Grace Livingston Hill's Short Stories & Collections
Before she became famous as a novelist, Grace Livingston Hill wrote short stories for many publications. Over the years, many of these stories have been collected and published in book form. The earliest of these, "Katherine's Yesterday", was one of the first Grace Livingston Hill books ever published.
In the 1930's, J. B. Lippincott published a series of small Grace Livingston Hill books they called "pamphlets". These short stories were published in addition to Grace's regular novels in both hardback and paperback editions and are very rare. We list them as books in our GLH book lists, since they were produced individually. However, these short stories appear in many of the short story collections published in later years. Since they were published during the Great Depression, we suspect they were meant for readers whose budget was tight. Inside the jacket of one of these treasures (a hardback edition) is the price of the book—50¢.
After Grace's death in 1947, her daughters published a collection entitled, "Miss Lavinia's Call". Since then, many of those stories and quite a few others have been collected, published, and re-published for eager Grace Livingston Hill readers to enjoy. Here is our listing. Have we missed one? This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The Forgotten Friend
The Forgotten Friend is a Christmas Story, published in 1916 by The Congregational Christmas Offering Committee. This short story was published as a paper pamphlet and came with a beautiful full-color, fold-out, die-cut bank. This is an unusual example of Grace's work used to promote a missionary campaign.
The text inside the front cover of the pamphlet tells about the campaign:
The Six Congregational Missionary Societies have united in a campaign to secure a free-will offering from the Christian Church during the coming Christmas season. Christmas Gift Boxes, artistically lithographed in colors and gold, will be provided for family gifts.
During the weeks immediately preceding Christmas, as presents are being purchased for friends and relatives, this Christmas box, having been placed in the home, will be a reminder of the debt of gratitude owed to the truest and best of Friends, and the question will come,
"What offering can we make that will be most pleasing to Him who gave Himself for a lost world?"
The hearty, personal co-operation of all members of Congregational Churches will guarantee a missionary gift that will greatly honor Him who said: "As my Father hath sent me into the world even so send I you into the world."
Katherine's Yesterday
1895 • Lothrop Publishing Company
This short story collection, whose long title is "Katherine's Yesterday and Other Christian Endeavor Stories", is one of Grace's earliest published in book form. She wrote for numerous Christian publications in her early career and this volume collects many of them in one place.
Intro
ductory Chapter - One Day
Katherine's Yesterday
Christian Endeavor Leaven
Some Peculiar People in Our Society
How Adelaide Went to the Convention
Why Adelaide Stayed Home from the Convention
John Chamberlain's Easter Coat
They Might, But They Didn't
Pledge-Makers and Pledge-Breakers
An Old Missionary Meeting
Some Carols for the Lord
"Because of the Pharisees"
"For Whom Christ Died"
"Living Epistles"
The Unknown God
Under the Window
The Minister's Bonnet
A selection of these stories were republished in 1984 by Tyndale House
Katherine's Yesterday
1984 • Living Books/Tyndale House • ISBN 0-8423-2030-X
Katherine's Yesterday
An Excuse for Christ (Originally Christian Endeavor Leaven)
John Chamberlain's Easter Coat
A Voice Unheard (Originally They Might, But They Didn't)
The Pledge (Originally Pledge-Makers and Pledge-Breakers)
A Missionary Meeting (Originally An Old Missionary Meeting)
Some Carols for the Lord
The Praise of Men (Originally "Because of the Pharisees")
The Love Gift (Originally The Minister's Bonnet)
"Living Epistles"
The Unknown God
Under the Window
Other stories from the original "Katherine's Yesterday" appeared in other collections:
How Adelaide Went to the Convention
and
Why Adelaide Stayed Home from the Convention
appeared in The Forgotten Friend
1994 • Living Books/Tyndale House • ISBN 0-8423-1391-5
"My Brother's Keeper" (Originally "For Whom Christ Died") appeared in
The Honeymoon House
1984 • Living Books/Tyndale House • ISBN 0-8423-1366-4
Five stories appeared in The Love Gift (Cameo Series #1)
1984 • Robert L. Munce Publishing Co. • ISBN 0-8423-3846-2
The Love Gift (Originally The Minister's Bonnet)
"My Brother's Keeper" (Originally "For Whom Christ Died")
"Living Epistles"
The Unknown God
Under the Window
Christian Endeavor Stories, Volume 1 & 2
1992 • Amereon House (publishing division of Amereon, Ltd.)
