The Spirt of the Fair.
New York: John F. Trow, April 5-15, 1864.
Price: $450.00
About the item
First appearance in any form. [iv], 208. Woodcut title page. 1 vols. 4to. Half leather with marbled paper boards. Boards slightly rubbed and leather shows minor wear. Marbled end papers. Near fine. BAL 3953 and 11186; Spiller and Blackburn, p. 205.
Item #264167
An occasional magazine issued by the Metropolitan Fair for the benefit of the U.S. Sanitary Commission (BAL 11186).
Numbers 1-5, 8-10, contain the first appearance of Cooper’s last work, “New York”. This was Cooper’s introduction to his projected history of the city to be entitled The Men of Manhattan: A Social History of the City of New York, interrupted by his death in 1850. The book was to have been completed by Susan Fenimore Cooper, but the plan was eventually abandoned (despite Putnam’s announcement of the title as “forthcoming” in June, 1851). Here it appears for the first time in a most unlikely place, and a most unlikely moment: at the height of the Civil War, in this occasional magazine issued by the Metropolitan Fair for the benefit of the U.S. Sanitary Commission. It was not published in book form until 1930, in a privately printed edition of 750 copies.
In addition to Cooper, the volume contains the first printings of the following works: Washington Irving's ‘The Story of Pelayo’ (BAL 10200); Caroline Kirkland’s ‘Who's been at the Fair’ (BAL 11186); and Elizabeth Allen’s ‘At Last’ (BAL 413).
