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Eric Sloane's America
An insightful guide to the vanishing landscape of days gone by features more than two hundred illustrations of barns, covered bridges, road signs, country inns, and steepled churches.
343 pages, Leather Bound
Published January 1, 1982
About the author
Eric Sloane
105 books57 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 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 1, 2009
I came across Eric Sloane's books when I was a teenage wanna-be author researching a book set in early America. Well, reading through Sloane's books I enjoyed the research so much I never actually got around to writing the story. His books are wonderful descriptions of everyday life in this young country, and his penciled illustrations are absolutely wonderful and informative. I collect all his books now, and pick them up when I find them.
November 4, 2012
Eric Sloane is a wonderful resource for all things Americana and has written a number of books. This collects three of his books in one volume. Sloane never makes learning about the past boring; it's easily as much fun to read as any great work of fiction I've ever come across. The sketches perfectly accompany the text and give visual aid at all the right moments. If you think learning about some old covered bridges would be a drag I implore you to give this book a try.
December 7, 2011
This is a compilation of several Eric Sloane books. Wonderful drawings and anecdotes about early american life, especially concerning farming, building, tools, bridges, and woodlore.
January 26, 2022
I really enjoyed the paintings in this volume and Sloane's comments. He's an excellent source for early Americana. The details he includes about painting landscapes were interesting even though I'm not an artist.
August 25, 2026
Though this book is much older than me, I loved it. It's an education in what 'yesteryear' was like for our grandparents growing up in a slower, quieter world that isn't always beeping or flashing alerts at them. Sloane's sketches alone are a treasure.
December 8, 2020
Interesting view into the forgotten tools and professions of the past.
January 10, 2024
a must read to understand where Americana came from
July 15, 2020
The writing could be better, but the sketches are excellent.
August 4, 2013
The photo of the book and the description are not matching to the title of the book: Eric Sloane's America.
February 28, 2024
If you are interested in history and the way of everyday life, this book will not disappoint.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews