Books That Shaped America
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1750 to 1800

Benjamin Franklin, Experiments and Observations on Electricity (1751) (001.00.00)

Benjamin Franklin, Experiments and Observations on Electricity (1751)
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790). Experiments and Observations on Electricity, Made at Philadelphia in America. London: E. Cave, 1751. Benjamin Franklin Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (001.00.00)

Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard Improved (1732) (002.00.00)

Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard Improved (1732) and The Way to Wealth (1785)
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790). Poor Richard Improved: An Almanack for the Year of Christ 1758. Philadelphia: B. Franklin, 1757. American Almanac Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (002.00.00)

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790). The Way to Wealth, and a Plan by Which Every Man May Pay His Taxes. Philadelphia: Daniel Humphreys, 1785. Printed Ephemera Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (103.00.00)

Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776) (003.00.00)

Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776)
Thomas Paine (1737–1809). Common Sense. Philadelphia: R. Bell, 1776. American Imprint Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (003.00.00)

Noah Webster, A Grammatical Institute of the English Language (1783) (004.00.00)

Noah Webster, A Grammatical Institute of the English Language (1783)
Noah Webster (1758–1843). A Grammatical Institute of the English Language. Hartford: Hudson & Goodwin, 1783. John Davis Batchelder Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (004.00.00–005.00.00)

The Federalist (1787) (006.01.00)

The Federalist (1787)
The Federalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favour of the New Constitution. vol. 1. New York: J. and A. McLean, 1788. Thomas Jefferson Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (006.00.00)

A Curious Hieroglyphick Bible (1788) (007.00.00)

A Curious Hieroglyphick Bible (1788)
A Curious Hieroglyphick Bible, or, Select Passages in the Old and New Testaments. . . . Worcester, MA: Isaiah Thomas, 1788. American Imprint Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (007.00.00)

Christopher Colles, A Survey of the Roads of the United States of America (1789) (008.00.00)

Christopher Colles, A Survey of the Roads of the United States of America (1789)
Christopher Colles (1738–1816). “From Annapolis to Alexandria.” A Survey of the Roads of the United States of America. New York: Colles, 1789. Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress (008.00.00)

Benjamin Franklin, The Private Life of the Late Benjamin Franklin, LL.D. (1793) (009.00.00)

Benjamin Franklin, The Private Life of the Late Benjamin Franklin, LL.D. (1793)
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790). The Private Life of the Late Benjamin Franklin, LL.D. Late Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States of America to France, &c. London: J. Parsons, 1793. Benjamin Franklin Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (009.00.00)

Amelia Simmons, American Cookery (1796) (010.00.00)

Amelia Simmons, American Cookery (1796)
Amelia Simmons [n.d.]. American Cookery, or, The Art of Dressing Viands, Fish, Poultry, and Vegetables . . . and All Kinds of Cakes, from the Imperial Plumb to Plain Cake, Adapted to This Country, and All Grades of Life. Hartford: Hudson & Goodwin, 1796. American Imprint Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (010.00.00)

1800 to 1850

New England Primer (1802) (011.01.00)

New England Primer (1802)
The New England Primer, Improved: for the More Easy Attaining the True Reading of English: to which is added the Assembly of Divines’ Catechism. Hartford: Printed by Lincoln & Gleason, and Hudson & Goodwin, 1803. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (011.00.00)

Meriwether Lewis, History of the Expedition Under the Command of the Captains Lewis and Clark (1814) (012.01.00)

Meriwether Lewis, History of the Expedition Under the Command of the Captains Lewis and Clark (1814)
Meriwether Lewis (1774–1809). History of the Expedition Under the Command of the Captains Lewis and Clark. Philadelphia: Bradford and Inskeep; New York: Abm. H. Inskeep, 1814. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (012.01.00)

Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1820) (013.00.00)

Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1820)
Washington Irving (1783–1859). The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. New York and London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1899. Margaret Armstrong Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (013.00.00)

William Holmes McGuffey, McGuffey’s Newly Revised Eclectic Primer (1836) (014.00.00)

William Holmes McGuffey, McGuffey’s Newly Revised Eclectic Primer (1836)
McGuffey’s Newly Revised Eclectic Primer. With Pictorial Illustrations. Cincinnati: W. B. Smith & Co., 1849. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (014.00.00)

Samuel Goodrich, Peter Parley’s Universal History (1837) (015.00.00)

Samuel Goodrich, Peter Parley’s Universal History (1837)
Samuel Goodrich (1793–1860). Peter Parley’s Universal History, on the Basis of Geography: for the Use of Families, Illustrated by Maps and Engravings. Boston: American Stationers’ Company, John B. Russell, 1837. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (015.00.00–016.00.00)

Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845) (017.00.00)

Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845)
Frederick Douglass (1818–1895). Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Boston: Anti-Slavery Office, 1845. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (017.00.00)

1850 to 1900

Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter (1850) (019.02.00)

Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter (1850)
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864). The Scarlet Letter. Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, 1850. Rosenwald Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (019.02.00)

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864). The Scarlet Letter. Introduction by Dorothy Canfield. Illustrated by Henry Varnum Poor. Facsimile of cover. New York: The Limited Edition Club, 1941. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (019.01.00)

Herman Melville, Moby-Dick;; or, the Whale (1851) (020.00.00)

Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, the Whale (1851)
Herman Melville (1819–1891). Moby-Dick; or, the Whale. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1851. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (020.00.00)

Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) (021.00.00)

Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)
Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896). Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly. 2 vols. Boston: John P. Jewett & Company, 1852. Oliver Wendell Holmes Library Collection and Susan B. Anthony Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (021.00.00, 021.01.00, 022.00.00)

National Era, December 11, 1851. Newspaper. John Davis Batchelder Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (102.00.00)

Harriet Beecher Stowe, The Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1853) (023.01.00)

Harriet Beecher Stowe, The Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1853)
Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896). The Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Boston: John P. Jewett & Co. 1853. John Davis Batchelder Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division (023.01.00)

Henry David Thoreau, Walden;; or, Life in the Woods (1854) (024.00.00)

Henry David Thoreau, Walden; or, Life in the Woods (1854)
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862). Walden; or, Life in the Woods. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (024.00.00)

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