L. W. Currey, Inc.

Irving, Washington. 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 present], folded view of New Amsterdam about 1640 inserted in volume one, early full tree calf, spine panels ruled and numbered in gold, brown title labels. First edition, first printing. "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. Small bookplate of William M. Fitzhugh, Jr. (1761–1839) affixed to the front paste-down of each volume. Bindings skillfully rebacked and refurbished sometime in the past, internally tight and clean, a very good copy. Enclosed in a quarter blue crushed morocco and blue cloth slipcase. (#178578).

Price: $3,750.00