Mary Lincoln: Biography of a Marriage (Signed)

Ruth Painter Randall

Published by Little, Brown, and Company, Boston, 1953

About this Item

Stated First Edition. I was unable to find one other Signed First Edition of this title for sale anywhere on the Internet. There is one other Signed Copy, but it is not a First edition. The book is simply signed without inscription on the first front free end paper. There are positives and negatives concerning the condition of the book. Here are the positives: the book is square and straight and quite solidly bound, no issues in that regard. The pages of the Text are very clean. There are 555 of them so I'm not going to guarantee the absence of any soiling but scrolling through I didn't see any. With the exception of the author's autograph, no one has written their name or anything else anywhere in the book. The pages are in very good condition. I saw only a couple of corner creases. The wear on the covers is very minor, a tiny tear at the bottom edge of the spine, a speck of rub-through at the top right-hand corner. And there aren't any markings or attachments in the book. It is NOT ex-library. The negatives or imperfections are as follows: you can see the fading of the covers green at its margins and particularly on the spine, the gilt and red lettering, while legible up close, certainly doesn't jump out at you. There is some soiling or darkening on the inside covers and end papers, also on the blank verso of the frontispiece. There is light spotting on the frontispiece and on the title page. Some of the glossy pages with illustrations have some light spotting/foxing, as do the text pages next to the illustrations. Other glossy pages with illustrations don't have any spotting/foxing. That's about it for negatives. There are 16 pages of illustrations. 'Ruth Painter Randall married James G. Randall, the American historian, in 1917, and shared his interest in Lincoln studies. In particular, she assisted him in his research for Lincoln the President: From Springfield to Gettysburg (1945), collaborating in particular on "The House on Eighth Street" and "Sifting the Ann Rutledge Evidence". Her first book, Mary Lincoln, Biography of a Marriage, was published a few days before her husband's death in 1953. She then wrote Lincoln's Sons (1955) and the The Courtship of Mr. Lincoln (1957). Between 1948 and 1958, she also wrote some 14 Lincoln articles in the New York Times Magazine, Chicago Tribune Books, and elsewhere. There followed Lincoln's Animal Friends, which I also have a signed copy of for sale (1958), and books on Colonel Elmer Ellsworth (1960) and, for young readers, I, Mary (1959), I, Varina (1962), and I, Jessie (1963), biographies of the wives of Lincoln, George Armstrong Custer, and John C. Fremont, as well as her own autobiography, I, Ruth, the self-told story of the woman who married the great Lincoln scholar, James G. Randall, and through her interest in his work became a Lincoln author herself (1968).'.

Seller Inventory # 001231

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Mary Lincoln: Biography of a Marriage (Signed)
• Publisher: Little, Brown, and Company, Boston
• Publication Date: 1953
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Good Plus
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Politics, Political Systems, Government
  • Biography
  • Signed Biography, Autobiography