To open this special edition of the classic narrative poem is to think for an instant that it’s possible to pick up the quill pen resting on the inside cover of what appears to be an album. A replica of a letter from Thomas Gage written on April 18, 1775, is actually pasted there. Like the Deposition of Paul Revere replicated on the inside back cover, the letter is ready to be unfolded. Before any words of the poem appear, readers also discover a plan for a secret expedition to Concord. The sturdy paper on which the poem finally appears, the semblance of antique objects, old paper and the artwork purporting to be engravings more than 200 years old all contribute to a memorable visual and tactile experience with language that actually has stood the test of time. (Ages 9–12)

In his magnificent interpretation of Henry Wadsworth Longfellows poem, Christopher Bing seamlessly weaves history and imagination into a rich portrait of an American hero. A meticulous researcher, Bing includes material that provides texture to history, maps that follow the British campaign to quell the rebellious citizenry, as well as the patriots ride into the Massachusetts night of April, 1775. Documents firmly affixed into the book, including the British generals orders to his troops and Reveres own deposition relating the events, give the reader not only a visual experience but a tactile one as well. Far more than a brilliantly presented history lesson, this book represents a tour de force of coherent artistic vision. In an extraordinary series of rich and moody engravings, from the mysteriously shimmering rigging of the British sloop, The Somerset, looming in a moonlit Boston harbor to the taut urgency of a man and his horse galloping at a combustible moment in the American experience, this book illuminates our countrys past unlike any other.