?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
(MEXICO.) William H. Prescott. History of the Conquest of Mexico, signed and inscribed. 2 maps, 3 portrait plates, one facsimile plate. xxxiv, 488; xviii, 480; xvii, 524 pages. 3 volumes. large 8vo, publisher's cloth, minor wear; minimal wear to contents; inscribed by the author on front free endpaper, with author's gift letter laid down on flyleaf. New York, 1843
First American edition of the first important American history of Mexico, by one of America's leading intellectuals and one of its first professional historians. Second printing per BAL, state 2. BAL 16340; Palau 236467; Sabin 65262.
We are aware of no other signed or inscribed copies at auction since 1971; at least two are known in institutions per BAL. This copy is inscribed "E.H. Green, Esq., with the sincere regards of the author, Nov. 23 1844." The accompanying gift letter is laid down on the flyleaf: "Perhaps you have not read by Conquest of Mexico, or at least, may not possess a copy of it. Will you oblige me by accepting one now, as a proof of the sincere regard of yours very truly, W.H. Prescott." Provenance: inscribed to the financier Edward Henry Green (1821-1902), husband of Hetty Green (1834-1916), the famed "Witch of Wall Street"; by descent to their daughter Harriet Sylvia Green Wilks (1871-1951); gift to the Rev. John G. Currier (1873-1956) of Bellows Falls, VT; gift to the consignor as a young man circa mid-1950s.
