Watch List notes:

Hough, Franklin B. WASHINGTONIANA: OR, MEMORIALS OF THE DEATH OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, GIVING AN ACCOUNT OF THE FUNERAL HONORS PAID TO HIS MEMORY, WITH A LIST OF TRACTS AND VOLUMES PRINTED UPON THE OCCASION, AND A CATALOGUE OF MEDALS COMMEMORATING THE EVENT. (Albany, New York: Joel Munsell for) Roxbury, Massachusetts: W. Elliot Woodward, 1865. Two volumes. Tall 8vo, later matching black half calf, decorated in blind, with marbled boards; spines with five raised bands, ruled and lettered in gilt; red spine labels, gilt; original printed paper covers bound in. Finely engraved frontispiece of Washington by H.B. Hall in both volumes; (6), viii, (9)–272, (6) + (8), 304, (8) pages. Titles printed in red and black, with Munsell's printer's device. Signature coming loose from second volume; else near fine. Copy No. 1 of this monumental work on Washington, printed for W. Elliot Woodward and including Woodward's (unsigned) listing of memorial medals of Washington in the second volume (pages 278–291). Washingtoniana is less devoted to the life of Washington than it is to recording all of the events and activities which surrounded the death of the first president, a number of which have strong numismatic connections. Hough's work is a masterpiece of 19th-century American printing, having been given special attention by printer Joel Munsell. Issued in a limited edition of 200 copies in royal octavo (of which this is one), 85 copies in quarto, and 6 quarto copies on Whatman's drawing paper, Washingtoniana is a remarkable example of American printing of the period. Munsell was one of the finest printers in the country, and his work on historical productions such as this is widely admired. He is known to numismatists for being the printer of W. Elliot Woodward's Historical Series (as well as some of his sale catalogues) and of Henry Phillips's Historical Sketches of early American paper money. Munsell lists this work on page 136 of his Bibliotheca Munselliana, citing 90 copies on large paper. David S. Edelstein's Joel Munsell: Printer and Antiqurian (1950) lavishes particular praise on this work, describing it as one that "commends itself to the lover of fine printing." Hough (1822–1885) was a medical doctor, historian and is considered the Father of American Forestry (having been the first head of the U.S. Division of Forestry). Based on the matching ink used both to number the first volume and to write "Private copy" on the front paper cover, I believe these to have been kept by Woodward (both of the copies sold in his Bibliotheca Americana sale of 1869 had been bound, while this set was unbound when sold by me in 2008). Ex David F. Fanning Numismatic Literature, Auction I, lot 212 (since bound); ex Syd Martin Library.