1876

Primary Sources
Miller, Joaquin. First Families of the Sierra. Chicago, Ill.: Jansen, McClurg and Company, 1876, 258 pp. [MGK] [STANFORD-MELVYL] [MCK] [Middlebury College has 1st Edition] [MCK]
Story about a young woman disguised as a man who hides out from religious assassins at a mining camp called the Forks. The Forks is thought to be Humbug Creek, near Yreka, California. Much of the book takes place at the “Howling Wilderness” saloon. Mount Shasta is not mentioned per se, but the story contains some descriptive material very similar to that found in Miller's Unwritten History: Life Amongst the Modocs. Miller helped make an adaptation of the First Families... book into a very successful Broadway play called the Danites in the Sierras. [MGK]
-----. The One Fair Woman. New York: G.W. Carleton; London: Chapman & Hall. 1876. Three volumes in one. [PMC] [MES] [HUN] [AAS cites both New York and London, 548 p. and has a first ed.] [OAK and USC have a London copy.] [HON has a copy with a holograph letter, signed, from Miller to his daughter, laid in.] [MGK] [Middlebury College] [MCK]
-----. The One Fair Woman. New York: G.W. Dillingham Co. 1876. 548 pages. [RCL] [USC] [UOL: Note, however, that in the “Rare Book” collection is a copy with “newspaper clippings laid in.”] [UOL: “Oregon Collection.”] [MGK]
-----. The Ship in the Desert. Chicago. 1876. [PMC] [See 1874; 1875; 1859 Over Yon Desert.] [MGK]
-----. Poems of Places. 1876. Vol. 1. Edited by Henry W. Longfellow. Scotland. Boston. 1876. Shasta, and A Morning in Oregon. In The Mountains. Boston. [BAL (6:211) notes that A Morning... appears on pp. 32-33 and is extracted from By the Sun-Down Seas, Songs of the Sun-Lands, 1873. Shasta appears on p. 89 and is extracted from The Tale of the Tall Alcalde, Songs of the Sierras, 1871.] [MGK]
-----. The Great Plains and the Desert, a contribution by Miller that appeared in The Pacific Tourist. Edited by Henry T. Williams. 309 pages. [HON] [BAL (6:206) says the piece, on p. 188, is extracted from The Ship in the Desert. Boston 1875, p. 102 [MGK]
-----. Song of the Centennial. [BAL (6:187).] [MNS says n.p., Ca. 1876] [MGK]
-----. Sunrise in Venice. In Songs of Three Centuries. Edited by John Greenleaf Whittier. Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, Late Ticknor & Fields, and Osgood & Co. [BAL 6:186 says, “Collected in ‘Songs of Italy.’ p. 314.”]
-----. A Dream of Italy. In Mae Madden. By Mary Murdoch Mason. Chicago:
Jansen, McClurg & Company, 1876. 192pp. A 19-stanza poem written in
Chicago November 1875 and published as the introduction to the novel. [MOA] (see also 1887) [MOA] [MCK]
-----. Poem on Alexander T. Stewart (slave driver merchant prince) New York Herald
1876 [MAR] [MCK]
-----. “The Pink Countess.” Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly. February-June. [HON] [Mrs. Frank Leslie _____ - 1914.] [Miriam Florence C. Follins Squier] [MGK]
-----. Pioneers of the Pacific. West Shore 1:2 (January 1876): 2 [MGK] [MCK]
-----. Ideal and Real. The Galaxy 21.3 (March 1876): 317-318 [MGK]
-----. “Rambling Through Rome.” The Independent. New York 28.1422 (2 March 1876): 1-2 [HON] [Visit to Romulus and Remus and the wolf.] [MGK]
-----. Pioneers of the Pacific. San Francisco Daily Alta California. (19 March 1876): 6:1. [HON] [CAL] [MGK]
-----. “Opening of the Carnival (Rome).” The Independent 28.1425 (23 March 1876): 1-2 [HON] [MGK]
-----. Arizona Plains. San Francisco Morning Call. April. [HON] [See also July 25, 1875]
-----. My Dream. Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. XLll.1,075 (6 May 1876):142:1. [HON] [MGK]
-----. My Ship Comes In. The Independent. New York. 27.1434 (25 May 1876): 1. [HON] [BAL (6:187) notes that this material was put to music by H. Millard and published in New York by Spear & Denhoff as sheet music.] See also Surf and Wave, (1883: 91), edited by Anna L. Ward, New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. [MGK]
-----. Where Rolls the Oregon. (May-June 1876) Hanover, NH. [BAL (6:187) refers to 22 printed slips prepared for the author's use in reading this poem at Dartmouth College commencement 1876.] [MGK] [MCK]
-----. Where Rolls the Oregon. The Independent. 27.1439 (29 June 1876): 1. [HON] [MGK] [BAL (6:187) notes, “Not to be confused with another poem of the same title which begins: ‘See once these stately scenes, then roam no more.’ The printing here described begins: ‘In a land so far that you wonder whether / The God would know if should you drop dead....’ Later published in somewhat altered form as the first part of The Baroness of New York, 1877. Further altered and reprinted in Songs of the Mexican Seas, 1887, under the title The Sea of Fire.]
