Kerr, Orpheus C.; [Newell, Robert Henry]. Smoked Glass; with illustrative anachronisms, by Thomas Worth

Kerr, Orpheus C.; [Newell, Robert Henry]. Smoked Glass; with illustrative anachronisms, by Thomas Worth. New York: G. W. Carleton, 1868. First Edition. [8494]

Maroon publisher's cloth, 5 x 7 1/2 inches, boards blindstamped, spine in gilt, small worming to the joints, light edgewear with fraying at the headcap. Light blue end papers with a private library bookplate, probably of the original owner (19th century manufacture). Lithographed comic illustration as frontispiece; 5 additional lithographs, several text drawings. Foxing, tight. 1868 publisher's catalogue at end. Very good. Hardcover.

A satirical account of American life and American government in particular. As an example, here is the Contents entry for chapter one: Narrating a pleasing Anecdote of New Jersey; describing the friendly Visit of an exciting Journalist to an able military Candidate for the Presidency; noting the disinterested Organization of the 'Grand Mackerel Army of the Republic;' and giving the truly American Song and Story with which that Organization was partly celebrated.

The book treats of the Impeachment of President Johnson, Reconstruction, the Ku-Klux-Klan, American rail-road travel, "a grand Southern Ritualistic Wedding;" with an Appendix of speeches and evidence of the impeachment proceedings.

Orpheus C. Kerr, an amusing interpretation of the words "Office Seeker," was the pseudonym of Robert Henry Newell.

Robert Henry Newell (1836-1901), b. New York City; d. Brooklyn, New York. During the American Civil War his satirical articles on the War were published in the New York Sunday Mercury and in the New York World. His writings were immensely popular, and enthralled even President Lincoln. It is said that when General Montgomery C. Meigs admitted to the President that he had never heard of Opheus C. Kerr, President Lincoln replied, "Anyone who has not read them is a heathen."

The popularity of these writings led to the publication of four books between 1861 and 1864. He worked as an editor for several New York periodicals, and published several novels. "As a humorist he won a distinct place among the writers of America. He distinguishes between 'with and 'humor' in the following apt expression: 'Humor is the sunshine of the language, with is its lightning.'" - The National Cyclopedia of American Biography (1901).