Trinity College in Dublin is one of only three places in the world to house under one roof all three early printed editions of Andrew Marvell’s Mr. Smirke, or The Divine in Mode (1676). Still, it seems no strange activity for me, an American, to travel here to study them. Scholars committed to the recovery of Marvell’s life and works are as far-flung as the scribal copies and early editions of his poetry and prose. Yet thanks to the fellowship offered by the Marvell Society and now this newsletter, the sense of the Marvell community as an international community is all the stronger. I hope to see as many of you as possible at the Marvell sessions held at the South-Central Renaissance Conference in March. Until then, may this publication conjure the promise of continued fellowship to come.
Sean McDowell, President
Dublin, July 2009