[Edgar, John George]. The Boyhood of Great Men, Intended as an Example to Youth; With Illustrations. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1876. [8445]
Green publisher's cloth, gilt titles to spine, 4 1/2 x 6 3/4 inches, binding tight with light shelf-wear. Wood-engraved frontispiece with nine additional plates, complete. 385 clean pp.. 2 pp. publisher's catalogue, tight. Slight musty odor. Good. Hardcover.
Forty biographies of great men in nineteen different categories (Poets, Historians, Statesmen, Inventors, &c) intended to inspire boys and young men to seek their own greatness in life.
The London edition has the author as John George Edgar. This was his first book, published in London in 1853.
John George Edgar (1834-1864), son of an Anglican minister, began his career in the mercantile trade but soon turned to literature. He wrote historical narrative fiction, mainly intended for boys, as was the first editor of Every Boy's Magazine.
"Edgar was especially familiarity with early English and Scottish history, and possessed a wide knowledge of border tradition." - wikipedia.
