A LANDSCAPE
PAINTER
By
HENRY JAMES
NEW YORK
SCOTT AND SELTZER
1919
CONTENTS
I. A Landscape Painter
II. Poor Richard
III. A Day of Days
IV. A Most Extraordinary Case
PREFACE
The four tales comprising this volume are printed now for the first timein America in book form. All of them were written by Henry James beforehe had attained his twenty-fifth year. They are remarkable for theirmaturity of thought and clarity of style.
It has been the general opinion that James, like George Eliot, achievedhis literary development rather slowly, since it was known that he wasthirty-two years of age when "The Passionate Pilgrim," his firstcollection of tales, and "Rodrick Hudson," his first long novel, werepublished. As a matter of fact, however, James had been writing for theleading magazines since he was twenty-two. The first story in thisvolume, "A Landscape Painter," appeared in the Atlantic Monthly forFebruary, 1866, and was the second story James had published up to thattime.
The tales in this volume are among the most precious in our literature,and James himself thought highly of them, since he collected them in anEnglish edition, published in 1885, in three volumes with the title,"Short Stories Revived." This collection never appeared in America. Itis strange that James should have chosen to appeal to English readersrather than to his own countrymen. Why he did so is a question thatremains unanswered. But the present volume will serve as a corrective ofthis anomaly. The tales are reprinted, not from the English edition, butfrom the American periodicals in which they were first published.
It has been claimed for William Dean Howells that it was he whodiscovered James, when, as assistant editor to Fields on the AtlanticMonthly, he strongly recommended the acceptance of James' story, "PoorRichard." The claim, however, is not altogether well founded, sinceJames had published two stories before that time. These were "ALandscape Painter" and "A Day of Days," the latter appearing in theGalaxy for June 15, 1866. All three stories are reprinted in thisvolume.
Unusual interest, however, attaches to the tale of "Poor Richard,"because of Howell's connection with it. Its reading led to the beginningof a friendship between James and Howells which may be considered as oneof the great literary friendships in the annals of literature. Howellstold the story in the Century for November, 1882.
When the manuscript was received at the office of the Atlantic,Fields submitted it to Howells for his opinion. Howells read it, andwhen asked whether he would accept it, he replied, "Yes, and all thestories you can get from that writer." "One is much securer of one'sjudgment," writes Howells, "at twenty-nine than, say, at forty-five; butif there was a mistake, I am not yet old enough to regret it. The storywas called 'Poor Richard' and it dealt with the conscience of a man verymuch in love with a woman who loved his rival. He told the rival a lie,which sent him away to his death on the field, but poor Richard's liedid not win his love. It seems to me that the situation was strongly andfinely felt. One's pity went, as it should, with the liar; but the wholestory has a patho