Barrow Bookstore

06/07/2026

John Brown's "Secret Six" roll through time into a fictional drama. Are you following Barrow Bookstore's "As the Oil Lamp Burns: Literary Housewives of Concord"? If yes, in yesterday and today's episodes 32 and 33, fictional U.S. Marshalls are on the lookout for John Brown's "Secret Six" and head to Concord to arrest Frank Sanborn. This is based on a true story.

In real life, Franklin (Frank) Benjamin Sanborn (1831-1917) was a writer, educator, and ardent abolitionist. A good friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, Sanborn was living in Concord in 1859 when Abolitionist John Brown led a raid on the Harper's Ferry armory in West Virginia with the intent to seize the weapons and arm enslaved people to force an uprising and overthrow of slavery. Brown's raid went awry and authorities started looking for anyone who aided him. Six men were suspected of financially aiding Brown in the raid, among them, Frank Sanborn of Concord. U.S. Marshalls came to Concord to arrest Sanborn but were literally beaten away by Sanborn's sister and neighbors.

Read more about the real story of Frank Sanborn and John Brown's "Secret Six" in this excellent Discover Concord Magazine article by Concord Massachusetts historian Richard Smith

https://www.discoverconcordma.com/articles/365-invested-in-treason-concord-and-john-browns-secret-six

06/07/2026

The voting has ended but the drama has not! Enjoy Episode 33, “Plant and Run” from Barrow’s original soap opera, “As the Oil Lamp Burns: Literary Housewives of Concord”.
Competition results will be announced Wednesday, June 10, at 12 noon. Thank you, reader friends, for all your time and support.

USA TODAY 10Best The Old Manse

06/07/2026

As written by reporter Dalya Alberge in a June 5 2026 The Telegraph article, a "previously unpublished work by J.R.R. Tolkien has been unearthed in the University of Oxford’s archives.

"The Lord of the Rings author’s translation of a medieval religious text from the early 13th century had lain forgotten in the Bodleian Libraries’ collections until now.

"His reworking of Sawles Warde, an early Middle English prose homily, which he titled Soul’s Ward in his calligraphic hand on the typescript, is to be published for the first time. It is an allegory in which the body is represented as a house."

Read more in the link below.

Previously unpublished medieval translation by Lord of the Rings writer found in Oxford

06/07/2026

Following Barrow Bookstore's original fictional soap opera, "As the Oil Lamp Burns: Literary Housewives of Concord"? Today's Episode 32, "Circle the Horizon" is partially set at a fictionalized version of The Old Manse (Ralph Waldo Emerson's ancestral home) and includes a fictionalized Emerson reading lines from the real Emerson's essay, "Circles" to the pirates from Robert Louis Stevenson's TREASURE ISLAND.

In real life, Ralph Waldo Emerson lived at the Old Manse as a child and then again as a young man from 1834-35. In the Manse, he wrote the first draft of his famed essay, "Nature".

In 1835, Emerson purchased a house about a mile away on Cambridge Turnpike. Nicknamed "Bush", today the house is the The Ralph Waldo Emerson House museum and open to the public.

In this house, Emerson wrote "Circles". The essay was published in 1841 in Emerson's ESSAYS: FIRST SERIES.

In Concord? Take a tour of the Emerson House at 28 Cambridge Turnpike, Concord, MA. While you may not see the pirates from TREASURE ISLAND, you'll see many other treasures and meet friendly and informative tour guides.

Photos:
The Ralph Waldo Emerson House
Ralph Waldo Emerson (by JJ Hawes, source wikipedia)
Autograph Edition Set of the Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, from Barrow Bookstore's Special Collections.

06/06/2026

The voting has ended but the drama continues! Enjoy Episode 32, “Circle the Horizon” of Barrow’s original soap opera, “As the Oil Lamp Burns: Literary Housewives of Concord”. Thank you, again, Reader Friends, for all your support during the contest.Results will be announced Wednesday after 12pm.

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06/06/2026

Wishing all a joyful Saturday. Photo spot area set up behind Barrow Bookstore today plus outdoor games and chess set.

06/05/2026

Copyright and real-life Piracy! Are you following Barrow Bookstore’s original soap opera, “As the Oil Lamp Burns: Literary Housewives of Concord”? The episodes are strongly drawn from literature and Concord Massachusetts history. Episode 29, “That One is Mine”, contained a scene with a fictionalized Louisa May Alcott and Nathaniel Hawthorne meeting in The Old Manse parlor to discuss London Publisher George Routledge and Co., stealing their works.

This happened in real life! In the murky era of International Copyright Law, American and British publishers stole works from writers across the ocean, publishing them without compensating the writers. Alcott’s LITTLE WOMEN (1 & 2), and Hawthorne’s THE SCARLET LETTER were among coveted titles “pirated” (aka stolen) by British publishers.

In the background of the fictionalized soap opera scene, the Old Manse resident stuffed owl says to Alcott and Hawthorne, “Stealing will continue stealing”. This is a real-life direct quote from Alcott’s and Hawthorne’s acquaintance James Russell Lowell who was President of the American Copyright League as he lamented the difficulty of stopping theft of intellectual property.

Photos:
1. James Russell Lowell Signed sentiment card lines about copyright theft (from Barrow Bookstore’s rare collections)
2. Louisa May Alcott (public domain)
3. Nathaniel Hawthorne (painting by Charles Osgood, (public domain courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum)
4. Still scene shot from “As the Oil Lamp Burns”, Ep. 29. (generated with AI)

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06/05/2026

The voting has ended but the drama continues! Enjoy Episode 31, “Hell Hath No Fury Like….” from Barrow Bookstore’s original soap opera, “As the Oil Lamp Burns: Literary Housewives of Concord”. (And thank you, again, reader friends, for all your voting and support over the competition duration. Results to be announced Wednesday, June 10 at noon).

06/05/2026

“A strain of music reminds me of… infinite remoteness, as well as beauty and serenity, for it… teaches us again and again to trust the remotest and finest as the divinest instinct, and makes us dream our only real experience.”
-Condensed from Henry David Thoreau’s A WEEK ON THE CONCORD AND MERRIMACK RIVERS.

Music by Yo-Yo Ma.