Works by Edith Wharton (1862-1937)
Edith Wharton's stories with original dates of publication
Benstock, Shari. No Gifts From Chance: A Biography
of Edith Wharton. New York: Scribner's, 1994.
Dwight, Eleanor. Edith Wharton, An Extraordinary
Life: An Illustrated Biography
Lee, Hermione. Edith Wharton (2007)
Lewis, R.W.B., and Nancy Lewis, eds. The Letters
of Edith Wharton. New York: Scribners, 1989.
Lewis, R.W.B. Edith Wharton: A Biography. New York: Harper & Row,
1975.
Wharton, Edith. Edith Wharton: Novellas and Other Writings. Notes by Cynthia Griffin Wolff. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, 1990.
See also the list and description of Wharton's major works (from Houghton Mifflin) at answers.com.
Note: This is a brief description of some
events in Wharton's life; it is not a comprehensive bibliography of Wharton's
works.
For detailed information about Wharton's
works, publication dates, and so on, see the books above and
Stephen Garrison's Edith Wharton: A
Descriptive Bibliography (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1990).
The notation MOA means that the link is to the Making of America project at
Cornell University.
| Year | Life | Works Note: Titles in smaller type are poems. A single date (day and month) indicates the first date of book publication for the volume mentioned. |
| 1862 | 24 January. Edith Newbold Jones is born in
New York City to Lucretia Rhinelander Jones and George Frederic Jones.
She is the youngest and only girl of three children. Her two brothers,
Frederic (16) and Harry (11), are much older than she.
20 April. Edith is baptized in Grace Church, New York City. Her godfather is Frederick Rhinelander (Benstock 59). |
|
| 1866-1867 | The Jones family sets sail for Europe and spend the first year in Rome. They also travel through Spain. | |
| 1868-1870 |
Edith Wharton at age 5 by Edward Harrison May. Courtesy of the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery. |
|
| 1872 | June. The family returns to their New York house on West 23rd Street, after which they move to Newport, Rhode Island, for the summer, like many wealthy New York families. George Frederic Jones | |
| 1873-1875 | During this period, Edith studies French and German as well as other subjects; as was the custom for well-to-do girls, she is tutored at home. | |
| 1876 | Begins to write Fast and Loose, a novella of 30,000 words that she finishes in January 1877. | |
| 1878-1879 | Verses, a collection of her poems, is privately printed; her mother pays for the printing. Among those who see the poems are Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and William Dean Howells, editor of the Atlantic Monthly. In 1879, she is presented to society according to the customs of the day. | Verses (1878) "Only a Child," a poem, published in the New York world on May 30, 1879, under the pseudonym "Eadgyth." |
| 1880 |
Five of Edith's poems appear in the Atlantic Monthly, and two appear in the New York World.
Image reproduced from R. W. B. Lewis, Edith Wharton: A Biography. New York: Harper & Row, 1975; Fromm International Publishing, 1985. |
Aeropagus."Atlantic
Monthly 45 (Mar. 1880): 335. "A Failure" Atlantic Monthly 45 (April 1880): 464-65. The Parting Day."Atlantic Monthly 45 (Feb. 1880): 194. "The Parting Day" (MOA) "Patience"Atlantic Monthly 45 (April 1880): 548-49. "Wants"Atlantic Monthly 45 (May 1880): 599. |
| 1881 | Travels to southern France with her family. | |
| 1882 | 15 March. Father dies in Cannes at the age of 61. Becomes engaged to Henry Leyden Stevens, whose mother, Mrs. Paran Stevens, opposes the match. Although her engagement to Henry Stevens has been announced, it is later broken off at the insistence of his mother, and Edith goes to Paris with her mother. Stevens dies in 1885, and his mother inherits the large trust fund that would have been his had he lived. |
|
| 1883 | Edith spends the summer in Bar Harbor, Maine. She meets Walter Berry, who will become a close friend and whom she will later call "the love of all my life," and her future husband, Edward ("Teddy") Wharton. | |
