Edited by Nina Baym, 'The Norton Anthology of American Literature Beginnings to 1820,' published by W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 2007.

The Norton Anthology of American Literature Volume A:  Beginnings to 1820 is a 927 page softcover measuring 9 1/8" x 6".  The The overall condition is pristine, with no evidence of use. 

Book Summary

Volume A features narratives by a range of early European explorers of the North American continent.  Along with a cluster on the much-recounted story of Hannah Dustan's captivity, the section adds material from The Bay Psalm Book, Roger Williams, Edward Taylor, Robert Calef, and The New-England Primer, and retains the complete text of Mary Rowlandson's captivity narrative. 

In "American Literature 1700-1820," we distinguish the eighteenth century as a period of consolidation and development in an emergent American literature.  Work by the political Founders is augmented by Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography, and Royall Tyler's play, The Contrast.  Newly added is the complete text of Hannah Foster's novel The Coquette, which uses a real-life tragedy to meditate on the proper role of well-bred women in the new republic and testifies to the formation of a female audience.  Many more writers are represented.

ISBN-10:  0-393-92739-3

ISBN-13:  978-0-393-92739-9