Kaaterskill Books

[Sedgwick, Charles, Mrs., Catharine Maria; Robertson, William].

Stories of the Spanish Conquests in America. Designed for the use of Children. [Volumes I & II of Three].

Boston: Leonard C. Bowles, 1830. 237 pp.; 222 pp. Illus. with 2 engravings by Alonzo Hartwell. 16mo. Original quarter calf over yellow paper covered boards. First edition. Very good copies, worn at spine ends, scuffed boards, foxing throughout. Sabin 78817. Amer. Imprints; 3436. Spain & Spanish America II, 616. Item #34981

"The following stories, claiming to be little else than an abridgment of Robertson, are the first of a series designed to embrace the most important events in the history of America, from its first discovery to the close of the Revolution. It is the object of the writer ... to render history attractive by divesting it of all formality, and thus entice the youthful mind from the regions of fiction and romance, into a wide field of knowledge, from which it has hitherto been too willingly excluded." (Preface). Lacking the final volume which covers Peru. Uncommon. Of 10 locations listed in OCLC only six have complete copies. Provenance: Ben Grauer, notation from the sale of his library (Swann, 9/27/56 lot 316; list only the two volumes).

Price: $400.00