[Provenance, Hamilton Fish, Fanny Kemble]

Butler, Frances Anne (Fanny Kemble.) JOURNAL. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea and Blanchard, 1835. 12mo, 2 vols. [4], [13]-252, [12, ads]; 218, [36, ads] pp. First American edition. With half-titles. Mismatched cloth.******* Hamilton Fish's copy – (1808-1893), U.S. Senator from New York and a pillar of Grant's presidency. His copy of the first volume, with his signature to front board, title, and one other leaf. The present work is by Frances Anne Butler, better known as Fanny Kemble, who is best known for her account of slavery on a Georgia plantation owned by her husband Pierce Mease Butler. The present work was published just a few years before she went with her husband to visit his plantation in Georgia (1838-1839); what she observed there horrified her and would later be published in her journal of "A Residence on a Georgia Plantation" (see next lot.) The present journal begins with her embarking for American in 1832.*Note: Sabin records the pagination for volume one as above (i.e. beginning with page 13, or 13-252 pp. See Sabin 9632.) This first American edition omits the preface found at the front of the first London edition (which rather specifically addresses readers in England), and perhaps that resulted in the omission of some page numbers in this edition, which is intended for the American audience.
Condition Report: Cloth faded, stained torn, boards detached to first volume and spine panel absent. Contents with some typical foxing. Pages untrimmed. In outward appearance a sad-looking copy, though worthy of binding given the provenance. Sold as-is.