Applewood Books

05/13/2022

Harriet Lothrop, also known as Margaret Sidney, not only wrote bestselling children's books but preserved historic sites around Massachusetts and ran her husband's publishing company after his death.

Born on June 24, 1844, Harriet Mulford learned a love of reading from a young age, having been given unfiltered access to her father's library. She was always one to make up characters and stories; her teachers at Miss Dutton's School at Grove Hall in New Haven marked her for success early. Though she spent some time traveling after her schooling, she was a New Englander at heart.

Harriet published her first piece in 1878, at the age of 34. She began with short stories in the Boston-based children's magazine Wide Awake. Her "Peppers" stories were such hits that Wide Awake editor Ella Farman requested more, leading to the publication of Five Little Peppers and How They Grew (and 11 sequels). The Peppers Series follows the recently widowed Mrs. Pepper and her five children as they navigate the world around them and teaches young readers about the true meaning of family.

The first of the Peppers books was published in 1881, the same year Harriet married Daniel Lothrop. Mr. Lothrop was the founder of the D. Lothrop Company of Boston, a publishing company that would produce all of Harriet's books, using her pseudonym Margaret Sidney. After Daniel died in March of 1892, Harriet spent 5 years running the company before selling it. After the sale, the company was renamed Lothrop, Lee & Shepard. Harriet would continue publishing her books with them under the pseudonym Margaret Sidney.

In 1883, the Lothrops purchased the home previously occupied by Louisa May Alcott and Nathaniel Hawthrone, called The Wayside Inn in Concord, MA. She would go on to work to preserve: Orchard House, another Alcott residence; Grapevine Cottage, where the Concord Grape was developed; and the Tolman House in Dorchester, MA, a historic home from the Colonial period.

Harriet died on August 2, 1924 at the age of 80. In addition to her popular Peppers series, she had written over 30 books

Purchase your own copy of Five Little Peppers and How They Grow here: https://www.amazon.com/Five-Little-Peppers-They-Grew/dp/1557095914/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1651260446&sr=8-1

05/11/2022

Leap into the magical worlds of Old French Fairy Tales! Written by Sophie Rostopchine, Comtesse De Segur and illustrated by Virginia Frances Sterrett, this classic and relatively unknown collection is one of the most popular books at the Internet Archive.

Sophie Rostopchine, Comtesse De Segur, was born in St. Petersburg, Russia on August 1, 1799. Her family was exiled from Russia in 1814 and landed first in the Duchy of Warsaw, then the German Confederation, and Italy, before settling in Paris, France. Once in France, her father opened a salon, where Sophie would later meet Eugène Henri Raymond, Count of Ségur. They married in July of 1819. It wasn't until age 58 that Sophie wrote her first novel, but after that she continued to write prolifically until a few years before her death in 1874.

Virginia Frances Sterrett was born in Chicago, IL in 1900, where she later attended the Art Institute of Chicago. Though she did not graduate, her talent was strong enough to land her her first commission at the age of 19 illustrating Old French Fairy Tales. Strerret was only able to finish two other projects, a commission of Tanglewood Tales and her own interpretation of Arabian Nights, before she died of tuberculosis at the age of 31.

Purchase a copy of the beautiful Old French Fairy Tales here: https://www.amazon.com/French-Fairy-Tales-Comtesse-Segur/dp/1429011866/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1F5YMY8YQRQ9B&keywords=9781429011860&qid=1651265666&sprefix=9781429011860%2Caps%2C144&sr=8-1

05/05/2022

Celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month with The Silent Traveller series!

Chiang Yee, the Silent Traveller, was born either May 19 or June 14, 1903 in Jiujiang, China. He received his degree in chemistry from Nanjing University, after which he served for one year in China's army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. He went on to teach middle school chemistry at National Chengchi University, assist the editor of a newspaper, and serve as magistrate of three counties. He left China for England in 1933 to study for an MSc in economics at the London School of Economics.

Though he never finished the MSc, Yee remained in England, teaching Chinese at the University of London and working at the Wellcome Museum of Anatomy and Pathology. It was here that he began to document, through journals and illustrations, his travels, starting his "Silent Traveller" series. His books were so popular that they remained in print even during war-time paper shortages. After World War II, and his "The Silent Traveller in Wartime", he branched out, to Edinburgh, Dublin, Paris, and then to the United States in 1955.

While in the States, Yee published his Silent Traveller books about his time in Boston, New York and San Francisco, as well as several children's books. He lectured, and eventually became Emeritus Professor at Columbia University and an Emerson Fellow of Poetry at Harvard.

