Adams, John Quincy | Presentation copy of Adams's speech

Adams, John Quincy 

Oration on the Life and Character of Gilbert Motier de Lafayette, Delivered at the Request of Both Houses of the Congress of the United States ... on the 31st December, 1834. Washington, D.C.: Gales and Seaton, 1835

8vo (214 x 130 mm). 8 pp. appendix recording Congressional actions related to the death of Lafayette; light toning, particularly to margins, quire 10 browned, scattered foxing in quire 11. Contemporary straight-grained morocco, blue-green endpapers; old stains and gouges to boards, skillfully rebacked in period style, endpapers chipped and stained along margins.

Presentation copy of Adams's speech eulogizing the Revolutionary War hero, the Marquis de Lafayette, who died 20 May 1834. Adams inscribed a leaf tipped in before the title: "James M.H. Beale | from John Quincy Adams." James Madison Beale was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia from 1833 to 1837 and again from 1849–1853. Adams presents a review of Lafayette's contributions to American independence and his activities in the years after the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, especially his involvement in the French Revolution and with the governments that followed.

REFERENCE:

Sabin 295

PROVENANCE:

James M.H. Beale (presentation note from J. Q. Adams tipped in before title-page) — John K. Thompson (presentation inscription by his grandfather James M.H. Beale on the title-page) — Sotheby's New York, 4 June 2013, lot 5 (Acquisition: William Reese)