"American Literature"

Samuel Lorenzo Knapp 1804 was the first to use the term "American literature" in a book title. In 1829 he published a 300-page volume entitled Lectures on American Literature, with Remarks on some passages of American History. Knapp failed to note the work of such budding authors as Longfellow, Emerson, Poe, Holmes, and Hawthorne, but he spawned a publishing trend. In addition to Knapp's work, Baker Library now has 756 other books with the words "American Literature" in the title.

Poe and peers go unmentioned in Knapp's book.