May Morning
New York: James Miller, 522 Broadway, Aunt Mary's Library (one of the ten little books) 1860's exact reprint of the 1849 Lindsay and Blakiston first; brown blindstamped boards with fine gilt titles and decorations on spine; pale yellow endpapers, uncoloured frontis of children arriving at cottage and final illustration of the men washed ashore; 4.75 x 6"; 58 pp. Small hardback.
A family of happy children drop in on their old nurse bringing flowers and song. Through the curiousity of the youngest, they learn that the nurse's husband took so long returning from the war because he was stranded on a cannibal island. Graphic descriptions! A note on this long section tells us that it is adapted from "Four month's residence in a valley of the Marquesas" which you will recognize as Meville's Typee (1846) Though this book was given as a Reward of Merit, one wonders, given its unladylike plot and pristine pages, if Jessie's parents hid it away. Mary Robson of Newcastle, a writer of worthwhile books, married Thomas Hughes, emigrated to Philadelphia, and founded a school, well regarded thanks to the fame of her books which preceded her. She taught until 1839, then retired to a farm in Bucks County, continuing to write for children, Her familiarity with them shines, in places, in this book.
CONDITION: Very Good Plus; long pencil inscription, tight, straight, appears almost unread, extrems lightly bumped and rubbed (bottom corners to card); endpapers darkened, pages unusually bright and clean. Item #22575
Price: $75.00