Up the River; or, Yachting on the Mississippi
By Oliver Optic (William T. Adams)
Boston: Lee & Shepard, 1882

A wonderful 1882 edition of Oliver Optic’s Up the River, the second title in the Great Western Series, a set of five novels chronicling youthful adventure during America’s westward expansion and river era.

About the Book:
This novel transports readers onto the Mississippi River, where the protagonist and his companions embark on a thrilling yachting adventure. Along the way, they encounter bustling river towns, steamboats, and the colorful characters of post–Civil War Mississippi. True to Optic’s style, the story mixes action, moral lessons, and insight into 19th-century American life.

Details:

• Date: 1882 (copyright 1881)

• Publisher: Lee & Shepard (Boston) / Charles T. Dillingham (NY)

• Binding: Brown cloth, gilt spine title, black vignette of a boy with luggage, decorative blind stamping on boards

• Illustrations: 8 full-page engravings

• Size: Approx. 7" x 5"

• Condition: Very good for age — light fraying at spine tips, scattered foxing (mostly to endpapers),  bright gilt on spine. Bookplate of “Ellery C. Park” on front pastedown. 

Collectibility & Context:
This is one of the most evocative volumes in the series because of its Mississippi River setting — a favorite subject of late-19th-century readers, and a complement to Mark Twain’s works on the river. These early Lee & Shepard editions with gilt-decorated spines and full-page illustrations are prized by collectors of juvenile series fiction.