The Year Books Became Luxury Objects

Interesting piece here that posits that aesthetic pleasue is what books are really all about. Therefore, since e-books are so much more efficient and convenient, one's home bookshelves amount to the equivalent of a literary "trophy case," showing that the owner has supposedly read whatever classic titles sit on the shelves. Hmmm, I'm not so sure I buy that, though that might be the case for exquisite limited editions with fine bindings and/or handmade paper that showcase the bookmaking art.

Happy New Year one and all! I hope that all Civil War and general book-loving visitors to this site discover something of interest and enjoyment. May 2014 be the year that you find a pristine copy of that $500 rare book you've been seeking forever for only a few bucks!

African-American 1800s Prison Memoir

Just a bit off topic, but interesting nonetheless. Random House has acquired what appears to be the oldest US prison memoir written by an African American. The 304-page manuscript, by a man named Austin Reed, was recently authenticated by scholars at Yale University.

Titled The Life and Adventures of a Haunted Convict, or the Inmate of a Gloomy Prison, the memoir traces Reed’s story of imprisonment and harsh punishment while he was at a state prison in upstate New York from the 1830s to the 1850s. The full online article may be found here.

There are a few interesting comments regarding copyright and public domain, including some that wonder just who a fee is being paid to. It also appears that the original, handwritten manuscript is online here.

A Book's Provenance

A book’s “provenance” is the chronological history of its ownership and can also include a study of how certain individual titles passed from one owner to the next.

Obviously, for the vast, vast majority of books, who owned the book in the past is irrelevant and, in fact, any type of previous owner’s signature, rubber stamp, or bookplate is generally viewed as a fault with regards to the book’s condition.

On the other hand, such identifying marks can be a positive is if the book came from the library of a person of note, someone connected to the author, or someone closely related to the book’s subject. In the world of Civil War book collecting, such previous owner markings can add to a book’s luster if that previous owner was a Civil War veteran or politician.

For example, I recently acquired a nice copy of John W. Headley’s Confederate Operations in Canada and New York (Neale, 1906) from a very reputable book dealer. The front endpaper of the book contains the signature of J. Taylor Ellyson and also the rubber stamp of J. William Jones of 709 ½ Clay St. in Richmond. The dealer pointed out that Ellyson (1847-1919) served in the Confederacy’s “Richmond Howitzers” and was later a three-term mayor of Richmond. Jones (1836-1909) was a Confederate chaplain and the author of Christ in the Camp (1887) and The Life and Letters of Robert E. Lee (Neale, 1906). He has been described by one modern historian as "the single most important link between Southern religion and the Lost Cause." Such ownership history adds cachet to any book.

So all in all, if you have a 19th-century Civil War book with an earlier owner’s signature or two in the front, it might pay to do a bit of research to try and find out who that person was!

The Battle of Cedar Creek

Six years ago to the day on this blog, I wrote about the Virginia Civil War Battles and Leaders series published by H. E. Howard, Inc. from approximately 1984 to 2000. The first printings of each title in the series were published in matching dark blue bindings with gold gilt lettering, austere white and gold dust jackets, and were limited to 1000 copies signed and numbered by the author on a special tipped-in signature page.

Over the years, any first edition in jacket from the battles series that is not a library discard has become quite collectible, notwithstanding what was considered to be a wide discrepancy in the scholarly merits of one book to the next.

From my collector’s vantage and in discussions with used and rare book dealers, it appears the most difficult first edition to acquire in collector’s condition from that series has been Theodore Mahr’s 1992 work titled Early’s Valley Campaign: The Battle of Cedar Creek: Showdown in the Shenandoah October 1-30, 1864. I can’t put my finger on why this particular title has become so scarce compared to others in the series, as evidenced by the fact that fine first editions of this book in dust jacket often command prices in the $200 and up range. I even once saw a second printing with an asking price of $150! Until last month, I did not own a first edition copy despite years of searching, so when I came across a pristine, jacketed copy for considerably less than that figure, I jumped all over it.

Moreover, unlike many other titles in the series, the writing and research of this book is considered top-notch though, according to the author, the book was essentially an edited version of his master’s thesis. Mr. Mahr commented on his book on Eric Wittenberg’s blog in early 2008, in which the former National Park Historian acknowledged his gratitude to such seminal authors as Robert Krick, Gary Gallagher and Jeffrey Wert, all of whom gave his work a well-deserved thumbs up.

As you read in those comments, Mr. Mahr mentioned that there will be an updated revision to this work. I’ve been in touch with the author recently and he states that he is at work on his revision, though there is no timetable. The original book went through three printings at 1500 copies per print run and was focused primarily on the Confederate perspective, whereas his new work will be far more balanced and feature a considerable amount of source material unknown to the author when he was working on his thesis decades ago. Those of us in the Civil War book community wish Mr. Mahr nothing but the best and eagerly look forward to reading his revised work.

