Fraser, Charles “View on the James River Virginia”

Charles Fraser.  “View on the James River Virginia.” 

[title page to volume 10].  From The Analectic Magazine. Philadelphia: 1817.  Engraved by C. G. Childs.  Light water stain, spots and a few short repaired tears in margins and in publication title.  Else, fine condition.  

In 1812, Philadelphia bookseller and publisher Moses Thomas purchased a monthly magazine entitled Select Reviews, engaged Washington Irving as editor, and renamed the publication The Analectic Magazine.  Irving, his brother-in-law J. K. Paulding, Gulian C. Verplanck and, later, Thomas Isaac Wharton wrote much of the material, which concentrated on literary reviews, articles on travel and science, biographies of naval heroes, and reprints of selections from British periodicals.  Illustration “was one of the magazine’s chief distinctions.  Not only were there the usual engravings on copper, but some of the earliest magazine experiments in lithography and wood engraving appeared here.