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II
The "History of the Western Reserve" of Gibson and Arms (p. 7) is almost the only bit of confusion in their book. As its # 10-E on page 64 the matter is more clearly put:
[History of the Western Reserve by Harriet Taylor Upton]
The Lewis Publishing Company: Chicago and New York, 1910. Three volumes.
Howells' letter concerning his mother, vol. I, p. 576, here first printed. The title given above, it will be noted, is not transcribed from the title page.
Thus p. 64 corrects the impression left by p. 7 that Howells wrote a lost history of the Western Reserve, and a potential ghost is laid.
Gibson and Arms' item #10-E might better read:
History of | the Western Reserve | by | Harriet Taylor Upton | H. G. Cutler | Editor of the Lewis Publishing Company | And a staff of leading citizens collaborated on | The counties and biographies. | Illustrated | Volume I | 1910 | The Lewis Publishing Company | Chicago | New York.
Collation: three volumes continuously paginated, vol. I to p. 709, II to p. 1270, III to p. 1874. 7½ x 10⅜ inches: etc.
Since Howells' letter forms a very brief part of the volume, and other volumes with Howells letters at least as long are not included by Gibson and Arms, there is reason to doubt that #10-E should appear at all.
The only other thing the student of Howells should know is that there is not much reason for him to refer to Mrs. Upton's book. Her other materials and views upon Howells are of little worth. She edited his quite valuable letter to her of March 9, 1910, leaving out comments of some real biographical interest concerning his mother. The full text, that is, the holograph letter itself, is readily available to students at the Library of the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland.
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