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.

Madison, Wisconsin: Democrat Printing Company, State Printer, 1894 Book. Fine. Soft cover. 1st Edition. 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].. (Inventory #: 8387)