BARRIE (J.M.)


ROGET (PETER MARK) Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases... Twenty-First Edition, J.M. BARRIE'S COPY, inscribed in ink on the title-page "J.M. Barrie London (with the help of this copy of the Thesaurus I wrote all my books and plays), J.M.B. 1933", below his earlier pencil inscription "J.M. Barrie, Dumfries & Edinb. 1876-81. Nottingham Journal", and with three phrases ("Woolgathering, Caught napping, the retort") pencilled in on blank leaf facing the addenda, several leaves frayed (mostly towards the end), one leaf (headed "Idolatry") re-inserted, contemporary cloth, worn, upper cover detached, 8vo, Longmans, 1867
|"WITH THE HELP OF THIS COPY OF THE THESAURUS I WROTE ALL MY BOOKS AND PLAYS" - J.M. Barrie's own well-travelled copy of the Thesaurus, recorded by him as being in his possession at Dumfries (where he attended the Academy), Edinburgh (University), and whilst at the Nottingham Journal, for which he became lead-writer in 1883. Barrie noted that when he had first moved to London in 1885 he "did not have much money or any friends... and possessed very few books, except Roget's Thesaurus" (in Rosalind Ridley, Peter Pan and the Mind of J.M. Barrie, 2016). The Thesaurus was clearly a work of particular importance to Barrie: in the directions to Peter Pan he wrote that Captain Hook "is not wholly evil. He has a thesaurus in his cabin".Provenance: J.M. Barrie, ownership inscriptions; Lady Cynthia Asquith, author and daughter-in-law of Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith, evidently presented to her in 1933. In 1918 Lady Asquith had taken the job of secretary to Barrie, "who became a dominant presence in her life until his death in 1937; for Barrie, she played alternately the roles of friend, nurse, mother, and lover...", Barrie leaving the bulk of his estate to her (ODNB); "given to Simon Asquith by his mother Cynthia Asquith, 1937", inscription on title; by descent to the present owner.