The Prairie; a Tale by the Author of The Pioneers and The Last of the Mohicans in two volumes

Philadelphia, Pa: Carey, Lea & Carey, 1829. Hardcover. Good +. 2 volumes ([3], viii-xii, [2], 14-252 p.; 276 p.); 18 cm. Contemporary full tree calf with five spine compartments. Gilt-tooled red and black morocco spine labels; gilt-tooled decoration in other compartments. Originally bound as part of a set of Cooper novels; the spine label for vol. 2 indicates it was also no. 12 of a larger series of volumes. Archival repair of hinges and reproduction of vol. 1 spine labels. Front fixed endpapers inscribed: McLanahan. Copyright notice is dated 1827, but the title pages are dated 1829. The paste-down revision of the copyright notice described by BAL is not present in either of these volumes. BAL, 3836; Shoemaker, 28599; Wright, I, 688. The Prairie, Cooper's eighth novel, was the third of a trilogy in which he had considered the United States' present (in The Pioneers, 1823), its past (in The Last of the Mohicans, 1826), and its future. Basing his description of the prairie on secondhand accounts, as he never travelled that far west himself, he posed the question whether the "desolate" prairie illustrated what the country might someday become, if the environmental destruction and wastefulness of her settlers went unchecked. Still a timely question! In Very Good- Condition: edges of boards slightly rubbed; archival repair of hinges and reproduction of vol. 1 spine labels; front free endpaper lacking from vol. 1; light foxing; pages are otherwise clean and tight.