Lake George Camp and Canoe-Chats: Gossip on Canoes, Camps, Religion..

1886. Authorial Presentation Copy of a Book of "Vulgar and Indecent" Discussions Conducted by a Lawyer, Doctor and Parson in Lake George, New York [Whiteman, J.A., Publisher, Presumed Author]. [Stoddard, Seneca Ray (1844-1917), Photographer (Attributed)]. Lake George Camp and Canoe Chats: Gossip on Canoes, Camps, Religion, Social Manners, Medicine and Law, Gastronomy, Politics & Marriage: Illustrated with Ten Phototypes of Beautiful Views on the Lake. New York: Published By Private Subscription [by J.A. Whiteman], [1886]. vi, [2], 134 pp. 10 plates. 2 pp. advertisement for this book laid in. Folio (14" x 11"; 35.6 x 27.9 cm) Cloth, gilt and black-stamped title and ornaments to front board, patterned endpapers. Light rubbing and a few minor minor spots to boards, faint dampstaining with a bit of bubbling along top-edges of boards, some fading to front board and spine, wear to spine ends and corners, front hinge cracked, rear hinge starting, preliminaries loose, light edgewear to advertisement. Moderate toning to interior, chipping to fore-edge of leaf following p. vi, "To my friend Edward F. Hassey/ With the compliments of the/ author" to head title page, owner signature in different hand, "Hassey," below, penciled owner inscription in a third hand, "John Henry Hull/ Mch 28, 1890," above Hassey's signature. A good copy. $250. * The work of a (wisely) anonymous author, this book is a series of risque discussions between a lawyer, a doctor and a parson set in Lake George, New York, then a fashionable summer destination for upper-middle class professionals, intellectuals and artists. The handsome plates are attributed to Stoddard, a photographer who specialized in views of the Adirondack region. According to Plum, a review in The Nation (July 1886) pronounced the text "vulgar and indecent," which resulted in a "suit for libel" (27). Some sources attribute the work to Whiteman, but Plum says he is not the author. Hassey [1855-1926], the initial recipient of our copy, was a New York City attorney. Hull, a subsequent owner, was also an attorney, one with a prominent practice in Westchester County, New York lawyer. It is likely that both men summered in Lake George. Plum et al., Adirondack Bibliography 26-27 (578).