The Willey House and Sonnets
Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1875. First edition. Hardcover. First edition. Slim 8vo in dark brown cloth kettered in gilt. 42 pp. Illustrated with full page engravings in sepia and with tissue guards, including frontispiece illustration of the Willey House. A tight, intenally clean example, spoine somewhat sunned and with some loss to the front gutter cloth that does not penetrate the binding. The title poem, subtitled "A Ballad Of The White Mountains", concerns The Willey House, built in the 1790s in Crawford Notch, New Hampshire and the 1825 flood of the Saco River that washes away the Willey family of five but left the house standing. The tragedy achieved national notoriety (Hawthorne wrote a piece about it); the house stood and operated as an inn and tavern until 1898 when it was destroyed by fire. Very Good. Item #E16242
Price: $95.00