Witnega John (1 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Typed Manuscript Signed, with hand inked calligraphic title page and chapter titles, with hand-rubricated lettering at each chapter. Large octavo. 125 typed in purple ink on rectos only. Bound in full maroon morocco with light brown morocco spine label, raised bands and gilt decorations. Modest rubbing at the joints but tight and very good or better, internally fine. A handwritten note by the author preceeding the text reads: "The Mist. This manuscript was written in the year 1901 by Edwin Sylvester Hopkins, in New York City. It is a mixture of fact, fancy, personal, experience and invention and is not intended for publication in in its present form, as it contains allusions to, and false descriptions of persons living and dead, and has been hastily and unskillfully written. This copy is given to Mrs. Gertrude E. McWheldon and is not to be read without her permission or that of the author. Edwin Sylvester Hopkins." Tale of romance that begins with a love triangle in New York, encompasses trips to Australia (to mine gold), a flight to Oklahoma to escape from complications, out of wedlock motherhood, and drunkenness, and ends with death and suicide. A laugh riot. The author's disclaimer leads on to believe there are at least some autobiographical elements in it, and it might reward actually reading the whole thing. We somewhat reluctantly admit that we only scanned the text. The Covington, Kentucky-born Hopkins (1846-1918) graduated from DePauw University and became an educator and school administrator including President of Franklin College in Indiana. While he occasionally listed his occupation as "poet and educator" in various resources, it seems he published only a single volume of drama (in verse?) under his own name, and contributed to various anthologies of Kentucky poets. His papers seem to be at DePauw; his son, Arthur E. Hopkins became a prominent judge in Indiana, and left his papers to The Filson Historical Society.