1809 · New York [&c
by [Irving, Washington]
New York [&c: Published by Inskeep & Bradford [et al, 1809. Two volumes. xxiii,268; [2],258pp., plus folding engraved frontis. Contemporary tree calf, gilt morocco labels, with modern red cloth wrappers. Neatly rebacked, with original spines laid down. Bookplates on front pastedowns, contemporary ownership inscriptions on front pastedown of volume one and titlepage of volume two. Moderate foxing and tanning. Good plus. In a red cloth slipcase. First edition of Irving's first independent literary work, published in an edition reported to have consisted of only 2,000 copies. Irving initially undertook to write this work as a satire of Mitchell's pretentious A PICTURE OF NEW YORK, but upon completion, he had accomplished nothing less than the "first original non-scholarly American book" (GROLIER AMERICAN HUNDRED), far more a comic history than any semblance of a literal history. The frontispiece is a folding panorama of "New Amsterdam (Now New- York)." GROLIER AMERICAN 100, 28. BAL 10098. LANGFELD & BLACKBURN, pp.11-12.
(Inventory #: WRCAM52435)