Books and Religious Devotion: The Redemptive Reading of an Irishman in Nineteenth-Century New England

Examines the book collection of Thomas Connary, a nineteenth-century Irish Catholic New England farmer, to reconstruct how Connary read and annotated his books. Contents: "I Am Here" Studying Used Books: The Plan of the Argument Reading Paratext Obsession Epiphany Irish American Print Culture In The Nineteenth Century: A Private Library A Collector and Reader F. Lewis [Louis of Granada], The Sinner's Guide Thomas H. Kinane, The Dove of the Tabernacle James Balmes, Fundamental Philosophy George Foxcroft Haskins, Travels in England, France, Italy, and Ireland Periodicals and Newspapers Reading for Guidance and Edification: "Book Keeping" in the Connary Household Epiphany: "Seeing Very Plainly" Laboring In My Books": Thomas Connary's Book Enhancements Enhancing "the Blank Paper Surface Room" Decorative Embellishment and Extra-Illustration Newspaper and Magazine Clippings Diary and Miscellaneous Records Prayers and Religious Assertions Planning Reading A Reader's Responses The Autonomous Reader Epiphany: The Lamp Redemptive Reading In The Connary Household Domestic Reading and the Presence of the Book The Social Annotator Heavenly Books "Putting Books to Work": A Culture of Redemptive Reading Book Signing "The Pen and the Press Blest Alliance Combined!": Thomas Connary in Print Epiphany: The Road To Lancaster The Farmer's Treasure: Thomas Connary Reading St. Francis Of Sales And Julian Of Norwich Reading the Classics The Books of "Mother Juliana" and "Our Saint Francis" On Being Elsewhere: Inscribing Longing and Transcendence in the Spiritual Conferences of St. Francis of Sales The Spiritual Epiphany Reading Julian In Dialogue with Julian Finding Comfort in Julian: Reflections on Incorporation and Salvation "The Social Joys of Heaven" and the Problem of Contention Epiphany: "No Priest Or Bishop In This Church But Himself Alone" Book Keeping, Longing, And Besetment In a Room of His Own: Book Enhancement and Besetment "We Must Never Be Too Full of Words": Preaching in Stratford Madness in the Books Vessels of Nostalgia Peace and Communality.