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The First American "Uncle Sam" Novel

 

(HUMOR). [ANON.]. The Adventures of Uncle Sam, in Search After His Lost Honor. By Frederick Augustus Fidfaddy, Esq. [pseud.] Member of the Legion of Honor, Scratch-etary to Uncle Sam and Privy Counsellor to Himself. Middletown, [Conn.]: Seth Richards, 1816. 1st ed. 12mo. 142 pp. Orig. two-toned board (front only). Uncut. Foxed. $275.00

 

Wright I, 952. S & S 37593. Sabin 24260: "A political squib against the democrats." The first American "Uncle Sam" novel. "'Uncle Sam' is a nickname of the United States Government. Arising in the War of 1812, and coming into notice in the autumn of 1813, the term was first applied somewhat derisively to customhouse officers and then to soldiers by those opposed to the war, but was avoided by the 'war hawks.'; and as contemporary newspapers show, was doubtless a jocular expansion of the letters U.S. on uniforms and government property." --Cited by DAH from Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, XIX, 21-65.