I have taken great pleasure in sending to you as one of the most notable men this country has produced a complimentary of "King's Handbook of the United States";1 a little book that aims to give an outline of the glorious things of this country; but as you will readily see, it fails to do anything like justice to the vast subject although it is the result of the best efforts of 2½ years' of the most laborious and painstaking work.
Kindly let me know of its safe arrival.—
With great esteem, I am, Sincerely Yours Moses King loc.02596.002_large.jpgCorrespondent:
Moses King (1853–1909)
was an English-born travel and guidebook writer. King and his family immigrated
to the United States when he was five years old. In 1881, he graduated from
Harvard University and married Bertha Cloyes. The Moses King Corporation
produced photobooks on various subjects, and King wrote guidebooks for major
cities including Boston (1878), New York City (1893), and Philadelphia (1902).
In 1891, King edited King's Handbook of the United States
(Buffalo, NY: Moses King Corporation), a nearly one-thousand-page book with text
by Moses Forster Sweetser and over two-thousand illustrations. Whitman is
briefly mentioned: "Long Island includes three counties, with 800,000
inhabitants, and is 140 miles long, having (according to Walt Whitman) the form
of a fish" (588). For more information, see King's obituary, "Moses King is
Dead" (The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, [June 13, 1909],
9).