Morse, Jedidiah "Geography Made Easy"

Jedidiah Morse. Geography Made Easy.

12 mo, Boston: Thomas & Andrews, May 1811. Sabin 50936 lists 11 editions between 1784 and 1820 with the sons Sidney and Edwards citing the 1820 as the 22nd. edition. Titlepage cites this as, "Fourteenth Edition, and Second in this New Abridgement." 2 maps as called for. [1]-viii, [13]-362, 1l. Browned with slight foxing through text; original boards and spine, rehinged.

Jedidiah Morse (1761-1826) enjoys the reputation as the father of American Geography, and he was very interested in geographical education in the early years of the New Nation. He saw this book as an abridgement of his American Universal Geography, which was a considerably larger, more complex, and expensive book. The roots of universal education in the United States were established in the late 1780s by the Articles of Confederation, and Morse was aware of this patriotic necessity. This book was designed for use in the schools and thus abbreviated the amount of information required. His two fold out maps, a double hemisphere of the World and one of North America, were also published by Thomas & Andrews of Boston. Here is a picture of the world as seen by school children in the first decades of our national existence.