Cooper, James Fenimore. The Wing-and-Wing; or, Le Feu-Follet. A Tale. Complete in One Volume, Revised and Corrected, with a New Introduction, Notes, &c., by the Author. New York: Singer & Townsend, 1854. Revised and Corrected. [12066]
Green cloth with blind borders, round blind stamped portrait of Cooper on front and back, spine with gilt titles and design. All now faded with the spine and edges browned, some fraying at the spine ends, 7 1/2 x 5 1/4 inches, tight. Light blotchy stains on the back cover. Half-title page in red & black, 486 pages; the center of the book has very little foxing, with prominent foxing at the beginning and end of the book. Good. Hardcover.
One of Cooper's "Sea Tales" series, with the series title and a tall masted ship in gilt on the spine.
"In 1842, James Fenimore Cooper returned to transatlantic themes with a thrilling historical novel set in the Mediterranean Sea, weaving together a characteristically exciting narrative of naval pursuit with a story of lovers separated by religious differences. As the novel unfolds, warships under the command of the recently ennobled Lord Nelson are thwarted in their attempt to capture the French privateer Raoul Yvard and his graceful lugger Le Feu-Follet, while Yvard himself is frustrated because the Italian girl he loves, loyal to the Church, refuses to marry a French deist. Cooper also worked into his story one of his most colorful Yankee characters, Ithuel Bolt, an impressed seaman who combines courage and righteousness with bitterness and greedy self-interest.
"What sets The Wing-And-Wing apart from Cooper's other maritime adventures is the setting: most of the action occurs in the genial Italian waters of the Bay of Naples and Gulf of Salerno, locations Cooper had visited in 1829–30 and later recalled as 'the only region of the earth that I truly love.' He combined the struggle for naval dominance just beginning between France and England with historical events occurring in the Kingdom of Naples, especially the role reluctantly played by Nelson, pressured by his lover Lady Hamilton, in the execution of the Neapolitan hero Admiral Caraccioli." - SUNY Press online.
