Hester - by Mrs. Oliphant

Hester
by Margaret Oliphant
New York: Macmillan & Co., 1883

Youth and energy versus age and experience.

Click the title at the beginning of this post or click here to read/download the book.

The Curate In Charge - by Mrs. Oliphant

The Curate in Charge
By Margaret Oliphant
London: Macmillan and Co., 1883

Click the title at the beginning of this post or click here to read or download Mrs. Oliphant's novel about a failed priest.

Publishers' Trademarks (19th century)

Publishers' Trade-marks
1st Paper
Book Buyer, Volume 5, 1888-89

This illultrated article describes the trademarks of several 19th century publishers. The Book Buyer was published by Charles Scribners' Sons and is a wonderful resource for those interested in 19th century literature.

Trademark

I found the following in The Book Buyer, Volume 5, February 1888 to January 1889:

Pride and Prejudice - 1889 edition

Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen
New York: Frederick A. Stokes & Brother, 1889

From the title page - the publisher's trademark.



Click the title at the beginning of this post or click here to view/download the book.

Social Life in Richmond During the War

Social Life in Richmond During the War
by Edward M. Alfriend
Cosmopolitan Magazine, Volume XII, 1891

A wonderful description of Richmond during the American Civil War, illustrated with several portraits. Well worth reading as the beginning of the sesquicentennial commemoration of the war approaches.

To read the article, click on the title at the beginning of this post, or click here.

Tales of Men and Ghosts by Edith Wharton

Tales of Men and Ghosts
by Edith Wharton
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1910

• The Bolted Door
• His Father's Son
• The Daunt Diana
• The Debt
• Full Circle
• The Legend
• The Eyes
• The Blond Beast
• Afterward
• The Letters
  

To download or read online, click the title or here.

A Belle of the Fifties - by Virginia Clay-Clopton

A Belle of the Fifties
by Virginia Clay-Clopton
New York: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1904

Very entertaining memoir by Mrs. Clay, whose husband, Clement C. Clay, was imprisoned after the end of the American Civil War together with Jefferson Davis.

The Ghost in the Mill - by Harriet Beecher Stowe

The Ghost in the Mill
A short story by Harriet Beecher Stowe

The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart

The Circular Staircase
by Mary Roberts Rinehart
New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1908

Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876-1958) was an American mystery writer often compared to Agatha Christie.

The Gates Ajar - by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps

The Gates Ajar
by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
Boston: Fields, Osgood, & Co.
1869

A popular novel about life after death, giving comfort to those who had lost husbands, sons or brothers in the American Civil War.

Margaret Deland - From Women Authors In Their Homes

Women Authors of Our Day In Their Homes
Francis Whiting Halsey, Editor
New York: James Pott & Co., 1903

Chapter on Margaret Deland

Other authors discussed:

• Marion Harland Pompton
• Bertha Runkle
• Agnes Repplier
• Lucas Malet
• Frances Hodgson Burnett
• Kate Douglas Wiggin
• Mary Johnston
• John Oliver Hobbes
• Amelia E. Barr
• Louise Chandler Moulton
• Mrs. Humphry Ward
• Mrs. Sherwood
• Blanche Willis Howard
• Harriet Prescott Spofford
• A.D.T. Whitney
• Margaret E. Sangster
• Ruth McEnery Stuart
• Mary E. Wilkins
• Julia Ward Howe
• Jeannette L. Gilder
• Edith Wharton
• Gertrude Atherton
• Mary Mapes Dodge
• Rebecca Harding Davis
• Edith M. Thomas
• Elizabeth Stuart Phelps

I am amazed at how many of the names on this list I have never heard of!

A Southern Girl in '61 [1861]

Publisher's Weekly, Volume 68, page 567
Review of A Southern Girl in '61 by Louise Wigfall Wright

Four Civil War Memoirs by Women

Confederate Veteran, Volume 28, 1920, page 420
Four Remarkable Biographies

Reviews of the books of four southern women of the 1860s who have written biographies and memoirs:

• Memoirs of Jefferson Davis by Varina Davis
• Memoirs of Stonewall Jackson by Mary Anna Jackson
• Reminiscences of Peace and War by Sara Agnes Pryor
• Recollections Grave and Gay by Constance Cary Harrison

A Search for an Ancestor - by Sara Pryor

Sara Pryor, also known as Mrs. Roger Pryor, is best known for her Civil War memoir Reminiscences of Peace and War. She also wrote a short story called A Search for an Ancestor, which is delightful.

A Search for an Ancestor
by Sara Pryor
The Century Magazine, Volume 49, (Nov 1894 - Apr 1895) pp 855-864

Sarah Orne Jewett

From Literary Boston Today

Julia Ward Howe

From Literary Boston of Today
Julia Ward Howe - The Battle Hymn of the Republic

"Mine Eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord . . . "

Literary Boston of Today (1902)

Wishing I could travel back in time to Boston of 1902.

