- Title: Elements of Logic
- Author: Richard Whately
- Publisher: Harper & Brothers
- Estimated year of printing: 1857
Notes:
Inscription on first page: “L. L. Merrick, Amherst Coll., ’60”
Richard Whately (1787 – 1863) was an English academic, rhetorician, logician, philosopher, economist, and theologian. He lived a very varied life — working as a private tutor, principal of St. Alban Hall, professor at Oxford, Archbishop of Dublin, and working to establish a national non-sectarian system of education in Ireland.
The Encyclopædia Metropolitana was published in several parts starting in 1817, as a competitor to the then-new Encyclopædia Britannica. Whately contributed an article on logic, which was later adapted into this book, first published in London in 1826. The book was considered a groundbreaking work explaining the foundations of logical thought and was popular, being published in many editions in London and the United States, including this one in 1857. It was followed by a companion book, Elements of Rhetoric, in 1828, which is still read and cited today.
The inscription and provenance of this book is one of its most interesting aspects. This book belonged to L. L. Merrick (1829 – 1864), who was a student at Amherst College in the class of 1860. Amherst College was fairly young at the time, having only been founded in 1821, and was focused solely on educating young men for Christian ministry. After graduating in 1860, Merrick was preparing for the ministry when the Civil War began in 1861. He joined the 36th Massachusetts Infantry in 1862. During the Battle of Poplar Spring Church in 1864, the 36th Massachusetts was heavily engaged and Sgt. Merrick was wounded and taken prisoner. He was soon paroled, but died onboard a flag-of-truce boat, presumably a prisoner exchange boat en route to Washington. He was regarded as one of the best soldiers in the regiment, helping to maintain the tone of morality. He had a post of the Grand Army of the Republic named after him in Palmer, Massachusetts.