Wayland Town Crier 4/5/13: Historical Society acquires Lydia Maria Child’s signed book. The Wayland Historical Society has recently come into possession of a signed, first-edition copy of Lydia Maria Child’s “Autumnal Leaves: Tales and Sketches in Prose and Rhyme.” The book was published in 1857, when Child was 55, a year after her father died. She regarded it as a kind of swan song, according to Historical Society member Jane Sciacca. Child was to live another 23 years. The book was an anonymous donation to the last library book sale.