Kenneth Roberts Memorabilia: The Lively Lady ASE

Posted on September 27, 2018 by Danny

Last week I wrote about a new (to me) find regarding Kenneth Roberts books – the American Services Editions of The Lively Lady, Northwest Passage, Arundel, and Captain Caution. I’m surprised, honestly, that for all the years I’ve been reading and collecting Roberts’ books (20 years?) I’ve never heard of or seen the ASE editions. So last week was a bit of a treat to ‘discover’ something ‘new.’

This week I received an ASE copy of The Lively Lady. Honestly, they’re nothing to write home about. The binding is simple, there are no pictures or prints, and the covers look more like an advertisement than the front cover of a novel. Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but hold the book in wonder because I knew that a U.S. serviceman once carried this book with him while serving during war. As you can see in one of the images below, the book I have was once issued to an Alan L. Hunnicutt of the Corps of Engineers.

I have no idea who Hunnicutt is, but my mind is flooded with questions. Who was he? What did he think of the novel? Did it pass hands to other soldiers? What was Hunnicutt’s fate? And so much more. Perhaps these questions will never be answered. Nonetheless, this ASE (as with all others) is a piece of American history – definitely a treasure worth keeping.

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Kenneth Roberts in the Current News: Hodding Carter and Retracing Arnold’s March

Posted on September 19, 2018 by Danny

Kenneth Roberts’ first novel, Arundel, is the tale of Benedict Arnold’s ill-fated march to Quebec through the wilderness of Maine. Readers experience the pain and toil of the soldiers as they traverse boggy land, carry heavy bateau across rapids, and fight cold and hunger on their way to capture Quebec. It was an epic march; despite the loss of men and supplies, a remnant of Arnold’s army was able to meet up with General Montgomery to attack Quebec (though they failed in capturing the city).

If you recall, Kenneth Roberts’, through the narrator of Arundel, blames Reuben Colburn for the failed expedition. Colburn had built the bateau used to traverse the waters, but they ended up being more of a burden than a help. Like many other historians, Roberts blames Colburn for using green wood to build the boats, as well as using the wrong kind of boat needed for the expedition. Continue reading →

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Kenneth Roberts’ Books: ‘Lively Lady’ Armed Services Edition (Update)

Posted on September 17, 2018 by Danny

***I’ve updated this post in light of a comment left by a Roberts fan in Facebook. I’m keeping the original content and adding the update at the end.***

Just when you think you know your favorite author well, a surprise comes out of nowhere on the ever-expansive Internet. It’s been a while since I’ve last posted on this site, so last night I was scouring the Google news search feature to find any Kenneth Roberts tidbits to share. I was not disappointed.

Ten months ago, Nancy Noble (Archivist/Cataloger at the Maine Historical Society) wrote a very interesting piece for Bowdoin College’s “Community” section of their website, titled “‘With books in their pockets’: Armed Service Editions at Special Collections.” According to Noble, she recently had the opportunity to be a researcher at Bowdoin College Library’s archives department. Noble’s work has included “cataloging the World War I pamphlet collection” at MHS, and during her work she stumbled across a book titled “When Books Went to War: The Stories That Helped Us Win World War II by Molly Guptill Manning. Continue reading →

Filed under: K.R. Books, The Lively Lady | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

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