Description
First edition of George Bancroft’s Memorial Address on the Life and Character of Abraham Lincoln, presented by Maryland Senator Reverdy Johnson.
Octavo, 69pp. Original brown pebbled cloth, title stamped in gilt within a decorative oval border on front cover. Frontispiece portrait with tissue cover. Corners and bottom edge of boards rubbed, worn through in places. Spine rubbed and chipped with some loss of cloth. Back hinge starting to separate but binding stable. Toning to endpapers and text pages, paper residue along top edge of front pastedown endpaper. Intermittent pencil underlining, primarily in red. Inscription on the verso of frontispiece: “Presented by Reverdy Johnson, Senator of Md.” (Monaghan 841) (Sabin 3132)
Reverdy Johnson (1796-1876) was a lawyer and politician from Maryland. He served two nonconsecutive terms as a U.S. Senator from Maryland, and he was U.S. Attorney General during the Zachary Taylor administration. As a defense attorney, he was involved in several notable cases, being the defense attorney for John Sandford in the Dred Scott case, and he was one of Mary Surratt’s attorneys in the conspiracy trial following President Lincoln’s assassination. While Johnson lived in a slave state, he personally opposed slavery. He was an influential figure in preventing Maryland from seceding from the Union, and he later supported passage of the 13th Amendment.
