John Ward, Preacher - By Margaret Deland

John Ward, Preacher
by Margaret Deland
Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1888

A Presbyterian minister marries a young woman brought up as an Espicopalian. Published the same year as Robert Elsmere by Mrs. Humphry Ward and often compared to it.

Robert Elsmere - by Mrs. Humphry Ward

Robert Elsmere
by Mrs. Humphry Ward
London: Macmillan and Company, 1888

An immensely popular novel, quickly selling over a million copies.

The Doll's Ghost - by F. Marion Crawford

The Doll's Ghost
by F. Marion Crawford
In the short story collection Wandering Ghosts
New York: Macmillan Company, 1911

Famous American Belles of the Nineteenth Century

Famous American Belles of the Nineteenth Century
By Virginia Tatnall Peacock
Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1901

• Marcia Burns (Mrs. John Peter Van Ness)
• Theodosia Burr (Mrs. Joseph Alston)
• Elizabeth Patterson (Madame Jerome Bonaparte)
• The Caton Sisters
• Margaret O'Neill (Mrs. John H. Eaton)
• Cora Livingston (Mrs. Thomas Pennant Barton)
• Emily Marshall (Mrs. William Foster Otis)
• Octavia Walton (Madame Le Vert)
• Fanny Taylor (Mrs. Thomas Harding Ellis)
• Jessie Benton (Mrs. John C. Fremont)
• Sallie Ward (Mrs. George F. Downs)
• Harriet Lane (Mrs. Henry Elliott Johnston)
• Adele Cutts (Mrs. Robert Williams)
• Emilie Schaumburg (Mrs. Hughes-Hallett)
• Kate Chase (Mrs. William Sprague)
• Mattie Ould (Mrs. Oliver Schoolcraft)
• Jennie Jerome (Lady Randolph Churchill)
• Nellie Hazeltine (Mrs. Frederick W. Paramore)
• Mary Victoria Leiter (Baroness Curzon of Kedleston)
• New York as a Social Center

Beethoven - by John South Shedlock

Beethoven
by John South Shedlock
London: George Bell & Sons, 1903

Ancient walls . . .

Ancient walls that sing the distant hours.

From The Distant Hours
by Kate Morton
Page 67 of the ebook version.

This is a line written, as the story in the book goes, by Raymond Blythe and quoted to the protagonist, Edie Burchill, by her mother. I find it a beautiful image.

The Distant Hours - by Kate Morton

The Distant Hours
by Kate Morton

I have begun reading The Distant Hours by Kate Morton, my first purchase for my new Sony PRS-950 e-reader, my second Sony e-reader, replacing my beloved 505. I love the 950 too.

The Distant Hours has captivated me in just a few pages. The protagonist, Edie Burchill, is the kind of person I would love to have as a friend. She works in a small publishing house on Notting Hill in London. She loves books, especially 19th century literature, and counts characters from those books among her friends. She carries a copy of Jane Eyre with her for those times she finds herself waiting in line.

I won't summarize the plot here. For one thing, I have just begun reading the book and don't know the plot. Also, I know you will enjoy the book if the description of Edie appeals to you. As I have said many times before, I want to care about the characters in the books I'm reading. If I don't care about them, I am not likely to finish the book. I do care about Edie and hope she will appeal to others as well.

The Eldest Son - by Archibald Marshall

The Eldest Son
by Archibald Marshall
New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1911

Another of Archibald Marshall's delightful series about the Clinton family of Kencote. Marshall's novels have been compared to those of Anthony Trollope. In this second novel of the series, Dick, the eldest son of Squire Clinton, chooses a wife - and his father objects.

The first novel in the series is The Squire's Daughter.

Birthplace of Thomas Hardy

The birthplace of Thomas Hardy
from Thomas Hardy's Wessex by Hermann Lea
London: Macmillan and Company, 1913, page xix

Sight Unseen - by Mary Roberts Rinehart

Sight Unseen
By Mary Roberts Rinehart
New York: George H. Duran Company, 1921

Suicide or murder? A paranormal experience?

The Carlyles - by Mrs. Burton Harrison

The Carlyles - A Story of the Fall of the Confederacy
by Mrs. Burton Harrison, aka Constance Cary Harrison
New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1906

The Confession by Mary Roberts Rinehart

The Confession
by Mary Roberts Rinehart
Page 175 of Sight Unseen and The Confession
New York: The Review of Reviews Company, Publishers, 1921

A compelling read.

Country Life in Virginia (1903)

"Country Life in Virginia"
by John Baron Carrington
Olympian Magazine, 1903

Illustrated with photos of historic Virginia homes.

The End of an Era - by John S. Wise

The End of an Era
by John Sergeant Wise
Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company
The Riverside Press, 1899

I have begun reading this autobiography by the son of Virginia Governor Henry Wise, who was elected to the governorship in 1855. Son John was 9 when his father was elected governor and the family moved to the Governor's Mansion in Richmond. Although I have read that some of the facts in the book are wrong, I am enjoying reading about the antics of this lively boy in antebellum Richmond.

Winnie Davis

In looking for information about Varina Anne "Winnie" Davis and her travels in Europe in 1890, I found the following photo in Book Notes, Volume I, July - December 1898. The middle initial J., as appears in the caption, probably refers to Jefferson. Called Winnie to distinguish her from her mother, Varina Howell Davis, Winnie died on September 18th, 1898 at the age of 34.

Lucia Dare - by Sarah Anne Dorsey

Lucia Dare
by Sarah Anne Dorsey
New York: M. Doolady, Publisher, 1867

Sarah Anne Dorsey was a childhood friend of Varina Howell Davis. She was an ardent supporter of the Confederacy, and after the war she provided a home for Jefferson Davis and assisted him in writing his memoirs, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government. The home, called Beauvoir, in Biloxi, Mississippi, was willed to Jefferson Davis on the death of Mrs. Dorsey in 1879.

Northanger Abbey

Northanger Abbey
by Jane Austen
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1903
Illustrated