"The Winter Wreath" edited by Nathaniel Parker Willis. Published by Leavitt and Allen, New York, 1853. First Edition. Contains poetry, short stories and engravings by different authors. "The prose and poetry of Europe and America: consisting of literary gems and curiosities, and containing the choice and beautiful productions of many of the most popular writers of the past and present age".

Hard boards, ornately embossed leather with deep embossed title in gilt on white/rose circle. Gold lettering on spine, both boards have identical decorations [some shelf wear]. 7" x 9.1/2"; brown colored endpapers; the frontispiece is a copper etching [the impressed plate area is visible]; additional engraved title page; 224 pages + 9 plates with tissue guards, heavy stock high quality paper, all page edges are gilt, a little wear, discarded library book with blind stamp on the title page and residue of the removed labels inside back cover, very good condition.

Nathaniel Parker Willis (1806-1867), also known as N.P. Willis, was an American author, poet and editor who worked with several notable American writers including Edgar Allan Poe and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He became the highest-paid magazine writer of his day.

Contents:

Presentation Letter by the Editor. The last Appeal by N.P. Willis. The Indian Maidens Reply, by Frances R. Osgood. The Romp, by Fanny Forrester. The Eve of St Agnes, by Keats and Leigh Nunt. The Novel Reader, by N.P. Willis.

The Dream, by Grace Greenwood. Born to Love Pigs and Chickens, by N.P. Willis. The Monopolist, by H.P. Grattan. A Word for Women, by A Lay Preacher. The Good Daughter by N.P. Willis.

Harvey Birch, by J. Fennimore Cooper. Hurst Castle, by L.H. Sigourney. Laying Down the Law, by N.P. Willis. The Main-Truck, by Geo. P. Morris. The Music-Master, by Anon. The Justices Court, by N.P. Willis.

The Lady in the White Dress, by N.P. Willis. The Daily Governess, by Charles Dickens. Bit, by N.P. Willis. An Evening Reverie, by William C. Bryant. A Domestic Sketch, by L.H. Sigourney. A Visit to Niagara, by Anne C. Lynch.

The White Chip Hat, by N.P. Willis. The Bitter Morning, by Jane C. Campbell. The Prairie on Fire, by Geo P. Morris. The Dual, by C.H. Butler. The Power of Love, by L. Maria Child. The Guide, by Louse O. Hunter. The Post Boy's Song, by Frances A. Fuller.

The Bird-Trap by N.P. Willis. The Blue Stocking, by Fitz-Greene Halleck. Life is Sweet, by C.M. Sedgwick. Leonora Lestrange, by Frances Sargent Osgood.

Engraved plates present in this volume:

"The Last Appeal" by Frank Stone (frontispiece)
Engraved title page
"The Indian Maiden Reply" by T.H. Matterson
"Rome", by W.H. Bartlett
"The Novel Reader" by T.H. Matterson
"The Good Daughter" by H. Lescot
"Hurst Castle" by W.H. Bartlett
"The Justice Court" by T.H. Matterson
"Niagara", by W.H. Bartlett
Putnamâ€â„¢s Duel, by T.H. Matterson
"The Bird-Trap", by W. Collins

William Henry Bartlett (1809-1854) was a British artist, best known for his numerous drawings rendered into steel engravings.

He was apprenticed to John Britton (1771-1857), and became one of the foremost illustrators of topography of his generation. He travelled throughout Britain, and in the mid and late 1840s he travelled extensively in the Balkans and the Middle East. He made four visits to North America between 1836 and 1852.

In 1835, Bartlett first visited the United States to draw the buildings, towns and scenery of the northeastern states. The finely detailed steel engravings Bartlett produced were published uncolored with a text by Nathaniel Parker Willis as American Scenery; or Land, Lake, and River: Illustrations of Transatlantic Nature. American Scenery was published by George Virtue in London in 30 monthly installments from 1837 to 1839. Bound editions of the work were published from 1840 onward.[1] In 1838 Bartlett was in the Canadas producing sketches for Willis' Canadian scenery illustrated, published in 1842. Following a trip to the Middle East, he published Walks about the city and environs of Jerusalem in 1840.

Bartlett made sepia wash drawings the exact size to be engraved. His engraved views were widely copied by artists, but no signed oil painting by his hand is known. Engravings based on Bartlett's views were later used in his posthumous History of the United States of North America, continued by Bernard Bolingbroke Woodward and published around 1856.

Bartlett's primary concern was to render "lively impressions of actual sights", as he wrote in the preface to The Nile Boat (London, 1849). Many views contain some ruin or element of the past including many scenes of churches, abbeys, cathedrals and castles, and Nathaniel Parker Willis described Bartlett's talent thus: "Bartlett could select his point of view so as to bring prominently into his sketch the castle or the cathedral, which history or antiquity had allowed".

Bartlett returning from his last trip to the Near East suddenly took ill and died of fever on board the French steamer Egyptus off the coast of Malta in 1854.

Note:
Country restrictions may apply - - the lesser expansive Priority shipping may not be available to all countries.

US: Priority (c.2-4 days) -------- $14.50
Canada: Priority (c.2-6 weeks) -- $32.50
World: Priority (c.2-8 weeks) --- $44.50