This book contains the first of many personal diaries of Katharine Camilla Buchanan who, in December of 1888, is 13 years old and living a very privileged life with her parents and three younger brothers at: 320 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachu... Read more

This book contains the first of many personal diaries of Katharine Camilla Buchanan who, in December of 1888, is 13 years old and living a very privileged life with her parents and three younger brothers at: 320 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts.Katharine loves to write in great detail about clothing that she both observes and wears, and the numerous books and magazine articles that she has read. Art works and plays that she has viewed in person, usually with her Mamma and friends, also receive wonderful commentary and description. Refreshingly, in my opinion, communication in 1888/89 was mostly by written letter and frequent visits with friends and relatives. Telephone conversation was not even a reality, and travel was by horse, horse carriages and trains. January 1, 1889 saw the dawn of the first electric horse cars in Boston and Katharine was one of the first patrons to ride on them, an experience that she also writes about with amusing anecdotes.This book's cover is sketch of a girl holding a book, and it is an actual sketch that I found on one of Katharine's diary pages that is drawn by Katharine herself. I imagine it might be a 19th Century selfie of Katharine standing in full length while holding her latest favorite book: her Diary!In trying to preserve as much authenticity of that by-gone era, I have presented Katharine's exact spelling of words, some of which are rarely ever spoken in today's modern day English. I have also used the same punctuation marks and cross-throughs as they are actually depicted in Katharine's personal hand-written diary. Less