“Lo! when the service was ended, a form appeared on the threshold,
Clad in armor of steel, a somber and sorrowful figure!
Why does the bridegroom start and stare at the apparition?
Why does the bride turn pale, and hide her face on his shoulder?”

The Courtship of Miles Standish, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis, 1903; illustrated by Howard Chandler Christy.

I will say, the auto white balance version of this scanned illustration looks better, but this is what it looks like in the crappy old book so this is what you get. I will not be accused of posting fake colors.

I already have several copies of The Courtship, and this was over priced at Off Square Books— $12.00!– but I bought it anyway. It’s a fine specimen of a crappy old book. Beautiful color and black & while illustrations. Heavy paper. The book is roughly 150 pages and it weighs in at 2lb. 2oz.! The gilding has worn off the front cover and spine, but it’s still on the pages. Beautiful, if a smidgeon worn. Too bad it’s not worth anything, being more than 15 years old and all.

The illustrator, Howard Chandler Christy is pretty famous! He’s the guy behind the Christy Girl. (Do NOT search images for this. Trust me.)

Here she is encouraging women to join the US Navy. Sassy, don’t you think? An icon to a new generation of American women. An American Classic.

Our house guest, The Guest Speaker, was right impressed with Oxford’s Square Books collection of bookstores. And rightly so. They are American Classics, too!