Discovering Long Island

New York, NY: Dodd Mead & Company. Very Good with no dust jacket. 1939. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. First Edition USA (1939) , unstated in accordance with Dodd Mead's customary practice at the time of publication. Very Good: shows indications of careful use: light wear to the extremities; faint dusting to the top edge of the text block; dampstaining to the bottom edges of the text block with slight penetration into the text pages but more penetration at the front endpapers; a thin, quite superficial scuff line at the lower outside edge of the front panel; the binding is square and secure; the text is clean. Free of creased or dog-eared pages in the text. Free of underlining, hi-lighting, notations, or marginalia. Free of any ownership names, dates, addresses, notations, inscriptions, stamps, plates, or labels. A handsome copy, structurally sound and tightly bound, showing light wear and minor, unobtrusive imperfections. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 8vo. (8.8 x 6 x 1.6 inches) . Illustrated with numerous full-page duotone illustrations by the author. Decorated Endpapers with Hand-Drawn Maps. Deckle Fore-Edge. Language: English. Weight: 33.8 ounces. Hardback: Lacks DJ. William Oliver Stevens (1878 - 1955) was an American writer and Professor for the United States Naval Academy. Stevens was born in Yangoon. His grandfather was Francis Mason a famous missionary. He moved to the United States and graduated from Colby College in 1899 with a Bachelor of Arts in English literature. In 1903 he received a Ph. D. From Yale University. He taught at the United States Naval Academy (1905-1924) as Senior Professor and Executive of the English Department. "Discovering Long Island" was his third book. He also wrote similar studies of Nantucket, Charleston, and Washington, D. C. At 343 pages of text with beautiful integrated and special plate illustrations, this is a wonderful read for those who love Long Island, New York. Though this volume is 70 years old, it is in many ways not outdated. Admittedly, this is not a suitable reference for the modern LI explorer, but for those who want to take a trip back to a more peaceful Long Island and learn something about its history. Stevens employs a refreshing and friendly literary device: he pretends that the reader is in the passenger seat of his car, and you are going on a tour of Long Island with him. He used phrases such as "Look to the left over there, between the two oaks, see that house?" This makes it easier for the modern reader, accustomed to I-495 and the zooming N and S State Parkways, to appreciate the languor of this exciting trip back in time to Long Island's old summer landscape. The tour begins on the Queens/Nassau border and skirts the entire North Shore coast (including Shelter Island) and back across the South Shore to Brooklyn in its southern reaches, before ending with a brief visit to Long Island's then-undeveloped interior and a few words about Brooklyn and the upcoming World's Fair in Flushing. The main gems for the Long Island buff are the stories (all well-told; Stevens was a grand spinner of tales) about the Island's towns, villages, parks, houses, great events, and historic figures. This would be a godsend for a researcher looking for obscure information about our Island's past. Sit back and enjoy the thrill of the story of Lion Gardiner and Captain Kidd's buried treasure; let your mouth drop at the terror of the Hurricane of 1938; have fun learning about why the towns are called what they are. (Did you know Malvern used to be called Skunk's Misery? Mt. Sinai's name was randomly selected by dropping a finger onto a Bible passage? ). A fun and eye-opening book, a slice of life in Long Island history and a useful tool for expanding one's knowledge of the Island's story. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; xvii, 349 pages .