Edith Wharton's last novel, "The Buccaneers," was unfinished when she passed away. It has since been finished by another author and published. The only information given about how much is actually written by Edith Wharton, in the volume I have, is "the first 85,000 words." However, I would like to know through which "Chapter" was written by Edith Wharton - without counting myself. I do not have time to search through the library for a more informative copy. Thanks.
Lesley Quarles 12/2/05

In Viola Hopkins Winner's edition (which, unlike Marion Mainwaring's, retains only Wharton's original text), Wharton's text ends with Chapter 27.

The last words of Wharton's text are these: ""Wherever the men are amused, fashion is bound to follow," was one of Lizzy's axioms; and certainly, from their future sovereign to his most newly knighted subject, the men were amused in Mayfair's American drawing rooms."

Winner's edition (U Virginia P) places Wharton's original scenario for the book immediately after the end of the text so that readers can see Wharton's plan.

D. Campbell, 4/14/06

I am seeking the source of a phrase I remember as "indelible incidents". It may have been in RWB Lewis's EDITH WHARTON: A BIOGRAPHY. This may not be the exact phrase. Can anyone help me?

Judith 11/27/05

I would like to know where I can purchase the Masterpiece Theater adaptation of the Buccaneers. I've searched alot of places and it never seems to have been available for purchase. Would you know where I can get a dvd copy?Kelly Cross

According to the Internet Movie Database, this is available on VHS but not on DVD.

Update: 4/14/06. Apparently this series is now available on DVD from BBC Video.

I am trying to reach Shari Benstock, author of "No Gifts from Chance" regarding a documentary film on Edith Wharton. I have searched the University of Miami web site but she apparently is no longer there. Do you have any current contact information for her?

Thank You!
Betsy Bayha

Betsy.Bayha at Lucasfilm.com

Henry John Cockayne Cust and Wharton

I am researching the life of Henry John Cockayne Cust, (1861 - 1917), and I am told that he knew Edith Wharton and that she wrote about him. I have not yet found anything relevant and I wonder if anyone in the Society will be so kind as to tell me where I might look?
Kind regards.
Peter Warburton.  p.warburton@v21net.co.uk

10/13/05

Is Waythorn Gay?

In reading "The Other Two," it seems as though there may be a suggestion that Waythorn is gay, or at least sexually ambiguous. There is never a suggestion that he has any sexual desire for his wife, and there seems to be more (sexual?) tension in his encounters with her former husbands than with her. I have not found very much written on this story. Has this reading of the text been considered before? Do others think that this reading may have some validity?

Jennifer 10/9/05

Charles Dana Gibson illustrations appeared in some of the same issues of Scribner's in which Wharton's serialized novels and short stories appeared. Was he commissioned to specifically illustrate any of her writing? Did they know one another? I have found reference to a short story called "The Other Two". Any others? Thanks.
Barbara Kernan kernanbl@uwec.edu

9/29/05

I am a graduate student and I'm doing an independent study on the adaptation of The Age of Innocence from book to film, from a decorative arts standpoint-- the problem is, I cannot track down a copy of the 1934 film version!! Any clue how I can obtain a copy before it airs on AMC in mid-December? (the paper is due at the end of November!)

Many thanks, Susan Flaherty,

shutterbugsue@msn.com 9/29/05

Unfortunately, the same restrictions mentioned below hold true for the Age of Innocence film; it's not on video or DVD, and copyright restrictions prevent anyone from making a copy for sale or trade. It's possible that if someone saw the notice that the film was on TCM in August and taped it, the person could contact you and lend you a copy.

Sorry.

D. Campbell 9/29/05

Copies of Wharton dramatizations on video?

I am especially interested in obtaining a video copy of "Afterward", the wonderful PBS Mystery Series dramatization of a ghost story by Edith Wharton.

Any info you have about finding this video would be much appreciated. My illustration teacher at FIT in New York City used to use her copy to aid her students in their research. Unfortunately, her copy was stolen.

Thank you. Sincerely,
Wendy Born Hollander
moonlightstudios@comcast.net
9/20/05

Unfortunately, the site for WGBH, which produces Mystery, doesn't seem to have this title. Many of these adaptations from the 1980s aren't readily available because they've never been released on VHS, and copyright law prohibits making copies for trading or sale even if someone had a copy from that period.

Perhaps PBS would bring these Wharton adaptations out in a boxed set if PBS or WGBH received enough queries about them. We certainly receive questions about them here at the EWS site (see the Filmography page).

If anyone knows how to solve this problem, please contact the site.

--Donna Campbell, 9/20/05

Wharton's Home in Hyeres: Plans for Renovation?

Question: I plan to visit Hyeres, France in November and plan to "visit" Edith Wharton's former home there.  I've been told that the park is open to the public but that the chateau now houseslocal municipal offices. I had recently read in some article (I don't remember which) that there were plans to renovate the chateau at Ste. Claire with the goal of it becoming, like The Mount, a place that fans of Edith Wharton could visit.  Is that true?

Bonita E. Samuelson

8/21/05

Back copies of the Edith Wharton Review?

I'm interested in acquiring several past issues of the EW Review. Who can I contact about this? Thank you very much.

Caroline Hellman 6/27/05

This is addressed on the FAQ page; you can order back issues through our mail-in form.

6/27/05

Article from Edith Wharton Newsletter

I am having trouble locating the following article from the Edith Wharton Newsletter:  Adeline Tintner, "False Dawn and the Irony of Changes in Art," 1984 1.2.  Could you please inform me how to access it online, or where I could get hold of a print version?

Elizabeth B. Smith, Dept. of Art History exs11@psu.edu 6/17/05

Ordinarily articles from the Edith Wharton Newsletter (the early incarnation of the Edith Wharton Review) would have to be ordered through Interlibrary Loan or by contacting Dale Flynn, membership chair of the Wharton Society.

