Johanna Spyri, Heidi. Translated By Helen B. Dole. Illustrated by William Sharp.
Grosset & Dunlap, Inc., (1945). Illustrated Junior Library.
Originally published in 1880 in German as Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre
with a sequel in 1881, Heidi kann brauchen, was es gelernt hat.
All-time favourite and (re)printed in many languages, this copy of Heidi landed in my bookcase when I was young and, like millions of other children, I let my imagination flow reading about Heidi's adventures on a mountain in Switserland. Jackson's observations concerning a student's annotations in an 18th century copy of French grammar are confirmed in the traces of use I left in my copy of Heidi. All notes are on the endpapers, there are no notes in the text. In fact there are no notes having any connection with the story in the book. The squiggles and writings are instructive, of a child learning to read and write her name, words she has just learnt and exercising the basics of artithmetic.
It is not uncommon for children to annotate their books in this way. Jackson goes so far as to say that 'a case can be made for their [the childrens annotations] revealing fundamental readers' attitudes in a particularly raw state', annotation being a tool for understanding a text. The childish writing and re-writing of one's name and other words serve the same purpose as the more mature students annotations, translations, paraphrases etc., namely the internalization of a written or printed text.
A quick search in the Lyon imprints of the research corpus reveals that adults also use endpapers of books for writing exercises. Below the penmanship of Franciscus Lutrini in a copy of Albertus Magnus Compendium theologicae veritatis.
Albertus Magnus, Compendium theologicae veritatis. N.p., n.d. [Lyon: Guillaume Balsarin, ca. 1487]
UvA call number OTM: Inc 261. Verso of free back endpaper.
Jackson, H.J. , Marginalia: Readers Writing in Books. New Haven/London: Yale University Press, 2001. 'Chapter One. Physical Features'.
