Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - May - 2006 Issue
The Civil War from Chapel Hill Rare Books
Hard to find humor from the Civil War.
Here's a title that sounds a bit odd to me: "Our Women in the War." The Lives They Lived; The Deaths They Died. I have heard the expression "lives they lived" many times before, but "deaths they died?" That is just a very odd sounding expression. Anyway, this 1885 book is a compilation of memories from 79 Confederate women. Item 211. $250.
This unnamed southern author let his opinion of northerners be known in this 1863 book, The Confederate. By A South Carolinian. He explains, "The Southerner, descended from the Cavaliers of Europe, is of the superior race." On the other hand, "The Abolitionist of the North, sprung from the scum of England, of Scotland and of Ireland, bred in bigotry and intolerance, is the inferior race." Good thing this gentleman wasn't bred in "bigotry and intolerance." He must have learned it. Wasn't it this kind of thinking that got the South in hot water in the first place? Item 363. $2,250.
Now for equal time for the North, though this is not the typical northern book. Item 295 is McClellan: A Vindication of the Military Career of General George B. McClellan. Author James Campbell evidently saw something from the hindsight of 1916 that most of McClellan's contemporaries had missed. General George McClellan was the leader of Union troops dismissed by President Lincoln for his lack of battlefield success, who was similarly unsuccessful in his presidential run against Lincoln in 1864. $175.
Lest anyone forget what the Civil War was really like, we conclude with the Confederate Surgeon General's 1863 publication, A Manual of the Military Surgery Prepared for the Use of the Confederate States Army. This includes much information on treating battlefield injuries, including illustrated procedures for amputating hands, feet, arms and legs. For all the glory, this is what the war was like for those on the battleground. Item 367. $3,850.
Chapel Hill Rare Books is located online at www.chapelhillrarebooks.com, phone number 919-929-8351.