Yee's last stop was Japan in 1972, where he wrote one more Silent Traveller before he returned to China. He died on October 7 or 26, 1977 in China.

The Silent Traveller books were Yee's way of expressing his delight, curiosity, and wonder at his observations while traveling; he offered a look at how the world presented itself to a Chinese national.

Pictured below is Yee's illustration of the Park Street Church in Boston in 1953, titled "Pigeons in Front of Park Street Church."

Applewood Books is proud to publish Yee's American books—The Silent Traveller in New York, San Fransisco, and Boston! Purchase your copies here: https://www.applewoodbooks.com/Search.aspx?k=the+silent+traveller

05/03/2022

Today is National Teacher Day; celebrate with Amos Bronson Alcott!

Though his daughter Louisa May may have become the best-known of the Alcotts, Bronson was an influential teacher, writer, and philosopher.

Born November 29, 1799 in Wolcott, Connecticut, Alcott experienced many different schooling techniques, from a one room classroom that only taught writing, reading and spelling, to private schooling, and finally to teaching himself. At only 17, he passed the teaching certificate exam, but struggled to find work. After a brief stint as a traveling salesman, Alcott returned to Connecticut and became a teacher with the help of his Uncle Tillotson. Alcott planned to reform the school but students and parents were not happy with his "experimental" approach to teaching, so he left after four years. He attempted teaching in Connecticut once more, this time only lasting 5 months.

Alcott moved to Boston, where he opened the Salem Street Infant School. After middling success here and there, Alcott opened the Temple School in Boston.

Alcott's methods were considered radical and controversial at the time; ideas such as no corporal punishment, teaching by encouragement, art and music education, and teaching students to read and write by using personal experiences rather than copying adult texts. He filled his classroom with visual tools like paintings, portraits, and books, and furnished the room with comfortable furniture. He emphasized conversation and questions, instead of insisting on drills and lectures.

Though he did not remain a teacher for long, Alcott made his mark with his unique approaches. He went on to co-found a Utopian society in Harvard, Massachusetts, on land he called "Fruitlands." Fruitlands, as well as the Alcott home in Concord, Orchard House, can still be toured today.

Alcott died in Boston on March 4, 1888. He said to his daughter Louisa May "I am going up. Come with me", to which she replied, "I wish I could." Louisa May passed away two days later on March 6, 1888.

Read more of Alcott's teaching philosophy with his General Maxims of Teaching. Purchase your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/General-Maxims-Teaching-American-Wisdom/dp/1429095431/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1NICAWRI99OJE&keywords=9781429095433&qid=1651001279&sprefix=9781429095433%2Caps%2C126&sr=8-1

04/28/2022

As we round out April, Earth Month, we'd like to celebrate John Muir, or the "Father of the National Parks."

Muir, born in Scotland on April 21, 1838, immigrated to the U.S., Portage, Wisconsin to be exact, with his family when he was 11 years old. He attended college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he took his first botany class; recalling that day later in his autobiography, Muir says, "This fine lesson charmed me and sent me flying to the woods and meadows in wild enthusiasm".

While working in a wagon wheel factory in 1868 when he was 28, Muir suffered an accident that left him confined to a dark room for 6 weeks while his eyes healed. Muir spent those 6 weeks fearing he would be left permanently blind, so when he regained his sight, he vowed to spent his life how he truly wanted and explore and study plants.

Muir eventually settled in San Fransisco, and from there, visited Yosemite. But one trip was not enough. Muir returned time and again, spending a season as a shepherd and building a cabin where he lived for some years. He became an activist for the preservation of the land, focusing on the havoc that domesticated livestock wrecked on the valley. Associate editor of The Century magazine, Robert Underwood Johnson, visited Muir in Yosemite and after experiencing its magic, agreed to publish any article Muir wrote regarding the preservation from domesticated livestock.

Two such articles influenced a bill passed by Congress, but in Muir's eyes, it was not enough, as it left Yosemite Valley under state control. Muir continued his advocation for the park he loved by co-founding the Sierra Club in 1892 with Warren Olney and Henry Senger. Muir became president of the club, a title he held until his death 22 years later. The Sierra Club was crucial in a campaign to transfer Yosemite Valley to federal control in 1906, making it Yosemite National Park.

Muir died on December 24, 1914 at the age 76. In his lifetime, he wrote 300 articles and published 12 books, and the Sierra Club went on to help establish many more national parks.