Literary Boston of Today [1902]
by Helen Maria Winslow
Boston: L. C. Page & Company, 1902

Dogs of Noted Americans (1888)

As a dog lover, this two-part article caught my eye. It is from St. Nicholas magazine, Volume 15, Part 2 for May to October 1888. I found these articles while looking for the name of Mrs. Deland's dog.

Dogs of Noted Americans

Part I

• General James A. Garfield
• General Robert E. Lee
• Edward Eggleston
• John G. Whittier
• Constance F. Woolson
• Frances Hodgson Burnett

Part II

• John Burroughs
• T. G. Aldrich
• Frank R. Stockton
  

Mrs. Deland and Her Dog - Photo

This photo is from an article in Good Housekeeping Magazine, Volume 44, 1907, page 506. The dog is a "bob-tailed sheep dog . . . from the kennels of Mrs. Richard Harding Davis".

The Truth of the Novel - by Margaret Deland

Articles by Margaret Deland published in The Independent, Volume 51, 1899:

• The Truth of the Novel
• The Ethics of the Novel
• The Value of the Novel
  

Margaret Deland's Reception Room

The following illustration is from the National Magazine, Volume 9, 1899, page 527. It depicts the reception room in Margaret Deland's home on Mount Vernon Street in Boston. The windowsill is lined with pots of hyacinths; and there are bookshelves against the wall.

Margaret Deland Comments on Dr. Lavendar

The central character in Margaret Deland's tales of Old Chester is the minister Dr. Lavendar. He is a wonderful character. One wishes he were a real person.

In an interview in the New York Times of March 28, 1920, Mrs. Deland has the following to say about Dr. Lavendar:

"She denied him a flesh-and-blood embodiment but she said he was a composite of her husband, and an uncle of hers, Dr. William Campbell, once President of Rutgers College. 'But Dr. Lavendar was also made up,' she said; 'I had thought of an old minister as a moving factor in a series of stories of plain folk; so I just put certain qualities, like butter and eggs, together, and Dr. Lavendar was the cake.'"

The article goes on to say that people had written to Mrs. Deland to ask for Dr. Lavendar's address so that they might put themselves under his spiritual guidance. It would indeed be wonderful to have someone like Dr. Lavendar in one's life. He is a wonderful combination of common sense and spiritual light and has a way with those who seek his guidance in Mrs. Deland's tales of Old Chester.

Around Old Chester- by Margaret Deland

Around Old Chester
by Margaret Deland
New York: Harper and Brothers
c. 1898, 1915 edition

American author Margaret Deland (1857-1945) is perhaps best known for her novel John Ward, Preacher (1888). She also wrote a series of stories set in the fictional town of Old Chester, Pennsylvania. These are delightful stories which remind me of Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford.

Chronicles of Carlingford - The Executor

The Executor
by Margaret Oliphant
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine
Volume 89, pages 595-614
May 1861

The Executor is the first story in Mrs. Oliphant's Chronicles of Carlingford series. Other titles in the series are:

• The Rector
• The Doctor's Family
• Salem Chapel
• The Perpetual Curate
• Miss Marjoriebanks
• Phoebe Junior

The Women Who Make Our Novels (1918)

The Women Who Make Our Novels
by Grant M. Overton
New York: Moffat, Yard & Company, 1918

Chapters on

• Edith Wharton
• Alice Brown
• Ellen Glasgow
• Gertrude Atherton
• Mary Roberts Rinehart
• Kathleen Norris
• Margaret Deland
• Gene Stratton-Porter
• Eleanor H. Porter
• Kate Douglas Wiggin
• Mary Johnston
• Corra Harris
• Mary Austin
• Mary S. Watts
• Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
• Anna Katharine Green
• Helen R. Martin
• Sophie Kerr
• Marjorie Benton Cooke
• Grace S. Richmond
• Willa Sibert Cather
• Clara Louise Burnham
• Demeira Vaka
• Edna Ferber
• Dorothy Canfield Fisher
• Amelia E. Barr
• Alice Duer Miller
• Eleanor Hallowell Abbott
• Harriet T. Comstock
• Honore Willsie
• Frances Hodgson Burnett

Click on the title at the beginning of this post to view/download this book at Google Books.

Mrs. Oliphant - Photo

This photo of Mrs. Oliphant is one I have never seen before. I found it in Chambers Cyclopedia of English Literature, Volume 3, page 537, published in 1904.

An Old Virginia Ghost Story

An Old Virginia Ghost Story
by Mary Virginia Terhune

Library of American Literature
Volume 8, 1889