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38 chapters
TO Charles Lemuel Nichols lover of books colleague FRIEND
TO Charles Lemuel Nichols lover of books colleague FRIEND
CONTENTS THE ISLE OF PINES THE DOWSE COPIES THE EUROPEAN EDITIONS DUTCH EDITIONS FRENCH EDITIONS ITALIAN EDITION GERMAN EDITIONS THE S.G. NOT A CAMBRIDGE IMPRINT THE COMBINED PARTS THE PUBLISHERS NOT AN AMERICAN ITEM THE AUTHOR THE STORY INTERPRETATIONS DEFOE AND THE "ISLE OF PINES" THE COMBINED PARTS THE PUBLISHERS NOT AN AMERICAN ITEM THE AUTHOR THE STORY INTERPRETATIONS DEFOE AND THE "ISLE OF PINES" THE ISLE OF PINES, The combined Parts as issued in 1668...
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PREFATORY NOTE
PREFATORY NOTE
My curiosity on the "Isle of Pines" was aroused by the sale of a copy in London and New York in 1917, and was increased by the discovery of two distinct issues in the Dowse Library, in the Massachusetts Historical Society. As my material grew in bulk and the history of this hoax perpetrated in the seventeenth century developed, I thought it of sufficient interest to communicate an outline of the story to the Club of Odd Volumes, of Boston, October 23, 1918. The results of my investigations are m
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THE ISLE OF PINES
THE ISLE OF PINES
New England was at this time England in little, with troubles of its own; but, having imitated the mother country in introducing supervision of the press, it also started in to investigate the printers of the colony, two in number, seeking to win a smile of approval from the foolish man on the throne. With due solemnity the inquisition was made. Green could show that all then passing through his press had been properly licensed. Johnson, less fortunate, was caught with one unlicensed piece—"The
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THE DOWSE COPIES
THE DOWSE COPIES
One afternoon, when I had finished my work and the others had left, I picked up the catalogue of the Dowse Library and began idly to turn over its leaves. Incidentally, that catalogue is characteristic of the older methods of the Society. As is known to the elect, no book in the Dowse Library can ever leave the room in which it now rests, and of the catalogue twenty-five copies were printed and never circulated. If the library had been left in the Dowse house in Cambridgeport, its existence and
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THE EUROPEAN EDITIONS
THE EUROPEAN EDITIONS
The European connection is also not without interest, for the skit—the first part of the "Isle of Pines," published without name of author—had an extraordinary run. In 1493 a little four-leaved translation into Latin of a Columbus letter announcing the discovery of islands in the west—De insulis nuper inventis—ran over Europe, startling the age by a simple relation which proved a marvellous tale as taken up by Vespuccius, Cortes, and a host of successors.{1} For a century the darkness of a new f
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DUTCH EDITIONS
DUTCH EDITIONS
In June and July, 1668, four tracts on the Isle of Pines from the same pen were licensed and published in London, which may for convenience be designated the first and second parts of the narrative, and the two parts in continuation. From London the tract soon passed to Holland, which had ever been a greedy consumer of voyages of discovery, for the greatness of that nation depended upon the sea, at once its most potent enemy and friend.{1} Three Dutch editions have been found, the earliest in po
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FRENCH EDITIONS
FRENCH EDITIONS
From Amsterdam and under date July 19, 1668, a summary of the earlier Dutch issue with two paragraphs of introduction was sent to Paris, and was printed in a four-page pamphlet by Sébastien Marbre Cramoisy, the king's printer, whose name is so honorably connected with the Jesuit Relations—stories as remarkable as any offered in the "Isle of Pines" and of immeasurable value on the earliest years of recorded history in our New England. Even this summary, thus definitely dated, offers problems. The
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ITALIAN EDITION
ITALIAN EDITION
The Italian issue, made by Giacomo Didini, in Bologna and Venice, is a literal translation of Cramoisy's publication, and bears the same date, at Amsterdam, July 19, 1668. The original probably came from Paris, though it is possible that some Dutch merchant in Amsterdam sent a circular letter on the discovered Isle to his correspondents in Paris and Venice. It is unsafe to conjecture in such matters, for an Amsterdam issue may yet be found which will give, word for word, the French and Italian v
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GERMAN EDITIONS
GERMAN EDITIONS
From Holland the relation also penetrated the German states, finding ready welcome and arousing eager curiosity. Hippe regards the tract issued by Wilhelm Serlin, at Frankfort on the Main, as the first of the German publications, and, being translated from the Dutch, he shows that the translator used both the Amsterdam and the Rotterdam publications.{1} The Hamburg version claimed to be derived from the English original, but it followed closely the Serlin translation from the Dutch with modifica
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THE S.G. NOT A CAMBRIDGE IMPRINT
THE S.G. NOT A CAMBRIDGE IMPRINT
In the absence of any positive objection, the conclusion of the auction expert—that the S. G. imprint was one of Samuel Green of Cambridge, Massachusetts—remained unquestioned. But a study of editions and of the chronological sequence of the English issues offers a decided negative to such a conclusion. The first part was licensed June 27, 1668. Van Sloetten dated the second part July 22, 1668, and the issue of the combined parts was licensed five days later, July 27. In the space of just four w
