Back Collected Stories 1891–1910

Edith Wharton: Collected Stories 1891–1910

The Touchstone | Sanctuary | The Eyes | 35 other stories More

Edited by Maureen Howard

“Short stories are best read in collections. Edith Wharton was one of the greatest exponents of the genre (one would in her age have unhesitatingly referred to her as a master of it), and these two generous volumes, collected and edited by Maureen Howard, have a fine cumulative effect.” — Margaret Drabble, The Atlantic Monthly

Overview
News & Views
Table of Contents

Overview

Story of the Week “Atrophy,” Edith Wharton
January 24, 2024

Story of the Week Edith Wharton, “Mrs. Manstey’s View”
April 4, 2022

News Remarks on Edith Wharton’s Collected Stories by editor Maureen Howard
April 4, 2022

Save $25.00 when you buy both volumes of Edith Wharton’s stories.

Born into an upper-class New York family, Edith Wharton broke with convention and became a professional writer, earning an enduring place as the grande dame of American letters. This Library of America collection (along with its companion volume, Collected Stories: 1911–1937) presents the finest of Wharton’s achievement in short fiction, drawn from the more than eighty stories she published over the course of her career.

Opening with her first published story—the charming “Mrs. Manstey’s View,” about a disruption in the life of an elderly apartment-dweller—this first of two volumes presents a writer, already at the height of her powers, beginning to explore the concerns of a lifetime. In “Souls Belated,” two lovers attempt to escape the consequences of their adultery—a subject to which Wharton returns throughout her career. In “The Mission of Jane” (about a remarkable adopted child) and “The Pelican” (about an itinerant lecturer), she discovers her gift for social and cultural satire. Perhaps the finest of her ghost stories, “The Eyes,” with its Jamesian sense of evil, is also included, along with two novella-length works, “The Touchstone” and “Sanctuary,” revealing the dazzling range of Wharton’s fictive imagination.

Also included in this edition are a chronology of Wharton’s life, explanatory notes, and an essay on the texts.

Maureen Howard, editor of this volume, is the author of seven novels, including Grace Abounding, Expensive Habits, Natural History, and A Lover’s Almanac, and has taught at Columbia, Princeton, and Yale.

This Library of America series edition is printed on acid-free paper and features Smyth-sewn binding, a full cloth cover, and a ribbon marker.

Edith Wharton: Collected Stories 1891–1910 is kept in print by a gift from Mary Carr Patton to the Guardians of American Letters Fund, made in memory of her mother, Mary McKeen Patton.
News & Views

Story of the Week “Atrophy,” Edith Wharton
January 24, 2024

Story of the Week Edith Wharton, “Mrs. Manstey’s View”
April 4, 2022

News Remarks on Edith Wharton’s Collected Stories by editor Maureen Howard
April 4, 2022

Story of the Week Edith Wharton, “Miss Mary Pask”
October 29, 2021

Story of the Week Edith Wharton, “The Other Two”
April 30, 2021
Table of Contents

Mrs. Manstey’s View
The Fulness of Life
The Lamp of Psyche
The Valley of Childish Things, and Other Emblems
The Muse’s Tragedy
A Journey
The Pelican
Souls Belated
The Twilight of the God
A Cup of Cold Water
The Touchstone
The Duchess at Prayer
The Angel at the Grave
The Recovery
The Rembrandt
The Moving Finger
Sanctuary
The Descent of Man
The Mission of Jane
The Other Two
The Reckoning
Expiation
The Lady’s Maid’s Bell
The House of the Dead Hand
The Introducers
The Hermit and the Wild Woman
The Last Asset
The Pretext
The Pot-Boiler
The Best Man
His Father’s Son
The Daunt Diana
The Debt
Full Circle
The Legend
The Eyes
Afterward
The Letters

31.50 List Price: $40.00 (Save: 21%) Free shipping on orders $50 and over

Or buy from our partners

Buy the eBook

Phone orders: 1-800-964-5778 Request product #201279

ISBN: 978-1-88301193-2 928 pages

LOA books are distributed worldwide by Penguin Random House

N° 121 Library of America Series

Subscribers can purchase the slipcased edition by signing in to their accounts.

Related Books

Edith Wharton: Novellas and Other Writings LOA N°47

Edith Wharton: Selected Poems

Edith Wharton: Four Novels of the 1920s LOA N°271

Edith Wharton: Novels LOA N°30

Edith Wharton: Collected Stories 1911–1937 LOA N°122

Library of America

CURATOR

A champion of America’s great writers and timeless works, Library of America guides readers in finding and exploring the exceptional writing that reflects the nation’s history and culture.

Learn More

PUBLISHER

From poetry, novels, and memoirs to journalism, crime writing, and science fiction, the more than 300 volumes published by Library of America are widely recognized as America’s literary canon.

Browse our books Subscribe

NON-PROFIT

With contributions from donors, Library of America preserves and celebrates a vital part of our cultural heritage for generations to come.

Support our mission

Edith Wharton: Collected Stories 1891–1910

Related Books

Get 10% off your first Library of America purchase.