first edition
1855 · Boston
by LONGFELLOW, HENRY WADSWORTH
Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1855. FIRST EDITION, First Printing. 180 x 112 mm. (7 1/4 x 4 1/2"). iv, 316 pp.
Agreeable purple half morocco over marbled paper boards by Stikeman & Co. (stamp-signed on the front free endpaper), raised bands, spine gilt in compartments with floral centerpieces, top edge gilt. Original (extremely clean) brown cloth cover and spine bound in at rear. A few paragraphs marked along the margin in pencil. BAL 12112. â—†Spine a little sunned, joints slightly rubbed (but nothing approaching a crack), otherwise a very fine copy, with virtually no signs of use internally.
This is Longfellow's epic poem about the Native American "Hiawatha"--a composite of legends, folklore, and myth presented in short, lilting lines--offered here as a pleasing copy in attractive half morocco by one of America's best 19th century binders. Although it became one of the poet's most popular works, "Hiawatha" received a decidedly mixed reception when first published in 1855. The Boston Traveler, in revealing its (benighted) unwillingness to accept the work's content, said: "We cannot help but express our regret that our own pet national poet should not have selected as a theme of his muse something better and higher than the silly legends of the savage aborigines." Despite this, the poem enjoyed significant popular success, with its first printing of 5,250 copies in October 1855 selling out so quickly that two more printings were issued before the year was out, and six more followed by April of the next year. Our copy is of the first printing, with all seven of the first issue points as laid out by BAL, but with the "n" in "one" that BAL notes is sometimes missing from the very earliest printings. According to the catalogue of the Frederick Maser Collection, during the period from the retirement of William Matthews to the establishment of the Club Bindery, there was no better binder in America than Henry Stikeman, who exhibited "extraordinary skill . . . in design, inlaying, and tooling." Stikeman's firm did high-end publisher's bindings as "bread and butter" work, and luxurious gilt-tooled bindings for collectors. Our volume is not a spectacular example of the bindery's output, but it nevertheless reflects the high level of their decorative achievements, even with modest volumes.. (Inventory #: ST19567-158)
Agreeable purple half morocco over marbled paper boards by Stikeman & Co. (stamp-signed on the front free endpaper), raised bands, spine gilt in compartments with floral centerpieces, top edge gilt. Original (extremely clean) brown cloth cover and spine bound in at rear. A few paragraphs marked along the margin in pencil. BAL 12112. â—†Spine a little sunned, joints slightly rubbed (but nothing approaching a crack), otherwise a very fine copy, with virtually no signs of use internally.
This is Longfellow's epic poem about the Native American "Hiawatha"--a composite of legends, folklore, and myth presented in short, lilting lines--offered here as a pleasing copy in attractive half morocco by one of America's best 19th century binders. Although it became one of the poet's most popular works, "Hiawatha" received a decidedly mixed reception when first published in 1855. The Boston Traveler, in revealing its (benighted) unwillingness to accept the work's content, said: "We cannot help but express our regret that our own pet national poet should not have selected as a theme of his muse something better and higher than the silly legends of the savage aborigines." Despite this, the poem enjoyed significant popular success, with its first printing of 5,250 copies in October 1855 selling out so quickly that two more printings were issued before the year was out, and six more followed by April of the next year. Our copy is of the first printing, with all seven of the first issue points as laid out by BAL, but with the "n" in "one" that BAL notes is sometimes missing from the very earliest printings. According to the catalogue of the Frederick Maser Collection, during the period from the retirement of William Matthews to the establishment of the Club Bindery, there was no better binder in America than Henry Stikeman, who exhibited "extraordinary skill . . . in design, inlaying, and tooling." Stikeman's firm did high-end publisher's bindings as "bread and butter" work, and luxurious gilt-tooled bindings for collectors. Our volume is not a spectacular example of the bindery's output, but it nevertheless reflects the high level of their decorative achievements, even with modest volumes.. (Inventory #: ST19567-158)
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