1865

  Receives gift of spitz puppy, Foxy, beginning a lifelong passion for small dogs.

  1866

  Post–Civil War depression in real estate market causes family to move to Europe for prolonged residence in attempt to economize. Sails to England in November with parents, nurse Hannah Doyle (“Doyley”), and brother Henry, who begins law studies at Trinity Hall College, Cambridge.

  1867

  Family spends year in Rome. Befriends Margaret (“Daisy”) and Arthur Terry, children of American painter Luther Terry and niece and nephew of Julia Ward Howe. Daisy, later Daisy Chanler, will be lifelong friend.

  1868

  Family travels through Spain and settles in Paris. Taught to read by father; recites Tennyson for visiting maternal grandmother. Begins “making up,” inventing stories using parents and their friends as characters. Is allowed to read Louisa May Alcott, The Water Babies, and Alice in Wonderland, but not Mark Twain, Bret Harte, or “Uncle Remus.”

  1870–71

  Stays at Wildbad, a spa in Württemberg, while mother takes water cure. Studies New Testament in German, takes walks in Black Forest. Suffers severe attack of typhoid fever (later remembers convalescence as beginning of recurrent apprehension of “some dark undefinable menace forever dogging my steps, lurking and threatening”). Family settles in Florence at end of 1870.

  1872–75

  Family returns to the United States, dividing year between three-story brownstone on West 23rd Street, New York, and Pencraig, their summer home in Newport, Rhode Island. At Pencraig rides pony, swims in cove, watches archery contests, visits neighboring family of astronomer Lewis Rutherfurd. Studies French, medieval and romantic German poetry with Rutherfurd family governess, Anna Bahlmann (who later becomes her governess, and, in the 1890s, a regular correspondent), but parents believe that formal education would be too much of a strain after her convalescence for typhoid fever. Attempts, at age eleven, to write first novel, which begins, “‘Oh, how do you do, Mrs. Brown?’ said Mrs. Tompkins. ‘If only I had known you were going to call I should have tidied up the drawing-room.’” Shows draft to mother, who comments, “Drawing-rooms are always tidy.” Begins lifelong friendship with sister-in-law Mary (“Minnie”) Cadwalader Jones, wife (later divorced) of brother Frederic. In father’s eight-hundred-volume New York library finds histories (including Plutarch, Macaulay, Carlyle, Parkman), diaries and correspondence (Pepys, Cowper, Madame de Sévigné), criticism (Sainte-Beuve), art history and archaeology (Ruskin, Schliemann), poetry (Homer and Dante in translation, most English poets, some French), and a few novels (Scott, Irving). Mother forbids the reading of contemporary fiction until marriage. Later remembers reading as “a secret ecstasy of communion.” Summer 1875, forms close friendship with Emelyn, daughter of Edward Abiel Washburn, rector of Calvary Church, New York. (Emelyn forms a romantic attachment to Edith, which Wharton later characterizes as “degenerate.”)

  1876–77

  Begins Fast and Loose, 30,000-word novella about trials of ill-starred young lovers, autumn 1876. Keeps enterprise secret from everyone except Emelyn Washburn. Finished January 1877, manuscript includes mock-hostile reviews (“every character is a failure, the plot a vacuum”). Her first published work is translation of “Was die Steine Erzählen” (“What the Stones Tell”) by Heinrich Karl Brugsch in Saturday magazine, completed with the assistance and published under the initials of the Reverend Washburn.

  1878–79

  Verses, volume of twenty-nine poems, printed in Newport, arranged and paid for by one of her parents. Poem “Only a Child” appears in the New York World. Summer 1879, Newport neighbor Allen Thorndike Rice, editor of the North American Review, shows some of her poems to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who then sends them to William Dean Howells. Howells accepts five for publication in March and April 1880 issues of Atlantic Monthly. Makes social debut a year early, at age seventeen, perhaps due to father’s ill health.

  1880–81

  Courted in New York, Newport, and Bar Harbor, Maine, by Henry Leyden Stevens, twenty-one-year-old son of socially ambitious widow Mrs. Paran Stevens. November 1880, goes to southern France with mother and ailing father. Henry Stevens joins them September 1881.

  1882

  Father, age sixty-one, dies in Cannes in March. Inherits over $20,000 in trust fund and a share of father’s estate. Taken up by social set of brother Henry, men fifteen to twenty years older than her. In August, engagement to Henry Stevens announced in Newport, with marriage scheduled for October. Engagement is broken off in October, apparently at insistence of Mrs. Stevens, who found Edith to be too much of “an ambitious authoress.” Travels with mother to Paris.

