The American Vade Mecum: Or The Companion Of Youth, And Guide To College. A Book Of Miscellanies Pate, H. Clay American South,Education,Industry

Octavo. ix, 11-182 pages. Frontispiece portrait sketch of the author. Illustrations. Blue cloth hardcover stamped in blind with gilt school illustration on front board. Gilt stamped title on the spine. Cloth is faded, worn, and chipped head and base of the spine. Cloth split upper spine. End papers are toned. Light to moderate scattered foxing to the text. Period ink inscription on the right front flyleaf - "Edwin Cox's Book Due West, Ste Nov. 28, 1857 Ed." Illustrations include University of Virginia; Peytona, West Virginia; and more. Topics include essays on the University of Virginia; Ambition; Pleasures of Science; Education; Remarks, Life in Eastern and Western Virginia; Arthur Allen; A Trip to the Peaks to Otter; Disappointed Hopes; The Unfortunate Lovers; The Double Suicide; Eleanor Virginia Dare; and Monticello. Pate traveled west in 1850 after spending two years at the University of Virginia. Frustrated with the governing class of the Virginia Commonwealth for not growing with the economic times, Clay wrote the American Vade Mecum in 1852. He urged his readers to take note of the unlimited opportunities to develop the resources of Virginia. While still living in the west, Pate literally fought against John Brown and was captured by Brown in Kansas. He wrote a book on John Brown in 1859. During the Civil War, Pate fought for the Confederacy and died in a Cavalry battle outside of Richmond in 1864.