Hugh Henry Brackenridge, 1819

BRACKENRIDGE, Hugh Henry (1748-1816). Modern Chivalry: Containing the Adventures of a Captain and Teague O'Regan, his Servant. Pittsburgh: R. Patterson and Lambdin, 1819.

First posthumous edition of Brackenridge's sprawling Don Quixote of the Frontier. This book, a candidate for one of the very earliest American novels, was published in installments over a period of 23 years and constantly revised by its author, a notable citizen of Pittsburgh. This is the first complete edition published after his death, making it the final word on the author's intentions for the presentation of his work. In it, Captain John Farrago with his very own Sancho Panza, Teague, leaves his farm in Western Pennsylvania to seek adventure in the wider world. BAL 1323; Wright 362.

Two volumes, 12mo (179 x 104mm). (Some toning.) Contemporary sheep (worn, joints starting). Provenance: Philip J. Bell (gift inscriptions from his grandfather, 1859).