Oracles from the Poets: A Fanciful Diversion for the Drawing Room.

New York: John Wiley, 1848 First published by Wiley in 1844. A collection of quotes from British and American poets organized into fourteen sections with questions as headings, including "What is your character? (Gentleman)," "What is the character of your lady-love?" and "What is your destiny?" Each section contains sixty quotes. To play the game, a player is selected as the "questioner." The questioner then reads out a heading to the other players, who respond with a number between one and sixty. The corresponding quote in each section answers the question. For example, a player who selects number three in the "What is the personal appearance of him (truncated) who loves you?" would be awarded with the following answer from the Merry Wives of Windsor: "He hath but a little wee face, with a little yellow beard. Contemporary dark brown calf richly decorated in gilt. Pale yellow endpapers. Twelvemo. Contemporary ink ownership signature to front flyleaf. Foxing to leaves. An attractive, bright copy--very good or better. Caroline Gilman (1794 - 1888) was a journalist, novelist, and poet, born in New England, though she relocated to South Carolina after she married Unitarian pastor Samuel Gilman in 1819. She was the creator of Rose-Bud, a magazine for children, in 1832. Her works include Recollections of a Houseeper (1834), Recollections of a New England Bride (1834), and the proslavery novel Recollections of a Southern Matron (1837). Her collections of poetry include Verses of a Lifetime, which celebrates the landscape of the South. (Inventory #: 17512)