Between the Covers

Hardcover. First edition. Bound by Stikeman and Co. in three quarter green morocco with marbled endpapers, raised bands, and top edge gilt. Very good plus with mild wear to the extremities and along the front hinge. With a laid in Autograph Note Initialed by Longfellow to his publisher James T. Fields, dated 1875: "My Dear Fields, I cannot do it. I had rather fight the battle of Bunker's Hill. You must manage the matter for me. If Mr. Alden will give the sum you mention, he shall have the poem. Your Centennial friend, H.W.S." The note, evidently removed a little unevenly from a small notebook, is very good with some clean creases from folding, a short and neat tear through the top of a single letter, and a little residue on the recto. Includes two well-known Longfellow compositions: "The Arrow and the Song" ("I shot an arrow in the air...") and "Retribution" ("Though the mills of God grind slowly"). *BAL* 12083.

Item #140133