We can add nothing to or subtract from his fame. He carved it upon statues of bronze with his own good sword

SHERMAN'S DELUXE GILT MENU & PROGRAM FROM 1888 MEMORIAL BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION FOR GRANT

Grant's Birthday 1888. [New York?]: N.p., [1888?]. 8vo. Original oxblood flexible leather boards gilt. W.T. Sherman bookplate to interior front board.

Sherman's copy of a menu and program from the 1888 memorial birthday of Ulysses S. Grant, which was hosted and organized by General Sherman.

A description and recounting of Grant's birthday celebrations in 1888. Includes menu printed in gilt to rear cover. The 28 April 1888 issue of the New-York Tribune gave a full report of the memorial birthday dinner held the day before at Delmonico’s: “[there] was a large representative gathering of men of all political creeds…General W.T. Sherman, chairman of the committee, presided over the whole dinner and did the honors of the first table, below the central portrait." The event included reading letters of regret, including some of Grant's war-time adversaries, notably Colonel John S. Mosby, General Longstreet, and General Fitzhugh Lee, all praising the late soldier and man. According to the article, Sherman "did not begin until after 10 o'clock" and "was received with loud cheering." His brief speech addressed Grant's name at birth (Hiram Ulysses Grant), military titles, and closed stating: "We can add nothing to or subtract from his fame. He carved it upon statues of bronze with his own good sword."

Exceptionally rare. Only one other copy has been located, held within the Ulysses S. Grant collection from the Noble E. Dawson (Grant's transcriber and stenographer) papers at Mississippi State University. A unique piece of ephemera from a period when Sherman and was striving to cement Grant's reputation within American history.

Condition: leather detached from boards, losses, chips.

PROVENANCE:

The Sherman-Fitch Library

Primarily assembled by General William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891), the collection of books was inherited and curated by his son, Philemon Tecumseh Sherman (1867-1941). Before his death, Philemon transferred the library to his niece, Eleanor Sherman Fitch (1876-1959). Eleanor was the granddaughter of General Sherman through his eldest daughter, Maria "Minnie" Ewing Sherman Fitch (1851-1913). Until now, the Sherman-Fitch library was held at the family estate in Washington County, Pennsylvania.

The library includes a range of diverse material owned by General Sherman that principally relates to the Civil War, American history, and the Sherman family. Many works in the Sherman-Fitch library are historically significant, including General Sherman's annotated copy of Ulysses S. Grant's memoirs, the Sherman family bible, and Barnard's "Photographic Views of Sherman's Campaign."

Most examples in the collection are affixed with bookplates that bear both General Sherman's and Philemon's names. In some cases, where General Sherman's ownership was clear, his bookplate was not always affixed. However, books with just Philemon's bookplate were generally acquired after his father's death in 1891. General Sherman’s bookplates were likely added by Philemon after his father’s death. Philemon’s bookplates were placed by Tecumseh Sherman Fitch (1908-1969) after he inherited the library in 1942.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate, Generals, Ulysses S. Grant, Memorials, Funerals, Ephemera, Menus]