Record of a Gilded-Age Boston Society Party.

[Boston: winter, 1896].

Octavo-sized correspondence record book (22.5 x 15 x 8 cm.), bound volume of one hundred forty-three letters mounted on stubs. Mrs. Francis Blake, wife of the physicist and inventor of telephone fame (see DAB), gave a small ‘dancing’ party for the ‘A’ list of Boston society. Participants were to depart from the Columbus Ave. station and return to the Huntington Ave. station (1:45 AM) via private train. The original engraved invitation precedes the individual acceptance and rejection (few) letters, which are divided by sex. A complete list of attendees is included, as is the handwritten menu, perhaps a contract, with notes on what was to be supplied by the caterer, Joseph Lee, and what by Mrs. Blake. The stationery includes many addresses on Beacon Hill, as well as the Porcellian Club, Somerset Club, Hasty Pudding Club, etc. Some wear to the binder, and to some of the correspondence at folds or at the edges. Generally near very good. A stationer’s - Shipman - adhesive half-leather letter file book.

Price: $750.00