1890 Rare Book - The Last of the Mohicans A Narrative of 1757 by Fenimore Cooper

Author: J. Fenimore Cooper.
Title: The Last of the Mohicans. A Narrative of 1757.
Publisher: New York, Hurst & Co., Publishers, No. 122 Nassau Street. [Circa 1890].
Language: Text in English.
Size: 7.5" x 5.25".
Pages: 293 pages + publisher’s advertisements.
Binding: Attractive and very good original publisher’s decorated cloth binding in brick-red with elaborate black floral and geometric stamping to front board and spine, with gilt spine title panel. Rear board plain (hinges fine, overall slightly scuffed - as shown) under a protective removable mylar cover. A richly ornamented example of late 19th-century American decorative binding design.
Content: Very good content (bright, tight and clean, light uniform toning to pages - as shown, previous owner’s penciled inscription on front endpaper - as shown).  Includes vintage publisher and product advertisements (e.g., Sohmer pianos, Crosby's Phosphites), adding further period charm.
Illustrations: Although the spine of this edition is stamped “Illustrated,” this specific Hurst & Co. edition was issued without illustrations. This is consistent with all other copies we have handled or seen on the market.

Estimate: (Scarce with no or few other copies of this particular edition for sale worldwide).

The book: This late 19th-century Hurst edition of The Last of the Mohicans presents one of the most enduring American historical novels in a striking decorative cloth binding. Set during the French and Indian War, Cooper’s tale of adventure, identity, and cultural conflict follows the noble last members of a vanishing Native American tribe. The ornate Victorian binding is a beautiful example of the mass-market gift editions produced in the U.S. during the 1880s–1890s, aimed at broad readership and household display.

The author: James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851) was a pioneering American novelist, best known for his Leatherstocking Tales—a series of frontier adventure stories set in early America. Among them, The Last of the Mohicans (1826) remains the most famous, widely adapted across film and literature. Cooper’s work is credited with helping to shape the American literary identity and for his complex portrayal of Native American characters and frontier life.