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THE COMBINED PARTS
THE COMBINED PARTS
The English edition of thirty-one pages in the John Carter Brown Library, with an engraved frontispiece,{1} offers still further proof that the S. G. issue was made in London. In place of being entirely different from the S. G. tract, it is precisely the same so far as text is concerned. For it is nothing more than the two parts combined, but combined in a peculiar manner. The second part was opened at page 6 and the first part inserted, entire and without change of text{2} This insertion runs i
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THE PUBLISHERS
THE PUBLISHERS
The imprints of the three parts agree that the booksellers or publishers handling the editions were Allen Banks and Charles Harper. The first part gives their shop as the "Flower-De-luice near Cripplegate Church," the second part as the "Flower-de-luce" as before, and the combined parts as "next door to the three Squerrills in Fleet-street, over against St. Dunstans Church." The church is still there, with more than two centuries of dirt and soot marking its walls since Neville wrote, and Chance
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NOT AN AMERICAN ITEM
NOT AN AMERICAN ITEM
By some curious chance this little pamphlet has come to be classed as Americana. Bishop Kenneth's Catalogue may have been the source of this error, leading collectors to believe that the item was a true relation of an actual voyage, and possibly touching upon some phase of American history or geography. The rarity of the pamphlet would not permit such a belief to be readily corrected. The existence also of two Isles of Pines in American waters may have aided the belief. One of these islands is o
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THE AUTHOR
THE AUTHOR
The second son of Sir Henry Neville, and grandson of Sir Henry Neville (1564?-1615), courtier and diplomatist under Elizabeth and James I, Henry Neville was born in Billing-bear, Berkshire, in 1620. He became a commoner of Merton College in 1635, and soon after migrated to University College, where he passed some years but took no degree. He travelled on the continent, becoming familiar with modern languages and men, and returned to England in 1645, to recruit for Abingdon for the parliament Woo
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THE STORY
THE STORY
"The Isle of Pines" was Neville's fifth publication, issued nine years after his fourth, a political tract: "Shuffling, Cutting and Dealing in a Game of Picquet" Like most titles of the day, that of "The Isle of Pines" did not fail in quantity. It was repeated word for word, except the imprint, on the first page of the text. Briefly, the relation purports to have been written by an Englishman, George Pine, who at the age of twenty shipped as book-keeper in the India Merchant , which sailed for t
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INTERPRETATIONS
INTERPRETATIONS
It was Pine's relation which received the greatest attention on the continent, and that was chiefly concerned in describing his performances in populating the island. It was therefore with only a mild surprise that I read in one of those repulsively thorough studies which only a German can make, a study made in 1668 of this very tract, "The Isle of Pines," the assertion that Pines, masquerading as the name of the discoverer and patriarch of the island, and accepted as the name of the island itse
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DEFOE AND THE "ISLE OF PINES"
DEFOE AND THE "ISLE OF PINES"
I would apologize for taking so much time on a nine-page hoax did it not offer something positive in the history of English literature. It has long been recognized as one of the more than possible sources of Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe." It is truly said that the elements of a masterpiece exist for years before they become embodied, that they are floating in the air, as it were, awaiting the master workman who can make that use which gives to them permanent interest Life on an island, entirely sepa
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THE ISLE OF PINES, The combined Parts as issued in 1668
THE ISLE OF PINES, The combined Parts as issued in 1668
A True Relation of certain Engliſh perſons, who in Queen Elizabeths time, making a Voyage to the Eaſt Indies were caſt away, and wracked near to the Coaſt of Terra Auſtralis, Incognita, and all drowned, except one Man and four Women. And now lately Anno Dom. 1667. a Dutch Ship making a Voyage to the Eaſt Indies, driven by foul weather there, by chance have found their Posterity, (ſpeaking good Engliſh) to amount (as they ſuppoſe) to ten or twelve thouſand perſons. The whole Relation (written and
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POST-SCRIPT:
POST-SCRIPT:
ONE thing concerning the Iſle of Pines, I had almoſt quite forgot, we had with us an Iriſh man named Dermot Conelly who had formerly been in England, and had learned there to play on the Bag-pipes, which he carried to Sea with him; yet ſo un-Engliſhed he was, that he had quite forgotten your Language, but ſtill retained his Art of Bagpipe-playing, in which he took extraordinary delight; being one day on Land in the Iſle of Pines, he played on them, but to ſee the admiration of thoſe naked people
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TO Charles Lemuel Nichols lover of books colleague FRIEND
TO Charles Lemuel Nichols lover of books colleague FRIEND
THE COMBINED PARTS THE PUBLISHERS NOT AN AMERICAN ITEM THE AUTHOR THE STORY INTERPRETATIONS DEFOE AND THE "ISLE OF PINES" THE ISLE OF PINES, The combined Parts as issued in 1668...
