Wunnissoo, or the Vale of Hoosatunnuk: A Poem with Notes (Signed First Printing) by Allen, William, D.D - 1856

Boston: John P. Jewett. Very Good. 1856. First Edition; 1st Printing Thus. Hardcover. SIGNED and inscribed on the front endpaper: "To Mrs. Mary F. Dean from her relative and friend, Wm. Allen, Northampton, Nov. 24, 1862." Scarce work of 237 pages including two prefaces by the author, and 70 pages of notes on the text. Solidly bound in pebbled brown cloth with embossed decorations and gilt on the spine. There is loss of 1/4-inch at the head of the spine. William Allen was a biographer and historian. In 1809, he completed his "American Biographical and Historical Dictionary," the first work of general biography published in the U.S. Among other positions, he was assistant librarian at his alma mater, Harvard Univeristy, president of Dartmouth and president of Bowdoin College. .