This lot consists of six books by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, all published by Ticknor and Fields between 1850 and 1859.
The first one in the lot is The Song Of Hiawatha, a first edition, second printing, and the title page reads "The Song of Hiawatha, By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Boston: Ticknor And Fields MDCCCLV" [1855]. It has a date of 1855, so this is a first edition because the dates on the title page and copyright page match and there is just a single date on both pages, and the book was printed by Metcalf and Company out of Cambridge, Mass. The book has brown embossed boards, the title adn Longfellow's name and Ticknor & Co. in gilt lettering on the spine, pale yellow endpapers with "Anna Moriarity 1856" printed and inscribed on the front free endpaper, two pages of Contents, 296 pages of text, followed by nineteen pages of Notes and three pages of Vocabulary, for a total of 316 pages, and no publisher's ads at the rear. We believe this is first edition, second printing, because the points of issue seem to have been corrected, which makes this a first edition in a later state: page 27, one 9 has been corrected to read "drove the cormorant and curlew", not "drop the heron"; on page 32, line 12 reads "in the dreary moon", instead of line 11, which has to read "in the moon" to be first state; on page 39, line 11, "Wahonomin" has been corrected to to read "Wahonowin"; on page 96, line 7, "Dove" has been corrected to read "Dived"; and a 12-page publisher's catalogue dated November 1855 should have been printed at the end to make this a first edition in the first state, and it wasn't printed here. (See A Pocket Guide to the Identification of First Editions, by Bill McBride, McBride / Publisher. 585 Prospect Ave. West Hartford, CT, 05105.)
Longfellow's well-known epic poem tells the story of Ojibwe warrior Hiawatha and his love for Minnehaha, a Dakota woman. Longfellow based his fictional poem partly on Ojibwe oral tradition, but it also contains meany of Longfellow's own inventions, and the American edition was published several months after its publication in London, and there were only 5250 copies of the first printing, See BAL 12112. The book is 8vo. and measures 7 3/8 x 5 in. wide, the binding is tight and the pages have light brown spots here and there, with light rubbing and bumps on the spine, there's a small chip at the bottom of page 3 and a crease on page 26, and the tips have specks of rubbing and are slightly curled in.
The second book is also called "The Song Of Hiawatha", and it doesn't have any of the points of issue that would make it a first edition, first printing either, so it is probably a first edition, later state, and it has an eleven page catalogue of New Books And New Editions Published By Ticknor And Fields at the rear and one leaf about Illustrated Juvenile Books at the end, which is lacking in the first Song of Hiawatha tiel above, and the condition of this copy is not as good as the one described above. This one is an 1855 printing as well, and the binding is tight and the pages fairly clean, but it has loss at the crown and wear on the heel, wear along the top and lower edges of the spine, and a dark spot on the front cover. It also has more wear and rubbing at the tips, and a tear and penciled notes on the first blank flyleaf in front,
The third copy of "The Song Of Hiawatha" was printed in 1856, so it is clearly not a first edition. It may be a second edition, and WorldCat says the second edition of The Song Of Hiawatha was printed in 1856, so we'll go with that. It is inscribed "E. G. E. W." at the top of the title page and has M DCCC LVI - 1856 - at the bottom of the title page, and it also has the eleven page catalogue of New Books and New Editions Published By Ticknor and Fields and one leaf about Illustrated Juvenile Books at the rear. The binding is tight and the pages fairly clean, with light offset here and there. The crown has some loss and there are bumps and blue marks on the heel, rubbing at the tips and the tips are slightly turned in, with a little bit of brown spots on the front endpapers and title page, and scattered around on some of the text pages, and the three books make an interesting set for collectors: the first edition, second printing is here, the first edition later printing is here, as well as the second edition.
The next books in the lot are The Seaside And The Fireside, The Golden Legend, and The Courtship Of Miles Standish, the first two published by Ticknor, Reed, and Fields and The Courtship Of Miles Standish published solely by Ticknor and Fields. All three have the same brown boards as The Song Of Hiawatha, with gilt titles on the spine and the same embossed covers.
The title page of "The Seaside And The Fireside' says it was published in Boston by Ticknor, Reed, And Fields in M DCCCL (1850), out has pale yellow endpapers, and inscription on a blank endpaper that reads "Ruth K Smith, Presented by Miss E R Arnold March 1850" and dated 1849 on the copyright page, it does not have the ads in front, but it has three groupings of poems: seven "By the Seaside", thirteen "By the Fireside", and two translations, "The Blind Girl of Castel-Cuille" and "A Christmas Carol", plus a Notes section at the end, and it has two Contents pages and 141 pages of text, so it is an early edition, but not a first edition - the ads make it a first edition. The book measures 7 3/8 x 4 7/8 in. wide and is in very good condition. The binding is tight, the pages are clean, with just light brown spots here and there - not much at all.The gilt is faded at the bottom of the spine, the crown has light bumps and just a tad of rubbing, and the same for the heel, with just a speck of rubbing at the tips and a couple of tips are slightly turned in.
The copy of The Golden Legend was published in M DCCC LII (1852) by Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, and it's a first edition, third printing because it has ads in front dated April 1852; the ads are for New Books And New Editions Published by Ticknor, Reed, and Fields inserted between the two yellow endpapers, and these include titles by Longfellow, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Tennyson, among others. If it was published in 1851, it would be a first edition. The title page has a cross with Latin words on it, and it's dated 1851 on the copyright page, with 294 pages of text. The book measures 7 3/8 x 4 7/8 in. wide and is in pretty good condition. The binding is tight and the pages are clean, with just touches of brown spots here and there, the gilt lettering on the spine is a bit faded, the heel has light rubbing and the crown shows wear, and there's rubbing at the tips, with a couple of tips turned in.
"The Courtship of Miles Standish And Other Poems" was published here by Ticknor and Fields in 1859 - M DCCC LIX on the title page - and it's dated 1858 on the copyright page, and it has "The revel of the ruddy wine" on line 3 of page 124, so this is a first edition, second printing. The book has brown endpapers, with a four-page ad about the Waverley Novels tipped in at the front, as called for. It is inscribed "Frances B. Pitcher" on the first blank endpaper, there are two pages of Contents, 209 pages of text, five pages of Notes that run from 211 to page 215, and twelve pages of New Books And New Editions Published by Ticknor and Fields, including one leaf about books "In blue And Gold" and "Illustrated Juvenile Books" at the end. The book measures 7 1/2 x 5 in. wide and is in pretty good shape. The binding is tight and the pages have occasional brown spots, but not much, the title page is torn about half way down on the left hand side, the gilt lettering on the spine is a bit faded, there are very light bumps on the heel and crown, there is very light rubbing on the tips, and small spots on the back cover. See BAL 12122.
#9 #7025