by Jesse A. Applegate, Lavinia Honeyman Porter, Martin Ridge (Ed.)

This handsome, well-made volume has an interesting backstory. Lakeside Press, founded in 1864, has long prided itself on producing high quality publications. Earlier in its history, Lakeside was a publisher of the Encyclopedia Brittanica, the Sears catalog, Time, and Life. Lakeside Classics, of which this volume is one, is a series began in 1903 to reprint neglected classics, particularly those based on American history. By 2015, there were 113 volumes. The most interesting fact about Lakeside Classics is that they were never sold! The current year's volume was/is given to employees and friends of the publishing house each year at Christmas. Due to their quality and their origin, Lakeside Classics are collectible. This work is #87 in the series, and includes two memoirs of westward expansion: the first is by Applegate, an American pioneer who led a large group of settlers to Oregon (and established an alternate route) and later became an influential member of Oregon's early government; the second memoir by Porter describes her and her husband's two thousand mile journey from Missouri to California; neither of them had any relevant experience to prepare them for such a trek, and she was pregnant with their second child. Quite the treatise on American perseverance.

Published in Christmas, 1989 by Lakeside Press, Chicago

Edition: First Edition

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Fine

Comments: This attractive volume is pristine. The gold embossing is perfect. Interesting, nicely done illustrations are from historical sources. See photographs.