Description
Autograph Album featuring alumni of the Appleton Academy in Ipswich, New Hampshire, including the inscription of former President Franklin Piece.
Octavo, [140pp]. Black embossed cloth, title stamped in gilt on front cover. Archival leather repairs to the spine. All edges gilt, brown endpapers. Front endpaper missing.
Inscribed on a single leaf by former President Franklin Pierce: “How are you A.A. [Appleton Academy] / Remember Your Friend / Franklin Pierce / Manchester / New Hampshire / Apr. 16, 1864.”
This album was signed four months after the death of First Lady Jane Appleton Pierce, whose family was the namesake of the Appleton Academy.
After leaving office in March 1857, Franklin Pierce (1804-1869) traveled in Europe with Jane Pierce for several years, returned to Concord, New Hampshire, and lived there for the rest of his life. During the Civil War, he remained a Northern Democrat but opposed many Lincoln administration policies, publicly blamed Lincoln for the war, and lost standing with many former friends and allies as a result. President Pierce died in Concord on October 8, 1869, after many years of political isolation and declining health.
