June 2011 Preview

     Greetings, Readers!

     The theme for the month of June will be lady-writers.  The featured authoresses will be Frances Hodgson Burnett, Mary Anne Evans, and Gene Stratton-Porter. 
     Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote through the late Victorian and Edwardian era.  Her well-known books include The Secret Garden, The Lost Prince, & A Little Princess.
     Mary Anne Evans was a mid-Victorian authoress, who wrote under the pen name of George Elliot.  Her famous works include Middlemarch, Adam Bede, and The Mill on the Floss. 
     The last lady authoress is an American naturalist, Gene Stratton-Porter.  She wrote during the Edwardian era, and some of her works include The Song of the Cardinal & Freckles.  
     I look forward to sharing more book reviews with you in the upcoming month!

          ~ Katelyn

     If you like history and want a deeper understanding of the nuances and references found in Victorian/Edwardian novels, these books are wonderful sources.  I have enjoyed reading them and they have given me a greater appreciation not only for novels but for period movies based during the old-fashioned days.

"What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: from Fox Hunting to Whist: the Facts of Daily Life in Nineteenth-Century England" by Daniel Pool.

"The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in Regency - Victorian England from 1811 - 1901" by Kristine Hughes.

"Life in Victorian England: The Way People Live" by Duane C. Damon.  The Way People Live is a wonderful series, covering all sorts of interesting topics, from medieval to modern times.

"Inside the Victorian Home" by Judith Flanders.  This is my favorite resource.  It is incredible and an enjoyable read!

If you enjoy antique shopping, keep an eye out for old etiquette books.  I have purchased several, and they are full of fascinating information.  They can include remedies, fashion tips, and tea time.

Cornell Series of Standard Books

     Hello Readers!
In one of my antique shopping adventures, I came across this interesting little pamphlet, written for the school years of 1917-1918.

                 School Supplies
                          ~
                Catalogue
          From The Publishing Office of
          A. J. Fouch Company
          Warren, PA.
           Publishers, Manufacturers and Dealers
          School Supplies.
          Teachers' Supplies.
          Books, Cards, School Merchandise
                         ~
          We solicit and desire your patronage.
          A. J. Fouch Company, Warren, PA.
          Catalogue Edition 1917-1918.


     It has amazing lists of school supplies, from globes to school plays, and the prices for each item.  It was so much fun to see what students almost 100 years ago studied in school.

     On of the interesting lists I found, was "Cornell Series of Standard Books."  See how many of these books sound familiar to you!  How many have you read?

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll                       
Anderson's Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Anderson                  
Not Like Other Girls by Rosa Nouchette Carey
Aunt Diana by Rosa Nouchette Carey                                    
New Arabian Knights

Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens
Biglow Papers by James Russell Lowell
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
Black Rock, a Tale of the Selkirks by Ralph Connor
The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne
A Book of Golden Deeds by Charlotte Yonge
The Courtship of Miles Standish by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Crown of Wild Olives by John Ruskin
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Diana of the Crossways by George Meredith
Donovan by Ada Ellen Bayly
East Lynne by Ellen Wood
English Orphans by Mary Jane Holmes
Esther, from the Bible
Gold Elsie by Eugenie Marlitt
Grandfather's Chair by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Green Mountain Boys by Daniel Pierce Thompson
Grimm's Household Tales by the Brothers Grimm
Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
In His Steps by Charles M. Sheldon
Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
John Halifax, Gentleman by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik
The Lamplighter by Maria S, Cummins
Last Days of Pompeii by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
Lena Rivers by Mary Jane Holmes
The Light that Failed by Rudyard Kipling
The Little Minister by J. M. Barrie
Longfellow's Poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas
The Minister's Wooing by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Mysterious Island by Jules Verne
Mosses from an Old Manse by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Oregon Trail by Francis Parkman
Our Bessie by Rosa Nouchette Cary
The Pathfinder by James Fenimore Cooper
Paul and Virginia by Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre
The Phantom Rickshaw by Rudyard Kipling
Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
The Pilot: A Tale of the Sea by James Fenimore Cooper
The Pioneers by James Fenimore Cooper
The Pleasures of Life by Sir John Lubbock
The Prairie: A Tale by James Fenimore Cooper
Red River by ?
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Silas Marner by George Eliot
The Sketch Book by Washington Irving (essays)
The Spy by James Fenimore Cooper
St. Elmo by Augusta Jane Evans
Swiss Family Robinson Johann David Wyss
Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Tales of a Traveller by by Washington Irving (essays)
Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Tempest and Sunshine by Mary Jane Holmes
Ten nights in a Bar Room by Timothy Shay Arthur
Tollers of the Sea by ?
Tom Brown at Oxford by Thomas Hughes
Tom Brown's School Days by Thomas Hughes
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Two Admirals by James Fenimore Cooper
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
The Water Witch by James Fenimore Cooper
Whittier's Poems by John Greenleaf Whittier
A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys by James Fenimore Cooper 


     Quite a list of books!  I've only read nine of the books - am I behind!  They must have really held James Fenimore Cooper and Nathaniel Hawthorne in high regard.  Their names appear multiple times.  I've only read "Last of the Mohicans" by Cooper and nothing by Hawthorne.
     Perhaps, if you are doing the summer reading challenge, this list might give you some ideas.  I've started on the reading challenge, and I am reading "The Red Badge of Courage" by Stephen Crane.  If you would like to join me in the challenge, visit my post titled "Summer Reading Challenge!" May 17, 2011. 


