Rosalie. WITH 2 letters, one by Thomas Jefferson (a fair copy in someone else's hand).
Scarce
Johnson, Palmira. Rosalie, a Tale. New-York: Printed and Published by G. Long, No. 71 Pearl Street, 1821.
12mo.; scattered foxing throughout; lower right corner of title page torn; disbound wrappers, repaired with tape. In a specially made cloth slipcase.
Together with:
Three transcriptions of autograph letters regarding Rosalie, presumably copied from the originals by Johnson. One is addressed to her from Dr. Samuel Latham Mitchill, and written in the third person, suggesting he had a secretary write it for him. The other two letters are written by Thomas Jefferson, also regarding Rosalie. The Jefferson transcriptions are written on the recto and verso of a single leaf; one letter is dated Dec. 30, 1820 – which is incongruous with the 1821 publication date of Rosalie – and the other is dated September 23, 1823.
First edition of this epic poem, annotated on the title page below Johnson’s name, reading “or Mrs. Macneven,” and one penciled annotation on page 9, noting, “Newton wrote in Latin,” and two pencil ticks on pages 10 and 36. Mrs. Macneven might have been Jane Margaret Riker Tom, who married William Macneven, a physician and professor of obstetrics at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, and an Irish-American nationalist. Macneven and Mitchill, along with a group of physicians, founded the Rutgers Medical College of New Jersey in 1826. Mitchill acted as vice president from 1826 to 1830, when the school closed. Mitchill was a Jeffersonian Republican who helped to bring about naval reforms, and served on the House of Representatives from 1801 to 1804 and from 1810 to 1813. Jefferson gave him the sobriquet, “Congressional Dictionary” in honor of his political expertise. Research turns up nothing on Johnson, though she probably lived on Long Island and was friends with Dr. Mitchill; in spite of the “Macneven” signature below her name on the title nothing turns up that suggests “Palmira Johnson” was a pseudonym for Macneven. It is clear that Johnson, the Macnevens, Doctor Mitchill and Thomas Jefferson were loosely acquainted.
Divided into five sections, titled: “Song,” Stanza I,” “Stanza II,” “Constance,” and “The Funeral.” OCLC locates one copy, perhaps a mimeograph, at an undisclosed location.
In her Dedication, Johnson writes, “In the lively sense that I have been taught to cherish for thy talents and virtues, permit me Sir, to dedicate to thee this small work,” and she further offers: “May health, ease, and happiness attend age; as the setting Sun, thou wilt descend to they grave, with they honors, as a glory, beaming around they head; and thy memory will be deeply engraven on the hearts of thy grateful Countrymen, never to be obliterated, but by the tear of expiring Liberty.” Jefferson died in 1826.
Rosalie is an epic poem about the area surrounding Hell-gate, Hallet’s point, and Ward’s Island bordering Manhattan; Johnson describes nature and greenery that are extinct in those East River landmarks today. She writes: “For now the dangerous pass appears, where, once beneath a woody wild, a smooth worn Indian path-way smiled; when nought was heard but chieftain’s sing, Or, murmuring of the wave along, Of stream that did but just divide/The islet from the Island’s side” (p. 11). A footnote at the bottom of this page explains, “From an ancient tradition the Indians state, that where Hell-gate now pours along its immense and rapid current, they could without difficulty pass on foot (particularly at low water) from Hallet’s point to Ward’s Island, amid a deep embowering shade – and that the spirit of the waters with a mighty noise had effected the change” (p. 11).
The first of Jefferson’s two transcribed letters appears to have been forwarded to Johnson, as it is addressed to “the printer of Rosalie.” His second letter seems to have been in response to one that she wrote to him. In the first letter, Jefferson reveals that he,
read it with great pleasure a
Print Inquire