A Collection of Brief Poems on Various Subjects

Baltimore: Printed by Sherwood & Co., 1855. 7 5/8” x 5”. Red cloth embossed in blind, spine decorated in gilt. Pp. 250. Good plus: boards moderately worn with losses at corners and spine tips; some foxing and occasional light spotting internally.

This is a scarce book of poetry, and the first printed work, by an oftpublished but lesser-known female dime novelist, Emma Garrison (later Emma Garrison Jones).

Emma Garrison was born in Virginia in 1833. She published the present work in 1855, and her first serial, “Zaidee; or, The Ruby Cross,” appeared in The Dollar Newspaper in 1860. She wrote prolifically for various journals, as well as standalone works, mainly in the era's much sought-after “sensational romance” genre, with titles like “The Belle of Bar Harbor,” “Love's First Kiss,” “Amid Scarlet Roses,” “Her Husband's Other Wife” and “A Reckless Promise.” Garrison married Nicholas Jones around 1863, and published stories under both her maiden and married names, along with translations of Jules Verne under the alias E.G. Walraven. She also penned the words to a ballad, “Why Should My Heart Be Sad,” with music by Louis Ortenstein. Garrison died in 1898 but her stories and novels continued to be published through at least 1931.

The preface to this book included a humble plea by “the authoress” that “fortune favor this, my first attempt” so that “many golden dreams of the future will be realized . . . requesting the critical reader's indulgence, I commit my little book to the kind regards of the public, and patiently await their decision.” Seemingly the writer's only foray into verse, the book includes 81 poems of varying subject matter, length and style. There were odes to “The Flowers,” “Solitude” and “Friendship,” as well as a Christmas “Song,” reflections on “The By-Gone Year” and “The Hope of Heaven.” The works often expressed a theme of hope through darkness, as seen in “Gentle Words”:

“Life has its hours of bitterness, / Its joys, its hopes and fears; / Our way is sometimes wreathed with smiles, / And then baptized in tears. / But gentle words and loving smiles / Will cheer the darkest day, / And friendship's peerless rays will drive / The deepest gloom away.”

and “Light Behind the Cloud”:

“We journey through a vale of tears, / Where all things pass away; / Our fondest hopes will soon take wing, / Our brightest joys decay; / But though our pathway may be dark, / And grief our hearts enshroud, / Though wintry winds around us roar, / There's light behind the cloud.”

A scarce first publication by a woman who went on to dominate in the dime novel arena. OCLC shows eleven institutions with holdings. Good +. Item #8289

Price: $950.00