{ "type": "FeatureCollection", "features": [ { "type":"Feature", "geometry":{ "type":"Point", "coordinates":[-0.127758,51.507351] }, "properties":{ "title": "A Journal of a short excursion from London through the province of Holland and part of Flanders to Paris with the adjacent country, and back to London between the 28 of August and 12 of October following in the year 1733", "creator": "Ward, John", "date": "1733 ca.", "description": "This manuscript is a hand-written copy of John Ward’s travel diary (ca. 1733) written during a trip in his later life. As a Fellow of the Royal Society and a Fellow of the Society of the Antiquaries, Ward would have been aware of the importance and social use of travel diaries, so it can be assumed that this copy was created to be shared by Ward with his close friends within these societies. Provenance notes allow us to trace former ownership of the diary to Gresham College in London, where Ward was a professor of rhetoric, and eventually to the British Museum/Library, although the precise timeline is unknown. In the diary there is a note in pencil stating that the handwriting found within is not Ward’s, which can lead us to assume that Ward employed a scribe to create this copy. The dated daily entries are reflective of modern diaries, however the straightforward manner in which Ward recounts his days and provides details, historical facts, and context for the sites he visits suggest that this journal could have been both for referential use and an audience of Ward’s upper-class male peers. ", "subject": "Belgium; Netherlands; France; travel", "location": "London, England", "latitude": "51.507351", "longitude": "-0.127758", "source": "https://catalog.libraries.psu.edu/catalog/12762261", "identifier": "RBM 9557 Mss. book 27/shelf GG", "format": "image/jpg", "language": "English", "rights": "public domain", "reference_url": "https://liveswrittenbyhand.github.io/digital-exhibition/item.html?id=lwh_100" } }, { "type":"Feature", "geometry":{ "type":"Point", "coordinates":[-0.127758,51.507351] }, "properties":{ "title": "Tour by the Rhine through Switzerland and part of France in the summer and autumn of 1818, by a Stranger, 1818 July 20-Autumn", "creator": "Anonymous", "date": "1818", "description": "Signed “by a Stranger”, this manuscript travel diary presumably belonged to a young man in England (ca. 1818), writing nearly a century after John Ward. The well-preserved leather cover and marbled end pages are evidence of a writer wealthy enough to purchase a notebook made of long-lasting materials, signaling that the author would most likely have been of the socioeconomic status that understood the value of recounting one’s travels in this form. Much like John Ward’s diary, this item also includes a title page and dated entries. Similarly, the author provides the reader with an extremely detailed account of the towns and historical sites they encounter throughout their travels, including an illustration of a bridge layout. Aside from the travel details such as lodging and travel prices, the author provides several pages of generalized practical advice for other travelers. These details, in addition to a preface in which the author states that the diary was written for their friends, demonstrate the practical and social uses of travel diaries in this period. ", "subject": "travel", "location": "London, England", "latitude": "51.507351", "longitude": "-0.127758", "source": "https://catalog.libraries.psu.edu/catalog/2202697", "identifier": "1984-0049R A-S Mss. book", "format": "image/jpg", "language": "English", "rights": "public domain", "reference_url": "https://liveswrittenbyhand.github.io/digital-exhibition/item.html?id=lwh_100" } }, { "type":"Feature", "geometry":{ "type":"Point", "coordinates":[-0.127758,51.507351] }, "properties":{ "title": "A short tour made in the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy one", "creator": "Seymore Percy, Elizabeth", "date": "1775", "description": "While the other two items in the selection were authored by men, this print book, published ca. 1775, was authored by the Duchess of Northumberland which provides a female perspective to travel writing. Lady Elizabeth was well known for her extensive travels in her later years after retiring from court, making her diary an interesting subject for publication. Penned directly after her departure from court in 1770, the title pages and dated entries resemble the other travel diaries in the selection. Similarly, Lady Elizabeth carefully recounts her days, providing details of historical sites, travel conditions, purchases, and the people she interacted with