MANUSCRIPT – EMBLEM BOOK Illustrated manuscript notebook, "Loves Emblems", [late...

MANUSCRIPT – EMBLEM BOOK
Illustrated manuscript notebook, "Loves Emblems", dating from the latter half of the seventeenth-century, illustrated with some 100 line drawings and densely written in ink recto and verso on ruled pages, beginning with the dedication "To all pious and vertuous widows" ("...the cause of my writing this was Love... Being by death deprived of what in my eyes was most Loveworthy to me in the world, and finding some relief in venting my grief and passion in this manner; I writ some few of these Emblemes, only in remembrance of my love... to ease my overburdend heart..."), followed by a preface "To the indifferent Reader", apologising for any errors ("...if you find repetitions, know it is because one and the same grief still troubles my heart... his memory still is loved, honored and esteemed, wherever he was known..."), continuing with four sections of her own verses, each emblem accompanied by a verse from the bible and a line drawing, the sections titled "Introduction" ("Love is strong as Death"); "The Motive" ("...think not this strange, for it is any wonder/ to find such pangs where hearts are split assunder..."); the main part entitled "Loves Emblemes The Season" ("...for all future days a constant Frost? Has nipd my budding hopes, my hopes are crost..."); a table of contents; and ending with "Heiroglyphicks" ("...My anxious soul can find no ease at all/ with fears and doubts my heart is so oppressed/ my task is great, but my endeavours small/ as is my power, Lord teach me what is best..."), the last spread illustrating the story of Doctor Peter du Moulin ("...he is author of that excellent book contentment of mind; which he write when he was king Charles 2nd's chaplain..."), c.107 numbered leaves, dust-staining, marks, some small tears, later quarter calf, marbled boards, worn, some loss to head of spine, 4to (202 x 160mm.), [late seventeenth-century]
'THE CAUSE OF MY WRITING THIS WAS LOVE': A poignant memorial from a widow to her lost love dedicated to 'all pious and vertuous widows'.

The author of this emblem book is unknown, but she explains in the preface that the omission of her name is deliberate: "...my knowledge of my works imperfection forceth me to conceal my name... yet it is impossible for me to conceal my love...". She notes that she spent "...six or seven weeks of single days in compyling it...". It takes the typical form of an emblem book, each spread comprising a charming and idiosyncratic line drawing in pen and ink, a motto taken from the bible and her accompanying text in the form of a verse inspired by that motto, in this case usually two pages in length. She may have been inspired by Francis Quarles' book Emblems, published in 1635.

The volume is a heartfelt, and by her own admission cathartic, outpouring of grief after the death of her beloved husband: "...This my grief hath no relenting, knows of no relief/ since I must live although my life begone/ the joys of all my wretched life in one/ were here confined...". Her utter despair and grief, which she admits is worse than the "...fires of hell...", emanates from every page ("...Nothing but death can ease my troubled soul/ Nothing but death can my just grief control..."). Within the framework of religious fervour, she speaks of sudden death ("...let him for death each single day prepare..."), and suffering ("...This sentence is pronounced to all/ that lead a life/ of Godliness, both great and small/ must suffer strife/ this suffering is so Generall/ both man and wife/ are Comprehended in this Lot,/ his suffrings must not be forgot/ who first to die for us refused not...").

The bookplate indicates that the volume was once in the collection of James John Forbes Leith (1780-1840) of Whitehaugh, Aberdeenshire, and his wife Williamina Helen Stewart Forbes Leith (1804-1866). He spent most of his career in India in the service of the Company and retired with the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1826. The Beinecke Library holds a manuscript volume of sentimental acrostic poems by the couple, dated 28 November 1827 (Osborn d225) and, in 1848, Williamina privately published Whitehaugh, a poem addressed to her eldest son after the death of his father. It may be that the author of our manuscript was an earlier member of the Forbes Leith family.

Provenance: Colonel & Mrs Forbes Leith, Whitehaugh (bookplate); purchased by book collector Alexander Macdonald (1910-1998, Professor of Bacteriology at Aberdeen Medical School); thence by descent.