The Crayon Miscellany. No. 1. Containing A Tour Of The Prairies [Irving, Washington] Americana - Western,Native Americans

First American edition, first issue. Small octavo, 274 pp + publisher's ads, in original blue-green cloth with paper spine label. Some edgewear and light scuffing to boards, two chips to spine label, three previous owner's bookplates (Clara & Irwin Strasburger, Wilhelmus Mynderse, George Clinton Fairchild Williams) and one signature on front endpapers and flyleaf. Binding tight, text clean, but pages slightly rippled. "Everything relating to aboriginal life or manners, had an attraction for Washington Irving which he could not resist. The hardy fur-trapper, with his trusty rifle, and his dusky bride, scorning with the fierce pride of independence the sweets of civilization; the wild warrior of the plains, in his swift foray on the herds of the civilized intruders on his domains, or in the bloody invasion of a neighboring tribe, all had for the author a warm coloring which he loved to paint. It is of such scenes, blended with the softer traditions of Indian lore, and the dreams of the better land, this book is composed. Irving eagerly seized the opportunity offered by a government mission to the Pawnees, of observing for himself the peculiarities of a savage race; and of what he saw he has made the most charming picture ever painted of its life" (Field, 186).BAL 10140, Sabin 35139, Wagner Camp 56.