NORWOOD; OR, VILLAGE LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND. New York: Charles Scribner & Company, 1868. 12mo, pp. [iii-v] vi [vii] viii-xi [xii] [1] 2-549 [550: blank] [551-554: ads], flyleaves at front and rear, original plum cloth stamped in gold and blind, gray endpapers. First edition. Beecher's only work of fiction published as a book. A series of sketches, written for the NEW YORK LEDGER, of New England village life from 1840 to 1865 with recurring characters, rather than a novel. The last quarter of the work is set in the field during the Civil War; Abraham Lincoln is a character. Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887), an American Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, and speaker, was "one of the most conspicuous figures in the public life of his time." - DAB. "Throughout his busy life as preacher, lecturer and writer, Beecher's vigor, intellectual power and oratorical ability made him one of the greatest molders of national opinion of his day. From a strictly literary point of view his STAR PAPERS; OR EXPERIENCES OF ART AND NATURE (1855), a collection of short essays on a broad range of subjects, undoubtedly exhibit him at play and at his best." - Fullerton, Selective Bibliography of American Literature 1775-1900, pp. 21-2. Wright (II) 248. Cloth faded, largely on spine and edges of front and rear panels, small ink stain on rear cover, lacks rear flyleaf, a good copy. (#133116).
Price: $100.00
No statement of printing.