Poems by the most deservedly admired Mrs Katherine Philips, the Matchless Orinda

Katherine Philips (1631-1664) was a British woman writer whose poems were widely circulated in the 1650s and 60s.¹ She also wrote under the pen-name “Orinda”. Poems presents a collection of her poetry, and she is best known today for the themes of female friendship in her poems. This book also includes her translations from French of plays by Pierre Corneille (1606-1684), who is considered a great 17th-century French dramatist.

Poems was printed by John Macock (1629-1692) in London, who has been identified as one of the printers of Shakespeare’s Fourth Folio.² He often printed for Henry Herringman (1628–1704), a prominent London bookseller and publisher. No information about the bookbinder could be found, except for that the book was bound in contemporary calf leather.

The portrait depiction of Orinda was engraved by William Faithorne (1616-1691), who was well known for engraving other prominent figures such as Oliver Cromwell and King Charles I.

The first option, and least likely one, is Dorothy (Weld) Pickering (1633-1707), also known as Doll Wilde. She lived with her husband Edward Pickering in the Edmonton area near London, according to Samuel Pepys’ diary, where the two are mentioned.⁵ Samuel Pepys was an English writer best known for his famous diary that documented his daily life from 1660 until 1669.⁶ This is significant because Samuel Pepys also specifically mentions a copy of Poems by Philips from the same bookseller, H. Herringman, in London, and praises Philips as a “distinguished poetess.” There are two major issues with this theory, first and foremost that Weld and Pickering were married in 1663, six years before Poems was published.⁷ It is unlikely Dorothy would have written her maiden name in the book 6 years after getting married. The next issue is that the Pickerings lived approximately 150 miles from Willey Estate or Apley Estate in Shropshire, where the book resided next, so there is a significant question of how the book would have made it to its next home, on top of the name change.

Apley Park Estate in Shropshire is an important aspect of this book’s history, as Poems resided in Shropshire from its publication until most likely 1962. In 1867, Foster bought Apley from Douglas Whitmore, a descendent of the Whitmore family who had owned the estate since 1593.¹⁷ After purchasing the estate, Foster acquired Poems, where it stayed until after his death. After the last of the Foster family to own the estate died, it was turned into a boarding school and many of its contents were sold in 1962, according to the current owners of the estate.¹⁸ While there is no way to confirm the book stayed in the estate until 1962, it would make the most sense, as the next time this copy of Poems appears is in a rare book catalogue in 1969. It is from the book’s residency at Apley Park Estate from 1867-1962 with Foster that the identity of the book’s first owner, Dorothy Weld, can be confirmed.

After Poems was likely sold out of Apley Estate post-1962, it was purchased by bookseller Percy Dobell and Son. This is confirmed by the catalogue record left by the book’s next owner, Wayne H. Phelps, dated 1969.

Percy Dobell and Son was an antiquarian bookshop, formerly a part of the “P. J. and A. E. Dobell” partnership that descended from Percy Dobell and Arthur Dobell’s father, Bertram Dobell. Bertram was the first bookseller to open a shop on the famous Charing Cross Road in London.¹⁹

While Phelps obscured the original price, The Grolier Club in New York²⁰ was able to send me a scan of the original catalogue — No. 182 — that includes the original price of £14, which in today’s U.S. dollars is about $380.

The information on the physical aspects of this copy of Poems in the catalogue listing is also valuable. The bookseller writes that they repaired the spine and inner corners of the title and frontispiece, which are the taped repairs that can be seen. It also notes that the lower corner of pg.129 was already ripped, so that damage must have occurred sometime during the book’s residency at Shropshire.

As mentioned above, Phelps left behind a variety of papers in the book. He included the 1969 Percy Dobell and Son catalogue clipping he bought the book from, where he obscured the price he paid; he instead left the note “£Esa” which is likely his own personal bookseller code. He also included a bookmark on pg. 15 identifying the Wing catalogue²³ number. Responding to the torn corner of pg. 129, he placed facsimile leaves of the affected pages so they are again fully readable. Phelps also left a nondescript brown paper cover on the book that remains on MSU’s copy.

MSU bought Poems from Phelps’ estate on August 30th, 2024.