Under the Pines and Other Poems by Rutledge, Archibald (A. H.) - 1906

Winchester, VA and New Yonk City: The Eddy Press Corporation. Fine. 1906. First Edition. Hardcover. Book is signed " Wm L Ford from A. H. Rutledge Dec. 1906" book is green and has gilt elttering and a small design on the front cover. Back of page 43 has a Laurel on it. This is the author's scarse first book. This volume was privately printed, and is scarce. Archibald Hamilton Rutledge 1883-1973 First Poet Laureate of South CarolinaThe AuthorArchibald Rutledge was born in McClellanville, S. C. , where his people has a summer home, on October 23, 1883. He, however, spent most of his time, winter and summer on his family's ancestral plantation, eight miles from McClellanville. He is fond of saying with a smile, "My Mother had five sweet normal wholesome children; then I was born." His mother noticed his bent, and read to him a great deal. When only three years old, he announced that he had "made a poem: ""I saw a litle rattlesnakeToo young to make his rattles shake." Since that time he has produced 25 volumes of poetry, and 45 of prose. He was educated by his Mother, and by Miss Annie Lucas, who had a plantation school near his home, "Hampton". He was graduated from the McClelanville High School; then as salutatorian from the Porter Academy in Charleston. In his senior year he received four gold medals for excellence in English and French. He won a Lorillard scholarship to Union College, in Schenectady, N. Y. He worked his way through college; and all this time he kept up his writing, publishing in several national magazines before he was 20 years old. Upon his graduation in 1904 as valedictorian, he went to teach English at the Mercersburg Academy, at Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. Here he was married, and here three sons were born to him. As a teacher of English he remained at the Academy for 33 years, retiring in 1937. He at once began the restoration of his plantation home, and the establishment of its gardens. This ancient colonial estate is yearly visited by thousands of people who love the Old South. During these years Rutledge was not idle with his pen; and books like "Life's Extras," "My Cournel and His Lady," "Rain on the Marsh," "Home by the River," "Brimming Tide," and many others came from him. Twenty-seven years ago the South Carolina Legislature officially established the office of Poet Laureate. Govenor Ibra Blackwood appointed Rutledge, who has held the office ever since. To this author have come many honors: more than 20 honorary degrees, more than 30 gold medals. His books have been published in England and on the Continent. In the Pulitzer Contest in poetry once he was second to Robert Frost, and once second to Edna Millay. When William Faulkner was given the Nobel Prize, the judges told Rutledge that he had lost by only one vote. He is a member of the American Poetry Society; the Neucomen Society; the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and many similar orgranizations. Believing in Macaulay's saying that "the first business of a writer is to make his meaning understood," Rutledge has a passion for clearness. He loves to communicate. He has been awarded the John Burroughs Medal for "the best nature writing in America." Of his poetry, perhaps the "Philadelphia Record" gives the best estimate: "Here is the unfeigned singing of a heart; here is poetry destined to endure." Rutledge, together with three other American poets, was lately called on by the Library of Congress to make tape recordings of 75 of his poems for the National Archives. This work has been done. More than 60 of his poems have been set to music; and many are found in anthologies and textbooks. ; 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall; Signed by Author .