The Song of Hiawatha Longfellow Harrison Fisher Illustrated Bobbs-Merrill 1906 Green Cloth Hardcover

This is The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, illustrated by Harrison Fisher with decorations by E. Stetson Crawford, published by The Bobbs-Merrill Company of Indianapolis with a 1906 copyright, in green cloth hardcover.

The cloth is very clean with bright gilt lettering on the cover and spine, and the only flaw is a pale scuffed rectangle on the front free endpaper where a piece of painter's tape once sat, all shown in the photos.

Longfellow's long poem follows Hiawatha from his childhood beside the shores of Gitche Gumee through his growing up among the Ojibwe, told in the steady drumbeat rhythm the poem is known for. Harrison Fisher's color plates and black and white drawings made this one of the best loved illustrated poetry books of its day.

Details

• Item: Illustrated poetry book
• Title: The Song of Hiawatha
• Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• Illustrator: Harrison Fisher, with decorations by E. Stetson Crawford
• Publisher: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis, by special arrangement with Houghton, Mifflin and Company
• Publication Year: Copyright 1906
• Edition and Printing: Not confirmed from photos
• Format and Binding: Hardcover, green cloth with gilt HIAWATHA title, inset color portrait of a woman with braids, pictograph border, and gilt spine with Bobbs Merrill at the foot
• Dust Jacket: None
• Pages: 188
• Genre: Poetry, American literature
• Language: English
• ISBN: None, printed before ISBNs
• Dimensions: 10 x 8 x 3/4 inch

Condition Grade: Near Fine

Positives

• Graded Near Fine: This copy is close to new, and the one small flaw is named below.
• Green cloth covers are very clean, with bright gilt on the cover title and spine.
• The inset color portrait on the front cover is clean and bright.
• Yellow green pictorial endpapers carry "The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow" and "Illustrated by Harrison Fisher" labels.
• The tissue guard is still in place over the frontispiece.
• Color plates, black and white drawings, and green line decorations run throughout, including The Peace-Pipe on page 21.

Issues / Wear

• A pale, rectangular scuffed mark on the front free endpaper where painter's tape was placed and removed.

This came out of an estate sale.

Find more like this in our Vintage Poetry Books collection.

This 1906 Bobbs-Merrill copy still has its tissue guard over the frontispiece and clean green cloth, and it belongs on the shelf of anyone who loves Harrison Fisher's art. If it's the right copy for you, it's ready to come home.