From: Jeffrey S. Farmer (af369@ACORN.NET)
Date: Mon Jan 18 1999 - 10:03:01 PST
Dear Mr. Forster, Thank you for directing me to your life of Dickens. Thanks, as well, to your Japanese friend for publishing it online. You asked if Eastern State Penitentiary and "Cherry Hill" are the same. They are (notwithstanding the latter's rather more idyllic ring). A search for "Cherry Hill" yielded this interesting rare book for sale (http://www.lucasbooks.com/americana.html): 580. (Prison Poetry with Prison Inscription). Hawser, Harry. Buds and Flowers, of Leisure Hours. Philadelphia, Printed and Published,for the Author, by George W. Loammi Johnson, 1844. 8vo, 132pp, purple cloth with gilt stamped binding title: "Poems of a Prisoner in the E.S. Penitentiary Penna.",First edition. Inscribed in ink on blank flyleaf: "Elisabeth R. Angier from her cousin Rodman Wharton, presented on a visit to the Peniteniary Phila April 14th 1846", also enclosed is a calling card of "Rodman Wharton". Cloth faded, minor wear, some foxing (not heavy), VG $300.00 Harry Hawser is a pseudonym and is stated as such in the preface. The prison is Eastern State Penitentiary,Philadelphia, better known - according to the author, as "Cherry Hill" from the original name of the site. The dedication is to the Hon. Richard Vaux, a Philadelphia attorney, and later Mayor, who served as a governor of the Eastern State Penitentiary during the period of "Harry Hawser's" incarceration and is well known for his work in the field of penology (DAB). The inscription seems to indicate that Wharton presented the book to Ms. Angier at the prison, but does not indicate whether she was a prisoner or perhaps a fellow visitor. The book may have been sold at the prison to visitors or there is also the possibility that Rodman Wharton is the author and he was on a return visit to the prison where he had spent three years. I wonder if "Harry Hawser" is the prison poet mentioned in American Notes? Jeffrey S. Farmer