[Civil War] Banks, Nathaniel P. (1816 - 1894) [Bundy, J.M.]. "The Life of General James A. Garfield" - SIGNED by Banks. New York: A. S. Barnes and Co.. 1880. First edition. Beige cloth with black lettering. Illustrated. 239 pages plus 4 pages of advertisments in back (pens, tobacco, books). Frontispiece portrait of Garfield with tissue guard. This copy from the library of General Banks, with his ownership signature ("Hon. N. P. Banks Waltham, Mass.") on the front free end-page. In fine condition, with small losses at spine extremities, ghosting on page facing frontis, otherwise fine. A unique association copy of the most definitive biography of Garfield to date, published while he was running for the presidency and authored by the editor of the New York "Evening Mail" who was also a personal friend of Garfield.

Banks was a Massachusetts legislator and Union officer who was commissioned Major General of Volunteers in 1861. He fought in the 1862 Shenandoah Valley campaign and in the 1864 Red River expedition and is remembered chiefly for being the Union general who opened the Mississippi.