c1880 antique TEMPERANCE LITERARY SOCIETY manuscript MAGAZINE BEATRICE A WRIGHT For Sale

c1880 antique TEMPERANCE LITERARY SOCIETY manuscript MAGAZINE BEATRICE A WRIGHT
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FADED PENMANSHIP, difficult to read, ORIGINAL PENMANSHIP


AI-assisted research was used in preparing this description and may contain errors in interpretation or transcription. Please review all photographs carefully and make your own determination regarding names, places, dates, and historical content.

Wonderful original handwritten temperance literary magazine/manuscript, measuring approximately 8 x 12.5 inches, titled “The Fountain of Light.” The handwritten title page identifies it as Vol. 2nd, No. 11, “Devoted to Temperance, Literature & Amusement,” with the motto “Onward, Upward, Heavenward,” and states that it was published by The Temperance Literary Society. The editor appears to be identified as Beatrice A. Wright, with the month of June written beneath her name.

This is particularly interesting because it appears to be a manuscript periodical rather than an ordinary personal diary or commonplace book. Literary societies in the 19th century sometimes produced handwritten magazines containing members\' essays, poems, correspondence, editorials, debates and moral instruction. Surviving examples are now represented in institutional manuscript collections; for example, the University of Michigan describes an 1861–62 literary-society manuscript magazine containing essays and poetry, including discussion of temperance. Other documented Victorian literary-society magazines were likewise produced in manuscript form with articles, editorials, essays, letters and poems.

The contents shown here are unusually substantial. One piece, “Only This Once,” is an explicitly temperance-oriented narrative warning about the progression from accepting a single drink to habitual drunkenness. It ends with a direct appeal to young men to refuse the first glass rather than trusting themselves to drink “only this once.” This gives the manuscript particularly strong temperance / social-reform / alcohol-history interest.

Additional pages include prose essays and instructional pieces such as “Farmers Make Works” [heading somewhat difficult to decipher], a lengthy discussion involving agriculture and practical subjects, “Writing Letters,” correspondence addressed to an editor, and original or copied poetry. One lengthy poem titled “The Beautiful” celebrates beauty in nature, the heavens and divine creation. Several pieces appear signed or initialed, potentially offering opportunities for further identification of individual society members.

The exact society and date have not yet been positively identified. Based on the handwriting, paper, format and subject matter, I would conservatively describe it as late 19th century, circa 1870s–1890s, rather than assigning a specific year without additional evidence. Temperance literary societies were active during this period, and temperance literary collections and recitation material were widely published in the later 19th century.

An unrelated printed periodical called Fountain of Light was published in Quincy, Illinois in 1880–81 and also discussed temperance, but available documentation identifies that publication as a printed weekly edited by Minerva Merrick, so I would not identify this manuscript as that publication based on the present

Authentic period piece related to family, historyor local heritage - well-suited for historical collections, genealogical /genealogy research, or museum acquisition.Vintage or Antique.

CONDITION: FADED PENMANSHIP. See listing description and photos.











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LOC2: PAPERBOXTALL16-TMKTK

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