Dr. Lavendar's People

Early 20th-century American Literature by a Woman Writer and Woman's Rights Leader and Suffragette, Signed - Inscribed on the FFEP

Dr. Lavendar's People by Margaret Deland First Edition - Harper & Brothers Publishers 1903 (titlepage date and copyright page date match, 1903). One of her "Old Chester" books which centers around communities in Pittsburg. 370 pages followed by ads. Illustrated with 12 plates. Signed - Inscribed by the author. A beautiful inscription on the front end paper quoting a passage from the book, with author's signature, and dated 1905. An author inscription by a woman writer this early in the 20th century is a very rare find. This was from my grandfather's collection. I would like it to fall in the hands of someone who can truly appreciate it, possibly a collector of early American literature by women writers. Priced to sell.

Very Good book overall, a very nice copy, solid binding, bright etching on the front, typical fraying upper and lower spine, to corners and extremities but really minimum.

Margaret Deland (née Margaretta Wade Campbell) (February 23, 1857 – January 13, 1945) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet. She also wrote an autobiography in two volumes. She is generally considered part of the literary realism movement.

Deland is known principally for the novel John Ward, Preacher (1888), an indictment of Calvinism, which became a best-seller. Her 'Old Chester' books, based on her early memories of the Pittsburgh communities where she grew up — including Maple Grove and Manchester — were also popular. She was recognized as an important and popular author of literary realism in the United States, though some of her plots and themes were shocking to proper Bostonians. In her lifetime she was called the American Thomas Humphry Ward and was compared to Elizabeth Gaskell.