Description:

Fillmore Caroline

Caroline Fillmore, 2 Signed Miniature (32mo) Poetry Books

 

Two miniature volumes of poetry by Mrs. Felicia Hemans personally owned and read by Caroline C. Fillmore (1813-1881), second wife of 13th U.S. President Millard Fillmore (1800-1874). The first volume is signed once, as "Caroline C McIntosh / Albany, 1833", while the third volume is signed three times. (McIntosh was Caroline's first husband's surname.) Deaccessioned from the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Library, the institution founded by Millard and Abigail Fillmore.

 

The two hardcover volumes have blind embossed red morocco covers and gilt-embossed spines, gilt textblocks, and striking canary yellow pastedown endpapers. Each book has a Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society original library call number label. Scattered pencil marks--probably Caroline's--are found in the margins of both volumes. Expected minor wear to the covers and edges. Scattered foxing. Else very good to near fine. 2.75" x 4.25" x .625". 32mo. 398pp total between the two volumes.

 

The lot is comprised of:

 

1. Volume I, The Poetical Works of Mrs. Hemans (Philadelphia, Thos. T. Ash, 1832). The full title page is signed "Caroline C McIntosh / Albany, 1833" facing a frontispiece entitled "The Brigand Chief", protected behind an original tissue guard. 200pp.

 

This volume includes some of Hemans's more popular works, including "Corinna at the Capitol" (27); "Farewell to Abbotsford" (80); "Kindred Hearts" (88); and "Woman on the Field of Battle" (170).

 

2. Volume II, The Poetical Works of Mrs. Hemans (Philadelphia, Thos. T. Ash, 1832). 198pp. Signed three times by Caroline Fillmore:

 

- "Caroline C McIntosh / Albany" appears on the front endpaper

 

- "Caroline C McIntosh" appears on the full title page at top, facing a frontispiece entitled "Kenilworth Castle", protected by an original tissue guard

 

- "Caroline C McIntosh / Albany 1833" appears on the top of the first page of the volume's first poem "Mother's Love"

 

This volume includes one of Hemans's most celebrated works, "Casabianca" (71). Other notable poems include "Evening Prayer at a Girl's School" (75); "The Image in Lava" (90); and "The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers in New England" (173).

 

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. She had a penchant for poetry, as these books demonstrate. Felicia Hemans (1793-1835), known professionally as Mrs. Hemans, was a prolific Late Romantic poet whose works were extremely popular during her brief lifetime, especially among female audiences. Her first poetry was published as a teenager, and resulted in a brief correspondence with Percy Bysshe Shelley. Hemans's poetry drew its inspiration from religion, mythology, and history. Hemans's work exemplified Romantic poetry, particularly in its exploration of weighty subjects like love, honor, death, and loss. Hemans died of dropsy in Dublin, Ireland at age 41.

 

Caroline and Millard Fillmore married in 1858, five years after Fillmore left the White House. (Fillmore's first wife Abigail Powers Fillmore had died just three weeks after Fillmore's presidential term ended.) Caroline and Millard 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. Caroline, a native of Morristown, New Jersey, had been married to affluent Troy, New York businessman and railroad executive Ezekiel C. McIntosh (1806-1855) between 1832 and his death in 1855.

 

The newly married Fillmores shared a mutual love of books and literature. 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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