Ina Coolbrith, hailed as "the Sappho of the West" in a 1 March 1928 obituary in The New York Times, was a friend and adviser to Bret Harte, Joaquin Miller, and Charles Warren Stoddard. She composed technically adept, conventionally styled verses for a newly founded San Francisco periodical, the Overland Monthly, and she continued to write poetry until her death, leaving a legacy of more than two hundred uncollected poems and three published volumes that reflect a writer of admirable talent and noteworthy accomplishment.

Coolbrith was popularly identified as the only woman in the Bohemian-styled writers group that regularly congregated in the editorial offices of the Overland, which sought to challenge the Atlantic Monthly for a share of American literary eminence; moreover, she brought discipline, intelligence, and sensitivity to critical discussions of the content and policy of the journal. Indeed, although she was content to remain in the background, Coolbrith...