1910

Back to really obscure books.

1. The Rosary, Florence Barclay 21 copies on LT

2. A Modern Chronicle, Winston Churchill 3 copies

3. The Wild Olive, anonymous (Basil King) 1 copy

4. Max, Katherine Cecil Thurston 0 copies

5. The Kingdom of Slender Swords, Hallie Erminie Rives 1 copy

6. Simon the Jester, William J. Locke 0 copies

7. Lord Loveland Discovers America, C. N. and A. M. Williamson 0 copies

8. The Window at the White Cat, Mary Roberts Rinehart 36 copies

9. Molly Make-Believe, Eleanor Abbott 4 copies

10. When a Man Marries, Mary Roberts Rinehart 7 copies

Touchstones keep going to the wrong places. Bad touchstones, Bad.

Mary Roberts Rinehart is still recognized as one of the best early mystery writers. She has been called "The American Agatha Christie"
Some of her books have been made into movies & plays. The Spiral Staircase is among the more famous.

I have a copy of The Rosary that was my grandmother's, given to her by a friend. Haven't read it though, it might fall apart.

I am able to bring up the Touchstone for "The Rosary" by Florence L. Barclay - had to put her middle initial in for the name and scroll for the title.

I'll see what happens with Mary Roberts Rinehart - seems to work, just used the last name and scrolled though 'others'.

zilch for me on this list.

I've read The Rosary, and would rate it only fair. It's a romance. The title refers to a place in the garden where plot twists occur - a rose bower.

Simon the Jester now has 6 copies in LT.

"Max: a novel" by Katherine Cecil Thurston has 2 copies in LT. The link is: http://www.librarything.com/work/573056 .

Lord Loveland Discovers America has only one copy in LT so far. Slowly, the once popular but now rare works are making their way into Librarything.

Florence Barclay's The Rosary can be viewed over on Google Books if you are so inclined. Just under 50 users on LT have it in their collections.

darn, none for me on this list...

Gee, I don't think I've read When a Man Marries. I thought I'd read all of MRR. I have The Window at the White Cat.

When a man marries
Finished reading: 22 July 2012



When a man marries is a high-speed comedy which does not keep all that well together. Jim, a painter - good for nothing, married Bella but was left by her before the year was out. He lives off his aunt Selina's allowance (doubled since he married Bella), and fear that his aunt might slash the allowance if she finds out about the divorce, he pulls off a comedy of manners to fool his aunt, presenting his best friend Kit in the role of Bella, whom the aunt has never seen.

A comedy of that sort would not be difficult to keep up for the duration of an evening's dinner party, but as the Japanese butler is suspected of having smallpox, all members of the party are quarantined within the house for a whole week. The servants having run off, the dinner guests find themselves quite literally helpless, and unable to cook or even boil an egg.

The novel is a bit of a stage comedy with characters running in and out of rooms, hiding in closets, etc. Partially hilarious, involving some stark racism, the novel is reminiscent of P. G. Wodehouse.

Principally known as an author of detective and mystery novels, Mary Roberts Rinehart does include some elements from that genre into When a man marries, such as a string of pearls that goes missing, but the novel is mainly a comedy of manners.

I picked up a copy of Lord Loveland Discovers America earlier this year. The Williamsons wrote some good solid travel-fiction which I've enjoyed previously, but this one was not up to usual standards. My review:
"This is a formulaic romance of the Edwardian times - impoverished aristocrat seeks American heiress. The situations are implausible, but its a good light read, with witty dialog."

I just finished The Window at the White Cat. It's a nice old mystery. I think I prefer standalones to series. In a series there's so little that can really happen to the main character. This had some romance and humor. I like the character winking with both eyes because she couldn't manage the one eyed wink. It seems in modern books nice characters are never allowed to be inept at anything.

I haven't read any of those either. Judging from everyone's comments, best sellers from 1910 don't seem to stand the test of time very well.

adding touchstones for those not clickable in the original post;

The Rosary
Simon the Jester
Lord Loveland discovers America
Molly Make-Believe