Putnam’s Monthly Magazine of American Literature, Science and Art
Vol. 1, January – June, 1853Contains first print appearance of part of Henry David Thoreau’s later 1866 volume “A Yankee in Canada”.
New York: G.P. Putnam & Co., 1853.
Edited and with contributions by Charles Frederick Briggs, George William Curtis and Parke Godwin. George Putnam sought to focus on American writers and American literature in the magazine he established in 1853.
Bound together, this first volume of Putnam's Monthly Magazine includes:
Fredrick Bremer, “Midnight Sun”
James Fenimore Cooper: “Old Ironsides”
Elizabeth Ellet, “Mary Spears”
Horace Greeley: “Modern Spiritualism” (pg. 59)
Charles H. Hanson, “The Bourbon Question” (in which Hanson argues that the Rev. Eleazr Williams, a missionary to the Native Americans, was actually the dauphin, Charles Louis, son of Louis XVI and Maria Antoinett).
Henry William Herbert: “Ornithomanes”.
Rebecca Brodnax Hicks, “Virginia” in a novel form
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow First Appearance of two poems: The Warden of the Cinque Ports, and Galgano(a verse translation of a story from Il Pecorone by Giovanni Fiorentino).
Henry James, Sr., “Women’s Movement”
James Russell Lowell: “The Fountain of Youth”
Herman Melville: “Our Young Authors”
There is also an article in this edition reviewing Melville’s writings, praising Typee and Mardi, but harshly criticizing Pierre, and Moby Dick, citing their “inexcusable insanity”.
William North: “The Living Corpse”
Henry David Thoreau: Three parts of “An Excursion to Canada”, later published with additional material in 1866 as "A Yankee in Canada”. (pg. 54, pg. 179, and pg. 321)
Condition: Hardcover. Brown cloth covered embossed boards show varying shelf wear and scuffs. ~1" crack in cover and spine joint; bumping and exposure of corner boards. Some rubbing to gold gilt writing on spine. Gilt remains clear and readable. Inside, the binding is good. Varying degrees of foxing throughout. The tops of the last four pages are torn, not affecting text. Please see photos.