American Realism

Deland, Margaret (1857-1945) Harlow, Louis K. [Illustrator]

Florida Days [19th Century North Florida Travelogue]

Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1889. First Edition, First Printing.

A lush, sensory voyage through the 'Old Florida' of the 1880s, captured before the era of massive commercialization.

Deland’s prose, a prime example of American literary realism, provides a vivid accounting of St. Augustine and the St. Johns River, beautifully complemented by the ethereal landscapes of Louis K. Harlow. This first printing is a quintessential Gilded Age production, printed on heavy cardstock to showcase its sophisticated color plates.

KEY FEATURES
+++ Visuals: Features a chromolithograph color frontispiece plus 3 additional color plates, all with original tissue guards; further enhanced by numerous etchings, vignettes, and black-and-white plates by Louis K. Harlow. 
+++ Binding: Original decorated cloth with pictorial stamping; titles in gilt.
+++ Content: Detailed reminiscences of Northern Florida scenery, natural history, and local character sketches—including period dialect. 
+++ Imprint: Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1889. First Edition. 
+++ Specs: Octavo (8.5 inches tall) / 200 pages printed on thick, high-quality cardstock.

CONDITION: Very Good. The bindings are tight and square, showing only a slight, characteristic shelf lean. The text is clean with light, even toning. The decorated cloth shows moderate shelf handling wear and typical hand-soiling for a volume of this age. Internally superior, with the thick cardstock pages and tissue-guarded plates remaining remarkably well-preserved.

SCHOLARLY FEATURES
+++ Literary Context: Margaret Deland was a central figure in the literary realism movement; her transition from poetry and fiction to this travelogue reflects the 19th-century obsession with 'The Tropical Frontier' as a site of spiritual and physical renewal. 
+++ Artistic Merit: Louis Kinney Harlow’s illustrations represent the peak of New England landscape etching and chromolithography, capturing the atmospheric 'haze' of the Florida wetlands. +++ Socio-Historical Data: Provides a primary document of the St. Johns River region during the brief window between the Civil War and the Flagler-led railroad boom.

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE ---
Margaret Deland’s Florida Days is more than a simple guidebook; it is a meditation on a landscape that was already beginning to vanish. Her focus on the 'local people' and the specific natural history of the St. Johns River provides a counter-narrative to the glossy, railroad-funded promotional materials that would soon dominate Florida literature.

This 1889 first edition matters because it captures the transition of Florida from a wilderness into a destination. Deland’s recognition of women’s struggles and her realist eye bring a depth to the prose often missing from contemporary travelogues. It remains a cornerstone for any collection focusing on the 'Gilded Age' discovery of the South.

SUBJECTS: St. Augustine, St. Johns River, North Florida History, 19th Century Travel, Gilded Age, American Realism, Florida Natural History, Women Writers. Travelogue, Illustrated Book, First Edition, Floridiana.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCE: Clark, New South 302.

Item #21686

Price: $145.00