LOT #47122 |
Sold on Sep 21, 2023 for: Sign-in
or Join (free & quick)
Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston Autograph Letters Signed. ...
Click the image to load the highest resolution version.
Sold on Sep 21, 2023 for:
$1,187.50
Bid Source: Internet bidder
Get one of these:
Explore Available Items
Description
Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston complains to his literary agent about his upcoming book
Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston Autograph Letters
Signed. Three letters dated March 2, 1873 to January 7, 1874
written by Johnston to his agent regarding his frustrations with
the publishing process and circulation of the book throughout the
South. Letters are written in ink and measure 5.25" x 8". Each is
signed, "Yours truly, J.E. Johnston."After surrendering to Union General William T. Sherman on April 26, 1865, Johnston was granted parole only one week later on May 2. During the immediate years following the Civil War, Johnston held a number of positions until he finally established his own insurance company in 1868. The venture was successful enough that it allowed Johnston to focus the majority of his attention on his true passion: writing his memoirs. It is this project to which the letters featured here refer, catching Johnston at the end of the editorial process with his publisher, Appleton.
Much of the content in these letters focuses on negotiating the percentages received by various parties for sold books. On March 2, 1873, Johnston wrote, in part, "You say that you retain Terry's to send him the books. Why not deal in the same way with all? And that way, surely, is to send these orders from my...agents to me. Otherwise, we shall have endless trouble. All these men have sent their orders to me. All have a notion that the Appletons give agents more than 25% - Hence these orders around me."
Nine months later, questions surrounding the business arrangements had not been resolved and Johnston faced criticism regarding the book's content. On December 30, 1873, he wrote, "I think that Miss.i [Mississippi] La [Louisiana] & Texas being provided with state agents, it would have been better to divide the other 8 states equally, I having Tennessee as the state in which I have most friends. If you have not commenced making agents... I will add it to my three giving us four apiece. If our three state agents are competent they'll take all trouble from us. I have no doubt of Washington... You must attend to the placing of maps and portraits. Tascumbia is exasperated at the notion that Grant's is to be last. Let each map be placed at the beginning of the narrative it illustrates and facing the end of the book. Each general's picture at the beginning of the account of operations he commanded... Beauregard and McDowell at the beginning of the 'Battle of Manassas,' McClellan and Magruder at the beginning of Yorktown, Longstreet at Williamsburg. G.W.Smith and D.H. Hill at 7 picket."
By January 1874, Johnston's frustrations with both the business and editorial sides of publishing became evident. On January 7, he wrote, in part, "You have written that Wm. H. Appleton told you that you were correct as to the terms of the oral contract between you, giving us 50% of...agents in ex-confederate states. Did you get the written contract so amended, as I suggested? If not we shall see but 40%... I did not suppose that you 'claimed' certain states. But that you supposed to do 6 or 7 10th of the work - all that is to say, beyond what I had begun in Georgia Alabama & Florida. Texas La [Louisiana] Miss.i [Mississippi] & Ten were disposed of to state agents already. It is important to know what you have done in N & S Carolina. As you intended to organize Va on your way to Nashville, I supposed that will be done before you read this. A letter from the Appletons that came with yours indicated very plainly that my corrections will not be made. It says that on receiving the last package from me, they told you that they were impracticable. They tell me that their correcter [sic] is competent and that I am not. They may be and doubtless are right in the latter opinion but are certainly wrong in the first. It would be hard to find any thing more slovenly than his punctuation which they regard as his strong point. It will be a slovenly publication. I ought to have gone to a small house. It is important to me to sell as many books as possible this winter. The thing will die out before the fall."
Appleton published Narrative of Military Operations later that year. The book received blowback for its criticism of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and its praise of Union Generals William T. Sherman and Ulysses S. Grant. Johnston's memoir was widely considered to be a failure and Appleton was unable to make a profit from its publication.
These letters offer insight into the famed Confederate general's struggle to solidify his legacy in the postwar era.
Condition: Creasing along folds. Minor toning at the margins. Otherwise bright and legible.
Provenance: From the Private Collection of a Mississippi Gentleman.
Auction Info
2023 September 21 Historical Manuscripts Signature® Auction #6272 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
September, 2023
21st
Thursday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 2
Lot Tracking Activity: N/A
Page Views: 197
Buyer's Premium per Lot:
25% on the first $300,000 (minimum $49), plus 20% of any amount between $300,000 and $3,000,000, plus 15% of any amount over $3,000,000 per lot.
Shipping, Taxes, Terms and Bidding
Terms and Conditions | Bidding Guidelines and Bid Increments | Glossary of Terms
Important information concerning Sales Tax and Resale Certificates. Learn More
Terms and Conditions | Bidding Guidelines and Bid Increments | Glossary of Terms