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Fish, Williston A LAST WILL
Boston Alfred Barlett 1908 Hard Cover VG+ Short Stories
WILLISTON FISH (1858-1939) was a Chicago attorney who pursued an active literary career on the side. He published a pair of novels based on his service in the army and hundreds of short stories and poems. In 1898 he published a sentimental mock will in Harper’s Weekly, titled "A Last Will". It was a little more than a one-column filler in an issue dominated by news of the Spanish-American War, yet this modest prose poem struck deep chords with readers for the next hundred years. It is a lovely piece of writing. The author gives to children the dandelions in the fields and the right to play freely among them; to lovers, all that they need to construct their world; to young men bravery. "And," he writes,"to those who are no longer children, or youths, or lovers, I leave Memory, and I leave to them the volumes of the poems of Burns and Shakespeare..." The text often became separated from its author’s name, and it was attributed to its fictitious testator, Charles Lounsbury. The legend grew that Lounsbury was a destitute lawyer or millionaire who died destitute in a Chicago jail cell, almshouse, or insane asylum, and the will was found in a pocket of his tattered overcoat. 18 pp. Grey cover.small, 1/16" x 1/4" stain on front and a thumb? smudge mark at bottom edge, otherwise book is VG+. Gift inscription on free endpaper.
Price:
15.00 USD
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