General Geography and Rudiments of Useful Knowledge

Spafford, H.G.

Published by Croswell & Frary, 1809

About this Item

First edition. Full calf. 8vo. [xii] 381pp with 2 fold out maps and diagram of the solar system. Pages toned with some foxing. Covers and spine show wear. The second fold out map "engd. for Spafford's geography 1808" by Gideon Fairman Sr. is titled "United States; or Fredon." It was a great oversight of the Constitution s framers that they did not give the United States a proper name. So claimed Samuel Latham Mitchill in an 1803 broadside. A doctor by training, Mitchill not only diagnosed this problem, he also proposed a remedy. The land occupied by the United States, he suggested, should be called Fredon, or Fredonia in its more poetical form. The people of Fredonia would be called Fredonians or Fredes. And the adjectival form would be Fredish. Mitchill declared these various words were sonorous, and the whole language rich and copious. This Fredish language would even translate well into verse: Their chiefs, to glory lead on/The noble sons of Fredon. . Seller Inventory # 79

Bibliographic Details

Title: General Geography and Rudiments of Useful ...

Publisher: Croswell & Frary

Publication Date: 1809

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Good

Edition: 1st Edition