This is a wonderful two volume set. These books where published in 1896 by Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York. I believe them to be “First Edition” copies. The books measure 4 ½ inches by 7 inches. Volume I contains 281 pages and volume II contains 276 pages. The green buckram covers have lovely gilt detailing around the perimeter of the covers and the title on the spine in gilt. The covers show minor signs of wear. The spines are tight and the hinges are strong. The top edges of the pages are gilt as well. The remaining edges are deckled. One of the pages has a rather large “chip” as the person who cut the pages was not quite as careful as he ought to have been. This is limited to the margin and does not affect the readability of the text in any way. The pages show no signs of rips or foxing. I did spy a few pencil underlinings, however this is limited to a few places. Exceptions noted, the overall condition of these lovely old books is very good.

The signatures of the previous owners are on the title pages of both volumes. The signatures themselves add an additional facet to these volumes. The signatures indicate that the former owners were Elmer Edgar Stoll and his wife Harriet. This could be one and the same Mr. Stoll (1874-1959) who was a famous American writer and appears to have been quite a Shakespearian scholar. His area was Literary Criticism and his major focus was Shakespeare. He wrote a number of books on “Poets” and “Playwrights” and he wrote interpretations on some of Shakespeare’s prominent works.

Excerpt - Preface:
So much of preface seem necessary to this volume as may justify its publication and explain its origin. The writer was for many years my closest friend. It was in the summer of 1873 that a lady, whose gracious influence has helped to shape and encourage more than one distinguished career, first awakened my interest in him and drew us together. He was at that time a lad of twenty-tow, with his powers not yet set nor his way of life determined. But to know him was to recognize at once that here was a young genius of whom great things might be expected. A slender boyish presence, with a graceful, somewhat fantastic bearing, and a singular power and attraction in the eyes and smile, were the signs that impressed you; and the impression was quickly confirmed and deepened by the charm of his talk, which was irresistibly sympathetic and inspiring, and not less full of matter than of mirth. I have known no man in w3hom the poet’s heart and imagination were combined with such a brilliant strain of humor and such a brilliant strain of humor and such unsleeping alertness and adroitness of the critical intelligence. But it was only in conversation that he could as yet do himself justice. His earliest efforts in literature were of a very uneven and tentative quality. The reason partly was that in mode of expression and choice of language, not less than in the formation of opinion and the conduct of life, he was impatient, even to excess, of the conventional, the accepted, and the trite. His perceptions and emotions were acute and vivid in the extreme; his judgments whether founded on experience, reading, discussion, or caprice (and a surprising amount of all these things had been crowded into his youthful existence) were not less fresh and personal; while to his ardent fancy the world was a theatre glowing with the lights and bustling with the incidents of romance. To find for all he had to say words of vital aptness and animation—to communicate as much as possible of what he has somewhere called “the

incommunicable thrill of things

Excerpt

In the Mountain, Apia, Samoa,
Monday, November 2nd, 1890

My Dear Colvin,--This is a

hard and interesting and beautiful

It is interesting to me the way this is written. Perhaps it was the interpretation of the Mr. Colvin, but the spelling of the word “veranda” and “verandah” are both used in this passage, as well as the spelling “laborers” and “labourers.” In addition, the first segment is very readable and the second segment sounds like a “laundry list” of the tasks of the day.

Breakfast was rather a protracted business. And that was scarce over when we were called to the great house (now finished—recall your earlier letters) to see a royal kava. This function is of rare use; I know grown Samoans who have never witnessed it. It is, besides, as you are to hear, a piece of prehistoric history, crystallized in figures, and the facts largely forgotten; an acted hieroglyph…

Note: The final illustration shows the printing information in the back of Volume II.

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