"Star Papers: Or, Experiences of Art and Nature", by Henry Ward Beecher, published by J.C. Derby, New York, 1855. First Edition with '1855' imprinted on the title page and copyright.

Embossed hard boards, original brown cloth covers with blind stamped decorations, gold stamped lettering and bands on spine [gold wear]; 5" x 7.1/2"; cream-yellow colored endpapers; 359 pages on high quality heavy paper, very good condition.

In the 1850s, Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) was an outspoken and controversial minister and writer contributing unsigned pieces to The Independent, an anti-slavery periodical. Unsigned, that is, by a name: almost all the pieces are signed by an asterisk. Thus, when 32 of the essays were collected, the book was titled Star Papers.

Only such papers as related to art and to rural affairs, have been published in this volume. It was thought best to put all controversial articles in another, and subsequent, volume. The letters to Europe were written to home friends, during a visit of only four weeks ; a period too short to allow the subsidence of that enthusiasm which every person must needs experience who, for the first time, stands in the historic places of the Old World. An attempt to exclude from these letters any excess of personal feeling, to reduce them to a more moderate tone, to correct their judgments, or to extract from them the fiery particles of enthusiasms, would have taken away their very life. The other papers in this volume, for the most part, were written from the solitude of the country, during the vacations of three summers. Therefore, this book is a wide-ranging collection of rambling essays on Traveling in Europe, and American Country Life: fishing, trees, birds, and travel, filtered through Beecher's thoughts and emotions. The book is divided into six Letters From Europe (about art) and thirty-two chapters on Experiences of Nature (including two on fishing).

US: Priority (c.2-5 days) --------- $9.50
Canada: Priority (c.2-6 weeks) --- $29.50
World: Priority (c.2-8 weeks) ---- $40.50