The Civil War: A Narrative: Fort Sumter to Perryville; Fredericksburg to Meridian; Red River to Appomattox.

FOOTE, Shelby.

$15,000.00

Item Number: 112792

New York: Random House, 1958-74.

First editions of the author’s authoritative text on The Civil War. Octavo, 3 volumes, cartographic endpapers. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author in the year of publication opposite the title page, “Jan Roberts with attention + gratitude Shelby Foote New York, Dec ’58.” Volumes two and three are signed by Shelby Foote on the half-title page. Each are near fine in near fine dust jackets with a touch of rubbing. Jacket design by Jeanyee Wong. Illustrations by Fred Banbery. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box made by the Harcourt Bindery. Complete sets of the first printings of The Civil War signed by Foote are scarce.

"Shelby Foote remained relatively unknown before his role in Ken Burns’ [documentary film] The Civil War made him a cultural icon. Since that event, Foote has become widely viewed as an authority on the Civil War, and more generally, as a representative of an era and region whose place continues to be central to our country’s understanding of itself" (University of Mississippi). "His mission was to tell what he considered America’s biggest story as a vast, finely detailed, deeply human narrative A model of what military history can be" (New York Times). Named by Modern Library as one of the 100 best non-fiction books of the twentieth century.