A Nest of Girls, or Boarding School Days
New York: E.P. Dutton and Company, c. 1901. Richards, H[arriet] R[oosevelt]. Hardcover. Octavo size, 420 pp. Near fine. Item #21091601
Elizabeth Weston Timlow (1861-1931) was educated at private schools in New Haven, with higher-level courses at Wellesley College and Cornell University; her father died which she was teaching Latin at a school in Syracuse, and "Elizabeth, with her two sisters, took up the gauntlet that Fate three down [i.e., penury], and started a girls' boarding-school on original lines, which...is now a large and well-known institution. Miss Timlow wrote her first story at fifteen years of age....her first story for children was written in three weeks...[that] book introduced the popular 'Cricket' series; the other volumes following in rapid succession. In six years Miss Timlow has written six books, together with constant contributions to the magazines and has at the same time taught and managed a large private school for girls" (n.b., information and quotes from "Book News, A Monthly Survey of General Literature", Vol. XX (Sept. 1901 to August 1902)).
The illustrator, Harriet Roosevelt Richards was active/lived in Connecticut and Delaware, and was known for juvenile book and magazine illustration (n.b., per the web site of the "Illustrated Gallery", "(1867 - 1932)).
A scarce book; as of this writing, we see no copies online (other than a much later reprint), no auction records (per RBH), and no records in Worthpoint; our search of OCLC locates 3 copies of this Dutton publication (note the book was also published in London and Edinburgh).
We were attracted to this book for the lovely publisher's trade binding, and are now fascinated by Miss Timlow. This story must be in part autobiographical, being set in a boarding-school much, we presume, like the one she ran with her sisters.
___DESCRIPTION: Bound in full tan cloth over boards, design on the front of a climbing rose forming a border at the top for the title in gilt, the decoration in red and green, author's name below also in gilt, gilt lettering and a small decoration of a rose in red and green on the spine, black and white half-tone reproduction of an illustration by Richards the frontis, a small vignette by her on the title page, an additional seven full-page illustrations bound in throughout; octavo size (8.25" by 5.75"), pagination: [i-iv] v-viii, 1-412.
___CONDITION: Near fine, the boards clean and without discernable wear, straight corners with minimal rubbing, a strong, square text block with solid hinges, the interior is clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; head and tail of the spine gently bumped, spine slightly dusty.
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Price: $200.00