1850-1877: The Arts: Publications

Source

Washington Allston, Lectures on Art and Poems (New York Baker & Scribner, 1850)—a posthumously published collection that includes four discourses on aesthetics and the philosophy of art by an American romantic painter whose career spanned the years 1810-1840;

William Cullen Bryant, A Discourse on the Life, Character and Genius of Washington Irving (New York: Putnam, 1860)—the first major biography of the author of “Rip Van Winkle,” written by a respected American poet;

William Ellery Channing, Thoreau, the Poet-Naturalist (Boston: Roberts, 1873)—a literary biography of the author of Waiden, written by a friend and fellow Transcendentalist;

Andrew Jackson Downing, The Architecture of Country Houses (New York: Appleton, 1850)—a widely read work by the influential horticulturist and landscape architect who designed the grounds of the Capitol, the White House, and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.;

Evert Duyckinck, ed., Cyclopedia of American Literature, 2 volumes (New York Scribner, 1855)—a groundbreaking biographical dictionary of American authors;

William Morris Hunt, Talks About Art, 2 volumes (London: Macmillan, 1875, 1883)—thoughts on art education by an influential American painter;

Cornelius Mathews, A Pen-and-Ink Panorama of New York City (New York: J. S. Taylor, 1853)—a cultural analysis of New York City by an American critic and scholar;

Alexander Beaufort Meek, Songs and Poems of the South (New York: S. H. Goetzel, 1857)—an early collection of Southern literature;

Anna Cora Mowatt, Autobiography of an Actress (Boston: Ticknor, Reed & Fields, 1854)—a memoir by an accomplished actress, playwright, and novelist;

Solomon Franklin Smith, The Theatrical Journey — Work and Anecdotical Recollections of Sol Smith (Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson, 1854)—an autobiography of a leading figures in American theater.

Source

Karen L. Rood, ed., American Literary Almanac, from 1608 to the Present (New York & Oxford: Facts on File, 1988).