Volume 1, Numbers 1 through 17. January 1 through April 23, 1842. (4to) 29x21 cm (11½x8¼") period half calf and marbled boards.
Includes two early works by Whitman, the first a poem originally published in the Long Island Democrat, 23 October 1839, as "Fame's Vanity," the other a critical piece on Charles Dickens. Myerson E36 and E40.
The issue dated 1 January has a letter from James Fenimore Cooper as well as the "lost chapter" of HOME AS FOUND; also "The Effingham Matter: Letter from J. Fennimore Cooper," (pp. 185-90), and "The Effingham Controversy, two additional Cooper letters (pp. 355-7; 414-8), and an extract from "Cooper's New Tale, The Two Admirals" (pp. 418-20. Supernatural tales include "The Legend of the Dead Bridegroom" (pp. 61-2), "The Flying Dutchman" (p. 69), "A Tale of an Inn" (pp. 134-5), "The Tower of Lahneck" by T. Hood (pp. 320-2), "Father Tudkin's Curse" (pp. 328-31), and "The Pic du Capucin" by Louisa Stuart Costello (pp. 331-3). Also present is an anonymously presented early SF/Gothic horror story written by Robert Douglas, "Reminiscences of a Medical Student: A Story of Galvanism," reprinted from Colburn's NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE for January 1842 (pp. 149-54), and "Little Joe Junk and the Fisherman's Daughter: A Fairy Tale" by John Neal, illustrated by David Claypoole Johnston (two parts, pp. 281-4; 318-20). There are also several nautical tales and criminous stories.