LAST WORDS. A FINAL COLLECTION OF STORIES. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1891. Octavo, inserted frontispiece (portrait of the author), inserted plates with illustrations by H. D. Murphy, original pictorial gray cloth stamped in brown and gold, floral patterned endpapers. First edition. Posthumous gathering of a dozen stories, including one of novella length ("Mary's Meadow"). This collection does not appear to have been published in the UK. It may be the U.S. edition of MARY'S MEADOW (1886), or else it is a collection of stories selected from MARY'S MEADOW (1886), DANDELION CLOCKS AND OTHER TALES (1887) and SNAPDRAGON AND OTHER FATHER CHRISTMAS (1888). Ewing had become one of the Victorian era's leading authors of children's stories before she died in 1885 at the age of 44. Eldest daughter of a Yorkshire clergyman and a mother who wrote for children, she entertained her younger siblings with stories and later edited, with her sister, AUNT JUDY'S MAGAZINE. She traveled widely with her soldier husband, including a stint in Canada that furnished settings for many stories. (See Sutherland, Victorian Fiction, p. 219.). Not in NCBEL. First two leaves excised, leaving stubs about an inch wide, the first probably a fly leaf (not included in book's collation), the second perhaps a half-title. Cloth rubbed at spine ends and corner tips, cloth dusty, a sound, good copy. (#119564).
Price: $35.00
No statement of printing.