  1883

  Spends summer at Bar Harbor. Meets Walter Van Rensselaer Berry, twenty-four-year-old Harvard graduate studying for admission to the District of Columbia bar. In August, Edward Robbins (“Teddy”) Wharton, friend of brother Henry, arrives in Bar Harbor and begins courtship. A thirty-three-year-old Harvard graduate interested mainly in camping, hunting, fishing, and riding, he lives with his family in Boston and receives a $2,000 annuity from them.

  1884

  In October, hires Catherine Gross, Alsatian immigrant, as personal attendant (she will be Wharton’s companion and housekeeper for over four decades).

  1885–88

  Marries Edward Wharton April 29, 1885, at Trinity Chapel, New York City. Claims later in life not to have known “what being married was like” until several weeks after her marriage. Henry Stevens dies of tuberculosis, July 18, 1885. Whartons move into Pencraig Cottage, small house on mother’s Newport estate, leaving every February for four months of European travel, mostly in Italy. Introduced by Egerton Winthrop, wealthy New York art collector and their occasional traveling companion, to contemporary French literature and works of Darwin, Huxley, Spencer, Haeckel, and other writers on evolution. Meets Henry James in Paris, 1887, but is too shy to speak to him. Whartons spend a year’s income (about $10,000) on four-month Aegean cruise, 1888. Learns in Athens that she has inherited $120,000 from reclusive New York cousin Joshua Jones. Begins to suffer from periodic asthma, exhaustion, and anemia. Rents small house on Madison Avenue, New York City.

  1889

  Four poems accepted for publication by Scribner’s Magazine, Harper’s Monthly, and Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine. Rents narrow house on Fourth Avenue near 78th Street (eventually 884 Park Avenue), later purchasing it for $19,670 in November 1891.

  1890–92

  Father-in-law William Craig Wharton commits suicide, May 1891. Short story, “Mrs. Manstey’s View,” accepted by Scribner’s May 1890, published July 1891. Rents out Park Avenue house for $1,300 a year until 1896. Sister-in-law Minnie Jones separates from brother Frederic after discovering his infidelity in 1887 with Elsie West (whom he will later marry). Works on long short story, “Bunner Sisters.” It is rejected by Scribner’s, December 1892.

  1893

  Buys Land’s End, Newport estate overlooking the Atlantic, for $80,000 in March. Works with Boston architect Ogden Codman on decoration of its interior. French novelist Paul Bourget and his wife are guests. Three stories, “That Good May Come,” “The Fulness of Life,” and “The Lamp of Psyche,” accepted by Scribner’s, whose editor, Edward Burlingame, proposes a short-story volume for Charles Scribner’s Sons. Wharton agrees, suggesting inclusion of “Bunner Sisters.” Sails for Europe in December.

  1894–95

  Burlingame rejects “Something Exquisite” (later revised and published as “Friends”). Writes to him from Florence, expressing gratitude for his criticism and doubt about her abilities. Travels through Tuscany. Visits Violet Paget (“Vernon Lee”), English novelist and historian of eighteenth-century Italy. After research at monastery of San Vivaldo and in Florence museums, identifies group of terracotta sculptures, previously thought to date from the seventeenth century, as work of the late fifteenth- to early sixteenth-century school of the Robbias. Writes article for Scribner’s on her findings and surrounding Tuscan landscape. Notifies Burlingame in July 1894 that short-story volume will need another six months to prepare. Suffering from intense exhaustion and nausea, breaks off correspondence with Burlingame for sixteen months. Writes “The Valley of Childish Things, and Other Emblems,” collection of ten short fables, and sends it in December 1895 to Burlingame, who rejects it.

  1896–97

  Writes, with architect Ogden Codman, The Decoration of Houses, study of interior arrangements and furnishings in upper-class city homes. Shows incomplete manuscript to Burlingame, who gives it to William Brownell, senior editor at Scribner’s. Manuscript rejected by English publisher Macmillan. Minnie and Frederic Jones divorce. Summer 1897, resumes friendship with Walter Berry, who stays for a month at Land’s End, assisting Wharton in the revision of The Decoration of Houses. Wharton persuades Brownell to increase the number of halftone plates and makes extensive recommendations concerning the book’s design. Published by Scribner’s December 1897; sales are unexpectedly good. In 1897 or 1898, mother moves to Paris (brothers Frederic and Henry both live in Europe); meetings and correspondence with her become infrequent.

