The North American Review. Vol. XX. New Series Vol. XI. 1825. Boston: Cummings, Hilliard and Co., 1825. First Edition. [8003]
Quarter calf with marbled boards, outer hinges cracked and holding, 5 1/2 x 8 3/4 inches, old paper label on spine, bookplates inside front, & library stamp on tp. vi., 491, 16 relatively clean pp., index for the volume. Thin errata slip tipped in at index; last 16 pp. are a list of the contents of the volumes published to date. Good. Hardcover.
Reviews of particular significance in this volume include Redwood, A Tale; Butler's Reminiscences; Insurrection of Tupac Amaru; Letters on the Gospels, by Miss Hannah Adams; Count Pulaski Vindicated; Civil Code of Napoleon; Professor Everett's Orations; Lord Byron's Poems; Mr. Poinsett's Notes on Mexico; Annals of Baltimore; Memoirs of Lafayette; Emigration to Africa and Hayti.
The Review began as the Monthly Anthology (1803-1811), a regional magazine reflecting the intellectual tastes and ideas of Boston and New England. "The poet William Cullen Bryant’s first contribution to the review, 'Thanatopsis' (1817), made him famous. Other early contributors included Daniel Webster, John Adams, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Francis Parkman." - Britannica online.
In 1815 it was decided to expand the reach and content of the magazine, and the name North American Review was chosen. It was the first literary magazine in the United States, published in Boston under the direction of Nathan Hale and others, and was published continuously until 1940. The Review's first editor, William Tudor (1779-1830), and other founders had been members of Boston's Anthology Club, and launched North American Review to foster a genuine American culture. In its first few years NAR published poetry, fiction, and miscellaneous essays on a bi-monthly schedule, but in 1820 it became a quarterly with more focused contents intent on improving society and on elevating culture. NAR promoted the improvement of public education and administration, with reforms in secondary schools, sound professional training of doctors and lawyers, rehabilitation of prisoners at the state penitentiary, and government by educated experts. NAR's editors and contributors included several literary and political New Englanders as John Adams, George Bancroft, Nathaniel Bowditch, William Cullen Bryant, Lewis Cass, Edward T. Channing, Caleb Cushing, Richard Henry Dana, Sr., Alexander Hill Everett, Edward Everett, Jared Sparks, George Ticknor, Gulian C. Verplanck, and Daniel Webster.
As a review, the periodical examines books in print on specific topics, and adds scholarly analysis and discussion of the works. The analysis reveals the mind of the Federalist/Whig parties of New England, intent on expanding internal improvements and developing a national American culture.