Sandpiper the life and letters of Celia Thaxter amd her home on the Isles of Shoals her family, friends & favorite poems

Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Peter E. Randall. VG PB. (1999). 5th printing. Photo of Celia on cover. "Celia Thaxter graced the literary world of the last century as a rose graces a garden. . This is an intimate and authentic view of Celia's life and times, and in the telling reflects and revises much of her charm and grace. She developed a strong sense of the natural history of the islands. Her marriage at age 16 to intellectual Levi Thaxter, who had been her tutor was her introduction to the literary world of Boston. Her poems first appeared in The Atlantic and she becam one of America's favorite authors in the 19th century. Emerson , hawthorne, Longbellow, Whittier, Aldrich and Jewett, were among her circle of friends along with actors, artists and musicians who came to visit her and vacation at the Appledore Hotel, which her family operated on the islands. Sandpiper is an unusual biography. Its author is a Grandaughter of Celia Thaxter who writes with skill and power. The book is profusely illlustrated with photos. Fully documtned and indexed, thd book also contains the 21 poems that Celia Thaxter regarded as her best. Issued in 1982 this is the fourth printing of Sandpiper, a valuable introduction to the literary world of the 19th century; it is above all a full-length portrait of the woman who so actively participated in and enjoyed the world. .