Autograph leaves of our country's authors
Baltimore: Cushings & Baily, 1864. First edition, 4to, pp. xi, [1], 200, [1]; lithographed throughout; engraved vignette title page and with engraved vignette on final leaf; original brown cloth stamped in gilt; spine cracked and chipped at extremities with partial loss to title lettering, joints cracked with several small losses; cloth also chipped and rubbed along the edges; all else good and sound. Contains lithographic samples of manuscripts from virtually all the major American literary figures of the day, including Francis Scott Key, Abraham Lincoln, Irving, Holmes, Whittier, Dana, Dana, Jr., Whipple, Drake, Ticknor, Stowe, Hawthorne, Calvert, Saxe, Bryant, Sigourney, Longfellow, Halleck, Bancroft, Prescott, Emerson, Curtis, Paulding, Audubon, Poe, Channing, Thoreau, even Melville, and many others. The book was published to raise funds for the troops via the Baltimore Sanitary Fair. It consists of lithographic reproductions of dozens of important manuscripts by American authors, starting with Francis Scott Key's Star-Spangled Banner. Lincoln wrote out a fresh copy of his Gettysburg Address; this was the first appearance of the address in manuscript facsimile. This copy with a gift inscription to Alfred J. Bloor (1828-1917), the New York City architect and assistant secretary of the U.S. Sanitary Commission in Washington, D.C., Virginia, and elsewhere during the Civil War, from William A. Hovey (1841-1906) of the Sanitary Commission, dated Oct. 14, 1864. BAL 11070. Item #63138
Price: $750.00
