Ulysses Grant, Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Publishers 3/4 Leather Presentation Binding

Description

Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, in the publisher’s full 3/4 leather presentation binding, with marbled endsheets and edges. This is one of three original states for the first edition, and the most difficult to find in very good condition or better. Written as Grant was dying of cancer in 1885, the two-volume set was published by Charles L. Webster Company (Mark Twain’s firm) shortly after Grant’s death.

Twain created a unique marketing system designed to reach millions of veterans with a patriotic appeal just as Grant’s death was being mourned. Ten thousand agents canvassed the North, following a script Twain had devised; many were themselves veterans who dressed in their old uniforms. They sold 350,000 two-volume sets at prices from $3.50 to $12 (depending on the binding).

Each copy contained what looked like a handwritten note from Grant himself–a note that vexes booksellers to this day. In the end, Grant’s widow Julia received about $450,000. Still in print today, it is considered the gold standard of the memoir genre and is considered by many as the finest memoir of any of our presidents, rivaled only by Eisenhower’s Crusade in Europe.

Volume I rebacked with original boards and spine; light chipping of end pages with 2″ loss at rear; spine scuffed and very lightly sunned. Volume II in original binding; lightly scuffed and sunned at spine; otherwise very good. Both volumes feature very light rubbing of the gold medallions on the boards, but they are uncommonly clean. Handsome and readable copies.

Grant, U. S. PERSONAL MEMOIRS OF U.S. GRANT. New York: 1885. 1st edition, 2 vols., frontispiece, illus., maps. In publisher’s full 3/4 leather presentation binding with marbled endsheets and edges.