My Study Windows was published by James R. Osgood in 1871, appearing just a year after Among My Books and complementing it with a more miscellaneous collection. Where Among My Books focused primarily on major literary figures, My Study Windows ranges more freely: the essay on Chaucer is one of the finest early American assessments of the medieval poet, but the collection also includes pieces on nature (the view from Lowell’s study at Elmwood, the Cambridge seasons), on political topics, and on cultural figures like Carlyle and Emerson.
The title establishes the collection’s stance: Lowell writes from his study, looking out at the world through windows — physical windows (the garden, the street, the weather) and intellectual windows (books, which frame and mediate experience). The metaphor captures Lowell’s position as an engaged but comfortable observer: he participates in the world (as editor, diplomat, professor, and citizen) but his fundamental mode is contemplative.
The essay on Chaucer — arguing for Chaucer as a great European poet rather than merely a quaint English one — influenced subsequent criticism significantly. Lowell’s Chaucer is a sophisticated, worldly artist working within a European tradition, not the naive tale-teller of popular imagination.
Collecting My Study Windows
First edition (James R. Osgood, Boston, 1871): Cloth binding.
Market values:
- First edition: $25–$60
- Later editions: $8–$20