throughout her travels without offering self-reflective commentary. However, the print nature of this book suggests that there must have been a public audience for this diary, even if the membership of the audience is not as clear as the other two items. ", "subject": "Belgium; Holland; France; travel", "location": "London, England", "latitude": "51.507351", "longitude": "-0.127758", "source": "https://catalog.libraries.psu.edu/catalog/1077446", "identifier": "D917.N87", "format": "image/jpg", "language": "English", "rights": "public domain", "reference_url": "https://liveswrittenbyhand.github.io/digital-exhibition/item.html?id=lwh_100" } }, { "type":"Feature", "geometry":{ "type":"Point", "coordinates":[-2.072784,53.719028] }, "properties":{ "title": "The Holy Bible, containing the Old Testament from Kings II to Ezekiel, with manuscript notes and commentary by James Merrick", "creator": "Merrick, James", "date": "1740-1769", "description": "In the post-Reformation world of eighteenth-century England, people tended to have intense relationships with their Bibles. Christian readers were encouraged and taught to annotate their Bibles, whether through instructions printed in prefatory material or devotional guides. It is, then, not surprising that James Merrick, eighteenth-century poet and religious scholar, so extensively annotated his own Bible. However, what is most striking about this object is not necessarily Merrick’s detailed annotations but the unusual measures he took to make those annotations possible, leading to a text that appears materially strange. In an effort to provide himself with the space he needed to take notes on the scriptures, Merrick disassembled a printed vernacular Bible and tipped in, or pasted, its individual pages between a blank manuscript book’s leaves. In doing so, Merrick merged what were the two main vessels of writing: the printed and the manuscript pages. His interaction with the text is not just intellectual, as manifested in his handwritten annotations, but also physical, as readily apparent through this text’s altered material state. ", "subject": "Bible; annotation", "location": "Great Britain", "latitude": "53.719028", "longitude": "-2.072784", "source": "https://catalog.libraries.psu.edu/catalog/14744305", "identifier": "RBM 9557 MSS. BOOK 35|ZSHELF GG", "format": "image/jpg", "language": "English; Latin; Hebrew; Greek", "rights": "public domain", "reference_url": "https://liveswrittenbyhand.github.io/digital-exhibition/item.html?id=lwh_200" } }, { "type":"Feature", "geometry":{ "type":"Point", "coordinates":[-1.263460,51.753738] }, "properties":{ "title": "The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments, newly translated out of the original tongues and with the former translations diligently compared and revised: by His Majesty's special command, appointed to be read in churches", "creator": "Bye, Deodatus", "date": "1732", "description": "This early-eighteenth century Bible is contemporary to Merrick’s “Frankenstein” Bible and has been annotated in a similar fashion. Deodatus Bye (1744–1826), a printer primarily of religious tracts, provided extensive manuscript annotations alongside the printed text, once again merging materials and fostering space for personal interaction with the text. However, unlike Merrick, Bye opted to add manuscript leaves into his Bible rather than adding individual pages to a bound manuscript. Bye’s method of “interleaving” entailed inserting blank pages between printed pages, a process typically done by the printer. It is on these interleaved pages that Bye wrote his substantial notes on the scriptures. Yet, even within this format, Bye adds his own flair. On the tipped in page facing Chapter XLIX of Genesis, Bye has attached a loose manuscript sheet by pinning it to the page with a nail. Rather than disassembling his Bible, Bye has added to it, and these added materials stand as clear markers of Bye’s life and interaction with his Bible.", "subject": "Bible; annotation", "location": "Oxford, England", "latitude": "51.753738", "longitude": "-1.263460", "source": "https://catalog.libraries.psu.edu/catalog/321312", "identifier": "BS185 1732.O9 v.1", "format": "image/jpg", "language": "English; Latin", "rights": "public domain", "reference_url": "https://liveswrittenbyhand.github.io/digital-exhibition/item.html?id=lwh_200" } }, { "type":"Feature", "geometry":{ "type":"Point", "coordinates":[-0.127758,51.507351] }, "properties":{ "title": "Memoirs of the life of Robert Wilks, esq.: containing an account of his transactions before his coming to England, the rise of his reputation on the British stage, his