This particular article, however, is included as Chapter 17 of Adeline Tintner's Edith Wharton in Context (U of Alabama P, 1999).

D. Campbell 6/17/05

Copy of "Les Metteurs En Scene" in French

i am seeking a copy of Les Metteurs En Scene in the original french -- is it currently published/in print/available in the USA?
corinnamay@mybluelight.com 5/6/05

This is an answer about "Les Metteurs en scène".
The story can be bought on the French website
http://www.fnac.com/
It costs about 8 euros (9 dollars)

Véronique Hugel, bounespams-anglais@yahoo.fr
5/16/05

This question has been asked before; scroll down the page to find the answer.

Since questions may be answered elsewhere on the site, using the search feature can also help with answers.

5/6/05

Access to Wharton's copies of Jane Austen

I am working on a lengthy article on Edith Wharton's unique contribution to the genre of the novel of manners, as originally popularized in England at the beginning of the 19th century by Jane Austen.  In "Edith Wharton's Library" (Stone Trough Books, 1999), George Ramsden writes that the Beinecke Rare Book Library at Yale University possesses a first edition of Austen's 1813 work "Pride and Prejudice" that belonged to Wharton.  If such a work exists (whether or not it is a first edition) and contains what can be assumed to be Wharton's own markings of certain passages, this would be immeasurably useful to me.  However, the librarians at Yale tell me that they have no such work in their collection.  Does anyone have any information pertaining to the whereabouts and/or existence of this text?  Also, does anyone know how I might be able to get in touch with George Ramsden to ask him about this?  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Jennie Hann 4/28/05

I have a couple of questions about the, to my knowledge, only two short stories that Edith Wharton wrote in French (in 1908): Les Metteurs en scène and Lettres à L'ami francais. I know the first has been translated to English (by whom? Wharton herself?), but what about Lettres à L'ami francais, what is its title in English? The plot of her short story "The Letters" does not seem to fit well enough with the French title(The Letters to the French Friend, or something like it), and I cannot match any of her short stories to the French title. I'm sure it has been translated, the question is what title has the short story been given in English?
My next question is: In a review of the reprint of the above short stories in French (2001)by Philippe Romanski, in Cercles Revue pluridisciplinaire de monde anglophone, it is said that Les Metteurs en scène was published in 1908 in La Revue des deux mondes, and that in this magazine, at the same time, other texts were being published, much in the same style, or by other Americans in French(I am not sure which). It is also said that Henry James critisized her short story severely. She never again wrote in French. Does any one know what other texts are referred to, or what writers are referred to?

I am most thankful for any help sorting out my questions.

Regards,
Maria Strääf, Sweden.marst@isk.liu.se

3/27/05

I believe an English translation of "Les Metteurs en scene" appears in the two-volume collection of Wharton's short stories, ed. R.W.B. Lewis (Scribner's, 1968).

Fred Wegener ( fwegener@csulb.edu )
4/28/05

***********

This is an answer about the stories that Wharton wrote in French.
Les Metteurs en scène is the only story that she wrote in French. I don't know if it has been translated; its two main characters are Le Fanois and Miss Lambart. Contrary to what Henry James pretended at the time it was published, it is an excellent story.

Lettres à l'ami français is not a short story, it is a collection of the letters that Wharton wrote between 1908 and 1930 to her friend Léon Bélugou. It is a very interesting book, because ih has excellent comments by Claudine Lesage, a French Wharton specialist, and because Bélugou was a very good friend of both Wharton and Fullerton at the time of their love affair. The letters are written in French and they show how fluent Wharton's French was. This little book should really be in every university library, because it tells a lot about Wharton herself. I don't think that it has been translated. I am writing a master's thesis about the French translations of Wharton's novels, and this gave me the opportunity to correspond with Madame Lesage. If you want to know more about Lettres à l'ami français, send me an e-mail, and I will give you her e-mail adress.

Véronique Hugel bounespams-anglais@yahoo.fr

3/28/05

First Editions of Wharton's Books

QUESTION: I've been looking for a first edition, first issue of "Ethan Frome." I found a few listed on websites and they all refer to the word "wearily" on page 135. Apparently, that word was printed differently on the first issue than the others, but I haven't been able to find an explanation on the difference. I would appreciate your explanation. Also, in general is there a way to differenciate the first issues of the first editions from the other issues of Wharton's books? Thanks.

Carolina 1/1/05

According to Sumner and Stillman Antiquarian Booksellars, "Of the 6000 copies in the first printing [of Ethan Frome ], 2500 were issued with a gilt top edge and 3500 with a plain top edge; 'wearily' became battered during the first printing run.)" I own a plain top edge first edition of Ethan Frome in which part of the "w" and part of the "e" in the word "wearily" on page 135 are missing. Evidently the books in which "wearily" is printed perfectly are more valuable. I like to think my copy is more valuable for the happy accident that "wearily" is the word that was "battered" during the printing process, especially given the fate of the novel's title character.

Dan Hefko, Ball State University 1/4/05

******************

You might try Stephen Garrison's Edith Wharton: A Descriptive Bibliography (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1990). Descriptive bibliographies generally include information on the appearance of first editions.

Also, there are books that describe the current values of first editions; I don't know know a specific title, but perhaps some readers of this space who collect books can provide suggestions. Such a book could explain the "wearily" distinction often mentioned in descriptions of first editions of Ethan Frome.

Here are some places to start answering these questions:

American Book Prices Current (site that sells CD of current book prices)
The frequently asked questions page of the Antique and Rare Books division of the American Library Association has a list of helpful books.
The Antiquarian Booksellers' Association has helpful information and links.

D. Campbell, 1/1/05