Help Identify Books from Willa Cather's Library

As far as I know, to date, there's no authoritative, complete, published list of the books in Willa Cather's library. A number of books inscribed by her (usually with her signature and a date), however, are housed in special collections (public, academic, and personal). One such collection can be found in the Drew University Library Willa Cather Collection

Do you know of other books that have been identified as part of Cather's library? If so, please join this thread and add whatever information and/or ideas you have on identifying these books.

Nancy

Sconset: I can assuredly say that Katharine Ann Porter wrote an Afterword in Willa Cather's earliest collection of short stories and may therefore have been included in Cather's library during the time she lived in New York City. However, I don't have the exact citation. Also in researching Cather for a paper I wrote, I know that she was educated at home by women in her family in patriarchal texts (read masculine) of the time. I'll do a little searching in my library to find out where I got that information and what books were used, but I am sure they will be standard texts of the time available to most people of the plains, i.e., the Bible, the classics. Unfortunately and surprisingly, I had no end notes for the paper I wrote supporting Willa Cather's inclusion in a feminist canon. More later...

Having done some research Sharon O'Brien's book Willa Cather: The emerging voice, Cather's maternal grandmother, Rachael Boak taught her to read and write from male author's texts, the Bible, Pilgrim's Progress, Peter Parley's Universal History. Willa's mother, Jennie Cather loved popular novels of the day including Waverly novels, novels by Ouida, Marie Corelli, and Sara Grand. O'Brien said that Willa Cather loved these novels during her adolescence, but not as an adult. They would have most likely been in her library however. Cather reviewed The Mill on the Floss in 1897 and Henry James was her first mentor. His works would be included. According to the Drew University Willa Cather collection, Katherine Ann Porter published an article about Cather in the New York Times Book Review, 9/25/49, two years after Cather's death. More later...

Sconset: Some more suggestions from Sharon O'Brien's book Willa Cather: The Emerging Voice,, Cather's most loved childhood books: 1895 Treasure Island; Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; Tom Sawyer; Robinson Crusoe; The Count of Monte Cristo; Otto of the Silver Hand.

In addition, O'Brien names the following as favorite authors: Scott, Thackeray, Poe, Hawthorne, Ruskin, Emerson, Carlyle, Shakespeare, Campbell and Moore. In 1897 Cather reviewed A.E. Housman's, A Shropshire Lad.
More to follow.

Has anyone contacted the Willa Cather Foundation? I visited Red Cloud a few years ago and visited her childhood home and the Foundation had all sorts of information.

I'll shoot them an email and see if they can add any titles.

I would love to help if a list of some sort is found. I live just outside of Gore, Va where Willa's family owned the farm "Willow Shade". It is a beautiful home. I was also lucky enough to be chosen to give away My Antonia this past year during the World Book Night book giveaway. My added pitch was that she lived in the area as a child, that really got people interested.