Three Vassar Girls Abroad
Elizabeth Williams Champney, Boston: Estes and Lauriat, 1883.
First edition, original pictorial boards, 4to, (front board creased, rear board lacking one corner, scattered soiling, extremity wear).
From the Vassar College Encyclopedia:
“Two years later, Champney finished the first of what would become a long series of “Three Vassar Girls” novels. Three Vassar Girls Abroad, illustrated throughout by Champ, recounts a lively tale of three Vassar students – Maud Van Vechten, the wealthy society girl; Barbara Atchison, the equally wealthy yet slightly eccentric West coaster; and Cecilia Boylston, the starving artist from Boston – on a leisurely romp across Europe. Over the next fourteen years, Champney produced ten more “Three Vassar Girls” volumes, situated everywhere from England to Switzerland to the Holy Land. Employing a “conversational” writing style, Champney managed both to entertain her young readers and to whet their intellectual appetites. In a typical “Three Vassar Girls” novel, the main characters tackle pertinent issues like bigotry and career development, while swooning over cute boys and attending garden parties.”
