- Title: The Woodcarver of ‘Lympus
- Author: M. E. Waller
- Publisher: Little, Brown, and Company
- Estimated year of printing: 1905
Notes:
Copyright 1904
Published 1904
Date on title page: 1905
Set in 1890’s Vermont, this is the story of Twiddie, a waif who becomes the life of a farmhouse, and Hugh, the crippled son of the house whose back was broken in a logging accident. Unable to leave his bed, Hugh journals while Twiddie writes him letters, informing him about the world beyond the farmhouse.
This book was first published in 1904 by Little, Brown, and Company. The 1905 date on the title page indicates this is a slightly later, but still very early printing of this book. In the 1910’s, it was reprinted by other publishing houses such as A. L. Burt.
Mary Waller (1855 – 1938) was an American writer and educator from New England whose work encompassed children’s stories, translations of German verse and more than twenty novels. Waller taught at an exclusive Boston finishing school, Mrs. Shaw’s school, before leaving to take a teaching position at Brearley School in New York. Following this, Waller then founded her own school in Chicago, Miss Waller’s School for Girls.
Forced by ill health to give up her school, she began writing novels while living in Vermont, where many of her novels are set. Her earliest works were her most popular, with The Woodcarver of ‘Lympus in particular being her bestseller. After World War I, the popularity of her books, and her style of fiction in general, faded.
Historical context:
When this book was published in 1905, Theodore Roosevelt was President, having been elected in the 1904 election. This is the year that Albert Einstein published his theory of relativity, and the Wright brothers made their first powered flight just a few years earlier in 1903.