Description
Presentation copy of The James A. Garfield Memorial Address, delivered on February 27, 1882 by his Secretary of State, James G. Blaine. This copy is inscribed by Secretary Blaine.
Quarto, [2], 87pp, [2]. Publisher’s brown cloth, title stamped in gilt on front cover. Faint dampstain to left edge of front cover, no impact to text. Wear to cloth at the heel of the spine. Solid hinges. Frontispiece portrait with tissue cover. Ownership inscription on the rear pastedown.
This copy is inscribed on the front free endpaper: “To Elmer E. Thorne, Esq. / With kind regards of / James G. Blaine.”
This copy includes provenance from RR Auctions of Amherst, New Hampshire.
James Gillespie Blaine (1830-1893) served as President James A. Garfield’s Secretary of State in 1881. Blaine was an influential American Republican statesman, congressman, senator, and diplomat. He served as Speaker of the House (1869-1875), U.S. Senator from Maine (1876-1881), and twice as Secretary of State (1881 and 1889-1892) under Presidents Garfield, Arthur, and Harrison. Blaine was a leading advocate of protective tariffs and an expansionist U.S. foreign policy, promoting closer trade relations in the Americas through the Pan-American movement. He sought but never won the presidency, becoming the Republican nominee in 1884 before losing to Grover Cleveland in a close election.
