The new purchase; or, seven and a half years in the far west. By Robert Carlton, Esq.
New York and Philadelphia: Appleton, 1843. First edition, 8vo, 2 volumes, pp. xii, 300; vii, [1], 316 plus 12 pp. ads; original gray paper-covered boards rebacked in gray cloth, original printed paper labels preserved, a very good set from the library of railroad baron James J. Hill, with his bookplate on front pastedowns and perforated stamp on title pages. "Baynard Rush Hall was a pioneer preacher and educator in Indiana. While on the faculty of the then infant Indiana University he became involved in a feud with Andrew Wylie and, in 1831, left the state. In spite of his marked bitterness toward some of the people of whom he writes, the book is both a readable and valuable account of life in pioneer Indiana. Because of his rather outspoken criticism of persons still living, Hall disguised his work with a series of made up names and published it under the pseudonym 'Robert Carlton'" (Lilly Library, One Hundred and Fifty Years: An Exhibition Commemorating the Sesquicentennial of Indiana Statehood, 96). "The New Purchase is now valuable source material on the pioneer life of the state and south central Indiana in particular" (Shumaker, A History of Indiana Literature (Indianapolis, 1962; p. 155). Howes H48; Wright I, 1095. Item #22797
Price: $650.00
