Elgin and Phigaleian Marbles of the Classical Ages, in the British Museum, The.
ANNOTATED BY SOPHIA. Ellis, Sir Henry. The Elgin and Phigaleian Marbles of the Classical Ages, in the British Museum. In two volumes. London: Nattali and Bond, (1846). 2 vols.; 12mo.; illustrated; green cloth, stamped in gilt; endpapers lightly foxed; title pages darkened; spines sunned; light wear to extremities.
Second edition, the first edition was published by Charles Knight in 1833 and did not include the author's name. Signed in purple ink in three places, Sophia Hawthorne: at the start of the text in volumes one and two, and on the front endpaper of volume two, With occasional marginalia in Sophia's hand maintaining a dialogue with the author; at the foot of page two in volume two, she has added, in faint pencil, from a religious reverence, of course, and at the top of page 5, above the illustration of another sculpture, Cephalus, the gateway of the beauty of Heaven, bridegroom of Aurora, watching the rising of Hyperion. On page 48 of volume one she wrote, But not different peoples through different forms of worship.
Sophia—or perhaps her brother and fellow home-school student Julian—added, in pencil on the recto of the rear endpaper of volume one, a sketch of the layout of the Parthenon that corresponds to the description on pages 22-23. In volume two a reader "completed" in pencil the heads and noses of two reclining figures on pages 5 and 6.
These texts were no doubt useful for Sophia, the artist, as instructive tools for the home-educated children, and are excellent examples of Sophia's lifelong interest in classical art--and concrete evidence of the fulfillment of her dream of spending time in front of the real item" in Europe. She was quite talented a fine copyist and an excellent writer who was encouraged by her husband to focus primarily on domestic duties. The three Hawthorne children, Una, Julian, and Rose, had very little formal schooling outside the home, and there is little doubt that this copy of Lord Elgin's famous booty was used as a text for the children.
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