History of the Great Rebellion, From Its Commencement to Its Close, Giving An Account of Its Origin, The Secession of the Southern States, and the Formation of the Confederate Government.

KETTELL, Thomas P.

$200.00

Item Number: 136514

New York: N. C. Miller, 1862.

First edition of volume I of Kettell’s history of the American Civil War. Octavo, original publisher’s cloth elaborately decorated in gilt, illustrated with over 125 engravings including 80 portraits. In very good condition.

Combining autobiography and history, the memoir was one of the most popular forms of Civil War literature. Generally presented as nonfiction and relating experiences in a first-person voice, the form reached its peak in the 1880s, when hundreds of Civil War memoirs appeared before an insatiable public. Some memoirs, typically those of war heroes, came out immediately as books. Others were published as newspaper or magazine articles, some of which were later collected. The popularity of such Civil War narratives lived on through the twentieth century, attesting to the enduring interest that Americans took in the national conflict.