Lot Details
Lot 59
WHITTIER, JOHN GREENLEAF Autograph letter signed to Lucy Larcom.
[December 19, 1863]. 8 x 9 7/8 inches (20.2 x 25 cm); four-page letter on one bifolium from Whittier. Very short split at one fold, with erroneous attribution in pencil at the top of the letter, else fine.
A fascinating autograph letter from John Greenleaf Whittier to fellow poet Lucy Larcom, praising President Lincoln's commitment to the Emancipation Proclamation through his recently delivered State of the Union address (December 8, 1863), also known as the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction. After complimenting Larcom's recently published poem, "Loyal Woman's No!" ("It is grand in its indignant pride of patriotism"), Whittier proclaims, "And then how much we have all to be thankful for in the improved condition of public affairs - the rising hopes of loyalty, the growing despair of treason - the President's firmness in standing by his Proclamation! - We are living in a grand time: one year now is worth a dozen of our old ancestors."
C
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