first edition
1884 · Boston
by Thaxter, Celia
Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, The Riverside press, 1884. First edition, with leaf excised that has list of illustrations as in copyright deposit copy, Binding A with publisher's monogram at foot of spine, BAL cites 1518 copies of the printing. Page size: 8-3/8 x 5-7/8 inches; 153pp. Bound: blue cloth with title stamped in gold on front panel above author's name in black above scene of small girl sitting on bench below tree, spine stamped in gold with author, title and publisher's monogram; spine tips rubbed as are joints and tips, bookseller's ticked removed from lower left corner of front flyleaf, trace of removal 3/4 x 1/2 inch on lower rear paste down, early ownership signature in pencil on front blank, probably that of a child, about very good. The text is printed in brown as are the 10 full-page illustrations (including frontis) and the 26 vignettes in text. Celia Thaxter (1835-1894), poet and artist, was born in Portsmouth, NH and for most of her life lived on the Isles of Shoals. Her unfortunate marriage to Levi Thaxter left her the sole financial support and care-giver of her three sons (one with a severe disability) and her ailing mother. In her poetry she found both an avenue of expression and a means of support. Her first book, POEMS, appeared in 1874. She published five more books of verse with each finding a poetical voice more and more her own (and less and less influenced by John Greenleaf Whittier and James Russell Lowell). BAL 19891. (Inventory #: 11186)