Letters from the West; Containing Sketches of Scenery, Manners, and Customs; and Anecdotes Connected with the First Settlements of the Western States of the United States
London: Henry Colburn, 1828.
First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. vi, 385 pp, + 1 ad. 8vo. Three-quarter leather, marbled boards. Leather scuffed, evidence of an ownership stamp removed on ffep, otherwise unmarked and sound. Hall (1793-1868) was lawyer, circuit judge, and newspaper editor and one of the earliest Americans to write extensively about frontier life. This was his first book, a collection of sketches composed during the course of a river journey from Pittsburgh to Shawneetown, Illinois. "Full of sharp observation of people and manners, seasoned with pungent anecdotes and incisive description, it still repays reading," according to Hall biographer John T. Flanagan. Flanagan also says the work hints at many of the themes elaborated in Hall's later collections of western stories and essays. Howes H-74; Graff 1734; Sabin 29789; BAL 6919.
Item #11734
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