Travels in New-England and New-York TImothy Dwight Exploration and Travel,History

TRAVELS IN NEW-ENGLAND AND NEW-YORK BY TIMOTHY DWIGHT FOUR VOLUMES 1823. Timothy Dwight was appointed the President of Yale University in 1795 but decided shortly thereafter that he needed to get more exercise. He decided on a course of travel during college vacations, particularly that of early fall, in New England. He explains that he decided to write of what he had observed in the course of his travels, for the amusement of his family. Later, reacting to the writings of others, who he felt misrepresented the realities of New England, his writings took on a more serious nature. Furthermore, because of the strong relationship between New England and New York, his travels expanded to include the State. Finally, he explains that this work was late in appearing because he started to have vision problems and engaged students to help transcribe his notes, and later a more formal assistant. He also mentions that the turmoil, excited between this country and Great Britain, threw many discouragements in my way , by which I think he means the War of 1812. These four small hard cover books (5 ¾ x 8 ¾ inches, 483, 504, 514 & 514 pages respectively) were printed for William Baynes and Son of London, dated 1823. The books are bound in leather with a quarter spine and reinforced corners in dark brown and the main portion of the boards with an embossed pattern over lighter brown. There are gilt titles and decorations on the spines. These books were illustrated with a Frontispiece of the Author and three maps (although the Map of New York from Volume III is missing). Condition: These books are ex-library and bear all of the usual markings including shelf numbers on the spines but without card pockets. They are marked as discards. I found an inked name of a former owner at the top of the title page of Volume I but that was the only mark I found in the book. In Volume IV, there is a NY Times newspaper clipping laid-in which has left a shade, and another page where the cutting that caused more shading is no longer present. In general, the interior pages are clean and bright, albeit with the odd mark of soiling but not very often or extreme. There is some foxing to the endpapers but this does not penetrate the interior pages. The map in Volume II is mis-folded. The leather boards, particularly the quarter spines and corners are rubbed and worn but not split. All the hinges are intact and the bindings are tight and sound. These books are actually in remarkably good condition considering they are more than 200 years old.