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Donald Grant Mitchell, better known by his pseudonym "Ik Marvel," was born in Connecticut. He graduated from Yale in 1841. Mitchell traveled throughout Europe from 1844-46. An essayist, novelist and agriculturalist, he had a major interest in farming and town-planning. His works include Fresh Gleanings; or, A New Sheaf from the Old Fields of Continental Europe; Dream Life; and Reveries of a Bachelor.

Works in the EAF Collection

"The Bride of the Ice-King" from The Knickerbocker Gallery (1855) (Restricted)

Doctor Johns: Being a Narrative of Certain Events in the Life of an Orthodox Minister of Connecticut (1866) [Volume 1] [Volume 2] (Restricted)

Dream Life: A Fable of the Seasons by Ik. Marvel [pseud] (1851) (Restricted)

Fudge Doings: Being Tony Fudge's Record of the Same. In Forty Chapters (1855) by Ik. Marvel [pseud] [Volume 1] [Volume 2] (Restricted)

The Lorgnette; or, Studies of the Town by an Opera Goer (1850) [Volume 1] [Volume 2] (Restricted)

Reveries of a Bachelor; or, A Book of the Heart by Ik Marvel [pseud] (1850) (Restricted)

Seven Stories, with Basement and Attic (1864) (Restricted)

EAF Manuscript Materials

Letter: Mitchell to Harper (no date)

Letter: Mitchell to Charles Scribner (April 1851)

Letter: Mitchell to James Thomas Fields (December 27 1864)

Document: Cancelled check

Photo: Donald Grant Mitchell

Contemporary Biographies

From Oscar Fay Adams, A Dictionary of American Authors (1901)

From Samuel Austin Allibone, A Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1900)

From Evert A. Duyckinck, Cyclopaedia of American Literature (1856)

Other Resources

Electronic Edition of "Smoke, Flame and Ashes," the first sketch in Reveries of a Bachelor , from the Electronic Text Center

Guides to Donald Grant Mitchell manuscript holdings from UVA Special Collections :

Mitchell, Donald Grant, Letter: #7061-h

Mitchell, Donald Grant Postcard: #7061-i