Boatswain's Whistle (complete run in 10 issues)
Boston: Alfred Mudge & Sons, Printers, 1864. Woodcut mastheads, occasional other woodcuts, and a map of the Fair venue laid in. Cloth over boards. Folio. 80 pages.
The complete run of 10 issues of this newspaper from the National Sailors' Fair in Boston. The Fair ran from November 9 to 19, 1864, with an 8 page issue of this newspaper issued each day except for Sunday, November 13. Each issue contains news of the Fair, literary contributions, patriotic poetry, and local advertising.
"Boatswain's Whistle" was edited by Julia Ward Howe. It has contributions by several important 19th century American literary figures, including James Russell Lowell, John Greenleaf Whittier, Edward Everett, Richard Henry Dana, and Oliver Wendell Holmes.
Ralph Waldo Emerson's poem "Sea-Shore" first appears in print here in issue number 9. There is also a first appearance of Thoreau's "Looming of the Sun," which would be part of his book "Cape Cod." Thoreau had died in 1862 but Emerson oversaw posthumous publication of several of Thoreau's works. Indeed, there are two other pieces signed "H. T." in this run of The Boatswain's Whistle, and scholars continue to debate whether these are by Thoreau as well.
The Sailor's Fair was organized to raise money for medical care, supplies, and welfare of Union sailors during the Civil War. An additional goal was to establish a National Sailors' Home for disabled Union sailors and marines, but this did not come to fruition.
A significant artifact of Civil War naval history which also includes bibliographically intriguing contributions by important American literary figures.
Ref. MYERSON E165 (Emerson); BORST D72 and D73 (Thoreau).
All 10 issues are complete and bound together. Rebacked, retaining original 19th century cloth over boards and endpapers. Gilt-stamped title on upper board. Old tape repairs to fore edge of front free endpaper. Newspapers are quite clean and bright. Near fine overall.
Item #1958
Price: $2,000