-----. “The Great Centennial Fair and Its Future.” The Independent. New York. (13 July 1876 [HON] [MGK]
-----. To Love, To Forget, and To Die. The Galaxy 22.2 (August 1876): 238-239 [MOA] [MCK]
-----. Woods of Oregon, I-III. The Independent. New York. (3 August -31August 1876) [HON] [MGK]
Vol. 28.1444 (3 August 1876): 1 (Part I)
Vol. 28.1446 (24 August 1876): 3 (Part II)
Vol. 28.1448 (31 August 1876): 4 (Part III)
-----. A Sioux Lodge. The Independent 28.1449 (7 September 1876): 1 [HON] [MGK]
-----. Unloved and Alone. The Independent 28.1454 (12 October 1876): 1 [HON] [BAL (6:192) notes also pp. 14-15 of Anna L. Ward's Surf and Wave, 1883, published in New York by Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. See also as “To Carrie A.S.” in Miller's Songs of Italy, 1878.] [MGK]
-----. Como. The Galaxy 22.5 (November 1876): 635-637 [MGK] [MOA] [MCK]
-----. In Père La Chaise. The Independent 28.1459 (16 November 1876): 1 [HON] [At the tomb of Abelard and Eloise in France. Also buried there was Adah Isaacs Menken, later moved to Montparnasse. Balzac, d. 8/17/1850 was buried there 8/22/1850.] [MGK]
-----. Love Me, Love. The Independent 28.1463 (14 December 1876) [HON] [MGK]
-----. [Joaquin Miller chat with a city editor.] New York Daily Tribune (16 December 1876): 7:1. One column. [MGK]

Secondary Sources
Bibliography of American Literature. 1876 [MGK]
Bryant, William Cullen, ed. A New Library of Poetry and Song. 2 Volumes. New York:
J. B. Ford, 1876. 950pp. [WC] [MCK]
-----. Two Volumes. New York: Fords, Howard & Hulbert, 1877, 1884 [WC] [MCK]
-----. Memorial Edition Revised and Enlarged. Two Volumes. New York:
Fords, Howard and Hulbert, 1883, 1886 [WC] [MCK]
-----. Memorial Edition, Revised and Enlarged by the Addition of Many Poems.
Three Volumes. New York: Fords, Howard & Hulbert, 1895. [WC] [MCK]
-----. Revised and Enlarged with Recent Authors and Containing a Dictionary of
Poetical Quotations. 2 Volumes. New York: Fords, Howard & Hulbert, 1895, 1900. 1100pp. [WC] [MCK]
-----. Revised and Enlarged with Recent Authors and Containing a Dictionary of
Poetical Quotations. New York: Baker Taylor, 1900. 1100pp. [WC] [MCK]
-----. Revised and Enlarged with Recent Authors and Containing a Dictionary of
Poetical Quotations. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page,
1900, 1918, 1920, 1925, 1927. 1100pp. [WC] [MCK]
-----. Utopian Edition. Three Volumes. Garden City, New York: Doubleday,
Page, 1925. [WC] [MCK]
Beadle, John Hanson. Western Wilds and Men Who Redeem Them. Cincinnati: Jones Brothers & Co. 1876 [MGK]
Lloyd, B. E. Lights and Shades in San Francisco. San Francisco: A. L. Bancroft &
Company, 1876. 523pp. 420-421. (Bucco & Smith), [WC] [MCK]
-----. New Introduction by Gary F. Kurutz. Berkeley, California:
Berkeley Hill Books, 1999. Copy of the original work published in San Francisco.
Turrill, Charles B. California Notes. San Francisco: E. Bosqui & Co., 1876. 232pp.
170. [American Memory], [WC] [MCK] Quotes lines from Joaquin’s poetry.
