The Mary Baker Eddy Library Mary Baker Eddy Book Collection, 1551, 1693-1910 a finding aid 200 Massachusetts Ave. Boston, MA 02115 617-450-7000 Collection Description Collection Number: 09 MBE DOCS Collection Title: Mary Baker Eddy Book Collection Creator: Eddy, Mary Baker Inclusive Dates: 1551, 1693-1910 Extent: 72 __LF (452 books) Provenance: Books transferred from Chestnut Hill (400 Beacon) at various times. Access: The collection is open and available through the online database accessible to remote users and the public during research room hours. Copyright Restrictions: Items in the collection are subject to applicable copyright laws. Language: Bulk of the materials is in English. Materials also in German. Related Collections The Chestnut Hill Book Collection consists of books that Mary Baker Eddy may have read, referenced, or were present in her residences. Mary Baker Eddy Autographed and Inscribed Books consists of books inscribed by Mary Baker Eddy but were not transferred from Chestnut Hill. Mary Baker Eddy Pamphlet and Serial Publications consist of printed and published materials transferred from Chestnut Hill. Scope and Content Note The Mary Baker Eddy Book Collection consists of over approximately 450 books selected from Eddy’s Chestnut Hill residence. The bulk of this collection consists of books present in Eddy’s study. Some of the selected volumes include notations believed to be those of Eddy or her secretaries. The collection is cataloged at the item level and contains two series. Series I, Mary Baker Eddy Bibles and Bible reference books, consists of 41 books numbered B00001-B00041. Series II, Selected Books from Chestnut Hill, consists of over 400 titles numbered B00100-B00506. Series I consists primarily of Bibles that Eddy owned, as well as a Bible owned by her husband Asa G. Eddy (B00002). Some Bibles contain Eddy’s own notations—most notably the Baker Family Bible (B00029) and The Book of Psalms (B00016). A few of the Bibles include the notations of others, such as Laura E. Sargent, John Carroll Lathrop, Adam Dickey, and Calvin A. Frye (B00005). There are additional Bibles and Bible reference books that were present at Chestnut Hill in the Chestnut Hill Books. Series II consists of approximately 400 books from Eddy’s Chestnut Hill residence. These are numbered beginning with B00100. They were selected because of their connection to Eddy, either by their physical location at Chestnut Hill (in Eddy’s study, dressing room, or bedroom) or by their notations. The majority of these books were transferred from Eddy’s study, although the locations of some are inconclusive due to the brevity of the inventories. Series II also includes Manual of the Mother Church, First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts (B00344-B00389). Eddy signed or inscribed some of the manuals, such as B00347 and B00348, but the bulk of these books bear notations, additions, and corrections that she made to the by-laws. Almost half of the collection consists of various editions of books that Eddy wrote, including Miscellaneous Writings, 1883 – 1896; Poems; Pulpit and Press; Science and Health with Key to Scriptures; and Unity of Good. This collection does not consist of all Eddy’s books or published writings. Other published and printed materials, such as pamphlets and serial publications, are housed in the Mary Baker Eddy Magazine and Pamphlet Collection, also transferred from her study at Chestnut Hill to the Church Archive. Some of the titles in the Mary Baker Eddy Books are one volume in a set selected from the Chestnut Hill Books. For example, B00246 is also 0.1404.3. The item is stored in the Mary Baker Eddy Books and the other volumes 0.1404.1-13 are stored with the Chestnut Hill Book Collection. B00246 is volume three of The National Encyclopedia of American Biography. Eddy is listed on page 80 with notations and an inscription by Augusta E. Stetson to Mary Baker Eddy dated 1893. The collection includes reference books such as the above-mentioned encyclopedia (and B00269), dictionaries, and concordances. Dictionaries in this collection include: • A Comprehensive Dictionary of the English Language. By Joseph E. Worcester, Boston: Swan, Brewer, and Tileson, 1861. [B00333] • Worcester’s Academic Dictionary. By Joseph E. Worcester, Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1888. [B00334] • Cassell’s Latin Dictionary. 53rd printing. By John R. Beard and Charles Beard, London: Cassell & Company. [B00123] • A French and English Dictionary. 375th printing. By E. Roubaud, London: Cassell & Company, Limited. [B00140] • Nugent’s French-English English-French Pronouncing Dictionary. 