Crvecoeur's Eighteenth-Century Travels in Pennsylvania and New York

Michel-Guillaume Jean de Crvecouer, long regarded as a chief figure in American letters of the Revolutionary period, is remembered as the author of Letters from an American Farmer and the posthumous Sketches of Eighteenth Century of America, but his last and most ambitious work has been almost entirely neglected. Published in France as Le Voyage dans la haute Pensylvanie et dans d'tat de New York, Crvecouer's last book was never popular and has not heretofore appeared in English. Yet the Voyage has much to add to Crvecouer's picture of eighteenth-century America, and to our own picture of the American Farmer as a man and writer. The Voyage, written after Crvecouer's sojourn in France and his return to America as French consul, records a new phase both in American history and in the author's life. Adams has arrived at a selection of extracts from Voyage which will be of interest to Crvecouer's many admirers among students of American history and literature. The editor has translated, arranged, and annotated these selections to form a collection will be a fit companion for Crvecouer's two volumes of English essays and will supplement the earlier books by recording Crvecouer's final view of the American scene. In his introduction to this collection, Adams presents a thorough analysis of the content and significance of the Voyage and convincingly justifies his contention that, though the work contains much that is not worthy of translation or republication, the selection here published for the first time in English may be regarded as a significant addition to Crvecouer's writings.