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Auction archive: Lot number 520

(Washington, George) | George Washington's signed copy of the first volume of Lesage's Gil Blas, one of the few works of contemporary fiction in the Mount Vernon library

Estimate
US$40,000 - US$60,000
Price realised:
US$126,000
Auction archive: Lot number 520

(Washington, George) | George Washington's signed copy of the first volume of Lesage's Gil Blas, one of the few works of contemporary fiction in the Mount Vernon library

Estimate
US$40,000 - US$60,000
Price realised:
US$126,000
Beschreibung:

(Washington, George) Alain-René Lesage. The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane. A New Translation by the Author of Roderick Random. ... In Four Volumes. The Sixth Edition. Volume I. London: Printed for W. Strahan, J. Rivington, T. Davies, W. Johnston, T. Longman, W. Nicoll, Richardson & Urquahart, G. Robinson, T. Cadell, and R. Baldwin, 1785 12mo (175 x 102 mm). Engraved frontispiece, 5 engraved plates; moderate to severe browning and staining, frontispiece and corners of title-page remargined (just catching the top of the looped crossbar of the "t" in Washington's signature). Sprinkled calf antique, preserving much of the original speckled sheep spine including the original red and green morocco lettering-pieces, plain endpapers, red-sprinkled edges; extremities rubbed. Half brown morocco folding-case. Association copy, from the library of George Washington and signed by him ("Go: Washington") on the title-page. Gil Blas was one of the few works of contemporary fiction in the Mount Vernon library. Lesage's picaresque romance captivated a large English readership, including President Washington, through the translation of Tobias Smollett. He was familiar enough with the novel to refer to one of its comic episodes as justification for retiring without seeking a third term as chief executive. In the novel, Gil Blas takes the position of personal secretary to the Archbishop of Grenada and is promised a reward if he alerts the Archbishop when his 'pen smack[s] of old age" and his "genius flag[s]"; but when Gil Blas carries out this charge, the Archbishop angrily dismisses him. Henrietta Liston, wife of the British Minister to the United States, recorded her impressions of Washington in a private journal, and she remembered that after questioning his intention to retire from the presidency, "he smiling asked if I remembered Gil Blas's story of the Archbishop of Grenada? 'I feared," he said, 'the same thing might happen to me'" ("Journal of Washington's Resignation, Retirement, and Death," ed. Nicholls, in Pennsylvania Magazine 96:511–20). Washington's four-volume set of Gil Blas remained together until sometime after the sale of Barton Currie's library in 1963. The third and fourth volumes last appeared at public auction at Sotheby's, 4 June 2013, lot 180, part of a group of seven signed books from George Washington's library—and these two volumes are again part of the collections at Mount Vernon. The second volume was last seen in these rooms when it was sold with the present first volume as part of the Library of Marshall B. Coyne, 5 June 2001, lot 308. PROVENANCEGeorge Washington (signature) — Bushrod Washington (bequest) — John A. Washington (bequest) — John A. Washington Jr. (bequest) — Lawrence Washington (bequest; his sale of Washingtoniana, M. Thomas & Sons, Philadelphia, 28 November 1876, lot 6) — George Taylor Bentley (Freeman's, 15 June 1927) — Barton W. Currie (Parke-Bernet, 8 May 1963, lot 476) — Marshall B. Coyne (Sotheby's New York, 5 June 2001, lot 308) — Charles E. Sigety (Christie's New York, 14 December 2016, lot 405) REFERENCECelebration of My Country 104; Ford, Inventory of the Contents of Mount Vernon, p. 29; Lane, Inventory of Washington's Library, p. 486

Auction archive: Lot number 520
Beschreibung:

(Washington, George) Alain-René Lesage. The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane. A New Translation by the Author of Roderick Random. ... In Four Volumes. The Sixth Edition. Volume I. London: Printed for W. Strahan, J. Rivington, T. Davies, W. Johnston, T. Longman, W. Nicoll, Richardson & Urquahart, G. Robinson, T. Cadell, and R. Baldwin, 1785 12mo (175 x 102 mm). Engraved frontispiece, 5 engraved plates; moderate to severe browning and staining, frontispiece and corners of title-page remargined (just catching the top of the looped crossbar of the "t" in Washington's signature). Sprinkled calf antique, preserving much of the original speckled sheep spine including the original red and green morocco lettering-pieces, plain endpapers, red-sprinkled edges; extremities rubbed. Half brown morocco folding-case. Association copy, from the library of George Washington and signed by him ("Go: Washington") on the title-page. Gil Blas was one of the few works of contemporary fiction in the Mount Vernon library. Lesage's picaresque romance captivated a large English readership, including President Washington, through the translation of Tobias Smollett. He was familiar enough with the novel to refer to one of its comic episodes as justification for retiring without seeking a third term as chief executive. In the novel, Gil Blas takes the position of personal secretary to the Archbishop of Grenada and is promised a reward if he alerts the Archbishop when his 'pen smack[s] of old age" and his "genius flag[s]"; but when Gil Blas carries out this charge, the Archbishop angrily dismisses him. Henrietta Liston, wife of the British Minister to the United States, recorded her impressions of Washington in a private journal, and she remembered that after questioning his intention to retire from the presidency, "he smiling asked if I remembered Gil Blas's story of the Archbishop of Grenada? 'I feared," he said, 'the same thing might happen to me'" ("Journal of Washington's Resignation, Retirement, and Death," ed. Nicholls, in Pennsylvania Magazine 96:511–20). Washington's four-volume set of Gil Blas remained together until sometime after the sale of Barton Currie's library in 1963. The third and fourth volumes last appeared at public auction at Sotheby's, 4 June 2013, lot 180, part of a group of seven signed books from George Washington's library—and these two volumes are again part of the collections at Mount Vernon. The second volume was last seen in these rooms when it was sold with the present first volume as part of the Library of Marshall B. Coyne, 5 June 2001, lot 308. PROVENANCEGeorge Washington (signature) — Bushrod Washington (bequest) — John A. Washington (bequest) — John A. Washington Jr. (bequest) — Lawrence Washington (bequest; his sale of Washingtoniana, M. Thomas & Sons, Philadelphia, 28 November 1876, lot 6) — George Taylor Bentley (Freeman's, 15 June 1927) — Barton W. Currie (Parke-Bernet, 8 May 1963, lot 476) — Marshall B. Coyne (Sotheby's New York, 5 June 2001, lot 308) — Charles E. Sigety (Christie's New York, 14 December 2016, lot 405) REFERENCECelebration of My Country 104; Ford, Inventory of the Contents of Mount Vernon, p. 29; Lane, Inventory of Washington's Library, p. 486

Auction archive: Lot number 520
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