Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin and Company, 1896.

First edition in book form, originally serialised in The Atlantic Monthly between January and September 1896 and here expanded and revised.

An extraordinary example of regionalism, and dominated by the daily lives of compelling women characters, The Country of the Pointed Firs is widely considered Sarah Orne Jewett’s best work. Narrated from the perspective of a Bostonian woman writer, this novel is composed of sketches of ordinary life, and paints a profound picture of day to day within a struggling American fishing village. The protagonist is likely based on the author herself; being an unmarried, feisty woman who is fiercely protective of her writing time.

A wonderful copy, in extraordinarily good condition, of a book loved by writers such as Henry James (who described it as her "beautiful little quantum of achievement") and Ursula K. LeGuin, who praised it for its "quietly powerful rhythms."

As Willa Cather wrote: “I can think of no others that confront time and change so serenely… The young student of American literature in far distant years to come will take up this book and say ‘a masterpiece!”

8vo., green publisher’s cloth lettered and decorated to spine and upper board with trailing floral and heart designs in gilt; title page printed in red and black; pp. [xi], 2-213, [v, ads]; boards a little scuffed and bumped at spine tips and corners; the odd small stain to covers, else very good; internally lightly toned and just a little cracked to gutter between p. 106 and 107; p.205-end with corner nicks and pushing, perhaps from being dropped, but minimal and not affecting text; a very good copy of this important work.