Thirty-Four Years. An American Story of Southern Life.
Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen, & Haffelfinger, 1878. First Edition. Octavo, light brown cloth with gilt spine titles, 336 pp. "'Thirty-Four Years'" (1878), written by Mrs. Celina E. Means, of Spartanburg, and published under the pen-name of 'John Marchmont,' is a novel of the Reconstruction era, and probably the first to introduce the famous Ku Klux Klan as romantic material" (Armstrong, "The Writers of South Carolina," 62). This copy with ownership inscriptions of Major William Wirt Humphreys, who fought for the Confederacy and helped organize the Company B, Fourth South Carolina Infantry Regiment, also known as the "Palmetto Riflemen". Humphreys has inscribed the book on the front pastedown, the front endpaper, the rear cover, and the text block edge. Hinges cracked, soiling and staining to covers, chip to cloth at upper spine, toning and foxing to pages. Item #12579
Price: $450.00