"A MILESTONE OF GREAT IMPORTANCE IN CONFEDERATE LITERATURE": EXCEPTIONAL FIRST EDITION OF LONGSTREET'S FROM MANASSAS TO APPOMATTOX

LONGSTREET, James. From Manassas to Appomattox: Memoirs of the Civil War in America. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1896. Thick octavo, original pictorial red cloth. $1800.

First edition of Longstreet's important Civil War history, with frontispiece portrait, 16 maps, and 30 illustrations of battle sites and portraits.

"Longstreet's tome is a milestone of great importance in Confederate literature. It tells the story of the war in the first person from one of the great generals of American history, allows him to make his case… Longstreet here provides ample documentation of his close relationships with Lee" (Eicher). Contrary to myth, Longstreet, not Stonewall Jackson, was Lee's intimate confidant, close friend, and principal military adviser (ANB). "Longstreet's reminiscences are basic to any study of the Army of Northern Virginia" (In Tall Cotton 114), and is "a necessary source for any study of Lee's army" (Nevins I:122). Dornbusch II:2977. Eicher 277. Wright 664. In Tall Cotton 114. Nevins I:122. Howes L451. Contemporary gift inscription, bookplate.

Interior fine, minor wear and soiling to original cloth, spine a bit toned. A near-fine copy.