Description: This bookplate of Isaac N. Walter has a simple design: a statement of ownership followed by two blocks of text, all contained within a plain border. The text reads: "The Property of Isaac N. Walter. / If thou art borrowed by a friend, / Right welcome shall he be, / To read, to study, not to lend, / But to return to me. / Not that imparted wisdom doth / Diminish learning's store; / But books, I find, if often lent, / Return to me NO MORE! / Read slowly, pronounce perfectly, think seriously, return duly with the corners of the leaves not turned down." Isaac Newton Walter (1805-1856), 19th-century preacher, circuit rider, and pastor, was born on Lee's Creek, Highland County, Ohio. His parents were Quakers, but after young Walter attended a Methodist revival while still in his teens, he became interested in religion and began exploring the differences between various denominations and sects. Like many Americans at this time, he was actively engaged in the Second Great Awakening, a religious revival that began in the late eighteenth century and lasted until the middle of the nineteenth century. While the revival occurred in all parts of the United States, it was especially strong in the Northeast and the Midwest, including Ohio. Walter married Lydia Anderson in 1824, and in 1825 he was ordained as a pastor in the Christian Church, one of the new religious organizations that evolved during this period of revival. His ministry continued for 25 years. In 1826 he settled in Dublin, Ohio, and founded the Christian Church there. He traveled on foot and on horseback through Clark, Champaign, Union, Delaware, Licking, Franklin, Ross and Fayette counties in Ohio. In the year 1833 he accepted a call to become pastor of the First Christian Church of New York City and took up his new post in February 1834. He preached in other locations along the East Coast and eventually returned to Ohio, preaching and baptizing converts there and in many other areas of the eastern and southern United States. He experienced health problems during the 1840s and 1850s that frequently constrained his activities, but he continued his work until his death on July 9, 1856, in Columbus, Ohio. He was buried in Green Lawn Cemetery, Columbus. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05877
Subjects: Cultural Ohio--Literary Ohio; Bookplates; Books and reading; Religion in Ohio
Places: Bookplate Collection