Americana - 47 - Bauman Rare Books “The American Ought To Love This Country”: Letters From An American Farmer, 1782 First Edition With Folding Maps 43. (CREVECOEUR, Michel Guillaume Saint Jean de) ST. JOHN, Hector J. Letters from an American Farmer; Describing Certain Provincial Situations, Manners, and Customs, Not Generally Known. London, 1782. Octavo, period-style half brown calf; pp. (iii-xvi), (1), 2-318 (2). $9500. First edition of this influential early work on American life and customs—“as literature unexcelled by any American work of the 18th century” (Howes)—with two folding maps of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, handsomely bound. In Letters from an American Farmer, Crevecoeur became the first to ask and answer, in print, “What is an American?” Born in France, Crevecoeur “landed at New York in 1759, took out naturalization papers, traveled extensively in Pennsylvania and New York, and settled with his American wife. He spent idyllic years on his New York farm until the Revolution, when, as a Loyalist, he was forced to flee to New York [where he was imprisoned for three months as a spy] and then to France. During the quiet decade prior to the Revolution, he probably wrote most of Letters from an American Farmer. In 1783 Crevecoeur returned to America only to discover that his wife was dead, his home burned, and his children had disappeared, as a result of an Indian raid. Eventually he found his children and settled in New York, where as French consul he attempted to cement the friendly relations of the two countries” (Oxford Companion to American Literature). Crevecoeur’s remarkable “letters” offer an account of his experiences in the American colonies. For many years, he was the most widely read commentator on America, and his candid observations on American life drew many Europeans across the Atlantic. The cherished notion of this country as a melting pot originates with Crevecoeur: “Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labours and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world?” First edition, first printing: with uncorrected mispagination as noted in ESTC T133373; variant with uncorrected “frien” on title page, no priority established. Containing two pages of advertisements at rear; bound without half title. Sabin 17496. Adams, American Controversy 82-26a. Text very fresh with mere trace of foxing. A splendid about-fine copy.
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