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, pale salmon 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 panel, gilt lettering on spine dull, small ink stain on rear cover, front free endpaper missing, light damp stain to upper margins of last half of the text, a sound, good copy. (#164573).
Price: $100.00
No statement of printing.