Recollections of Seventy Years.
Galena: The Gazette Publishing Company, 1899. Hardcover. 8vo. Original green blind-embossed cloth, gilt. 304pp. Frontispiece, decorative endpapers. Errata slip tipped in. Very good. Faint binding edgewear only (mainly at spine head-tail), else internally tight and near fine. Item #49053
Tight, attractive first edition of this scarce memoir by one of Galena, Illinois' famed nine generals, U.S. Grant among them. This is one of the Chetlain family copies -- tipped to front flyleaf is a small newspaper clipping bearing inked date of February 1929 titled "Sale of Antiques Attracts Big Crowd" describing an auction of Chetlain family material, clearly the origin of this very copy. Extra-illustrated as well: Tipped to inner flyleaf is a 5½" X 8½" engraved head-and-shoulders portrait of Chetlain in suit and tie, apparently taken from "Portrait and Biographical Album of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, Containing Full Page Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens of the County" (Chicago: Chapman Brothers, 1889). William E. Parrish critiques Chetlain's memoir: "Although the great bulk of these memoirs recounts Chetlain's experiences as a soldier, the book also contains many insights of wartime Galena, Ill." Chetlain (1824-1914) was supposedly the first Illinoisan to volunteer in the Civil War, and formed a regiment with his friend Grant; he participated in a number of major battles and rose to the rank of brevet brigadier general; after the war he entered banking in Chicago, serving as director of the Chicago Stock Exchange. FLAKE 1264. NEVINS II, 145.
Price: $300.00