"The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac" by Eugene Field
Dozens of Public Schools Named for the "Poet of Childhood."
Eugene Field (1850-1895) was a popular humorist and newspaperman who worked in Missouri, Colorado and Illinois. He is often called the "Poet of Childhood."1 Among his many poems is “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.”
Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night
sailed off in a wooden shoe —
Sailed on a river of crystal light,
into a sea of dew.
"Where are you going, and what do you wish?"
the old moon asked the three.
"We have come to fish for the herring fish
that live in this beautiful sea;
Nets of silver and gold have we!"
said Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.2
After his death dozens of public schools were named for him.3
The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac
The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac (1896), published just after Field's death, is about his constant search for lovely books.4 Field treasured beautiful books and had a library lined with rare and unusual volumes. He frequently worked diligently with various colored inks decorating the first letter of a poem. His sketches on the delights, adventures, and misadventures connected with bibliomania include:
THE LUXURY OF READING IN BED
BALDNESS AND INTELLECTUALITY
ON THE ODORS WHICH MY BOOKS EXHALE
OUR DEBT TO MONKISH MEN
The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac is freely available to listen:
Eugene Field. Poetry Foundation.
"Wynken, Blynken, and Nod" is a popular poem for children written published on March 9, 1889. It is a fantasy bed-time story about three children sailing and fishing among the stars from a boat which is a wooden shoe. The names suggest a sleepy child's blinking eyes and nodding head.
Numerous elementary schools throughout the Midwest are named for him, e.g. Eugene Field Elementary School in Chicago, Illinois; Wheeling, Illinois; Rock Island, Illinois; Elmhurst, Illinois; Normal, Illinois; Park Ridge, Illinois; Maryville, Missouri; St. Joseph, Missouri; Hannibal, Missouri; Columbia, Missouri; Mexico, Missouri; Neosho, Missouri; Poplar Bluff, Missouri; Springfield, Missouri; Webb City, Missouri; Manhattan, Kansas; Ottawa, Kansas; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Littleton, Colorado; Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Altus, Oklahoma; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Hugo, Oklahoma; Beaumont, Texas; Houston, Texas; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Mesa, Arizona; Pasadena, California; San Diego, California; and Silverton, Oregon.
Field, Eugene, Roswell Martin Field, and James Robert Tanis. The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac. 1896.
What a delightful way to spend one's life.