“Picturesque America” was a literary and artistic project compiled and published in the 1870s during the post-Civil War years. Ambitiously encompassing the entire country, it endeavored to foster national unity and pride by celebrating both America’s natural and manmade landscapes. Composed of 65 descriptive essays and 900 wood and 50 steel engravings by assorted authors and artists, it appealed to a broad audience and was hugely popular.
The tome was published beginning in the fall of 1870 as a magazine series in Appletons’ Journal, then as a subscription book, in parts, from mid-1872 to mid-1874. Most sets were later bound into two volumes totaling over 1,100 pages. It is estimated that a million copies may have been printed by 1880.