49th edition. New York: Frederick Warne and Co. [B00253] • A Complete Concordance to the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments or a Dictionary and Alphabetical Index to the Bible. By Alexander Cruden, New York: Dodd & Mead, 1871. [B00156] • A Dictionary of the Bible, Edited by William Smith, Hartford, CT: S. S. Scranton Co., 1867. [B00290] • The Holy Bible: containing the Old and New Testaments...with Nevin’s New and Improved Dictionary of the Bible. Philadelphia: John E. Potter and Company, 1872. [B00001] Additional dictionaries and encyclopedias from the Chestnut Hill home are in the Chestnut Hill Book Collection. The Young Housekeeper’s Friend (B00152) includes an instructive inscription from Mary Baker Eddy to Minnie Weygandt. Weygandt recounts the inscription in her reminiscence Requesting the book one day when Weygandt was working for her at Pleasant View, Eddy marked several pages and wrote on the flyleaf, "My cooking shall be done according to this cookbook M B G Eddy." This is just one of the many books that was moved from Pleasant View to Chestnut Hill. Other reference books include guides such as Guide To Boston and Vicinity: A Complete Handbook Directing the Stranger How to Find Its Public Buildings, Hotels, Depots, Places of Amusements, Horse Cars, Churches, Benevolent and Religious Institutions, Newspaper and Telegraph Offices, Cemeteries, Etc.; With a Map of the City, 1876 (B00194); and Guide to the Lakes and Mountains of New Hampshire Via the Several Routes Connecting With the Boston, Concord & Montreal Railroad at Concord, N.H., 1852 (B00195). Two typesetting sample books reside in this collection, Pocket Edition of Printing Types Adapted for Newspaper Offices and Manufactured by The New England Type Foundry Co., 1876 (B00247); and Specimens From The Boston Type Foundry; Containing A Selection From The Printing Materials Made at This Establishment, 1876 (B00132). Some of these books were given to Eddy with inscriptions from the author, including Martha Baldwin Ensign (B00177); Willis Vernon Cole (B00147); Joseph Adams (B00101); Edward Augustus Jenks (B00213); William P. McKenzie (B00233); and Katherine M. Yates (B00338). Susan B. Anthony wrote to Eddy in 1887, asking if she would like to purchase volume II and III of her book History of Woman Suffrage, for $4.00 apiece—“$1.00 a copy under price” (519.56.004). In 1903 Anthony sent Volume IV, 1883-1900 (B00110), asking that, if Eddy didn’t wish to own it, she “put it in some high school, normal school or public library.” Anthony also mentioned seeing Eddy at Chicago Music Hall and calling her followers “friends of the cause” (519.56.005). She wrote, "Do not these records of the gains of the last twenty years fill your heart with hope and faith that in the near future there will be perfect equality of rights established throughout these United States? Yours for justice to women Susan B. Anthony 17 Madison Street Rochester, N.Y. June 18, 1902.” History of Woman Suffrage was published in six volumes from 1881 to 1922. Volume IV is the only volume in the Library’s collections. Two other titles in the collection, Bohemia and Book of the Presidents (B00193), were also sent to Eddy. These volumes are examples of one-of-a-kind, ornate, and unique publications that she received. In fact, this copy of the Book of the Presidents, which cost $1,000 in 1902, may be the only copy with the Eddy’s photo and biography inserted, and is one of the 1,000 copies printed (and not bound). Only a small number—possibly less than one hundred—were ever completed and sold. Two years later, Eddy received four volumes of Bohemia; three are in the Library collections in the Chestnut Hill Books (0.1270 and 0.1056) and in this collection (B00231A). The fourth copy of Bohemia was donated to the New Hampshire State Library in Concord, and remains a part of their collections. In her writings and interviews, Eddy referred to several authors found in this collection were referred to by Eddy, including Mrs. Felicia Hemans (B00203), Ralph Waldo Emerson (B00175 and B00176), and Edward Young (B00339). Hymnals and songbooks are also prominent in this collection. They include two editions of the Christian Science Hymnal, (B00142 and B00143). B00142 contains notations of Eddy, including one that refers to the hymn “I Need Thee Every Hour”: “I had this Hymn sung at the funeral of my husband Asa G. Eddy.” Additional hymnals and songbooks include: • The Epworth Hymnal Containing Standard Hymns of the 1885 Church, Songs for the Sunday School, Songs for Social Services, Songs for the Home Circle, Songs for Special Occasions. NY: Phillips & Hunt, 1885. (B00178) • Gospel Hymns Consolidated Embracing Volumes No. 1, 2, 3, and 4, Without Duplicates, For Use in Gospel Meetings and Religious Services. Bigelow and Main; Cincinnati and New York: John Church & Co., 1883. (B00185 and B00186) • The Christian Lyre: A Collection of Hymns and Tunes 1831 Adapted for Social Worship, Prayer Meetings, and Revivals of Religion; The Work Complete, Two Vols. in One, With A Supplement. John. NY: Joshua Leavitt, 1831. (B00222) • Hymns and Verses by Samuel Longfellow. Boston and NY: Houghton Mifflin and Co. 1894.