Howe, Julia Ward. (1819–1910). Later Lyrics - INSCRIBED COPY OF THE FIRST BOOK APPEARANCE OF “BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC”. Boston: J. E. Tilton & Company. 1866. First. 8vo (5.5 x 7.75), 326 pages, original gilt-stamped green cloth. Housed in a custom cloth chemise and half morocco slipcase. First edition, containing the first book appearance of “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” with a tipped-in note by Julia Ward Howe: “For dear Mrs. Winkworth from the Author. Boston, Mass. April 4th 1873.”
“I awoke in the grey of the morning, and as I lay waiting for dawn, the long lines of the desired poem began to entwine themselves in my mind, and I said to myself, ‘I must get up and write these verses, lest I fall asleep and forget them!’ So I sprang out of bed and in the dimness found an old stump of a pen, which I remembered using the day before. I scrawled the verses almost without looking at the paper.” Perhaps best known for having written the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” Julia Ward Howe was also a devoted abolitionist and social reformer. “No movement or ‘Cause’ in which women were interested… could be launched without her. Her courage, her incisiveness and quickness of repartee, her constructive power, the completeness of her conviction accompanied by a balance of mind, and a sense of humor that disarmed irritation made her the greatest of woman organizers” (DAB). Her stirring poetic hymn was set to the tune of “John Brown’s Body,” which Howe had heard soldiers singing during her visit to a Union Army camp. She was taken with its strong marching beat and wrote her famous poem the following morning. The hymn “aroused President Lincoln ‘like a trumpet blast,’ and became his best loved marching song” (Owen, 143). The “Battle Hymn of the Republic” first appeared in Volume IX of The Atlantic Monthly in 1862; this is the first appearance in a book. The recipient of this copy was most likely Catherine Winkworth, an accomplished translator who helped to introduce the English-speaking public to German hymns and the German chorale tradition. Winkworth, who studied under the Unitarian minister Reverend William Gaskell and the English philosopher Dr. James Martineau, published several books on German hymnody. Winkworth and Howe were contemporaries working in a rather small field and, accordingly, their works are often published together in anthologies. Catherine Winkworth’s sister, Susanna, a possible (but less likely) recipient, was also a translator, specializing in German devotional works.
Inner paper hinges expertly reinforced, slight wear and faint staining to cloth, mild toning to spine. An extremely good copy.
Howe, Julia Ward. (1819–1910). Later Lyrics - INSCRIBED COPY OF THE FIRST BOOK APPEARANCE OF “BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC”. Boston: J. E. Tilton & Company. 1866. First. 8vo (5.5 x 7.75), 326 pages, original gilt-stamped green cloth. Housed in a custom cloth chemise and half morocco slipcase. First edition, containing the first book appearance of “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” with a tipped-in note by Julia Ward Howe: “For dear Mrs. Winkworth from the Author. Boston, Mass. April 4th 1873.”
“I awoke in the grey of the morning, and as I lay waiting for dawn, the long lines of the desired poem began to entwine themselves in my mind, and I said to myself, ‘I must get up and write these verses, lest I fall asleep and forget them!’ So I sprang out of bed and in the dimness found an old stump of a pen, which I remembered using the day before. I scrawled the verses almost without looking at the paper.” Perhaps best known for having written the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” Julia Ward Howe was also a devoted abolitionist and social reformer. “No movement or ‘Cause’ in which women were interested… could be launched without her. Her courage, her incisiveness and quickness of repartee, her constructive power, the completeness of her conviction accompanied by a balance of mind, and a sense of humor that disarmed irritation made her the greatest of woman organizers” (DAB). Her stirring poetic hymn was set to the tune of “John Brown’s Body,” which Howe had heard soldiers singing during her visit to a Union Army camp. She was taken with its strong marching beat and wrote her famous poem the following morning. The hymn “aroused President Lincoln ‘like a trumpet blast,’ and became his best loved marching song” (Owen, 143). The “Battle Hymn of the Republic” first appeared in Volume IX of The Atlantic Monthly in 1862; this is the first appearance in a book. The recipient of this copy was most likely Catherine Winkworth, an accomplished translator who helped to introduce the English-speaking public to German hymns and the German chorale tradition. Winkworth, who studied under the Unitarian minister Reverend William Gaskell and the English philosopher Dr. James Martineau, published several books on German hymnody. Winkworth and Howe were contemporaries working in a rather small field and, accordingly, their works are often published together in anthologies. Catherine Winkworth’s sister, Susanna, a possible (but less likely) recipient, was also a translator, specializing in German devotional works.
Inner paper hinges expertly reinforced, slight wear and faint staining to cloth, mild toning to spine. An extremely good copy.