Description
First edition of Inauguration of the Statue of Warren, by the Bunker Hill Monument Association, presentation copy to General Leslie Combs of Kentucky.
Octavo, viii, 223pp, [1]. Publisher’s original brown cloth, covers elaborately stamped in blind, title stamped in gilt on spine and front cover. Complete with three engravings, including frontispiece, all with tissue covers. Corners and board edges rubbed, worn through in places. Spine rubbed and chipped, with some loss of cloth. Front hinge starting to separate but binding stable. Front free endpaper loose, but still attached by thread. Back cover reattached, inner hinge reinforced. Soiling to covers. Toning to endpapers and text pages, few dog-eared pages and a couple number notations. Dampstain to bottom edge of text block, not affecting text.
Presentation page indicates this copy was given to “Genl. L. Coombs [sic] in behalf of the Bunker Hill Monument Association.” Inscription on the front pastedown endpaper: “To Farmer Dewees Esq / from his friend / Leslie Combs.” Farmer Dewees (1792-1869) was a local banker in Lexington, Kentucky. Another ownership inscription for J.F. Graham on front flyleaf. (Sabin 9174)
Leslie Combs (1793-1881) was a lawyer and politician from Kentucky. He served in the War of 1812, where he delivered dispatches to General William Henry Harrison. In later years, he would actively campaign for Harrison during the 1840 presidential election. After the war, Combs studied law and settled in Lexington, Kentucky. A member of the Whig Party, Combs served several nonconsecutive terms in the Kentucky House of Representatives, being Speaker of the House in 1846. His last political office was as Clerk of the Kentucky Court of Appeals from 1860 to 1866.
