A Diary in America with remarks on its institutions.
London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longmans, 1839.
3 vols. 12mo: (4), 321; (4), 319; (4), 312 pp. Original quarter cloth and plain boards, printed paper backstrip labels. Bindings moderately worn and faded, labels chipped with loss, hinges cracked but holding. A complete, unsophisticated set, good plus, with the bookplate in each volume of John Chisholme (1810-1868) of that Ilk and Stirches (Scotland).
§ First edition of the first series, issued in October 1839 (a second series in three volumes was published two months later). Captain Marryat, the British naval captain and popular novelist, provoked a minor controversy with this frequently critical account of American and Canadian institutions and customs, based upon his travels through both countries in 1837 and 1838. With commentary on the systems of government, armed forces, slavery, prisons, religion and education, he offended wide swaths of the North American public and there are accounts of both the books and of his effigy being burned. Howes M 300. Sabin 44696. Item #126986
Price: $500.00