Letters from abroad to kindred at home

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1841. FIRST EDITION. With 29 pages of publisher’s advertisements in Volume I and 2 pages of publisher’s advertisements in Volume II. Without the half-titles. Cloth over hard boards, gilt design on front covers and red spine labels; new endpapers, very light foxing, tear to Volume II title page mended with tape. From the library of the noted Biblical scholar J[ames] Glentworth Butler (1821-1916) with a presentation label to the Long Island Historical Society pasted on the front free end-paper of each volume, library stamp and release on the title page of each volume. First edition. Sedgwick (1789-1867) was a prominent early American novelist, writing at the same time as James Fenimore Cooper. She wrote mainly fiction and short stories with female protagonists, many of whom were quite unconventional for the time. This work is a departure from her normal genre and describes the author’s travels through England, Belgium, Switzerland, and Germany in a series of letters.