Horses Nine

Ford, Sewell, 1868-1946Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.7

Word count: 203K words
Chapters: 21

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Horses Nine by Sewell FordAuthor: Ford, Sewell, 1868-1946,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Nov 16, 2006

Editor's review

Horses Nine is a work by the American writer Sewell Ford (1868–1946), made available as a free ebook by Project Gutenberg. Ford is known for a light, humorous style, and this book continues his popular narrative manner, unfolding around the thread of "horses"; it is suitable as an introductory read for understanding American popular literature of the late nineteenth to early twentieth century. The Gutenberg edition is convenient to obtain, textually complete, and preserves the original language, allowing readers to experience the vocabulary and syntax of English of that time. Note that this edition is an English-language original ebook with no Chinese translation, so readers need some English proficiency; it is also a digitized reissue of a public-domain book rather than a scholarly edition with annotations or an introduction. It suits fragmentary reading during commutes or travel, can serve as extensive English reading material, or can be read from a literary-history perspective as a sample of serial-style popular writing in American periodicals.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English learners who want to improve their language sense through extensive reading of English originals
Readers interested in American popular literature of the late nineteenth to early twentieth century
Casual readers who enjoy light, humorous, slice-of-life narration
Digital humanities enthusiasts studying Project Gutenberg public-domain ebooks

Not a good fit for

Readers who only read Chinese translations and are unaccustomed to English originals
Researchers who need detailed annotations, introductions, or scholarly editions
Those who prefer serious literature or contemporary subjects and have limited interest in early popular works

Reading tips

First read one or two opening chapters to get used to the author's humorous tone and period vocabulary, then decide the pace for reading the whole book.
Keep a vocabulary notebook recording recurring period idioms and colloquial expressions, and review them together afterwards.
Read alongside works by other American popular writers of the same period to appreciate the common features of serial-style periodical writing.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a Chinese version or the English original?

This entry corresponds to the English-language original ebook released by Project Gutenberg; the text is in English and contains no Chinese translation. Readers with a good foundation in English can read it directly; beginners are advised to use a dictionary or reference tools and to try the opening section first to judge the difficulty.

What are the features of the Gutenberg edition?

Project Gutenberg provides free, public-domain electronic texts; this edition is its digitized reissue, with a complete text that is convenient to obtain, but it generally contains no modern editorial annotations, introduction, or illustration notes. It is better suited to independent reading than to academic citation.

Do I need to know the author's background to understand it?

Not necessarily. The book's narration is relatively self-contained and light in tone, so readers can enter it directly. To understand its popular writing style more deeply, one may briefly learn about Sewell Ford's life and the period in which he wrote, but this is not a prerequisite for understanding the text.

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About the author

Ford, Sewell, 1868-1946 Author

Sewell Ford (1868–1946) was an American writer of popular fiction. Public information about him is limited, and few details of his life survive, but the twelve works held in the collection show that he was best known for light, humorous serial fiction. His representative works include Wilt Thou Torchy, The House of Torchy, Torchy and Vee, Torchy, Private Sec., and Torchy As A Pa, a series of stories built around the character Torchy, along with Shorty McCabe and On With Torchy. Judging from the titles and the series structure, his writing drew on everyday urban life, office settings, and family scenes, with a comic tone and vivid characters suited to popular reading and newspaper serialization. Such character-driven series were well received in early twentieth-century American popular literature, and they helped his work remain in print and survive to the present, offering a glimpse of the urban life and humor writing of his time.