The Story of Opal The Journal of an Understanding Heart by Whiteley, Opal (with an Introduction by Ellery Sedgwick) - 1920

Boston, MA: Atlantic Monthly Press. Very Good+. 1920. Limited Edition; 1st Printing. Hardcover. B&W Illustrations; Limited to 650 copies - this is book number 521. Also included is a 1st Printing of the 1976 edition arranged and adapted by Jane Boulton. The book is in Very Good+ condition and was possibly issued without a dust jacket for this edition. The book and its contents are in mostly clean, bright condition. The covers have dark green paper covered boards and a paper vellum spine with a paper spine label. The spine ends and corners of the book covers have some beginning bumping and rubbing. The text pages are clean and bright. There is some beginning foxing to the endpapers. The limited edition of this book is quite scarce. The history of this book, and of the author herself is a strange one - the author was a noted amateur naturalist from a very young age and considered a child prodigy by many. This book however, is a compilation of her journals, purportedly written as a child in diaries written in phonetic spelling, which were later ripped up and reassembled. Opal believed (or conned people into believing, depending on who you believe) that she was the daughter of Henri, Prince of Orléans. This book deals both with her rather harsh upbringing and the love and interest Opal had for nature of all sorts. .