A history of New York, from the beginning of the world to the end of the Dutch dynasty. Containing Among many Surprising and Curious Matters, the Unutterable Ponderings of Walter the Doubter, the Disastrous Projects of William the Testy, and the Chivalric Achievements of Peter the Headstrong, the three Dutch Governors of New Amsterdam, being the only Authentic History of the Times that ever hath been, or ever will be Published. By Diedrich Knickerbocker
Two volumes. New York and Philadelphia: Innskeep & Bradford; Boston: William McIlhenney; Baltimore: Coale & Thomas; Charleston: Morford, Willington, & Co.; 1809. First edition.
Duodecimo in 6s (6 7/8” x 4 1/8”, 174mm x 104mm). With a folding engraved plate depicting a view of New Amsterdam.
Bound in contemporary tree-calf (rebacked, with the original back-strip laid down). On the spine, five transverse gilt fillets. Title gilt to russet morocco in the second panel, number gilt to the fourth.
Rebacked, with the original back-strip laid down. Some bumps and repair to the fore-corners. Evenly tanned throughout, with sporadic offsetting and some foxing. Repairs to the folds of the plate. In vol. 1, graphite ownership signature of C.G. Strohecker to the recto of the front free end-paper, repeated in ink on the recto of the second free end-paper, with the ink-stamp of C.G. Strohecker. M.D. below. Ink ownership signature “Jno Craig’s” on the title-page, and of “W.m P. Craig’s/ Apl 10th 1832” on p. vii (Account of the Author). In vol. II, a partially-obliterated bookplate to the front paste-down, the graphite ownership signature of C.G. Strohecker to the recto of the front free end-paper, repeated in ink on the title-page, and with the ink-stamp of C.G. Strohecker on the recto of the second free end-paper.
Prior to publication, Irving (1783–1859) began what we might now easily recognize as a “viral marketing campaign:” he placed a series of missing-person notices in New York newspapers seeking information on Diedrich Knickerbocker, a Dutch historian who had gone missing from his hotel. As part of the ruse, Irving placed a notice — allegedly from the hotel’s proprietor — informing readers that if Mr. Knickerbocker failed to return to the hotel to pay his bill, he would publish a manuscript Knickerbocker had left behind. Unsuspecting readers followed the story of Knickerbocker and his manuscript with interest, and some city officials were concerned enough about the missing historian that they considered offering a reward for his safe return. To a primed audience Irving released Knickerbocker’s History 6 December 1809 to immediate critical and popular success.
Coming after the age of great histories of New York (notably Smith’s 1757 History of the Province of New-York), Irving lampooned the pomp and grandiosity of historians keen to put the New World on footing equal to the Old. His amusement turned more serious as the project went on, and he used the pseudonyms of the Dutch governors (Walter is Wouter van Twiller, William is Willem Kieft, Peter is of course Stuyvesant) as a send-up of his contemporaries, notably Thomas Jefferson.
Charles G. Strohecker (born ca. 1820) was a medical doctor who studied at the University of Pennsylvania in the mid-1840’s. John and William P. Craig are somewhat more mysterious. Perhaps William P. Craig (who dates his acquisition to 10 April 1832) is William Pickens Craig of North Carolina (1812–1846), which would make John (Johnston) Craig his brother (1795–1856).
BAL 10098; Grolier, English 135; Grolier, American 28; Howes I 83; Sabin 35149.
Item #JLR0265
Price: $4,250