Ellis, Edward S. Ellis's History of the United States (6 volume set); From the Discovery of America to the Present Time. St. Paul, Minn.: Western Book Syndicate, 1899. [10187]
Six large volumes, sometime rebound in quarter morocco with raised bands, blue cloth boards, each 10 x 7 inches. Page edges marbled, new cream end papers. Bindings are near fine with spines sunned. Text blocks show wear, with some soil and a few chipped/creased edges; the title page to volume one is partly loose. One leaf in vol. one torn with about 1/3 loss. These volumes lack the frontispiece plates, and some of the other double page color plates have some flecking from separation. 2317 pages in all, plus many plates. Bindings are very good, content is fair to good. Hardcover.
Ellis wrote history as he wrote his popular fiction: he tells the story. And so, reading his History of the United States is not dry, nor confined to names and dates, but rather it is full of interest and pathos.
Almost all of volume two is the story of the American Revolution; volume one is that of discovery and colonial times. Volume three ends in 1863, and the last three volumes bring the history down to McKinley's Administration. There is a chronological index and an extensive subject index for easy reference.
This is a great set for reading that will look handsome on your bookshelf.
Title continues: Including a comprehensive Historical Introduction, copious Annotations, a List of Authorities and Reference, Etc., Complete in Six Volumes. Profusely and Beautifully Illustrated, Maps, Charts, Portraits, Famous Historic Scenes and Events, and a Series of Beautiful Polychromatic Plates in Brilliant Colors, exact copies of Historical Paintings.
Illustrators: C. M. Reylea, H. A. Ogden, J. Steeple Davis, Warren Sheppard, W. H. Lippincott, A. B. Doggett, De Cost Smith, W. P. Snyder, Gilbert Gaul, W. C. Fitler, C. Kendrick, Joseph Gleeson and Others.
Edward Sylvester Ellis (1840-1916), b. Geneva, Ohio; d. Cliff Island, Maine. A prolific author of fiction for boys and of more serious works of biography and history. He wrote under at least 16 pseudonyms, and had and additional 159 books published in his own name. Besides his historical fiction, he wrote biographies of American frontiersmen, of Cowboys and Rustlers in Wyoming, and accounts of European nations. The Library of Congress has 297 catalogue records of his works.
