"The City and the Sea," with Other Cambridge Contributions, in Aid of The Hospital Fund

Title: "The City and the Sea," with Other Cambridge Contributions, in Aid of The Hospital Fund

Author: Reed, Helen L. [Leah], ed.

Publication: Cambridge: John Wilson and Son, 1881.

Description: Collection of poems, essays, and stories, edited by Helen Leah Reed, to benefit the Cambridge Hospital Fund in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with original contributions from local authors, including several women authors. First edition. Head- and tail-pieces. Bound in full green cloth over boards, stamped in gilt, with brown endpapers. 7.5 x 6.25 inches; [2], 192 pages. Contemporary signature of former owner Anna L. Thorndike on front free endpaper. Later acquired by Arthur Williams Hall (1873-1952) of Massachusetts, bibliophile and manufacturer of laboratory equipment, with his notes on front free endpaper; thence by descent through three generations. Moderate edgewear to binding, a couple pencil marginalia, and light foxing to last two leaves. Very Good.

The editor Helen Leah Reed (1861/62-1926) was an essayist, poet, novelist, and children's book author (the Brenda series). She became the first woman to win the Sargent Prize, awarded by Harvard University for a metrical translation of Horace. In the preface, Reed explains that the book is being sold to raise funds to build the first hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, much needed since Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston "is always full." With the exception of one story, all of the contributions in the book, including Henry Longfellow's "The City and the Sea," appear here for the first time. Reference: Blanck, J. Bibliography of American literature, 8325, 9592, and 12228.