Watson Tho (1 results)

Second edition. Thomson, Ga.: Press of the Jeffersonian Pub. Co., 1917. 440 pages. Several illustrations printed with the text. Original publisher's maroon cloth stamped in gilt on the spine and with blind rules on the covers. 24 x 16 cm. Ex-Sondley Reference Library with only light, internal markings (tasteful bookplate on front pastedown, several embossed stamps, and two marginal accession number stamps). Else a good, sound copy. The spine is sun-faded and shows some light signs of biopredation. This copy bears extensive penciled notes by Forster (a.k.a. Foster) Alexander Sondley (1857-1931), a prominent lawyer, historian, and collector of Asheville, North Carolina. These include a full-page screed on the front free endpaper, in which Sondley denigrates Jackson and populism, and sporadic marginal notes throughout the volume. Sondley was a serious book collector, and his massive library numbered in the tens of thousands of volumes. He bequeathed his collection to the City of Asheville and, after his death in 1931, the Sondley Reference Library was established in his honor. Initially housed in City Hall, the collection was moved to Pack Memorial Library in 1943. Most of the Sondley collection (excepting the North Caroliniana) was deaccessioned and sold at auction in the late 1980s. SECOND EDITION, following the scarce first edition of 1912. The author, Thomas Edward Watson (1856-1922), was a Georgia attorney, U.S. Representative (1891-1893), and U.S. Senator (1920-1922). He was a leading figure in the Populist Party and their candidate for the U.S. President in 1904 and 1908. He was also a historian, the proprietor of the Jeffersonian Publishing Company, and the editor of "Watson's Jeffersonian Magazine." Thornton, "A Bibliography of North Carolina," 14545. See Wise & Cronin, "A Bibliography of Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren," 529 (1912 ed.) and Smith, "Tennessee History," p. 77 (1912 ed.).