Title: The Surprise Party on Mount Pinard. New-York, February 7-8, 1884.
Description: New York, 1884. 1884. - Small quarto, 8 inches high by 6-1/2 inches wide. Self-wraps, consisting of 4-pages on cream stock with the title and pictorial decorations printed in sienna on the cover page and a device on the blank rear page. Printed on the 2 inner pages is a 75-line poem by Buel playfully describing the circle of writers and other colleagues who "grasp Apollo Gilder's hand" at the Century Magazine. The poem is signed in ink "C.C. Buel" at the end with a correction penned in his hand. The poem is illustrated with pictorial cover decorations and head- and tail-pieces by "AB" (Alfred Laurens Brennan). The sheets have split along the spine & are separated and there is a tiny piece out from the bottom front corner of the pages. A light vertical crease runs through the center and there is some minor soiling to the cover page. Marginal annotations in ink and pencil by an early collector speculate as to the authors and personalities who may be the subject of lines and stanzas throughout this poem "a clef". Good.
One may speculate that this poem was printed for a gathering of The Author's Club at the home of Richard Watson Gilder on February 7-8, 1884. Richard Watson Gilder (1844-1909) was a poet who from 1881 edited Century Magazine. His home was a social center for New York City literati and the Author's Club was founded there in 1882.
The author of this poem Clarence Clough Buel (1850-1933) was assistant editor of the Century Magazine and a writer of prose & verse.
Roswell Smith, the founder of Century magazine, is cited in the lines "In his respect, you sit at Richard's feet; / First, Jove-like Roswell, chary of his bolts, / Who draws free rein across the Century colts.."
The illustrator Alfred Laurens Brennan (1853-1921) studied art at the School of Design and worked with Frank Duveneck and H.F. Farny. He contributed illustrations to the Century Magazine and other periodicals.
A penciled presentation dated 1938 at the top of the cover page "To MTB from R.G." is perhaps in the hand of Rosamund Gilder (1891-1986), the daughter of Richard Watson Gilder.
RARE. We have been unable to locate another copy of this wonderful pamphlet. Good .
Keywords: LITERATURE; CENTURY MAGAZINE; CLARENCE CLOUGH BUEL; POEM; SIGNED; AUTOGRAPH; SIGNATURES; ROSAMUND GILDER; THE SURPRISE PARTY ON MOUNT PINARD; NINETEENTH CENTURY; 19TH CENTURY; LITERARY; AUTHOR'S CLUB; EPHEMERA; FIRST; 1ST; ALFRED LAURENS BRENNAN; ILLU
- Book number: 35218
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