THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS; A NARRATIVE OF 1757

THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS; A NARRATIVE OF 1757

Cooper, James Fenimore.

Published by London: John Miller, 1826,

First English Edition; three volumes; published about a month later than the Philadelphia edition of the same year. Vol. I. TP Preface [v,xi] 287pp, Vol. II. 276pp, Vol. III. 295pp. Bound in ½ reddish brown Morocco, in very good condition, no half title in Vol I. but present in vols. II and III exceptional condition internally housed in a clamshell box. Very Good…

At the time of Cooper's writing, many U.S. settlers believed and perpetuated the myth that Native Americans were disappearing, believing they would ultimately be assimilated or killed off entirely due to the genocidal structure of settler colonialism. Especially in the East, as Native Peoples' land was stolen and settled on in the name of U.S. expansion and Jeffersonian agrarianism, the narrative that many Native Peoples were "vanishing" was prevalent in both novels like Cooper's and local newspapers. This allowed settlers to view themselves as the original people of the land and reinforced their belief in European ethnic and racial superiority through, among other rationalizations, the tenets of scientific racism. In this way, Cooper was interested in the American progress narrative when more colonists were increasing pressure on Native Americans, which they, and Cooper, would then view as "natural".