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The Significance of the Frontier in American History. [Within]: Proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin at its Forty-First Annual Meeting Held December 14

The Significance of the Frontier in American History. [Within]: Proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin at its Forty-First Annual Meeting Held December 14, 1893.

Turner, Frederick Jackson First printing. Very rare, most especially in this unopened state! 173pp. plus frontis and 2 further plates. [Turner's essay covers pp. 79-112]. Original gray wrappers printed in black. Minor repair with archival material to upper corner of front cover and first two leaves. Slightest of wear to spine ends. A very fine copy throughout, entirely uncut. The epochal thesis of Frederick Jackson Turner (1861-1932) as it was originally published in the Proceedings of the Wisconsin Historical Society for 1893. Considered the most influential American historiography. Turner argued that the open frontier and the moving western frontier exerted a strong influence on American democracy and in shaping the American character, as well as equal significance on our national identity. Turner's thesis had a tremendous impact. This was his keystone paper in which he suggested that "the uninterrupted search for 'free land' and its corollary, the constantly moving 'frontier,' with its new opportunities, its continuous touch with the simplicity of primitive society, furnish the forces dominating the American character" (Printing and the Mind of Man). [Grolier, American 100, 96. Streeter Sale: 4288; Howes I: T-422; Howes II: T-427; Graff: 4209; Printing And the Mind of Man: 379].
  • $12,500
  • $12,500
book (2)

Picturesque America. A Delineation by Pen and Pencil With Illustrations on Steel and Wood by Eminent American Artists [4 volumes]

Bryant, William Cullen [Editor] First Bristish edition. 4 volumes. Each volume published seperatly, one each subsequent year, in 1894, 1895, 1896, 1897. Quarto. 12x9 inches. Pp. xi, 278 + ix, 290 + ix, 287 + vii, 306. Profusely illustrated throughout with 48 steel engravings and a multitude of woodcuts. General index. Beautifully bound in the publisher's full teal cloth, decoratively stamped in maroon and gold, gold eagle at top of front cover, corners elaborately stamped, spine gilt, all edges gilt. Owner's small address stamp to upper corner of blank flyleaves. Just a hint of foxing to two or three ends, but a very fine and crisp set, almost as new. Picturesque America was first issued in America as a two-volume set of books describing and illustrating the scenery of America. It was published by D. Appleton and Co. of New York in 1872 and 1874, edited by the romantic poet and journalist William Cullen Bryant. The works essays, together with its hundreds of wood engravings and some four dozen steel engravings are considered to have had a profound influence on the growth of tourism and the historic preservation movement in the United States. The steel engravings in the original American publication are often found heavily foxed. Our engravings in this first British edition are pristine. The steel-engravings related to California include The Golden Gate, Mount Shasta, Mirror Lake (Yosemite Valley), and Californians Lassoing a Bear. Also included are Emigrants Crossing the Plains and The Rocky Mountains. All the remaining steel engravings show Eastern city views and major scenic sites. Each volume in this set has a quarto, 8-page Classified Catalogue of Cassell and Company's publications laid in.
  • $750