The Life of George Washington; with Curious Anecdotes by M. L. Weems, 1860

Weems, Mason Locke. The Life of George Washington; with Curious Anecdotes, Equally Honourable to Himself, and Exemplary to His Young Countrymen. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1860. Rebound in ¼ tan leather and cloth boards with gilt titles, gilt tooling, and raised bands to spine. Presented with a new archival  cloth slipcase. 

Presented is an 1860 printing of Mason Locke Weems’ The Life of George Washington. Weems’ biography of Washington was first published in 1800 and then expanded twice, in 1806 and in 1832, to include the now-famous cherry tree story and other anecdotes. This printing was published by J. B. Lippincott & Co., in Philadelphia. The book has six plates depicting the Defeat of Braddock, Battle of Lexington, Battle of Bunker Hill, Capture of Andre, and Surrender of Cornwallis.  It is presented here rebound in ¼ leather and cloth bindings with raised bands, gilt titles, and gilt tooling to the spine and a new archival cloth slipcase to match. 

Weeks after Washington’s death in 1799, Weems wrote to the Philadelphia publisher Mathew Carey, “Washington, you know is gone! Millions are gaping to read something about him. I am very nearly prim’d & cock’d for ‘em” (Skeel, 1929). In addition to narrating Washington’s military and public career with his biography, Weems planned to describe his virtues for “the imitation of Our Youth.” 

First published the year after Washington's death, Weems' biography served as the point of origin for many long-held myths about Washington, in particular the famous cherry tree story. By Weems' account, a six year-old George Washington, “the wealthy master of a hatchet,” cuts his father's prized cherry tree. When the older Washington demands to know what happened to his tree, young George, “looking at his father with the sweet face of youth brightened with the inexpressible charm of all-conquering truth... bravely cried ‘I can’t tell a lie, Pa; you know I can’t tell a lie.’”  Weems’ book is also considered the origin of the story of Washington praying at Valley Forge, among several other unconfirmed claims. 

Weems’ biography “cemented the link between Washington’s – and therefore the nation’s – civic and moral-religious identity...Weems made Washington into the Christian self-made man, more than the republican statesman or the Virginia gentleman. His biography became the most widely circulated life of Washington through the mid-nineteenth century, for it tapped into the mentality of the new century. Schoolbook writers repeated and broadcasted Weems’ anecdotes, however apocryphal, far beyond their original publication” (Casper, 2012). 

CONDITION:

Good condition overall. Professionally rebound in ¼ tan leather and cloth boards with gilt titles, tooling, and raised bands to the spine. Interior pages are mostly healthy, with light foxing and scattered stains. 6 plates. Interior pages have minor scattered foxing. Presented with a new archival tan cloth slipcase with an inlaid portrait of Washington on the front. 

Book Dimensions: 7 3/4" H x 5" W x 1 1/4" D. Slipcase Dimensions: 8 1/4" H x 5 3/8" W x 1 3/4" D.

Accompanied by our company's letter of authenticity.