adventures among the ladies, particularly his amours with Mrs. Rogers, Mrs. B-, an exact view of the principal parts he performed both in tragedy and comedy, the remarkable friendship between him and Mr. Farquhar, and other memorable circumstances of his life", "creator": "Wilks, Robert", "date": "1732", "description": "This item appears to be an anomaly in this selection of books—it is not a Bible nor is it annotated. In fact, it is a standard genre of life writing: the published memoir of early-eighteenth century actor, Robert Wilks (ca. 1665–1732). However, the material state of this memoir, much like the two Bibles, has been altered by a human agent through the method of extra-illustration. The process of extra-illustration was an intimate and expensive one: the extra-illustrator took apart a printed text, inserted prepared pages created out of engravings procured elsewhere, and then rebound the book. The added materials were often in conversation with the text on the facing page. Here, a “head,” or portrait, of Shakespeare has been added, responding to Wilks’s discussion of the bard. The art of extra-illustration, much like the Bibles, merges materials into a singular object and bears the insertion of the book owner. Life, here, is found not simply in Wilks’s writing but in the extra-illustrator’s labor—their presence lies in the alterations made to the text’s material state.", "subject": "memoir; theatre; actors; comedians", "location": "London, England", "latitude": "51.507351", "longitude": "-0.127758", "source": "https://catalog.libraries.psu.edu/catalog/24140195", "identifier": "PN2598.W54M4 1732", "format": "image/jpg", "language": "English", "rights": "public domain", "reference_url": "https://liveswrittenbyhand.github.io/digital-exhibition/item.html?id=lwh_200" } }, { "type":"Feature", "geometry":{ "type":"Point", "coordinates":[1.299350,52.628101] }, "properties":{ "title": "A Journal in Germany of 42 Days by a Youth of Between 15 and 16 Years of Age", "creator": "T.W.R.", "date": "1788-1801", "description": "Student travel from England to continental Europe flourished in the eighteenth century as part of the Grand Tour tradition, but near the end of the century, shorter trips became more accessible for middle and merchant class families and provided wider opportunities for adolescent life writing. One such example is this well-preserved manuscript diary A Journal in Germany, written by a 15-year-old boy from Norwich identified as T.W.R. Written in neat roundhand, T.W.R.’s journal appears to mimic the formatting and paratextual elements of print books, including an index of contents, catchwords, page numbers, and chapter title pages. While the journal may have been copied by a paid professional scribe, the manuscript’s imperfections and inconsistencies suggest the possibility that the diarist himself copied it out from an earlier, rougher version. T.W.R.’s manuscript not only attests to his graphic literacy, but also invites us to speculate about the role of material imitation and emulation in the development of one’s identity through life writing, particularly in adolescence. ", "subject": "travel; adolescent; poetry; Germany", "location": "Norwich, England", "latitude": "52.628101", "longitude": "1.299350", "source": "https://catalog.libraries.psu.edu/catalog/1436615", "identifier": "1995-0006R/A-S Mss.", "format": "image/jpg", "language": "English", "rights": "public domain", "reference_url": "https://liveswrittenbyhand.github.io/digital-exhibition/item.html?id=lwh_300" } }, { "type":"Feature", "geometry":{ "type":"Point", "coordinates":[-0.127758,51.507351] }, "properties":{ "title": "The Young Clerk's Assistant; or Penmanship Made Easy, Instructive, and Entertaining", "creator": "Leekey, William", "date": "1773 [bound 1774]", "description": "Young, eighteenth-century writers relied on copybooks to learn the embodied art of handwriting. These copybooks contained instructions on different hands (as pictured), and moral maxims and poems for students to replicate. A typical example of the genre, William Leekey’s The young clerks assistant gives both written and visual instruction for youth to improve their mechanical writing and drawing skills. In several places, the book’s owner has written or drawn in pencil alongside the examples. Pedagogical texts like this make clear the material connections between graphical proficiency and the articulation of one’s personal and moral sensibilities. As shown, Leekey’s copybook highlights the development of roundhand, intended as a highly practical alternative to the Italian (or Italic) hand; these two handwriting styles came to