# Touchstone (Wharton 1900)

The first of Wharton's many stories describing life in old New York. one or more chapters are available in a spoken word format.
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THE TOUCHSTONE
BY EDITH WHARTON
AUTHOR OF THE
GREATER INCLINATION
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S
SONS, NEW YORK: 1900
* Chapter I
* Chapter II
* Chapter III
* Chapter IV
* Chapter V
* Chapter VI
* Chapter VII
* Chapter VIII
* Chapter IX
* Chapter X
* Chapter XI
* Chapter XII
* Chapter XIII
* Chapter XIV
Copyright, 1900, by Charles Scribner's Sons
D. B. Updike, The Merrymount Press, Boston
BY EDITH WHARTON THE GREATER INCLINATION 12mo $1.50
CONTENTS :
| The Muse's Tragedy | A Journey |
| The Pelican | Souls Belated |
| A Coward | The Twilight of the God |
| A Cup of Cold Water | The Portrait |
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS
Eight pieces of delicate texture and artistic conception. Every one of them has the external shape and coloring of the world in which we mingle day by day, and every one of them is at heart a poignant spiritual tragedy. This may sound like extravagant praise, but no conventional commendation would be adequate for such a book. Between these stories and those of the ordinary entertaining sort there is a great gulf fixed.—The Dial.
Marked by great technical skill, by keen humor, and by a style which is individual and striking. There is a quality of distinction about her work not merely of style but of character.—The New York Sun.
This book of short stories comes out of America, and it is good. It is very good. Mrs. Wharton is one of the few to grasp that obvious but much neglected fact that the first business of a writer is to be able to write. "The Greater Inclination" is distinguished and delightful.—The Academy.
If we were to single out one book from those that have been published this season as exhibiting in the highest degree that ​rare creative power called literary genius, we should name "The Greater Inclination," by Mrs. Edith Wharton.—The Bookman.
Her style is as finished as a cameo, and there is nowhere an indication of haste or crudity or the least inattention to detail. Only a woman to the manner born in society, a woman, too, whose literary favorites or her literary masters may have been Thackeray or James, since she partakes of the spirit of the one, and has followed the exquisite workmanship of the other, could have written "The Pelican" or "Souls Belated."—Literature.
Mrs. Wharton has not only observed people carefully, but has really perceived the subtle significance of their ordinary aspects, so that her figures are not only individuals but types. This sympathetic and suggestive portrayal and the generally optimistic and moral tone make "The Greater Inclination" a book of really great value.—Boston Transcript.
Mrs. Wharton shows us so much delicacy of touch, so much clarity and neatness of style, and at times so much profundity of comprehension as to make her volume quite unique among the books that have been sent to us this year. . . . We could go on quoting indefinitely, so full is Mrs. Wharton's book of thoughts that are startlingly original in substance and given with a most vivid sense of form; but we prefer to commend the volume most unreservedly to every reader, since nothing that we have seen this year in fiction-writing has seemed to us so memorable, both in its choice of subjects, its mastery of style, and its piquant art that makes one think and wonder.—N. Y. Commercial Advertiser.
Charles Scribner's Sons, Publishers 153–157 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.
The longest-living author of this work died in 1937, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 86 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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