Popular Resorts and How to Reach Them. Combining a Brief Description of the Principal Summer Retreats in the United States, and the Routes of Travel Leading to Them.
Boston: John B. Bachelder, Publisher, 1875. Hardcover. 8vo. Emerald green cloth with gilt lettering and black decorative rules. 364pp (including ads for three Bachelder Gettysburg titles at rear). Frontispiece, extensive steel engravings (many full page), large color foldout map at front. Very good overall. A tight and lovely binding marred only by a lightly shellacked spine (unfortunate but common late 19th century practice) and small hand-lettered shelf label near spine base); text block tight and bright and fine. Item #49647
Quite nice third revised edition of this early mass tourism guide, with the usual "With the kind regards of the author" and facsimile signature slip tipped in at title page. Bachelder takes the reader on thirty-one detailed "Pleasure Routes" that span the country. Notes title page, "Illustrated by One Hundred and Fifty=Two Wood=Cuts by the Best Engravers, Many of Them Original Sketches by the Author." Perhaps this third revised edition outsold its predecessors, for copies surface occasionally but copies of the first and second edition less often. Bachelder (1825-94) was an artist and photographer remembered almost exclusively as the foremost historian of the Battle of Gettysburg, of which he authored several landmark titles; this foray into tourism is the odd exception and is his only effort in this area. From the collection of William B. Allison (1829-1908), the powerful Iowa Republican who, as U.S. senator from that state (1873-1908), was one of the "big four" who controlled the Senate; as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee for most of those years, he championed tariff legislation and co-authored the Bland-Allison Act of 1878; as member of the Senate Finance Committee he was often courted by U.S. presidents to hold cabinet positions. Early 20th century bookplate on front pastedown notes "This book is part of Allison Memorial Collection Gift of Mrs. Jennie A. Brayton" and until deaccessioned was part of Allison's non-circulating collection at his hometown public library across the street from his Dubuque residence. According to Leland L. Sage in his 1956 biography "William Boyd Allison: A Study in Practical Politics," Allison owned "hundreds of books on government, economics, history, banking, finance, and the tariff [as well as] volumes of American and English literature. An omnivorous reader, Allison doubtless read most of these volumes, if only for relaxation from the strain that accompanied his efforts to solve the many problems facing the Nation...." A lovely copy of a title often found in less-than-lovely condition. The large foldout map of New England is bright and crisp.
Price: $150.00