The Princess of Manoa (1906) was the second book of Hawaiian folklore tales collected and retold by Emily Foster Day for Paul Elder. Her first book of Hawaiiana, The Menehunes, published by Elder in 1905, must have been reasonably successful.
The Manoa Valley is in Honolulu, a bit towards Diamondhead from the old town center and then mauka (towards the mountain) along Manoa Valley Road. At the head of the valley is the lovely Lyon Arboretum, and farther up the trail is Manoa Falls.
Two different versions of the cover are known: paper on boards with a full-page decoration of an ocean sunset, and cloth on boards with a small gold-stamped border around the title. There is also a leather edition of the latter design.
Illustrator D. Howard Hitchcock (1861-1943) was an American painter who specialized in depictions of Hawaii, where he lived his entire life. In the San Francisco area, his work was exhibited both at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915 and the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939.
Alternate cover of “The Princess of Manoa”, buckramAlternate cover of “Princess of Manoa,” leatherDust jacket of alternate coverTitle page of “The Princess of Manoa”Frontispiece of “The Princess of Manoa”Page 1 of “The Princess of Manoa”Custom leatherbound edition of “Princess of Manoa”
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“‘Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—
Only this and nothing more.”
Fancy suede binding of “The Raven”
When I was a child, we had a small book of poetry bound in blue boards. My mother enjoyed reading these poems to me, and Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” was one of her favorites. I can still hear my mother beginning “Once upon a midnight dreary…”
“The Raven” was published on 29 January 1845 in the New York Evening Mirror. It was an instant hit and made Poe famous, although it did not earn him much money. Nearly 170 years later, “The Raven” remains one of the best-known poems in the English language. It has appeared in numerous editions and is a favorite with illustrators. The poem has also been parodied many times; my favorite is “Ravin’s of a Piute Poet Poe,” by Charles Leroy Edson, published in the Saturday Review of Literature in 1925.
Title page of “The Raven”
In 1846, the year after publishing “The Raven,” Poe wrote an essay entitled “The Philosophy of Composition,” in part to explain how he composed the poem (although it’s unclear whether Poe actually used the techniques himself). For example, Poe writes that “the death… of a beautiful woman … is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world, and equally is it beyond doubt that the lips best suited for such topic are those of a bereaved lover.” Poe would feel this very anguish in 1847 when his wife Virginia died of tuberculosis. He himself died in 1849 under mysterious circumstances.
Elder’s edition of The Raven and the Philosophy of Composition is a beautiful one: a limited edition of 1000, in suede cover with title stamped in gold, matching dust jacket, two-color printing and imported handmade paper. On the other hand, the book was set in Washington Text, one of Elder’s favorite display types but a poor choice as a text type. Galen Perrett’s illustrations are Victorian in character, which conflict somewhat with the Arts & Crafts feel of the rest of the book. In addition, the illustrations are reproduced too small, so that the poem (included in the illustration) is difficult to read. Despite these flaws, it is a very handsome book.
First page of the poemFirst page of “The Philosophy of Composition”One of Galen Perrett’s illustrations
