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Reflections of a beginning husband: Classic Book Guide and Free Edition

Reflections of a beginning husband: author and translator credits, catalogue synopsis, subjects and links to the Gutenberg reading formats.

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AI-generated editorial illustration — not a photograph of the subject
AI-generated editorial illustration — not a photograph of the subject

Reflections of a beginning husband is catalogued by Project Gutenberg with author credits for Martin, Edward Sandford (1856–1939).

Catalogue synopsis

Project Gutenberg supplies this automated synopsis of the opening text:

"Reflections of a beginning husband" by Edward Sandford Martin is a humorous domestic novel written in the early 20th century. It follows Peregrine Jesup and Cordelia French as they rekindle a broken engagement, marry on a modest income, and navigate the pleasures and pressures of urban life. In witty, reflective episodes it weighs love, money, class expectations, and gender roles, all the way into early parenthood. The opening of the book finds Peregrine proposing a discreet elopement after a first engagement failed under the strain of youth, distance, and finances; a chance meeting on a streetcar leads to a candid park-side talk about “emancipation” from luxuries and the feasibility of marriage on sixty dollars a week. They choose the flat over fanfare, win over their indulgent parents, and set up house, their chief extravagance a capable maid, Matilda Finn, while Peregrine and Cordelia debate food, budgets, politics, and the value of simple pleasures. Domestic details spark broader reflections on muckrakers, money-making, social climbing, and the comforts (and costs) of modern conveniences. A weekend with wealthy friends prompts a lively defense of wanting more—tempered by contentment—and a comic reverence for hot water and bathrooms as emblems of progress. Soon a baby, Samuel, arrives, filling the flat and their days; amid kodak snaps, doting grandparents, and plans for schooling, Peregrine muses on women’s suffrage, the nature of governance, and how motherhood gives Cordelia absorbing purpose while her thrift steadies their household.

Book and edition facts

  • Title: Reflections of a beginning husband
  • Author credits: Martin, Edward Sandford (1856–1939)
  • Catalogue language: English

Catalogue subjects

  • Marriage -- Fiction
  • United States -- Social life and customs -- 20th century -- Fiction

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View the complete Gutenberg catalogue record. Project Gutenberg identifies this edition as public domain in the United States; that designation does not establish its copyright status in every country.

Source notes

Catalogue metadata is public domain and is supplied through Gutendex, which imports Gutenberg's machine-readable catalogue. The automated synopsis is source-supplied, not an independently verified review. Author dates above describe the credited people; no ebook release date is presented as the book's original publication date.

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