A Memory of Vermont

Title: A Memory of Vermont: Our Life in the Johnny Appleseed Bookshop
Genre: Autobiography/Memoir
Author: Margaret Hard
Design: Paul Bacon Studio
Publisher: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., New York, New York
Year: 1967
Pages: 244
Format: Hardcover, with dust jacket.
Provenance: Inscription on first page in ball-point pen: “To Polly on her Birthday—from Mom & Pop. November 11, 1968.” Also contains a sticker from the Johnny Appleseed Bookshop in Manchester, Vermont, and the author’s signature on page 1.
Chapter Title Examples: The First Summer—1930; The New Location; Emancipation—1935; Robert Frost Writes an Introduction—1936; The Depression and Legislative Years—1939-1940; 1964-1965.
Opening Sentence: “The Johnny Appleseed Bookshop began its life in 1930 in the village of Manchester, in the township of Manchester, in Vermont.”
Random Passage: “When Victoria came to the English throne she revived old virtues. It became fashionable to be modest, religious and sensitive. Soon, however, these virtues became ends unto themselves. Prudishness and piety began to overflow in a sea of social smugness and hypocrisy. The sea rose so high and lapped so hard that presently it lapped on American shores.” (from “Believe-It-Or-Not in Vermont”)
Goodreads Review: “A nice little book full of stories about the Johnny Appleseed Bookshop in Manchester, Vermont, started in 1930, and the community of writers and poets who supported it including Carl Sandburg, Robert Frost, Dorothy Canfield and others. Walter and Margaret Hard and their daughter Ruth ran the store until 1965 when they sold it to the last owner who kept it going until 1994. A look back in time to when reading great literature was a way of life.” — Lee Ormasa, Jan. 15, 2014.
Notes: A nostalgic subject is given a modern spin with Paul Bacon’s playful cover design. Bacon (1923-2015) was responsible for many an iconic cover design for the best-selling novels from the 1960s and ’70s, including Catch-22, Rosemary’s Baby, Portnoy’s Complaint, Ragtime and Shogun.