James Fenimore Cooper: Sea Tales: The Pilot; The Red Rover

Cooper, James Fenimore; Kay Seymour House & Thomas L. Philbrick wrote the Notes for this volume.

ISBN 10: 0940450704 / ISBN 13: 9780940450707

Edité par Library of America, New York, 1991

A propos de cet article

CLASSIC: VIGOROUS: VIVID: ORIGINAL: BOLD: AS-NEW virtually NEW Library of America First Edition hardcover (Orig. 1991) First Printing, MARRED Only by the name of a prominent Connecticut literary family w/ date & place & LOA volume no. neatly inscribed at bottom-right of the first title page, NEW LOA slipcase w/ double-ruled gilt borders & LOA-logo gilt-stamped on front panel & sharp NEW edges & corners, NEW British-green rayon-weave silk-finish Brillianta fabric-over-boards cover w/ sharp NEW edges & corners & titles & LOA-colophon handsomely gold-stamped on spine, IMMACULATE smooth-cut text-block exterior, IMPECCABLE white-on-green LOA-patterned card-stock end-papers, NEW Smyth-sewn binding w/ tight signatures & emerald silk page-marker ribbon bound-in from top, PRISTINE interior printed in remarkably clear 10-point Linotron Galliard on SUPERB unblemished acid-free Ecusta Nyallite archival paper * 5.12" x 8.12" x 1.24", 0.59 kg, 902 pp. With slipcase: 5.46" x 8.50" x 1.36", 0.69 kg * CONTENTS: Sea Tales: The Pilot (1), The Red Rover (423); Chronology (869), Note on the Texts (882), Notes (886) * ABOUT THE BOOK: In "The Pilot" (1824) & "The Red Rover" (1828), James Fenimore Cooper invented a new literary genre: the sea novel. Collected here in a single Library of America volume, they are among his finest works. Bold, vigorous, original, each is a tale of high adventure that vividly captures the majesty & power of the seafaring life. Contemporary writers at home and abroad (Francis Parkman, Herman Melville, & Balzac among them) gave Cooper?s sea novels high praise. Cooper drew on his direct knowledge of ships & sailors to present a truer picture of life on the sea than had ever before achieved in literature. As a boy of 17 he had sailed before the mast on a merchantman bound from New York to London & then to Spain. On board he experienced the life of a common seaman, learned the craft of sailing, encountered terrifying storms, was chased by pirates, & watched the impressment of crew members by a British man-of-war. He later served as an officer in the United States Navy. "The Pilot" is loosely based upon stories of John Paul Jones' daring hit-and-run tactics during the Revolutionary War. The shadowy hero, modeled on Jones, leads a squadron of the infant American navy in a series of raids on the English coast, braving fierce storms & the guns of hostile warships, yet never revealing his identity. In this novel Cooper introduced the character of the "old salt", the seasoned deckhand happy only aboard ship. Long Tom Coffin, w/ his briny conversation & shrewd nautical advice, is the first of Cooper's memorable portraits of common seamen. A ghostly ship, an uncanny hero, a heroine kidnapped by pirates, revelations of mistaken identity, & the reunion of long-lost relatives (scenes of romance & adventure) fill the pages of "The Red Rover", Cooper?s most theatrical novel. Set in the mid-18th century, the tale recounts the exploits of a noble outcast & visionary who foresees America's destiny as a sovereign nation. Forced into a life of piracy, the Rover conducts his private war of independence in a story that equates the free & daring life w/ the American dream of self-reliance & liberty from British rule. * THE LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an award-winning, nonprofit program dedicated to publishing America's best & most significant writing in handsome, enduring volumes, featuring authoritative texts. Hailed as "the most important book-publishing project in the nation's history" (Newsweek), this acclaimed series is restoring America's literary heritage in "the finest-looking, longest-lasting edition ever made" (New Republic). * SHIPPING: MNEMOSYNE carefully wraps, labels & custom-packages this fine book for FREE domestic shipment via USPS MEDIA MAIL or USPS PRIORITY MAIL for a below-cost additional fee & via USPS FIRST CLASS INTERNATIONAL AIRMAIL to international destinations at our posted rates.

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Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: James Fenimore Cooper: Sea Tales: The Pilot; The Red Rover
• Éditeur: Library of America, New York
• Date de parution: 1991
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 0940450704
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9780940450707
• Reliure: Hardcover
• Édition: 1st Edition
• Impression: 1st Printing
• État de l'article: As New
• État de la jaquette: New
• Poids: 0,69 kilogramme

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

In The Pilot (1824) and The Red Rover (1828), James Fenimore Cooper invented a new literary genre: the sea novel. Collected here in a single Library of America volume, they are among his finest works. Bold, vigorous, original, each is a tale of high adventure that vividly captures the majesty and power of the seafaring life. 

Cooper drew on his direct knowledge of ships and sailors to present a truer picture of life on the sea than had ever before achieved in literature. As a boy of seventeen he had sailed before the mast on a merchantman bound from New York to London and then to Spain. On board he experienced the life of a common seaman, learned the craft of sailing, encountered terrifying storms, was chased by pirates, and watched the impressment of crew members by a British man-of-war. He later served as an officer in the United States Navy.

The Pilot is loosely based upon stories of John Paul Jones’s daring hit-and-run tactics during the Revolutionary War. The shadowy hero, modeled on Jones, leads a squadron of the infant American navy in a series of raids on the English coast, braving fierce storms and the guns of hostile warships, yet never revealing his identity. In this novel Cooper introduced the character of the “old salt,” the seasoned deckhand happy only aboard ship. Long Tom Coffin, with his briny conversation and shrewd nautical advice, is the first of Cooper’s memorable portraits of common seaman.

A ghostly ship, an uncanny hero, a heroine kidnapped by pirates, revelations of mistaken identity, and the reunion of long-lost relatives—scenes of romance and adventure fill the pages of The Red Rover, Cooper’s most theatrical novel. Set in the mid-eighteenth century, the tale recounts the exploits of a noble outcast and visionary who foresees America’s destiny as a sovereign nation. Forced into a life of piracy, the Rover conducts his private war of independence in a story that equates the free and daring life with the American dream of self-reliance and liberty from British rule.

LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

À propos de l'auteur

James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) grew up at Otsego Hall, his father's manorial estate in upstate New York. Educated at Yale, he spent five years at sea, before beginning his literary career at thirty with Precaution (1820), a novel of manners. His second book, The Spy (1821), was an immediate success, and with The Pioneers (1823) he began his series of Leatherstocking Tales. By 1826 when The Last of the Mohicans appeared, his standing as a major novelist was established. After several years of writing nonfiction, he returned to fiction—and to Leatherstocking—with The Pathfinder (1840) and The Deerslayer (1841).

Volume editors are Kay Seymour House, editor-in-chief of the State University of New York James Fenimore Cooper edition, and Thomas Philbrick, professor emeritus of English at the University of Pittsburgh.