FREEMAN & NORTH AMERICAN MEMBER KATHERINE DIMANCESCU PUBLISHES HER HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATED NON FICTION NARRATIVES IN THE UK

Ms. Dimancescu’s publications may now be of particular interest to fellow Stationers due to the recent donation to The Stationers’ Company Archives of a page from a first edition of The Eliot Bible; interest from fellow Stationers may thus arise in these publications given their discussions of some of Ms. Dimancescu's maternal forebears, who were contemporaries of Reverend John Eliot and members of his congregation in the settlement of Roxbury, Massachusetts Bay Colony before and during the period in which he was establishing and preaching to Native Americans in Praying Villages he established. When doing research for her second publication Denizens Ms. Dimancescu undertook archival and historical site visits to present-day South Natick, Massachusetts where she spent time with a 17th century intact copy of The Eliot Bible housed in The Natick Historical Society’s archives; this historical society is situated across the street from the site of the meeting house where Reverend Eliot preached to members of a Praying Village he established in the early 1650s. One of the research themes which intrigued Ms. Dimancescu and which she explored in Denizens was how an early colonial New England conflict now known as The Pequot War (1637) and its aftermath placed Reverend John Eliot on a path which led to the creation of The Eliot Bible. 

      For fans of Gregory Maguire’s books in his “Wicked” series, “Wicked” the musical, and those eagerly anticipating the soon to be released (as of the time when this was written) big screen depiction of “Wicked,” Ms. Dimancescu’s books also contain historical and genealogical discussions concerning Thomas Stanton, one of her maternal forebears who was 17th century English immigrant to New England and after his arrival an early Native American interpreter; he, along with his wife Anna (Lord) Stanton, who was a fellow 17th century English immigrant to New England, also became forebears of author L. Frank Baum. It was Baum who originally conjured up and then first introduced generations of readers to the land of Oz and its array of memorable inhabitants and visitors. When researching Thomas Stanton’s life in southern New England and his work as an early Native American interpreter for both of her books Ms. Dimancescu learned he came close to losing his life during The Fairfield Swamp Fight, which took place in July 1637 in the midst of The Pequot War; if he had been killed it is to be considered that there would may never have been centuries later a man born in New York State named L. Frank Baum and, in turn, no writing by him when residing in Chicago about the land of Oz.