The Pioneers, or the Sources of the Susquehanna; A Descriptive Tale

James Fenimore Cooper; James Franklin Beard; Lance Schachterle; Kenneth M. Andersen Jr.

ISBN 10: 0873953592 / ISBN 13: 9780873953597

Published by State University of New York Press, 1980

About this Item

Cloth, dj. Historical introduction and explanatory notes by James Franklin Beard. Text established by Lance Schachterle and Kenneth M. Andersen Jr. Moderate scuffing, toning, and edge wear to dj, with small chips and tears at extremities. Minor shelf wear to boards. Foxing to top edge of text block. Else very sound, with clean internals.

Seller Inventory # 2043802

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Pioneers, or the Sources of the Susquehanna; A Descriptive Tale
• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Publication Date: 1980
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0873953592
• ISBN 13: 9780873953597
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very good
• Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Seller catalogs:
  • Literary Criticism

About this title

Synopsis

Written in 1821-22 at a crucial point in Cooper's life and based on some of his most cherished youthful memories, The Pioneers today evokes the American pioneering experience with astonishing vibrance of authentic detail and a largeness of philosophic grasp seldom if ever equaled in our fiction.

The circumstances behind the composition and publication of the book are here explained for the first time; and the text, originally set without competent supervision in the midst of the yellow fever epidemic in New York in 1822, is presented with the cumulative improvements of Cooper's "strenuous pen" in five subsequent revisions, without the customary accumulation of compositorial errors.

Quite possibly America's first bestseller (3,500 copies were sold within hours of publication), The Pioneers became the first of the world-famous Leatherstocking Tales. Its verbal pictures "excited a sensation among the artists, altogether unprecedented in the history of our domestic literature" and helped establish the style of the Hudson River School, our first group of landscape painters. Translated early into all the major languages of Europe, The Pioneers was one of the first American novels to carry distinctive, authoritative American experience to the world.

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