Description
Presentation copy of the Biography of Millard Fillmore, inscribed by former President Fillmore to Connecticut Lawyer and member of the United States House of Representatives, John T. Wait. Includes an additional two page handwritten letter from President Fillmore to Wait, regarding this volume of his biography.
Octavo, xv, [1], [17]-215pp, [3]. Brown cloth, title in gilt on front cover, stamp in blind. No additional printings mentioned. Light wear to heel of spine, text block solid. Light wear to endpapers, text block generally clean. Includes frontispiece portrait of President Fillmore by J.C. Buttre of New York. (Sabin 24331) (Goehlert 3333)
Inscribed on the front free endpaper by the recipient of this copy: “John Turner Waite / Presented to me by / Rt. Hon. Millard Fillmore / April 25, 1864.”
On April 12th, 1864, John T. Wait wrote to former President Fillmore requesting an engraved plate for an upcoming book titled: “History of Norwich, Connecticut: from its possession by the Indians, to the year 1866 by Frances Manwaring Caulkins.” (Sabin 11573) President Fillmore’s relatives arrived from England and settled in Norwich, Connecticut, which is why he was asked to contribute to the book. In President Fillmore’s two-page, handwritten response to Wait, dated April 22, 1864, he addresses the request for an engraved plate and sends Wait this copy of his campaign biography by Ivory Chamberlain.
