Volume III (1876-1900) of Lyle Wright's "American Fiction" would be a place to start looking. Tedious to do, but just sitting down and scanning the titles and the brief notes under most of his entries might uncover some untrodden ground. Since Wright lists every book of fiction (both novels and short stories) by an American author of this period, you'd have great coverage, but the weakness is that Wright doesn't provide very good notes for anyone seeking themes, characters, or motifs, although he's so-so when it comes to genres. Still, with Wright in one hand and a mouse pointed at google in the other, you'd be ready to rumble. Maybe point that mouse at vivisimo since they have very useful "clustered" search results perfectly suited to this kind of enquiry Kevin Mac Donnell Austin TX