Cover of Dover’s ABC Book of Early Americana, depicting a red covered bridge over water with someone fishing nearby and bold title text above—a charming introduction to American history and innovation.
The back cover of Dover’s ABC Book of Early Americana features a hand-drawn illustration of a barn and farmhouse with trees, a fence, and text describing the book’s exploration of New Hampshire connected barns and historical curiosities.
An illustrated page from Dover’s ABC Book of Early Americana shows an axe, almanacs, and an arm-rest with descriptive text, depicting American innovations like the American axe and other historical curiosities from around 1790.
Explore the ABC Book of Early Americana by Dover—a vintage-style illustrated page featuring text and drawings of a quarry sled, a farmer by a hedge, an old Quaker by a meeting house, and corner stones in historical detail.

ABC Book of Early Americana

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From Almanack, Bathtub, and Conestoga Wagon to X-Brace, Yankee, and Zig-Zag Fence, this sketchbook of antiquities revisits delightful words and inventions of old-time America. Artist and historian Eric Sloane presents a wondrous collection of American innovations, including hex signs, ear trumpets, popcorn, and rocking chairs.
Readers of all ages will delight in these illustrated and hand-lettered pages, which feature brief captions explaining the items' origins and uses. Gadgets, gizmos, and contraptions include foot stoves, used in churches and under the blankets of sleighs and stagecoaches, oil lamps fed by whale oil and kerosene, water-wheels, weathervanes, and windmills (first built in Virginia in 1621 — a century later, there were nearly 1,000). The craftsmanship of the nation's early builders and inventors is reflected in this finely wrought compilation of historical curiosities.

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