Book Review of Mary Holderness's "New Russia"
By Emily Mikkola
Introduction
Mary Holderness wrote her text New Russia: Journey from Riga to the Crimea, by Way of Kiev; with Some Account of the Colonization and the Manners and Customs of the Colonists of New Russia. To which are Added, Notes Relating to the Crim Tatars while she was living in the Crimea between the years of 1816 and 1820. It is a detailed account of her observations that she made on the customs and culture of the Crim Tatars, but it is heavily biased by her Eurocentric perspective. It was published in 1823, and the digital copy I refer to was digitized in 2007, nearly two hundred years after its original publication.
Digitized Edition
The edition of New Russia that has been digitized comes from Harvard University Library, and has no evidence of being a reprint rather than an original copy. It is difficult to tell if the front and back cover is plain black or dark navy blue, but both sides are plain and un-embossed with images or text. The first page inside is from the Harvard College Library and says “From the Fund Given in Memory of George Silsbee Hale and Ellen Sever Hale”. The following page is a grainy black and white image of what appears to be the view of a seaside town (presumably the Crimea) from a sailboat. The image is followed by a full title page that says “New Russia — Journey from Riga to the Crimea by way of Kiev, With Some Account of the Colonization, and the Manners and Customs of the Colonists of New Russia. To Which are Added, Notes Relating to the Crim Tatars. By Mary Holderness.” Beneath that it says “Germans, and Scythians, and Sarmatians, north Beyond Danubius, to the Tauric Pool. Paradise Regained.” There is an imprint saying “London: Printed for Sherwood, Jones and Co. Paternoster-Row. 1823”. Following the title page, there is a record from Harvard College Library with two stamps dated February 11, 1923 and October 8, 1970. The text was published in 1823 and was borrowed from the library in February of 1923, but does not say it is a reprint or a newer edition. This suggests once again that this is an original print. At the end of the text there is another record from Harvard’s library, with stamps dated May 6 of 2000, January 9 of 2003 (twice), September 10 of 2004.
Contents
In her preface, Holderness states that:
This Volume which I now present to the Public, owes, in some measure, its existence to the favourable reception accorded to my former attempt. By the plan of that work, I scrupulously confined myself to such notices as my experience enabled me to furnish respecting the Tatars of the Crimea alone, suppressing the information which I had likewise collected on the Manners and Customs of the other Inhabitants of New Russia. (iii)
Holderness mentions that she has corrected the population of particular towns based on “the pinion of a more competent judge than [herself] on the subject.” (iv) She also notes the she added Notes Relating to the Crim Tatars with the intention of creating a more complete view into her time abroad. She mentions that she had put off publishing this work “lest [she] should interfere with the intentions of a friend, who [she] had reason to believe, had directed his thoughts to the same subject […] but the kindness of the friend alluded to, had supplied [her] with much important additional information” (a2), referring to the Reverend Arthur Young. It is unclear in the text which information he provided, but it can be assumed that they shared similar views on the Crim Tatars. Holderness starts with “Critical Notices, of the “Notes Relative to the Crim Tatars” section, which is several pages of positive reviews of her work made by different literary organizations. The reviews included echo back what Holderness states in her preface, and speak very highly about both her writing and her as a person. She is noted for being very modest, and writing in a “very pleasing and familiar manner” (vii), alluding to the fact that the text was aimed at an audience with Eurocentric ideals. The British Critic notes that “the authoress appears to be a very intelligent person, and the means which she possessed of making herself acquainted with the subject, are such as seldom fall to the lot of travellers, either male or female.” (vii) She includes these reviews that support her preface as a method of shaping her readers expectations before they even get to her writing, and is seemingly very successful.
Holderness begins the first part of her observations by recounting her journey to Riga, and her initial impressions (which were poor). She covers many topics in her text, such as living spaces, the price of vegetables, and Russian clothing, but compares her recordings through a heavily Eurocentric perspective, often commenting on the Crim Taters’ “simple lives”.then begins a section titled “Colonies of New Russia” that restarts at Chapter I, and touches on topics such as the system adopted by the Russian government, and the power of the officers of the crown have over the peasants. This section continues straight into the next, which is the addition of Notes Relating to the Crim Tatars. Rather than restarting at Chapter I like she did previously, she continues from the previous section. Holderness’s notes further confirm her biases towards the Crim Tatars, and she compares many of their customs to those that occur in England, which she implies are superior. Holderness writes very critically about how “the musical instruments of the Tatars are the most unmusical of their kind” (80), and “the habits and modes of agriculture of the Tatars are rude and simple” (93). There seem to be few merits that Crimea has over England, though she does note that “the highest points of excellence in the Tatar character are their sobriety and chastity, for both of which they are universally remarkable and praise-worthy.” (49) Holderness’s view of the Crim Tatars is not flattering towards them, yet somehow she seems to have maintained a good relationship with those that she was living amongst, as she mentions how several offered to accompany her home and ensure her safe travels back to England. (164-165) Despite her harsh perspective on the Crim Tatars, Holderness does include some beautifully detailed illustrations, presumably that she did herself.
The section at the end of the text is Holderness’s notes on information such as how much money produce and livestock were worth, and how expensive it was to rent a plough or hire labourers. The notes are quite detailed, and presumably would give her British readers more context for what she had written about. Although Holderness is praised for delivering an ‘honest’ account of a culture that was previously relatively unknown to a British audience, it is made clear that she compares the Crim Tatars heavily to a British lifestyle. The text is aimed towards an audience that knows a similar culture and lifestyle to Holderness herself, and frames the Crim Tatars as an ‘othered’ group, rather than an equal society that has different practices than her own.
