Author: Nathaniel Parker Willis

Nathaniel Parker Willis combined travel writing, literary portraiture, poetry, and editorial work during a prolific nineteenth-century career. American Scenery, Vol. 1 and American Scenery (Volume II) pair his descriptive prose with landscapes drawn by William Henry Bartlett, while Canadian Scenery, Volume 1 and Canadian Scenery, Volume II apply the same collaboration to Canada. Cambridge University Press describes Willis as responsible for the literary department accompanying Bartlett's engravings. The Metropolitan Museum records Bartlett as illustrator and George Virtue as publisher of American Scenery, reinforcing the collaborative and visual character of those volumes. Pencillings by the Way grew from letters written during European travel, and Famous Persons and Places turns observation toward notable people and locations. Fugitive Poetry represents another side of his output. Summer Cruise in the Mediterranean records a voyage aboard an American frigate and visits around the Mediterranean. Together, these books show how Willis moved between scenery, travel, public personalities, and verse while writing for a broad transatlantic readership.