Applewood Books

Chronicles the life of Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), a New-England born American novelist and short story writer, best known as the author of The Scarlet Letter.

The Short Biographies Series from Applewood Books are intriguing and entertaining short biographies that tell the details, insights and stories of renowned lives.

Trailblazing ornithologist Florence A. Merriam’s classic firsthand account of her adventurous and influential field work through Southern California on horseback, first published in 1896. 

A-Birding on a Bronco is Florence A. Merriam’s enduring personal narrative of the natural wonders and new bird species she encountered while surveying the southern California wilderness atop Canello, her trusty white bronco. 

As the first female member of the American Ornithologists’ Union, Merriam was a trailblazer in the emerging field of birding in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Merriam’s pioneering field work took her across the United States. Perhaps her greatest journey of all is recounted is A-Birding on a Bronco, a classic of American nature writing first published in 1896. Merriam’s lively prose is presented alongside original illustrations by famed artist and ornithologist Louis Agassiz Fuertes, his first-ever published work in what became a storied career. It’s all presented in fine detail in this facsimile printing of the original edition. 

In 1889 and 1894, respectively, Merriam journeyed West to document birds far from her native Northeast. A-Birding on a Bronco recounts these exciting horseback expeditions, vividly describing more than seventy bird species she found in the southern California backcountry, as well as introducing the colorful personalities she met along the way.  

Merriam today is regarded as an essential early voice for conservation, and A-Birding on a Bronco shows her important principles put into practice. In an era when capturing and killing birds for research was commonplace, she was among the first to advocate studying birds in their natural habitats to preserve species. It is a fundamental practice that endures today. Merriam also penned the highly influential book Birds Through Opera-Glass (1890), considered by many to be the first birding field guide ever published. 

Whether you’re a fan nature writing, or of first-person adventure narratives, A-birding on a Bronco stands out as a classic across genres. It’s why, more than a century later, A-birding on a Bronco still resonates with readers today. 

In 1848, James Marshall discovered a nugget of gold while excavating a ditch for a sawmill; by the end of 1849 over 100,000 people had migrated to California in hopes of striking it rich. Learn about the events, people, places, and life during the California gold rush. In this book you will find fifteen puzzles full of fun facts and trivia about this fascinating part of American history.

Melville’s Sumptuous Tribute to a New England Culinary Classic

Chowder is chapter fifteen from one of the greatest works of American literature, Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. It is so beautifully written, so descriptive and colorful, one can virtually smell the fishy, salt air and picture the warm interior of the Try Pots Inn. Curl up on a cold evening and taste the mouthwatering chowders of Nantucket’s most famous fictional landmark in this homage to New England’s classic dish.

This short work is part of Applewood’s American Roots series, tactile mementos of American passions by some of America’s most famous writers.

This history of Christmas is an endless delight, with stories about all your favorite Christmas traditions, from Mystic to Maine, the Berkshires to Boston.

Here are some of the more than fifty New England holiday traditions traced and described in this enchanting treasury: Charles Follen and the Christmas Tree Church, Flying Santa, Silent Santa, and Secret Santa; Rudolph, the Most Famous Reindeer, A Magical Ride on the Polar Express, Louis Prang, Father of the American Christmas Card, Candlelight Strolls at Old Sturbridge Village and Capt. James Magee's Holiday Party.

Historic Herbal Medicine

Nicholas Culpeper was a seventeenth-century English botanist, herbalist, physician and astrologer. Published over 350 years ago as a practical health guide, The Complete Herbal (1653) is still a definitive herbal guide for today. It contains a rich store of pharmaceutical and herbal knowledge, including herbs and where to find them, herb presentation, plasters and more. 

One of America's earliest books and one of the most important early Pilgrim tracts to come from American colonies.

This book helped persuade others to come join those who already came to Plymouth. Pilgrim Father Edward Winslow's first-person account of his experiences on the Mayflower voyage and the settling of the Plymouth Colony.

This two-hundred puzzle book also works as a travel guide to help travelers explore the public lands all across America. Stop at Sawtooth National Forest, Canaveral National Seashore, Grand Canyon National Park, and numerous other interesting and inspiring places along the way.

Whether you’re all cooped up or in your coupe, this unusual mix of puzzle book and travel guide will help you hit the real or virtual road and learn about places along the way. Throw it in the back seat and let your antsy passengers have fun and learn. Or make a pit stop, grab a cup of coffee, and puzzle through where you’ll go next. From your car or your couch, the road trips in this book help you discover places that reveal diverse aspects of America's public lands—national parks, forests, rivers, mountains, wildlife refuges, monuments, heritage and natural history sites, and other inpsiring stops. Enjoy the journey!

The first personality assessment book of its kind, this fun and innovative classic from 1927 helped set the standard for interactive gamebooks. 

