Idyls of Battle and Poems of the Rebellion
Howard Glyndon [Laura C. Redden]
First edition, first printing of this early, if not the first, book of poetry on the Civil War. Issued by subscription and with a list of 55 subscribers, including U.S. Grant and Abraham Lincoln, the latter who signed a testimonial directly onto the manuscript – "I have read these poems at the request of the author and find them very patriotic and many quite pretty." Laura C. Redden Searing was a deaf poet who shaped the American literary landscape during the Civil War, publishing more than 600 poems in her lifetime, most under the pen name of "Howard Glyndon" due to the gender biased national attention given to male writers of the time.
New York: Hurd & Houghton, 1864. Bound in the publisher's original green cloth, blind stamped decorations to cover, decorated and titled in gilt to spine; pp. vi, 152. In very good condition. Binding remains tight, minor shelfwear and rubbing to boards with a chip to spine crown. Internally clean. Protected in a removable archival sleeve.