Fillmore Caroline
Caroline Fillmore's Paris Guide Book

A mid-nineteenth-century Paris guide book once personally owned and used by Caroline C. Fillmore (1813-1881), second wife of 13th U.S. President Millard Fillmore (1800-1874). It is 3x signed by Caroline Fillmore on behalf of her first husband, Ezekiel C. McIntosh (1806-1855), as "E C McIntosh" (see a detailed listing below.) Pencil markings and inscriptions can be found throughout (possibly in Ezekiel's hand?), in sections discussing the Palais des Thermes, the Cathedral of Saint Denis, and Père Lachaise Cemetery. Deaccessioned from the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Library, the institution founded by Millard and Abigail Fillmore.

Hardcover volume with dark green morocco leather boards blind embossed with geometric designs. The gilt embossed spine has a Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society original library call number label attached. Expected light edge/corner wear to the covers, and minor loss to the spine. The map has a few closed tears running along fold lines. Lightly toned interior pages, else near fine. 4.125" x 6.5" x 1.375". 16mo. 632pp.

Galignani's New Paris Guide, for 1854 (Paris: A. and W. Galignani and Co., 1854) served as the perfect guide book for any serious English-speaking tourist embarking on the Grand Tour or otherwise. The book features seventeen pages of illustrations; two pull-out plans, one of Père Lachaise Cemetery and one of Versailles; and a removable folding street map of Paris and its environs, measuring approximately 21.75" x 17.5" when fully extended.

Caroline Fillmore signed the book as her husband as:

1. "E C McIntosh / Paris. 27th 1854" in pen on the advertisement page for Maison Delisle, a women's clothing store

2. "E C McIntosh / Paris 27th 1854" in pen on the half title page

3. "Paris - E C McIntosh. 1854" in pen on the title page of Part I, "Introduction, General Information"

Galignani's guide was an exhaustive resource. It provided a general overview of French money, duties, weights and measurements, social customs, laws, transportation, communication, systems of government, and history. Daily itineraries were suggested, and landmarks were searchable by arrondissement. Galignani advised travelers where to seek accommodations "of respectability" and how to avoid gaming houses where persons of "indifferent character" could be lurking!

Some wonderful elements are found in the guide book, specific to this place and time, Paris in 1854.

- Napoleon III had just named himself Emperor the previous year. The guide book explains that "…Imperial dignity has been revived in France in the person of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, now Napoleon III" (p. 65).

- The book's discussion of the Champs de Mars (p. 368), as well as the fold out map, lack any reference to one of modern day Paris's most famous landmarks: the Eiffel Tower. The 324-meter-high wrought-iron tower named after French engineer Gustave Eiffel was completed in 1889, some 35 years after this book was published.

- Also noticeably absent is another modern Parisian favorite: the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur, opened in 1914. Montmartre, where the brilliant white travertine stone cathedral would be completed some 60 years later, was then the site of one of the city's major abattoirs, or slaughter-houses.

Caroline was married to Ezekiel C. McIntosh (1806-1855), an affluent Troy, New York businessman and railroad executive, from 1832-1855. Caroline had accompanied Ezekiel to Europe and Egypt in 1854, just a year before his death. In this way, Caroline had just missed bumping into her future husband Millard abroad. In 1855, Fillmore undertook a 13-month-long jaunt to England, Europe, the Middle East, and northern Africa.

Caroline married her second husband, ex-president Millard Fillmore, in 1858. The newly married Fillmores signed a pre-nuptial agreement to protect Caroline's fortune and later settled in Buffalo, where they ranked among the city's leading socialites and philanthropists. Her dead first husband's travel book ended up in Caroline's possession. A glance at the titles in Caroline's personal library indicates that she was interested in art, theater, music, literature, current events, politics, religion, manufacturing, sports, weather, humor, and human interest.

Books were also important to Caroline's second husband. Millard Fillmore had been a lover of books since boyhood. By the time he reached adulthood, his library differed little from those found in families of wealth and education. Yet Fillmore was born into a poor family and became an indentured servant. His responsibilities, which ranged from farming, accounting, wood-cutting, and textile-making, prevented him from receiving a continuous education. So Fillmore educated himself. Motivated by a thirst for knowledge and a growing awareness of his comprehensive deficiencies, Fillmore read voraciously - using a dictionary to learn the meaning of words he didn't understand. Fillmore taught himself to read, and as he could not afford to buy books, sometimes he stole them.

Still obsessed with his education, he attended school in a nearby town, and his teacher, Abigail Powers, encouraged his studies. In time, she became the most influential and trusted person in his life. Abigail helped him learn with precision, and on subjects where they both lacked knowledge, they studied together. Fillmore realized when he later moved away that he had been "unconsciously stimulated by the companionship" of his teacher, but, too poor to visit Abigail Powers, they did not see each other for three years. In the interim, he apprenticed to a lawyer, began to teach professionally in the city of Buffalo, and was able to begin a law practice across the street from which he built a home to share with his new wife. When Millard Fillmore went to the state capital in Albany to serve a term in the state legislature, his wife stayed behind and began to purchase books of literature, poetry, and the classics to build upon his collection of law books at home, the core of what would become their personal library. Together, the Fillmores established a lending library and college in the city: the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Library.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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