October 1, 2008

Field Diary of a Confederate Soldier

A most interesting limited edition came to my attention the other day while looking over some upcoming auction items. This one is titled The Field Diary of a Confederate Soldier While Serving With the Army of Northern Virginia by Draughton Stith Haynes. It was published in 1963 by the Ashantilly Press out of Darien, Georgia. This fine press offering runs only forty-four pages and was limited to a mere 400 copies. The book is bound in maroon cloth and features a tipped-in portrait of Haynes in uniform which was used as the frontispiece. The press also added 3 maps and 3 woodcuts. Haynes’ diary seems to be routinely cited in books about the Antietam Campaign but beyond that, I can’t say much about it.

Copies for sale are not common. I found only two with asking prices of $125 and $235.

The Ashantilly Press was founded by Bill Haynes (related to the author?) in the mid-1950s and it became known as an outstanding, award-winning, private press. About 30 books were printed by Haynes at Ashantilly Press over the years with the press ceasing around 1991.

Draughton Haynes was born in 1837 and enlisted in the 49th Georgia Infantry in March 1862. He died in 1879. Anyone out there own a copy?


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bill Haynes' was a descendent of the "Confederate Soldier" - a grandson in fact. He passed away in 2001. The Ashantilly Press (www.ashantilly.org) is looking for volunteers to come and inventory, assess and rejuvenate contents of the Press building and the Price and Chandler letterpress. The non-profit Ashantilly Center would love to do limited reprints of some of Mr. Haynes' work!

Harriet Langford, Secretary to the Board.

Paul Taylor said...

Harriet -

Thanks so much for sharing with us. Do you know if the press published other Civil War-related titles and are any still in stock?

Paul

Anonymous said...

Sorry to have not gotten back to this post! This may be the only other publication from Ashantilly Press about the Civil War:
Johnny Leber and the Confederate major by Alexander A Lawrence (Unknown Binding - 1962)
I am still trying to get a definitive list of all the items printed by Bill Haynes!