My Wife And I: Or Harry Henderson's History

Boston, MA: Houghton, Mifflin and Company. Very Good-. 1899. Early Reprint. Hardcover. B&W Illustrations; This is an early trade (reprint) edition. This book is in Very Good- condition and is lacking a dust jacket. The book and its contents are in generally clean, bright condition. There is some light bumping, rubbing and a couple of smal nicks and beginning tears to the spine ends and corners of the book covers. The text pages are generally clean but with tidemarking to the top half of nearly all the pages. There is a previous owner's inked gift notation on the front endpaper. "In a twist, Stowe places a man's quest for a wife at the center of her novel, emphasizing the importance of the decision for men as well as women. The main character is Harry Henderson, the youngest son of a New England minister, who recounts his experiences through childhood, college, and his early career as a journalist. His wise Uncle Jacob, the village doctor, advises that "marriage is the thing that makes or mars a man; it's the gate through which he goes up or down, and you shouldn't pledge yourself to it until you come to your full senses." Harry's mother teaches him to be worthy of a good wife: "I was to be strong, to be efficient, to be manly and true, and above all pure in thought and imagination and in word." Harry's possible choices emerge over the course of the novel: his childhood friend Susie, his cousin Caroline (Stowe has an interesting justification for why this relationship is acceptable) , the beautiful but materialistic Miss Ellery, and Eva Van Arsdel, the daughter of a wealthy businessman and the darling of New York society. For both Stowe and Harry, marriage is "as sacred as religion, indissoluable as the soul, endless as eternity." " (from Wikipedia) .