#finis friday

[hdslibrary]

From A to Finis

This week we came across a rather elegant finis, and it turns out it is probably the least interesting part of the book! (We promise to post more on this gem soon!) It is found in a 1799 book containing specimens and analysis of writing systems from around the world. This final page contains information about Rejang, an Indonesian language.

Fry, Edmund. Pantographia : containing accurate copies of all the known alphabets in the world; together with an English explanation of the peculiar force or power of each letter: to which are added, specimens of all well-authenticated oral languages; forming a comprehensive digest of phonology. London : Printed by Cooper and Wilson, for John and Arthur Arch, Gracechurch-Street; John White, Fleet-Street, John Edwards, Pall-Mall; and John Debrett, Piccadilly, MDCCXCIX [1799].

[uwcairns]

#FinisFriday: The Little Room and Other Stories

Halloween may be over, but that's no reason to stop reading ghost stories! This #FinisFriday, we're sharing "decorations by the author" featured in The Little Room and Other Stories, a book of short stories by Madeline Yale Wynne. Originally published in Harper's Magazine in 1895, The Little Room is Wynne's most well-known written work. She is also known for her patronage and work with the New England arts and crafts movement, and for her own art.

Left to right: The Little Room, The Sequel to the Little Room, My Ghost of a Chance

The Little Room has been compared to Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper and Elia Wilkinson Peattie's The House That Was Not as uncanny stories rich with feminist and/or queer subtext. It's relevant to note that while we don't know how Wynne would have identified if she lived now, after a brief marriage to a man, she spent 30 years partnered with fellow artist Annie Cabot Putnam in what might have been called a "Boston Marriage."

Left to right: Pepita, The Voice, The Scarf

The Little Room and Other Stories.Madelene Yale Wynne. Chicago: Way & Williams, 1895.

Call number: Cairns Collection PS 3364 W85 L5 1895

-Samantha, graduate student employee

[hdslibrary]

Forehead Finis Friday

Is it just us or does this fellow found at the end of a 17th century Dutch commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism look...older than the usual finis cherub? Also notable: the wings in one piece (a uni-wing??).

Ursinus, Zacharias. Het schat-boeck der verclaringhen over de catechismus der christelicke religie. Leyden: Andries Couck, 1630.

[hdslibrary]

Floatin’ & Flyin’ Finis Friday!

Happy Friday, all! This sweet fellow is found at the end of an 1802 Hebrew Lexicon. (Another recent post on this book here.)

Pike, Samuel.  A compendious Hebrew lexicon, adapted to the English language and composed upon a new commodious plan; to which is annexed a brief account of the construction and rationale of the Hebrew tongue. Cambridge: Printed for the University by William Hilliard, 1802.

[hdslibrary]

Floating Finis Friday

We found these flying fellows at the end of a 1747 American imprint on the oh-so cheerful subject of Judgement Day.

Cotton, John. The separation of the tares and wheat reserved to the day of judgment : A sermon preached upon a particular occasion at Attleborough,... Wherein that question is largely discussed, whether an infallible knowledge of the brethren be attainable by ordinary believers in this life?  Boston: : Printed and sold by S. Kneeland and T. Green in Queen-Street over against the prison., [1747]

[hdslibrary]

TGI Finis Friday

Concluding a week that feels extra long with a graceful ending from a sermon printed in Boston in 1795. 

Clarke, John. An Answer to the Question, Why Are You a Christian? Boston: Printed at the Apollo Press, in Boston, by Joseph Belknap, No. 8, Dock-Square, 1795.

[hdslibrary]

Happy Finis Friday!

TGIFF. Like this guy, we are totally finished with this week. From the very end of a copy of the very first printed Syriac New Testament (1555).

Liber sacrosancti evangelii de Iesv Christo domino & Deo nostro. Reliqua hoc codice comprehensa pagina proxima indicabit. Div. Ferdinandi rom. imperatoris designati iussu & liberalitate, characteribus & lingua syra, Iesv Christo vernacula, diuino ipsius ore cõsecrata, et a Ioh. Euãgelista hebraica dicta, scriptorio prelo diligẽter expressa [Edited by Johann Albrect Widmanstetter]. Vienna: 1555.

[hdslibrary]

T.G.I.Finis

What better way to end the working week?

This stylish finale was created for the same work we featured earlier this week for its title page initial, evidence there was definitely some care and creativity at play in that shop.

Vineis, Raimundus de, -1399.   Theologiae mysticae, mirabilium scilicet, & inscrutabilium operum Dei lucida demonstratio, in libros II distributa …  Coloniae cum gratia & priuilegio Caesareae maiestatis excudebat Iaspar Gennepaeus. Anno 1553.