  1898

  Writes and revises seven stories from March to July, despite recurring illness. In letter to Burlingame, discusses her earliest stories: “I regard them as the excesses of youth. They were all written ‘at the top of my voice,’ & The Fulness of Life is one long shriek—I may not write any better, but at least I hope that I write in a lower key.” Takes out $50,000 mortgage on Land’s End to purchase 882 Park Avenue, adjoining 884 Park, for household staff to live in. Goes to Philadelphia in October; suffers from depression and illness, while also continuing to write.

  1899

  January, settles with Edward for four-month stay in house at 1329 K Street in Washington, found for them by Walter Berry, who becomes close literary adviser and supporter. The Greater Inclination, long-delayed collection of short stories, published by Scribner’s in March to enthusiastic reviews; sales exceed 3,000 copies. Protests to Scribner’s that book has been insufficiently advertised. Begins extensive correspondence with Sara (“Sally”) Norton, daughter of Harvard professor Charles Eliot Norton. Summer, travels in Europe, where mother is terminally ill in Paris; joined by the Bourgets in Switzerland; tours northern Italy with them, through Bergamo and Val Camonica. Returns to Land’s End in September. Seeking escape from Newport climate, visits Lenox, Massachusetts, in fall.

  1900

  Novella The Touchstone (in England, A Gift from the Grave) appears in the March and April Scribner’s; published by Scribner’s in April, selling 5,000 copies by year’s end. Travels in England, Paris, and northern Italy, again accompanied by the Bourgets. Spends summer and fall at rented house, The Poplars, in Lenox while Edward goes on yachting trip. Begins work on novel The Valley of Decision. Makes notes for “A Moment’s Ornament,” which eventually becomes The House of Mirth. Sends Henry James copy of “The Line of Least Resistance”; he responds with praise and detailed criticism, encouraging further effort. Wharton removes story from volume being prepared.

  1901

  February to June, negotiates purchase for $40,600 of 113-acre Lenox property extending into the village of Lee. After breaking with Codman, hires architect Francis V. L. Hoppin to design house modeled on Christopher Wren’s Belton House in Lincolnshire, England. Oversees landscaping and gardening. Crucial Instances, second volume of stories, published by Scribner’s in April. Mother dies in Paris, age seventy-six, on June 1. Her will leaves large sums outright to Frederic and Henry but creates a trust fund for Wharton’s share of the remainder of the estate, which will revert to brother Frederic upon Wharton’s death. Trust eventually amounts to $92,000, of which Wharton may only draw on the estate rental income; total annual income from parents’ and Joshua Jones’s trusts is about $22,000. Wharton visits London and Paris and persuades her brothers to make husband Edward co-trustee with brother Henry. Works on play The Man of Genius (never finished) and on dramatization of Prosper Mérimée’s Manon Lescaut (never produced).

  1902

  The Valley of Decision, historical novel set in eighteenth-century Italy, published by Scribner’s in February in two volumes. Wharton criticizes its design while it is being prepared. Suffers from nausea, depression, fatigue after publication. Reviews are generally enthusiastic and sales are good, about 25,000 copies in the first six months. Begins Disintegration, novel set in contemporary New York society, but does not finish it, and considers (but never begins) a sequel to The Valley of Decision. Writes travel articles, poetry, theatrical reviews, and literary criticism, including essays on Gabriele D’Annunzio and George Eliot. Translates Hermann Sudermann’s play Es Lebe das Leben as The Joy of Living (it runs briefly on Broadway and in London and sells in book form for a number of years). Henry James writes Wharton in August that The Valley of Decision is “accomplished, pondered, saturated,” and “brilliant and interesting from a literary point of view,” but urges her to abandon historical subject matter “in favour of the American subject. . . . Do New York! The 1st-hand account is precious.” Rehires Codman as decorator for Lenox house. Meets Theodore Roosevelt in Newport at christening of his godchild, son of Wharton’s friends Daisy and Winthrop Chanler, beginning a long friendship. Moves into Lenox house, named “The Mount” after Long Island home of Revolutionary War ancestor Ebenezer Stevens, in September. Edward is ill in summer.

  1903

  January, sails for Italy with ailing husband. Travels slowly north from Rome through Tuscany, the Veneto, and Lombardy, inspecting estates for series of articles commissioned by R. W. Gilder for Century. Enjoys her first automobile ride. Visits Violet Paget at Villa Pomerino outside of Florence. Meets art expert Bernhard Berenson, who strongly dislikes her. (They later become close friends.) Goes to Salsomaggiore, west of Parma, for treatment of her asthma, the first of many regular visits. Spends summer and fall at The Mount, with interval at Newport. Sells Land’s End for $122,500, June 13. Begins work on The House of Mirth. Writes Sally Norton in August that Edward seems to be having “a sort of nervous collapse.” Novella Sanctuary published by Scribner’s in October. Sails for England, early December. Henry James visits London, from Rye, in mid-December.

