Harold B. Lee Library

Archive for the “American Rare Literary Authors” Category

• Civil War Stories
  Posted November 22, 2011 by Maggie Kopp

  The United States Civil War period has inspired many writers of fiction, and has provided a rich setting for novels as diverse as Little Women, Gone With the Wind, Rifles for Watie, and The Killer Angels.  Special Collections contains an array of important Civil War-related fiction, including literature by those who experienced the war firsthand [...]

• Harriet Beecher Stowe
  Posted June 10, 2011 by Maggie Kopp

  2011 is an excellent year for literary anniversaries.  One to mark in the month of June is the 200th birthday of American novelist Harriet Beecher Stowe, best known for “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” on 14 June.  Stowe was the daughter of a minister and her family was very active in education and social and religious causes.  [...]

• Gone With the Wind
  Posted May 31, 2011 by Maggie Kopp

  Speaking of Civil War-related literature, fans of Margaret Mitchell’s epic novel “Gone With the Wind” celebrated the 75th anniversary of its publication earlier this month.  Special Collections owns two copies of the first edition of this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, though both lack the highly collectible dust jacket.  “Gone With the Wind” was made into a [...]

• Literature of the U.S. Civil War
  Posted May 16, 2011 by Maggie Kopp

  2011 marks the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the American Civil War.  Special Collections has a variety of archival and rare book collections related to the war, including original letters and photographs, print histories, pamphlets, and other documents and print sources created during the Civil War (1861-1865). The Rare Literature Collections contain many examples [...]

• Mark Twain in Special Collections
  Posted February 4, 2011 by Maggie Kopp

  Mark Twain’s life and works have received renewed attention in recent months because of the recent publication of volume 1 of his autobiography (University of California Press, 2010) and one publisher’s decision to censor the language of a planned edition of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Special Collections owns over 150 early and fine press [...]

• Early American poetry in Special Collections
  Posted January 21, 2011 by Maggie Kopp

  Special Collections contains a small number of books by American poets from the late 18th and early 19th centuries.  Highlights include editions of Phillis Wheatley’s Poems, Joel Barlow’s Vision of Columbus, and early works by Lydia Huntley Sigourney.  Special Collections also owns a copy of Samuel Kettell’s 1829 Specimens of American Poetry, an important early [...]

• Julia Ward Howe
  Posted October 25, 2010 by Maggie Kopp

  October 17th marks the 100th anniversary of the death of poet and reformer Julia Ward Howe. Howe is probably best known for writing the text of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” which was first published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1862. Howe was born to a wealthy New York family in 1819. Julia was [...]

• Rare African-American Literature
  Posted February 22, 2010 by Maggie Kopp

  The Rare American Literary Authors collection contains a number of works by important African-American writers, dating from the era of slavery to the Harlem Renaissance. In honor of Black History month, we highlight three titles from our holdings: Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave (Boston, 1845) Douglass, an orator, [...]

• Literary nurses
  Posted February 3, 2010 by Maggie Kopp

  In conjunction with the opening of the Florence Nightingale exhibit on Floor 3 of the HBLL, which features a number of rare books and manuscripts from Special Collections,  I’d like to highlight the work of  several authors who served as nurses in the American Civil War. Clara Barton was a Civil War nurse who was [...]

• Christmas books for Victorian children
  Posted December 8, 2009 by Maggie Kopp

  Books were a common Christmas gift for 19th-century children, just as they are today.  Authors and publishers in England and the United States marketed a variety of titles each Christmastime.  For younger children there were picture books, ranging from cheap paperback editions of popular tales to deluxe books with color lithographs.  For older children who [...]