Temple Bailey

*sigh* Another of my beloved authors who seems to have faded into the depths of time.

Temple Bailey wrote many books which were best sellers in the first part of the 20th century; some were made into movies. But her presence here on LT is still slight. Her books are all represented, but even the most popular title only has 19 copies entered.

I noticed today that there are some great dust jacket illustrations for her books. I plan to post them here as I come across them.

And I've added a few CK items and found two very tiny photos of her. Now hunting for Peacock Feathers



PS: The artwork is by Coles Phillips who did many many magazine covers and is famous for the fade-away girl technique.

I think the first of her books I discovered was Mistress Anne, who by, the way, is a hardworking schoolteacher.



online book: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23246

(5 of the 8 copies are in this group!)

Another on my shelves is Contrary Mary. My book lacks the dust cover, but it's pretty nice too:



online book: http://www.publicbookshelf.com/romance/contrary-mary/

I'll make a mental note to watch for her books. :)

Well, Peacock Feathers sounds the most interesing—going off title alone. It's not available on Project Gutenberg.

Any suggestions on where to start?

I pulled my four books out last evening. I also have Wallflowers and Glory of Youth, neither of which I remember the plot.

I may also have The Tin Soldier, but not seeing it.

Both Mistress Anne and Contrary Mary have good strong women and story lines. Mistress Anne is my emotional favorite. She meets two men who appeal to different parts of her nature and meet parts of her needs. I thought that was particularly true to life. Most romances have the love interest somehow be that perfect object where all needs are met. Yeah, right! She has to decide what her life priorities are and ends surprising herself.

The books all sound very interesting. It's also interesting that the most popular book only has 19 copies, that's very little. I'll have to watch out for this author and the titles of these books. #elliottlshifman

This author is new to me. Looking at her tags I guess that she wrote romantic novels and short stories intended for female readers. That may be why she has not previously crossed my path.

>6 2wonderY: Mistress Anne sounds very charming, and, I agree, realistic. And, yay, it's online. Off to download.

I can't find a dust jacket for Glory of Youth, but the illustrations are particularly well done for the time period.



digital copy: https://archive.org/details/gloryofyouth22292gut

My LT records tell me I own The Trumpeter Swan and I even remember looking for a cover, but I can't find the book itself now.

Here's the nice dust jacket



online book: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17697

Very nice first page!!!

Wallflowers is the last one I own at this time. It's the one I'm reading too.

Here's the dust jacket



Here's a cover on a Dell re-issue from the 50s



It's about twins. They are diametrically opposite in character.

No digital copy found.

The Blue Window has 15 copies here. It was on the top ten fiction list of 1926.



No digital copy found.

The Gay Cockade is a collection of her short romance stories, probably reprinted from the magazines.

No one here has loaded a nice cover. Hoping this gets borrowed.



digital edition: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16433/16433-h/16433-h.htm

The Tin Soldier is about a man who wants to join his compatriots in Europe, but his sick mother has asked for his word to not go. He suffers quiet humiliation from society.



digital edition: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18056/18056-h/18056-h.htm

illustrations are by F. Vaux Wilson.

Glory of Youth's cover isn't so nice as the others



It is available online: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22292/22292-h/22292-h.htm

Continuing the project, I came across the cover of Enchanted Ground



There's a free pdf download site, but I'm wary of it.

I only found a re-print cover for Judy



But the book is available at Project Gutenburg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17982

Little Girl Lost



(remind me how to downsize the picture)

here's a 1932 newspaper review of the book: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19320807&id=9pUxAAAAIBAJ&...

Not finding an online edition.

Thank you.

Silver Slippers has two covers that I could find



and

Burning Beauty has 4 distinct dustcovers





and


No online edition yet.

The Dim Lantern is also too obscure to have an online edition yet.

Here is someone who has blogged about two of the titles.
https://greatpenformances.wordpress.com/tag/temple-bailey/

She has all of the illustrations from The Tin Soldier, done by F. Vaux Wilson.

Fair as the Moon



Dramatic, eh?

The Pink Camellia. The consensus seems to be that writing quality declined in her later years. So did the covers. Four of them, and none are really fetching.

I've Been to London

Nice, but cluttered

The Holly Hedge

The Blue Cloak








and

Tomorrow's Promise



and a hardcover design

Red Fruit

Wild Wind is back to an excellent visual, perhaps why I've wishlisted it.

And finally, The Radiant Tree.

Awesome work, 2wondery. Do you have other collections of covers on LT?

Yes, a couple.

Wind in the Willows was a labour of love for over a year. Maxfield Parrish was another one, though shorter term. Both in this group.

I've done a couple of childrens' authors and stories in another group. I'll try to dig up the links if you're interested.

Illustration is nearly as important to me as the words.

Here's the other group

http://www.librarything.com/groups/picturebooks

where I've done Helen Ward and The town Mouse and the Country Mouse.

Oh, I agree, about the illustrations. For example, The United States Books series by Bernadine Bailey...the first editions were illustrated with color lithographs by Kurt Wiese, and I adore them. Subsequent editions have the most boring, unattractive covers ever created for a children's book series, and black and white photographs to illustrate them. Ugh.

But you already know about that!

Now, back to Temple Bailey, and your wonderful covers!

I noticed that some of the picture links were gone, so I've updated and added a couple.

Read The Dim Lantern this weekend.

Temple Bailey reminds me a lot of Grace Richmond with this book. It is about brokenness and recovery, perhaps even redemption. It is about what marriage should look like. It is about holding on to oneself in spite of the pressures the world brings to bear. There is a slender thread of liberal patriotism too that runs through the story. Of course, you know how the story ends, but it is particularly well done. It made me cry.