JAMES FENIMORE COOPER: A PAPER READ BEFORE THE CHICAGO LITERARY SOCIETY

[Chicago: the society?], 1883. 8vo. 10 pp. [printed double-column]. Illustrated with seven full-page photographs mounted on heavier stock. Bound with seven other pamphlets by Arnold. Somewhat later red three-quarter morocco, gilt, marbled boards and endpapers, spine gilt titled and tooled, t.e.g. Fine copy. First edition, or first separate edition, of all seven pamphlets. Inscribed on a blank endpaper by the author in 1883. The essay on Cooper is quite scarce; OCLC locates but three copies (Chicago Historical Society, Harvard, Maryland-Baltimore County). The photographs include a portrait of Cooper, images of his homes and grave, and two scenes of Lake Otsego. The other Arnold pamphlets bound herein: (1) ADDRESS [on the early history of Chicago, before the Chicago Historical Society, November 19, 1868], Chicago, 1877, mounted photograph [frontispiece portrait of the author], (2) RECOLLECTIONS OF THE EARLY CHICAGO AND ILLINOIS BAR [Chicago, 1880]; (3) REMINISCENCES OF THE ILLINOIS BAR FORTY YEARS AGO: LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS AS ORATORS AND LAWYERS [Chicago, 1881]; (4) WILLIAM B. OGDEN AND EARLY DAYS IN CHICAGO [Chicago, 1881]; (5) REMINISCENCES OF LINCOLN AND OF CONGRESS DURING THE REBELLION [in "New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, New York, 1882]; (6) THE LAYMAN'S FAITH [Chicago, 1882]; and (7) BENEDICT ARNOLD AT SARATOGA [NP, 1880]. Arnold (1815-1884) was a native of Otsego County, New York, studied law and removed to Chicago in 1836, the year before its incorporation. He became one of the city's most important lawyers, served in Congress during the Civil War, helped found the Chicago Historical Society, and published a number of works on American history (see DAB).