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This is stunning hand colored original Currier and Ives "The Battle of Winchester" The color is as good as it gets, made on RAG PAPER, 19th. C.. I had this re-framed 25 years ago using a antique oak frame with old wavy glass and acid free mat. The image measures 13"x 9 1/2", frame 24"x 21". $900.00
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RARE COMPLETE SET OF THE “SHOULDER STRAP” SET OF CIVIL WAR MEMOIRS, INCLUDING THOSE OF GENERALS GRANT, SHERMAN, SHERIDAN AND MCCLELLAN, EACH ISSUED BY MARK TWAIN’S PUBLISHING COMPANY Complete Shoulder Strap set of seven Civil War histories printed by Twain’s publishing house in its short-lived but impressive decade of operation, featuring Grant’s Memoirs (1885), McClellan’s Own Story (1887), Crawford’s Genesis of the Civil War (1887), Custer’s Tenting on the Plains (1889), Hancock’s Reminiscences (1887), Sheridan’s Personal Memoirs (1888) and Sherman’s Memoirs (1892), each volume with the trademark gilt-decorated “shoulder strap” on the spine.This exceptional ten-volume “Shoulder Strap” series is named for each work’s gilt-decorated spine band that evokes the stars on an officer’s “shoulder strap.” Featuring the finest of contemporary Civil War histories, this series pays tribute to Mark Twain’s brief but impressive venture into publishing. In 1884 Twain joined with Charles Webster, who was married to Twain’s niece, in an effort, at first, to publish “his own books, and he began successfully withHuckleberry Finn in 1885. Almost fortuitously he got the contract to publish U.S. Grant’sMemoirs [1885-86]— a huge success… Other Civil War generals preparing their memoirs naturally hoped to appear with their great commander. McClellan’s Own Story [1887] was arranged for without difficulty. A Genesis of the Civil War [1887] by General Samuel Crawford was offered and accepted. General Sheridan’s Memoirs (1888)” soon followed (Paine, 831). This series also includes the posthumous Reminiscences of Union General Hancock (1887) written by his wife, Tenting on the Plains (1889) about General Custer, and concludes in 1892 with a revised edition of General Sherman’s Memoirs. By then, however, any profits had been exhausted, and Twain’s publishing house filed for bankruptcy in 1894. This scarce set with each volume in the distinctive green cloth binding featuring the gilt-decorated “shoulder strap” design on the spine: mostly first editions, with the “shoulder strap” editions of Tenting on the Plains (first published 1887) and Sherman’s Memoirs (enlarged fourth edition, with revisions by Sherman, of the 1875 first edition). With frontispiece portraits, illustrated with numerous steel engravings and maps (many folding).
The first photo showing the ten vol. set with covers facing camera was sold a few years back, the set I'm selling is in even better condition especially the the one in the the top right corner, { Hancock}. The last photo shows it as it looks today in my bookcase. The sun lite makes the vols look lighter than the actual deep green that they are. I started my quest to complete this 1 st. edt. set in 1993 when I opened my antiques business and didn't complete it until 2017. I collected for condition as condition dictates that this set will only rise in value with time. These are true first edition!! "You can tell allot about someone by what you find in their library" Dan Rhodes
P.O.R.
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American CPPonflowerful New York publisher Greeley, is an important “contemporary history of the war steeped in the emphatic ideals of slavery and freedom.” In the first of these two handsomely illustrated volumes, Greeley records “his version of the entire history of the nation from 1776 to the second year of the Civil War. The second analyzes the final three years of the war and includes substantial material on emancipation and the crushing of the rebellion… Greeley traces the seeds of the war and includes a large cache of public documents and speeches to make his case. Failed compromise is the predominating theme… Composed during the war, the work is particularly notable for the presentation of predictions about the years to come, particularly regarding the slavery question”, A “fair and certainly honest history of the events and “is still important to Civil War scholars. Besides offering extensive accounts of battlefield events, Greeley traced compassionately the troubled story of African Americans”. Greeley’s “furnishing of bail for Jefferson Davis after the war brought a storm of abuse upon him and killed the sale of his book”. Thousands of subscriptions were cancelled and even early editions are scarce. Vol. I's cover has separated some, Vol. II is fine, both Vols come with a clear dust jacket which will help that Vol.I's cover will not further separate. All pages and text are fine. A very scarce set of historical books, worthy on historian's book shelf. $225.00
