Monthly Archives: March 2018

This poem caught my eye because most of the other poems in the book have more positive connotations, such as “Happiness”, “Friendship”, etc. However, this one is entitled “Against Love”, which I found to be interesting.

The poem begins by addressing Cupid, who is the Roman god of love. The speaker somewhat accuses Cupid of creating a false sense of happiness in those who have fallen in love, which in turn creates an unhappiness that is very much real– hence, his “cheating toys” (1).

Philips then describes people in love as Cupid’s objects. Even though they may love one another, their love is artificial. The speaker elaborates on this idea, suggesting they “give him power by their fear, / And make the shackles which they wear” (7-8).

The tone of the poem somewhat changes at this point. The speaker provides a solution to the toxicity of love, and that is to keep one’s heart to oneself instead of giving it away to a lover. The speaker suggests that when one is in love, they are driven by pleasure which in a sense ruin’s one life. However, if one remains independent they shall find peace, for “him whose heart is all his own / Peace and liberty does crown (11-12). Essentially, the speaker wishes to drive home the idea that there is peace in solitude, and one will never truly find peace with another human.

“Against Love” by Katherine Philips.

My project is on “Poems by the most deservedly Admired Mrs. Katherine Philips, The Matchless Orinda” from 1669. Katherine Philips (1632 – 1664) was one of the earliest well-known female poets in Britain, and it was quite rare for poems by a female author to be printed during this time. The book was printed by J.M. for H Herringham, a bookseller in London. It includes her poetry as well as her English translation of Corneille’s play “La Mort de Pompee”, which she has titled “Pompey: A Tragedy”. 

The title page of “Poems” by Katherine Philips.

In the inside cover of the book, there is a piece of paper glued onto the page that says “The Honourable G. J. W. A. Ellis”.

Inscription of “The Honourable G. J. W. A. Ellis”

On the following page, there is a written inscription that has the name Ellis once again, followed by the year 1810. Perhaps it once belonged to this person.

“Ellis, 1810” inscription

On another page, there is a faint inscription that reads “Maria Hill, 1757”. Perhaps it belonged to her before it belonged to the Ellis family.

“Maria Hill, 1757” inscription

It appears that UBC obtained the copy of this book on December 6, 1964 from a vendor titled “Dobell”. This brings us to now.

LC card with vendor information for the book of poems by Katherine Philips.

The binding of the book is the one thing that is not quite intact. There are no loose pages, which is quite impressive, however the outside of the spine is missing. This does, however, allow for us to look more closely at the binding of the book. It appears to be bound with 5 different pieces of string. It looks quite different from modern book binding.

Photo of exposed spine.

Side view of spine.

This copy of the book is in surprisingly good condition. Everything in the book is very legible. There is no marginalia apart from the inscription in the front of the book which outlines who it belonged to, which I have detailed in the post about previous owners. The most considerable damage to the book is to the spine. The outside of the spine is entirely missing, however, the book binding remains intact and there are no loose pages. The front and back covers of the book are intact as well. They are dark brown and look very old, with some tearing and discolouration. There is at least one page of the book that is patched with another piece of paper. This could have been to cover something up, but it is not clear. The pages are very yellowed, with some stains. I didn’t notice any tears or holes or significant damage to the pages.

Front cover of the book.

In one page, I noticed a rectangular piece of parchment that was about the same colour as the pages of the book. I am not sure how long it had been in the book, but it might have used as a bookmark. It looked quite old as well.

Loose piece of parchment in one of the pages.

Another point of interest I noticed was that the letter “f” is at times used in place of the letter “s”. It seemed its use was random, because the letter “s” was used at times and at other times not. However, with further research, I discovered that the tall “s”, or “f” is used at the start or middle of a word, while “s” is used at the end of a word or after a tall “s”. This was common in Old English.

Example of “f” used in place of “s”. Here, the “f” is used in the middle of the word, and the “s” is used at the end of the word.

There is only one image that makes an appearance in the book. It is inserted on the page directly before the title page. It is a drawing of what appears to be a sculpture of Katherine Philips, entitled “Orinda”. There is an inscription in the bottom right-hand corner of the image, where it states that the portrait is by William Faithorne.

The only image in the book of poems by Katherine Philips, which appears to depict a sculpture of her, entitled “Orinda”.

I can conclude that this copy of the book is very rare. I could not find any copies online for sale. However, I did find a few copies that are held in library collections or universities. There is a copy held in the rare books section of Newnham College library, which is outlined here: http://backfromthestacks.blogspot.ca/2012/05/katherine-philips-matchless-orinda.html, as well as a copy at the J. Willard Marriott library at the University of Utah, where they have made available a complete photo album of each page, as outlined here: https://collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=86856.

This book is a folio printing. The poems are numbered but the pages are not. Instead, a catchword is used at the bottom of each page that matches the first word of the following page. This was often used in books from this time period so that the bookbinder or printer could ensure the pages were bound or aligned in the press in the proper order.

Example of the word “upon” used as a catchword in the book.

Example of the word “upon” used as a catchword in the book.

Katherine’s poems were first printed in 1664, however, they were printed without her permission. This happened when a bookseller, Richard Marriott, obtained a copy of her manuscript and printed her poems. The first time her poems were printed with permission was in 1667. The 1669 version of this book appears to be a reprint of the 1667 version.