Williams, Henry T., ed. The Pacific Tourist: Williams’ Illustrated Trans-Continental Guide of Travel from the Atlantic to Pacific Ocean. Containing Full Descriptions of Railroad Routes Across the Continent, All Pleasure Resorts and Places of Most Noted Scenery in the Far West, Also of All Cities, Towns, Villages, U. S. Forts, Springs, Lakes, Mountains, Routes of Summer Travel, Best Localities for Hunting, Fishing, Sporting, and Enjoyment, With All Needful Information for the Pleasure Traveler, Miner, Settler, or Business Man. A Complete Traveler’s Guide of the Union and Central Pacific Railroads, and All Points of Business or Pleasure Travel to California, Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Montana, the Mines and Mining of the Territories, the Lands of the Pacific Coast, the Wonders of the Rocky Mountains, the Scenery of the Sierra Nevadas, the Colorado Mountains, the Big Trees, the Geysers, the Yosemite, and the Yellowstone. With special contributions by Prof. F. V. Hayden, Clarence King, Capt. Dutton, A. C. Peale, Joaquin Miller, J. B. Davis, F. E. Shearer. New York: Henry T. Williams, Publisher, 1876. 309pp. [WC], [Mult Co. Library] [MCK]
Reprint of Miller’s The Great Plains and Desert p. 188
Later printed in 1877, 1900. Also published with Frederick E. Shearer as
the editor and James D. Horan as the writer of the introduction, first in 1882-1883. The 1884 edition was reprinted in 1970. Publishers also varied.
Reavis, Logan Urich. The Life and Military Services of Gen. Wm. Selby Harney. St.
Louis: Bryan, Brand & Company, 1876. [HGT], [WC - 1878] [MCK]
“New Publications.” Review of The Ship in the Desert. Catholic World 22 (January 1876): 573. [RCL] [MGK] [MOA] [MCK]
Review of The Ship in the Desert. International Review 3 (January 1876): 94-95. [RCL] [MGK] [MCK]
“This is a work of preternatural silliness. It has a rambling plot, absurd characters, and grotesque imagination. Miller has purposely hoodwinked his English public, and they will no doubt praise this latest fraud mightily. ‘It will require several generations to correct the impressions of American life’ perpetrated by this book.’” [RCL 29]
“Belles Lettres.” Review of The Ship in the Desert. New Englander and Yale Review 35.134 (January 1876): 197. [RCL] [MGK] [MAR] [MOA] [MCK]
Herbert, George. “Joaquin Miller.” Dublin University Magazine 87 (January 1876): 90-91. [RCL: 90-95.] [MGK] [MCK]
“Highly laudatory Review comparing Miller’s poetry to that of Emerson, Poe, Whitman, Longfellow and Whittier. Ranks him ‘next to Whitman among American poets’ and above Poe, and far superior to the others. He has strength and depth of imagination, a ‘Titanic fiery energy,’ a richness and freshness of description, and ‘a noble hatred for everything base.’” [RCL 28]
“Editor’s Drawer.” Harper’s 52.308 (January 1876): 309. [MOA] [MCK]
Victor, Mrs. F.F. “The Literature of Oregon.” The West Shore 1 (January 1876): 2-3. Criticism of (p.2), his Joaquin et al printed in Portland, (1869), his Specimens printed in Portland (1867) (p.3), comments on Minnie Myrtle’s poetry (p.2) [MGK]
Printing of Joaquin’s Pioneers of the Pacific and a poem by Minnie. The author provides some biographical and critical comment on both Joaquin and Minnie. For instance, she writes: “It is not necessary to advertise his [Joaquin’s] merits - he has done that himself; nor his demerits - they, too, have been rendered sufficiently conspicuous.” [MCK]
“Some Recent Volumes of Poetry.” The Nation 22 (6 January 1876): 15. [RCL] [MGK] [MCK]
“Review of The Ship in the Desert. The story is unintelligible and uninteresting, though it displays Miller’s usual vivid imagination and feverish style. His English critics have been impressed by his display of ‘the roughness of the backwoods,’ but to us this is mere coarseness, vulgarity, and barbarism.” [RCL 30]
“Books and Authors.” Review of Mae Madden. Appleton’s 15.356 (15 January 1876): 89-90. [MOA] [MCK]
Ad, New York Times (30 January 1876): 7. [NYT online] [MCK]
Note that Frank Leslie has secured Joaquin’s first novel, The Pink Countess, and that the first installment of it will appear in Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly for February.
“Eccentricities of Joaquin Miller.” Daily Alta California 28 (31 January 1876): 4:2. [CAL] [MGK]
Lathrop, G.P. “Recent Literature.” Review of The Ship in the Desert. The Atlantic Monthly 37.220 (February 1876): 240-241. [RCL] [MOA] [MGK] [MCK]
“Miller’s ‘The Ship in the Desert.’” Scribner’s Monthly 11.4 (February 1876): 590-591.
