Morse, Jedidiah, Geographies of
MORSE, JEDIDIAH, GEOGRAPHIES OF
MORSE, JEDIDIAH, GEOGRAPHIES OF. The first edition of Geography Made Easy by Jedidiah Morse, a New England politician and divine, appeared in 1784. The little book was the first geography published in the United States. As the title implies, Geography Made Easy attempted to simplify existing notions about American geography, which British books treated poorly. More than twenty-five editions followed during the author's lifetime. In 1789, Morse, the "father of American geography," also published an enlarged work, The American Geography, later called The American Universal Geography. In 1795, a child's book, Elements of Geography, appeared, and in 1797 The American Gazetteer was published.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Moss, Richard J. The Life of Jedidiah Morse: A Station of Peculiar Exposure. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1995.
Phillips, Joseph W. Jedidiah Morse and New England Congregationalism. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1983.
Randolph G.Adams/a. e.
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