A WHITE HERON AND OTHER STORIES by Jewett, Sarah Orne - 1886

Boston and New York: Houghton, 1886. Small octavo, pp. [1-10] [1] 2-254 [255-256: blank] [257-260: ads] [261-262: blank], flyleaf at front, original pictorial two-part white and gray green cloth, front panel stamped in green, spine panel stamped in gold, t.e.g. First edition, first printing, second issue with two canceled leaves. The first printing comprised 1500 copies only, 500 of which included two canceled leaves ( 7-8) to add missing text to pages 174-175. Mixed collection of short fiction including "A White Heron," a "noted classic crammed full of nature mysticism and a modern-seeming plea for conservation" [Salmonson], and one of her best supernatural tales, "The Gray Man," a sentimental fantasy of Death's residence in a country village cut short by the advent of the Civil War. "... in A WHITE HERON AND OTHER STORIES (1886), she rose to a very high level. 'A White Heron' is perfect of its kind ... And in 'Marsh Rosemary' Miss Jewett tells in a few words of a tragedy which the great soul of a plain woman lifts into dignity. It is not only the plot, which is Enoch Arden reversed; it is the way Miss Jewett illuminates the dark passages of Ann Floyd's life with the light of her unbending courage." - Quinn, American Fiction, p. 326. BAL 10887. Wright (III) 2985. Cloth lightly rubbed at spine ends, corner tips and along outer joints, white cloth just a bit foxed and dust soiled, touch of foxing to endpapers, a very good copy. Overall, a very nice copy of an uncommon book. (#156241)