 First edition cover | |
| Author | Irving Bacheller |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | Lothrop Publishing Company |
Publication date | July 2, 1900 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 432 pp |
Eben Holden: A Tale of the North Country is a 1900 novel by Irving Bacheller. It was a popular book at the time of its release, among the top 10 bestselling books in the United States in both 1900 and 1901. The book is set in the North Country region of New York.
Bacheller's first draft of the novel was meant for children, which he submitted to St. Nicholas Magazine and other publications, which all rejected it. [1] When David Harum (1898) became a big success, he revised it in a similar mold. It was released by Lothrop Publishing Company on July 2, 1900. It found immediate popularity, reportedly selling 125,000 copies in the first four months of release. [2] For the February and March 1901 issues of The Bookman , it tied with Alice of Old Vincennes as the best-selling book in the United States. [3] [4] As a result, some modern references refer to the novel as the "first best-selling novel of the 20th century." [5]
A "dramatic edition" of the novel was released in 1901 with seven photographs of the play based on the novel, and an author portrait. [6] In 1903, twelve photographs by Clarence Hudson White were included in a "de luxe" edition of the novel.
A 1956 article by literary scholar Walter Harding noted that while the book had fallen far out of popularity by then (the copy he reviewed had last been checked out of the library in 1931), "one was not well-read in 1900 unless he had read Eben Holden." While he opined that "its sentimentality borders on the laughable ... its melodrama is impossible [and] its language is deplorable," he concluded that "despite all this, it is still surprisingly readable." [2]
Bacheller's slim volume, Eben Holden's Last Day A-Fishing, was published in 1907. [7]
Edward Everett Rose was commissioned to adapt the novel into a play, which had its Broadway debut on October 28, 1901 at the Savoy Theatre, managed by Charles Frohman, and with Edmund Milton Holland playing the title role. It played through December 14 before going on tour. [8] [9] [10] [11]
Bacheller graduated from St. Lawrence University in 1882, and later served on its board of trustees. The University's English honor society is called The Irving Bacheller Society, and all inductees receive a copy of Eben Holden. Eben Holden is also the name of a campus building. [12] [13] [5] [14]
Sister Carrie (1900) is a novel by Theodore Dreiser (1871–1945) about a young woman who moves to the big city where she starts realizing her own American Dream. She first becomes a mistress to men that she perceives as superior, but later becomes a famous actress. It has been called the "greatest of all American urban novels".
Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine, usually known as Hall Caine, was a British novelist, dramatist, short story writer, poet and critic of the late 19h and early 20th century. Caine's popularity during his lifetime was unprecedented. He wrote 15 novels on subjects of adultery, divorce, domestic violence, illegitimacy, infanticide, religious bigotry and women's rights, became an international literary celebrity, and sold a total of ten million books. Caine was the most highly paid novelist of his day. The Eternal City is the first novel to have sold over a million copies worldwide. In addition to his books, Caine is the author of more than a dozen plays and was one of the most commercially successful dramatists of his time; many were West End and Broadway productions. Caine adapted seven of his novels for the stage. He collaborated with leading actors and managers, including Wilson Barrett, Viola Allen, Herbert Beerbohm Tree, Louis Napoleon Parker, Mrs Patrick Campbell, George Alexander, and Arthur Collins. Most of Caine's novels were adapted into silent black and white films. A. E. Coleby's 1923 18,454 feet, nineteen-reel film The Prodigal Son became the longest commercially made British film. Alfred Hitchcock's 1929 film The Manxman, is Hitchcock's last silent film.
John Lothrop Motley was an American author and diplomat. As a popular historian, he is best known for his works on the Netherlands, the three volume work The Rise of the Dutch Republic and four volume History of the United Netherlands. As United States Minister to Austria in the service of the Abraham Lincoln administration, Motley helped to prevent European intervention on the side of the Confederates in the American Civil War. He later served as Minister to the United Kingdom during the Ulysses S. Grant administration.
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The Bookman was a literary journal established in 1895 by Dodd, Mead and Company
Winston Churchill was an American best-selling novelist of the early 20th century.
Addison Irving Bacheller was an American journalist and writer. He founded the first modern newspaper syndicate in the United States.
The North Country is the northernmost region of the U.S. state of New York, bordered by Lake Champlain to the east, the Adirondack Mountains and the Upper Capital District to the south, the Mohawk Valley region to the southwest, the Canadian border to the north, and Lake Ontario and the Saint Lawrence Seaway to the west. A mostly rural area, the North Country includes seven counties. Fort Drum, a U.S. Army base, is also located in the North Country, as is the Adirondack Park. As of 2024, the population of the region was 420,311.
This is a list of bestselling novels in the United States in the 1900s, as determined by The Bookman, a New York–based literary journal. The list features the most popular novels of each year from 1900 through 1909.
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The Crisis is an historical novel published in 1901 by the American novelist Winston Churchill. It was the best-selling book in the United States in 1901. The novel is set in the years leading up to the first battles of the American Civil War, mostly in the divided state of Missouri. It follows the fortunes of young Stephen Brice, a man with Union and abolitionist sympathies, and his involvement with a Southern family.
Lee & Shepard (1862-1905) was a publishing and bookselling firm in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 19th century, established by William Lee (1826–1906) and Charles Augustus Billings Shepard (1829–1889) Authors published by the firm included: George Melville Baker; Sophie May; Henry Morgan; Oliver Optic; William Carey Richards; Francis Henry Underwood; Madeline Leslie and Levina Buoncuore Urbino. The business conducted its operations from offices at 149 Washington St. (ca.1872); the corner of Franklin and Hawley St. (1873–1885); and "adjoining the Old South," no.10 Milk St. (ca.1885).
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Edward Everett Rose was an American playwright. He adapted a number of popular novels into plays, including Janice Meredith, Richard Carvel, David Harum, Eben Holden, The Battle of the Strong, Alice of Old Vincennes, and The Rosary.
The Mississippi Bubble is a 1902 novel by American author Emerson Hough. It was Hough's first bestseller, and the fourth-best selling novel in the United States in 1902.
Alice of Old Vincennes, written by Maurice Thompson in 1900, is a novel set in Vincennes during the American Revolutionary War.
Peter: A Novel Of Which He Is Not The Hero is a novel published in 1908 by Francis Hopkinson Smith, which was the sixth best selling book in the United States in 1908, and ninth best-selling book of 1909. It sold in excess of 100,000 copies.
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