Ticknor's Life of William Prescott, 1864, with ALS 

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• Lot Description
  Ticknor's Life of William Prescott, 1864, with ALS 
  
  Ticknor, George. Life of William Hickling Prescott. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1864. Large 8vo, green cloth with gilt device and border on front, gilt lettering on spine; x, 491pp. Tipped in ALS from Ticknor to Rev. D. Pierce requesting information about the number of Congregational ministers and parishes in 1800, 1815, 1825, and 1835. 1p, (6.5 x 9 in.), Boston, 13 Apr. 1835. Also a tipped in engraving of Prescott on second fep, and a couple of newspaper articles affixed to front pastedown. The frontis of the book is also a portrait of Prescott, though not so labeled.
  
  William Hickling Prescott (1796-1859) was an American historian, widely recognized as the first American scientific historiographer. His specialty was Spain and her empire. His grandfather was William Prescott, the militia colonel who led the colonists at Breeds Hill/Bunker Hill. William H. was born in Salem, but the family moved to Boston in 1808. There he had access to the extensive library of John Quincy Adams, and eventually became a trustee of the library.
  
  He became a student at Harvard at the age of 15. His eyesight degenerated after reportedly being hit with a crust of bread in a student food fight (although he could have also acquired some unrecognized pathogen at the time or have had a genetic condition).
  
  After graduation he traveled in Europe, visiting John Quincy Adams in London. He went to Paris, then Italy. When he returned to Paris the following spring, he met George Ticknor, another American Hispanist. Prescott went back to London, spending some time in the Cambridge library.
  
  Prescott returned to the United States later in 1817. He started studying law, abandoning that road because of his progressively deteriorating eyesight. Instead, he devoted himself to literature. It was his friendship with Ticknor that sparked his interest in Spain. His first foray into the field was a History of Ferdinand and Isabella, followed by Conquest of Mexico and Conquest of Peru. His writing took place in "fits and starts," depending on his eyesight, as well as other illnesses (he had a bought of rheumatic fever just after graduation, and episodes of rheumatism throughout life). He suffered two strokes in January 1859; the second was fatal. Ticknor's biography of his friend was the first after his death, and was considered the best until new information became available in the second half of the 20th century. 

  Condition

  Cloth lifting from boards, though the whole is still intact (possibly stored in a hot attic or the like). Light toning around margins of pages, otherwise very good. No foxing. Binding together, only minor splits in front inner hinge (but front board still tightly attached).
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