| 1884-1888 | 29 April 1885. Edith marries Edward Wharton in New York City. Fom 1885-1893, they spend June through February at Pencraig Cottage in Newport and travel to Italy each spring (Benstock 59). In 1888, the Whartons travel to the Aegean on a four-month cruise on the Vanadis; her journal of the voyage is discovered and published after her death as The Cruis of the Vanadis. |
|
| 1889 | The Whartons return to New York City, purchasing a townhouse on Fourth Avenue and 78th Street, later 884 Park Avenue. EW writes to Ogden Codman that she chose the location "on account of the bicycling" in Central Park (Benstock 67). |
"Euryalus."Atlantic
Monthly 64 (Dec. 1889): 761.Euryalus
"Happiness" Scribner's Magazine 6 (Dec. 1889): 715.Happiness "The Last Giustianini" Scribner's Magazine 6 (Oct. 1889): 405-06. The Last Giustiniani |
| 1890 | Continues to write, but her letters describe her suffering from an unexplained illness. A story, "Mrs. Manstey's View," is accepted for publication in Scribner's, the first of many she will publish in that magazine and others. | |
| 1891 | Teddy Wharton's father, William Craig Wharton, commits suicide at McLean Hospital on May 22 after suffering from "melancholia" for some years. | "Botticelli's
Madonna in the Louvre." Scribner's Magazine 9 (Jan. 1891): 74.Botticelli's
Madonna In The Louvre
"The Sonnet."Century Magazine 43 (Nov. 1891): 113.The Sonnet "The Tomb of Ilaria Giunigi."Scribner's Magazine 9 (Feb. 1891): 156 The Tomb Of Ilaria Giunigi "Mrs. Manstey's View," Scribner's (July 1891) |
| 1892 | Writes "Bunner Sisters," a long story that is not published until 1916 (in Xingu). | "Two
Backgrounds" (LA VIERGE AU DONATEUR. and MONA LISA) Scribner's Magazine
12 (Nov. 1892): 550. Two
Backgrounds (MOA) |
| 1893 | The Whartons purchase Land's End, a house in Newport, and hire Ogden Codman as the interior designer. Edith works closely with Codman on the design for remodeling the house. | "Chartres"
Scribner's
Magazine 14 (Sept. 1893): 287.Chartres
"Experience." Scribner's Magazine 13 (Jan. 1893): 91. |
| 1894 | Travel through Tuscany. During her time in Italy, EW visits Violet Paget ("Vernon Lee"). She also identifies a group of terra-cotta sculptures as being from the sixteenth-century school of the Robbias, rather than a work of the seventeenth century. Her essay chronicling the discovery is published in Scribners ("A Tuscan Shrine," [January 1895]). | "An
Autumn Sunset" Scribner's Magazine 16 (Oct. 1894): 419.
An
Autumn Sunset
"Life"Scribner's Magazine 15 (June 1894): 739. Life (MOA) |
| 1895 | "Jade"
Century
Magazine 49 (Jan. 1895): 391.Jade
(MOA)
"A Tuscan Shrine" Scribner's (travel essay; January 1895) (MOA) |
|
| 1896 | 1896. Eight-month trip to Europe. Autumn and early winter spent in Newport (Benstock 83). |
|
| 1897 | Writes The Decoration of Houses with Ogden Codman. It is published on 3 December 1897 and sells surprisingly well. Meets Walter Berry again after a 14-year break in their friendship; Berry helps with the final revision of The Decoration of Houses. | 4 December 1897. The Decoration of Houses. (Scribner's) |
| 1898 | Spring. The Whartons stay in Washington, D.C. for 6 weeks, spending August in Bar Harbor. Writes "The Muse's Tragedy," "Souls Belated," "A Coward," and "The House of the Dead Hand." |
"The
One Grief." Scribner's Magazine 24 (July 1898): 90.
"Phaedra"Scribner's Magazine 23 (Jan. 1898): 68. |
| 1899 |
|
25 March. The Greater Inclination (stories)(Scribner's). The first edition of 1,250 copies sells out by June (Benstock 99). |
| 1900 | Edith and Teddy Wharton travel to England and Paris, where they stay for several weeks and visit Edith's ailing mother. Travel through northern Italy helps Edith to gather material for her historical novel, The Valley of Decision, which she continues to write after returning to Lenox from August to October. After receiving both criticism and praise from Henry James for "The Line of Least Resistance," she withdraws the story from the volume Crucial Instances. | The
Touchstone (Scribner's Magazine,
March-April; published by Scribner's in book form on 28 April.)
20 August. A Gift from the Grave (London: John Murray) |
| 1901 | The Whartons purchase 113 acres near Lee, Massachusetts.