Wow!

I was engaged in this auction but fell just a wee bit short... ;-)

The Top 12 Civil War Books Ever Written?

I just discovered this article from way back in December 2010 in which the author lists his Top 12 Civil War books of all time. As he readily admits, it is highly subjective and is assembled with some ground rules such as no biographies, no fiction, nothing published prior to 1950, and no multi-volume sets, which obviously leaves out a lot of classic titles.

Given those rules, how many of these would be on your list?

While all of these may be fine books, none of them are difficult to aquire as first editions, with the Catton and McPherson probably being the most expensive. One interesting note is that the 1954 Pulitzer Prize-winning Stillness at Appomattox was reissued in 1982 by the Book-of-the-Month Club as an oversized hardcover in slipcase (see pic) that can be a handsome alternative to the first edition. Pictured copy offered here.

The Current State of Civil War Book Collecting

Three times in the past month I was notified by long-time Civil War booksellers as to how each one had recently acquired a large collection of superb quality and rarity; collections that had been carefully built by their owners for decades. In each case, the seller stated that there were rarities included that they had not been able to offer for sale for thirty to forty years or longer.

While this is good news for serious collectors looking for particularly scarce wants, it also highlights the ongoing fact that book collectors who acquired the collecting bug during or after the Civil War centennial (when they were in their twenties or thirties) are now elderly and looking to sell. A key question is are there enough young collectors today to replace them?

Sadly, after talking with numerous booksellers over the past few years, I've concluded the answer is no, not by a long shot. Until the recent advent of the internet and such sites like Google Books and archive.org, many older books, such as 19th-century regimentals, were valuable not merely because of their scarcity, but also because of the information they contained; information that could not be found anywhere else. Now with the rise of these internet sites, that factor has been eliminated. Of course, ebooks have further hurt traditional book readership, not to mention a possible general decline in reading across the board.

Then there has been the rise of book search engines like ABE that bring book sellers and buyers together. These sites, which rose to prominence in the 1990s, have made millions of books available to the book buying public with just a few keystrokes, books that in the past were somewhat hidden in that they were only available through used and rare book stores or dealer's catalogs. An end result was the revelation that the vast, vast majority of titles were quite common, which thereby pushed prices down, down and down. Conversely, truly rare and scarce titles were shown to be just that, and their prices ratcheted upward. This phenomenem played out somewhat with Civil War books but was especially the case for 20th-century literature.

These old school dealers all seem to agree that the high water mark for Civil War book collecting was the 1990s. Since then, demand for anything less than the rarest of the rare has tapered off and prices have therefore fallen. One dealer told me how back in the day he could acquire a truly rare ACW title and have to decide among six or so collectors as to who he was going to offer it to, knowing that all would buy without hesitation. Not any more.

What this means is that an old book collecting adage is more true than ever: Collect what you truly love and you'll probably never lose money or sleep. And remember the three most important factors in determining the value of an old book are condition, condition, and condition. On the other hand, if you buy a book because of its perceived investment value, you'll probably lose out big time.

New promo video trailer for "Old Slow Town"

Wayne State Univerity Press, the publisher for my newest book titled "Old Slow Town": Detroit during the Civil War has just completed the promotional video trailer which will be used on their website, social media and the like. Check it out!

Forty Years of Active Service

Just acquired this Neale book, published in 1904 by Colonel Charles. T. O'Ferrall (1840-1905). It just might have the longest subtitle ever: "Being Some History of the War Between the Confederacy and the Union and of the Events Leading Up To It, with Reminiscences of the Struggle and Accounts of the Author's Experiences of Four Years from Private to Lieutenant-Colonel, and Acting Colonel of the Cavalry of the Army of Northern Virgina. Also, Much of the History of Virginia and the Nation in which the Author Took Part for Many Years in Political Conventions and on the Hustings and as Lawyer, Member of the Legislature of Virginia, Judge, Member of the House of Representatives of the United States and Governor of Virginia."

Per the Neale bibliography, this ex-governor of Virginia (1894-1898) served in the 12th Virginia Cavalry and his reminiscences of their exploits are solid and valuable. O'Ferrall hailed from western Virginia and despite the strong Unionist sentiments in the area, felt his true allegiance to be to Virginia and the Confederacy. He enlisted as a private in the cavalry, quickly advanced to sergeant, and then promoted to major after displaying significant gallantry and promise in battle. O'Ferrall had advanced to colonel by war's end and was in command of all Confederate cavalry in the Shenandoah Valley. He was wounded 8 times during the war, including once so seriously that he was left for dead.

Copies shown here are generally in the $150-250 range and I suspect the book's collectability has as much to do with its Neale Book status as for the material contined within it.

I don't usually discuss novels here, however yesterday I found what appears to be a small, hilarious gem, and will hopefully be good for more than a few laughs. The book is titled The Mindleberg Papers (by author Jacob Hay) and is described on the jacket's front panel as An irreverent, malicious spoof of the Civil War Centennial madness.

