Pepper Capt George (1 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Good-. First Edition. Large octavo, 522pp. A good copy at best in the publisher's blind-stamped brown cloth. Marginal dampstain on the bottom edge throughout, backstrip partly pulling from spine, some foxing and dust-soiling. Front free endpaper perished. Contents somehwat sprung, but still a sound reading or reference copy of this scarce and important Civil War narrative. Howes (P220 (a)) describes it as "one of the best narratives by a Union soldier." Ryan (556) notes, "The author possessed marvelous powers of narration and description." Nevins (p. 145) notes, "The highly revealing and reliable recollections of a journalist who served simultaneously as an officer in the 80th Ohio and a newspaper field correspondent." We count just two auction listings since the 1967 Streeter sale (1291), where a chipped and "much foxed" copy realized $70. Thomas Streeter wrote, "This is a fresh day-to-day account of Sherman's campaign by a captain in the Union forces who also served as a war correspondent for two or three prominent journals. The book seems to be a collection of his despatches so it is full of firsthand impressions." Before the Streeter Sale, we find some earlier listings by Ernest Wessen in his "Midland Notes" catalog. Wessen described it as "very scarce.".