28 June. EW's mother dies in Paris, leaving EW a trust fund. EW's total income from various trusts is about $22,000 per year. |
30 March. Crucial Instances (stories) (Scribner's)
"Mould and Vase." Atlantic Monthly 88 (Sept. 1901): 343. |
| 1902 |
|
1 March. The Valley of Decision (Scribner's)
"The Lady's Maid's Bell" (Scribner's Magazine, 1902) "The Mission of Jane" (Harper's Monthly, 1902) "The Reckoning" (Harper's Monthly, 1902) "The Quicksand" (Harpers Monthly, 1902) "Artemis to Actaeon." Scribner's Magazine 31 (June 1902): 661-62. "The Bread of Angels." Harper's Magazine 105 (Sept. 1902): 583-85. "Uses." Scribner's Magazine 31 (Feb. 1902): 180. "Vesalius in Zante. (1564)" North American Review 175 (Nov. 1902): 625-31. |
| 1903 |
|
24 October. Sanctuary (Scribner's)
"The Dilettante" (Harper's Monthly, 1903) "A Venetian Night's Entertainment" (Scribner's, 1903) "A Torchbearer." Scribner's Magazine 33 (April 1903): 504-05. |
| 1904 | 30 April. The
Descent of Man, and Other Stories (Scribner's)
2 November. Italian Villas and Their Gardens (Scribner's) |
|
| 1905 | January. The House of Mirth begins its 11-month serial run in Scribner's Magazine. Published in book form in October, it is a bestseller; by the end of the year, "140,000 copies had been printed" (Benstock 150). |
14 October.
The House of Mirth (Scribner's)
"The Best Man" (Collier's, 1905) 29 April. Italian Backgrounds (Scribner's) |
| 1906 | Mid-March. The Whartons leave for Paris. They live with her brother Harry at 3 Place des Etats-Unis at first, and then they rent 53 Rue de Varenne from George Vanderbilt. The Whartons stay in this house during the winters for 1907 and 1908. Collaborates with Clyde Fitch on a stage adaptation of The House of Mirth.The play opens in Detroit on September 14 and at the Savoy Theater in New York on October 22. Its tragic ending drives away audiences. |
"The
Hermit and the Wild Woman" (Scribner's Magazine, 1906)
"In Trust" (Appleton's Booklovers Magazine, 1906) |
| 1907 | EW settles in Paris. She meets Morton Fullerton, a journalist with the London Times. March. EW and Henry James tour the French countryside, including George Sand's home, Nohant. |
2 March.
Madame de Treymes (Scribner's)
19 October. The Fruit of the Tree (Scribner's) |
| 1908 |
|
3 October. The
Hermit and the Wild Woman and Other Stories (Scribner's)
10 October. A Motor-Flight Through France. (Scribner's) "Life" Atlantic Monthly 102 (Oct. 1908): 501-04. "Moonrise Over Tyringham." Century Magazine 76 (July 1908): 356-57. "The Old Pole Star." Scribner's Magazine 43 (Jan. 1908): 68. |
| 1909 |
|
"Full Circle" (Scribner's, 1909) "All Souls." Scribner's Magazine 45 (Jan. 1909): 22-23.(poem) "Ogrin the Hermit." Atlantic Monthly 104 (Dec. 1909): 844-48 17 April. Artemis to Actaeon and Other Verse (Scribner's) |
| 1910 |
|
21 October. Tales
of Men and Ghosts (Scribner's)
"The Legend" (Scribner's, 1910) "The Eyes" (Scribner's, 1910) "The Blond Beast "(Scribner's, 1910) "Afterward" (Century Magazine, 1910) "The Letters" (Century Magazine, 1910) "The Comrade." Atlantic Monthly 106 (Dec. 1910): 785-87. |
| 1911 | With William Dean Howells, promotes Henry James for the Nobel Prize, although the attempt is unsuccessful. | 30 September.
