Christmas Eve in a Mining Camp in Early 20th Century Business Ledger/Cookbook/Scrapbook Spokane, Washington

Item Details

Christmas Eve in a Mining Camp in Early 20th Century Business Ledger/Cookbook/Scrapbook Spokane, Washington

Clothbound ledger with leather corners. Spine entirely expired; all signatures loose. Likely missing several leaves. Poor Condition.

Despite the condition, this early 20th century ledger is intriguing with a mix of business ledger and scrapbook with manuscript and printed recipes plus 13-page manuscript story titled "Christmas Eve in a Mining Camp" attributed to Albert Bigelow Paine.

Albert Bigelow Paine who is best remembered as a friend and biographer of Mark Twain. One cannot help but wonder if Twain influenced this short story by Paine. The story takes place on Christmas Eve in a remote mining camp where flooding has prevented the daily stage from reaching the camp. A young very ill girl wishes only for a doll for Christmas. The miners in camp claim the trip is too dangerous while the camp doctor fears the child may not last until Christmas. Christmas is saved (and perhaps the young girls' life) when a dashing and mysterious young man in the camp agrees to fetch a doll from the closest town, risking life and limb from the floods.  This short story was published in 1902 in a holiday collection titled "Christmas Book" edited by Stanley Schell.

Business ledger appears to be from a mercantile, but a good portion is covered by pasted down recipes and scraps. Numerous clues point to Spokane Washington as point of origin for the book. Hundreds of recipes pasted down and laid in.