COOPER, James Fenimore.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

The American Democrat. First edition, an association copy apparently signed by the printer, Elihu Phinney, junior. Spiller and Blackburn state that this is "the only contemporary edition of this work... it was not reprinted abroad".Judge William Cooper, father of the writer, was the founder of Cooperstown and invited the first Elihu Phinney (1755-1813) to the village. Phinney opened a printing business in 1795. A son, also Elihu Phinney (1785-1863), together with a brother took over the business in 1813. James Fenimore Cooper's daughter, Caroline, married the first Elihu Phinney's grandson in 1849.The year after publication of The American Democrat, Abner Doubleday laid out the first baseball diamond on land belonging to the Phinney's, and the first baseball games took place.Provenance: the collection of Steve Forbes, chairman of Forbes Magazine, and presidential candidate in the 1996 and 2000 US elections.

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.