From
Type Punch Matrix, Silver Spring, MD, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
AbeBooks Seller since September 8, 2020
First edition of this moralizing chapbook about the merits to be earned with good behavior - a remarkably scarce title. THE HAPPY FAMILY is a rather amusing example of the economy with which many early US American chapbooks were produced. From the rather off-center front wrapper printing to a change in the size of type midway through the text to an unfortunate typo on page 23 (poor Jizzle indeed), it is clear that the publisher cut a number of production corners - giving the modern historian an interesting peek into the process of printing a chapbook. This is quite a rare title - it does not appear in Rosenbach or Osborne, and OCLC locates only one holding. A real charmer. 4.75'' x 4''. Original pink pictorial wrapper. Black-and-white woodcut frontispiece with eight woodcut illustrations. 31 pages, first and last pages pasted to wrappers; pages 15-29 misnumbered 17-31, as usual. Early owner name to frontispiece twice, "Ellen A. Whitcomb." Some illustrations with a bit of contemporary coloring by a naive hand. Wrapper with some soil and spotting; some toning to rear. Leaves with light edgewear, trace damp staining to upper half of book. Shallow crease to center of wrapper and leaves. Sound. Seller Inventory # 45068
Title: THE HAPPY FAMILY
Publisher: S. H. Colesworthy, Portland [Maine]
Publication Date: 1836
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: Very good.
Edition: First Edition.