Read the jacket copy below and you'll see that, though published 50 years ago, many of the "hot button" issues so prevalent in today's online ACW community were also around back then. History always repeats!

“For readers fed up to their campaign hats with the peculiar contemporary madness engendered by the solemn celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the Civil War (the War Bewteen the States, that is), here is a zany, outrageously funny tale of a Dixie centennial that threatened to secede from history. When Nick Saltire, a free-lance writer, his soul leased to a New York public relations firm, arrives in the town of Textilia, North Carolina, he little suspects he is destined to do for this charming little backwash of local color what Sherman did for Georgia. Nick, familiar only with history as it is written in books and presented by Yankee publishers, is only too willing to go along with the commonly held notion that the Civil War ended at Appomattox. Indeed, his primary interest in history may be said to be limited to the dates that appear on his paychecks.

Unfortunately, history is now his job. For Pierre Mindleberg, a textile tycoon who virtually owns Textilia, lock, stock, and cracker barrel, has decided that there can be no finer contribution to the town’s Civil War Centennial than an account of the noble part played in the Great Conflict by the Mindleberg Textile Mills. There is, however, one small stumbling block – a Mindleberg ancestor whose role in the war could not be called exactly heroic. It could be called many things – but definitely not heroic.

Undeterred, and despite distractions – distractions that take the forms of a pretty research assistant and a local heiress and a buxom carhop – Nick plunges into the past and emerges with a bundle of mysteriously coded letters. In them lies a revelation that transforms a dead reprobate into a Gallant Son, spurs the town to a frenzy of enthusiastic activity, and, most important to Nick, opens up new and spacious vistas of personal gain. That is, until a certain history professor arrives (from the North, of course) with information that, if revealed, can make the Stars and Bars hang at half-mast and can turn ‘Dixie’ into a dirge. More than that, Nick realizes as he views the fanatic light burning in southern eyes, it can easily make him the final casualty of the Civil War.

Casting an impartially satiric eye on the strange folkways of both Madison Avenue and the Land of the Cottonmouth, this delightfully lively spoof will prove irresistible to all but the most hopeless of Civil War buffs.”

How to Spot a Fake: Rare Books

Check it out here.

"But It's Not A Lie If You Believe It's True"

"The South Still Lies About the Civil War" says Tracy Thompson. Check out this excerpt here from her new book The New Mind of the South.

Lincoln's Critics: The Copperheads of the North

For a generation or two, Professor Frank L. Klement (1908-1994) was considered by many to be the leading authority on the Copperheads during the Civil War. The majority of his books and essays focused on those Democratic northerners who dissented against Lincoln and Republican war policy. His best known works include The Copperheads in the Middle West (1960), The Limits of Dissent: Clement L. Vallandigham and the Civil War (1970), and Dark Lanterns: Secret Political Societies, Conspiracies, and Treason Trials in the Civil War (1984). Considered a revisionist historian who spent his life carefully analyzing the primary sources, Klement's fundamental thesis running throughout his works was that the influence and danger of Copperhead and purportedly pro-Southern "secret societies" operating throughout the North had been grossly and intentionally overestimated by the Republicans for their own political propaganda purposes. In the case of these "secret societies," such as the Knights of the Golden Circle and the later Sons of Liberty, Klement asserted that they were little more than paper-based organizations that had been inflated by the Republicans to dangerous bogeyman status, but whose actual influence was negligible. As a nod to Klement's influence, James McPherson wrote that "although I did not always agree with Frank Klement's interpretations of the Copperheads, I found them unfailingly stimulating," and that Klement's books were "invaluable for anyone working in the Civil War field."

So in the course of some research for my next book, I came across this book and decided I'd like a copy for my personal library. Published posthumously by White Mane Publishing in 1999, the book is a collection of Klement's articles and essays written over the course of his life that, obviously, relate to the book's title. As it's only 13 years old or so, and published by a national Civil War-oriented publisher, I figured landing a copy would be inexpensive and routine.

Boy, was I wrong. The book appears to be out of print at the publisher, nor was I able to get a reply from WM as to whether there might still be a copy or two languishing in the warehouse. Then I went to ABE and discovered "only" 7 copies, the least expensive of which was $120 (!) and running as high as $400! Nor do any of the other internet bookselling sites I frequent have copies. Can anyone who reads this post offer some insight on this book? I'd love to know why it seems to be such an expensive book.

CSS Hunley Legend Altered By New Discovery

For nearly 150 years, the story of the Hunley’s attack on the USS Housatonic has been Civil War legend. And it has been wrong. Check it out here.

This Wasn't In The O.R.

Another One Bites the Dust

I fear that one day I'll have to explain to my grandchildren what a used book store was. Here's just the latest reason why.