Cooper’s first novel, bound with a letter by the author
Cooper, James Fenimore. Precaution
New York: A.T. Goodrich & Co., 1820
Two volumes, Complete with half-titles and errata leaf at end of volume 2. Contemporary half calf and marbled boards. Rebacked preserving original spines. Ligtly browned. Half morocco cases.
[Bound with:]
COOPER, JAMES FENIMORE. Autograph letter signed to Rev. Joseph Ransom. New York, 23 November 1845
One page, integral address leaf, affixed to front free endpaper. Minor separations and chipping.
First edition of Cooper’s first novel. Precaution was influenced by the works of Jane Austen and the English domestic novel. “Playfully challenged by his wife’s cousin to write a better book than the one he ewas reading aloud, Cooper, after a false start, produced Precaution (1820), an imitation of an English novel of manners which, though weak, brought him to the attention of the New York literary world” (ANB).
[Bound with:]
COOPER, JAMES FENIMORE. Autograph letter signed to Rev. Joseph Ransom. New York, 23 November 1845
Cooper updates the rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Cooperstown on various financial matters including the payment of Ransom’s salary: “… Mr. Forbes tell me he held $100 of collections, which he intended to appropriate to you, in the event of the stipend failing.” Ransom led Christ Episcopal Church from 1846 to 1850.
Provenance: George Barr McCutcheon, American novelist and author of popular adventure-romances, bookplate. He is most famous today for Brewster’s Millions, the basis for the many film adaptations.
BAL 3825.
$12,000