Provenance and Ownership
This copy of Night and Morning is part of the Fontaine family book collection, 24 surviving rare books that trace back to Columbus, Georgia’s first mayor and civic elite. The Fontaines were educated, wealthy, politically connected, and part of the city’s founding generation. Having novels like this on their shelves reflects their engagement with the literary culture of the 19th century, and shows that published fiction was not just entertainment, it was part of how families signaled refinement, taste, and intellect. Books were used for both education and entertainment.
John Fontaine, the mayor of Columbus, was not only a political figure, but a man who helped establish the identity and aspirations of a young Southern city. Even if this specific volume does not carry his name, it came from his library, or one formed and preserved by his descendants. That alone gives this novel a layered meaning: it is both a cultural object and a family heirloom.
The provenance is supported through the Fontaine family connection, passed down through generations until rediscovered by Jack Schley’s great-aunt. While no firm contemporary signature survives to confirm which Fontaine held it first, the faint inscriptions, “ejus liber,” suggest that readers within the family marked the book as their own. If two different hands wrote it, and they appear to, that could signal the book being handed down between generations, held onto long after its publication. In this way, the book becomes a physical link, not just to Night and Morning as a text, but to the real people who lived with it, valued it, preserved it, and eventually passed it into the hands of students and archivists.