The Leather Stocking Series - The Deerslayer; The Last of the Mohicans; The Pathfinder or The Inland Sea; The Pioneers or The Sources of the Susquehanna; The Prairie -
James Fenimore Cooper, C. E. Brock (illustrator)
1900 - Macmillan & Co., London - First Brock Illustrated Editions
A finely bound complete set of James Fenimore Cooper’s epic Leather Stocking series, the great saga of American frontiersman Natty Bumppo. Housed in a bespoke cloth slipcase.
Illustrated throughout by Charles Brock, each volume with twenty-five line drawing plates. Detailed below in chronological order from Natty Bumppo’s youth to old age: -
The Deerslayer is set during the years 1740-1745, describing Natty Bumppo’s youth. Inspired by romance, justice, and revenge Natty Bumppo together with his close friend Chingachgook, risks his life to free his friends love, and exact revenge for past atrocities.
The Last of the Mohicans takes place in 1757 during the French and Indian War, when France and England battled for control of the American and Canadian colonies. During this war, the French often allied themselves with Native American tribes in order to gain an advantage over the English, with unpredictable and often tragic results. Deep in the forests of upper New York State, the brave woodsman Hawkeye (Natty Bumppo) and his Mohican friends Chingachgook and Uncas become embroiled in these bloody battles.
In The Pathfinder, Cooper takes his main character, here called the Pathfinder (Natty Bumppo) and examines his role as an explorer for British Colonial forces in the forests and islands around the Great Lakes. A classic historical adventure romance and Bumppo falls in love, for the first and only time in the five novels, only to see his choice fall in love with another man - a younger man and good friend of Natty's.
The Pioneers, which was the first book to be published in the series, but fourth chronologically, Natty Bumppo is introduced as an aged hunter living near the frontier town of Templeton (Cooperstown), New York, in the early days of the young republic. An outsider on the advancing edge of civilization, Bumppo is enmeshed in a contest for the land and its riches among pioneers, the Indians they displace, and the settlers who come in their wake.
The Prairie, is the final novel in Cooper’s epic, though nearly ninety in 1804, Natty Bumppo, now on the Great Plains, is still a competent frontiersman and trapper, still displaying his indomitable strength and dignity.
‘James Fenimore Cooper was one of the first popular American novelists. Born in September 1789 in Burlington, New Jersey, Cooper grew up in Cooperstown, New York, a frontier settlement that he later dramatized in his novels. Cooper had a rambling and unpredictable early life. He attended Yale when he was only thirteen but was expelled for instigating a practical joke. His father forced him to join the Navy. Cooper began writing almost by accident. When reading a popular English novel aloud to his wife one day, Cooper suddenly tossed the book aside and said, “I could write you a better book myself!” He lived up to his claim by writing Precaution in 1820 and The Spy, his first popular success, the following year. For the rest of his life, Cooper attracted a massive readership on both sides of the Atlantic, a following rivalled in size only by that of Sir Walter Scott. When he died in 1851, Cooper was one of the most famous writers in the world.’
Charles Edmund Brock (1870-1938) was one of the great late 19th century book illustrators. Born in Cambridge and spent the whole of his working life there. Educated at the Cambridge school and workshop of Henry Wiles, sculptor. Like his younger brother H.M. Brock, his métier was in the illustration of period books, the worlds of Jane Austen, Charles Lamb, Oliver Goldsmith and Daniel Defoe, but also of Scott’s classics and the stories of Whyte-Melville. His career began in earnest in the middle 1890’s and he continued to produce a regular output until his death in 1938. The Brocks worked closely together, together in the same studio and gained stimulation from each other. He was elected RI in 1908.
References: Bill Majure, LEC Checklist, 371. SparkNotes. Penguin. Blackstone Publishing. Linrary of America. Simon & Schuster. Simon Houfe, British Illustrators and Caricaturists, 244, 479.
