Rare Set of 5 Life of George Washington Books

Rare set of 5 19th Century Books (Life of George Washington) with maps, printed 1804.

These make up the earliest known biography of George Washington, one of the founding fathers of the United States and its first President between 1789 and 1797. 

The books were written by Mason Weems, known as Parson Weems, who was an American book agent and author. The first edition of his The Life of George Washington was published in 1800, with the other editions following between 1804 and 1807. 

These biographies were intended to be morally instructive to America's youth. Virtually all early accounts of Washington celebrated him as a model American, due to his role in the American Revolution, and there was little to no criticism of him at this point. 

The accounts of Weems are most famous for exposing the cherry tree anecdote, whereby a six-year-old George Washington receives a hatchet for his birthday and uses it to cut his father's cherry tree. When confronted, the young boy answered 'I cannot tell a lie... I did cut it with my hatchet.' Washington's father rejoiced at his son's honesty. 

Supposedly anecdotes such as this one were invented by Weems in order to encourage certain virtues from the youth of America. 

These books are a wonderful survival from history and their age and wear makes them decorative too.