by Kelly Lee
This book in front of you is The Temple, a collection of religious poems by the renowned poet George Herbert.
This edition consists of three separate texts:
- The Temple. Sacred Poems And Private Ejaculations (by Mr George Herbert)
- The Synagogue: or, the Shadow of the Temple. Sacred Poems, And Private Ejaculations (in imitation of Mr George Herbert) (by Christopher Harvey)
- The Life of Mr. George Herbert (by Izaak Walton)
While The Synagogue being written in imitation of the deceased Herbert may seem odd, it was common back then, with the number of authors imitating a particular author being a metric for their popularity. It could also be to display appreciation for Herbert’s religious approach. This idea of imitation can be reflected in modern-day fanfiction, literary retellings and adaptations.
Ownership
One past owner, “Mary L. Dawson”, wrote her name on the title page. While we were unable to pinpoint the exact individual, this could give us valuable insight into how women engaged with faith and literature at a time when their role and access to such were limited.
Form
Looking at the book as an object/artefact, one eye-catching detail is the peek of orange from the pages. Although its bright orange shade looks modern, it is an old and common type of restoration for a torn page (before scotch tape). Melted wax was poured at the edge of the tear and patched up with an old page. The restoration can be estimated to be as old as the book as the scrap paper looks similar to the book’s pages.
Annotations
The reader’s underlines, curly brackets and marginal annotations are similar to modern-day annotations, revealing that personal engagement with texts may have remained largely unchanged over centuries. The book also has many poem-to-poem references, where the past reader links one poem to another in the book, noting down the title and page number of the corresponding poem. On the left page of the item, next to the title “Good Friday”, there is a curly bracket and the note “Sacrifice 18” – referring to the poem “Sacrifice” on page 18 of the book. This was likely due to their similar theme of sacrifice, with the suffering of Christ on Good Friday. Readers today, especially students and scholars, similarly make connections between texts.
Another type of annotation present is biblical verses, where the reader quotes scripture in relation to the poem. An example can be seen at the top right corner of the item for the poem “Good Friday”.
J 4 11 (John 4:11)
“Wearied with sin”
J 11:35 (John 11:35) “Jesus wept”
These again link to the poem’s focus on Christ’s suffering and sacrifice. Such annotations reveal how past readers may have linked scripture to literature, similar to how modern religious communities do in Bible study.
This item ultimately may offer us insight into how literature shaped devotion in the past—deepening faith through poetry and reflective reading.