[MOA] [MCK]
Review of The One Fair Woman. Examiner 3555 (18 March 1876): 326. [RCL] [MGK] [MCK] “This ‘must be pronounced his most inferior work’” [RCL 29]
Herbert, George. Review of The One Fair Woman. The Athenaeum 2526, (25 March 1876): 422. [RCL] [BSL says only 25] [MGK] [MCK]
“’There are passages in it of great beauty, but there is no plot, no action, and no character, and it is not a November.’” [RCL 28]
Littledale, Richard F. Review of The One Fair Woman. The Academy 9 (25 March 1876): 279-280. [RCL] [MGK] [PET] [MCK]
“The story line of this novel is slight, improbable, and strained, and the characters are artificial; however, the evocation of the atmosphere of southern Italy and Rome is vivid and true to life in every detail.” [RCL 30]
Wister, Mrs. S.B. “Minor Poets.” Review of The Ship in the Desert. North American Review 122 (April 1876): 461-464. [RCL] [MGK] [PET] [MCK]
“Books and Authors.” Appleton’s Journal 15 (8 April 1876): 473. [RCL] [MGK]
“Books and Authors.” Appleton’s 15.370 (22 April 1876): 583. [MOA] [MCK]
Quote from the recent April number of the North American Review’s Review of
The Ship in the Desert. . New York Daily Tribune. (28 April 1876): 4:6 [MGK]
Review of The One Fair Woman.The Spectator 49 (29 April 1876): 566. [RCL] [MGK]
[MCK]
“An interesting and delightful description of Italy, but as a tale ‘it is naught.’ The book also ‘indicates a curious lack in the author of the sense of the fitness of things.’” [RCL 29]
Review of First Fam’lies of the Sierras. The Literary World 6 (1 May 1876): 175. [RCL] [MGK] [MCK]
“The pictures of frontier life presented here are ‘strong in coloring and rude in drawing, but the story is loosely and awkwardly constructed, lacking in humor, and weak in characterization.’ In no way can it be compared with Bret Harte’s treatment of kindred themes.” [RCL 28]
Review of The One Fair Woman. The Independent 28 (11 May 1876): 9. [RCL] [MGK]
[MCK]
“One is surprised at the skill in plot construction and the cleverness in depicting Italian life. At times Miller comes close to combining Longfellow’s grace and Holmes’s wit. Occasionally descriptive passages are intruded with no apparent connection to the story, but the blemishes are few.” [RCL 29]
Review of The One Fair Woman. Vanity Fair 15 (20 May 1876): 303. [RCL] [MGK] [MCK]
“Miller may be a poet of no mean order, but certainly he is a novelist of a very mean order. This is an absurd book.” [RCL 29]
Centennial celebration, Portland: West Shore 1:5 (June 1876) [MGK] See also Note Regarding The Portland Centennial Exhibition. New Northwest (2 June 1876)
[MCK] and “Joaquin Miller Delights Fellow Writers with Bright Homily. Grizzled Poet of Sierras Guest of Honor at Banquet to Western Authors on Fair Grounds. Tickles and Touches All with his Stories. Oregon is Glorious and Godlike, Cries the Speaker, and Assembled Guests Wildly Applaud - Kick the Man Who Calls Webfoot.” OHS Scrapbook 69, p. 215. [MCK]
New York Daily Tribune. (14 June 1876): 8:2. [Miller Divorce Suit.] [MGK]
“Editor’s Literary Record.” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine 53 (August 1876): 467. [RCL] [MGK]
Review of First Fam’lies of the Sierras. The Galaxy 22 (September 1876): 430-431. [RCL] [MGK]
Review of The One Fair Woman. Westminster Review. New Series 50 (October, 1876): 574-575. [RCL] [MGK] [MCK]
“The novel lacks plot interest, characterization, analysis, and dramatic situation. Miller is often witty, but never humorous. There is some good description, but that is all.” [RCL 29]
“The Galaxy.” New York Times (24 October 1876): 2. [NYT online] [MCK] Poetry from Miller featured.
Ad for The Independent, New York Times (13 December 1876): 5. [NYT online] [MCK]
The week’s edition features a love song by Miller. Article from The Graphic.

Letters and Archival Papers
Miller, Joaquin. Letter to Geo[rge] McDonald from The Windsor, New York. (16 February 1876): 3 p. [With envelope.] [Huntington Library, U.6 B10 L.F., HM 11263.] [MGK]
-----. Letter to [William Hayes Ward] from 2347 St. Alban's Pl., Philadelphia, P[ennsylvani]a. (14 May 1876): 2 p. [Huntington Library, U.6 B10 L.F., HM 11264.] [MGK]
-----. Letter to John Wilson. (May 1876) [HON has an “A.N.S. 1p. 5-1/4 x 4-1/4 in.” to John Wilson dated 5/1876, Philadelphia in JM Box I: folder 2:1.] [MGK]
-----. Letter to Warlee? (13 August 1876) [HON has a facsimile "A.L.S. 2p. 8vo." to Warlee? dated 8/13/1876 "Boston Roberts Bros. Publishers."] [HON notes that the original letter is in the Denison Library, Scripps College. The copy is in JM Box I: dummy folder.] [MGK]

 
Bibliography: Printable

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