Lee's Sharpshooters First Edition - Robert E. Lee - Bauman Rare Books

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Lee's Sharpshooters

Robert E. LEE | W. S. DUNLOP

Item#: 109523 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Lee's Sharpshooters

Lee's Sharpshooters

Lee's Sharpshooters

"BECAUSE THE TRUTH OF HISTORY DEMANDS THAT IT SHOULD BE TOLD": FIRST EDITION OF LEE'S SHARPSHOOTERS

DUNLOP, W[illiam] S. Lee's Sharpshooters; Or, The Forefront of Battle. A Study of Southern Valor that never has been told. Little Rock, Arkansas: Tunnah & Pittard, 1899. Octavo, original gilt-lettered gray cloth.

First edition of Dunlop's important history of Confederate sharpshooters in the Civil War, including dramatic coverage of the battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House, with frontispiece portrait of Major Dunlop.

"When the Civil War broke out, experts on both sides decided that specialized sharpshooter units would be required in the field… The men on both sides often considered themselves, with some reason, as elite units" (Katcher, Sharpshooters, 5). Lee's Sharpshooters brings to life the little-known story of Confederate sharpshooters in a record of "how, time and again, at the dead hours of midnight, they dashed into the Federal outposts and… stood like a hedge between the embattled ranks of Blue and Gray as they swung into line for action." Included is a vivid "description of the battles of the Wilderness and Spottsylvania [sic] Court House by the correspondent of the London Morning Herald" that had appeared in the Richmond Daily Enquirer in 1864 (Dornbusch III:1222). With tinted frontispiece portrait of Major Dunlop. Copies found in gray cloth (this copy) or red cloth, no priority established. Wright I:955. Nevins I:84. Howes D573.

Interior quite fresh, light soiling, bit of edge-wear to bright gilt-lettered cloth. A near-fine copy.

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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.
Association Copy copy that belonged to someone connected with the author or the contents of a book.
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.
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Doublure Pastedowns made not of paper but of leather, for decorative purposes.
Duodecimo (12MO) Smaller than an octavo, typically less than six inches tall; smaller formats, such as 24mo and 32mo, are uncommon.
Edition Print-run from a single setting of type without substantial change. Depending on demand, any number of printings can be made from a setting of type For example, a first printing might consist of 1000 copies, followed by a second printing of 2500 copies; in which case the book would have a first edition, first printing of 1000 copies, and a first edition, second printing of 2500 copies.
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Engraving Illustration produced by carving lines into a metal plate. This is an intaglio process, in which ink is poured over the plate, then wiped from the surface, leaving ink only in the recesses made by the engraver’s tools. The image is then transferred by pressing thick dampened paper against the metal plate with great force—requiring engravings to be printed on a separate stock and separate press from any text.
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Half Title Leaf preceding the title page that bears the book’s title, originally used to identify the unbound text block. The book’s binder would often remove and discard the half title at the time of binding. Remaining half-titles are therefore of interest to collectors.
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Japanese Vellum Expensive handmade paper often used in deluxe editions.
Lithograph Illustration produced by transferring an image drawn on a carefully prepared stone to paper. The process allowed illustrations to more closely resemble the original drawings, paintings or sketches, as it gave the lithographer a freedom of line impossible to achieve in earlier intaglio and relief processes. It does not require the same sort of pressure as an engraving to transfer the image, but still has to be printed on separate stock from the text
Marginalia Handwritten notes made in the margins by a previous owner.
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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.
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