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[COOPER, JAMES FENIMORE.]. The Spy; A Tale of the Neutral Ground. Vol. II of 2. New-York: Wiley and Halsted, 1822. 2nd ed.  12mo. 10,318; [2], 314; [2], 312 pp. Contemp. 3/4 calf. $200.00

 

Spiller & Blackburn, p. 22.. Cooper's second novel and the first to utilize an American setting.

    Stated second edition, an important reprint of what some consider the first great American novel. In a new preface for this edition, Cooper expresses his delight at the demand for a second printing at a time when vitrually no one published American fiction unless the author financed it (as Cooper did in this case). The Spy's popularity not only marked the beginning of a new era in American fiction, but it also gave the author a chance to correct many errors in the first printing.