BACON'S ESSAYS: WITH ANNOTATIONS BY RICHARD WHATELY, D.D., ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN.

Bacon, Francis, 1561-1626. Richard Whately, 1787-1863 (annotator). Jeptha Vining Harris; 1816-1899; Jacob H. Sharp, 1833-1907 (past owners).

Published by New York - Boston: C.S. Francis & Co., 1859.

About this Item

Only a fair copy and sold as is but WITH MISSISSIPPI CIVIL WAR ASSOCIATIONS. Fourth edition revised and enlarged (as stated upon title page). xxiv, 586, [4] pages (publisher's two leaf advertising section concludes the book). Hardcover: H 24cm x L 15.5cm. Contemporary brown cloth soiled and stained; spine cloth chipped and torn; board edges worn; some flaking to spine's title/author lettering but still easily legible. Front free endpaper features four-line antiquarian ink inscription "J.V. Harris | Columbus | Miss | May 17th, 1859" followed by three-line pencil inscription of his niece's husband "Sharp | Tom Bigbee Rangers | 1st, Miss. Batt." Same inscription (in stronger pencil) repeated at top of title page; other varied Sharp pencil inscriptions/signatures on last advertising page and opposing rfly recto and again on rfep verso. Shallow chipping to spine quire heels of leaves towards book's rear. Unfortunate staining and foxing/toning throughout. Binding shaken between front fly and opposing title (missing half-title and/or frontis?); also shaken at rear flyleaves; text block with some stress points but remains reasonably firm. Aforementioned leadoff inscription is that of Lowndes County, Mississippi planter, slaveholder, and antebellum state senator Brigadier General Jeptha Vining Harris (1816-1899) who was among the Confederate forces that surrendered at the Siege of Vicksburg. Paroled and exchanged in mid-July 1863 Harris mustered out the following month but in August 1864 he was appointed a colonel of a state militia force in Macon, Mississippi. Jeptha Harris was one of eleven siblings with an older brother being Columbus, Mississippi attorney and judge William Littleton Harris whose daughter Sarah Hunt Harris was married to the book's secondary owner/inscriber Confederate Army Brigadier General Jacob H. Sharp (1833-1907) who started his Civil War service as a private in the Tombigbee Rangers (Company A, 44th Regiment, Mississippi Infantry) in 1861 but ascended in officer appointments cumulating as general in July 1864. It should be noted that General Sharp also had a brother Captain Thomas J. Sharp (1826-1864) who served in Companies E and H, 10th Mississippi Infantry and who was killed at the Battle of Atlanta. As Thomas Sharp was never in the Tombigbee Rangers the inscriptions/signatures can be firmly attributed to Jacob Sharp. Book was acquired from a multi-generational Columbus, Mississippi estate with direct descent from the Sharp family. Book now presented in a trimmed clear Dura-Lar (polyester film) sheet forming a dj which aids the shaken hinges and modestly enhances the book's compromised shelf presence.

Seller Inventory # CVA-01281

Bibliographic Details

• Title: BACON'S ESSAYS: WITH ANNOTATIONS BY RICHARD WHATELY, D.D., ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN.
• Publisher: New York - Boston: C.S. Francis & Co., 1859.
• Binding: Hardcover
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • Antiquarian