INSCRIBED TO HELEN HAY (WHITNEY) FROM HER BROTHER
The Little Esop.
Boston: J. Buffum, 1856.
Price: $2,500.00
About the item
96pp. 12mo (3 1/2 x 2 3/4 inches , 9 x 7 cm). INSCRIBED TO HELEN HAY (WHITNEY) FROM HER BROTHER. Publisher's brown cloth gilt. Very Good.
Item #346386
inscribed on the front free endpaper by John Hay "Ellie Hay/from her Brother/John/1857" and on the following page the signature of "Miss Helen J.[ulia] Hay, 1857 June 1." Helen Hay Whitney was named after her.
Likely first edition thus, . Publisher's brown cloth gilt. ; 96 pp., woodcut illustrations. Binding a hair worn, the stamping dull, internally some toning.
A presentation copy of this delightful little juvenile inscribed by the young (age 18 or 19, depending on the date of gift) John Hay. At this time, Hay had graduated from Brown, and was working for his father, Milton Hay. Lincoln had offices next door, and after 1860, Hay became an ardent supporter. He would go on to become Lincoln's secretary (and later one of his most eminent biographers) and in time Secretary of State under McKinley and Roosevelt, one of the most powerful figures on the American political scene.
