Life and Letters together with Poetical and Miscellaneous Pieces of the Late William Person, a Student of Harvard University.
Cambridge: Printed by Hilliard and Metcalf, 1820. First edition. 12mo (6 x 3.63 inches), contemporary red half sheep, marbled boards, 251, [1] pages. Fragile sheep somewhat rubbed, board edges a bit worn and rubbed; some light soiling; a few small closed marginal tears; in very good condition. Item #21597
“While they were looking at the grave-stones and epitaphs, he said to his companion, ‘If I were to die, who would there be to erect a monument to my memory—and if they did, what would they put upon it?’ He paused for a moment, and added, ‘William Person, the son of —— nobody.’” Verses and essays by Person (1794-1820), here collected with an extensive biographical sketch and evidently edited by his contemporary, David L. Child, the whole published as a memorial to a senior at Harvard who had been born out of wedlock in Andover, Mass. in 1794, abandoned by his mother and never acknowledged by his unnamed father; Person was early bound out to an apprenticeship to a tannery in Providence in 1801, “by Nathaniel Johnson, Esq., formerly of Boston, and now of Hillsborough, N. H. in the character of a friend to his father, in which character he had paid for his maintenance and education prior to that time. The reason assigned for this arrangement was, that school was a conspicuous place, and his continuing there might lead to a discovery of his birth.” Person finished his apprenticeship and pursued an education, preparing for Harvard at Phillips Academy and by all accounts working himself into an early grave. Stoddard & Whitesell 1298; American Imprints 2730; Sabin 61066. Early ink ownership inscriptions, one dated 1820, to the title page and copyright page and at the head of the first page of text, for Alice Spear of Boston.
Price: $150.00