Description:

Harrison William 1773 - 1841 Exceedingly rare book signed and inscribed by future President William Henry Harrison to future President Woodrow Wilson's aunt: her father was a staunch supporter of Harrison

Exceedingly Rare Book Inscribed and Signed to "Miss Margaretta Wilson / from the friend of her father / W.H. Harrison / North Bend / Ohio / Steubenville / 11th July 1838" on the second title page, The Token and Atlantic Souvenir, 360 pages, 4.5" x 7". Log cabin illustration cut from a contemporary newspaper, probably the Whig paper The Log Cabin Farmer published by her father James Wilson in 1840, has been affixed beneath the title covering "A / Christmas and New Year's Present./ Edited by S.G. Goodrich." Boston: Charles Bowen, 1836. The song, "The March of the Free. / Written by Horace Greeley for the Harrison Campaign of 1840. / (From THE LOG CABIN of October 10, 1840)" has been tipped to the verso of the front free-endpaper. Red blind embossed leather over detached boards with "The / Token" and "Boston / 1836" gilt stamped on the spine. Printed endpapers. Gilt page edges. Scattered light foxing. Moderate wear; head of spine covering is missing exposing the loose text block. Front and rear hinges are cracked, front pages loose. Good condition. Housed in a plastic slipcase with removable spine cover, custom made by E. H. Busdiecker, Cleveland, Ohio.

Born in Ireland, James Wilson (1787-1850) was an antislavery Whig and publisher of The Western Herald and Steubenville Gazette. A former member of the Ohio House, Wilson served as County Common Pleas Judge (1832-1839) at the time this book was inscribed by Harrison in Steubenville to his only daughter, 16-year-old Margaretta Wilson Perlee (1822-1885).

Whig William Henry Harrison was the first president to campaign actively for office. He began his successful 1840 campaign soon after he lost to Democrat Van Buren in 1836.

One Democratic newspaper referred to his age (he'd be 67 in 1840) and wrote "Give him a barrel of hard cider, andŠ... a pension of two thousand [dollars] a year ... and ... he will sit the remainder of his days in his log cabin." The Whigs took advantage of this depiction of Harrison and called him "the log cabin and hard cider candidate," a man of the common people. The Whig's Log Cabin Campaign of 1840 was successful. Log cabins began appearing in newspaper mastheads. Horace Greeley published The Log Cabin. And in 1840, in Steubenville, Ohio, James Wilson published The Log Cabin Farmer supporting the Whig Party nominee William Henry Harrison in his successful presidential campaign. His youngest son and Margaretta's brother, Joseph Ruggles Wilson (1822-1903), was President Woodrow Wilson's father.

The rarity of books signed by William Henry Harrison may be explained in part by his widow Anna. In a December 30, 1845, letter to J. Harrison Hedge in which she sent her husband's signature, she wrote, in part, "Having so often been applied to for Autographs of my lamented Husband... I am obliged to have recourse to cutting them out of BooksŠ—..."

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November 10, 2016 10:30 AM EST
Wilton, CT, US

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