McCabe, James D. The Pictorial History of the World; embracing Full and Authentic Accounts of Every Nation of Ancient and Modern Times. Philadelphia, &c.: The National Publishing Co., (1878). [12430]
Half brown morocco with black cloth boards, spine faded with elaborate gilt decoration & raised hubs, short surface crack near the top of the back joint, with the board still very secure. 10 x 7 inches, beveled edges, all page edges gilt. Wood-engraved frontispiece of battle scene with tissue guard, 1260 clean pp. printed in double columns, with 650 engravings, both full page and in-text. An attractive copy. Good. Hardcover.
Title continues: Showing the Causes of their Prosperity and Decline, including A Full and Comprehensive History of the Rise and Fall of the Greek and Roman Empires, the Growth of the Nations of Modern Europe, the Middle Ages, the Crusades, the Feudal System, the Reformation, the Discovery and Settlement of the New World, etc., etc. With Sketches of the Leading Characters in the World's History. Embellished with over 650 Fine Engravings of Battles and other Historical Scenes; Portraits of the Great Men of Ancient and Modern Times; Views of the Cities of the World, Etc.
"Mr. McCabe has a happy faculty of condensing history, and saving the reader from wading through an immensity of dry details, and bringing you at once to the event. Very few people find life long enough to plod through the histories of the various nations, but here you have it from the beginning of the world down to the present day, including the history of every nation of ancient and modern times. It is in all respects a most useful and valuable book, and everybody who ever buys a new book, will be sure to want this one." - From The Times, Bellow Falls, Vt., in the publisher's adverts at the end of this volume.
The copyright date is 1877; the Preface date is 1878.
James Dabney McCabe, Jr. (1842-1883), b. Richmond, Virginia; d. Germantown, Pennsylvania. McCabe was the son of an Episcopal clergyman and he was educated at the Virginia Military Institute. A dedicated writer of biographies and histories, he supported the Confederacy with his wartime writings (Johns Hopkins Libraries hold his papers, and says that he may have served in the Confederate War Department for a time). He wrote biographies of Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee, as well as war stories and poetry during the conflict. After the war he settled in Boston and penned many books of history, including a sympathetic treatment of Gen. James A. Garfield, "Our Martyred President."
In the final portraits in our photos, those of Lincoln and Davis, one might detect a bit of bias in the unusual harsh and unflattering pose of Lincoln, compared with the sympathetic one of Davis.
