[ Underhill, John ].

[ Manuscript notebook recording folktales, legends, and axioms.]

[ Manchester, England: 1826 – 1833]. [Bound with:] [Pollard, , John.] [Manuscript poetry and family history of the Underhill lineage by Pollard, the great-grandson of John Underhill.] [Manchester, England?: 1899 – 1900.] 2 inches by 4 inches. 1-64, 66, 66-69, 69-188, [5] pp. Despite inconsistencies in manuscript pagination, the various writings recorded here are each continuous. Text in two hands: John Underhill (pp. 1-95) and John Pollard (p. 96 and onward). About 50 pages throughout have been left blank aside from page numbers. Some light toning throughout. Some shorthand on second-to-last page, in pencil, recalling the ink shorthand notation by John Pollard on page 188. Ink signature of John Pollard, dated December 1893, noting that his mother gifted the book to him. A very good, clean item. Late nineteenth century dark brown leather. Marbled endpapers. Item #16860

A unique compilation of f legends, folktales, and other stories, with interspersed humorous quotations and axioms. The diverse range of stories recorded here by Underhill include the fourteenth century legend about Aubrey de Mondider and the dog of Montargis and a brief anecdote about the Dutch poet Willem Bilderdijk (1756 – 1831), the tutor of Napoleon’s younger brother (pp. 7-8). Underhill also includes a reworking of a story titled “The Abducer or the Lady’s Cave,” which was first published in The Lancashire Literary Museum, a periodical founded in 1827.
In the genealogical sketch by John Pollard included at the end of the present item, he explains that John Underhill was his paternal great-grandfather, who died at the age of eighty-four in his home in Manchester (pp. 185-186). Pollard writes that both Underhill and his wife died “in the same house that I was born, they were living with my grandmother and mother and father,” (p. 186). Pollard also notes that John Underhill’s mother died at the age of twenty-one, though he does not provide any other details about Underhill’s life or parentage.

Price: $950.00