Autograph manuscript signed Oliver Wendell Holmes fair copy of Old Ironsides

by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr

$4,000 · Offered by James Cummins Bookseller

Two leaves, rectos only, 24 lines in 3 stanzas. 8vo. Some toning to paper and a light fading to ink, three spots of unobtrusive Japanese tissue repair to the verso of the first leaf. Item #346684 Holmes wrote the poem to take issue with the disposal of the 18th Century frigate, the USS Constitution. The poem was published nationally and public protest over its demise saved it from the scrap heap.

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