This Week's Acquisitions

  • Harriet Beecher Stowe, Agnes of Sorrento (Ticknor & Fields, 1862).  3rd ed. of Stowe's (mostly forgotten) historical novel set in Italy at the time of Savonarola; in the UK, published in the Cornhill right before Eliot's Romola.  (eBay)
  • [Sarah Towne Martyn], Ilverton Rectory; Or, the Non-Conformists in the 17th Century.  Founded on Fact (American Tract Society, 1864).  Historical novel about the fate of a clergyman and his family after the Act of Uniformity of 1662 (which resulted in the Great Ejection).  Towne Martyn (nee Smith) (1805-79) was an American novelist and editor who frequently wrote religious fiction about Protestants in the UK and on the Continent.  (eBay)
  • A. H. Edgar, John Bull and the Papists; Or, Passages in the Life of an Anglican Rector (Garland, 1976).  "Novels of Faith and Doubt" reprint of a novel first published in 1846.  Despite the title, this is actually a pro-Catholic controversial novel.  (Amazon [secondhand])
  • Linda Ferri, Cecilia, trans. Ann Goldstein (Europa, 2010).  Historical novel about St. Cecilia, originally published in Italian.  (Lift Bridge)
  • Deborah A. Logan, ed., Harriet Martineau and the Irish Question (Lehigh, 2012).  Collects Martineau's journalism on Irish topics.  I'm reviewing this for Choice.  (Review copy)
  • Brad S. Gregory, The Unintended Reformation: How a Religious Revolution Secularized Society (Belknap, 2012).  Traces the "hyperpluralism" of modern culture back to the side-effects of Protestant upheaval.  (Amazon)
  • Donald M. Lewis, The Origins of Christian Zionism: Lord Shaftesbury and Evangelical Support for a Jewish Homeland (Cambridge, 2009).  Studies Shaftesbury's role in the nascent Christian Zionist movement.  (Amazon [secondhand])
  • Nicholas Penny, ed., Sir Joshua Reynolds (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1986).  Exhibition catalog from the Royal Academy of Sir Joshua Reynolds' work.  (The Bookery)
  • Katherine A. Lochnan, ed., The Earthly Paradise: Arts and Crafts by William Morris and His Circle from Canadian Collections (Key Porter, 1996).  Textiles, wallpapers, printing, stained glass, etc.  (The Bookery)
  • Peter Tomory, The Life and Times of Henry Fuseli (Thames & Hudson, 1972).  Biographical and critical study of the Swiss painter, best known for The Nightmare.  (The Bookery)