A new edition was reprinted in 2012
Christian Endeavor Stories Volume 2 contains the same titles as Tyndale's Katherine's Yesterday. Volume 1 includes "My Brother's Keeper" (Originally "For Whom Christ Died")
Katherine's Yesterday
An Excuse for Christ (Originally Christian Endeavor Leaven)
John Chamberlain's Easter Coat
A Voice Unheard (Originally They Might, But They Didn't)
The Pledge (Originally Pledge-Makers and Pledge-Breakers)
A Missionary Meeting (Originally An Old Missionary Meeting)
Some Carols for the Lord
The Praise of Men (Originally "Because of the Pharisees")
The Love Gift (Originally The Minister's Bonnet)
"Living Epistles"
The Unknown God
Under the Window
Miss Lavinia's Call
1949 • J. B. Lippincott and Harper & Row
Later reprinted by Grosset & Dunlap
In Paperback: Bantam Books (1982) and Living Books/Tyndale House (1991) as #64
Miss Lavinia's Call
Something Quite Forgotten
A Government Position
Star of Wonder
The Ransomers
The Esselstynes
Safety First
Quet Hands
A Journey of Discovery
A King to Rule
The Call
Majority's Hearth
A Fair Foreclosure
The Forgotten Friend
This collection of stories was published after Grace's death by her daughters and includes her first book, "The Esselstynes". Most of the stories were written for Chrstian magazines or papers, but "The Forgotten Friend" was published as a booklet that accompanied a small paper folding bank. It was part of a Christmas campaign for The Congregational Christmas Offering Committee and you can read more about it here.
The Short Stories of Grace Livingston Hill
1976 • The American Reprint Company
Beggarman
The Story of the Lost Star
Her Wedding Garment
The House Across the Hedge
This book's pages are exact copies of the 1930's "pamphlets" or small short story books published by J.B. Lippincott.
Christian Endeavor Stories
1992 • Amereon House (publising division of Amereon Ltd.) A new edition was reprinted in 2012.
Volume 1 contains the same titles as Living Books/Tyndale House's "The Honeymoon House".
Volume 2 contains the same short stories as Living Books/Tyndale House's "Katherine's Yesterday".
Volume 1
The first nine stories were published by J.B. Lippincott in the 1930's as individual "pamphlets". "My Brother's Keeper" is from "Katherine's Yesterday and Other Christian Endeavor Stories" (1895)
The Honeymoon House
Life Out of Death
The Minister's Son
The Old Guard
The House Across the Hedge
The Wedding Garment
The Divided Battle
The Strange God
The Lost Message
"My Brother's Keeper"
Volume 2
These stories are taken from "Katherine's Yesterday and Other Christian Endeavor Stories" (1895).
Katherine's Yesterday
An Excuse for Christ
John Chamberlain's Easter Coat
A Voice Unheard
The Pledge
A Missionary Meeting
Some Carols for the Lord
The Praise of Men
The Love Gift
"Living Epistles"
The Unknown God
Under the Window
The Honeymoon House
1984 • Living Books/Tyndale House • ISBN 0-8423-1366-4
The Honeymoon House (Originally Dwelling)
Life out of Death
The Minister's Son
The Old Guard
The House Across the Hedge
The Wedding Garment
The Divided Battle
The Strange God
The Lost Message
"My Brother's Keeper" (Originally "For Whom Christ Died")
"My Brother's Keeper" originally appeared as "For Whom Christ Died" in "Katherine's Yesterday" published by D. Lothrop Company
The rest of the stories in this collection were published individually by J.B. Lippincott Co. in the 1930's as what they called "pamphlets". These small-sized books each contained one story and sold for as little as 50 cents.
The Love Gift
1984 • Tyndale House (Cameo Series #1) • ISBN 0-8423-3846-2
The Love Gift (OriginallyThe Minister's Bonnet)
"My Brother's Keeper"
(Originally "For Whom Christ Died")
"Living Epistles"
The Unknown God
Under the Window
All of these stories originally appeared in "Katherine's Yesterday" published in 1895 by D. Lothrop Company.
Grace Livingston Hill Books
The 1930's "Pamphlets"
During the 1930's, J.B. Lippincott released a series a small books in addition to Grace's regularly published novels. They were called "Pamphlets" in Lippincott's promotional brochures...
...but the inside cover of "The Best Birthday" lists the remaining titles as "Twelve Short Stories".
These little treasures are just 4.75" x 6.25". Some editions can be found in hardback with dust jackets and others are simply paper. Their color varies from edition to edition. Often the paper editions are found without the stiff cover.
While difficult to find in their first editions, the stories have been reprinted over the years in various collections for GLH readers to enjoy. Check out "The Honeymoon House", "The Short Stories of Grace Livingston Hill", or "Christian Endeavor Stories" to find them.
The 1932 Pamphlets
Beggarman • Her Wedding Garment
The House Across The Hedge
The Story of The Lost Star
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The 1935 Pamphlets
The Handmaid of The Lord
Life Out of Death
The Old Guard • The Strange God
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The 1938 Pamphlets
The Divided Battle • Dwelling
The Lost Message • The Minister's Son
The Best Birthday
(A Christmas Entertainment for Children)
The Best Birthday was a Christmas play written by Grace for the Sunday School she began at The Leiper Church in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.
From the foreward: "One Christmas we decided that in place of the usual common-place Christmas tree, and the usual "pieces" recited and sung in honor of Christmas, it would be well to have something that would fix in all our minds the real meaning of Christmas, making plain the prophecies concerning Christ's coming and their fulfillment, and making God's plan of salvation the central thought...It grew as we began to practice it, and as other girls and boys came into it.
...So, for three successive Christmases we have given this story of "The Best Birthday" over again, with the same young actors taking the parts. The actual given names of our young people are used in the text...And we, the young people and I who have been giving it, send greetings and glad Christmas wishes to all who shall care to use it hearafter." —Grace Livingston Hill
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