The Leatherstocking Tales: Volume I: The Pioneers, or the Sources of the Susquehanna, A Descriptive Tale; The Last of the Mohicans, A Narrative of 1757; The Prairie, A Tale

Cooper, James Fenimore; Blake Nevius (editor) wrote the notes & selected the texts for this volume

ISBN 10: 0940450208 / ISBN 13: 9780940450202

Published by Library of America, New York, 1985

About this Item

CLASSIC: VIVID: EPIC: AS-NEW LOA First Edition hardcover (Orig. 1985) First Printing: AS-NEW unclipped mylar-protected jacket w/ sharp AS-NEW edges & corners & showing orig. $27.50 pub. price at bottom-right inside-front flyleaf, AS-NEW green silk-finish Brillianta fabric-over-boards cover w/ sharp AS-NEW edges & corners & titles & LOA colophon handsomely gold-stamped on spine, EXCELLENT smooth-cut text-block exterior marred ONLY by slightest rust-dust soiling on smooth-cut top edge, IMPECCABLE white-on-green LOA-patterned card-stock end-papers, PRISTINE interior printed in remarkably clear 10-point Linotron Galliard on SUPERB Olin Nyallite archival paper * 5.24" x 8.12" x 1.62", 0.88 kg, 1347 pp. * CONTENTS: The Pioneers, or the Sources of the Susquehanna, A Descriptive Tale (1); The Last of the Mohicans, A Narrative of 1757 (467); The Prairie, A Tale (879); Chronology (1319), Note on the Texts (1332), Notes (1338). * ABOUT THE BOOK: James Fenimore Cooper's epic of the American frontier follows the exploits of the scout Natty Bumpo, "Leatherstocking", from the French & Indian Wars to the early 19th century; here the five novels are gathered for the first time in two volumes in the order of their original publication. Leatherstocking first appears in "The Pioneers" as an aged hunter caught-up in the struggle to determine what kind of civilization will replace the vanishing wilderness. "The Last of the Mohicans" is a pure, unabashed adventure story, in which Natty & his Indian companions Chingachgook & Uncas attempt a daring rescue while the French threaten to invade the American colonies. In "The Prairie", Natty, in his 80s, is driven to refuge on the Great Plains, where Sioux, Pawnee, outlaw whites, & members of the Lewis & Clark expedition enact a fateful drama. A companion volume gathers "The Pathfinder" & "The Deerslayer". * The LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an award-winning, nonprofit program dedicated to publishing America's best & most significant writing in handsome, enduring volumes, featuring authoritative texts. Hailed as "the most important book-publishing project in the nation's history" (Newsweek), this acclaimed series is restoring America's literary heritage in "the finest-looking, longest-lasting edition ever made" (New Republic). * SHIPPING: MNEMOSYNE carefully wraps, labels & custom-packages this fine book w/ our greatest elegance & care for FREE shipment via USPS MEDIA MAIL within the U.S. w/ Domestic USPS PRIORITY MAIL available for a nominal additional fee & shipment of all international orders via efficient USPS FIRST CLASS AIRMAIL at our posted rates.

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Leatherstocking Tales: Volume I: The Pioneers, or the Sources of the Susquehanna, A Descriptive Tale; The Last of the Mohicans, A Narrative of 1757; The Prairie, A Tale
• Publisher: Library of America, New York
• Publication Date: 1985
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0940450208
• ISBN 13: 9780940450202
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 4th Printing
• Condition: As New
• Dust Jacket Condition: As New
• Weight: 0.88 kilograms

About this title

Synopsis

The five novels in The Leatherstocking Tales (collected in two Library of America volumes), Cooper''s great saga of the American wilderness, form a pageant of the American frontier. Cooper''s hero, Natty Bumppo, is forced ever farther into the heart of the continent by the advance of civilization that he inadvertently serves as advance scout, missionary, and critic. 

Leatherstocking first appears in The Pioneers (1823), as an aged hunter living on the fringe of settlement near Templeton (Cooperstown), New York, at the end of the eighteenth century. There he becomes caught in the struggles of party, family, and class to control the changing American land and to determine what sort of civilization will replace the rapidly vanishing wilderness. When Natty Bumppo started an American tradition by setting off into the sunset at the novel''s close, one early reader said, "I longed to go with him."

The Last of the Mohicans (1826) is a pure unabashed narrative of adventure. It looks back to the earlier time of the French and Indian Wars, when Natty and his two companions, Chingachgook and Uncas, survivors of a once-proud Indian nation, attempt a daring rescue and seek to forestall the plan of the French to unleash their Mingo allies on a wave of terror through the English settlements.

The Prairie (1827) takes up Natty in his eighties, driven by the continuous march of civilization to his last refuge on the Great Plains across the Mississippi. On this vast and barren stage, the Sioux and Pawnee, the outlaw clan of Ishmael Bush, and members of the Lewis and Clark expedition enact a romantic drama of intrigue, pursuit, and biblical justice that reflects Cooper''s historical dialectic of culture and nature, of the American nation and the American continent.

LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

About the Author

James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) grew up at Otsego Hall, his father's manorial estate near Lake Otsego in upstate New York. Educated at Yale, he spent five years at sea, as a foremast hand and then as a midshipman in the navy. At thirty he was suddenly plunged into a literary career when his wife challenged his claim that he could write a better book that the English novel he was reading to her. The result was Precaution (1820), a novel of manners. His second book, The Spy (1821), was an immediate success, and with The Pioneers (1823) he began his series of Leatherstocking Tales. By 1826 when The Last of the Mohicans appeared, his standing as a major novelist was clearly established. From 1826 to 1833 Cooper and his family lived and traveled in France, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany. Two of his most successful works, The Prairie and The Red Rover, were published in 1827. He returned to Otsego Hall in 1834, and after a series of relatively unsuccessful books of essays, travel sketches, and history, he returned to fiction - and to Leatherstocking - with The Pathfinder (1840) and The Deerslayer (1841). In his last decade he faced declining popularity brought on in part by his waspish attacks on critics and political opponents. Just before his death in 1851 an edition of his works led to a reappraisal of his fiction and somewhat restored his reputation as the first of American writers.