The Voyage of the Anna Smith

Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Publishers, 1940 First Edition. Signed by Author. Hard cover, 8vo (measuring 8 ½ x 8 ¾ inches,) in blue publisher's cloth with titles in gilt to front and spine, map-illustrated end papers, black and white illustrations by Jessie Robinson, 292 pp. Condition: Good Minus. Includes a pencil ownership inscription of a local first-settler descendant, as well as her name in red ink to the fore edge. Joints and corners worn. Some soiling to cover. Quarter inch tear at head of spine; a bit cocked. Sarah Elizabeth Mulliken (1874-1955) was the Newburyport author of several children's historical novels. She was the daughter of an Irish-born sea captain, Capt. Moses J. Mulliken, who in a career at sea made more than sixty trading voyages to all parts of the world from Newburyport. The family lived in a house on High Street, which appears on the City's Heritage Walking Trail. Capt. Mulliken collected stories, as well as other items, which were part of the original collections forming the Custom House Maritime Museum. He was also involved in the administration of the Marine Society of Newburyport, a mutual aid society for the families of deceased seafarers. This semi-autobiographical tale sees the family Lynde, including three children, departing from Boston's Long Wharf on a three year trading voyage around the globe. There is also discussion of the emancipation movement and abolitionist Joshua Coffin in the run-up to the Civil War. This should be required reading for local children to put them "in the shoes" of their clipper ship era forebears.. Hard Cover. Good. Illus. by Jessie Robinson.