American Best Sellers 1900-1922

There is a list at Project Gutenberg of American best sellers 1900-1922 with links for downloading the books in various formats. This is a wonderful resource.

New England Life

The following list is from an article in the New York Times for August 6, 1898 titled "New England Life: Twenty-five Books Giving Comprehensive Pictures of It":

• Guardian Angel, O.W. Holmes
• Elsie Venner, O.W. Holmes
• The Autocrat at the Breakfast Table, O.W. Holmes
• Professor at the Breakfast Table, O.W. Holmes
• The Poet at the Breakfast Table, O.W. Holmes
• Over the Teacups, O.W. Holmes
• The Biglow Papers, James Russell Lowell
• Captain Courageous, Rudyard Kipling
• Prudence Palfrey, Thomas Bailey Adrich
• A Singular Life, Mrs. Phelps Ward
• A Native of Winby, Miss Jewett
• The Country Doctor, Miss Jewett
• The Minister's Wooing, Mrs. Stowe
• Oldtown Folks, (no author given)
• Odd or Even, Mrs. Whitney
• John Ward, Preacher, Mrs. Deland
• Somebody's Neighbors, Mrs. Cooke
• Rowena in Boston, Miss Pool
• Danvis Folks, Rowland E. Robinson
• Two Coronets, M.A. Tincker
• Malbone, T.W. Higginson
• Dr. Breen's Practice, W.D. Howells
• The Minister's Charge, W.D. Howells
• Herman; or, Young Knighthood, S.H. Palfrey
• The Pagans, Arlo Bates

Old Chester Tales - Miss Maria

Old Chester Tales
Miss Maria - page 89
by Margaret Deland

What a delightful story! Miss Maria Welwood is a gentle soul, full of kindness and good nature. We meet more residents of Old Chester, Mrs. Barkley and her brother-in-law Mr. Ezra Barkley.

I just do not understand how these wonderful stories have been allowed to fade away from the reading public. They are every bit as wonderful as Cranford, the characters as memorable. Reading reviews in the New York Times of the books as they were published, it is clear they were enormously popular. Dr. Lavendar, the minister, was so beloved that readers wrote to Mrs. Deland asking who he was based on in real life, as they wanted to meet and consult his prototype.

What a joy to have discovered this charming series!

Bookmark - Dr. Lavendar

Dr. Lavendar
Around Old Chester
by Margaret Deland

I am greatly enjoying Margaret Deland's Old Chester stories. They are not all light hearted. In fact, The Face on the Wall was a powerful portrait of a marriage destroyed by alcoholism and gambling. It is in the volume titled Mr. Tommy Dove and Other Stories and does not take place in Old Chester, although it begins in a nearby town. I sincerely hope the Murray sisters figure in subsequent Old Chester stories. They would fit right in Cranford society, making allowances for the differences in American and English village life. Dr. Lavendar is a recurring figure in the stories. I like him as a character and look forward to getting to know him better as I read.

A Wonderful Discovery!

Mr. Tommy Dove and Other Stories
1893

Old Chester Tales
by Margaret Deland
1898

Several years ago I read John Ward, Preacher by Margaret Deland and loved it. For some reason - probably because Deland's books were not accessible to me at the time - I did not read anything else by this author. Last night, though, I downloaded Old Chester Tales and have begun reading it this morning with my breakfast. What a wonderful discovery! In the introduction to the Google Books edition available through the links here, Vida Scudder of Wellesley College compares Deland to Jane Austen and Elizabeth Gaskell; and Deland's fictional Old Chester to Cranford.

This volume is the second of the chronicles of Old Chester, and I am anticipating a wonderful visit there. The first volume of the series is Mr. Tommy Dove and Other Stories, published in 1893.

I will say before I go that John Ward, Preacher has a somber tone, and I understand from what I have read about some of Deland's other novels that the somber tone prevails in some of them. I am expecting, however, to find an American version of Cranford in Margaret Deland's Old Chester, Pennsylvania.

Later: I have just finished reading the first story in Mr. Tommy Dove, and oh, how I loved it. It reminds me far more of Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford than of Jane Austen, but of course this is just the first story of the series. I highly recommend it.

Bookmark - The Making of a Marchioness

The Making of a Marchioness
by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Old Lady Mary - epub download

Old Lady Mary by Margaret Oliphane is now available as an epub download via the link to the right.