The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-07-12
QUEER OLD CHAP BOOKS
A CURIOUS COLLECTION NOW IN
HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY.
Originally Brought Together by Bos-
well, the Famous ographe
Funny Pictures.

Correspondence OF the Indianapolis Journal.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. July 9.-If an aver
age Englishman of the eighteenth century
should return to this planet and wanted
something TO read. he would find his liter
airy nourishment. not at the modern book
shops or new stands but rather either in
the British Museum or the Harvard Col
lege library. II he knew anything about
the two greatest modern collections Of the
quaint little volumes with which he was
once so pleasantly familiar, the dingy and
much thumbed chap books out Of which
their publishers made fortunes that COM
pare very favorably with the fortunes
made by successful modern publishers, he
would undoubtedly choose Cambridge.
Curiously enough the great Harvard col
lection Of old English chap books is much
better arranged and more readily accessi-
bic to the casual reader than even that of
the British Museum. Nowadays. of course,
there are very few causual readers-unless
one imagines that the sturdy ghosts OF
two hundred years ago haunt the Harvard
book shelves from midnight till cock-crow.
The day of the chap book Is over except as
II survives in the dime novel that has made
the messenger boy famous for his ability
to read and walk at one and the same time;
In the little magazines that were such a fad
among publishers some few years ago; and
in the nursery tales which are now printed
chiefly for Christmas stockings and are of
larger size and infinitely better illustrated.
One of the earliest collectors Of chap
books was the elder Boswell, Samuel john
sons friend and biographer, and the Harv-
orJ Ifhrarv hoe love- ooot;caJ ~, 6ftx,-
five volumes-which means some hundreds
of chap books of from eight to twenty-four
pages each-that were supposed to have
been collected by him. These books are now
believed TO have been got together by the
son Of the great biographer and the real
James Boswell collection has only recently
been acquired by the Harvard library. The
authenticity of the new collection, which
only recently came into the market. Is at
tested by an autograph note on the fly leaf
Of the first Of the three volumes in which
Boswell arranged his chap books. whose
original cost was probably less than the
price of binding them together. The auto
graph note, dated from the Inner Temple,
London. in 1853, naturally adds greatly to
the value of the books from the point of
view of honest bibliomaniacs and gives
also a characteristic history of the way in
which the author of the big life Of john
son brought his little library Of popular
literature together.
A NOTE BY BOSWELL.
Having when a boy" wrote Boswell.
'been much interested with Jack De Giant
Killer and such little story books. 1 have
always retained a kind of affection for
them, as they recall my early days. / went
to the printing Office in Bow Churchyard
and bought this collection and had it bound
up with the title of Curious Productions. 1
shall certainly some time or other write a
little Story Book In the style of these. 1t
will not be an easy task for me. 1t will re-
quire much nature and simplicity and a
great acquaintance with the humors and
traditions of English common people. 1
shall be happy to succeed for he who
pleases children will be remembered with
pleasure by men,"
Boswell's collection, although it contains
but eighty-fve out of an unnumbered host
of little histories, tales, riddle books, jest
books, romances, dream books, "garlands'
Of songs and verses-in fact every form of
written matter that could be expected to
find a ready sale among the common people
of that childish, superstitious and credulous
age-is remarkably representative. II all
the other chap books in the world should be
lost this one collection would practically
preserve the spirit Of the whole mass of
contemporary popular iiterature-a fact
which suggests the notion that Boswell
himself took pains to make his three vol
umes of productions not only curious
but educational. Nor did the great biog-
rapher ever write his little Story Book"
although he has succeeded in being re-
membered with pleasure by men even If he
has not been very popular with children.
Boswell, of course, did not omit 1.-THE
History of Jack and the Giants from his
collection. The reader finds it in the place
Of honor In his first volume; nor does the
Jack of this early version-the
right valiant Cornish man
who slew the giant Cormillan"-
differ very materially from the Jack whom
most Of us learned to admire in the nur-
sery. But there is a simplicity in the old
tale that Is missing in modern reproduc-
tions: the author handles his material in a
manner that adds much artistic versimili-
tude to bald and unconvincing narrative"
Here, for example, is the description of
Jacks first antagonist: "a huge and mon
strous giant of twenty-seven feet high and
of three yards in compass, of a grim coun-
tenance, to the terror of all the neighbor-
ing towns. His habitation was a cave in
the midst of a mount; neither would he
suffer any living creature to inhabit near
him. His feeding was upon other mems
cattle; for whatsoever he had occasion for
food he would wade over to the mainland,
where he would furnish himself with
whatever he could find; for the people at
his approach would forsake their habita-
tons; then he would take their cows and
oxen, of which he would make nothing to
carry over OH his back half a dozen at a
time; and as for sheep and hogs. he would
tie them around his waist. This he had for
many years practiced in Cornwall.
. CURIOUS OLD BOOKS.
Another nursery story which We would
all recognize-indeed 1t has come down to
us almost in the exact language in which
Boswell purchased it at the printing office
in Bow Churchyard-is the story Of the
Babes In the Woods as 1t all came out
when
The fellow that did take in hand
these children for TO kill
Was for a robbery judg'd to die
as was Gods blessed will.
Who did confess the very truth
OF what is here exprest:
Their Uncle died while he for debt
did long in prison rest"