1 Item Set or Lot of FOXCROFT DAVIS Novel, The Whirl; Includes:
ITEM 1.) Foxcroft Davis (Molly Elliot Seawell); "The Whirl - A Romance of Washington Society"; Illustrated by Harrison Fisher and B. Martin Justice (Full Page, Full Color);
Hard Cover; Published May, 1909; ? Edition, ? Printing; Dodd Mead and Co.; New York, New York; 306 pages; 8vo; Bound in burgundy cloth with gilt trim around pictoral cover illustration mounted on the front board; White Lettering on Spine;
Condition Good; Boards and Spine Show Storage and Usage Wear; Inside Generally Clean, Tight and unmarked; Some Spotting, Yellowing, etc.; 7 1/2" tall;
"Molly Elliot Seawell was an American writer. Baptized as "Mary," Molly Elliot Seawell was born into one of the older families of English language-speaking North America & one of the 1st families of Virginia. Her father was John Tyler Seawell, a lawyer & orator & a nephew of President of the US John Tyler. Her mother (Tyler's 2nd wife), Frances Elizabeth Jackson Seawell, was a native of Baltimore whose father, Maj. Wm. Jackson, had fought in the War of 1812. Descendants of the original Seawells spell the family name in one of two forms: "Sewell" (as in Sewell's Point, Norfolk, Virginia) & "Seawell." Otis Notman interviewing Molly Elliot Seawell for the New York Times Saturday Review of Books noted that the regional pronunciation of the name was "Sowell," although Molly Elliot Seawell pronounced her name as it was spelled. Born in Gloucester, Virginia on October 23, 1860, Seawell spent her early life at the family's plantation home, "The Shelter," which had been a hospital in the American Revolutionary War. She described her early formation as a " ... secluded life ... in the library of an old Virginia country house, & in a community where conditions more nearly resembled the 18th than the 19th century". Her father was a student of the Classics, who influenced her learning. She was not allowed to read a novel until she was 17, instead reading history, encyclopedias, Wm. Shakespeare, & the Romantic poets. Her education was primarily informal at home, where she learned riding, dancing, & household management. In addition to these influences & her Tidewater surroundings, Seawell's seafaring uncle, Joseph Seawell, contributed to her future literary subjects. After her father's death & between her move to Norfolk & settling for life in Washington, DC, Seawell made the 1st of many trips to Europe. Her visits took her to the UK of Great Britain & Ireland, France, Germany, & even as far as Imperial Russia. Apparently the appeal of Russia & Germany was the therapeutic waters of the baths, to which Seawell attributed the improvement of a chronic eye condition. Her summers in Europe, returning to Washington in October, became a regular event. These travels extended the material of her literary subjects which as we have seen included the sea, England, France, & Central Europe. The household Seawell sustained with her mother & her younger sister Henrietta near Washington's fashionable Du Pont Circle was the location of an artists' salon of sorts. The home on P Street still exists & has recently been renovated as a commercial property. She entertained artists & writers there in addition to such notables of the time as the Earl of Carlisle & his daughter, Lady Dorothy Howard. After the death of her mother & later of her sister Henrietta, Seawell temporarily withdrew from social life, despite an enormous capacity for friendship & interest in people. Her health had been precarious for a number of years. Molly Elliot Seawell died of cancer in her home on November 15, 1916, only a few weeks after her 56th birthday. Her Roman Catholic Requiem mass was held in the Romanesque Church of St. Matthew, now the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Washington. Her body was laid to rest at Baltimore's Greenmount Cemetery. The death of her father when she was 20 prompted Molly Elliot Seawell, her mother & her younger sister, Henrietta, to move from "The Shelter" in Gloucester to Norfolk & later to Washington, D.C. It was either in Norfolk or in Washington that Seawell began her literary career in earnest. She 1st wrote under pen names (including the patrician "Foxcroft Davis"—the novels Mrs. Darrell & The Whirl—& the Russian "Vera Sapoukhyn") until the publication of her short story "Maid Marian" in 1886, a tale she later dramatized for actress Rosina Vokes. Her 1st novel, Hale-Weston, published in 1889, was widely read & translated into German. These successes established her literary career; in her own words: "That I succeeded was due to tireless effort, unbroken health, a number of fortunate circumstances, & above all, what I am neither afraid nor ashamed to say, the kindness of the good God. In the course of time, I became, through literature alone, a householder, a property-owner, a taxpayer, & the regular employer of five persons". Her literary production included forty books of fiction, collected short fiction, & non-fiction, as well as numerous political columns from Washington for New York dailies & essays. Seawell's fiction might be distinguished into three genres: regional fiction, romances, & books for boys (primarily nautical stories). Their strong suit is Seawell's ability in characterization rather than her plots. In an interview with her, Notman observed this strength, to which she replied: "My people usually seem flesh & blood to me. If they do not have the breath of life in them at the beginning, no amount of labor can make them real." Mitchell in American Women Writers remarks more critically, "Plot was never her strong point, & the perfect ladies & gentlemen, the overt racism, & the condescending tone are interesting only because they reflect values once widespread". Molly Elliot Seawell was a popular & widely read writer in her time, included at the beginning of the 20th century in standard reference works on American writers & among the Times's Otis Notman's interview subjects with William Dean Howells, Jack London, & Theodore Dreiser. While much of her fiction might be described as "escapist" or "romantic" she was not reluctant to discuss some of the important issues of her day. Her attitudes toward these issues, however, are not always what we would consider modern. She represents the end of one generation of independent & self-reliant though socially & politically conservative women, & provides the background for the emergence of modern women.";
Attached scans show bound in illustrations which appear to all have been by Martin Justice, Cover Art thus appears to have been done by Harrison Fisher;
The primary item was part of the collection of Henry J. Hauschild Jr., who billed himself as a “Physiognomist – Bibliopolist – Cognoscente di Eccellentissimoâ€, and was the very proud owner of the world famous "Nose Gallery†at “The Oldest House†in Victoria, Texas.
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