Ethan Frome (Scribner)
"Summer Afternoon (Bodiam Castle, Sussex)." Scribner's Magazine 49 (Mar. 1911): 277-78. |
| 1912 | Mid-May. EW "begins a five-month series of travels that took her south to Rome and north to London" (Benstock 265). Arrives in England on July 21 and stays nearly 3 weeks, visiting Henry James and the author Vernon Lee. 21 June. The Mount is sold for $180,000 (Benstock 271). |
15 November. The
Reef (D. Appleton)
"Pomegranate Seed." Scribner's Magazine 51 (Mar. 1912): p284-91 |
| 1913 |
|
18 October. The Custom of the Country (Scribner's) is published in book form after being serialized in Scribner's Magazine. |
| 1914 |
| |
| 1915 |
|
24 October. Fighting
France from
Dunquerque to Belforte (Scribner's)
"Battle Sleep." Century Magazine 90 (Sept. 1915): 736. "The Hymn of the Lusitania." New York Herald, 7 May 1915: 1. (text not available) "The Great Blue Tent." New York Times, 25 Aug. 1915: 10. (text not available) |
| 1916 | 28 February. Death of Henry James, one of EW's closest friends. | 16 October. Xingu and Other Stories;
includes "Bunner
Sisters" (Scribner's) and "Kerfol" The Book of the Homeless |
| 1917 | 15 September-25 October. EW visits Morocco, an experience she will write about in In Morocco (1919) (Lee 513) | 2 July. Summer (D. Appleton) |
| 1918 | March. EW purchases Pavillon Colombe in St-Brice (Lee 524), at that time about half an hour out of Paris, and settles there, after renovations, in May 1920 (Lee 525). |
9 December. The Marne. (D. Appleton)
"'On Active Service'; American Expeditionary Force (R. S., August 12, 1918)." Scribner's Magazine 64 (Nov. 1918): 619. |
| 1919 | April. EW rents, on a long-term basis, Ste. Claire du Vieux, in Hyères, in the South of France, which she renames Ste-Claire-du Chateau (Lee 539). In 1927, she purchases it for 1,250,000 francs (Lee 546). This will be her winter home for the rest of her life. |
29 August. French Ways and their Meaning
(D.
Appleton)
"You and You; to the American private in the great war." Scribner's Magazine 65 (Feb. 1919): 152-153. "With the Tide." Saturday Evening Post 191, 29 Mar. 1919: 8. "Writing a War Story" 24 September. In Morocco (Scribner's) |
| 1920 | Christmas. After supervising renovations during 1919, EW moves in to Ste-Claire-du-Chateau. |
15 October.
The Age of Innocence (D. Appleton)
|
| 1921 |
|
|
| 1922 |
|
21 July. The Glimpses of the Moon (D. Appleton) |
| 1923 | 7 September. A Son at the Front |
|
| 1924 | 16 May. Old New York (D. Appleton) | |
| 1925 | 25 April. The Mother's Recompense (D.
Appleton)
9 October. The Writing of Fiction (essays) (Scribner's) |
|
| 1926 | 23 April. Here and Beyond (stories)
(D. Appleton)
23 October. Twelve Poems (London: Medici Society) |
|
| 1927 |
|
13 May. Twilight Sleep (D. Appleton) (Lewis gives the date as "mid-June"). |
| 1928 | 1 September. The Children (D. Appleton); becomes the September selection for the Book-of-the-Month Club (Lewis 484). | |
| 1929 | 8 November. Hudson River Bracketed (D. Appleton) (The work appeared serially in The Delineator--Lewis 492). | |
| 1930 | 21 October. Certain People (stories)(D. Appleton) | |
| 1931 | ||
| 1932 | 16 September. The Gods Arrive (D. Appleton). | |
| 1933 | 17 March. Human Nature (stories)(D. Appleton) | |
| 1934 | 27 April. A Backward Glance (autobiography) (Appleton-Century) | |
| 1935 | ||
| 1936 | First week of January. Owen and Donald Davis's adaptation of Ethan Frome opens in Philadelphia, with Raymond Massey as Ethan, Pauline Lord as Zeena, and Ruth Gordon as Mattie Silver (Lewis 529). (The New Yorker's comment on this production.) | The World Over (Appleton-Century) (stories) |
| 1937 | Ghosts (Appleton-Century) (published in October 1937 [Lee 459]) | |
| 1938 | 16 September. The Buccaneers (Appleton-Century)
Fast and Loose (1977) |
|
Thanks to Dr. Jamie Barlowe of the University of Toledo for corrections and
additions to the information on Wharton's publishers.
Other Wharton biography links:
Edith
Wharton.
A biographical sketch from the Edith Wharton Restoration at
The Mount.
Edith
Wharton's World from the Smithsonian.
Edith
Wharton: A Life in Pictures and Text .
Edith
Wharton: An Overview with Biocritical Sources. Dee Shidler's
popular site at geocities.com
Edith
Wharton at the Domestic Goddesses Site
.
Any errors of fact here are my own and do not represent the work of the Wharton Society. Please send corrections and suggestions to D. Campbell.