Author: JOHNS, Jane Martin
Title: Personal Recollections of Early Decatur, Abraham Lincoln, Richard J. Oglesby and the CIVIL War
Description: Decatur, IL, Decatur Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution, 1912. Hardcover. Edited by Howard C. Schaub. 8vo. Blue cloth with gilt lettering. 268pp.Tissue-guarded frontispiece. Very good Binding gently worn and rubbed, with spine a bit sunned; text block tight and near fine. Nice first edition of what William E. Parrish critiques as "Feminine viewpoints of Illinois in general and the city of Decatur in particular; overly chauvinistic and sentimental." Great pencilled gift inscription on front flyleaf: "Mrs. Spencer Ewing / for A.E.S." Lena Ewing (1873-1968) was the wife of Bloomington attorney James Spencer Ewing (1871-1952) and a relative of Adlai Ewing Stevenson II (1900-65) -- "A.E.S." -- at the time of gifting the governor of Illinois and soon to be the two-time Democratic presidential candidate. At the top of this same flyleaf, he signs boldly in blue ink, dating it 1950 and noting below "from Lena Ewing." Stevenson clearly read the book thoroughly, placing occasional pencilled checkmarks and margin squiggles throughout; on pages 28-30 ("Mostly Work for the Women" essay) he underlines many sentences and pencils a few margin comments; laid in is an age-toned 3" X 5" slip on which he pencils nine topics that interest him ("Oglesby & Lincoln," "Rail splitter candidate," etc.) and their page numbers, which usually bear his checkmarks -- the ghostly shape of this slip appears on pages 224-225, where it clearly resided as a book mark; on the rear flyleaf, he pencils large and bold a number of sections that interest him. From the library of Adlai E. Stevenson III (1930-2021), U.S. Senator from Illinois. A most unusual copy. NEVINS II, 153. .

Keywords: Abraham Lincoln Illinois & Midwest


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