AnonBiblio.com
Anon [EL?] E LBiblio.com
VICTORIAN ERA LITERARY SKETCHES OF A BUDDING AUTHOR THE BEGINNINGS OF SEVERAL STORIES IN MANUSCRIPT KEPT IN A SMALL NOTEBOOK
1867rif. 69292London England 1867. Plain stiff paper wrappers soiled ink marks stitched. 15 x 11 cm. approx. 106 pp. of text rest blank ca. 10000 words in ink and occasionally pencil in a neat hand. The unnamed author commences three or four different stories penning a chapter or two for at least three of them. His subjects include a country house party and the interactions of the guests; a family in mourning and a solicitous guest; a young man down on his luck who forges his employer's signature on a check; etc. There are moments of humor and self-absorption by some of the characters food and drink seem to pre-occupy the author's thoughts there are curious turns of phrase and spelling aberrations. The first line of the first story introduces his main character: "My name is Nathiniel Lanyon. There's a Chirstian name for a man in my station of life." He goes on to say he was named after his grandfather who taught him how to drink "whisky of the strength of seven parts of the spirit to one of water.so I can now drink my evening comfort as strong as that with an unteared that is to say tearless eye." In another story a woman describes her turncoat friends as having been tested and their loyalty "snapped like rotten twigs." In another a young man is described as having "an head conically inclined." There are numerous ink corrections and alterations in the text. The rear pastedown has a short ink recipe for cold cream and a clipped article offering advice for brushing teeth with a combination of gin nutmeg and lemon juice. A clue to the author's identity comes on the final page of the notebook where he pens the text of an advertisement: "A dispenser to board out of the house in the country address stating terms to E.L. care of Messrs Gale & Co. Bouverie Street Fleet Street London." In the classified section of the November 9 1867 edition of the Lancet General Advertiser London: A Journal of British and Foreign Medicine George Fall: 1867 this ad appears almost verbatim: "Wanted by a General Practitioner in the country a DISPENSER; to board out of the house -- Address stating terms to E.L. care of Messrs. Gale and Co. Bouverie-street Fleet-street London." Presumably the author of these amateur sketches was himself a doctor. unknown
Bartlebys Books · Stati Uniti350,00 USD≈ 312,70 €
