Early American poetry in Special Collections

Special Collections contains a small number of books by American poets from the late 18th and early 19th centuries.  Highlights include editions of Phillis Wheatley’s Poems, Joel Barlow’s Vision of Columbus, and early works by Lydia Huntley Sigourney.  Special Collections also owns a copy of Samuel Kettell’s 1829 Specimens of American Poetry, an important early bibliography and anthology of American poetry which covers a range of poets, both obscure and well-known, from Cotton Mather to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

These books can be found by searching the library catalog.  Limit the search to Special Collections, and use the genre/form button to search on the phrase “American poetry.”