Tales of the Border
Philadelphia: Harrison Hall, 1835.
First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. 276 pp; 4.25" x 6.75", three-quarter leather and pebbled black cloth, with the title and "Hall's Works/4" stamped on the spine. Leather scuffed and rubbed along the joints, minor foxing. Ownership signatures of Mrs. A. Hall on both pastedowns and Lucy F. Hall on the title page (unknown whether these are relatives of the author). Fiction of the Ohio, Kentucky, and Illinois frontier, based on Hall's extensive travels in the region. Some contemporary critics denounced the work as hackneyed, but others praised his skillful depictions of western scenery, manners, and events. The Encyclopedia Britannica entry on Hall rates this as one of his best works, praising him as "particularly successful in sketching life in the French settlements of the Illinois country and in interpreting such authentic figures as the backwoodsman, voyageur, and Indian hater." Sabin 29796; BAL 6938; Howes H-80.
Item #11736
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