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James Cummins Bookseller

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Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant

Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant

Grant, Ulysses S. First edition. Illustrated. 584, 647, [1]pp. 2 vols. 8vo. IN PUBLISHER'S DELUXE FULL TURKEY MOROCCO. The president and Civil War general's remarkable memoir, written in the final years of his life as he was suffering from terminal throat cancer. Suffering both physically and financially, as the result of financial misfortune, Grant began writing his autobiography in the fall of 1884 and finished in July of 1885, five days before his death. Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) encouraged Grant and shepherded the book to publication through the Webster connection. Eagerly anticipated by a public that had been following Grant's illness in the press, the book was an immediate success upon its release, and has long been considered one of if not the best memoirs written by an American president. Since its publication, it has received acclaim from literary figures including Twain and Gertrude Stein, and from numerous modern American historians and political commentators from Eric Foner to Ta-Nehisi Coates. The publisher's full morocco binding is by far the rarest form of the work and the most expensive format when published. Publisher's deluxe full black Turkey morocco, with blind stamped corner fillets and portrait medallions of Grant on front and rear covers; title stamped in gilt on spine, with additional gilt stamping to edges, with very minor bumping; all edges gilt; marbled endpapers Illustrated. 584, 647, [1]pp. 2 vols. 8vo
  • $4,750
  • $4,750