Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant in 2 Volumes Complete.
New York: Charles L. Webster & Company, 1885. First Printing of the First US Edition. This is a Near Fine tight set with light wear to the extremities in the publisher's full brown calf leather binding with black leather tips. The spine title is red leather and the volume label is black. The rear hinges of each volume have been reinforced. This set lacks the facsimile letter of Grant's original terms for Lee's surrender. Mark Twain was the publisher of this monumental memoir as well as its editor and proof reader. Twain was extremely fond of and a close friend of Grant and encouraged the President and war hero to write his memoirs. Grant was dying of throat cancer but completed his two volume opus, dictating the second volume to a secretary. Twain noted in a letter to his daughter that the manuscript was not even set yet and 20,000 sets had been ordered from only two states. "Wait till you hear from the other 37." Grant finished his memoirs on July 18, 1885 and died five days later on July 23rd. Following his death, advance orders of the memoirs reached 300,000 sets realizing close to $450,000 for his family which was otherwise penniless. In a 1992 New York Times book review, General Schwarzkopf is quoted as using Grant's two-volume work as his model, calling it the finest military history of the Civil War. Item #28077
Price: $1,000.00