Pictorial History of the Civil War in the United States of America
Philadelphia (Volume I), Hartford (Volumes II and III): George W. Childs (Volume I), T. Belknap (Volumes II and III), 1866 (Volume I), 1868 (Vols. II-III). Presumed First Edition, First printing thus. Hardcover. 3-volume set. Decorative cover. Volume I, 608 pages and 406 illustrations. Volume II, 640 pages and 445 illustration., and Volume III, 640 pages and 323 illustrations, including Index. Each volume has footnotes. Covers have some wear, soiling, and scuffing. Front and rear boards of Volume III had some weakness and was restrengthened with glue. This is from bibliographic research and information in the books to be a First Edition set, identically bound, with the first volume printed by Childs in Philadelphia in 1866 and the second two volumes printed in 1868 by Belknap in Hartford. All three spines state Childs as the publisher. The Preface to Volume II states "The peculiar circumstances under which this work has been prepared, caused a much longer interval between the appearance of the first and second volumes that was expected; but the delay has been an advantage to the book, because it has enabled the author to procure and use more authentic and valuable materials than could have been obtained earlier, especially for Confederate sources....The interval between the appearance if the second and third volumes will be much shorter." The preface also explains that the publisher moved from George W. Childs to Thomas Belknap. Previous owner's [Eaton Cromwell] bookplate inside the front cover of all three volumes. Covers have some wear and soiling. Some page foxing and discoloration noted. Gift inscription on the title page of volume I indicates the set was a Christmas present given in 1870. Benson John Lossing (February 12, 1813 – June 3, 1891) was a prolific and popular American historian, known best for his illustrated books on the American Revolution and American Civil War and features in Harper's Magazine. He was a charter trustee of Vassar College. In 1835, Lossing became part owner and editor of the Poughkeepsie Telegraph. Out of that publication grew a semi-monthly literary paper, the Poughkeepsie Casket. Lossing began to learn the art of wood engraving from J. A. Adams, illustrator for the paper. In 1838, Lossing moved to New York City seeking greater opportunity as a journalist and illustrator. He edited and illustrated J.S. Rothchild's weekly Family Magazine from 1839 to 1841 and launched his literary career with the publication of his Outline of the History of Fine Arts. In 1846, he joined William Barritt in a wood engraving business that became one of the largest of such firms in New York. His illustrations appeared in the New-York Mirror and several other periodicals. During this time, Lossing sat for a portrait by Thomas Seir Cummings (1804–1894), now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. Around 1848, Lossing conceived the idea of writing a narrative sketchbook on the American Revolution. The first installment was published in Harper's New Monthly Magazine in 1850; the completed Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution was published in 1853. To gather material for the work, Lossing traveled some 8,000 miles throughout the United States and Canada. As with his subsequent books, his pen and ink drawings served as the primary illustrations when turned into wood cuts. The book won him critical acclaim and general reputation. During and after the Civil War, Lossing toured the United States and the once Confederacy. On the basis of that research, he published a three-volume pictorial field book/history of the war, which is also presumed to have been Mathew Brady's first collaboration in the use of his Civil War photographs as book illustrations. In 1860 and 1861, the London Art Journal featured a series of Lossing's articles describing the history and scenery of the Hudson Valley; the illustrated articles were published in 1866 under the title The Hudson: From the Wilderness to the Sea. Lossing was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1872. He was awarded an LL.D. by the University of Michigan in 1873. He also worked with engraver and book publisher George Edward Perine, most notably on his "History of New York City" (1884). Lossing's significance as a historian derives from his diligence in seeking out primary records, his interviews with participants of events and intimates of his biographical subjects, and his care to weigh and contrast details of his various sources. Although such efforts are today a standard among historians, in Lossing's time they were not. Historiography was not yet a discipline. Washington Irving, with whom he corresponded, wrote, "I have been gratified at finding how scrupulously attentive you have been to accuracy to facts, which is so essential in writings of an historical nature." This made him an essential secondary source for contemporary and succeeding historians and enough of an institution for Theodore Roosevelt in his "Naval War of 1812" to adduce simply "Lossing" in stating a fact, in the same manner as historians use the figure "Gibbon" or "Toynbee" Condition: Good.
Keywords: Civil War, Pictorial Works, Sedition, Secession, Fort Sumter, Slavery, Bull Run, Naval Operations, Army of the Potomac, Fort Donelson, Battle of Shiloh, Emancipation, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Civil Affairs, Fort Fisher, Assassination
[Book #82805]
Price: $750.00