  1904

  Edward purchases their first automobile, a Panhard-Levassor. With Edward driving, travels south to Hyères for a stay with the Bourgets, then to Cannes and Monte Carlo and back across France. In England, visits Henry James in Rye and tours Sussex with him. Returns to Lenox in late spring. Enthusiastic about motor travel, hires Charles Cook as a permanent chauffeur (he retains this position until 1921, when he suffers a stroke). The Descent of Man, collection of stories, published by Scribner’s in April. After reading reviews, writes Brownell that “the continued cry that I am an echo of Mr. James (whose books of the last ten years I can’t read, much as I delight in the man) . . . makes me feel rather hopeless.” Hires Anna Bahlmann as secretary and literary assistant. Agrees with Burlingame in August to begin serialization of The House of Mirth in January 1905 Scribner’s; undertakes schedule of intense work (usually writing in the morning) to meet deadline. (Finishes in March 1905; serialized January–November.) House guests at The Mount include Brooks Adams and his wife, George Cabot Lodge (son of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge), Walter Berry, and Gaillard Lapsley, American-born don of medieval history at Trinity College, Cambridge. Henry James arrives in October with his friend Howard Sturgis, whom Wharton calls “the kindest and strangest of men.” Italian Villas and Their Gardens, based on magazine articles written the previous year, published by The Century Company in November and spurs a revived interest in classic Italian gardens. Returns to New York just before Christmas.

  1905

  Henry James visits at 884 Park Avenue for a few days in January. Whartons dine at the White House with President Roosevelt in March. Italian Backgrounds, sketches written since 1894, published by Scribner’s in April. After European trip in spring, including visit to Salsomaggiore for asthma treatment, returns to The Mount. House guests include printer Berkeley Updike, illustrator Moncure Robinson, publisher Walter Maynard, Robert Grant, novelist and judge of the probate court in Boston, and Henry James. Visits Sally and Charles Eliot Norton. The House of Mirth published by Scribner’s, October 14, in first printing of 40,000; 140,000 copies in print by the end of the year, “the most rapid sale of any book ever published by Scribner,” according to Brownell. Literary earnings for year exceed $20,000. Reviews generally favorable. Begins novel Justine Brent (later retitled The Fruit of the Tree). December, undertakes collaboration on stage version of The House of Mirth with playwright Clyde Fitch.

  1906

  Sails for France, March 10. Through Paul Bourget, enters intellectual and social circles of Paris, especially those of the Faubourg St. Germain. Among new acquaintances are poet Comtesse Anna de Noailles, historian Gustave Schlumberger, and his close friend, Comtesse Charlotte de Cossé-Brissac. Goes to England at the end of April. Whartons and Henry James make short motor tour of England. Visits Queen’s Acre, Howard Sturgis’s home in Windsor, for the first time (it soon becomes the center of her English social life). Meets Percy Lubbock, young writer and disciple of Henry James. Returns to France and takes motor tour with brother Henry, visiting cathedrals at Amiens and Beauvais, and Nohant, home of George Sand. Returns to Lenox in June and continues working on Justine Brent. Novella Madame de Treymes appears in the August Scribner’s (published by Scribner’s in March 1907). September, goes to Detroit with Edward and Walter Berry to see first performance of stage version of The House of Mirth. October opening in New York is a critical and commercial failure; Wharton calls the experience “instructive.” Edward is away from Lenox, hunting and fishing, during much of the fall. Literary earnings for the year total almost $32,000.

  1907

  Returns to Paris in January and rents the apartment of the George Vanderbilts at 58 Rue de Varenne, in the heart of the Faubourg St. Germain. The Fruit of the Tree serialized in Scribner’s, January–November. March, takes a “motor-flight” through France with Edward and Henry James, visiting Nohant and touring southern France. Invites James to stay for another month, and takes a short automobile trip with James and Gaillard Lapsley. Engages instructor to teach her contemporary French; for a lesson exercise, writes a precursor sketch of Ethan Frome. April, sees much of William Morton Fullerton, forty-two-year-old Paris correspondent for the London Times, former student of Charles Eliot Norton, and friend of Henry James. Spends summer at The Mount. Sales of The Fruit of the Tree, published by Scribner’s in October, reach 60,000. Reviews are good. Fullerton arrives at The Mount in October for a two-day visit. Wharton begins a journal addressed to him. Returns to Paris in December. The House of Mirth appears as Chez les Heureux du Monde in the Revue de Paris, translated by Charles du Bos, a young follower of Bourget.