“When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.” (II Timothy 4:13, ESV)

– Apostle Paul, writing to Timothy as an old man imprisoned in a hole in the ground for spreading Christianity.

The Mamertine Prison is now a tourist destination included on many guided tours of Rome. Back then it was a literal hell-hole for the prisoners who were lowered into this cave-like underground dungeon through a hole in the ceiling. It was here in which the Apostle Paul was likely imprisoned near the end of his life.

Dark. Cold. Lonely.

And yet, he wanted his books. Why? What possible purpose could books serve for someone who knew what it was to have divine truth pour out through his own quill? Paul planted churches, invested in people, taught and discipled those who would teach and disciple. He penned two-thirds of the New Testament. And when the end seemed near, he wanted people … and books?

Lord willing, I will spend the next few posts attempting to answer this question and the implications for ministry in general and the ministry of theological librarianship in particular.

• Post I. The purpose of books/parchments for Paul
• Post II. The look of that purpose/need today
• Post III. How we as theological librarians can meet that need.

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I realize the title of this post sounds more like a Poirot novel, but I am actually refering to another example of mysterious book provenance I found in our library today. In 1851, the London publisher Thomas Bosworth published a second edition of Cases of Conscience; or, Lessons in Morals: for the Use of the Laity by Pascal the Younger (a.k.a. Pierce Connelly). The book is more of a pamphlet, and so was easily published together with a letter to W. E. Gladstone, Member of Parliament for the University of Oxford, who apparently held to some rather appeasing positions regarding the validity of the Church of Rome. The author attempts in this letter to convince Gladstone of the inconsistency of Romanism with true piety.

The letter itself is interesting reading, but the mysterious part is the handwritten, 4-page, note I found tucked within the book. The handwriting is rather hard to read (for me, at least), but it appears to be commending this publication along with the Church of Rome’s reply (which is not included in our binding). My best effort at interpreting note with links to images of the pages:

[page 1]
Blendworth _____
Hon. dean -
Feb. 6, 1859

My dear _______ /
I am very anxious / to put before you two / pamphlets written by / a friend of mine of / distinguished ability. / Their titles are “Cases / of Conscience or Lessons / in Morals for the use / of the Laity” by Pascal / [page 2] The Younger and / these men _____ Pascal / the Younger. / The Church of Rome’s / Defense against Cases / of Conscience with a Reply. / I consider these Pam- / phlets as one of the / severest blows, which the / Church of Rome has / received in modern / [page 3] times - a blow from which / she cannot recover - / Pray tell me the name / of your London bookseller / that _____ send you a / copy of each (of which I / expect _____ exceptance) / in kind to forward - / Should you like the Pam / phlets, those ____ will / kindly recommend them / to others; as it is a great / [page 4] object with my friend / (whose name I _____ _____ / mention) to sell his _____ / In this once well off, he / is now alas! in needy / circumstances -/
My archdeacon (_____) / says “this reply” is one of / the cleverest things he has / ever seen -/
_____ are my dear _____ / In _____ /

Edw. L. Ward

My best guess at the identity of the author is Edward Langton Ward, rector of Blendworth until his death in 1881.

Any help you can give me in deciphering the script of this note would be appreciated, for curiosity’s sake if nothing else. The next to last unreadable word appears to be the same as the second unreadable word.

Don’t you just love books?

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We must all admit that the librarians of Southern Seminary are, in all seriousness, a hip, edgy, stereotype-busting lot. Realizing that we are not your average librarians, I picked up Librarians in Fiction (by Grant Burns) in which is offered a list “reasonably representative of the dark side of librarians”. I include it not to point out the similarities (I for one, couldn’t find any), but to court a greater appreciation for the exceptional librarians at the disposal of our seminary community. The list:

awkward bald chunky condescending cranky cruel desiccated devious dirty disagreeable dreary dry dull dumpy emaciated exhausted feeble florid friendless frightened frustrated glowering hesitant huge humorless hysterical idiotic ill-tempered inhuman interfering lonely mincing myopic narrow nasty nervous neurotic odd old maid pale peculiar portly possessive red-faced repressed sad sexless sex-starved shapeless sharp-tongued shy slow sly spinster stiff thin tired tortured trapped ungainly unhealthy unlovable unnatural unscrupulous vengeful waxen wilted withered wizened

Burns, Grant. Librarians in Fiction: A Critical Bibliography. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co, 1998. p2-3

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