This is a well printed, and we dare say, a well digested compound of geography and history, adapted for young persons. The portion relating to America has been rewritten here and much extended, and in that very fact we see evidence to strengthen a conviction we have long entertained, and occasionally expressed, that the elementary works—those of history especially—designed for American schools, should be written at home.
From the New-York Weekly Messenger.
We have rarely met with a work of this size embracing so large a fund of useful, we might say necessary, knowledge of a geographical and historical character. This work is formed on the basis of Pinnock's celebrated Manual of Geography, combining the leading facts of history. It has been revised by Edwin Williams, Esq., a gentleman well known as the author of the New-York Annual Register, and New Universal Gazetteer, &c. That part of the work relating to our own country has been entirely rewritten, and occupies about one hundred closely printed pages. It will command a place, as a class book, in all our respectable seminaries of learning; but a work of this kind ought not and will not be confined to schools. It will be found in the library of the scholar—the cheerful and happy dwelling of the farmer—the workshop of the mechanic—the closet of the student—and the counting-room of the merchant, by all of whom it may be advantageously consulted as a book of reference.
From the Knickerbocker.
Mr. Edwin Williams, whose "Annual Register" and "Universal Gazetteer" are so favorably known to the public, has recently issued—revised and enlarged from the London edition, and adapted to the use of Academies and Schools in the United States—Pinnock's celebrated Modern Geography. The part relating to America has received numerous important additions in the revision, and the whole may be relied on us affording a faithful picture of the present state of the world, as far as known. The work presents a combination of geography and history, which renders it both useful and entertaining. The latter quality is an unusual feature in most of our modern school geographies.
From the New-York Courier and Enquirer.
Williams' Geography.—The habits and studies of Mr. Williams render him peculiarly fitted for an undertaking of this sort, and he has performed the task well. Pinnock's original work is in some respects one of the best to be found, but the labors of Mr. Williams have rendered this edition exceedingly valuable. We have looked this book through with considerable attention, and find a mass of American information there embodied far beyond our expectation. We question, indeed, whether any other book in print contains as much; and we are mistaken if it is not extensively made use of hereafter in our schools and academies. Few men in the country have amassed more statistical material than Mr. Williams, and none have spread it before the public with more accuracy. This book alone is sufficient to entitle him to the thanks of the community.
From the New-Yorker.
Pinnock's Geography.—Mr. Edwin Williams, favorably known as the compiler of several statistical works of acknowledged merit, has just submitted to the public an Americanized edition of Pinnock's "Comprehensive System of Geography and History"—the part relating to the United States having been entirely re-written and extended over one hundred pages. The high reputation of the original author as a geographer, affords a satisfactory guaranty for the character of the work, which is adapted to the use of seminaries without forfeiting its claims on the attention of the more abstract student of geography and history.
From the New-York Observer.