Do you enjoy detective stories? Have you ever wanted to be a sleuth yourself? I can answer both questions with “yes”. Growing up I listened to quite a lot of audio books, mostly Three Investigators, Famous Five and TKKG. And of course I would go out and play sleuth myself. This fascination with finding things out, with researching and discovering clues led to working as a journalist for many years, writing all sorts of reviews, features and columns regarding computer software and technology. And to this day I research anything that sparks my interest. I have come across many interesting discoveries over the years but none quite compare to my latest.

In July 2008 I purchased an antique book titled “Aucassin and Nicolette” on eBay. It was not a deliberate purchase but rather one out of curiosity; I collect old books and frequently browse eBay to see if there is anything that sparks my interest and that I can get for a reasonable price. At that point I had never heard of this particular story and was interested in reading it as the listing described it as a poetic and romantic story from the 13^th century. The seller also mentioned that it was made by the “Roycrofters” in Aurora, NY, as a limited edition, printed in 1899. I researched the publisher and learned that the owner, Elbert Hubbard, founded Roycroft Press (a business within the Roycrofters community) primarily to publish his own books (such as the “Little Journeys” series for which he could not find a publisher) but also created some very beautiful limited runs of various pieces of world literature (for example Heinrich Heine‘s “Book of Songs”). One of Hubbard’s most enduring works is his essay “A Message to Garcia”. He was also a primary driving force behind the Arts and Craft movement of the early 20^th century and founded the Roycroft community as part of this movement. Sadly, he perished together with his wife, Alice Moore Hubbard, aboard the RMS Lusitania in 1915, the British ocean liner sunk by a German U-Boot. You can read more about Hubbard and the Roycrofters here.

When I received the book I foremost admired it’s craftsmanship and remarkable beauty. It is wrapped in very soft suede, embossed with the title characters on the cover, and has aged beautifully displaying an earthy green rub on the front and the back. The pages are printed on thick handmade paper which are stitched together and fastened with golden satin to the inside flaps. There are several hand illuminated initial letters which still look prestine, as if they were done yesterday. The book opens with the poem “Provencal Lovers” by Edmund Clarence Stedman, printed using green ink. Also, on the very first page is inscribed the name of the original owner, one Miss Josephine Harriott. And as I browsed through the pages a small card fell out, handwritten and signed by one Miss Clara Morris Harriott. I concluded that this book was a gift of the latter to her close relative but did not really read the card but rather stuck it back inside. As I was rather busy at work back then I decided to hold off on reading the story until I had sufficient time to appreciate it.

More time went by than I anticipated and the book remained in my nightstand for several months until I finally got around to read it, about a week ago. Naturally I did some research on it and found out that the story originated in France (orig. Aucassin et Nicolette). It is called a chante-fable or “sung story”, a combination of prose and song. This is clearly evident in the book as the prose is introduced via “Then speak they, say they, tell they the Tale:” while the songs, which immediately follow the prose parts, are indicated by “Here singeth one”. The author of the story is unknown and it is the only surviving chantfable despite the fact that it once was a rather popular literary tradition. “Aucassin and Nicolette” is considered a piece of romantic adventure (today’s The Princess Bride comes to mind). Wikipedia summarizes it as following:

The major characters are Garin, Count of Beaucaire, his son Aucassin, and Nicolette, a Saracen slave girl. Aucassin and Nicolette desperately want to marry, but Garin forbids it and imprisons the lovers, though they both eventually escape. After many romantic and occasionally farcical adventures, the young lovers are wed. Nicolette is revealed to be a Saracen princess of the noblest ancestry.

Many incidents in the story are clearly meant to be humorous, such as an encounter with a pregnant king, though there are occasional serious passages. At one point Aucassin participates in a ridiculous “war” in Torelore, which is fought with rotten crabapples, cheese, eggs, and mushrooms. On the other hand, Nicolette frequently faces real danger in the search for her lover. Perhaps comedy and seriousness merge most notably in Aucassin’s speech that he would prefer hell to heaven because hell’s inmates are likely to be more entertaining.

I very much enjoyed the story, I really felt transported to a time of chivalry and adventure, especially considering that it was written at exactly that time in history, probably by a minstrel who performed his work at various courts. As I read the story history came alive. It was all the more enchanting reading it in traditional verse – the Roycrofter’s version uses Andrew Lang‘s translation from 1887 which apparently is very close to the French original in its poetical structure. I highly recommend reading his version, though caution that one must be familiar with Shakespearean style English (Early Modern English) as it can otherwise become rather confusing.

After I finished reading the book I remembered the little card again which I had kept tucked away in the front. I pulled it out and tried to decipher the handwriting, which wasn’t too difficult. The note reads:

Dear Phine,

Thank you so much for your pretty art and gift and the mistletoe too. I am thankful to hear that brother Sam is doing so well – that’s the best gift of all – keep him out in the good sweet blessed air. May you all enjoy your trip.

My health is pretty bad – I never get one whole week without a break down of some sort!
Love and thanks dear and a Happy New Year to you all

Clara

There is also some printed text: Clara Morris Harriott, The Pines, Riverdale.

I figured I search the Internet to see if there is maybe any indication of who this Clara Morris Harriott may have been. I didn’t expect any results, after all this was a long time ago, the book was printed 1899 so I assumed the New Year mentioned may be 1900, and there would probably be no public records or articles anywhere. But I am a sleuth and I had to give it a try.

Lo and behold, there are articles. And more. It turned out Clara Morris Harriott was a famous actress in the late 1800s! I verified every detail, of which I had sufficient thanks to her little card. Yes, it was exactly this Clara – her husband Frederick (Fred), his sister Josephine (Phine) and his brother Samuel (Sam), Clara’s failing health, her residence at The Pines in Riverdale, NY, it was all right here. And so I went on to read about her life and struggle, her rise to fame, and eventual diminish, the books she’s written and her old age in poverty. And suddenly the already special book I purchased out of curiosity became a treasure that I would not want to miss anymore. It is now one of my most prized possessions on my bookshelf. One additional bit makes it all the more fascinating and that is that Oscar Wilde saw her on stage and proclaimed: “Miss Morris is the greatest actress I ever saw, if it be fair to form an opinion of her from her rendition of this one role. … We have no such powerfully intense actress in England. She is a great artist, in my sense of the word, because all she does, all she says, in the manner of the doing and of the saying constantly evokes the imagination to supplement it. That is what I mean by genius. We have no one like her.” Oscar Wilde is one of my wife’s favorite writers!

If you like to learn more about Clara Morris Harriott as well as see pictures of her please have a look at this very encompassing biography. There is also a recount of her meeting John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln’s assassin.

We may forget, but paper doesn’t. Keep this in mind, especially in this evermore virtual world of ours. eBooks cannot be signed, dedicated, special, limited or ever contain such special little mementos.

I’ve also posted a follow-up titled “The curious case of a little of book – Part 2″. You can read it here.