Frontis, engraved title page, 18 steel engravings, 15 woodcut vignettes, and 16 manuscript facsimiles. 8vo, original gilt decorated black half morocco, marbled paper sides, gilt lettering. First Edition.
The first book of its kind on American authors, and additionally interesting because it was written by prominent American authors. George William Curtis, William Cullen Bryant, Rufus Griswold, Caroline M. Kirkland,George Hillard, H. T. Tuckerman and Parke Godwin write about Cooper, Emerson, Hawthorne, Simms, Kennedy, Irving, etc. Fitz-Greene Halleck was miffed at not being included, and the expanded second edition in 1854 made amends with a chapter dedicated to the poet.
