By This Wing

by Celia Thaxter, Donna Marion Titus

A collection of forty four letters, most never before published, all by Isles of Shoals poet, writer and artist, Celia Laighton Thaxter, written in her last years, 1888 to 1894, to Boston naturalist Bradford Torrey. The introduction by Donna Marion Titus gives Thaxter's life and island background as the lighthouse keeper's daughter, and later part of the family who built and operated a huge summer hotel on Appledore. The letters are arranged chronologically and grouped in chapters by years; footnotes give brief, clear historically accurate explanations. Pen and ink drawings by Titus illustrate the book throughout; oil paintings by Titus are featured on front and back covers. Bibliography and index are included. This book is for people who know nothing about Celia Thaxter or the Isles of Shoals as well as for old Shoalers.

100 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1999

About the author

Celia Laighton Thaxter was an American writer of poetry and stories. Thaxter grew up in the Isles of Shoals, first on White Island, where her father, Thomas Laighton, was a lighthouse keeper, and then on Smuttynose and Appledore Islands.

Her poems first appeared in The Atlantic Monthly and she became one of America's favorite authors in the late 19th century. Among her best-known poems are The Burgomaster Gull, Landlocked, Milking, The Great White Owl, The Kingfisher, and especially The Sandpiper.

Reviews

[John Galluzzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty self-explanatory title! Celia lived at the Shoals part-time, and began a correspondence with fellow nature writer Torrey after finding a Killdeer wing on the island. They maintained a correspondence until her death, never meeting face to face.

What was Torrey's problem?

Bradford Torrey is certainly an interesting historical figure, one of the giants of 19th century American nature literature. Celia was right there with him, not nearly as prolific, but beloved for what she did write ("An Island Garden," "Among the Isles of Shoals," and numerous articles for popular magazines of the day). For parts of seven years they kept up their correspondence, trading copies of books, discussing birds and wildflowers, with Celia asking, pleading, eventually begging Torrey to make a visit to the Isles of Shoals off the Maine and New Hampshire coast. She begged until her final letter to him in 1894, less than a month before her death.

But Torrey never showed. Why?

He prided himself on his ambling, his Thoreau-like walking and appreciation of nature. Did he have a fear of boat travel? It's the only thing I can come up with. The Shoals are now, and have been for more than a century, a Mecca, a pilgrimage point for folks interested in history and nature, in spiritual rejuvenation. In other words, it was right up Torrey's alley. He lived in Weymouth, Massachusetts, three hours from the Shoals by boat (the town in which i lived when I read this book). She even sent him boat schedules, but no, he never appeared.

I guess to find my answer, I'll have to read the other side, find out more about the life of Torrey. I visited the Shoals annually for a time, stood in Celia's Garden, which is still there, despite the fact her house is gone. Perhaps I'll find my answer there, but I think, instead, I'll find all the more reasons why he should have made the trip.