St. John's Wort The Last of the Mohicans

James Fenimore Cooper spent his childhood in the American hinterland, far from highways and cities. Perhaps over time he would have become a prosperous landowner, but a chance occurrence changed the course of his life. One day, after starting to read a literary novelty that had arrived from across the ocean to his wife, James noticed that he could write much better. Susanna called him on his word, and as a result, in 1820 Cooper wrote the sentimental novel "Precaution." This book brought him neither success nor money, but the experience gained made Cooper seriously think about new novels. There was a social demand for such writings, as the English openly stated that the United States would never be able to boast of its own literature. As a result, a few years later Cooper finished writing the novel "The Pioneers." Its success was phenomenal, as Cooper wrote about what he had known well since childhood — the wildlife of North America and its pioneers. On the pages of "The Pioneers," readers were introduced to the scout Leatherstocking and the Indian Chingachgook for the first time. Cooper was personally acquainted with only one Indian, who sold game and fish to his father. Other information about the Indians the writer gleaned from books and articles. However, Cooper skillfully combined American patriotism with precise descriptions of details and a certain romanticism in "The Pioneers" with his literary talent. This mixture ensured the success of this and other books of his, which became the first bright beacons on the path to the formation of a unique American literature. Later, Cooper wrote four other novels about Leatherstocking, telling about his earlier adventures. All of them are included in this edition.

The illustrations in the book were created by two British artists — Charles and Henry Brock. Charles was the eldest of the four brothers. Together with them, he founded an art studio in Cambridge. Charles began illustrating books in 1890, possessing a special talent — he excelled in black-and-white line drawings, in which he masterfully conveyed the play of light and shadow, movement, and emotions of the characters. Charles Brock was very meticulous in his work on details, studying in the libraries of Cambridge the realities of the mid-18th and early 19th centuries to depict Cooper's, Dickens's, and Stevenson's characters as accurately as possible. Together with his brother Henry, he also illustrated the works of Swift, Thackeray, Austen, and Eliot. Nevertheless, Charles and Henry Brock entered history precisely as book illustrators. They created over a hundred beautiful illustrations that allow readers to vividly imagine the life that James Fenimore Cooper described in his novels.