1876 H.W. Longfellow "The Skeleton in Armor" in Hardcover

Item Details

An 1876 hardcover edition of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem The Skeleton in Armor. First published in 1841, the poem was inspired by a skeleton wearing brass armor pieces discovered in Fall River, MA in 1832, which was destroyed in a fire in 1843. Although the consensus at the time (and today) was that it was the remains of a Native American, Longfellow invented a background for the skeleton as a Norse explorer and warrior. Through the writings of Carl Christian Rafn and other scholars of the mid-19th century, theories of Norse exploration and settlement of North America were gaining acceptance during Longfellow’s time, although they would not be conclusively proven until the discovery of the Viking site at L’Anse-aux-Meadows, Newfoundland in 1960. This edition of the poem is copiously illustrated with steel engravings by A.V.S. Anthony, and bound in a decorative green cloth hardcover, with embossed and shaded designs and gilt lettering. The page edges are also gilded.

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17CIN590-091