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Book of the Month: Queechy by Elizabeth Wetherell (or Susan Warner)

Book of the Month, Rare Books

In addition to the over 7,000 linear feet of archival collections made available for study at the University of Houston Special Collections, we are also proud to offer over 100,000 rare and antique books for use in our reading room. Each month we will highlight a text from our collections and what makes it so special.

cover of Queechy / by Elizabeth Wetherell (Susan Warner)

cover of Queechy / by Elizabeth Wetherell (Susan Warner)

Book of the Month:  Queechy by Elizabeth Wetherell, as recommended by Julie Grob, Coordinator for Instruction at the University of Houston Special Collections.

Why So Special?  “The pictorial cloth binding with a decoration of flowers that are multicolored,” writes Grob.  “I’m a sucker for over-the-top publishers bindings from the 19th century, and this is one of the more elaborate in our collection.”

Originally published in 1852, Queechy was Susan Warner’s second novel, following her widely-translated debut, The Wide, Wide World (1850), also written under the pen name Elizabeth Wetherell.  That book’s popularity gave Warner the distinction of being one of the most popular authors of a new nation still finding its literary voice.  Our copy of Queechy is a glittering and gilded display that no doubt would have brought color to the cheeks of  Warner’s Puritan forebearers.  Pictorial green cloth stamped in gold, red, blue, yellow and black. Edges gilt.”

detail of page edges

detail of page edges

Location:  Pictures will not do this one justice.  If you would care for a closer look, Queechy is available for study in the University of Houston Special Collections Reading Room, during our normal research hours.  To spend some time with Fleda Ringgan as she crisscrosses the Atlantic, please request PS3155.Q4 1800z.

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