Books & Manuscripts, including Americana

THE FIRST COMPLETE RUN OF THE WPA AMERICAN GUIDE SERIES EVER OFFERED AT AUCTION.

Together, 53 titles in 53 volumes, comprising all FIRST EDITION volumes of the American Guide Series as issued by the Works Progress Administration, all illustrated with photographs, many with folding maps in rear pockets, all in original cloth; first state dust jackets (some toning, occasional dampstains, sunning to spines, some price-clipped, tape repairs to versos on some volumes, minor losses along extremities).

Including:

1) Washington: City & Capital. Washington: The Government Printing Office, 1937. (Dust jacket partially restored.)

2) Idaho: A Guide in Word and Pictures. Caldwell, ID: The Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1937.

3) Massachusetts: A Guide to Its Places and People. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1937. FIRST ISSUE with section on Sacco-Vanzetti trial; removed from later editions due to public outrage.

4) A South Dakota Guide. Pierre: State Publishing Company, 1938.

5) Illinois: A Descriptive and Historical Guide. Chicago: A.C. McClurg & Co., 1939.

6) Kentucky: A Guide to the Bluegrass State. New York: Harcourt, Brace, & Company, 1939. Review copy.

7) Florida: A Guide to the Southernmost State. New York: Oxford University Press, 1939. In the rare first issue dust jacket.

8) California: A Guide to the Golden State. New York: Hastings House, 1939.

9) New York City Guide. New York: Random House, 1939. FIRST ISSUE with World's Fair index and folding map in rear pocket; not included in later issues.

10) Arizona: A State Guide. New York: Hastings House, 1940. Second issue dust jacket.

11) Oregon: End of the Trail. Portland: Binfords and Mott, 1940.

12) Puerto Rico: A Guide to the Island of Boriquen. New York: The University Society, Inc., 1940.

13) Michigan: A Guide to the Wolverine State. New York: Oxford University Press, 1941.

14) Wisconsin: A Guide to the Badger State. New York: Duell, Sloan, & Pierce, 1941.

And 39 others.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was established by executive order on 5 May 1935 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as part of the second phase of the New Deal program. Included in this program was the Federal Writers Project, which employed over 6,500 writers tasked with traveling the country to collect oral histories and information on each state. Much of this work was used to create the American Guide Series. Covering all existing forty-eight states as well as the territories of Puerto Rico and Alaska, smaller pamphlets were also published for individual cities, while the cities of Washington, D.C., and New York merited volumes of similar scale to those issued for individual states. These guides were created to celebrate the history and diversity of each state, instill a sense of pride in its citizens, and provide a glimpse into the Roosevelt administration's concern with interregional dependence and national unity. These guidebooks are considered the best-known publications to come out of the Federal Writers' Project and are an invaluable historical, geographical, and cultural resource. THIS IS THE FIRST COMPLETE SET TO COME TO AUCTION.