Period Books

[County Militia]

Greetings!

I searched for this topic, but no results came up. My apologies if this is a duplicate thread, or if it has been placed in the wrong section. :)


Do any of you know of the books that the soldier's read? Does anyone know of a list of popular soldier books?


We know that the ancient Roman and Greek works were somewhat popular among the men, and so were miliatry instruction manuals such as Hardee's Tactics and Casey's. And, of course, the Bible was by far the most read item.

But what about poetry and general stories?

I recently purchased a period-like bound book of assorted poems and short stories by Edgar Allen Poe. The book's only the size of my hand, so it's handy to keep in my coat pocket, or in my haversack. I find his stories are a good read during the non battle and drill lulls.


So, what were some of the more popular books read by the soldiers? Do you take along period books to events? If so, what do you take along?

[Jonah Barleycorn]

Re: Period Books

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthrone, and Herman Melville are among several well-known and well-read contemporary writers of the time (just to name a few) that run the gamut from poetry and prose to philosophy.

However, on the other side of the coin if you are portraying the average soldier, dime novels and illustrated weeklys would be an excellant choice to procure--since these paper-bounds were cheap, readily available to the masses, and for the volunteer soldier available via the sutler.

Bound books were not as readily accessable to the general masses as they are today. Pertaining to the time period, they were still quite a luxury item, reserved for the privileged and well-to-do. Hence, you see many writers like those already alluded to publishing poetry and proses, as well as novels by-the-chapter in newspapers and the like, in order to gain a wider audience.

You may want to check out the following places to gather some period literature you can take on campaign:

www.sullivanpress.com Bob Sullivan has some excellant dime novels of the day, and very good reproductions at that.

www.harpersweekly.com Apple Wood Book's has hundreds of issues of Harper's Weekly, reproduced word for word.

Hope this helps...


By the by, A great first-person idea is to get a group of your pards together and read to them, or have one of your officers read to the company. Try it out sometime.



Bully,

[Eric Burke]

Re: Period Books

I believe this is what you're looking for, pard:

http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?t=331

[markj]

Re: Period Books

Hi,

The short answer is that troops read most anything they could get their hands on:

"Literature with us is not of a very high standard. Soldier’s itinerate from camp to camp laden with baskets of books—‘yaller kivered,’ mostly. There is a copy of ‘Lallah Rook,’ and three or four of Dickens’ stories, in our Company. The St. Louis dailies are sold in camp every evening after the arrival of the cars. Stray copies of the Pictorials find their way into camp occasionally and once in a while we are favored with a copy of the Rochester [Indiana] papers; but their visits are like unto those attributed to angels."

(First Sergeant Archibald McDonald, Company A, 26th Indiana Volunteer Infantry in a 17 January 1862 letter to the Rochester IN "Weekly Sentinel")

Here are some quick notes about the above-mentioned works:

British poet Thomas Moore (1779-1852), originally published his epic poem, "Lallah Rookh, An Oriental Romance," in 1817. Moore's narrative, about the Eastern princess Vina, and the journey she takes to meet her future husband, was quite popular with American readers and was frequently reprinted throughout the Nineteenth Century. Indeed, this writer has noted no less than three different soldier diaries whose authors specifically mention having read Lallah Rookh. Moore's "oriental romance" so enamored the reading public that watercraft, race horses, and even a mixed drink (!) were named Lallah Rookh. A portion of Moore's poem can be seen at the University of Toronto "Representative Poetry On-Line": http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/...ms/moore4.html. Nineteenth Century copies of Lallah Rookh are regularly encountered on Ebay® for reasonable prices—this writer obtained an 1850’s copy via Ebay® for only a few dollars.
"Dickens' stories" presumably referred to such popular works by Charles Dickens as Oliver Twist (first appeared in serial form, 1837-1839), David Copperfield (serialized 1849-1850), A Tale of Two Cities (serialized 1858-1859), and possibly even Great Expectations (serialized 1860-1861). See "David Perdue's Charles Dickens Page" which addresses Dickens' life and writings in exhaustive detail: http://www.fidnet.com/~dap1955/dickens/

For his part Lieutenant Thomas Hart Benton McCain, Company I, 86th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, notes in his published diary that he was not averse to scrounging through deserted houses for reading material. McCain mentions also perusing "Lallah Rookh," a book on phrenology, and even old issues of "The Ladies' Repository."

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[Cracker Line]

Re: Period Books

I found out that a very common book(s) here in NE Florida in the 1850's was McCauly's (need to check my spelling with that) "History of England." Since for civilian I do an upper middle class impression I would have had access to these books, and I managed to buy volumes 1 & 2, both a matching set and dated 1848. They're both 1st editions. They're in pretty good condition, but does have some wear to them. I carry them when I do civilian, but as for military, I don't like to carry books on campaign. Not worth the weight when I have many pards who are great in firpir.

Cheers,
Adam Cripps