Description
The first edition of Mr. Morton in France, the Farewell Dinner for United States Ambassador to France, the Hon. Levi Morton, printed in Paris in 1885. This pamphlet is signed by Levi Morton.
Octavo, 52pp. Publisher’s original paper wrappers, bound at spine with string. Wrap chipping at the spine, wear along bottom edge of board, binding stable, but delicate. Housed in custom gray cloth folio, title stamped in gilt on front cover.
Signed on the front cover: “With the respectful compliments of Levi P. Morton.”
Future Vice President Levi Morton (1824-1920) was in France in May, 1885 serving out the final month of his tenure as the U.S. Minister to France, appointed by President Chester A. Arthur to the post in 1881. While in France, he presided over the construction and dedication of the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France to the United States. The statue was designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, to celebrate the centennial of American independence and symbolize the friendship between the two nations. Morton accepted the completed statue on behalf of the United States in a ceremony in Paris on July 4, 1884. The statue was then disassembled, shipped to New York, and reassembled, with its dedication taking place on October 28, 1886.
