History of Ancient Woodbury, Connecticut, from the First Indian Deed in 1659 to 1872, Including the Towns of Washington, Southbury, Bethlehem, Roxbury, and a part of Oxford and Middlebury.

COTHREN, William [William Tecumseh Sherman].

$475.00

Item Number: 145969

Woodbury, Connecticut: William Cothren, 1872.

Second volume of the scarce 1872 edition of this history of Ancient Woodbury, the location of the Sherman family’s initial establishment in early 1673; from the library of General William Tecumseh Sherman. Octavo, original cloth with gilt titles to the spine, orange endpapers, frontispiece portrait of William Cothren, illustrated with engravings, tailpieces and embellished initials throughout. General Sherman’s bookplate to the front pastedown. Presentation copy, inscribed by Roger M. Sherman on the flyleaf to Ellen Sherman, “Mrs. General Sherman with the compliments of Roger M. Sherman.” The recipient, Eleanor Boyle Ewing Sherman was the wife of General William Tecumseh Sherman and a prominent pro-Union figure before and during the Civil War. The inscriber was likely a descendant of the Founding Father Roger Sherman, the only person to sign all four great state papers of the United States: the Continental Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution. In good condition with bumping to the crown and foot of the spine, splitting to the interior hinges, rubbing to the extremities, and a unique toning pattern to the endpapers.

General Sherman’s library was inherited by P. T. Sherman, who transferred the library to his niece, Eleanor Sherman Fitch, the granddaughter of General Sherman through his eldest daughter, Maria “Minnie” Ewing Sherman Fitch, before he died. Until now, this book was held at the family estate in Washington County, Pennsylvania.