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Monday 5 October 2009

Fabulous Friendship Basket For Sale



I am almost too stunned to tell you that the amazing friendship basket which appeared here a few weeks ago is for sale again. How anyone could say goodbye to this unique and beautiful item of female history - a leaving token to a teacher of Edgeworth Female Seminary, Julia, is beyond imagination. Do contact Dawn Lewis right away if you are interested. I am told the price is $1250 £785 855 Euros or 112,000 Yen.
Edgeworth seminary was named after the renowned Irish Enlightenment feminist and educationalist Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849), author of Letters for Literary Ladies, and disciple of Jean Jacques Rousseau. Built in Greensboro, North Carolina, the seminary was a large brick structure that housed a laboratory, classrooms, music and art studios, and dormitories. The first principal was Mary Anne Hoye. Edgeworth closed in 1862 for the Civil War. The buildings were used by both the Confederate and Union armies as a hospital, and all the furniture and music equipment was sold. The Seminary reopened in 1868 under the leadership of the Rev. Dr. John Caldwell from Georgia. In 1871 Caldwell resigned and the school closed for good. The buildings were briefly used as a private residence by members of the Morehead family. The remnants of Edgeworth Female Seminary burned in 1872.
Here are some of the inscriptions: 'Friendship is a name forever Blest/In it I live and live to rest.' And: 'Julia a fond adieu for soon we part/Nor ever perhaps to meet again/ But every morn will tell my heart/Thy friendship warm'd it and not in vain.'

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