CORDELIA UNDERWOOD Or the Marvelous Beginnings of the Moosepath League.

New York:: The Viking Press,, (1998.). Hardcover first edition -. Very good in very good dust jacket (closed tear at fold of rear flap of dj.). First printing. Authors first book, a New Times Notable book of 1998, and the first of a popular and very entertaining series. The plot summary from the dustjacket flap only gives a hint of the pleasures to be found within: 'In the idyllic summer of 1896 in Portland, Maine, several people are embarking on adventure of a most audacious and entertaining nature. The lovely redheaded Cordelia Underwood finds, in the newly discovered sea chest of her late uncle, the deed to a large parcel of land. ... Cordelia and her family soon suspect that a mystery surrounds her land, that something on it might hold the key to a secret two centuries old. The large-hearted and wise Mister Walton, who never hears of an excursion he isn't eager to join, finds he attracts a trio of hapless friends, the exuberant founders of the Moosepath League. As these memorable and appealing chaacters wend their way up the coast of Maine into the northern wilds, they encounter old salts and bootleggers, tellers of tale tales, grande dames, and prospective beaus, they witness apparitions, meet opinionated relatives, search for Maude, the fugitive bear-and, of course, espy the moose that puts the moose the Moosepath League.' Author's note. 400 pp. Wraparound dustjacket illustration by David Beck.