The Countryman. Vol. III, nos 2,6,7,9,12 [October-December 1862; includes "Grumblers," Joel Chandler Harris' 2nd Appearance in Print]

Five original loose quarto issues. Each 4pp, pages numbered serially. Occasional toning, light foxing and edgewear, still a very well-preserved grouping, complete and Very Good or better, with much of the text unopened. Five issues of this unusual weekly newpaper, printed by the editor from his own plantation in Putnam County, Georgia from 1862 to 1866. Vol. III, no.12 (Dec 16, 1862, included here) includes a brief (ca. 500 word) humorous essay by a fourteen-year-old Joel Chandler Harris, "Grumblers." This is Harris' second appearance in print, and his first published creative work; it was preceded only by a brief letter to the Editor of the same newspaper, two weeks earlier, transmitting a recipe for ink. Harris had been employed at The Countryman as a printer's devil since early Spring of that year, and would remain there until 1864, learning not only the printing trade but also how to write on a deadline and honing his craft which, even as a juvenile, was prodigious. Harris would go on to print about thirty pieces for The Countryman, including poems, obituaries, literary vignettes, local color pieces and even political commentary - all by the age of eighteen. As for the Countryman itself, it is a quirky newspaper, more literary than topical (an oddity given the place and time of publication), modeled, according to Harris's biographer Robert Wiggins, ".after.Goldsmith's paper, the Bee, Addison's little paper, the Spectator, and Johnson's little paper, the Rambler." (see Wiggins,The Life of Joel Chandler Harris. Nashville: 1918). Much of the content appears to have been penned by Turner himself, with other articles culled from outside sources as well as local news of interest, though Turner made no apparent effort at thorough journalistic coverage. Though reliably secessionist, The Countryman was engaged more with the realms of art and culture than with politics. Each issue includes a page of ads, all of great local interest. OCLC holdings of the paper are wide but scattered, with most institutions showing only a few issues. Rare seen in commerce, and issues with known J.C. Harris contributions are especially hard to obtain.…