“FIRST IN WAR, FIRST IN PEACE, AND FIRST IN THE HEARTS OF HIS COUNTRYMEN”: FIRST EDITION OF FREEMAN’S COMPLETE GEORGE WASHINGTON,WARMLY INSCRIBED BY AUTHORS DOUGLAS SOUTHALL FREEMAN AND JOHN ALEXANDER CARROLL

FREEMAN, Douglas Southall. FREEMAN, Douglas Southall. George Washington. WITH: CARROLL, J.A. and ASHWORTH, M.W. George Washington. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1948-54, (1957). Seven volumes. Octavo, original navy cloth, original slipcases (Volumes I-II, III-IV, V, VI), original dust jacket (Volume VII).

First editions of the complete and definitive seven-volume biography of Washington, with the scarce final volume finished by Carroll and Ashworth after Douglas Freeman’s death, with frontispieces, 96 illustrations and over 50 maps, inscribed on the half title of Volume I: “Autographed for Mr. Charles W. Wainwright with much pleasure \ . / Douglas Southall Freeman,” and additionally inscribed by Carroll on the front free endpaper of Volume VII: “To Colonel Willard Webb of the Library of Congress—Friend & Creditor of a Thousand Scholars—with the full gratitude & cordial regards of—John Alexander Carroll.”

Winner of the 1958 Pulitzer Prize, this is the acclaimed study of George Washington’s life by the writer whom his fellows historians, such as Allan Nevis, considered “America’s greatest biographer.” “Freeman can well claim to be the most influential pioneer of the scholarly biography that has become such an important part of today’s literary world” (Mullen, Contemporary Review). As a writer and editor known for “his ability to write rapidly and clearly… Freeman had wide influence on political and military affairs… Political and military leaders read his books as primers on leadership” (ANB). This comprehensive history, completed by J.A. Carroll and M.W. Ashworth after Freeman’s death, records the life of America’s first President— the man, as Henry Lee said in his eulogy before Congress, who would be forever “first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen.” Volumes I-VI as issued in slipcases and without dust jackets; Volume VII as issued with dust jacket only. The man to whom Carroll inscribed this work, Colonel Willard Webb, served in the United States Army from 1936 through the 1950s, during which time he served in the Pacific Theater during World War II and earned a variety of medals. Upon returning to civilian life, he accepted a job at the Library of Congress, where he eventually became chief of the Stack and Reader Division and an expert on the Civil War. He was known for asking students and scholars questions about their studies and the books they were using. Carroll’s inscription undoubtedly refers to that habit.

Books with only slight soiling and rubbing to cloth, dust jacket with only minor rubbing, a bit of wear and faint staining to slipcases. A near-fine set, most rare and desirable with inscriptions by Freeman and Carroll.