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ABC Book of Early Americana: A Sketchbook of Antiquities and American Firsts
Alphabetically arranged entries for some two hundred objects from eighteenth and nineteenth century United States with the author/artist's own illustrative sketches. Includes an epilogue on the alphabet in early America.
60 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1963
About the author
Eric Sloane
104 books58 followersEric Sloane (born Everard Jean Hinrichs) was an American landscape painter and author of illustrated works of cultural history and folklore. He is considered a member of the Hudson River School of painting.
Eric Sloane was born in New York City. As a child, he was a neighbor of noted sign painter and type designer Frederick W. Goudy. Sloane studied art and lettering with Goudy. While he attended the Art Students League of New York City, he changed his name because George Luks and John French Sloan suggested that young students should paint under an assumed name so that early inferior works would not be attached to them. He took the name Eric from the middle letters of America and Sloane from his mentor's name.
In the summer of 1925, Sloane ran away from home, working his way across the country as a sign painter, creating advertisements for everything from Red Man Tobacco to Bull Durham. Unique hand calligraphy and lettering became a characteristic of his illustrated books.
Sloane eventually returned to New York and settled in Connecticut, where he began painting rustic landscapes in the tradition of the Hudson River School. In the 1950s, he began spending part of the year in Taos, New Mexico, where he painted western landscapes and particularly luminous depictions of the desert sky. In his career as a painter, he produced over 15,000 works. His fascination with the sky and weather led to commissions to paint works for the U.S. Air Force and the production of a number of illustrated works on meteorology and weather forecasting. Sloane is even credited with creating the first televised weather reporting network, by arranging for local farmers to call in reports to a New England broadcasting station.
Sloane also had a great interest in New England folk culture, Colonial daily life, and Americana. He wrote and illustrated scores of Colonial era books on tools, architecture, farming techniques, folklore, and rural wisdom. Every book included detailed illustrations, hand lettered titles, and his characteristic folksy wit and observations. He developed an impressive collection of historic tools which became the nucleus of the collection in the Sloane-Stanley Tool Museum in Kent, Connecticut.
Sloane died in New York in 1985, while walking down the street to a luncheon held in his honor.
Sloane's best known books are A Reverence for Wood, which examines the history and tools of woodworking, as well as the philosophy of the woodworker; The Cracker Barrel, which is a compendium of folk wit and wisdom; and Diary of an Early American Boy: Noah Blake-1805, based on a diary he discovered at a local library book sale. His most famous painted work is probably the skyscape mural, Earth Flight Environment, which is still on display in the Independence Avenue Lobby in the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum.
Eric Sloane was born in New York City. As a child, he was a neighbor of noted sign painter and type designer Frederick W. Goudy. Sloane studied art and lettering with Goudy. While he attended the Art Students League of New York City, he changed his name because George Luks and John French Sloan suggested that young students should paint under an assumed name so that early inferior works would not be attached to them. He took the name Eric from the middle letters of America and Sloane from his mentor's name.
In the summer of 1925, Sloane ran away from home, working his way across the country as a sign painter, creating advertisements for everything from Red Man Tobacco to Bull Durham. Unique hand calligraphy and lettering became a characteristic of his illustrated books.
Sloane eventually returned to New York and settled in Connecticut, where he began painting rustic landscapes in the tradition of the Hudson River School. In the 1950s, he began spending part of the year in Taos, New Mexico, where he painted western landscapes and particularly luminous depictions of the desert sky. In his career as a painter, he produced over 15,000 works. His fascination with the sky and weather led to commissions to paint works for the U.S. Air Force and the production of a number of illustrated works on meteorology and weather forecasting. Sloane is even credited with creating the first televised weather reporting network, by arranging for local farmers to call in reports to a New England broadcasting station.
Sloane also had a great interest in New England folk culture, Colonial daily life, and Americana. He wrote and illustrated scores of Colonial era books on tools, architecture, farming techniques, folklore, and rural wisdom. Every book included detailed illustrations, hand lettered titles, and his characteristic folksy wit and observations. He developed an impressive collection of historic tools which became the nucleus of the collection in the Sloane-Stanley Tool Museum in Kent, Connecticut.
Sloane died in New York in 1985, while walking down the street to a luncheon held in his honor.
Sloane's best known books are A Reverence for Wood, which examines the history and tools of woodworking, as well as the philosophy of the woodworker; The Cracker Barrel, which is a compendium of folk wit and wisdom; and Diary of an Early American Boy: Noah Blake-1805, based on a diary he discovered at a local library book sale. His most famous painted work is probably the skyscape mural, Earth Flight Environment, which is still on display in the Independence Avenue Lobby in the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 4, 2023
This is a wonderful book of early American things—axes and fences and sleds and tools and dog mills and horn books and salt box houses and Queen post trusses and turnpikes and much more, delightfully arranged by alphabet letter and illustrated with Eric Sloane’s wonderful drawings.
Did you know that “turnpike” is so called because the first turnpike was the Lancaster Turnpike (1793) in Pennsylvania. One paid the toll and entered through a gate made with an actual pike—you know, a long pole with a metal point and hook at the end—which turned on a post to allow entrance.
I read a first edition library copy of this book published in 1963, and I’m surprised my library has retained it in their collection, which tends to be culled of old books. Thankfully, they still have this.
Did you know that “turnpike” is so called because the first turnpike was the Lancaster Turnpike (1793) in Pennsylvania. One paid the toll and entered through a gate made with an actual pike—you know, a long pole with a metal point and hook at the end—which turned on a post to allow entrance.
I read a first edition library copy of this book published in 1963, and I’m surprised my library has retained it in their collection, which tends to be culled of old books. Thankfully, they still have this.
August 29, 2020
does not get any better
all ages
all ages
August 19, 2022
A good book to get started if you want to learn about history of American farm life. The book is a miscellaneous collection of tools, farmhouse items, and working methods. Cute illustrations.
July 3, 2025
-3 or 4 stars. it was neat to look at, but too brief.
January 23, 2016
Eric Sloane has a trademark way of illustrating historical objects like tools and buildings. I'm a sucker for his books. I wish he was still around releasing new ones.
August 11, 2016
Beautiful line drawings and very informative. Definitely an all-ages alphabet. I learned a lot!!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews