"If life had a second edition how I woud correct the proofs"
(from a letter to Mrs Emmerson, dated 10 August 1823)
Over his long life Clare was in the habit of expressing his thoughts in succinct and memorable statements and idiomatic phrases. Thanks to the late David Powell, the librarian at the Clare collection in Northampton, many of these were collected and published, first "Clare's Proverbs" and then "Clare's Aphorisms". However, both books are now virtually impossible to obtain. So to fill this gap, this page seeks to bring Clare's aphorisms to a wider audience.
Is this the right source? The Tibbles quote the line but give no source - in '32 and '72 - and there is no letter to Emmerson in Storey's Letters of that date. So what is your source please?
ReplyDeleteGreat pity I do not know to whom I am speaking, however, the history of this aphorism is explained in detail in a note appended to the quote in "John Clare - APHORISMS" Selected & edited by David Powell and published by Tern Press in 2002 in an addition of 75. YOu will find it on page 23.
ReplyDeleteThank you - you are kind! The Tern Press book I do not have. Could you tell me where Powell sourced the quote from? That's not a scholarly book - but does he provide references? Or is it from a letter that no longer exists? It is the most popular quotation on Twitter - and yet it does not have an MS source. And the Tibbles give no MS reference either. Very odd!
ReplyDeletePowell, "It derives from a letter from Mrs Emmerson to Clare, BL MS Egerton 2246, cos 230-1, dated 10 August 1823."
ReplyDeleteAwesome, thank you! So she is quoting Clare back at himself - thought so! Thank you so much, Barbara Paisley (Knockston)
ReplyDelete