A sketch of old England /
Paulding, James Kirke,1778-1860.
New York : Published by Charles Wiley, No. 3, Wall Street ; London : Re-published by Sir Richard Phillips & Co. Bride-Court, Bridge-Street,
1822.
New England man = James Kirke Paulding.
Contains 23 letters, supposedly written by an American traveller visiting England and Wales, but which are actually fictitious letters from an American-based author criticising English social life and customs and comparing the country unfavourably with the USA. The work includes passages on the auction of the Duke of Roxburgh's library and on Sir Walter Scott and Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine.
English reprint of the work, published in the same year as the first American edition.
Printed by Shackell and Arrowsmith, Johnson's Court, Fleet Street.
With slip tipped in before title page stating that: the publisher has obliged the editor to expunge several parts of the author's observations relative to state personages and particular objects ...
The New York edition of the book was reviewed in "The Scotsman" on January 22, 1823, prompting a pamphlet in response by a 'Philopolis' in 1825: A letter to the editor of The Scotsman, or, Edinburgh political and literary journal, in reply to the article in that newspaper of 22d January, 1823, entitled Literature : a sketch of Old England by a New England man.