"MRS. WIGGS WAS A PHILOSOPHER, AND THE SUM AND SUBSTANCE OF HER PHILOSOPHY LAY IN KEEPING THE DUST OFF HER ROSE-COLORED SPECTACLES"
HEGAN, Alice Caldwell. Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch. New York: Century, 1901. Small octavo, original pictorial cloth gilt, uncut. Housed in a custom chemise and slipcase. $500.
First edition of this humorous novel a widowed mother and her children dealing with poverty in Kentucky, the basis for numerous early film adaptations including one starring Pauline Lord and W.C. Fields.
Mrs. Wigg's, the heroine of Mrs. Hegan's first book, proclaims that "every thing in the world comes right, if we jes' wait long enough." Selected by Merle Johnson for his High Spots of American Literature (99-102). First issue, with gold sky illustration on front cover.
Expert reinforcementy to text block, slight soiling to cloth, most minor rubbing to spine ends, gilt quite bright. A near-fine copy.