This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/21/2024
[AMERICANA]. [BRYANT, William Cullen (1794-1878), editor]. Picturesque America; or, The Land We Live In. A Delineation by Pen and Pencil of The Mountains, Rivers… New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1872-74. Large 4tos. Profusely illustrated with 900 wood engravings and 50 steel engravings after William Hart, A. C. Warren, and others. 568; 576 pp. Publisher’s half dark brown morocco over cloth boards, front boards stamped in gilt, spines ruled and lettered in gilt in compartments, five raised bands, all edges gilt, marbled endleaves (minor rubbing to spines and board edges). Bright and fine, possibly the finest copy we’ve ever seen. FIRST EDITIONS. “‘Picturesque America’ was a conspicuous presence in the popular culture of the United States in the post-Civil War years. First published as a magazine series in Appleton’s Journal, then as a subscription book, in parts, from 1872 to 1874 it reached a huge audience. Its voluminous text and over 900 pictures represented the first comprehensive celebration of the entire continental nation. By testifying to the variety, uniqueness and potential wealth of the American landscape and the advanced civilization of its cities, ‘Picturesque America’ laid the foundation for a resurgence of nationalism rooted in the homeland itself, rather than in institutions of democracy as would have been the case earlier in the century” (Sue Rainey, Creating Picturesque America: Monument to the Natural and Cultural Landscape, 1994).