The Youth's Companion, or an Historical Dictionary; Consisting of Articles Selected Chiefly from Natural and Civil History, Geography, Astronomy, Zoology, Botany and Mineralogy; Arranged in Alphabetical Order, by Ezra Sampson, Websters and Skinners, Albany, 1813, 412pp, leather, 4.5 x 7", 18mo

Fair condition.  Wear and chipping to boards.  Tips are bumped and edges are scuffed.  Cracking and chipping to spine.  Joints and hinges are cracked.  Provenance on flyleaf (Samuel Bidwell).  Toning, age-staining, tea-staining, and ink-staining throughout textblock.  Binding is fragile; numerous pages are beginning to come loose.  Please see photos.

Ezra Sampson (12 February 1749 - 12 December 1828) was a Massachusetts clergyman and graduate of Yale University.  He officiated as chaplain in the camp at Roxbury where he encouraged the patriotic determination of the militia with his vigorous discourses.  After retiring from the clergy, he moved to New York and began publication of the "Balance" in 1801.  He was also the editor of the "Connecticut Courant" in 1804, and continued to write for the paper until 1817.