[Rarebooks] FS: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.'s First Printed Speech INSCRIBED to First Woman to Argue before the Supreme Court
Charles Agvent
charles at charlesagvent.com
Tue Dec 6 11:34:48 EST 2016
From our recent Catalog with 61 interesting books, letters,
photographs, and ephemera:
http://www.charlesagvent.com/agvent/images/pdfs/Winter2017.pdf
HOLMES, Oliver Wendell, Jr. DEAD, YET LIVING. AN ADDRESS DELIVERED AT
KEENE, N.H. MEMORIAL DAY, MAY 30, 1884. Boston: Ginn, Heath, and
Company, 10 March 1922. First Edition. Reprinted from the Boston Daily
Advertiser, by the Author's permission. First Separate Edition in
self-printed stitched wraps (5" x 7-1/2"), 12 pages, of Oliver Wendell
Holmes Jr.'s first printed speech, a celebration of his comrades, Union
and Confederate, who gave their lives in the War Between the States,
interwoven with themes of conciliation and high moral purpose, as well
as the shadow the war still cast upon those who survived it. INSCRIBED
to Mrs. Lockwood and SIGNED by the future Supreme Court Justice at the
top of the front with "DEAD, YET LIVING" crossed out twice by Holmes.
"Such hearts--ah me, how many!--were stilled twenty years ago; and to us
who remain behind is left this day of memories. Every year--in the full
tide of spring, at the height of the symphony of flowers and love and
life--there comes a pause, and through the silence we hear the lonely
pipe of death. Year after year lovers wandering under the apple trees
and through the clover and deep grass are surprised with sudden tears as
they see black veiled figures stealing through the morning to a
soldier's grave. Year after year the comrades of the dead follow, with
public honor, procession and commemorative flags and funeral
march--honor and grief from us who stand almost alone, and have seen the
best and noblest of our generation pass away." Holmes had recently been
appointed to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. This speech would
make him a spokesman for the Union veterans of the Civil War, indeed for
veterans of all American wars. Browning to the paper, wear to the very
upper right corner. Very Good, important, and scarce.
Mrs. Lockwood is undoubtedly Belva Lockwood, one of the first female
lawyers in the United States. In 1879, she successfully petitioned
Congress to be allowed to practice before the United States Supreme
Court, becoming the first woman attorney given this privilege. In 1906,
with Holmes sitting on the bench, Lockwood won an appeal for her client,
the Cherokee nation, before the Supreme Court. Lockwood ran for
president of the United States in 1884, the very year this speech was
published, and in 1888 on the ticket of the National Equal Rights Party,
becoming the first woman to appear on official ballots. (#018373)
$3,500.00
www.charlesagvent.com/shop/agvent/018373.html
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