I'm writing here because I have no idea where to turn, but feel that I might have something of significance and historical value. But let me preface this letter by telling everyone upfront that I am not a book connoisseur, seller or expert of any kind. So please bear with me while I try to describe, in layman’s terms what I have and what I have been able to find out in attempting to research it.

I have a copy, which, from the inscriptions and age, appears to be an original, of Caroline Abbot Stanley's book Order No. 11. I’m going to describe it so that maybe someone can help me figure out what I actually have.

The book has no jacket. It is hard bound, cloth cover in dark blue with a picture. Across the top it appears to be grapes (in a pale green) then running down the middle, under title are two swords and what appears to be a torch in (red and gold). Across the bottom, in light green, it says Caroline Abbot Stanley.

On the spine it has the publisher listed as AL Burt. The coloring in the letters spelling out the title and author’s name on the spine is gone, but so deeply imprinted that they are still readable, and it appears that there is a design that would have matched the picture on the cover, except it is scaled differently and doesn’t have the two swords, only the torch and grapevines.

The copyright is 1904, by the Century Company. Publisher is A.L. Burt Company of New York.

Illustrations are by Harry C. Edwards. There are four of them and they are printed on a different paper than the rest of the book. I feel here that I also need to make a few comments about the illustrations: Not only are they remarkably clear and detailed, there is something about them that it hard to describe. It is almost as if the ink has been laid down in different depths, which gives the pictures a 3 dimensional quality and particular, almost peculiar, sheen that I have never seen before. Even being obviously hand drawn and only in shades of black and white, they are much richer and have more depth than a photograph would.

Now for the really interesting find (or at least what I believe is). On the inside cover there is a charming letter, dated “Mar. 6, ‘13”. It is addressed to a “Mr. Walter Williams, Columbia, Missouri.” and hand signed by Caroline Abbot Stanley. In it she says that in the process of researching the Ozarks she has read his book on Missouri and as a “dyed-in-the-wool Missourian” she is anxious to know the price of the book and where she can obtain a copy of it for herself. She also asks if he has any other “fund of information about the Ozarks”, and if so, how can she “wheedle” it out of him. From what I can dig up, she published a book in 1913 called “The Keeper of the Vineyard: A Tale of The Ozarks“, so I’m taking it that researching that book was the reason for her interest on the subject. The letter has been cut in half and pasted to the inside cover and facing page.

In researching to find out who Walter Williams was, I found that he had published a book called, “The State of Missouri: An Autobiography” in 1904 - so this must be the book she is referring to. I also found that the Missouri School of Journalism, the world’s first school of journalism, was founded by Walter Williams on Sept. 14, 1908, on the campus of the University of Missouri. As the school is in Columbia, Missouri, it seems to matches up with the address at the top of the letter.

The book is in slightly rough shape. Though entirely readable and complete in pages, it has been obviously well loved and read over the past 100+ years. The pages are yellowed and though still attached, there is a place that has separated and you can see the stitching and how the pages were, for lack of a better description, grouped together into small sections before they were stitched into the cover. I could send/post pictures if anyone is interested in helping me with identification, description or just out of curiosity to see what I actually have.

Thank you for any help you can give me on what I should do next. Since I can not find another copy of this book anywhere on the internet, that isn’t a reprint done in the past few years, I’m taking it that it is fairly rare - but of course I could be wrong about this too. And I am interested in selling it because I do believe that it is worth more out there in the world, where it can be appreciated, instead of carefully hidden on my bookshelf. Just in case my e-mail address doesn't show up, I can be reached at: backtobacks@hotmail.com

Thanks!
Michelle Smith