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Estimate: $ 8,000 - $ 12,000
WITH A 1774 DOCUMENT SIGNED BY WASHINGTON (WASHINGTON, GEORGE.) Irving, Washington. Life of George Washington, extra-illustrated. 782 plates and inserted illustrations, 3 manuscripts. 5 volumes in 10. 4to, full morocco gilt by Pawson & Nicholson, moderate wear, front cover of first volume detached; minor foxing; from the limited edition of 110 large-paper sets; bookplates of James Frothingham Hunnewell on front pastedowns. Published New York, 1855-59; compiled with items dated 1774-1855
A handful of extra-illustrated copies of Irving's Life of Washington were produced with similar bindings and contents. James F. Hunnewell discussed them in an 1890 address titled "Illustrated Americana": "Irving's . . . Life of Washington is . . . also one of the handsomest books ever produced in our Country, and a few copies of it have been made some of the most remarkable examples of what are called extra illustrated books—that is, books for which additional plates, often rare or curious, are collected from various sources. Most of such plates are line engravings. Copies like these are no mere scrap-books, but rare and costly additions to historical literature. There are perhaps half a dozen of them and so scarce are the plates, especially the proofs, used, that no more similar copies can perhaps ever be made. Each of them is sufficiently unlike another to make it fairly called unique." Hunnewell was not just an admirer of these extra-illustrated sets; he was also a collector, and his set is offered here. The star of this set is an original George Washington Document Signed dated 25 January 1774, laid down on a sheet following the first title page. This is Washington's receipt issued to John Fox, assignee of Jesse May, for his share of the "expense of exploring, surveying, patenting, and other incident charges attending the grant of 200,000 acres of land under the Proclamation [of 1754]." This vast tract of land was pledged to be divided among Virginia soldiers enlisting toward the end of the French and Indian War. In 1771, the tract was surveyed under Washington's supervision and at his expense. He later recouped the money by dividing the expenses among the veterans and billing them. This set contains two other manuscripts. One is an Autograph Letter Signed by historian Jared Sparks dated 10 February 1855, in which he explains the production timeline of his Life and Writings of Washington to Thomas H. Morrell. The other is a leaf from Irving's original manuscript of this book, bound in to face the page IV:225 where it was published. This passage describes Thomas Jefferson's efforts to thwart Benedict Arnold's raids on Virginia. In addition, many of the hundreds of inserted prints are scarce and desirable in their own right. Highlights include "Plan of the Town of Boston with the Attack on Bunkers-Hill in the Peninsula of Charlestown"; "View of the Attack on Bunker's Hill, with the Burning of Charles Town"; "His Ex'cy George Washington Esq., Captain General of All the American Forces" by J. Norman; "Le Marquis de la Fayette Maréchal de Camp" by Bounieu; and "American Star," an 1812 group portrait of the first four presidents by Gimbrede.