be highly gendered, marking handwriting as “masculine” (legible and businesslike) and “feminine” (florid and decorative), respectively. ", "subject": "copybook; penmanship", "location": "London, England", "latitude": "51.507351", "longitude": "-0.127758", "source": "https://catalog.libraries.psu.edu/catalog/3751742", "identifier": "Z43.L434 1774 c.1", "format": "image/jpg", "language": "English", "rights": "public domain", "reference_url": "https://liveswrittenbyhand.github.io/digital-exhibition/item.html?id=lwh_300" } }, { "type":"Feature", "geometry":{ "type":"Point", "coordinates":[-0.127758,51.507351] }, "properties":{ "title": "James Gooden diary, 1816-1820", "creator": "Gooden, James", "date": "1816-1820", "description": "Life writing in the long eighteenth century could be guided and structured by commercially available, pre-formatted diaries. This volume, a notebook that was printed and marketed as a “Student’s Journal,” contains the daily activities and reflections of James Gooden (1773-1851), an antiquarian celebrated in Romantic literary circles, in 1816. Like T.W.R.’s journal, this diary is furnished with an index at the front, although by the eighteenth century, the term index had largely shifted to meaning a table at the back of a book, following its contents. Gooden has filled out the index as one would a commonplace book index, listing alphabetical subject terms with corresponding page numbers, although the journal is structured around individual days rather than themed heads. Gooden’s diary and its index demonstrate how print journals encouraged their users to structure experiences and the variety of models that a student like T.W.R. would have had when organizing a blank notebook. ", "subject": "diary; commonplace book; index", "location": "London, England", "latitude": "51.507351", "longitude": "-0.127758", "source": "https://catalog.libraries.psu.edu/catalog/1821489", "identifier": "PS-V-MS-78 v.1", "format": "image/jpg", "language": "English", "rights": "public domain", "reference_url": "https://liveswrittenbyhand.github.io/digital-exhibition/item.html?id=lwh_300" } }, { "type":"Feature", "geometry":{ "type":"Point", "coordinates":[2.213749,46.227638] }, "properties":{ "title": "Travel journal and commonplace book, 1825-26, 1859", "creator": "G. F. B.", "date": "1825-1859 ca.", "description": "The letters “G. F. B.” embossed on the cover of this manuscript are the only clue to its author, an English woman–or perhaps two women, with distinct hands–who recorded the events of their travels abroad in Europe, copied the works of Romantic poets, and collected knitting patterns. The presence of dried floral specimens between the pages, as well as stains left by other pressings which have since been lost from the book, signal the author’s investment in botanical knowledge and plant collecting. An extensive list of the “language of flowers” copied into the manuscript suggests that the author understood plants as expressive agents: acacia signals “platonic love,” while columbine indicates “folly.” The botanical traces in this manuscript diary, both organic and written, produce an alternative definition of temporality that expands the definition of this text as “life-writing” to acknowledge the interspecies histories of the plants and the plant-picker.", "subject": "diary; commonplace book; travel; women writers", "location": "France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy; Great Britain", "latitude": "46.227638", "longitude": "2.213749", "source": "https://catalog.libraries.psu.edu/catalog/2205699", "identifier": "1985-0042R A-S Mss. book", "format": "image/jpg", "language": "English", "rights": "public domain", "reference_url": "https://liveswrittenbyhand.github.io/digital-exhibition/item.html?id=lwh_400" } }, { "type":"Feature", "geometry":{ "type":"Point", "coordinates":[-74.00859287101619,40.72785822157381] }, "properties":{ "title": "The language of flowers, poetically expressed: being a complete Flora's Album", "creator": "Adams, John Stowell", "date": "1847", "description": "This pocket-sized guidebook’s gilt cover details and edges anticipate the romanticist ethos expressed on the pages within, where author John Stowell Adams lists the “languages” spoken by different plant species. As an exemplary text of the many reference works published about plant languages on both sides of the Atlantic throughout the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, Adams’s book reflects the popularity of botanical symbolism that only grew with the development of the Romantic poetic tradition. Illustrations of flowers, hand-painted in bold colors, affirm