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PREFATORY NOTE
PREFATORY NOTE
My curiosity on the "Isle of Pines" was aroused by the sale of a copy in London and New York in 1917, and was increased by the discovery of two distinct issues in the Dowse Library, in the Massachusetts Historical Society. As my material grew in bulk and the history of this hoax perpetrated in the seventeenth century developed, I thought it of sufficient interest to communicate an outline of the story to the Club of Odd Volumes, of Boston, October 23, 1918. The results of my investigations are m
53 minute read
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THE ISLE OF PINES
THE ISLE OF PINES
New England was at this time England in little, with troubles of its own; but, having imitated the mother country in introducing supervision of the press, it also started in to investigate the printers of the colony, two in number, seeking to win a smile of approval from the foolish man on the throne. With due solemnity the inquisition was made. Green could show that all then passing through his press had been properly licensed. Johnson, less fortunate, was caught with one unlicensed piece—"The
6 minute read
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THE DOWSE COPIES
THE DOWSE COPIES
One afternoon, when I had finished my work and the others had left, I picked up the catalogue of the Dowse Library and began idly to turn over its leaves. Incidentally, that catalogue is characteristic of the older methods of the Society. As is known to the elect, no book in the Dowse Library can ever leave the room in which it now rests, and of the catalogue twenty-five copies were printed and never circulated. If the library had been left in the Dowse house in Cambridgeport, its existence and
6 minute read
Read Chapter
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THE EUROPEAN EDITIONS
THE EUROPEAN EDITIONS
The European connection is also not without interest, for the skit—the first part of the "Isle of Pines," published without name of author—had an extraordinary run. In 1493 a little four-leaved translation into Latin of a Columbus letter announcing the discovery of islands in the west—De insulis nuper inventis—ran over Europe, startling the age by a simple relation which proved a marvellous tale as taken up by Vespuccius, Cortes, and a host of successors.{1} For a century the darkness of a new f
4 minute read
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DUTCH EDITIONS
DUTCH EDITIONS
In June and July, 1668, four tracts on the Isle of Pines from the same pen were licensed and published in London, which may for convenience be designated the first and second parts of the narrative, and the two parts in continuation. From London the tract soon passed to Holland, which had ever been a greedy consumer of voyages of discovery, for the greatness of that nation depended upon the sea, at once its most potent enemy and friend.{1} Three Dutch editions have been found, the earliest in po
3 minute read
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FRENCH EDITIONS
FRENCH EDITIONS
From Amsterdam and under date July 19, 1668, a summary of the earlier Dutch issue with two paragraphs of introduction was sent to Paris, and was printed in a four-page pamphlet by Sébastien Marbre Cramoisy, the king's printer, whose name is so honorably connected with the Jesuit Relations—stories as remarkable as any offered in the "Isle of Pines" and of immeasurable value on the earliest years of recorded history in our New England. Even this summary, thus definitely dated, offers problems. The
1 minute read
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ITALIAN EDITION
ITALIAN EDITION
The Italian issue, made by Giacomo Didini, in Bologna and Venice, is a literal translation of Cramoisy's publication, and bears the same date, at Amsterdam, July 19, 1668. The original probably came from Paris, though it is possible that some Dutch merchant in Amsterdam sent a circular letter on the discovered Isle to his correspondents in Paris and Venice. It is unsafe to conjecture in such matters, for an Amsterdam issue may yet be found which will give, word for word, the French and Italian v
1 minute read
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GERMAN EDITIONS
GERMAN EDITIONS
From Holland the relation also penetrated the German states, finding ready welcome and arousing eager curiosity. Hippe regards the tract issued by Wilhelm Serlin, at Frankfort on the Main, as the first of the German publications, and, being translated from the Dutch, he shows that the translator used both the Amsterdam and the Rotterdam publications.{1} The Hamburg version claimed to be derived from the English original, but it followed closely the Serlin translation from the Dutch with modifica
6 minute read
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THE S.G. NOT A CAMBRIDGE IMPRINT
THE S.G. NOT A CAMBRIDGE IMPRINT
In the absence of any positive objection, the conclusion of the auction expert—that the S. G. imprint was one of Samuel Green of Cambridge, Massachusetts—remained unquestioned. But a study of editions and of the chronological sequence of the English issues offers a decided negative to such a conclusion. The first part was licensed June 27, 1668. Van Sloetten dated the second part July 22, 1668, and the issue of the combined parts was licensed five days later, July 27. In the space of just four w
8 minute read
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THE COMBINED PARTS
