(#157264) A HISTORY OF NEW YORK, FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD TO THE END OF THE DUTCH DYNASTY ... By Diedrich Knickerbocker [pseudonym] ... In Two Volumes. Washington Irving.
A HISTORY OF NEW YORK, FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD TO THE END OF THE DUTCH DYNASTY ... By Diedrich Knickerbocker [pseudonym] ... In Two Volumes ...
A HISTORY OF NEW YORK, FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD TO THE END OF THE DUTCH DYNASTY ... By Diedrich Knickerbocker [pseudonym] ... In Two Volumes ...

A HISTORY OF NEW YORK, FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD TO THE END OF THE DUTCH DYNASTY ... By Diedrich Knickerbocker [pseudonym] ... In Two Volumes. New York: Published by Inskeep & Bradford ...; Bradford & Inskeep, Philadelphia; Wm. M'Il-Henney, Boston; Coale & Thomas, Baltimore; and Morford, Willington, & Co. Charleston, 1809. 12mo, two volumes: pp. [iii-vii] viii-xiv [xv] xvi-xxiii [xxiv] [1] 2-268; [i-ii] [1] 2-258 [259-260: blank] [note: the blank last leaf (Z6) is excised by the binder], folded view of New Amsterdam about 1640 inserted in volume one, full green crushed morocco, gilt-ruled border on front and rear panels, spines ruled and lettered in gilt, raised bands, gilt-ruled inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Bound at the Knickerbocker Press for G. P. Putnam's Sons. First edition. "This sprawling burlesque appeared in December 1809, and may be reasonably called the first great book of comic literature written by an American. It is at once rollicking farce and shrewd satire. Among Irving's targets are Swedes, Yankees, colonial historians, Dutch settlers in New Amsterdam, red-breeched Jefferson and his democrats, English, French, and Spanish literature, and the quizzical author himself. Although local, it has been translated into a half-dozen languages, and in English has, in spite of prolixity and subservience to temporal satire, rivaled THE SKETCH BOOK in popularity." - DAB. "This mock history is one of the earliest fantasies of history." - Clute and Grant (eds), The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1997), p. 505. It includes an imaginary invasion in which an alien race from the Moon takes over the Earth. According to Washington Irving's manuscript notebook (located at Harvard University) 2000 copies were printed and bound. Editions with additions and/or corrections were published in 1812, 1848 and 1886. Grolier Club, One Hundred Influential American Books Printed Before 1900 28. Petter, The Early American Novel, pp. 136-44. Rieder, Colonialism and the Emergence of Science Fiction, pp. 4-5. Howes I83. Sabin 35149. Wright (I) 1408. BAL 10098. Langfeld and Blackburn, pp. 11-2. Mounted and bound in at the rear of volume I is a contemporary publisher's flyer advertising Knickerbocker's HISTORY as "just published." Also bound in on five leaves is an 1810 newspaper review by Seth Handaside. According to a laid in 1939 Goodspeed's printed description of this book, it was accompanied by a Washington Irving letter which is no longer present. Aside from some mild foxing this is a fine copy. Enclosed in velvet lined chemises and a quarter leather slipcase. (#157264).

Price: $5,500.00

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