the expressive power that Adams attributes to plants in his inventory of botanical languages: the dandelion, for example, hints at “coquetry,” while the aspen tree reflects “lamentation,” and saffron warns that “excess is dangerous.” One owner of this copy scribbled a note-to-self on the endpaper that tulips represent a “declaration of love,” perhaps anticipating their plans to make a special confession.", "subject": "botany; reference; poetry", "location": "New York, New York", "latitude": "40.72785822157381", "longitude": "-74.00859287101619", "source": "https://catalog.libraries.psu.edu/catalog/54749", "identifier": "PN6110.F6A42", "format": "image/jpg", "language": "English", "rights": "public domain", "reference_url": "https://liveswrittenbyhand.github.io/digital-exhibition/item.html?id=lwh_400" } }, { "type":"Feature", "geometry":{ "type":"Point", "coordinates":[-73.458661201537,41.394552370836514] }, "properties":{ "title": "The mental flower-garden, or, Instructive and entertaining companion for the fair-sex: containing a variety of elegant poetical pieces, pleasing and admonitory letter, cards of compliment, devotional poems, dialogues, writing pieces, English grammar in verse, and some sketches of female biography, to which is added, a short but sure guide to an accurate pronunciation (which may save some young ladies a blush in company)", "creator": "Fraser, Donald", "date": "1800", "description": "The provocative gardening metaphor in the title of this small book captures the dynamic relationship between women’s mental cultivation and botanical knowledge, an association observed also in the manuscript diary and the guidebook to flower languages. Approaching the female mind as a fertile plot of land, this heavily worn and re-bound “companion for the fair-sex” offers assorted poems, grammatical exercises, and historical lessons to be planted in that metaphorical soil of the mind. This compilation of educational material is not unlike the selection of copied passages, knitting patterns, and historical clippings in G. F. B.’s handwritten journal. Both texts are examples of “mental flower-gardens,” but in the manuscript diary, the metaphorical “flowers” are joined by organic ones.", "subject": "reference; poetry; women writers; female conduct; print miscellany", "location": "Danbury, Connecticut", "latitude": "41.394552370836514", "longitude": "-73.458661201537", "source": "https://catalog.libraries.psu.edu/catalog/1532539", "identifier": "BJ1681.F6", "format": "image/jpg", "language": "English", "rights": "public domain", "reference_url": "https://liveswrittenbyhand.github.io/digital-exhibition/item.html?id=lwh_400" } }, { "type":"Feature", "geometry":{ "type":"Point", "coordinates":[-0.09222050781727989,51.474231999462425] }, "properties":{ "title": "Cookbook compiled in Camberwell, Surrey", "creator": "Anonymous", "date": "1770-1846", "description": "Various hands developed the Camberwell, Surrey Cookbook, though their authorship remains ambiguous. The only explicit evidence of provenance comes from “Browne, 1827,” whose name is inscribed on the front pastedown. This cookbook contains recipes for British cuisine and home remedies. It compiles communal knowledge by including unpublished recipes and borrowing from published sources such as Mrs. Glasse’s Cookery (1758). One possible recipe is “To Make a Mock Turtle,” although directions and ingredients differ; perhaps the writer adapted Glasse’s recipe to fit their needs. Writers would record the recipes most valuable to their households and provide attributions when applicable. “To [h]ot Lobsters” is “Mrs Ryders receipt”; however, attributions did not indicate the originator of the recipe, only the person from whom the writer received it. Unlike its contemporary counterpart, this cookbook was written in narrative form. Recipes were brief and suggestive, used as memory aids rather than instruction manuals. They often called for “you” to customize based on available ingredients and preferences, prompting the user to apply their judgment, thus transforming another’s recipe into their own.", "subject": "cookbook", "location": "Camberwell, Surrey", "latitude": "51.474231999462425", "longitude": "-0.09222050781727989", "source": "https://catalog.libraries.psu.edu/catalog/29316511", "identifier": "TX705.C66 1770\t", "type": "receipt book", "format": "image/jpg", "language": "English", "rights": "public domain", "reference_url": "https://liveswrittenbyhand.github.io/digital-exhibition/item.html?id=lwh_500" } }, { "type":"Feature", "geometry":{ "type":"Point", "coordinates":[-4.423933138408696,57.0785551845007] }, "properties":{ "title": "A receipt book, or, The fruits of a young woman’s spare hours", "creator": "Barclay, Christian", "date": "1697-1740", "description": "This manuscript highlights the individualized nature of recipe books as seen in the Camberwell, Surrey Cookbook. Bound in vellum and blind-tooled with the author’s initials, “CB,” Christian Barclay’s receipt book was a labor of love. Christian (active 1697-1740) included a miscellany of recipes for cooking, home remedies, and cloth dying. She wrote in an italic hand that emphasized legibility, suggesting Christian’s desire for her work to be used by others. Christian includes notations such as on page 27 where she underlines twice “for weakly” in her recipe “Ointment for weakly Children,” signaling her value for this recipe and return to its memory prompts. Much of the book shows Christian’s playful personality, though none as much as her title pages. Notice how she designs her recipe book with mesmerizing doodles and the expressive flourishes each time she writes her name, all indicative of the pleasures she experienced during her spare hours.", "subject": "cookbook; medicine; formulae; prescriptions", "location": "Scotland, Great Britain", "latitude": "57.0785551845007", "longitude": "-4.423933138408696", "source": "https://catalog.libraries.psu.edu/catalog/31201659", "identifier": "02495 box01 VAULT/T/17.4 bound in Robert Barclay of Ury family papers and maps, 1685-1835 Barclay, Christian, active 1697-1740. 1685\t", "type": "receipt book", "format": "image/jpg", "language": "English", "rights": "public domain", "reference_url": "https://liveswrittenbyhand.github.io/digital-exhibition/item.html?id=lwh_500" } }, { "type":"Feature", "geometry":{ "type":"Point", "coordinates":[13.212389917179193,51.04733625131302] }, "properties":{ "title": "Album amicorum of J.C. Stützing", "creator": "Stützing, J.C.", "date": "1780-1800", "description": "The function of album amicorums can be compared to recipe books in that both are developed based on one’s social interactions and exchanges. J.C. Stützing’s Album Amicorum (active 1780-1800) was part of a popular eighteenth-century tradition that conveyed the intimacy of friendships. Similar to recipe book attributions, friends would contribute their signatures to each other’s albums as evidence of their enduring relationship. Indicated by the 195 entries in his album, such as “Mons. Villaret” and “Past. Schrader,” Stützing was loved by many. While most album amicorums were pocket-sized or repurposed commonplace books, Stützing used an oblong book with a horizontal orientation. This format was almost exclusively used for writing music and practicing penmanship, thus elevating Stützing’s album amicorum as a unique object in the tradition of forming social networks. Stützing’s album includes portrait silhouettes embedded with trompe l’oeil that detail individual strands of hair and various fabrics, effectively giving life to the communities he engaged with.", "subject": "album amicorum; autograph album; friendship album", "location": "Saxony, Germany", "latitude": "51.04733625131302", "longitude": "13.212389917179193", "source": "https://catalog.libraries.psu.edu/catalog/30572786", "identifier": "Z42.4.G47S78 1780\t", "type": "friendship album", "format": "image/jpg", "language": "German; French; Latin; Hebrew", "rights": "public domain", "reference_url": "https://liveswrittenbyhand.github.io/digital-exhibition/item.html?id=lwh_500" } }, { "type":"Feature", "geometry":{ "type":"Point", "coordinates":[-75.16776842235492,39.959613520967174] }, "properties":{ "title": "History of the Captivity and Sufferings of Maria Martin", "creator": "Maria Martin", "date": "1811", "description": "The captivity narrative of Maria Martin details her experiences as a white slave, which she became after being captured by North African pirates. Martin’s text is more than an account of her experiences, but reveals what she learns about Algiers. The narrative is organized in a fashion where the description is shared first, and her personal narrative follows, both sections clearly labeled suggesting that Martin deemed her account of the “Algerines” essential context to her treatment. The novel is small, roughly 6 by 4 inches, 100 pages, suggesting that the book was meant to be carried closely and read easily in different settings. The frontispiece engraving depicts a naked Maria in her prison cell, with her wrists in chains and a baleful expression on her face. Making an emotional impact, the frontispiece fosters dialogue and promotes understanding of the inhumane political and economic practices of slavery in a broader cultural historical