Medea by Seneca 1835 Harvard Latin Textbook Owned by Increase N. Tarbox at Yale!

Description

It's not often that you have the opportunity to buy a 186 year old collectible college textbook that has ties to both Harvard and Yale!  Up for sale is a little volume that was specially printed for Harvard but was shortly thereafter used by a Yale student who would become an influential author and clergyman and who was a member of a family that produced other notables.
The title page of this small softbound book reads as follows:
LATIN CLASSICS
Belonging (to)
THE COURSE OF STUDY
in
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
-----------
-
MEDEA
a
TRAGEDY OF SENECA
Edited
by Charles Beck,
Professor of Latin in the University
---------------
Cambridge:
James Munroe and Company,
Booksellers to the University
BOSTON
134 Washington Street.
1835
At the back of the book, on a blank page, and written upside down (see photo #2 of this listing), is a pencil notation that reads:
I. N. Tarbox
Yale College
Feb 6, 1837
(Note:  The "I." in the name is very faint.  There are some very faint markings above the name that I can't make out.)
This book measures just under 6 inches tall by about 3.75 inches wide.  It was "Entered according to the act of Congress, in the year 1834, by James Munroe & Co., in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts."  (I assume this is a copyright statement.)  It was printed in Cambridge by Charles Folsom, Printer to the University.
The book has a Preface, in English, occupying pages iii through xii.  The play itself (Seneca's
Medea
) is in Latin and occupies pages 1 through 39.  This is followed by a section of Notes (in English) which goes from pages 41 through 58.  The Notes are keyed to line numbers in the play.  Finally, there is a section on Metres (Meters), in English, which goes from pages 59 through 69.
Seneca's
Medea
(written about 50 AD, or CE) is an example of "fabula crepidata", or a Latin tragedy with Greek subjects.  The Greek dramatist Euripides had written the earlier version.  I won't go into the plot details but suffice it to say that it is very gory and gruesome play with many deaths.
The editor of this book, Charles Beck was born Karl Beck in 1798, in Heidelberg Germany.  His stepfather was a noted theologian and professor.  Beck studied classics at the Universities of Berlin and Heidelberg.  He was awarded his Ph.D. by the University of Tubingen.  Beck and his stepfather were both persecuted because of their republican views, both in Germany and later in Switzerland.  In 1824, Beck and his friend Charles Follen (who would also become a Harvard professor) emigrated to the United States.  He taught Latin at the Round Hill School (established by George Bancroft) in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he also established the first German-modeled gymnasium (including a school gymnastics program) in the country.  By 1832, Beck was appointed as professor of Latin language and literature at Harvard, a post that he held until 1850.
He was an ardent unionist and abolitionist.
The home that was built for him at 1 Prescott Street in Cambridge eventually was incorporated into the Harvard campus.   Still standing, it is now known as the Beck-Warren House (Warren being a Sanskrit professor who later lived during the 1890s) and is located - after a relocation - just north of the Harvard Union.  According to campus legend, Beck's home was a stop on the "underground railroad".  (It contained a secret trap door on the second floor leading to a crawl space and eventually to the basement.)  In later years, Beck became a bank president and served a term as repesentative to the General Court (i.e. the state legislature).  He died in 1866.
This book was owned by Increase Niles Tarbox (I. N. Tarbox) who lived from 1815 to 1888.  He was born in East Windsor, Connecticut and had a turbulent childhood during which he was orphaned and shuttled to new homes on multiple occasions.  His basic education and talent allowed him to become a school teacher at age 19.  At about age 21, he enrolled at Yale College graduating in 1839.  (His first tenure at Yale was from about 1836 to 1839, correlating perfectly with the date he wrote on this book, February 6, 1837.)  Tarbox would return to Yale a few years later, attending the Theological Seminary from which he graduated in 1844.  His first pulpit was at the Hollis Evangelical Church (later called Plymouth Congregational) in Framingham, Massachusetts.  In 1849, Tarbox became the first editor of the newly established paper,
The Congregationalist
.  Starting in 1851, he served as Secretary and Chief Actuary at the American Education Society (later called the American and College Education Society), an organization established "to aid indigent young men of talent and hopeful piety in acquiring ... [an] education for the Gospel Ministry".  He would remain affiliated with this group for almost the rest of his life.  He had begun writing while still at Yale, but - in the 1850s - he increased his literary output, ranging from children's stories to adult non-fiction.  Among his most read works were children's series such as
Uncle George's Stories
and
Winnie and Walter
.  On a more serious note, in 1865, he wrote
The Curse: or, The Position in the World's History of the Race of Ham
, which was an argument against slavery and also a refutation of the idea that dark-skinned races were "cursed".  Tarbox advocated that the newly freed slaves should become part of American society.  (In a separate publication on
Universal Suffrage
, he argued that they should receive voting rights.)
The Tarbox family roots in New England date to about 1639 when John Tarbox arrived and settled in Essex County Massachusetts.  Aside from Increase N. Tarbox, the family has produced other notables.  John K. Tarbox (1838 - 1887) served in both houses of the Massachusetts legislature and as a congressman from Massachusetts, as well as holding the offices of Mayor of Lawrence, Massachusetts and of State Insurance Commissioner.  Jack M. Tarbox (1928 - 2016) was a Stanford and MIT graduate and an aeronautical engineer and executive, who was part of a secret military project, on Long Island, New York, to design a nuclear powered aircraft.
Provenance:  I obtained this book from the estate of Dr. Milburn Calhoun, who was a noted bibliophie and also the owner of the Pelican Publishing Company, in Gretna, Louisiana.  I don't know if Harvard textbooks were routinely "handed down" to Yale students.  It is interesting, however, that the same box that contained this book had another book (
The Captives
, by Plautus) that took a similar path.  (You can learn more about that book by searching e-Bay for "Lewis Stirling Feliciana".)
Please see above for description of condition and photos.
(Please note: There are significant condition issues.)
Sold as is.
Attention US buyers:  I will ship by USPS Media Mail or by USPS Priority Mail, your choice.  Please note that if you have a Military Mail address (e.g. APO), I must ask that you choose USPS Priority Mail as it is my understanding that USPS Media Mail is not reliable to Military Mail addresses.
Attention International Buyers:  Unfortunately, it appears that international shipping from the US (via the USPS) has become unreliable, because of the pandemic.  Therefore, I have decided to remove the international shipping option.  You are still welcome to bid on this item, but will need to supply a shipping address in the US.  I'm sorry for the inconvenience.  Thank you for your understanding.