Happy reading!

~ Katelyn

  

Summer Reading Challenge!

Dear Avid Readers,

     I apologize for my sporadic blogging.  There have been great demands on my time, and I find that there are not enough hours in the day, as they say. : )  I can hardly believe that month of May is half over!  I will not post three book reviews this month as I am already way behind schedule.  I will attempt to resume my usual schedule in June.  For May I will try to post some special editions and some interesting Victorian tips.
     As I finished classes last week, my summer has begun, and I would like to propose a "Summer Reading Challenge."  Please join me!  It'll be quite jolly. : )

     The challenge begins today, May 17th, and ends on September 1st.  The goal is to read four different books, all, with the exception of one, written before 1920:

1.  A book written by a author that you have never read before.
2.  A book that you have never read but written by an author that you like.
3.  A book written by an author that is not a native of your country.
4.  A book of your own choice!  It can be written at any time in history. 

     I hope you will join me in this summer reading challenge.  It will be lots of fun.  There are so many wonderful books out there: books by authors that will live forever and books by authors forgotten by the masses.  Visit your library, surf the web, or patronize an antique shop and you are sure to find wonderful treasures.  If you find any wonderful books this summer, I'd love to hear of your discoveries!  You can email me at kmpreuss@gmail.com. 
Happy reading!
~ Katelyn

The Adventure of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

     Is man completely good?  Or is he good and bad?  The nature of man is the theme of this psychological horror tale by Robert Louis Stevenson.  Add the foggy streets of Victorian London, with narrow lanes, and a mysterious door, and you have a delightfully creepy tale for the hours around midnight.

    Mr. Utterson and Mr. Richard Enfield are taking a walk through the roads of London.  Their way passes a mysterious corner of London:

     "Two doors from one corner on the left hand going east, the line was broken by the entry of a court; and just at that point a certain sinister block of building thrust forward its gable on the street.  It was two stories high; showed no window, nothing but a door on the lower story and a blind forehead of discoloured wall on the upper; and bore in every feature the marks of prolonged and sordid negligence.  The door which was equipped with neither bell nor knocker, was blistered and distained."*

     Mr. Enfield has an unusual connection to this dark place.  During one of his walks, he saw a terrible accident.  A man and a girl ran straight into each other, but, unlike any civil gentleman, the man "trampled calmly over the child's body and left her her screaming on the ground.  It sounds nothing to hear, but it was hellish to see."*  Mr. Enfield chased after the man and demanded restitution for the girl to the amount of 100 pounds.  To avoid a scene, the man agrees to the amount.  He takes Mr. Enfield to this very door in question, enters, and then reemerges with some of the money and a cheque.  Mr. Enfield tries to describe this horrible man to his friend, but "He is not easy to describe.  There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable.  I never saw a man I so disliked; and yet I scarce know why."*  His name is Hyde.  And the name on the check is a Dr. Henry Jekyll.
     It is Mr. Utterson's turn to reveal some information to his friend.  He knows of this Mr. Hyde.  His friend and client, Dr. Jekyll, has left this man everything in his will.  Mr. Utterson, the lawyer, does not like the conditions of Jekyll's will.  He finds the terms disturbing: "in the case of the decease of Henry Jekyll . . ., all his possessions were to pass into the hands of his 'friend and benefactor Edward Hyde,' but that in the case of Dr. Jekyll's 'disappearance or unexplained absence for any period exceeding three calendar months,'"* Mr. Hyde will also inherit.
     Dr. Jekyll is a good, respectable man, and Mr. Utterson fears that Mr. Hyde may be blackmailing him for some youthful follies of years gone by.  Confused and concerned, Mr. Utterson discusses the mystery with a mutual friend of Jekyll, Dr. Lanyon.  Jekyll has been pursuing his own strange theories, and Dr. Lanyon has not seen him in a long time.
     When Utterson visits Jekyll, the latter seems calm and unconcerned about Hyde.  " '. . . I will tell you one thing: the moment I choose, I can be rid of Mr. Hyde. . . . this is a private matter, and I beg of you to let it sleep.' "*
     The advice to let sleeping dogs lie, lasts for almost a year.  Then a terrible murder is committed - and the murderer is Edward Hyde.  Greatly shaken, Jekyll declares that he has rid himself of Hyde.  The doctor's life changes suddenly.  He becomes more sociable, donates to charities, and attends church.  It appears that the doctor's life has changed for the better, and Mr. Hyde completely disappears.  But only for a short time.

     Although short in length, The Adventure of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is not small in literary stature.  The story excites imagination and thought.  The nature of man is a deep subject and controversial.  Is man by nature fully good?  If so, what causes him to do evil, commit horrid crimes, and completely disregard the people around him?  Some may say society forces people to turn to crime and vice.  However, what if man is both good and evil?  If so, where did the evil and where did the good come from?

*Stevenson, Robert Louis.  Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Stories.  New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1925.  Print.  From the series "Everyman's Library."