Ah – If They Would Never Fade!

Timothy Shay Arthur was a man who knew the limits of his writing ability; even if he was unaware, there were plenty to tell him that he was no Shakespeare. All that mattered little to him, though. He had stories to tell – stories that would change the world he lived in. And so he wrote on, and on… publishing at least 171 books and editing many more between 1841 and 1890.

His concern was social justice and in the moral refinement of his readers. Shay’s most famous book, Ten Nights in a Bar-Room and What I Saw There became a classic during the temperance movement. Despite what the critics had to say about his work, the public at large ate it up.

Orange Blossoms is a collection of short stories meant to help the readers take heart when they realise that they have erred in their ways by illustrating how others have overcome their missteps. “It shows you where others have erred, what pain and loss have followed, and how love, self-denial and reason have turned sorrow into joy and threatened disaster into permanent safety.” [p.4]

Arthur, T. S. (Timothy Shay). Orange Blossoms Fresh and Faded. Alta Edition. Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1887. Small 8vo. [4], 3-415, [3] in highly decorated beige cloth over boards, decorations stamped in black, in gilt over title on spine, dk brn eps, purple ribbon marker. Cover edges worn through to boards at corner tips (tail only), edges rolled at head and tail of spine, boards lightly soiled with liquid stains over 1/3 rear panel from fore-edge (same liquid stain penetrates top edges into margins for last half of book). Pages aged with heavier aging at margins but clean. Binding tight. Fiction ECB10038 $30.00