Pictured below is John Muir and President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 during Roosevelt's visit to Yosemite.

Browse Applewood Books' assortment of Muir's work here: https://www.applewoodbooks.com/Search.aspx?k=John+Muir

04/26/2022

Robert Frost is one of the best known American poets, but his work wasn't initially published in the United States; British readers saw his beautiful prose first.

Though he was born in San Fransisco on March 26, 1874, Frost's family moved back to their ancestral Massachusetts shortly after his father's death in 1885. As a young adult, he worked various jobs, from teaching to newspaper delivery to factory work, though in his heart, he knew poetry was his calling. He sold his first poem in 1894, titled "My Butterfly. An Elegy."

Frost moved to Derry, New Hampshire with his wife Elinor, where he worked the farm land purchased for him by his grandfather. It was here that he wrote many of his poems that would later become famous. After 9 years of mostly unsuccessful farming, Frost returned to academia and teaching.

In 1924, Frost won his first Pulitzer Prize for his book New Hampshire: A Poem with Notes and Grace Notes. He would go on to receive three more, and is, to this day, the only poet to receive four Pulitzer Prizes. He was named Poet Laureate of Vermont in 1961, and although he never graduated college, Frost received 40 honorary degrees, including degrees from Harvard, Princeton, Cambridge and Oxford.

Frost died on January 29, 1963 in Boston. The epitaph on his gravestone is the last line from his poem "The Lesson for Today (1942)": "I had a lover's quarrel with the world."

Purchase a copy of Frost's poem Blueberries here: https://www.amazon.com/Blueberries-American-Roots-Robert-Frost/dp/1429096020/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1Y06KB686GDI4&keywords=9781429096027&qid=1650918321&sprefix=9781429096027%2Caps%2C59&sr=8-1

04/21/2022

Earth Day is April 22nd, but you can make everyday Earth Day with Plants and Their Children by Francis Theodora Parsons!

Share the circle of life with the kiddos in your life. Originally published in 1893, this charming nature guide will spark young readers interest in the beautiful, natural world around them. With original illustrations by Parson's sister, Alice Josephine Smith, this little book is the perfect spring-time gift. 🌷

Purchase your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Plants-their-Children-Frances-Parsons/dp/1429095652/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2SWC4S5XAIT3A&keywords=plants+and+their+children+applewood+books&qid=1650574378&sprefix=%2Caps%2C148&sr=8-1

Plants and their Children

04/19/2022

New England may have celebrated Patriot's Day yesterday, but it was on April 19, 1775 when "The Shot Heard 'Round the World" was fired, marking the start of the American Revolution.

The Battle of Lexington began at 5 a.m. when 700 British troops marched into Lexington, Massachusetts to find 77 armed minutemen waiting on the town green. British Major John Pitcairn ordered the Minutemen to disperse and when they began to, an unknown gun fired. After a brief skirmish, 8 Americans were dead and 10 wounded, only 1 British soldier was injured, and the Revolution had begun.

British troops then entered Concord around 7 a.m., this time surrounded by hundreds of American patriots. The British managed to destroy some American military supplies but where shortly set upon by minutemen. British Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith ordered British troops to return to Boston; throughout their journey back, they were ambushed by armed patriots hiding behind trees.

The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first official battles of the 7 year war that would result in the formation of the independent United States of America.

In Applewood Books' Paul Revere's Ride, read Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem of the same name, as well as Revere's own account of his famous midnight ride! Purchase your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Paul-Reveres-Little-Books-Wisdom/dp/1557090726/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2V09C5SU02U9U&keywords=9781557090720&qid=1650400786&sprefix=9781557090720%2Caps%2C109&sr=8-1

04/14/2022

April 14, 1865- President Abraham Lincoln is fatally shot by John Wilkes Booth while attending a showing of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theater.

Booth, a southern actor, had originally planned to kidnap the president on March 20, 1865 and bring him to the Confederate capitol of Richmond. But Lincoln never arrived at the spot where Booth and his colleagues waited. Two weeks later, Richmond fell to the Union and Booth came up with an even more desperate plan to save the Confederacy.

Booth and his coconspirators Lewis T. Powell and George A. Atzerodt planned simultaneous assassinations of the President, Vice President, and Secretary of State, hoping to topple with Union. Powell wounded Secretary Seward and three others, while Atzerodt lost his nerve and ran before he could shoot Vice President Johnson.

