Elizabeth Smith, followed by a second passage, followed by a passage from Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent by Alexander Humboldt, in Pierce's hand
105) Copy of passage from Letters from Aegean by James Emerson, in Pierce's hand
106) Passage continues, in Pierce's hand
107) Partial copy of poem "Curiosity" by Charles Sprague, in Pierce's hand
108) Poem continues, followed by additional passage from same poem, in Pierce's hand
109) Copy of passage from Letters to the Young by Maria Jane Jewsbury, in Pierce's hand
110) Passage continues, followed by a second passage from the same, in Pierce's hand
111) Passage continues, in Pierce's hand
112-113) Inserted sheet of paper with copy of anonymous poem "A Bridal Serenade"; brief quotation from an extract of a letter published in Memoirs of the Late Mrs. Susan Huntington of Boston, Mass., in Pierce's hand
114) Rear free endpage, with four line quotation from poem "On the Death of a Youth" by Bernard Barton, with dates June 29, 1830 and June 29, 1831 to left margin

While similar notebooks for young women of this time period are not uncommon, one chronicling the young adulthood of a future First Lady is an exceptional rarity. The current manuscript is previously unknown to scholarship, and would provide substantial psychological, intellectual, and biographical background to the early life of one of the least studied First Ladies.