1827 ILLUSTRATED CHILDREN’S GUIDE TO NEW YORK CITY

(NEW YORK). New York Scenes. Designed for the Entertainment and Instruction of Children of City and Country. New York: Mahlon Day, 1827. 12mo, original slate-green printed wrappers; pp. 24 (including wrappers). $1100.

First edition of this intriguing description of 19th-century New York City, with numerous wood-engravings, possibly by Alexander Anderson.

Rosenbach lists only the 1836 edition of New York Scenes, and makes mention of an 1833 edition in a footnote (Rosenbach, Early American Children’s Books 812). These later editions are illustrated with wood-engravings by Alexander Anderson, often called “the father of American wood engraving” (Hamilton, 48). This 1827 edition may also be the work of Anderson, though the blocks are not signed (which is not unusual for his early work). Mahlon Day was second only to Samuel Wood as the most prolific New York publisher of children’s books at the time. Shaw & Shoemaker 30053.

Some chipping to fragile pictorial wrappers. A very good copy of a scarce early guidebook for children.