MANUSCRIPTS: Manuscripts and Typescripts: Doll Stories.
When er are tired and need to rest,
This is the way that we like best;
To sit down in an easy chair,
And read the book we both can share.
-Eva Louise Liddell
Liddell, E[va] Louise. Manuscript Archive. 1891-1905
105 typescript and typescript carbon leaves; variously brittle, foxed, offset, or creased; occasional photographs. In a specially made cloth slipcase.
An archive of working typescripts and typescript carbons composed by Liddell between 1891 and 1905:
• Wee Ones in Wonderland, original typescript, annotated, children’s poetry, 29 leaves
• The Book of Rhymes, original typescript, annotated, children’s poetry (the last poem, “The Elves’ Frolic,” is attributed to Henry Greatham Liddell), 37 leaves, loosely inserted into a brown envelope for Good Housekeeping, and labeled “copies…”
• Daphne, a Mountain Goddess, typescript carbon, annotated, story, 12 leaves
• Daphne, a Romance of the Rookies, typescript carbon, annotated, story, 27 leaves
With Liddell’s penciled emendations throughout, the most significant being found in the two poetry collections. On the verso of one poem for Rhymes she writes out several new verses in pencil; on other poems, she contributes new or alternate language in the margins. On the title page for Wee Ones, Liddell notes, “A temporary title.” In addition to textual changes, Liddell names the various publications in which her poems originally appeared; and she makes notes for accompanying photographs and illustrations. One of the most poignant of these appears in Rhymes for the poem “Little Grace Goes A-Shopping,” where Liddell has added, in type, “This was illustrated by a photograph of a little girl, and a tail-piece in line drawing showing her in a toy express wagon, being pulled by a boy. I have the photo. She really lived at 44 Chester.” This is in response to the last verse of the poem, which reads: “And O, what a pickle!/Not even a nickel/For car-fare had this little maiden;/so the shopman expressed her/To forty-four Chester,/with bundles and budgets well laden.”
In the poetry typescripts – especially in Rhymes – Liddell, in some instances, pins two leaves of paper together; or pastes extra paper to the end of a leaf, in order to complete a poem on a single leaf of paper; or adds verses and makes changes on the versos. She also affixes seven photographs of children on pages of Wee Ones to illustrate the themes of those specific poems; these models remain, however, unidentified.
Liddell includes a “Contents” page with Rhymes, which lists the titles and intended order of 45 poems. The poems that follow, however, are not in her suggested order, and not all of the poems listed in the “Contents” are present in the collection. Many of the same poems appear in both Wee Ones and Rhymes; in some instances, Liddell alters the titles and changes words in the poems. In Wee Ones, for example, the poem titled “The Story of Double Buttercup” begins, “Pretty, single buttercup…” but in Rhymes, the same poem is titled “The Evolution of Buttercup” and starts, “Pretty, winsome buttercup…” Similarly, in “The Runaway Doll,” (Wee Ones), the doll is described as holding “her head uncommonly high,” but in “The Fearful Fate of the Disdainful Doll,” (Rhymes) the same is held “prodigiously high.” There are several examples of changes like these throughout (see following page: a list of the order and the content of both poetry collections).
The poems in this collection that Liddell indicates as having been published are: “Wee Ones in Wonderland” (The Designer); “The Runaway Doll” (Youth’s Companion); “Little Grace Goes A-Shopping” (Frank Leslie’s Pleasant Hours); “The Spring Maiden” (The Outlook); “The Fate of Snowflake” (The Outlook); “A Lay of Snowflakes” (N.Y. Observer); “Naughty Peter Plunkett” (Home Magazine); “The Story of Daisy Rose” (A David C. Cook juvenile); and “A Coasting Song” (St. Nicholas).
Liddell was a children’s book author who also published Polly Perkins’ Adventures: a book for girls and boys (1902). She published poetry for children in various publications, including The New York Observer, Youth’s Companion, The Outlook, Home Magazine, and St. Nicholas.
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