Passing of the Armies First Edition - General Joshua L. Chamberlain - Bauman Rare Books

Passing of the Armies

General Joshua L. CHAMBERLAIN

Item#: 82576 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Passing of the Armies

“A STELLAR WORK OF CIVIL WAR HISTORY—A CLASSIC”: RARE FIRST EDITION OF CHAMBERLAIN’S THE PASSING OF THE ARMIES

CHAMBERLAIN, Joshua Lawrence. The Passing of the Armies. An Account of the Final Campaign of the Army of the Potomac, Based upon Personal Reminiscences of the Fifth Army Corps. New York and London: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1915. Octavo, original blue cloth, top edge gilt.

Rare first edition of “one of the finest accounts of a campaign penned by a Federal soldier” (Eicher), with two portraits and three maps, two folding.

Written by a former teacher who was later commissioned brevet major general of volunteers, this “clear and precise recording of the final campaign of the war [recounts] the last days of fighting at the Petersburg front, along the White Oak Road and elsewhere, through Five Forks, the flight of Lee’s tattered army, the slipping of Southern hope at Amelia Courthouse, the disaster at Sayler’s Creek, and the surrender at Appomattox. The work also includes a narrative of the Grand Review and the closure of Sherman’s march northward to Washington and concludes with the disbanding of the armies. Chamberlain’s intelligence and literary ability enabled him to compose a work of superior quality, from the precision of the facts cited to the prose with which he has woven them together… Most valuable, perhaps, are the illuminations concerned Five Forks and the Sheridan-Warren dispute, the focus on Grant’s pursuit of Lee after the lines broke, and the on-the-spot eyewitness material relating to the several days around Appomattox. Additionally, the author casts interesting reflections on the relationships between the two Federal armies and their commanders. This is a stellar work of Civil War history—a classic” (Eicher 146). Dornbusch I:37.

Interior fine, restoration to original cloth from spot on front board, and only mild toning to spine.

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Aquatint Copperplate process by which the plate is “bitten” by exposure to acid. By changing the areas of the plate that are exposed and the length of time the plate is submerged in the acid bath, the engraver can obtain fine and varying shades of gray that closely resemble watercolor washes. Although the name contains the word “tint”, this is a black-and-white printing process; aquatint plates can often be hand colored, however.
Armorial Used to describe a binding bearing the coat of arms of the original owner, or with bookplates incorporating the owner’s arms.
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Boards Hard front and rear covers of a bound book which are covered in cloth, leather or paper. “Original boards” refers to cardboard-like front and back boards, from about 1700 to 1840, used as temporary protection for books before their purchasers would have them bound. Of particular value to collectors as evidence of a very early form of the book.
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Broadside Sheet printed on one side, typically for public display, usually larger than folio size (a folio being a broadside-size sheet printed on both sides and folded once, to make four pages).
Calf Binding material made from cowhide—versatile, durable, usually tan or brown in color, of smooth texture with no or little apparent grain. Readily marbled (“tree calf”), mottled, diced, colored, polished, tooled in gilt or blind, even scented (known as “russia”). Reverse calf, with a distinctive suede-like texture, is occasionally used.
Chromolithograph Lithograph printed in colors, typically three or more.
Collation Process by which the contents of a book are inspected for completeness, checking against internal evidence, the table of contents and/or plate list, and reference works. Also a shorthand bibliographical description of a book’s composition by its leaves and signatures, rather than its pages. A-C, for example, would indicate a quarto volume composed of three signatures or gatherings of eight pages each for a total of 24 pages.
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Wood-Engraving Engraving made with the graver or burin on the cross-section of a piece of boxwood; the harder wood and finer tools allow for more delicate, finely detailed images, while the block can still be set in the page alongside text and printed on the same stock as the text. While much older, wood engravings enjoyed an important renaissance in the late eighteenth century through Thomas Bewick and continued in popularity thorugh the nineteenth century.
Wormhole Tiny pinhole-sized trails left by bookworms as they eat through a text block. Much more common in older books printed on handmade papers with a high rag content than in books printed on manufactured papers made from wood pulp with a higher acidic content.
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