The Islands of Boston Harbor (Snow Centennial Editions) - Softcover

Snow, Edward Rowe

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1933212853 ISBN 13: 9781933212852

Publisher: Commonwealth Editions, 2008

Synopsis

A reissue of Edward Rowe Snow's first book, covering the legends and history of nearly every rock and island in Boston Harbor, including Boston Light and Graves Light. The first (1935) edition resulted from research Snow did at Harvard under the tutelage of the great maritime historian Samuel Eliot Morison. When the 1971 edition of the book was published, a critic for the Boston Post wrote, "Mr. Snow has the gift of making his subject vivid and personal in its anecdotal touches . . . It is a volume of chatty yet dignified essays, with many a light touch brought in." This centennial edition contains the complete 1971 text, with annotations by Jeremy D'Entremont to bring the information up to date.

About this title

From the Publisher:

Edward Rowe Snow. It is a name we have been forced to reckon with in five years of building Commonwealth Editions as a publisher of nonfiction books about New England and its historic places. Edward Rowe Snow. Everywhere we heard the name—from readers, from booksellers, from historians, from other authors. Nowhere we saw the books.

Not new books, anyway. New editions of Snow weren’t anywhere to be found. Snow’s out of print, we were told. Hasn’t been in print for fifteen years. Love to see him in print, booksellers told us. People ask for his books all the time.

We found fan clubs devoted to Edward Rowe Snow and catalogs and web sites filled with used copies of his books. More than once we heard the joke that a first edition of his work is more valuable unsigned than signed: Snow was such a tireless promoter of his own work, so willing to sign books anywhere on any occasion, that the unsigned book is rare indeed.

We could not find his books, but we found his legend everywhere. It seemed to us that half of New England had grown up "at the feet" of Edward Rowe Snow, taking in his tales like mother’s milk or a good bowl of chowder on a cold, stormy day. And booksellers virtually begged us to reissue Snow’s books. Ken Gloss of the legendary Brattle Book Shop in Boston was typical: "Not a week goes by," he told us, "that I don’t get a request for a book by Edward Rowe Snow." Or maybe he said day.

It was Gloss who finally tipped us off to the whereabouts of the one person on earth who literally grew up at the feet of Edward Rowe Snow. Dorothy Snow Bicknell, an extraordinarily kind and gentle woman known to what must be countless friends as "Dolly," is Snow’s daughter and only child. On a cold November day, we met Dolly at the South Shore Mall, where a model "Lighthouse Santa" still pays tribute to Snow. She charmed us with her devotion to her father’s memory. And I like to think she recognized Commonwealth Editions as a publisher that could do justice to that memory.

With Dolly we met Jeremy D’Entremont, who proved to be much more than a passionate fan of Edward Rowe Snow (we already knew plenty of those). As knowledgeable as he is dedicated, Jeremy provided the key to this new centennial edition of Snow’s work—by respectfully updating and, here and there, gently correcting the master’s work. At the end of each chapter are Jeremy’s notes, which bring Snow’s text to the present day. It is too bad there are no lighthouse keepers anymore, because Jeremy D’Entremont was born for the work. A beacon kept lit with his discernment and devotion would keep vessels safe in the severest weather, on the craggiest shore.

Snow partisan Bob Jannoni provided encouragement for this new edition, and designer Judy Barolak gave it grace and dignity. Bill Stokinger of the Metropolitan District Commission provided photos and reviewed the text. Steve Csipke developed a new, thematic index. One other person is worthy of note. Our managing editor, Penny Stratton, pulled together with Dolly and Jeremy and the many talented contributors and, against all odds, brought this new edition of Edward Rowe Snow to port. All involved with this project have been invigorated by the spirit and legend of Edward Rowe Snow.

Webster Bull
Commonwealth Editions Publisher
Summer 2002

About the Author:

Edward Rowe Snow (1902-1982) is remembered as one of the most vivid chroniclers of New England maritime history. Beginning with the publication of The Islands of Boston Harbor in 1935, he made his name as a historian of the New England coast - and also as a popular storyteller, lecturer, preservationist, and treasure hunter. For forty years, Snow flew to the lighthouses of New England as the "Flying Santa," dropping Christmas parcels for the keepers and their families. A granite memorial to Edward Rowe Snow, "Mr. New England," on Georges Island in Boston Harbor was dedicated in 2000 by his many friends.

An heir to the great tradition of Edward Rowe Snow, Jeremy D'Entremont has been writing about New England maritime history for more than two dozen years. Webmaster of "New England Lighthouses: A Virtual Guide" at www.newenglandlighthouses.net, he is founder of Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouses and historian of the American Lighthouse Foundation. Jeremy is the series editor of the centennial editions of Edward Rowe Snow, and he has written a series of authoritative guides to America's lighthouses. He is also the author of Great Shipwrecks of the Maine Coast. He lives in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

About this edition

• Publisher: Commonwealth Editions
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1933212853
• ISBN 13: 9781933212852
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 244