Broken Run of Twenty-Two Issues of "The Nation"
New York: The Nation, 1898. Very Good-. Item #21611
Twenty-two volumes; quartos (30.5cm.); uniformly stitched self-wrappers. Collection comprises the following issues: Nos. 1714 (May 5, 1898), 1716-19, 1721, 1724, 1730-2, 1734, 1736-7, 1746-7, 1751-2, 1754, 1762-3, 1766, & 1770 (June 1, 1899). Condition ranges from Near Fine to Good only, with a few of issues starting to split at spine, two issues with upper covers separated but present, and the earliest issue with rather large loss along bottom margin affecting text of the publisher's ads; additionally, most have contemporary pencil marginalia to upper covers.
A substantial collection covering the major events of the Spanish-American War, the earliest issue opening with General Dewey's "annihilation" of the Spanish fleet in the Philippines in early May. However, as sick and wounded troops began to return and the conditions of the war came to light, the weekly news magazine's tone shows a marked shift. Within a couple of weeks, the magazine's pro-expansionist articles had shifted entirely in the opposite direction, and by September 8th the opening segment begins: "The sad condition of our returning troops has raised this inquiry to the minds of those whom Mr. Lincoln called 'the plain people': If we cannot administer affairs in our own territory better than Camp Algers, Thomas, Wikoff, and Black have been administered, how are we likely to administer the Philippine Islands ten thousand miles away?" Indeed, the coverage of the Treaty of Paris on December 10th speaks to the disillusionment wrought by the war. The opening segment on December 15th begins: "The treaty has been signed at last and we are in possession of Cuba, Porto Rico, and as much of the Philippines as the Spaniards possessed, which is not much."
Price: $150.00