The Young Puritans in Captivity

Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1910. Circa 1910. Copyright 1899, an early, but not a First Edition. Books published by the author in 1909 are listed in an advertisement in the back of the book. As a collector, you know that the copyright date does not always match the publication date. The original copyright date doesn't change, but the publication date might, particular in a 100 year old popular children's book. We see other seller's with the same book, claiming to have a first edition. Caveat emptor. 8vo size gray clothbound pictorial hardcover with illustrated cover and spine. 323 toned pages. This is a volume in the Young Puritans series of historical fiction based on the author's family history. Author: Mary Prudence Wells Smith (1840 - 1930) was an author, including of four different children's series. Some biographers also call her an early feminist. This volume is one of the Young Puritan's Series of children's historical fiction, which was based on local history, including the experiences of some of her own family members in the Deerfield, Massachusetts area. Both Wells Smith's mother and father had Puritan ancestry, with their antecedents arriving in Massachusetts in the 1630s. As a child, Wells Smith was particularly interested in her father's stories of kidnappings perpetrated by Indians (Native Americans.) Wells Smith was educated, beyond the standard of women of her era - meaning she completed high school and received a post secondary education. While she dabbled in writing early in her career, she is noted for having been the first woman employed by a Massachusetts bank. Wells Smith left the bank after eight years of employment when they refused to pay her an equal salary to her male colleagues. She also wrote under the nom de plume P. Thorne. take her from bank to books. Illustrator: Jessie Willcox Smith (1863 - 1935) was a preeminent American illustrator. Like Norman Rockwell, Smith was one of the highest paid illustrators of that time, which was referred to as the Golden Age of Illustration. Smith illustrated more than 60 books. She created all of the covers for Good Housekeeping magazine from 1915 to 1933. The Mother Goose series of illustrations for Good Housekeeping that she did was published as The Jessie Willcox Smith Mother Goose in 1914. A contributor to numerous other magazines, Smith also illustrated advertisements, posters and calendars. Smith was the winner of numerous awards during her lifetime, including a Silver Medal at the Panama-Pacific Exposition. She was elected, posthumously, to the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 1992. Smith's work appears in many museum collections and her papers are - where else - at the Smithsonian. The author and illustrator are not related. Name and inscription dated 1913 and booksellers markings on fep. Bumped and worn head and heel of spine and corners. There is a stain on the top of the book that is visible in the top center margin of some pages. We noted fingermarks in the margins of at least four pages and some light spots to title pages, a quarter inch tear to the bottom margin of one page, and there is a light stain or foxing to the blank reverse of one of the illustration pages and its facing page. Thanks for shopping with us. 100% of your purchase benefits charity and supports literacy and life-long learning.. Decorative Cloth. Good/No Jacket. Illus. by Smith, Jessie Willcox. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.