A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, by Diedrich Knickerbocker. In Two Volumes - WITH ALS tipped in [IRVING, Washington] Americana,History,Literature,Politics -- US

Two volumes. 12mo. Pp. xxiii, 268; 258. Frontis. tipped in fold-out plate "New Amsterdam [.] about 1640." Volumes uniformly bound in contemporary mottled calf, gilt titles on black morocco labels, gilt rules, edges sprinkled. Each in a brown cloth-covered chemise with silk tabs within a double slipcase of matching half mottled calf with five raised bands, gilt titles in dark red lettering pieces, brown cloth. Autograph letter signed by Irving tipped in to the front flyleaf. Corners gently bumped, top edges dust-soiled, variable foxing to leaves, panoramic view fatigued folds expertly reinforced verso. The title page lists several co-publishers following Inskeep & Bradford, New York: "Bradford & Inskeep, Philadelphia; William M'Ihenny, Boston; Coale & Thomas, Baltimore; and Morford, Willington, & Co. Charleston."The author's dated, signed note blames a previous engagement for preventing his acceptance of a dinner invitation.Considered a contender as America's first comic novel, Irving sought to deflate the solemnity and pomposity of writers who viewed New York's history as sacrosanct, Samuel Latham Mitchill chief among them. Irving's elaborate literary hoax, which included placing pre-publication notices in newspapers concerning the disappearance of Diedrich Knickerbocker from the Columbian Hotel on Mulberry Street, and the subsequent "discovery" by the hotel manager of Knickerbocker's "history," was abetted by his dedication of the work to the New York Historical Society; in the second edition, an "account of the author" served to ameliorate the literary dust-up, and the dedication to the NY Historical Society was removed in the third edition.In the course of writing the satire, Irving's literary waggishness was displaced by a growing, authentic interest in history, and the history of Gotham itself, as his subsequent literary output attests. A lovely copy in charming bindings, presented in an antique slipcase. BAL,10098; KENT, 100: 67; LANGFELD, p. 11.