![CRÈVECOEUR. The author's copy of his Voyage Dans La Haute Pensylvanie et dans l'Ètat de New York (Paris, Maradan, 1801), WITH HIS EXTENSIVE ANNOTATIONS, ADDITIONS AND NOTES FOR A NEW, EXTENSIVELY REVISED EDITION which was never published. [Revised ca.1802-1803].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2001/NYR/2001_NYR_09806_0031_000(034554).jpg?w=1)
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CRÈVECOEUR. The author's copy of his Voyage Dans La Haute Pensylvanie et dans l'Ètat de New York (Paris, Maradan, 1801), WITH HIS EXTENSIVE ANNOTATIONS, ADDITIONS AND NOTES FOR A NEW, EXTENSIVELY REVISED EDITION which was never published. [Revised ca.1802-1803].
3 volumes, large 8vo, 214 x 142 mm., uncut, original blue paste-paper boards, (rebacked in blue cloth at an early date, original printed spine labels preserved).
FIRST EDITION. With ink revisions, deletions and marginal additions (sometimes quite extensive) on every one of the 1,270 pages comprising the printed book; in many places, Crevecoeur has pasted in small slips of paper bearing new handwritten text (in many cases the text on the slips has also been revised and augmented). Howes C-884; Sabin 17501.
CRÈVECOEUR'S REWRITTEN VERSION, NEVER PUBLISHED, OF HIS "JOURNEY INTO NORTHERN PENNSYLVANIA AND THE STATE OF NEW YORK"
Crevecoer's heavily altered version of his own comprehensive three-volume work, which he had hoped would enjoy the same success as his earlier Letters. His extensive changes testify to the author's intention to present a text so thoroughly revised as to constitute virtually a new work. More than a decade after the successful publication of Letters from an American Farmer Crèvecoeur's name was mentioned in public with decreasing frequency. No doubt, he was still revered by Madame Houdetot and her friends, but Crèvecoeur longed for a wider public and validation of his position as a spokesman for the American character and: "wished to rekindle in the public mind a waning flame of enthusiasm for his writings" (Bostelmann, trans. Journey into Northern Pennsylvania and the State of New York, p. x). Believing himself an authority on America and possessing a multitude of notes and observations from his travels, he set out to write a book that would surpass Letters in its content and scope.
Journey is a narrative carried primarily through dialogue, which follows the travels of two men in the United States and relates the stories of the varied people they meet. Crèvecoueur claimed in the preface that he was only the translator of an English manuscript found amidst the wreckage of the ship the Morning Star at the mouth of the Elbe River. He purchased it from a merchant who had come upon the materials in a chest. Crèvecoeur's narration informs the reader of his comment to the merchant upon seeing the papers; "It is a journey through the United States...a country that has become very interesting since attaining it's freedom." Journey is substantially more detailed than Letters. Robert Crèvecoeur wrote favorably of Journey in his biography of his Grandfather: "Written with greater care than were the Letters, the work, except for several fanciful chapters, offers very real interest and authenticity. The numerous notes (of a total 1,272 pages in the three volumes, there are well over two hundred pages of notes) have appeciable interest" (Bostelmann, p. ix). However, Crèvecoeur was no doubt influenced by his French aristocratic friends, particularly Madame Houdetot, with whom he lived for awhile and who served as an informal editor. The book departed from his previous approach: "he is still writing of an agrarian Utopia, but nevertheless a cultured Utopia...a far cry from the humble man of homespun tastes characteristic of the letters" (Bostelmann, p. x). For this reason and because of the flow of the book was hindered by the use of dialogue, the book failed to achieve great success in France and was basically unknown in America. Crèvecoeur's careful revisions and corrections of the text were all for naught as a second edition was never published. Thus, the changes made by Crèvecoeur here do not appear in printed form.
Crèvecoeur has made changes in ink to every page in the three volumes. Even the title page has been corrected from the original "Translated and published by the author of "Letters of an American Farmer" to a more specific reference to Crèvecoeur and his affiliations. A significant number of the corrections have been accomplished on separate sheets of paper that have then been tipped into the book.
