Mogg Megone, A Poem.
"Who stands on that cliff like a figure of stone, unmoving and tall in the light and sky, where spray of the cataract sparkles on high, all lonely and sternly, save mogg megone": Scarce first edition of John Greenleaf Whittier's Mogg Megone
Mogg Megone, A Poem.
WHITTIER, John Greenleaf.
$1,750.00
Item Number: 133021
Boston: Light & Stearns, 1836.
First edition of Whittier’s well-received narrative of the life of legendary 17th century Indian warrior Mogg Megone. BAL 21697. 16mo, original cloth with gilt title within an arabesque gilt frame to the front panel. In very good condition. Housed in a custom half morocco folding chemise case. From the library of noted American journalist and collector Barton Currie with his bookplate to folding chemise case. Exceptionally rare. A desirable piece of early American literature.
Based on the story of the legendary 17th century Indian warrior Hegon, or Mogg Megone, Whittier's poem was first published in the spring of 1835 in two issues of The New England Magazine. The poem was well-received upon publication. Hegone was a leader among the Saco River Indians (Abenaki) of now southern Maine and northern New Hampshire in the Battle at Moore's Brook in 1677. He attacked and captured the garrison at Black Point in October of that year and was later one of the principal sachems to sign the July 1676 treaty of peace signed at Cocheco between a committee of the English colonists and several sagamores, the most important of whom was Squando, sagamore of the Sacos. Whittier's portrait of Hegone offers a rare glimpse into the landscape and culture of 17th century New England and its early inhabitants.
