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Easton Press: Washington Irving: History of New York
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Easton Press: Washington Irving: Knickerbocker's History of New York
Easton Press FULL leather top-of-the-line edition of Washington Irving's "Knickerbocker's History of New York," a Limited edition, With Introduction by Don Freeman, Frontispiece portrait of Washington Irving, one of the MASTERPIECES OF AMERICAN LITERATURE series, published in 1980. Bound in a Most Handsome brown Moroccan cowhide, the book has burnt orange French moire saitin endleaves, satin book marker, hubbed spines, 22 kt. gold gilding on three edges--in FINE condition.[The pictures are from an earlier listing----this particular title is similar but has less gilt on boards and spine. I will make pictures of ACTUAL book---if requested.] Washington Irving, who lived from 1783-1859, was born in New York City, a ragged town of 23,000 people. He wrote "The Sketch Book" at a time when his countrymen admittedly had no literature of their own, and the work became the first INTERNATIONALLY acclaimed work by an American author. Written in a graceful and genial style, "Knickerbocker's History" is a humorous pseudohistory, in which the author burlesqued Samuel Mitchell's "A Picture of New York." Originally published in 1809, "A History of New York," by DIEDRICH KNICKERBOCKER in seven parts and 130,000 words, was a best seller---even though an Dutch woman in Albany theatened to horsewhip the author for his slanderous account of an ancestor. William Makepeace Thackeray said Irving was the "first ambassador whom the New World of Letters sent to the Old." The first book contains more chatter than matter. It is waggish humor. NOAH is mentioned in connection with travel by sea, in order to get the reader to America. In Book II, the author proceeds to the settlement of the Province of "Nieuw Nederlandts." Stuyvesant is the favorite of Diedrich Knickerbocker. It was he who built the Battery to hold off the Yankee invasion. Then he declared war on Governor "Risingh" who had captured Fort Casimir. Stuyvesant had other troubles, first the Yankees from CONNECTICUT and later the "roaring boys of Meeryland"---King Charles II of England who gave New World territory to his brother, the DUKE OF YORK, and lent him a fleet to conquer it. Against the arrival of the British ships the Dutch "fortified themselves---with resolution" and burned everything in the colony of British origin. But their defense was futile. Melancholically the white-haired Knickerbocker narrates the end of his "beloved Island of Manna-hata" on August 27, 1664. In the 1812 edition of his history, Irving presents an additional account of his imaginary author and tells of his return to New York, now a British colony, and his death. He was buried, "say the old records," in St. Mark's Cemetery beside his hero, PETER STUYVESANT. In the revised 1848 edition, Irving added an "apology" and an explanation. In setting down the amusing legends of NEW YORK, he declared, he had not intended offense to living descendants of any of the old families. His purpose had been to present the history of that remote and almost forgotten age in the spirit of imaginative fancy and legend. This happy blending is his true contribution in his history, accepted by those who have never seen the book or heard of the original HARMEN KNICKERBOCKER, who came from HOLLAND about 1674 and settled in ALBANY, as well as by those who have read with smiles and chuckles this playful but surprisingly accurate history of the Dutch in NEW AMSTERDAM. Irving wrote the "Rip Van Winkle" stories and created the characters, ICHABOD CRANE and THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN. FOLKS, this is a MAGNIFICENT book---an EXTREMELY RARE title. FREE SHIPPING in U.S. with media or $10.00 priority shipping. Seller accepts PayPal or personal checks---held until check clears bank---or immediate shipment with 50 positive feedbacks on Ebay. Good luck and see my other Easton Press and Franklin Library books. NO RESERVE . 
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