THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY by Hale Edward Everett - 1938

Mount Vernon: The Peter Pauper Press, 1938. First Edition Illustrated and decorated by Valenti Angelo. 8vo, publisher's original sienna cloth, the upper cover with Valenti Angelo decorated illustration as pastedown, the spine panel with pastedown lettered in red. Housed in the original gray slipcase. 59, (1) pp. A very fine copy, largely unopened, in a near fine slipcase showing only light evidence of shelving. FIRST ISSUE OF THIS ATTRACTIVE AND APPEALING EDITION, BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED of one of the most famous novellas in American literature. This short tale was written to inspire patriotism during the Civil War. Although the story is entirely fictitious, there was a real Philip Nolan (the main character in this work), whose true history is the basis for Hale's complementary novelette, PHILIP NOLAN'S FRIENDS.
THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY is among the best examples of fiction being used to promote a political cause. “As Hale intended, the short story created significant support for the U.S. as a country, identifying the priority of the Union over the individual states, and thus pressuring readers to view Southern secession negatively. In so doing, he convinced many individuals to join, or at least support the North's effort to, as Abraham Lincoln put it, "preserve the Union." In the story, Hale skillfully convinced many readers that Nolan was an actual figure, thus increasing the story's effectiveness as a piece of patriotic literature.” - John R. Adams.