THE LIFE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON

Philadelphia: C. P. Wayne, 1807. Very good plus.. First edition of this classic biography of the first president of the United States, including the scarce atlas volume. John Marshall started work on this epic biography - the first to be written about any US president - soon after he was appointed to the United States Supreme Court, and partly at the urging of his colleague Bushrod Washington, George's nephew. Bushrod gave Marshall access to George Washington's papers and correspondence, lending the work an authority that allows it "still to pass current for solid coin," in historian William A. Foran's words (52). Indeed, it remains a key work in the construction of the US identity based on one of the nation's greatest heroes.
Copies of this work are often seen lacking the atlas volume, which also contains a list of the supporters of this publication organized by state. An elegant set. 8.75'' x 5.25'' (vols 1-5); 11'' x 8.5'' (atlas). Six volumes total. Modern quarter calf, marbled boards, red goatskin spine labels; sixth volume with original paper label retained. Marbled edges. Volume 1 with engraved frontispiece; atlas volume with ten engraved maps. xxii, [2], 43; viii, 560, 72; viii, 580, 28; viii, 626, [2], 16; viii, 780, 36; 22 pages, collated complete. Stamp of the Mercantile Library Association to title page of atlas. Bindings with occasional touches of edgewear. Frontispiece and plates with some offsetting, leaves generally browned with scattered foxing; a few leaves with tiny closed tears to margins, one or two pencil marks. P. 533/4 of vol. 3 torn on a diagonal, effecting some text (though entirely legible), with archival repair across leaf; large chip to lower corner (not effecting text). Page 21/22 of atlas volume with lower corner supplied in facsimile, affecting a small portion of text. Clean and tight.