context. Even as a putatively fictional representation of life writing, the narrative speaks to the importance of memory preservation; specifically, the narrative prioritizes the memory of Martin and her experiences as a slave.", "subject": "captivity narrative; Maria Martin; enslaved persons", "location": "Philadelphia, PA", "latitude": "39.959613520967174", "longitude": "-75.16776842235492", "source": "https://catalog.libraries.psu.edu/catalog/4166792", "identifier": "DT279.M35 1811", "format": "image/jpg", "language": "English", "rights": "public domain", "reference_url": "https://liveswrittenbyhand.github.io/digital-exhibition/item.html?id=lwh_700" } }, { "type":"Feature", "geometry":{ "type":"Point", "coordinates":[-0.127758,51.507351] }, "properties":{ "title": "A Short Account of that Part of Africa, inhabited by the negroes", "creator": "Anthony Benezet", "date": "1762", "description": "The account that Anthony Benezet (1713-1784) provides of Algiers focuses on its fertility, the disposition of its natives and the function of the slave trade within it. Benezet’s book, published half a century before Martin’s text, consists of information he extracted from several authors to suggest the inequities of the slave trade despite urgent attempts to validate the practice. This communal aspect of Benezet’s text suggests that eighteenth-century European and American audiences perceived African slavery with some opposition. One of the notable features of this copy of Benezet’s text is its marbled paper covered boards. Marbling, a decorative technique, added elegance and sophistication to books during the eighteenth century. Its quarter binding, a cheaper alternative to full leather binding, the cover reveals the time period's aesthetic tastes in book design. The eighteenth century saw the peak of the transatlantic slave trade, suggesting Benezet meant for his text to prompt further consideration of the institution of slavery, although the abolishment of slavery would not happen until the nineteenth century.", "subject": "slave trade; Africa; enslaved persons; religious life; antislavery movements", "location": "London, England", "latitude": "51.507351", "longitude": "-0.127758", "source": "https://catalog.libraries.psu.edu/catalog/14040322", "identifier": "HT1321.B4 1768", "format": "image/jpeg", "language": "English", "rights": "public domain", "reference_url": "https://liveswrittenbyhand.github.io/digital-exhibition/item.html?id=lwh_700" } }, { "type":"Feature", "geometry":{ "type":"Point", "coordinates":[-0.127758,51.507351] }, "properties":{ "title": "Algiers: Being a Complete Picture of the Barbary States", "creator": "G.A. Jackson", "date": "1817", "description": "G.A. Jackson’s account assesses the country of Algiers in a cohesive fashion detailing the country’s government, laws, religion, and production. It also focuses on the country’s relationship to European states, specifically focusing on the various attacks European states imposed on Algiers. The foldout frontispiece features a printed illustration of a map displaying the Barbary states and their relationship to one another. This feature is essential as it puts in visual and spatial perspective the proximity of these states to one another while including the Atlantic Ocean, which separates North Africa from Europe. The account also features 9 hand-colored plates, powerful in their detail of the customs and particular style, of the North Africans. Jackson’s account sits over 350 pages but organized in clear sections, provides a clear understanding of the Barbary states essential to an understanding of the transatlantic slave trade in the eighteenth century while also providing contextual information, such as Algerian participation in piracy and European (Christian) slavery. The book is essential to further contextualizing Martin’s narrative.", "subject": "Algiers; non-fiction; Africa; North Africa", "location": "London, England", "latitude": "51.507351", "longitude": "-0.127758", "source": "https://catalog.libraries.psu.edu/catalog/1419266", "identifier": "DT49.L3", "format": "image/jpg", "language": "English", "rights": "public domain", "reference_url": "https://liveswrittenbyhand.github.io/digital-exhibition/item.html?id=lwh_700" } }, { "type":"Feature", "geometry":{ "type":"Point", "coordinates":[-0.127758,51.507351] }, "properties":{ "title": "The Promised Justification in Number IV. Volume II. of the Apology", "creator": "Phillips, Teresia Constantia", "date": "1749", "description": "The Promised Justification in number IV. volume II. of the Apology, was written in 1749 by Teresia Constantia Phillips, to justify