“A black girle to a faire Boy,” manuscript poem.

“A black girle to a faire Boy,” manuscript poem.

England,

ca. 1655.

These poems—“A Black girle to a faire Boy” and “The Aunsw’r”—were copied out in an italic letterform that includes some characteristics of secretary hand. (Note the use of the raised e throughout.) The poems, written by Henry Rainolds and replied to by Henry King, address the topic of interracial love. First published in print in The Academy of Complements (London, 1646), the poems were copied, usually together as a pair, into numerous miscellanies and commonplace books during the 17th century.

From the collection of Rare Book School