Books and Religious Devotion

The Redemptive Reading of an Irishman in Nineteenth-Century New England

Allan F. Westphall

• Publisher: Penn State University Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780271064048
• eBook ISBN: 9780271065106
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: Literature

In Books and Religious Devotion, Allan Westphall presents a study of the book-collecting habits and annotation practices of Thomas Connary, an Irish immigrant farmer who lived in New Hampshire in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Connary led a pious life that revolved around the use, annotation, and sharing of religious books. His surviving annotated volumes provide a revealing glimpse into the utility of books for a common reader—and they show how one remarkable, eccentric reader turned religious books into near icons. Through a careful excavation of book adaptations and enhancements, Westphall gives us insight into the range of opportunities provided by the material book for recording and communicating Connary's religious fervor. The study also investigates the broader nineteenth-century cultural setting, in which books are seen as testimonies of personal faith and come to function as instruments of social interaction in both domestic and public spheres. Underlying Connary's many and varied interactions with books is his belief that working in books, as physical objects, can be a devout exercise instrumental in human salvation.

Table of contents

• COVER Front
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Preface: A Discovery and Serendipitous Journeys
• Notes to Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Notes to Introduction
• Chapter 1: Irish American Print Culture in the Nineteenth Century: A Private Library
• Notes to Chapter 1
• EPIPHANY: “Seeing Very Plainly”
• Notes to Epiphany: “Seeing Very Plainly”
• Chapter 2: “Laboring in My Books”: Thomas Connary’s Book Enhancements
• Notes to Chapter 2
• EPIPHANY: The Lamp
• Notes to Epiphany: The Lamp
• Chapter 3: Redemptive Reading in the Connary Household
• Notes to Chapter 3
• EPIPHANY: The Road to Lancaster
• Chapter 4: The Farmer’s Treasure: Thomas Connary Reading St. Francis of Sales and Julian of Norwich
• Notes to Chapter 4
• EPIPHANY: “No Priest or Bishop in this Church but Himself Alone”
• Notes to Epiphany: “No Priest or Bishop in This Church but Himself Alone”
• Chapter 5: Book Keeping, Longing, and Besetment
• Notes to Chapter 5
• Epilogue: Rome Unvisited
• Notes to Epilogue
• Appendix: The Contents of Thomas Connary’s Library
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• Series Page
• COVER Back