The Book is in the Mail!

A warm welcome to the garden at Dove's Cottage

A cozy corner for young visitors to the Museum

Modern artistic responses to Wordsworth’s writing and the surrounding area—a fascinating interaction between the old and the new.

Phoebe's Scrapbooks

Chris and I in front of Dove Cottage.

Most of this week was taken up with getting the typescript of my book printed out and sent to Ashgate Publishing.  But it is in the mail, and that will free me up for other research work—at least until the proof sheets come back.  I couldn’t be more grateful for the resources of the Library and for the support of both Jeff Cowton and Beccy Turner in helping me find what I needed for the final draft of the book.

I did read some fascinating letters this week—one written by Thomas DeQuincey introducing himself to William Wordsworth.  It’s three pages of praise for the poet leading up to a request that they might become friends.  Equally interesting is Wordsworth’s response, one that manages to encourage DeQuincey to visit sometime but that cautions that friendship is not something that one can promise but that will either grow from time—or won’t. This exchange was relatively early in Wordsworth’s career when one imagines he would have welcomed the accolades, but one can also see the measured reply that might have become even more necessary when his fame brought hundreds of visitors to the front door.

Friday when I went into the Library, I noticed a very large and old looking map lying at the end of the table.  I later learned that it was the first ordinance map of Grasmere—hand drawn on canvas in 1860.  The story goes that a local handyman had been working on a local house about 30 years ago and was instructed to burn things the owners didn’t want in the house.  This roll looked like a large window blind, and onto the fire it went.  But the next day, the worker went back and found the map partially unrolled and not burnt, fortunately.  He kept it in his barn and just this week brought it by to the Library for safe keeping.  It’s a remarkable document.  Such detail! The map runs from Dunmail Raise to Ambleside and is the size of a schoolroom wall map. Those who know the area better than I can note the changes in the area. 

Speaking of changes to the area, Chris and I went to see the current exhibition “Phoebe’s Scrapbooks: Stories of a Changing Grasmere.”  These scrapbooks were compiled by Phoebe Johnson from 1951 until 1976.  What struck me the most from reading some of the news clippings from the scrapbooks was the transition Grasmere went through from being a self-contained, self-sufficient village to a tourist destination.  One clipping told of some protesting housewives who complained that there were fewer and fewer shops that met the needs of local people as shops catering to tourists began to take over.  The difference between the list of shops in 1951 and today was really eye-opening.  One certainly can’t find a butcher or cobbler in the village now.  The other side effect of seeing this list was to make us grateful for the Co-operative grocery store in town!  If it weren’t for that little store, we realized, it would be extremely difficult for us to live here for six months without a car.  True, we do our large shopping in Windermere or Keswick and bring the bags back via bus.  But we do run out of things between trips, and it’s awfully handy to just walk across the field for a liter of milk or a box of cereal. The Co-Op, News Store, and Post Office do still meet the everyday needs of the locals, and it’s nice to stop into these stores and get a little taste of village life.

We also stopped by Dove Cottage.  It’s been about ten years since I went through the Cottage, and while I doubt much in the house has changed, my knowledge of Wordsworth has grown greatly since that first trip during my master’s program.  I was interested this time around to see the document from France for one of Wordsworth’s trips later in life and the marriage certificate between William and Mary Wordsworth.  It was a cold day, and the guides had good fires built in two of the fireplaces to help warm things up.  It’s easy to romanticize life in the late 18^th century until one stands in the children’s room above the cold storage space and realizes just how cold and dark life was on a regular basis.  It was good to see a few visitors taking advantage of the Museum and Cottage tour on such a drizzly day.