The American Biographical Sketch Book

New York: Nafis & Cornish, 1848. First edition. Hardcover. fair. Lg. octavo. 408pp. Original cloth richly decorated in gold. Marbled page edges. Frontisportrait of Zaddock Pratt. Engraved title-page. Includes biographies of 18th & 19th centuries American personalities such as John Quincy Adams, Benjamin Franklin, James Fennimore Cooper, Thomas Jefferson, Washington Irving, Frederick Tallamadge, Martin van Buren, Daniel Webster, and many others. Illustrated with b/w reproductions of engravings and drawings. Heavy age wear and staining on binding. Head and tail of spine chipped. Sporadic foxing throughout, heavy foxing to margins of some plates. Cloth on back board split along joints. Hinges starting. Binding in poor, interior in overall good condition.