Innovative co-authors Mary Alden Hopkins and Doris Webster helped establish our enduring fascination with self-improvement by cleverly formulating a personality test that employs the easy-to-use format of a game. Here’s how it works. 

I’ve Got Your Number presents readers with a group of five categories containing five questions each. Your answers to the questions in each category determine your “number”, and your number reveals insights into your personality gleaned directly from your responses. A wide range of categories provide a well-rounded accounting of your personal qualities.  

What attributes should you look for in your ideal romantic partner? How do you best thrive at work? What traits might be holding you back? These topics, and so many more, are addressed within the pages of this quality facsimile edition of the original book. 

This fun and useful framework for self-analysis has delighted readers for decades and set the stage for others to come. Before there was Myers-Brigges, there was Hopkins and Webster. Indeed, nearly one hundred years later, the personality assessment presented in I’ve Got Your Number proves that while times change, our quest for self-knowledge remains constant. 

The 1917 book purportedly dictated from beyond the grave by Mark Twain.

Was Jap Herron the work of Mark Twain or a scam that capitalized on the heightened belief in the paranormal during the early 20th century? We invite everyone to read and decide for themselves... or let the Ouija board decide.

Several years after Mark Twain’s death in 1910, Emily Grant Hutchings claimed that Twain dictated this novel from the beyond, letter by letter, over a Ouija board. She went on to publish it with Mitchell Kennerley in 1917. When the Twain estate discovered the book, they took Hutchings to court, demanding that she either declare herself a fraud or surrender all profits and rights to the estate. The lawsuit was dropped when Hutchings agreed to cease publication and destroy the remaining unsold books—but she never retracted her claims. 

Set in the antebellum South, Jap Herron’s title character (Jasper James Herron) rises out of poverty to become a central figure in his small Missouri town. In a lengthy introduction, Hutchings recounts unidentified spirits meddling with the story, apparitions sent by Twain to haunt the medium’s dreams, and insights into Twain’s postmortem personality.

Discover the Vanished Historic Cottages of Newport

Featuring more than one hundred vintage views of cottages built from the early nineteenth century to the early twentieth century, Lost Newport highlights fifty-two summer houses, no longer existing, in an evocative guide that gives depth to any Newport experience.

An exquisite collection of sketches of original jewelry by Tiffany Studios designer Meta Overbeck.

A facsimile edition of artist Meta Overbeck’s notebook of Tiffany & Co jewelry designs, along with a fascinating introductory essay about the significance of the book.

This archival treasure contains exquisite gemstone compositions that were a source of designs for Louis Comfort Tiffany’s increasingly well-known company in the early twentieth century.

Meta Overbeck (1879-1956) was an artist and longtime head of the enamel and jewelry department at Tiffany & Co. Throughout her time at Tiffany, Overbeck built her design book, a carefully assembled, thirty-six-page tour de force. She rendered her jewelry designs in gouache, watercolor, ink, and pencil before adding her meticulous annotations and piecing together the drawings onto kraft paper.

Overbeck’s niece donated her aunt’s sketchbook to the Morse Museum in 1978, where it is housed as a permanent exhibit. Both the exhibit and this facsimile reproduction ensure that Meta Overbeck’s remarkable talent and her vital contributions to the Tiffany legacy reach as wide an audience as possible.

A Treatise on the Power of Optimism

Rendered deaf and blind by scarlet fever at the age of a year and a half, Helen Keller— with the help of Anne Sullivan, other teachers, and her own determination— learned to read, write, and speak several languages. Keller became an advocate for people with disabilities and fought for human rights her entire life. In 1903, while attending Radcliffe College— she was the first deaf blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree— she wrote Optimism Within. This short work is part of Applewood’s American Roots series, tactile mementos of American passions by some America’s most famous writers and thinkers.

Stories from an Icon of the Oregon Trail

In 1852, Ezra Meeker, his wife, and baby traveled along the Oregon Trail by ox-cart from Iowa to Oregon. In 1906, he reversed his steps and went back to Iowa, and spent most of his ninety-eight years on earth traversing the route, promoting the Oregon Trail and founding the Oregon Trail Association. Published in 1822, his memoir Ox-Team Days remains a captivating account of his days along the trail and the harrowing adventures of a life devoted to its preservation. 

Originally published in 1896, bestselling author and naturalist Frances Theodora Parsons  wanted to create a children's reading book designed to help children develop their reading skills while learning all about plants and developing a lifelong interest in nature.  Full of intricate sketches and illustrations and designed to follow a plant's life throughout a child's school year, this children's botany guide is full of interesting details told in a sweet and friendly narration. Considered one of best children's books of its day, this guide will delight children, adults, and botanical enthusiasts alike.

