Rose Clark.
[Parton, Sara Payon Willis]. Fern, Fanny. Rose Clark. New York: Mason Brothers, 1856.
8vo.; delicate pencil signature to first blank; light occasional foxing; brown cloth boards, decoratively stamped in blind; spine stamped in gilt; light wear, one abrasion to upper panel.
First edition of Parton’s second novel, containing many expositions on women’s roles in and out of the 19th century American home; twelve pages of publishers advertisements in the rear. This story is meant to be read aloud, she writes in a prefatory note to the reader, on a chill day, around a fire, and to be heard with uncritical ears: “Should any dictionary on legs rap inopportunely at the door for admittance, send him away to the groaning shelves of some musty library, where ‘literature’ lies embalmed, with its stony eyes, fleshless joints, and ossified heart, in faultless preservation.”
After the death of her first husband, Charles H. Eldredge, in 1846, Parton was obliged to support herself and her family; she found her niche as a journalist after a piece she wrote entitled, “A Model Minister,” was printed in several Boston newspapers. Her first book of collected essays, Fern Leaves From Fanny’s Portfolio (1853) met with success, selling 80,000 copies and establishing Parton’s popularity. One biographer writes, “[Parton] was popular because her combination of common sense, sentiment, and occasional religious teaching met the demands of her age. She caustically satirized pretentiousness, cant, snobbery, and heartlessness displayed by wealth toward poverty, but never tired of eulogizing family life, children, old homes, gardens and country beauties” (Sarah Bowerman, BRC). She moved to New York in 1856; married James Parton; worked for the New York Ledger, for whom she wrote a weekly column; and contributed to several other newspapers.
Other writings include Ruth Hall (1855), her first novel; Fresh Leaves (1857); The Play-Day Book: New Stories for Little Folks (1857); A New Story Book for Children (1864); Folly As It Flies (1868); Ginger-Snaps (1870); and Caper-Sauce: A Volume of Chit-Chat About Men, Women, and Things (1872).
Parton – more commonly known by her pen name, Fanny Fern – was born in Maine in 1811 to a literary family; her father founded the popular periodical Youth’s Companion, and her brother was the author Nathanial Parker Willis. She was educated at Catherine Beecher’s school in Hartford; married three times; and had two children by her first husband. She died in 1872.
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