Wistar, Isaac Jones | Scarce first edition of Wistar's autobiography, with typescript

Wistar, Isaac Jones
Autobiography of Isaac Jones Wistar 1827-1905. Philadelphia: Printed by the Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology, 1914 [With:] Accompanying typescript draft. [Philadelphia: 1892]

2 vols, 4to (276 x 197 mm). Frontispiece to volumes, 4 black and white plates, folding map at rear of Vol. I. Green cloth boards, gilt-lettered black labels to spines. [With:] Autobiography of General Isaac Wistar [Typed Manuscript]. Philadelphia, 1892. 4to (280 x 213 mm). 689 p.p., with 2 manuscript letters mounted to preliminary leaves, and 1 manuscript note. Contemporary full red morocco, spine with raised bands in six compartments, second and fourth gilt-lettered.

First edition, accompanied by one of two copies of Wistar's typescript. — Number 9 of 250 copies, with an additional printed tipped-in slip that states: "The recipient of this book is requested to regard its contents, for the present, as confidential."

Born in 1827 in Philadelphia, Isaac Jones Wistar was a lawyer who served as a Colonel in the Union Army during the Civil War. Upon returning from the war, he resumed his practice in Philadelphia and served as the Vice President of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. His "Autobiography" contains a long account of his life, including the years when he moved to California to mine gold and practice law between 1849 and the outbreak of the Civil War.

Along with the main work is a typescript of Wistar's Autobiography, containing the same text as the published version except for the chapter titles, which may have been added later. A manuscript note at the beginning of the book reads: "These pages were typewritten from the original manuscript loaned to me by General Isaac J. Wistar for the purpose; in order that I might possess during his lifetime the 'Autobiography' which he directed should not be published until the period specified by him should have elapsed after his death. Mr. William D. Winsor has a similar type-written copy; he and I having shared in the cost of making them. Effingham B. Morris."

Effingham Buckley Morris was born in Philadelphia in 1856, the son of Israel Wistar Morris and Annis Morris Buckley, members of Philadelphia's oldest and most influential families.

"Largely devoted to the opening and development of the far West from 1849 to 1860, in which Wistar played a conspicuous part before achieving fame and fortune in Pennsylvania" (Howes).

REFERENCE
Cowan 692; Graff 4724; Howes W598; Mintz 501

PROVENANCE:
William Jones Haines (inscription)

Condition Report:
Condition as described in catalogue entry.