Saturday, January 16, 2016

A Little Book of Western Verse

Eugene Field - A Little Book of Western Verse (1895)

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Libraries are filled with books of poetry, especially from a time like this where newspapers printed the stuff.  When I saw this "Western verse" made me wonder if it was cowboy poetry or then if it meant European.  Neither - the author was from Missouri and Chicago when that was mostly Western.  I'm including it mainly for "The Bibliomaniac's Prayer" (below) which is probably of the most, if not only, interest to this blog's readers.

Eugene Field (1850-1895) was a newspaper columnist known for a humorous touch and for light verse.  His father was a lawyer who represented Dred Scott.