THE COMBINED PARTS
The English edition of thirty-one pages in the John Carter Brown Library, with an engraved frontispiece,{1} offers still further proof that the S. G. issue was made in London. In place of being entirely different from the S. G. tract, it is precisely the same so far as text is concerned. For it is nothing more than the two parts combined, but combined in a peculiar manner. The second part was opened at page 6 and the first part inserted, entire and without change of text{2} This insertion runs i
2 minute read
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THE PUBLISHERS
THE PUBLISHERS
The imprints of the three parts agree that the booksellers or publishers handling the editions were Allen Banks and Charles Harper. The first part gives their shop as the "Flower-De-luice near Cripplegate Church," the second part as the "Flower-de-luce" as before, and the combined parts as "next door to the three Squerrills in Fleet-street, over against St. Dunstans Church." The church is still there, with more than two centuries of dirt and soot marking its walls since Neville wrote, and Chance
1 minute read
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NOT AN AMERICAN ITEM
NOT AN AMERICAN ITEM
By some curious chance this little pamphlet has come to be classed as Americana. Bishop Kenneth's Catalogue may have been the source of this error, leading collectors to believe that the item was a true relation of an actual voyage, and possibly touching upon some phase of American history or geography. The rarity of the pamphlet would not permit such a belief to be readily corrected. The existence also of two Isles of Pines in American waters may have aided the belief. One of these islands is o
47 minute read
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THE AUTHOR
THE AUTHOR
The second son of Sir Henry Neville, and grandson of Sir Henry Neville (1564?-1615), courtier and diplomatist under Elizabeth and James I, Henry Neville was born in Billing-bear, Berkshire, in 1620. He became a commoner of Merton College in 1635, and soon after migrated to University College, where he passed some years but took no degree. He travelled on the continent, becoming familiar with modern languages and men, and returned to England in 1645, to recruit for Abingdon for the parliament Woo
13 minute read
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THE STORY
THE STORY
"The Isle of Pines" was Neville's fifth publication, issued nine years after his fourth, a political tract: "Shuffling, Cutting and Dealing in a Game of Picquet" Like most titles of the day, that of "The Isle of Pines" did not fail in quantity. It was repeated word for word, except the imprint, on the first page of the text. Briefly, the relation purports to have been written by an Englishman, George Pine, who at the age of twenty shipped as book-keeper in the India Merchant , which sailed for t
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
INTERPRETATIONS
INTERPRETATIONS
It was Pine's relation which received the greatest attention on the continent, and that was chiefly concerned in describing his performances in populating the island. It was therefore with only a mild surprise that I read in one of those repulsively thorough studies which only a German can make, a study made in 1668 of this very tract, "The Isle of Pines," the assertion that Pines, masquerading as the name of the discoverer and patriarch of the island, and accepted as the name of the island itse
19 minute read
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DEFOE AND THE "ISLE OF PINES"
DEFOE AND THE "ISLE OF PINES"
I would apologize for taking so much time on a nine-page hoax did it not offer something positive in the history of English literature. It has long been recognized as one of the more than possible sources of Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe." It is truly said that the elements of a masterpiece exist for years before they become embodied, that they are floating in the air, as it were, awaiting the master workman who can make that use which gives to them permanent interest Life on an island, entirely sepa
1 minute read
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THE ISLE OF PINES, The combined Parts as issued in 1668
THE ISLE OF PINES, The combined Parts as issued in 1668
A True Relation of certain English persons, who in Queen Elizabeths time, making a Voyage to the East Indies were cast away, and wracked near to the Coast of Terra Australis, Incognita, and all drowned, except one Man and four Women. And now lately Anno Dom. 1667. a Dutch Ship making a Voyage to the East Indies, driven by foul weather there, by chance have found their Posterity, (speaking good English) to amount (as they suppose) to ten or twelve thousand persons. The whole Relation (written and
3 hour read
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POST-SCRIPT:
POST-SCRIPT:
ONE thing concerning the Isle of Pines, I had almost quite forgot, we had with us an Irish man named Dermot Conelly who had formerly been in England, and had learned there to play on the Bag-pipes, which he carried to Sea with him; yet so un-Englished he was, that he had quite forgotten your Language, but still retained his Art of Bagpipe-playing, in which he took extraordinary delight; being one day on Land in the Isle of Pines, he played on them, but to see the admiration of those naked people
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