Book Details
|
Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the First Session Thirty-Ninth Congress (4 Volumes).
Washington, D.C. Government Printing Office, 1866. Hardcover. First Edition. 671, 584, 850, 717 pp. Three books covered in dark brown pebble-textured cloth, double-ruled front and back, and stamped on spine with bright gilt. Vol. 3 is the same style and color, but the texture of the cloth is smoother. All volumes are a bit edgeworn, with creases at spine ends and bumped corners. Contents are by and large clean and tight. Touches of foxing to prelims of Vols. 1 and 4. This fascinating set of books starts with the State of the Union Address of President Andrew Johnson delivered in Washington December 4, 1865. He summarizes the momentous year which included the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and the end of the Civil War, looks ahead to renewed world cooperation, the passage of the 13th Amendment outlawing slavery, and welcomed "throngs of emmigrants crowding our shores." As an attachment to the address, the documents in these four books were submitted, comprising all of the diplomatic correspondence during the year, sorted by country. Much of the correspondence is between Charles Francis Adams, Legation of the United States in London, and William H. Seward, Secretary of State. One of the saddest exchanges concerns Lincoln's death and the attempted assassination of Seward at the same time. There is some give and take concerning Britain's neutrality during the American Civil War, and much interest in the political situation in Mexico. Vol. 4's 717 pages are entirely devoted to "sentiments of condolence and sympathy" concerning Lincoln's death, both official government dispatches and resolutions and some addressed to Mrs. Lincoln. An amazing number of these messages come from small towns. From a letter from the Berlin Working-men's Club: "...in giving expression of our deep sympathy in the death of Abraham Lincoln, we feel compelled at the same time to give utterance of our hopes and wishes to the effect that the freedom which has thus been sealed with the blood of one of the noblest men will only the more fully prevail, and that the star-spangled banner may wave in triumph wherever it is unfurled, in battling for the cause of freedom and civilization." Very Good.
[Book #10870] Price: $150.00 
|
|
|