James Cummins Bookseller

New York: [S. Colman], July 1839.

Price: $500.00

About the item

With one engraved plate (for “John Bull and Son Jonathan”). Pp. [i, title]-[ii, blank], [1]-96. 1 vols. 8vo. Contemporary half calf and marbled boards, red spine label.

Item #221033

First number of this short-lived American literary periodical that ran for three issues only). Includes: “Fragment of a modern ballad” by H.W. Longfellow (in seven-syllable verses that show him searching for what would become the memorable cadence of Hiawatha) and “Niagara and Ontario” by editor Grenville Mellen. The plate, depicting a young man and an older one seated, is captioned “Set me down for five thousand copies, though five thousand of Bentley on your side, you dog! We must barter literature fair”

Bound following two issues (January & February 1838) of the American edition of Bentley’s Miscellany, containing four Cruikshank plates, two to Oliver Twist (The Burglary; Mr Bumble and Mrs Corney taking tea), Saint Anthony, and A Practical Joke (with the imprint of William Lever, Jany [Feby] 1838, A. Dick Sc.) as well as an issue of the New York edition of Blackwood’s.