Elkanah Watson A TOUR IN HOLLAND IN MDCCLXXXIV BY AN AMERICAN 1790 Antique Netherlands Engraved Full Leather Historiated Initials Ornamentation Isaiah Thomas Worcester Boston Evans 23039 Brinckerhoff
Title: A Tour in Holland, in MDCCLXXXIV. By an American.
Author: Elkanah Watson - Elkanah Watson was a visionary traveler and writer, agriculturist and canal promoter, banker and businessman. He was born in Plymouth, Massachusetts and died at Port Kent, New York. He worked in Albany, New York for several years, founding the State Bank of Albany. After retiring in 1807 to a farm in Massachusetts, he raised Merino sheep and founded the agricultural fair, first organizing one at Pittsfield.

Based on journals which he had kept since his 20s, Watson started writing his autobiography in 1821. It was completed, edited and published as Men and the Times of the Revolution; or Memoirs of Elkanah Watson (1856) by one of his sons, historian Winslow Cossoul Watson.
Publisher: Isaiah Thomas
City: Worcester, Massachusetts
Year: 1790
Binding Style: Hardcover
Pagination: 191 pages
Width: 5.5" Height: 8.5"
Book Details: This antique engraved volume is bound in full leather with raised bands and gilt lettering on a red leather spine label. In text decoration includes historiated initials and engraved ornamentation.

This volume recounts the author's travels in the Netherlands. Watson is best rememberd for promoting a cattle show in 1810, the first of its kind, and later sponsoring the very first county fair.

Printed “by Isaiah Thomas, sold at his bookstore in Worcester, and by him and company in Boston.

From the text: “Experience every day convinces me, that no situation in life is more disgusting to an active mind, than to have nothing to do. The present moment seems a vacuum in my existence; at night I look back with regret to find the best hours of my life mouldering away in the cause of indolence.” (p 9-10)

Evans 23039
Condition / Notes: This antique engraved volume shows very well bound in full leather with raised bands and gilt lettering on a red leather spine label.

The books show some age/wear externally concentrated at the extremities, including a partially detached front board. The binding is tight and secure, the text and ornamentation are clear and there is scattered foxing and age toning throughout.

Signature has been cropped from endleaf, title page and preface, not affecting text. A couple of blank pages also seem to have been torn out. A contemporary ownership inscription of H. Brinckerhoff is written on the front paste down.

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