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 original paintings.

These engravings attracted attention from contemporary critics like John Neal of The Yankee and are considered notable by modern scholars.

[6] Contemporary critic John Neal in The Yankee recommended buying The Token for 1828 if you have a housefull of daughters, or a wife or so of your own; it may lead to something better—it may give them a relish for something higher and bolder, and wiser and truer .... At any rate—if it do nothing more, it will keep them out of mischief.

[8] First published in 1826, scholars consider The Atlantic Souvenir to be the first American gift book, though some similarly illustrated publications predate it in that country.

[9] The 1840 volume of The Token and Atlantic Souvenir was republished with minor changes and marketed by two different publishers in 1848 under the titles Honeysuckle and Moss Rose.

[16] Though no other American gift books existed when The Atlantic Souvenir was first published, there were twelve or thirteen different titles available at the time it merged with The Token.

[8] Contributors to The Atlantic Souvenir and The Token included leading literary figures of the day,[9] some who gained their fame later on,[3] and others less remembered by history.

[1] These include several of Hawthorne's notable early works, such as "My Kinsman, Major Molineux" (1832), "The Minister's Black Veil" (1836), and "The Man of Adamant" (1837).

Bridge wrote: "It is a singular fact that, of the few American writers by profession, one of the very best is a gentleman whose name has never yet been made public, though his writings are extensively and favorably known.

[4] Willis sought contributions from fellow Portland, Maine, native John Neal during his short tenure as editor of The Token.

[24] "Otter-Bag, the Oneida Chief" (1829) and "David Whicher" (1832) are considered by literature scholar Benjamin Lease to be his best short stories.

[29] "The Adventurer" (1831) is a fictionalized version of John Dunn Hunter's biography, based mostly on what Neal learned living in the same London boarding house in the 1820s.

[32] Gift books made it possible for original paintings to reach a much wider audience than the minority of Americans who had access to galleries and museums in the 1820s, 30s, and 40s.

[5] Eschewing portraiture, the editors favored landscapes with romantic themes like democracy, individualism, sentiment, humor, and frontier.

[9] Considered by historian Frederick Winthrop Faxon to be the country's leading portrait engraver,[38] Cheney was for a time employed exclusively by The Token.

[40] He believed American engraving had much room for improvement and encouraged others to support those in the field, stressing how difficult a craft it is: "A long life is to be spent in diligent, exact, and laborious work; a long life in very delicate and careful experiment, before [an engraver] can hope even to see the finer and more wonderful difficulties of their art".