Forgotten American authors

Earlier today I purchased Heritage Press editions of Washington Irving’s The Alahambra and James Fenimore Cooper’s The Pathfinder. I also got a copy of the HP edition of Petronius’ Satyricon.

The subject title is a bit of a chip on my shoulder. I’ve taken various American Literature classes and was infuriated to notice the absence of Irving and Cooper. Come to think of it, it really pissed me off. The sheer neglect of the United States’ early authors is criminal. Heck, the Library of America hasn’t published a volume dedicated to an author from the USA’s early period since 2018, not counting the Founding Fathers.

This is why I like the LEC and HP. They published a lot of classic books.

I love those LEC editions as well but don’t get mad at the Library of America because they recognized the importance of those authors and published them early. I’ve got three LOA volumes from Cooper and one for Irving.

LOA tries to keep their back catalog in print. Most of the classic early American authors have been in the catalog for 30 or 40 years. Biblio, do you think something is egregiously missing?

I think students of American literature are deeply indebted to the LOA. When I was a graduate student in a course called "America Deserta," after a series of books published by Knopf which intended to present works which had been forgotten or ignored but which preserved something uniquely American, we had to make do with paperback copies of works such as Clotel, Wieland, the writings of Jonathan Edwards and the less well-known works of canon authors: Cooper's The Spy, Irving's Tales of the Alhambra, Hawthorne's The Marble Faun and Poe's Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. (Because I was a Heritage Club member, I had HP editions of some of these, which are still in beautiful condition, and none of the paperbacks have survived.)

Because Melville was the author about whom I chose to write a dissertation on his most controversial work, I had to purchase the hardcover Knopf edition of Pierre, which cost me $3. That sounds like a pittance now, but in 1969 I could fill the tank of my family's Ford Falcon for that much. Now I have a LOA edition which not only includes Pierre, but Israel Potter, The Piazza Tales, Billy Budd, and a novel which is nearly as controversial as Pierre, but which I find to be one of Melville's richest, The Confidence-Man.

There is still more work to be done by LOA who have of late tended to only publish more recent authors, ignoring, for the most part, 19th century authors. I hope they will eventually get around to publishing works such as Tourgee's A Fool's Errand, DeForest's Miss Ravenel's Conversion, and Simms' The Yemassee.

>3 Chemren:, the LOA used to focus more on authors early in US history. Why not all of Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper? Now, they seem to be focusing on niche authors.

>4 Django6924:, I have the volumes of Francis Parkman’s writings (it’s incredible to think you can get virtually all of his writings in three volumes. I think they’re missing one or two forgotten works, though.), Jefferson’s writings, and Audubon’s writings. I’ve been reading and enjoying them. I wish the LOA would publish more early to mid 19th century US authors. The overcompensating with more modern authors has turned me away, as, all of the older volumes can be bought second hand.

That reminds me, I need to look for the LEC or HP edition of Jefferson’s writings. I wonder why they never did any of our other Founding Fathers, except Benjamin Franklin.

>6 Bibliophile-I: The LEC Federalist has more Founding Fathers writings.

>6 Bibliophile-I: You're forgetting The Federalist, 1945. Designed by Bruce Rogers.

Edit: A.nobody beat me to it

>6 Bibliophile-I: LOA has a volume on Washington’s writings while the LEC published a biography written by Weems.

I am also indebted to the LOA for publishing two works which I probably would not otherwise have read if I had not received them as part of my subscription: the memoirs of W.T. Sherman and Ulysses S. Grant, as well as the two volumes of Lincoln's speeches and writings, an indispensable supplement to the LEC/HP The Literary Works of Abraham Lincoln.

After reading many books about the War Between the States, I find these works by the actual participants far superior to the histories, even those by Catton and Foote, for an understanding of that pivotal moment for our country. I hope one day they will also publish Company Aytch and Mary Chesnut's Civil War, which are fascinating portraits of the war by a Confederate soldier and by the wife of a South Carolina plantation owner. And although I had promised myself to buy no more books, I can't resist the 4-volume LOA The Civil War Told by Those Who Lived It.

Incidentally, I'm happy to see other members of this group promoting The Federalist. This should be required reading by every American.

Postscript: Though not exactly a Founding Father, Paine's Rights of Man, dedicated to George Washington and Lafayette, deserves to be an honorary member.

>10 Django6924: I would love to see U.S. Grant's "Memoirs" given Fine Press treatment. I've always been surprised that the LEC never took that title on. I'll have to go back through Carol Grossman's book to see if it ever popped up as a book that the membership wanted.