Missing words in 'Curiosities of Literature'

May 18, 2005 2:36 AM

I'm putting together an on-line version of an old book as a personal project, but in my copy of it a few words are illegible: I wonder is there anyone out there who owns a copy of the book in question—Isaac D’Israeli’s Curiosities of Literature—or a librarian who has access to a copy, who could help me fill in the blanks? I live in provincial Sweden, so my local library are unlikely to have what I need. Alternatively, if you know of another on-line forum (or newsgroup) where a question like this might be readily answered, then please point me in that direction.

Specifically, in the article entitled James I., there is a paragraph which begins with the sentence “His dispositions were, however, generally grave and studious.” There are two places in this paragraph where the text is illegible in my copy, which, if it helps, is a 1870s or ’80s Routledge single-volume edition. The sentence with the missing words follows below:

“While there was a chance,” writes the author of the dialogue of Noble Authors, “that the dyer’s […] Vorstius, might be divinity professor at Leyden, instead of being burnt, as his majesty hinted […] Christian prudence of the Dutch that he deserved to be, our ambassadors could not receive instructions, and consequently could not treat on any other business.

posted by misteraitch to grab bag (16 comments total)

Heh. I was trying to remember where i'd seen the name before and it turned out to be on your blog :)
posted by dhruva at 4:23 AM on May 18, 2005

It looks as though several hundred libraries in North America have copies of this book, including the Orange County Public Library system in Orlando, FL. That library offers a "reference chat" service that should "open" in about 30 minutes. You can also e-mail them the question. The Los Angeles Public Library also has several different editions.

Most of the other libraries that have this book are academic libraries, which often don't offer online reference services to the general public. If you want a list of other libraries that have this, let me know.
posted by arco at 6:26 AM on May 18, 2005

(Er...note that the OCPL "reference chat" service connects you with a librarian at one of many different libraries in Florida, not necessarily the OCPL. It is unlikely you'd get ahold of a librarian somewhere with a, easily-accessible copy of this book. You may be better off emailing both OCPL and LAPL with your question.)
posted by arco at 6:31 AM on May 18, 2005

Even in provincial Sweden you should be able to ask the library to get the book for you -- even if they don't have it, another library in Sweden might, and they will be able to procure it from there, just for you. Libraries are well-networked.

You can also get it cheaply through Abebooks.
posted by gentle at 7:55 AM on May 18, 2005

The cheapest price there is ten bucks, which isn't really that cheap for clearing up two small bits of text.
posted by languagehat at 8:10 AM on May 18, 2005

Yep. E-mail a librarian. If they won't give you an answer, e-mail me (I'm a librarian too) and I will get it for you when I'm on campus tomorrow.
posted by Hildago at 12:09 PM on May 18, 2005

arco—it looks like I’d need a local library card number to use those services, which is understandable enough. My only current library membership is here in Sweden.

gentle—you’re right that I shouldn’t have been so dismissive of the Swedish library system: this search shows me there are a half dozen copies of the ‘Curiosities’ in English in the country, albeit none in my area. I knew about the availabilty of the work via abebooks & may well order a second copy through them at some point, as I’m having to disassemble my current copy in order to get good flat scans of its pages.

Hidalgo—many thanks for your offer: if I have no luck via the Swedish libraries I will get in touch with you.
posted by misteraitch at 1:07 PM on May 18, 2005

It's already being put up, by Giornale Nuovo (i think it's the same, no?)
posted by amberglow at 1:15 PM on May 18, 2005

oh, that's you? : >
posted by amberglow at 1:15 PM on May 18, 2005

Where do you see that you need an LAPL card to email them a question? (I'm looking here.)
posted by arco at 1:32 PM on May 18, 2005

And a card is not necessary to send a question to OCPL, either, according to this form. You can leave the "card number" space blank.

Seriously, I'm sure librarians there would be more than happy to help. That's what we do for a living. You still might want to get a copy through your local library so you can see the page with your own eyes, but e-reference services handle these types of questions all the time.

Good luck!
posted by arco at 1:39 PM on May 18, 2005

Sorry, arco—I saw the card no. box on the Florida form and assumed that I’d need one, and then assumed the other one would be the same, thus bringing my tally of mistaken assumptions to at least three in this thread alone! I will e-mail some librarians today. My thanks to everyone for their help on this.
posted by misteraitch at 10:36 PM on May 18, 2005

amberglow—yes, that’s me!
posted by misteraitch at 10:37 PM on May 18, 2005

"While there was a chance," writes the author of the Catalogue of Noble Authors, "that the dyer's son, Vorstius, might be divinity-professor at Leyden, instead of being burnt, as his majesty hinted to the Christian prudence of the Dutch that he deserved to be, our ambassadors could not receive instructions, and consequently could not treat on any other business. The king, who did not resent the massacre at Amboyna, was on the point of breaking with the States for supporting a man who professed the heresies of Enjedius, Ostodorus, &c., points of extreme consequence to Great Britain! Sir Dudley Carleton was forced to threaten the Dutch, not only with the hatred of King James, but also with his pen."
posted by verstegan at 3:19 AM on May 19, 2005

verstegan—many thanks for helping me out; I am much obliged to you.
posted by misteraitch at 4:20 AM on May 19, 2005

While verstegan's answer was the most immediately helpful, I should also add that the 'e-mail a librarian' advice from arco, gentle & Hidalgo also provided me with an answer: I e-mailed two Swedish libraries with my query on the 19th, and one of them, a helpful chap at Norrköping, replied, at length taking a copy of the page in question and snail-mailing it to me: it arrived yesterday.
posted by misteraitch at 1:36 AM on May 24, 2005