Letters from Illinois

8vo later quarter morocco and cloth, 112 pp. Morocco rubbed, internally fine and mostly untrimmed. Birkbeck was the son of a Quaker who was born in Settle England. In 1817 he settled in Edward’s County Illinois, which was pretty much the frontier at that point in time. In 1817 he published his first book, Notes On A Journey To America, which went through eleven editions. He published Letters from Illinois in 1818, which is a series of letters to friends and acquaintances on life in America. Unlike some of his countrymen, Birkbeck paints a more balanced view of America, and encouraged emigration. This work contains considerable economic (especially about the cost of farming) and social information about America at that Time. Birkbeck actually founded the town of Wanbourgh, which no longer exists, and even became Secretary of the State of Illinois, but was ousted by a pro slavery group. He met an untimely end when he drowned in the Fox River in 1825.