[Adams, Henry]:

$15,000 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

MONT SAINT MICHEL AND CHARTRES. First edition of Adams' important and highly personal meditation on medieval culture and architecture, privately published for distribution initially to family and, eventually, to friends. The size of the edition, while not specified, was quite small, and in both format and intent it foreshadows The Education of Henry Adams, published three years later. In 1912, Adams prepared a revised and enlarged edition of this work, again for private distribution, and in 1913 the first public edition appeared, accompanied by an Introduction by eminent American architect Ralph Adams Cram.This copy bears Henry Adams' presentation inscription on the front free endpaper: "For D. D. Wallace from Henry Adams Dec. 6, 1906," and is accompanied by a three-page autograph letter, signed, from Adams to the recipient, "1603 H. Street [Washington, D.C.] 6 December 1906," on three panels of a folded quarto sheet of letterhead, signed in full. The letter is accompanied by the original envelope, also addressed in his hand.Adams writes, apologizing for his "forgetfulness of having sent my copy of Randall [?] as well as most of my Americana to the library of Adelbert College in Cleveland which asked for help." Adelbert College was one of three predecessors to today's College of Arts and Sciences at Case Western Reserve University. In compensation, Adams continues:"Perhaps you will let me offer in its place my own last work which is not published, and of which barely fifty co

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