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Courage Over the Andes dustjacket

Courage Over the Andes

by Frederic Arnold Kummer
Illustrated by Armstrong Sperry

John C. Winston, Philadelphia, 1940

This book's dustjacket and 3-color (red, blue, & black) endpapers were illustrated by Armstrong Sperry. The Glossy frontispiece is the same as the cover, but with the full sailing ship and a seagull visible. The book contains numerous pen-and-ink illustrations for chapter headings, 8 illustrated scenes (2 spanning two pages), and a variety of small illustrations of the tools of the whaling trade: sextants, harpoons, and blubber hooks.

From the dustjacket:

Young, impetuous Dick Weatherby, shipping on board the schooner Providence bound for South America and the whaling grounds of the southern seas in the summer of 1812, gave a gasp of relief that he had escaped from the humdrum life of a lawyer's clerk.

As the whaler beat along under a tropic sun, with the bellying white sails arched against a blue sky, Dick found more than enough adventure to fill his young and ardent soul. The Providence evaded destruction by the pounding guns of a British man-of-war and the bounding seas off Cape Horn, only to be captured by Peruvian privateers. Breaking away from his Spanish captors, Dick traveled 300 miles through unknown and war-torn Chile to find Mr. Poinsett, United States Consul to South America.

How Mr. Poinsett became a general in the Chilean army, with Dick as his aide, how history-making battles were fought till Mr. Poinsett could march to the aid of the imprisoned American sailors -- these are episodes in a deeply thrilling, little known chapter in early American history. But the most important conclusion Dick came to in fighting for the freedom of Chile was that freedom home in the United States was in as great danger from European oppression as it was in South America. Later, when Dick met President Madison, the President agreed with him, and agreed, too, that freedom was worth fighting for.

ARMSTRONG SPERRY was the happy choice for illustrating this thrilling chapter in American history. His love of knowledge of sailing boats which he exhibited in his own book, ALL SAIL SET, A Romance of the Flying Cloud, has again been used to excellent advantage in illustrating this book. His many pen and ink drawings add action and color to a perfect adventure tale.



This page last updated Sunday, 05/02/21, by Margo Burns, margo@ogram.org
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