Booth entered Ford’s Theater around 10 pm and walked into President Lincoln’s private box. Lincoln’s guard had left his post, having grown bored of the play, to find some beer. Booth shot Lincoln in the back of the head, then leapt off the balcony to escape, yelling as he fell, “Sic semper tyrannis! (Ever thus to tyrants!) The South is avenged!”

Lincoln was taken to a lodging house across the street from the theater, where he died at 7:22 am the following morning. Abraham Lincoln was the first President of the United States to be assassinated.

Read the play that Lincoln was watching! Get your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Our-American-Cousin-Drama-Three/dp/1557093881/ref=sr_1_1?crid=RLBR5K04VINC&keywords=9781557093882&qid=1649943353&sprefix=9781557093882%2Caps%2C108&sr=8-1

04/12/2022

April 12, 1861- The American Civil War begins when Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard opened fire on Union-held Fort Sumter.

Construction began on Fort Sumter in 1829 and by 1860, Union Major Robert Anderson occupied the fort with his 85 officers and men. Fort Sumter was the most defensible position for his small retinue, but unfortunately, the Confederacy had surrounded the fort by April 1861.

The Confederate Army ordered General Beauregard to demand evacuation and twice under a white flag, his aides delivered the message. But Anderson refused. At 4:30 am, April 12th, a shot was fired from nearby Fort Johnson, over Fort Sumter, signaling to the Confederate batteries in Charleston Harbor to begin their assault.

Over the course of 34 hours, the Confederacy fired over 4,000 rounds from 50 guns and mortars. The ill-equipped fort was surrendered on April 13th by Anderson. After a 50 gun salute to the Flag, Anderson and his men boarded a boat and headed for New York.

Read first-hand reporting of the Civil War with Applewood's Civil War Sampler: Five Selected Facsimile Issues of Harper’s Weekly. Purchase it here: https://www.amazon.com/Civil-War-Sampler-Selected-Facsimile/dp/1557093601/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3G62K2ZPV7V4Z&keywords=9781557093608&qid=1649706510&sprefix=9781557093608%2Caps%2C76&sr=8-1

04/07/2022

April 7, 1805- Lewis, Clark and Sacagawea depart from Fort Mandan to continue their journey west.

The pair started their journey in the spring of 1804 and made camp along the upper Missouri River (in the villages of Mandan and Minnaterre) in late October to wait out the harsh winter. There, they met Sacagawea, who was chosen to join them on their journey, despite being pregnant with her first child.

On April 7, 1805, the three (four, including Sacagawea's son, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau) set out, but not before Lewis wrote to President Thomas Jefferson, expressing his belief that they would reach the Pacific and begin their journey back before the next winter, telling Jefferson "You may therefore expect me to meet you at Monachello [Monticello] in September 1806.” Lewis and Clark did not make it to Washington D.C. until January of 1807.

04/05/2022

April 5, 1856- Booker T. Washington, educator, author, and orator, was born.

Born into slavery and freed by the Emancipation Proclamation at the age of 9, Washington squeezed in his early schooling between jobs. He then attended the Hampton Institute, a school for formerly enslaved people founded by Brigadier General Samuel Chapman, a leader of Black troops in the Civil War. From there, he attended the Wayland Seminary in D.C., but had so impressed Chapman that he was invited back to the Hampton Institute to teach.

Chapman later recommended Washington for the role of principle at the newly founded Tuskegee Institute. Washington took on the role at the age of 25 and worked at the Tuskegee Institute until his death in 1915.

Washington was an outspoken advocate for segregation, believing that the way forward for African-Americans was through the attempt to "dignify and glorify common labor." He believed as long as African-Americans were given access to economic progress, education, and justice under U.S Law, segregation was the answer. While this led to an intense rivalry between Washington and famed activist W.E.B. Du Bois, it also brought him to the White House, making him the first African American to be invited; he became an advisor to Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft.

He died on November 14, 1915 at the age of 59 due to congestive heart failure. Though his political views had fallen out of favor during his lifetime, his work gave access to education to thousands and the Tuskegee Institute, now University, still stands today.

In his speech On Mother Earth, Washington encourages students to embark on their lives and invest in their future by owning, living on, and working their own land. He believed in building a great and powerful culture on an agricultural foundation. Purchase a copy of On Mother Earth here: https://www.amazon.com/Mother-Earth-Booker-Washington/dp/1429096268/ref=sr_1_3?crid=8PFLUUXILU12&keywords=on+mother+earth&qid=1649189405&sprefix=on+mother+earth%2Caps%2C105&sr=8-3

03/31/2022

Fun Fact: George Washington Carver didn’t actually invent peanut butter, despite the popular legend. But he did popularize and make accessible peanut farming for formerly enslaved Black people.

