no dustjacket. signed by author. spine and edge yellowing. corners bent. writing inside cover and on 1st end page. pages yellowed. no marks on text.

There has been accumulated through the years an ever increasing volume of evidence that history, through no fault of its own, has been most unkind to one of America's most outstanding, though somewhat unsung pioneers. All too often, history, which is wont to take cognizance of the spectacular rather than the useful, had done the same thing to others in other fields. It was not with the idea of detracting in the slightest degree from the fame that is justly  due Robert Fulton for what he was able to accomplish in establishing a steamboat line on the Hudson River, but rather to give credit where due, - yes, where it was much overdue, in bringing forward the name of Samuel Morey as the first to successfully apply the power of steam to the propulsion of a boat, that, I decided to summarize the existing evidence, and add the results of a considerable amount of individual research, in a single volume.