Description
Salesman’s sample copy of the Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, with binding samples and illustrated plates. Numerous leaves pasted over with serialized newspaper articles.
Octavo, [68pp], [46pp subscriber’s list]. Publisher’s green cloth, title stamped in gilt. Solid text block, floral endpapers. Complete with 5 plates (2 frontispiece portraits of U.S. Grant, Map of the Valley of Mexico, Grant’s birthplace and Appomattox Courthouse). Three binding backstraps, all affixed to the endpapers. Includes legal notices to the book agents, promotional material, and an announcement that Volume II is complete. Bookseller agent signature on second free endpaper.
This problematic copy features 28 leaves of text, which are covered by the serialized version of “The Mortgage on the Hip-Roof House” by Albion W. Tourgee, dated 1887.
Published shortly after his death, the Personal Memoirs of President Grant are held in high regard by historians and general readers alike. Grant was initially opposed to writing his memoirs, but wished to leave his family financially stable after his death. The books were sold in multiple formats, ranging in price from $3.50 to $12.00 in 1885. (Eicher 492) (Dornbusch II: 1986)
