Letters of Mrs. Adams, The Wife of John Adams. With an Introductory Memoir By Her Grandson, Charles Francis Adams. Volume II.
Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1840.
Second Edition. Hardcover. 12mo. Volume II. [1], xii, 278 pages, [1]. Frontispiece facsimile letter. Restored. Dark brown cloth hardcover with blind stamped borders on the covers. Covers are reattached. The spine has been repaired with black mulberry paper. Ocassional light foxing to the contents. Bookseller ticket located on the upper corner of the front paste down. Volume II only. Fair. Item #26569
From wikipedia:
The book includes letters written from 1761 to 1814. A majority of them were written to Adams' husband, John. Two of them date to before the couple were married. Other letters selected were addressed people including her son, John Quincy, and Adams' sisters and nieces living in New England. The first letter was written when Adams was seventeen years old.[1]
The Adams family included many avid writers, who wrote content they intended to remain private and content for the public. Letters and diaries, private content, were carefully distanced from what would be published. Charles Francis Adams, Abigail's grandson, felt that the earlier generations of his family had, according to Earl N. Habert, suffered from "serious historical distortion". To respond to this, he decided to publish letters that had, to that point, remained private. It was his hope that they would "furnish an exact transcription of the feelings of the writer" and be "susceptible of no misconception." Accordingly, Charles began editing volumes from his family's papers.[2]
An introduction to the book was written by Charles,[3] who also served as the book's editor.[4] A second edition was published in 1840, also by Liddle and Brown. As a result of the book's success, a book of Letters of John Adams, addressed to his Wife as published the following year.[5] Further editions of the Letters of Mrs. Adams were published in 1841 and 1848.[4].
Price: $125.00