Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 16
Page 17
Page 18
Page 19
Page 20
Page 21
Page 22
Page 23
Page 24
Page 25
Page 26
Page 27
Page 28
Page 29
Page 30
Page 31
Page 32
Page 33
Page 34
Page 35
Page 36
Page 37
Page 38
Page 39
Page 40
Page 41
Page 42
Page 43
Page 44
Page 45
Page 46
Page 47
Page 48
Page 49
Page 50
Page 51
Page 52
Page 53
Page 54
Page 55
Page 56
Page 57
Page 58
Page 59
Page 60
Page 61
Page 62
Page 63
Page 64
Page 65
Page 66
Page 67
Page 68
Page 69
Page 70
Page 71
Page 72
Page 73
Page 74
Page 75
Page 76
Page 77
Page 78
Page 79
Page 80
Page 81
Page 82
Page 83
Page 84
Page 85
Page 86
Page 87
Page 88
Page 89
Page 90
Page 91
Page 92
Page 93
Page 94
Page 95
Page 96
Page 97
Page 98
Page 99
Page 100
Page 101
Page 102
Page 103
Page 104
Page 105
Page 106
Page 107
Page 108
Page 109
Page 110
Page 111
Page 112
Page 113
Page 114
Page 115
Page 116
Page 117
Page 118
Page 119
Page 120
Page 121
Page 122
Page 123
Page 124
Page 125
Page 126
Page 127
Page 128
Page 129
Page 130
Page 131
Page 132
Page 133
Page 134
Page 135
Page 136
Page 137
Page 138
Page 139
Page 140
Featuring original works of fine art photography and limited-edition prints by regional and local artists. 372 Fore Street Portland Maine 04101 207 874-8084 www.forestreetgallery.com Monhegan Morning Paul Black 11 x 14 oil Featuring original works of fine art photography and limited-edition prints by regional and local artists. 372 Fore Street Portland Maine 04101 207 874-8084 www.forestreetgallery.com Kennebunk Lobster Boat Brad Betts 9x12 oil Where Recycling has Always been in Style forgetmenotsfalmouth.com Forget Me Nots 781-8252 U.S. Route One Falmouth Maine TuesFri 106 Sat 105 Sun 125 Now located at The Shops at Falmouth Village 240 U.S. Route One Nowacceptingseasonal clothingandaccessories 18 P O R T L A N D MONTHLY MAGAZINE EDITORIAL Colin W. Sargent Editor Publisher FROMTOPRHONDAFARNHAMCOURTESYSKINNERAUCTIONS Italian for Beginners On the local level Maine Historical Society has just acquired a framed pair of two notes a supper invitation between Longefellow and his friend Louis Agassiz 1807-1873. For a re- cent take on Agassiz visit httpwww.nytimes.com20130203booksreviewlouis-agassiz- by-christoph-irmscher.html_r0 A few weeks ago during a casual search of the Boston-based Skin- ner Auctioneers site I bumped into a list of rare documents headed for the block. Many items were the usual ephemeratrans- actions clipped autographs but then I flicked to Lot 49 of Auction 2819T and recognized the words first made more personal by the authors scratches cross-outs and changes It was Longfellows haunting opening lines to his famous translation of Dantes Inferno More precisely it was the first 27 lines of Canto I of Longfellows handwritten manuscript draft with emendations. Stunned to eavesdrop on his choices as he searched for just the right word I felt close to Longfellows shoulder just as he entered the forest dark of the underworld. Then my next surprise. The pre-auction estimate was 800 to 1200. How could a single sheet of paper this desirable still exist outside of a museum Its still considered one of the better translations as I understand it says Nick Noyes librarian at Maine Historical Society. Longfellow went to Europe to polish up his language skills before he went to Bowdoin. Then he went back a couple of other times to prepare for teaching at Harvard. Longfellow enthusi- asts are aware he loved all things Italian and The Inferno is the first major European work ren- dered in Italian instead of Latin but this has to be The Bearded Ones supreme achievement as a Professor of Romance Languages. Suspense is everything. So who had the highest bid at auc- tion Hammer price was 10455 according to Skinner. The buyer was Harvard Universitys Hough- ton Library which prizes rare documents in its Longfellow col- lection. To a Longfellow fan and his stock is risingDonna Tartts novel title The Secret History is lifted from Longfellow this is the Holy Grail. We were excited to bid on it because its a page thats been missing from the manuscript weve had here for some time says Houghton Li- brarys Leslie Morris. It was apparently given away as a souvenir by one of Longfellows sons. It was very exciting for us to reunite it with the manuscript. The following link magnifies the text for a closer look httpwww.skinnerinc.com auctions2819Tlots49 Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark Forthestraightforwardpathwayhadbeenlost.