[Rarebooks] FS: Scarce INSCRIBED First Printed Speech of Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

[Charles Agvent]

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

https://www.charlesagvent.com/pages/books/018373/oliver-wendell-holmes-jr/dead-yet-living-an-address-delivered-at-keene-n-h-memorial-day-may-30-1884

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