Earth to Earth

New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company. Very Good. [1916]. Probable 1st U.S. edition. Hardcover. (no dust jacket) [moderate external wear, some dust-soiling to page edges, light foxing to fore-edge, one-time owner's initials and date and place of purchase all floridly-rendered in pencil on ffep; hinges and binding fully intact]. A collection of 25 stories by the Irish author (1863-1932), who wrote under this pseudonym for nearly half a century. According to her obituary, sixteen of her plays were produced in London and New York between 1887 and 1913; she also wrote dozens of novels, among which the best known was probably "The Dop Doctor" (1910), a novel of the Boer War. Another source notes that she was known for her "humorous novels and stories of witchcraft and pagan religions." The present collection includes a number of tales set in a somewhat bohemian section of London, and featuring a character called The MacWaugh, "a huge Scotchman with rugged features and a soft heart, given to helping the friendless and to the inordinate consumption of whisky" (per a contemporary review). .