her (as regarded at the time) scandalous relationships with various men. The book was written during a precarious time in Phillips’ life, which saw her in a years-long public legal battle with her husband. The memoir was published with the intention of generating controversy and becoming a source of income and independence for Phillips, who was plagued by debt for much of her life. Phillips experienced difficulties in finding publishers and booksellers willing to distribute her book, so she paid to have the books printed in separate volumes, hoping that each new volume would create more controversy and sell more copies than the last. She elected to sell the book from her own home, and all copies were autographed by her to discourage pirating. This somewhat unorthodox method of distribution added several more layers of intimacy and personal connection to the reading experience for her audience.", "subject": "memoir; history of sex work; courtesans in history; women writers", "location": "London, England", "latitude": "51.507351", "longitude": "-0.127758", "source": "https://catalog.libraries.psu.edu/catalog/37402674", "identifier": "CT788.P55A3 1749.", "format": "image/jpeg", "rights": "public domain", "reference_url": "https://liveswrittenbyhand.github.io/digital-exhibition/item.html?id=lwh_800" } }, { "type":"Feature", "geometry":{ "type":"Point", "coordinates":[-0.10549456674190738,51.527289477781295] }, "properties":{ "title": "The Memoirs of Mrs. Sophia Baddeley: late of Drury Lane Theatre", "creator": "Steele, Elizabeth", "date": "1787", "description": "The Memoirs of Mrs. Sophia Baddeley tells the story of Sophia Baddley (1745 – 1786), a prominent figure and courtesan in 18th-century British society. Baddeley, a prominent actress, was famous for both her beauty and her vanity. Like Teresia Phillips, her excessively extravagant lifestyle led her to debt, and she resorted to acting as a courtesan to several wealthy, influential men to make ends meet. This book is part of a three-volume series and was written by her companion, Elizabeth Steele (1740 – 1787). Steele’s creative take on life writing satirically sentimentalizes Baddeley’s life, parodying the sentimental novels that were growing in popularity in the late 18th century. In addition to the various men discussed in the memoir, the relationship between Baddeley and Steele, while slightly ambiguous, suggests a lesbian relationship between the two, making this memoir an important artifact for the study of queer literature and history.", "subject": "memoir; history of sex work; courtesans in history; women writers", "location": "Clerkenwell, England", "latitude": "51.527289477781295", "longitude": "-0.10549456674190738", "source": "https://catalog.libraries.psu.edu/catalog/39329359", "identifier": "PN2598.B2S8 1787 v.1/2; PN2598.B2S8 1787 v.3/4; PN2598.B2S8 1787 v.5/6", "format": "image/jpeg", "rights": "public domain", "reference_url": "https://liveswrittenbyhand.github.io/digital-exhibition/item.html?id=lwh_800" } }, { "type":"Feature", "geometry":{ "type":"Point", "coordinates":[-0.127758,51.507351] }, "properties":{ "title": "Memoirs of Harriette Wilson, written by herself", "creator": "Wilson, Harriette", "date": "1839", "description": "Born in London to a prominent family, Harriette Wilson (1786 – 1845) become a renowned courtesan and mistresses to various dukes and viscounts, a career she began at fifteen years of age. Her memoir is known for its incredible attention to detail in recreating conversations that she witnessed in her salon. Wilson’s memoir is an important literary artifact because of the “importance” of the men discussed and the clever observations that Wilson makes about her clientele and situation. Wilson’s memoir is notable in the study of life writing not only because of her stylistic choices, but also because of the various copywrite and civil obscenity lawsuits that Wilson faced after it was published. Like Phillips, Wilson originally published her memoir in installments, hoping to capitalize on her connections and notoriety. Unlike Phillips and Steele’s books, however, Wilson’s volumes have been successfully assembled into one compilation, with important scenes illustrated with engravings.", "subject": "memoir; history of sex work; courtesans in history; women writers", "location": "London, England", "latitude": "51.507351", "longitude": "-0.127758", "source": "https://catalog.libraries.psu.edu/catalog/32182997", "identifier": "DA536.W7A3 1839", "format": "image/jpeg", "rights": "public domain", "reference_url": "https://liveswrittenbyhand.github.io/digital-exhibition/item.html?id=lwh_800" } } ] }