"This Infernal War": The Confederate Letters of Sgt. Edwin H. Fay.
Austin: University of Texas Press, [1958]. Hardcover. 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. Item #46212
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.
Price: $95.00