Wiley, Edwin; Rines, Irving E. History of the United States of America, in Six Volumes, illustrated. New York: American Educational Alliance, 1909. First Edition. [10957]
Six volumes in half green leather, green cloth boards, all joints fine, the leather is now largely sunned and brown. 10 1/4 x 7 1/2 inches, some surface scuffing. The leather on these volumes has been treated with Cellugel, an archival sealant that retards red rot, which had just started to affect these books; the treatment has worked perfectly. The volumes are tight, the pages are clean; top page edges gilt; each with color frontispiece and many b/w plates. xx., 415; vii, [3], 425; vii, [3], 412; viii, [2], 430; viii, 467; ix, [3], 537, [1], liii (index).
The third volume has a repaired front blank, and one leaf of text partly repaired, still lacking the last words of seven lines, and the margin in that place; volume six has some small pink spots on the front board. Good. Hardcover.
This is a complete set of a monumental history of the United States, with many reproduced documents and engravings. It begins with the discovery of America and ends with the administration of President Taft.
"The aim...has been to prepare an accurate, impartial and interesting narrative of the origin, rise and progress of our country. Having no theories to establish, no creed to expound, no partisan views or wishes to gratify, an honest endeavor has been made to ascertain the truth and to set forth the results of these investigations as clearly and fully as the restrictions of space would allow. Mere speculation on historic points has been avoided; attempts to penetrate or pronounce upon the motives of men and nations, beyond what may regarded as plainly and fairly deducible from their acts has been deemed of little value; and in general it has been considered best that the reader should draw his own conclusions from the facts presented...On the important questions, political and otherwise, respecting which our countrymen have always been, and most likely will be, divided in sentiment, the views of both sides have been given, together with clear and precise references to the standard authorities and quotations from official documents and papers. Thus the reader who may desire to examine any topic more in detail will find an adequate and well-selected bibliography." - Introduction.
Edwin Montgomery Wiley (1872-1924), b. Coal Creek, Tennessee. Wiley was educated at the University of Tennessee and became an apprentice assistant at the Harvard University library. He was the librarian of several universities, of the Naval War College, and the Classifier of the Library of Congress at the time this enormous work was written.
His tombstone in Knoxville, Tennesee, reads "Wiley, Edwin Montgomery, Scholar."
