both issues of Snow-Bound, with letters by Whittier on the book
Whittier, John Greenleaf. Snow-bound. A Winter Idyl
Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1866
Two volumes. Original terracotta and blue cloth. A little wear and sunning. A very handsome set. Morocco case.
FIRST EDITION, FIRST AND SECOND ISSUES. These are the fine Bradley Martin copies of both issues of the poem that brought Whittier his greatest fame.
Tipped in are two letters from Whititer to publisher James T. Fields, both dated 1866, discussing the reception of the book. In one the poet writes in part, “I am amazed at what thee say about the sale of ‘Snow Bound.’ It must be that each one who parts with his [money] for it finds he is humbugged & has a malicious satisfaction in getting his neighbor into the same predicament by recommending it.”
A stellar provenance: Charles Albert Horne (bookplate in first series) – Frank Maier (bookplate in first series) – Frank Brewer Bemis (bookplate in both volumes) – Harold Greenhill (bookplate in both volumes) – H. Bradley Martin (bookplate in chemises of both volumes; his sale, Sotheby’s New York, 31 January 1990, lot 2275).
$6,000