Sunlight-Colored Roses

Advertisement from Street & Smith [text]. In edition of In Love’s Hands, by Bertha M. Clay, c. 1914.

I was intrigued by this list of “twenty books every woman should read” in a text I read recently retrieved from Project Gutenberg. I wondered what kind of books were the standard for what “every woman” should read in the 1910s. I was also interested because I was unfamiliar with most of the names on this list.

Will I uncover some hidden classics, lost to time? Or books that leave a deep impression on me that I would never have found otherwise?

First and foremost, this project is another way to get close to popular literature and the ideas prevalent in everyday life in this era.

The titles in the list range from 1859-1911. I thought that was very interesting when I consider that novels written 52 years ago today, or in 1973, would be unlikely to end up on a recommended list alongside novels recently published in the past few years in an advertisement. Some titles and authors from fifty years ago are probably known by many readers today, but it seems like they would be much more likely to be picked up and read as something quite “vintage.”

I was able to find some of the texts on Project Gutenberg to download to my e-reader, but for many of them, I will likely need to find a physical copy.

• Woman Against Woman. By Effie Adelaide Rowlands. Eagle No. 52, 10c. [1890] [works]
• The Little Minister. By J. M. Barrie. Eagle No. 96, 10c. [1891] [text] [works]
• Nerine’s Second Choice. By Adelaide Stirling. Eagle No. 131, 10c. [1897] [text in New York Weekly][works][online serialization]
• Her Love and Trust. By Adeline Sargeant. Eagle No. 241, 10c. [1901] [works] [works]
• Edith Lyle’s Secret. By Mrs. Mary J. Holmes. Eagle No. 316, 10c. [1876] [text] [works]
• Dora Thorne. By Bertha M. Clay. Bertha Clay No. 2, 10c. [1871] [text] [Charlotte Brame bibliography] [biography] [works]
• Ishmael. By Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth. Southworth No. 2, 10c. [1876] [text] [works] [collection]
• Self-Raised. By Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth. Southworth No. 3, 10c. [1876] [text]
• The Hidden Hand. By Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth. Southworth No. 52, 10c. [1859] [text]
• Capitola’s Peril. By Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth. Southworth No. 53, 10c. [1859] [text]
• Quo Vadis. By Henryk Sienkiewicz. New Illustrated Edition, 15c.[1896] [text] [works]
• Queen Bess. By Mrs. Georgie Sheldon. New Sheldon No. 1, 15c. [1889] [works] [Sarah Elizabeth Forbush Downs]
• A Jest of Fate. By Charles Garvice. New Eagle No. 645, 15c. [1904] [works] [works] [dimenovels.org]
• St. Elmo. By Augusta J. Evans. New Eagle No. 600, 15c. [1866] [text] [post] [works]
• Slighted Love. By Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller. New Eagle No. 596, 15c. [1898] [works] [text]
• At Another’s Bidding. By Ida Reade Allen. New Eagle No. 707, 15c. [1910][dimenovels.org]
• The Thoroughbred. By Edith MacVane. New Eagle No. 725, 15c. [1911] [dimenovels.org]
• Girls of a Feather. By Mrs. Amelia E. Barr. New Romance No. 7, 15c. [1893][hathitrust]
• My Own Sweetheart. By Wenona Gilman. New Eagle No. 687, 15c. [1910] [gutenberg.org] [dimenovels.org]
• The Price of a Kiss. By Laura Jean Libbey. New Eagle No. 720, 15c. [1911][dimenovels.org] [gutenberg.org]

Notes

St. Elmo, Texas in Freestone County is said to have been named after Evans’ novel St. Elmo.