It appears that Crèvecoeur was attempting to make his book more acceptable to the reading public. In Volume 2, he has substantially rewritten Chapter 5 which focused upon a visit to an old Indian who lived alone near Niagara. Within the published chapter, Crèvecoeur details the plight of the man and his people, citing disease and drunkeness as a source of their problems. His revisions have not substantially changed the story, but have removed much of the detail so that the story has a smoother flow. Chapter 12, which narrates the ventures of two Russians who travelled up the Mississippi River has also been substantially altered. In Volume III, Crèvecoeur included a small section on the life of George Washington at the end of the Chapter 10. His corrections indicate that he intended on shortening Chapter 10 and adding an entirely new chapter which focused upon the First President of the United States. Like his varied other changes, this was likely directed toward his efforts to get the book published in English.
3 volumes, large 8vo, 214 x 142 mm., uncut, original blue paste-paper boards, (rebacked in blue cloth at an early date, original printed spine labels preserved).
FIRST EDITION. With ink revisions, deletions and marginal additions (sometimes quite extensive) on every one of the 1,270 pages comprising the printed book; in many places, Crevecoeur has pasted in small slips of paper bearing new handwritten text (in many cases the text on the slips has also been revised and augmented). Howes C-884; Sabin 17501.
CRÈVECOEUR'S REWRITTEN VERSION, NEVER PUBLISHED, OF HIS "JOURNEY INTO NORTHERN PENNSYLVANIA AND THE STATE OF NEW YORK"
Crevecoer's heavily altered version of his own comprehensive three-volume work, which he had hoped would enjoy the same success as his earlier Letters. His extensive changes testify to the author's intention to present a text so thoroughly revised as to constitute virtually a new work. More than a decade after the successful publication of Letters from an American Farmer Crèvecoeur's name was mentioned in public with decreasing frequency. No doubt, he was still revered by Madame Houdetot and her friends, but Crèvecoeur longed for a wider public and validation of his position as a spokesman for the American character and: "wished to rekindle in the public mind a waning flame of enthusiasm for his writings" (Bostelmann, trans. Journey into Northern Pennsylvania and the State of New York, p. x). Believing himself an authority on America and possessing a multitude of notes and observations from his travels, he set out to write a book that would surpass Letters in its content and scope.
Journey is a narrative carried primarily through dialogue, which follows the travels of two men in the United States and relates the stories of the varied people they meet. Crèvecoueur claimed in the preface that he was only the translator of an English manuscript found amidst the wreckage of the ship the Morning Star at the mouth of the Elbe River. He purchased it from a merchant who had come upon the materials in a chest. Crèvecoeur's narration informs the reader of his comment to the merchant upon seeing the papers; "It is a journey through the United States...a country that has become very interesting since attaining it's freedom." Journey is substantially more detailed than Letters. Robert Crèvecoeur wrote favorably of Journey in his biography of his Grandfather: "Written with greater care than were the Letters, the work, except for several fanciful chapters, offers very real interest and authenticity. The numerous notes (of a total 1,272 pages in the three volumes, there are well over two hundred pages of notes) have appeciable interest" (Bostelmann, p. ix). However, Crèvecoeur was no doubt influenced by his French aristocratic friends, particularly Madame Houdetot, with whom he lived for awhile and who served as an informal editor. The book departed from his previous approach: "he is still writing of an agrarian Utopia, but nevertheless a cultured Utopia...a far cry from the humble man of homespun tastes characteristic of the letters" (Bostelmann, p. x). For this reason and because of the flow of the book was hindered by the use of dialogue, the book failed to achieve great success in France and was basically unknown in America. Crèvecoeur's careful revisions and corrections of the text were all for naught as a second edition was never published. Thus, the changes made by Crèvecoeur here do not appear in printed form.
Crèvecoeur has made changes in ink to every page in the three volumes. Even the title page has been corrected from the original "Translated and published by the author of "Letters of an American Farmer" to a more specific reference to Crèvecoeur and his affiliations. A significant number of the corrections have been accomplished on separate sheets of paper that have then been tipped into the book.
It appears that Crèvecoeur was attempting to make his book more acceptable to the reading public. In Volume 2, he has substantially rewritten Chapter 5 which focused upon a visit to an old Indian who lived alone near Niagara. Within the published chapter, Crèvecoeur details the plight of the man and his people, citing disease and drunkeness as a source of their problems. His revisions have not substantially changed the story, but have removed much of the detail so that the story has a smoother flow. Chapter 12, which narrates the ventures of two Russians who travelled up the Mississippi River has also been substantially altered. In Volume III, Crèvecoeur included a small section on the life of George Washington at the end of the Chapter 10. His corrections indicate that he intended on shortening Chapter 10 and adding an entirely new chapter which focused upon the First President of the United States. Like his varied other changes, this was likely directed toward his efforts to get the book published in English.