“AMONG THE BEST HISTORICAL WRITERS OF HIS COUNTRY”: PARKMAN ON THE SETTLEMENT OF THE AMERICAN WEST

PARKMAN, Francis. Works. WITH: FARNHAM, Charles Haight. A Life of Francis Parkman. Boston: Little, Brown, 1907-09. Thirteen volumes altogether. Octavo, contemporary three-quarter light brown crushed morocco, gilt-decorated spines, raised bands, marbled boards and endpapers, top edges gilt. $1800.

Handsomely bound “New Library Edition” of Parkman’s works, illustrated with a frontispiece portrait in each volume and numerous maps. With Farnham’s biography of Parkman.

Parkman was one of the first American historians to consult original French and British manuscript material relating to the settlement of the West, and his writings possess a literary sophistication rarely found in the field of history. “Parkman ranks among the best historical writers of his country… his place is alongside the greatest historians whose works are English classics” (Allibone II, 1212). Among the works included in this set are his landmarks The Oregon Trail, LaSalle and the Discovery of the Great West, Pioneers of France in the New World, and The Old Regime in Canada. With Farnham’s Life of Francis Parkman (1909). Bookplate.

Texts fine, expert restoration to contemporary morocco. An attractive set in very good condition.