Description:

Fillmore Caroline

Caroline Fillmore, 2 Signed Miniature (48mo) Poetry Books

 

Two miniature volumes of British poetry personally owned and read by Caroline C. Fillmore (1813-1881), second wife of 13th U.S. President Millard Fillmore (1800-1874). Each volume is signed, inscribed, and dated by Caroline Fillmore as "Caroline C McIntosh / Albany 1832" on the full title page. (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 gilt-tooled red morocco covers and spines, gilt textblocks, and gorgeous marbleized pastedown endpapers in brown, green, and white. 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 the second volume. Expected minor wear to the covers and edges. Scattered foxing. Isolated roughness to some sections of the endpapers in "The Seasons". Else very good to near fine. 2.5" x 3.875" x .5". 48mo. 220pp total between the two volumes.

 

The lot is comprised of:

 

1. The Chase, and other Poems, by William Somerville, with A Biographical Sketch of the Author (London: Jones & Co. University Edition, 1824). The full title page is signed "Caroline C McIntosh / Albany 1832" facing a frontispiece of a hunting scene. In addition to Somerville's epic poem "The Chase", the volume also contains some Epistles, Odes, and a Hunting Song. Somerville was an eighteenth-century British poet. 84pp.

 

2. The Seasons, by James Thomson, with A Biographical Sketch of the Author (London: Jones & Co. University Edition, 1824). The full title page is signed "Caroline C McIntosh / Albany 1832". In addition to "The Seasons", the eighteenth-century Scottish poet is also best known for composing the lyrics to "Rule, Britannia!" 136pp.

 

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 English-language volumes demonstrate.

 

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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