"This Infernal War": The Confederate Letters of Sgt. Edwin H. Fay

Edited by Bell Irvin Wiley with assistance of Lucy E. Fay. Small 4to. Green cloth with silver spine lettering, pictorial dust jacket. 474pp. Frontispiece, map endpapers. Near fine/very good. Faint jacket edgewear. A handsome first edition of this (to cite James I. Robertson Jr.) "unusually full collection of letters by a Harvard-graduated schoolteacher who served in Louisiana cavalry; the correspondence is reflective of the intellectual and genteel Fay." Tipped to inner flyleaf is a good content Typed Letter Signed from the book's respected and prolific editor, Bell Irvin Wiley, 1p, 8½" X 11", Emory University, GA, 12 May 1958. Addressed to noted Lincoln/Civil War scholar Arnold F. Gates (1914-93). Near fine. Two original horizontal folds. On "Emory University" letterhead, Wiley chats with his friend about the New York City Civil War Round Table newsletter that Gates edited: "I am greatly impressed by the excellence of this issue and by the enormous amount of work which it represents. My hearty congratulations to you for this outstanding job. I just don't see how you are able to turn out such a sheet in addition to your other work. I noted with special appreciation your article on the Civil War Centennial Commission. My face is a bit red about the report of my speech, as I'm afraid that I had a lapse and sent you a summary of a talk that I give on other occasions." Signed simply "Bell" in blue ballpoint. A superb copy with delightful editor letter. NEVINS I, 87. …