From the Jim and Ellen Website: "There is no consensus about the date of composition. There has been but one brief attempt to say what year it is supposed to take place in. Here is a summary of what has been said, and an argument on behalf of an 1801 calendar and another "gradual performance". … Continue reading A Calendar, the Characters, and a Story of The Watsons →

Autograph manuscript, written ca. 1793–94 and transcribed in fair copy soon after 1805. Purchased in 1947.