The Garden, You, and I
(The Garden You and I)
by Mabel Osgood Wright,
writing under the pseudonym of Barbara
Published by The Macmillan Co. in 1906. (Published in June, 1906 as stated on the verso of the title page with no other dates.)
Very fine in gray cloth with magnificently printed embossed decorated floral and gold imprinting on cover and spine. This rare dust jacket lacks a piece from the top of the spine, some light soiling and a 1/2 closed tear to the rear jacket panel at the bottom edge. very Illustrated with black and white photos and a colour frontis plate.
First edition.
Note: This is an exceptional collector's copy and the only copy listing we could locate for offer as of today in April 2023 with its rare original dust jacket. It will be a long time before another one in this condition with a dust jacket will be listed for sale most likely. This is the only copy we have encountered in this condition with a dust jacket in 35 years as professionals in the rare book trade.
About this author:
From its inception in 1899, Wright contributed to Chapman's Bird Lore co-editing its Audubon department with Willian Dutcher. She served as a contributing editor until her death. She helped organize the Connecticut Audubon Society, became its first president in 1898, and served for many years From 1905 to 1928, Wright was a director of the National Association of Audubon Societies (now the National Audubon Society). Wright became an associate member of the American Ornithologists Association in 1895, and was one of the first three women raised to elective membership in 1901. Joining her were Florence Merriam Baily and Olive Thorne Miller. Wright pioneered bird protection by establishing Bird Craft Sanctuary in 1914, near her home in Fairfield. The refuge is the oldest private songbird sanctuary in the United States.
From her beginnings as a writer about children, nature, and outdoor life, Wright's reception from the public was cordial. However, when she began publishing works of fiction, she concealed her identity as their author until they had won recognition independently, taking the pseudonym of "Barbara". Much of the material to which she gave attractive literary expression she found in the large garden at her home in Fairfield. Although Wright is remembered more for her nature writing, some aspects of her fiction are notable. Some of these romances were unconventional in form, combining passages of fictional narrative with letters, diary entries, and nonfictional pieces of autobiography, social criticism, and gardening lore.
It is true that her fictional range was narrow, limited demographically to the upper classes of Manhattan and New England and emotionally to scenes of domestic piety and sentimentality. But her observations of changing social patterns (the "new magnates" of the new century and increased suburbanization) and of the growth of feminism are worthwhile. Her ambivalence toward the changing role of women is interesting, with sympathy on the one hand and shrill attacks on careerism on the other.