In How to Grow the Peanut, originally published in 1916 by the Tuskegee Institute, Carver set out to empower Black farmers by introducing more sustainable farming practices. Instead of relying on cotton, which depleted the soil after a decade or two, Carver encouraged the planting and harvesting of peanuts, a soil enriching plant which also didn’t require the investment into expensive farming equipment, changing the way Black farmers approached agriculture.

Today, Applewood Books has reprinted How to Grow the Peanut for the modern audience. In this book learn more about Carver’s thoughts on peanut planting, growing and harvesting, and try out any of his 105 peanut recipes!

Get your copy here!

How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing It for Human Consumption

11/24/2021

Happy Thanksgiving from Applewood Books!

11/05/2021

We love this picture of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer from our friends at Urban Ju**ie in Whitesboro, TX!

10/29/2021

Happy Halloween from Applewood Books! This weekend we are celebrating by curling up with our spookiest books 👻

09/11/2020

American author Jack London–best known for his fiction writing set during the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 1800s–was also an avid sailor. "Small-Boat Sailing," was published in 1917 in The Human Drift, a collection of short stories and essays. London recounts his time at sea, including travels on fishing schooners and coal ships but mostly on small sailboats on San Francisco Bay. His description of the hard work, excitement, and thrill of handling a small boat in trouble on the water will be exhilarating to anyone who's experienced it or only wished they had.

This short work is part of Applewood's American Roots series, tactile mementos of American passions by some of America’s most famous writers.

https://www.applewoodbooks.com/Small-Boat-Sailing-P6101.aspx

09/11/2020

A Trailblazer - Nat Herreshoff

Nat Herreshoff was born in 1848 on the eastern shore of Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay. From an early age he showed an interest in machines and tools and all kinds of mechanical equipment. He was very smart and graduated in three years from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

After graduation he took a position with the Corliss Steam Engine Company in Providence. In that job he was put in charge of building a 40-foot tall 1400-horsepower dynamo. The dynamo was a new invention which made electricity by harnessing steam power. The company displayed the huge dynamo at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia and showed how it could power virtually all the machinery at the fair.

After the exposition closed Nat returned to Rhode Island. He got together with his older brother John and formed the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company in Bristol. The Herreshoff brothers started to build boats. Nat provided the engineering expertise, while J.B., who had gone blind at the age of 14, did all the cost calculations in his head and managed the business. The Herreshoff boat works quickly became famous for building the fastest and finest steam yachts in the country.
Nat Herreshoff always wanted to make his boats run faster. He was always tinkering and experimenting with new materials and inventive concepts and designs.

In 1888 Nat was supervising speed trials of a new 138-foot, 875 horsepower steamboat named "Say When". During one of the test runs a safety valve released to let off excess pressure. In a risky move, Captain Nat shut the valve back off so the boat would not slow down and could reach maximum speed. It was a fatal error. A boiler exploded and it killed a member of the crew. Because of the accident Nat Herreshoff lost his steam engineer's license.

After the accident, Captain Nat Herreshoff turned his attention to sailing yachts. His designs were graceful, scientifically engineered, and fast. Nat Herreshoff designed and built five winning America's Cup yachts: Vigilant (1893), Defender (1895), Columbia (1899 & 1901), Reliance (1903), and Resolute (1920). He built superbly crafted yachts for Gilded Age millionaires such as Jay Gould, William Randolph Hearst, J. P. Morgan, and Harry Payne Whitney.

The “New York 30” is widely considered among the finest racer/cruiser one-designs ever created. The 144-foot America's Cup behemoth Reliance, which had a sail area of 16,000 square feet, could not have sailed from Bristol today as its mast would be too tall to pass under the Newport Bridge.

Perhaps his best loved boat was the simple “12½”. It was designed for the children of yachtsmen to learn how to sail. The boat is buoyant and stable, with a ballasted keel. The jib can be reached from the cockpit, and the rig is small enough so a child can sail the boat alone. But the “12-1/2” was not designed just for kids. It is powerful enough that any sailor can enjoy a day on the choppy waters of Narragansett Bay.

The Herreshoff Marine Museum in Bristol Rhode Island occupies the site of the old Herreshoff Manufacturing Co., and preserves Captain Nat’s legacy to this day.