Five octavo volumes (binding size 18.4x12.8cm), pp. viii 522 [2]; xxvii [1] 398 [4 (publisher’s ads)] [2]; viii 463 [1] [4 (publisher’s ads)] [2]; viii 455 [1] [4 (publisher’s ads)] [2]; viii 437 [1] [2 (publisher’s ads)] [2]. Elegantly bound in three quarter light brown calf over matching marbled boards, spines with raised bands decorated and lettered in gilt, speckled edges. Condition: Fine in fine bindings. Ref: 112669 Price: HK$ 14,000
Illustrated throughout by Charles Brock, each volume with twenty-five line drawing plates. Detailed below in chronological order from Natty Bumppo’s youth to old age: -
The Deerslayer is set during the years 1740-1745, describing Natty Bumppo’s youth. Inspired by romance, justice, and revenge Natty Bumppo together with his close friend Chingachgook, risks his life to free his friends love, and exact revenge for past atrocities.
The Last of the Mohicans takes place in 1757 during the French and Indian War, when France and England battled for control of the American and Canadian colonies. During this war, the French often allied themselves with Native American tribes in order to gain an advantage over the English, with unpredictable and often tragic results. Deep in the forests of upper New York State, the brave woodsman Hawkeye (Natty Bumppo) and his Mohican friends Chingachgook and Uncas become embroiled in these bloody battles.
In The Pathfinder, Cooper takes his main character, here called the Pathfinder (Natty Bumppo) and examines his role as an explorer for British Colonial forces in the forests and islands around the Great Lakes. A classic historical adventure romance and Bumppo falls in love, for the first and only time in the five novels, only to see his choice fall in love with another man - a younger man and good friend of Natty's.
The Pioneers, which was the first book to be published in the series, but fourth chronologically, Natty Bumppo is introduced as an aged hunter living near the frontier town of Templeton (Cooperstown), New York, in the early days of the young republic. An outsider on the advancing edge of civilization, Bumppo is enmeshed in a contest for the land and its riches among pioneers, the Indians they displace, and the settlers who come in their wake.
The Prairie, is the final novel in Cooper’s epic, though nearly ninety in 1804, Natty Bumppo, now on the Great Plains, is still a competent frontiersman and trapper, still displaying his indomitable strength and dignity.
‘James Fenimore Cooper was one of the first popular American novelists. Born in September 1789 in Burlington, New Jersey, Cooper grew up in Cooperstown, New York, a frontier settlement that he later dramatized in his novels. Cooper had a rambling and unpredictable early life. He attended Yale when he was only thirteen but was expelled for instigating a practical joke. His father forced him to join the Navy. Cooper began writing almost by accident. When reading a popular English novel aloud to his wife one day, Cooper suddenly tossed the book aside and said, “I could write you a better book myself!” He lived up to his claim by writing Precaution in 1820 and The Spy, his first popular success, the following year. For the rest of his life, Cooper attracted a massive readership on both sides of the Atlantic, a following rivalled in size only by that of Sir Walter Scott. When he died in 1851, Cooper was one of the most famous writers in the world.’
Charles Edmund Brock (1870-1938) was one of the great late 19th century book illustrators. Born in Cambridge and spent the whole of his working life there. Educated at the Cambridge school and workshop of Henry Wiles, sculptor. Like his younger brother H.M. Brock, his métier was in the illustration of period books, the worlds of Jane Austen, Charles Lamb, Oliver Goldsmith and Daniel Defoe, but also of Scott’s classics and the stories of Whyte-Melville. His career began in earnest in the middle 1890’s and he continued to produce a regular output until his death in 1938. The Brocks worked closely together, together in the same studio and gained stimulation from each other. He was elected RI in 1908.
References: Bill Majure, LEC Checklist, 371. SparkNotes. Penguin. Blackstone Publishing. Linrary of America. Simon & Schuster. Simon Houfe, British Illustrators and Caricaturists, 244, 479.
Five octavo volumes (binding size 18.4x12.8cm), pp. viii 522 [2]; xxvii [1] 398 [4 (publisher’s ads)] [2]; viii 463 [1] [4 (publisher’s ads)] [2]; viii 455 [1] [4 (publisher’s ads)] [2]; viii 437 [1] [2 (publisher’s ads)] [2]. Elegantly bound in three quarter light brown calf over matching marbled boards, spines with raised bands decorated and lettered in gilt, speckled edges. Condition: Fine in fine bindings. Ref: 112669 Price: HK$ 14,000