The Daredevil, by Maria Thompson Daviess … frontispiece from painting by E. Sophonisba Hergesheimer.
Chicago, The Reilly & Britton co. [c1916]
344 p. col. front. 20 cm.
The adventures of a plucky Franco-Americaine in the State of Harpeth. This was my first complete project, from Copyright Clearance to Scanning to DP Project to Submission.
“Was there ever a woman who did not very greatly desire for herself, at long moments, the doublet and hose of a man, perhaps also his sword, as well as his attitude in the viewing of life? I think not. To a very small number of those ladies of great curiosity it has been granted that they climb to those ramparts of the life of a man; but it was needful that they be stout of limb and sturdy of heart to sustain themselves upon that eminence and not be dashed below upon the rocks of a strange land. I, Roberta, Marquise de Grez and Bye, have obtained glimpses into a far country and this is what I bring on returning, not as a spy, but, shall I say, laden with spices and forbidden fruit?”
Maria Thompson Daviess was born in Harrodsburg, Kentuky in 1872, and grew up and attended college in Tennessee. She studied art and was a photographer and miniature painter, and exhibited in Paris. She became interested in writing after she returned to Tennessee from Europe and produced 13 novels, some of which she adapted to the stage. The Daredevil was made into a movie in 1918. She died in 1924.