Archibald Rutledge – författare

Carolina Christmas collects for the first time holiday stories of Archibald Rutledge (1883-1973), one of the most prolific outdoor and nature writers of the twentieth century and the first poet laureate of South Carolina. Some of Rutledge''s finest writing revolves around his vivid memories of hunt, hearth, and holidays. These memories are celebrated in this keepsake collection of enduring stories and poems, further augmented with traditional recipes and food lore associated with the season.

Archibald Rutledge spent decades teaching at Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania. All the while he supplemented his income through his writings in order to support a growing family and restoration efforts at Hampton Plantation, his ancestral home in coastal South Carolina—now a state historic site. Each Christmas, Rutledge returned to his cherished Hampton Plantation for hunting, celebrations of the season, and renewal of his decidedly Southern soul. This annual migration home meant the opportunity to enjoy hunting and communion with nature—so vitally important to him—and to renew acquaintances with those living on neighboring plantations and with the African American community he immortalized in his book God''s Children.

Rutledge wrote dozens of stories and poems revolving around the Hampton Hunt, fellowship with family and friends, the serenity of the winter woods, and his appetite for seasonal Southern foodways. Edited by Jim Casada, this collection highlights the very best of Rutledge''s holiday tales in a vibrant tapestry through which Christmas runs as a bright, sparkling thread. In these tales of Christmas past—each representative of the author''s sterling literary reputation and continuing popularity—Rutledge guides us once more into a world of traditions now largely lost. But to tread those forgotten trails once more, to sample and savor the foods he loved, and to experience vicariously the sport he so enjoyed is to experience the wonder of yesteryear.

Archibald Rutledge''s story "The Doom of Ravenswood" is a harrowing account of the power of the natural world and of the dangers for humans and animals alike to be found in the ominous swamps of the South Carolina lowcountry. As the narrator of this cautionary tale is riding home astride his faithful horse, Redbird, to Ravenswood Plantation, he is compelled to stop along the isolated road to pick wildflowers. But the untamed wilderness has laid a trap for the traveler, and he quickly finds himself sinking helplessly into the inescapable pull of the morass. With Redbird his only ally in this deadly predicament and with fate and nature set squarely against him, the narrator must use his wits if he is to survive.

The short story "The Doom of Ravenswood" was written for publication in an early twentieth-century boy''s magazine and was first collected in the privately printed Eddy Press edition of Old Plantation Days (c. 1913). Limited to just a few hundred copies, the Eddy Press edition is highly prized by Rutledge collectors and includes these four stories—"Claws," "The Doom of Ravenswood," "The Egret''s Plumes," and "The Ocean''s Menace"—not found in the more widely available 1921 Stokes edition of Old Plantation Days.

A project of South Carolina Humanities benefiting the South Carolina literary programs, this new edition of The Doom of Ravenswood is illustrated in handsome charcoal etchings by southern artist Stephen Chesley. Award-winning outdoors writer and noted Rutledge scholar Jim Casada provides the volume''s introduction and Lillian Smith Award-winning writer William Baldwin offers an afterword.

An expanded edition of Rutledge''s stories on game-bird hunting and devoted canine companions

Archibald Rutledge has long been recognized as one of the finest sporting scribes this country has ever produced. A prolific writer who specialized in stories on nature and hunting, over the course of a long and prolific career Rutledge produced more than fifty books of poetry and prose, held the position of South Carolina''s poet laureate for thirty-three years, and garnered numerous honorary degrees and prizes for his writings. In this revised and expanded edition of Bird Dog Days, Wingshooting Ways, noted outdoor writer Jim Casada draws together Rutledge''s stories on the southern heartland, deer hunting, turkey hunting, and Carolina Christmas hunts and traditions.

This collection, first published in 1998, turns to Rutledge''s writings on two subjects near and dear to his heart that he understood with an intimacy growing out of a lifetime of experience—upland bird hunting and hunting dogs. Its contents range from delightful tales of quail and grouse hunts to pieces on special dogs and some of their traits. Bird Dog Days, Wingshooting Ways also includes a long fictional piece, "The Odyssey of Bolio," which shows that Rutledge''s literary mastery extended beyond simple tales for outdoorsmen.

An inspiring illustrated story that illuminates the lessons the natural world has to offer

Limited Leather Numbered Edition (limited to 100 copies)Archibald Rutledge''s suspenseful story "The Egret''s Plumes" is a cautionary tale exalting the virtues of good sportsmanship, conservation of the natural world, and the universality of parental instincts. Fleeing the relentless plume hunters of their native Florida, a pair of exquisite snowy egrets make a new home—and then a new family—in the South Carolina lowcountry swamps of Blake''s Reserve. When the male egret is killed by a poacher, the female is left to defend her nest and raise their hatchlings. Will Ormond, a restless and reckless hunter and heir to the reserve''s plantation, spots the surviving egrets after a day of disappointments with his original prey. As he wades into the swamp to gain a better position for his kill shot with his only remaining cartridge, Will comes to recognize elements of his relationship with his own mother in the selfless devotion of the female egret to her young. In this moment of uncharacteristic hesitation, he also realizes that he is no longer alone in the brackish waters of the reserve and that the hunter may have become the hunted.

"The Egret''s Plumes" is an inspiring, allegorical narrative that illuminates the pitfalls awaiting immoral acts and the saving virtues of selflessness and compassion. This short story was written for publication in an early twentieth-century boy''s magazine and was first collected in the privately printed Eddy Press edition of Old Plantation Days (c. 1913). Limited to just a few hundred copies, the Eddy Press edition is highly prized by Rutledge collectors and includes these four stories—"Claws," "The Doom of Ravenswood," "The Egret''s Plumes," and "The Ocean''s Menace"—not found in the more widely available 1921 Stokes edition of Old Plantation Days.

A project of South Carolina Humanities benefiting South Carolina literary programs, this new edition of The Egret''s Plumes is illustrated in handsome charcoal etchings by southern artist Stephen Chesley. Award-winning outdoors writer and noted Rutledge scholar Jim Casada provides the volume''s introduction, and outdoors writer and author Jacob F. Rivers III offers an afterword.

A beloved storyteller''s finest tales of outdoor adventure and the sporting experience

Archibald Rutledge ranks as one of America''s best-loved and most prolific outdoor writers. He had a rare knack for capturing the joys of a life lived close to the land, the beauty of the outdoors, the thrill of hunting, and the camaraderie at the heart of the sport. Award-winning outdoor writer Jim Casada has chosen thirty-five stories that represent Rutledge at his best. This collection invites present-day outdoor enthusiasts to partake of the pleasure that the masterful storyteller shared with legions of admiring readers during his lifetime.