Item #12879 Oration of the life and character of Gilbert Motier De Lafayette...In the house of Representatives. John Quincy ADAMS.
Oration of the life and character of Gilbert Motier De Lafayette...In the house of Representatives

Oration of the life and character of Gilbert Motier De Lafayette...In the house of Representatives

Washington: Gales and Seaton, 1835. 8vo. 94 pp. FIRST EDITION -- AN INSCRIBED COPY. Contemporary straight grain morocco, rebacked. An excellent copy inscribed to David Potts Jun from John Quincy Adams on a presentation slip inserted before the title page, and with the ownership signature of Ralph R. Ritzman on the fly-leaf. Item #12879

FIRST EDITION, INSCRIBED, of Adams' biography of Gilbert du Motier (1757-1834), until June of 1790 the marquis de La Fayette. Lafayette was a French military officer who participated in both the American and French revolutions. As a result of his services, he was twice granted Honorary Citizenship of the United States, once in 1824 and again, posthumously, in 2002, one of only six persons to be so honored.

Books inscribed by Adams (1767-1848) are quite scarce. It is probable that the presentation leaf was placed into the book at the original binding, as it contains heavy offsetting from the title. Potts (ca. 1794-1863) was elected to the State House of Representatives of Pennsylvania before being elected as an Anti-Masonic candidate to the twenty-second through twenty-fifth Congresses (March 4, 1831-March 3, 1839).

Price: $12,500.00

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