The Touchstone
Edith Wharton
Paperback
(Forgotten Books, Sept. 16, 2017)
Excerpt from The TouchstoneThe title of this little book' calls for a word of ex planation from me.In the United States the story appears as T he Touch stone. While it was passing through the press over here, I was informed that a novel under this name was already in circulation. In accordance with the usual rule of courtesy and convenience which is observed in such matters, I decided to alter the title, and wrote at once to the author, asking permission to call her book The Touch of a Vanished Hand. As the author was travelling in Italy, a month elapsed before I received a reply, by telegraph, instructing me to adopt another title which unfortunately has also been forestalled. Meanwhile the sheets had all been printed ofl', when I was informed that a novel was published in 1889 called The Touch of a Vanished Hand.In telegraphing, the author gives me no address, and as a decision has to be made without further delay, I have ventured to give the book the title which it now bears - A Gift from the Grave; and I hope that no other claimant to this will now arise.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.