Stage-Coach and Tavern Days -
Alice Morse Earle
1900 - The Macmillan Company, New York - First Edition
‘Long ago at the end of the route,
The stage pulled up, and the folks stepped out.
They have all passed under the tavern door –
The youth and his bride and the gray three-score.’
Rare first edition of this profusely illustrated history of the days of the American stagecoach and the taverns where weary travellers inevitably stopped at along the course of their journey. Chapters include ‘Old-Time Taverns’, ‘Tavern Fare and Tavern Ways’, ‘Early stage-coaches and other vehicles’, and ‘The Romance of the Road.’ Alice Morse Earle (1851-1911) was an author, collector and historian, and among the most prolific writers of her day. The daughter of a Massachusetts tool manufacturer, she married commodities broker Henry Earle in the 1870s; the couple then relocated to Brooklyn, where they raised their four children.
Alice began writing in her forties, during bouts of insomnia. Her works are full of cheerful anecdotes from her Puritan ancestors, as well as many of her own adventures, such as scouring the countryside for Chinese ginger jars and stamped-metal sundials. Embedded with a nostalgia for more pastoral times, and a patriotic urge to convey 18th century American heroism, Earle sold tens of thousands of copies of her books, written in a style that appealed to a wide readership, and reflecting her belief that women played a key role in constructing both households and communities.
Provenance: Small contemporary booksellers label of F. R. Hockliffe to front pastedown, illegible owners inscription to front free endpaper.
References: Kahn, ‘Female biographers find female historians’ The New York Times 2013. University of Massachusetts Press, web.
Thick octavo (binding sieze 20.3x15.5cm), pp. xvi [1] 449 [3] Bound in contemporary three quarter navy blue calf over blue cloth, spine in six panels, with five raised bands and gilt lettering, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt. Condition: Near fine in very good binding with some flaking to spine hinges and edges. Ref: 106483 Price: HK$ 3,000
The stage pulled up, and the folks stepped out.
They have all passed under the tavern door –
The youth and his bride and the gray three-score.’
Rare first edition of this profusely illustrated history of the days of the American stagecoach and the taverns where weary travellers inevitably stopped at along the course of their journey. Chapters include ‘Old-Time Taverns’, ‘Tavern Fare and Tavern Ways’, ‘Early stage-coaches and other vehicles’, and ‘The Romance of the Road.’ Alice Morse Earle (1851-1911) was an author, collector and historian, and among the most prolific writers of her day. The daughter of a Massachusetts tool manufacturer, she married commodities broker Henry Earle in the 1870s; the couple then relocated to Brooklyn, where they raised their four children.
Alice began writing in her forties, during bouts of insomnia. Her works are full of cheerful anecdotes from her Puritan ancestors, as well as many of her own adventures, such as scouring the countryside for Chinese ginger jars and stamped-metal sundials. Embedded with a nostalgia for more pastoral times, and a patriotic urge to convey 18th century American heroism, Earle sold tens of thousands of copies of her books, written in a style that appealed to a wide readership, and reflecting her belief that women played a key role in constructing both households and communities.
Provenance: Small contemporary booksellers label of F. R. Hockliffe to front pastedown, illegible owners inscription to front free endpaper.
References: Kahn, ‘Female biographers find female historians’ The New York Times 2013. University of Massachusetts Press, web.
Thick octavo (binding sieze 20.3x15.5cm), pp. xvi [1] 449 [3] Bound in contemporary three quarter navy blue calf over blue cloth, spine in six panels, with five raised bands and gilt lettering, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt. Condition: Near fine in very good binding with some flaking to spine hinges and edges. Ref: 106483 Price: HK$ 3,000