Wit and Wisdom from an Icon of of the American Twentieth Century

This elegantly stamped gift edition hardcover contains nearly one hundred quotations on hope, humanitarianism, and more from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

“People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.”

⁃Eleanor Roosevelt, My Day, Eastport, Maine, August 1, 1941

Notable Quotations from Lyndon B. Johnson 

This pocket-sized hardcover book, elegantly stamped with Johnson’s signature on the cover, contains dozens of quotations from America’s 36th President, Lyndon Baines Johnson. 

“Until justice is blind to color, until all education is unaware of race, until opportunity is unconcerned with the color of men’s skins, emancipation will be a proclamation, but emancipation will not be a fact.” -Lyndon B. Johnson, remarks at Gettysburg, May 30, 1963

This richly illustrated, Gilded Age inspired sketchbook reveals a fascinating side of a titan of American architecture alongside pages for a reader’s own expressions of beauty.

Considered the preeminent nineteenth century American architect, Richard Morris Hunt (1827–1895) designed some of the greatest landmarks of the Gilded Age such as the Vanderbilt mansions, including Biltmore, the Breakers, Marble House and more. Part of the unique milieu of Hunt’s inspiration was his devotion to the art of collecting. From fine art and jewelry to antiques and collectables, Hunt scoured Europe and America for objects of interest. He kept extensive sketchbooks of his drawings and notes that reveal not only his collecting mindset, but the ideas, aesthetics and inspirations that shaped his approach to architecture. 

Author Sam Watters presents a glimpse inside the creative mind of Richard Morris Hunt, and explores a historic and elegant world of beauty. Including pages for sketches and notes inspired by Hunt’s designs.

An impassioned poem with Buddhist imagery and messages of environmentalism, social justice, and enlightenment.

Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet Gary Snyder composed Smokey the Bear Sutra” one spring night in 1969 at a Sierra Club conference. Smokey the Bear is not the U.S. Forest Service’s Smokey Bear, the latter being a highly recognized advertising symbol protected by Federal law. Rather, the imagery of this Smokey comes from Buddhism; according to Snyder, Smokey the Bear Sutra is a dharma protector, modeled after Fugo, the Japanese patron of ascetics and yogis. The message of the Sutra is that we as beings are responsible to protect all other life down to the smallest forms— do no harm, protect our collective selves, and honor the great impermanence.

This short work is part of Applewood's American Roots series, tactile mementos of American passions by some of America's most famous writers.

First published in 1824, Tales of a Traveller included some of Washington Irving's most Gothic stories, set throughout Europe rather than in the familiar haunted precincts of the Hudson River Valley.

Years before Edgar Allen Poe began his literary career, Irving was already in the business of scaring readers silly. Read them... if you dare!

O. Henry’s classic 1905 Christmas story in an elegant gift hardback with illustrations. A treasure for readers of any age.

This sentimental holiday classic follows a young married couple and the sacrifices made to purchase cherished gifts for each other only to discover the true gift of Christmas is not found in objects but in their own devoted love. 

The Applewood Holiday Classics series presents some of the most beloved holiday short stories in a warm, elegant hardback edition with attractive illustrations. Perfect as a cherished seasonal book or a holiday gift for any occasion.

Puzzle your way through the Golden State

Discover the Great State of California through this 150-puzzle puzzle book in the best-selling Great American Road Trip series. Eureka! You've found it. From Avenue of the Giants to Zzyzx Road & Mineral Springs in Baker, the word finds and other puzzles will be sure to entertain, educate and whet your appetite for a real or armchair journey through the Golden State.

Discover a Lost Classic ABC Book from L is for Locomotive to Z is for Zeppelin

Acclaimed American artist and illustrator Charles Buckles Falls followed up his successful and groundbreaking ABC Book with this striking Modern ABC Book, published in 1930. Featuring modern Art Deco–inspired lettering and vibrant coloring, Falls’s stylish woodblock alphabet remains attractive and enticing today. From “E is for Electric Engine” to “S is for Skyscraper,” these incredible illustrations reflect the excitement of new technology and industry that continue to define the American spirit.

These streets of the mountain are not highways but byways well-travelled by water and animals and other mountain dwellers.

Mary Austin's prose evokes the glory, power, and spirituality of nature. Streets of the Mountain is excerpted from Austin’s Land of Little Rain (1903), an essay collection about the Californian landscape.

“All mountain streets have streams to thread them, or deep grooves where a stream might run. You would do well to avoid that range uncomforted by singing floods. You will find it forsaken of most things but beauty and madness and death and God. Many such lie east and north away from the mid Sierras, and quicken the imagination with the sense of purposes not revealed, but the ordinary traveler brings nothing away from them but an intolerable thirst.”