This lowboy was sold with a provenance relating to Sarah Orne Jewett, the famous
New England author. A highboy with identical provenance drew the attention of
buyers from Historic New England.
Sarah Orne Jewett was born in South Berwick, Maine; her family had been residents of New England for many generations.
At age 19, Jewett published her first important story in the Atlantic Monthly,
and her reputation grew throughout the 1870s and 1880s. Her literary
importance arises from her careful, if subdued, vignettes of country
life that reflect a contemporary interest in local color rather than in
plot. Jewett possessed a keen descriptive gift that William Dean Howells called “an uncommon feeling for talk — I hear your people.” Jewett made her reputation with the novella The Country of the Pointed Firs (1896). A Country Doctor (1884), a novel reflecting her father and her early ambitions for a medical career, and A White Heron (1886), a collection of short stories are among her finest work. Some of Jewett’s poetry was collected in Verses (1916), and she also wrote three children’s books. Willa Cather described Jewett as a significant influence on her development as a writer, and “feminist critics have since championed her writing for its rich account of women’s lives and voices.”
H: 30 ½ in. W: 30 ¾ in.