The Token and Atlantic Souvenir

The Token and Atlantic Souvenir (1826–1842) was the first American gift book, featuring romantic and sentimental short stories, poems, and essays, as well as copies of original paintings. Published annually, it was founded separately in Philadelphia as The Atlantic Souvenir in 1826 and in Boston as The Token in 1828. The titles merged with the 1833 volume, retaining The Token's founding editor, Samuel Griswold Goodrich. Readers generally referred to the merged publication as The Token. Considered by scholars to be one of America's best gift books, it was popular, influential, nationally distributed, and critically assessed. Some volumes saw multiple republications under different titles as the gift book industry continued to grow after the last volume of The Token and Atlantic Souvenir in 1842.

Authors published in The Token include leading figures of the day, unknown authors who became famous later, and others who are less remembered by history. The most famous is Nathaniel Hawthorne, though he was unknown at the time, poorly paid, and uncredited.

Featured artists were disproportionately American and their paintings largely followed romantic themes. The best remembered is Pat Lyon at the Forge by John Neagle. The paintings were rendered as engravings, many of them by leading American engraver John Cheney. These engravings attracted attention from contemporary critics like John Neal of The Yankee and are considered notable by modern scholars.