Description
Outstanding signed book: The Graphic Arts by Philip Gilbert Hamerton. First edition. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1882. Hardcover bound in green cloth with gilt stamping, 5.5 x 7.25, 508 pages. Signed and inscribed on the first free end page in ink to his wife-to-be, "Woodrow Wilson's Compliments to Miss Ellie Lou Axson, July 1883," and on the title page, "Miss E. L. A. from Woodrow Wilson." Autographic condition: fine. Book condition: VG/None, with rubbing to spine and boards, cracked front hinge, and a "Library of Lawrence E. Miller" blindstamp to a rear page.
Woodrow Wilson met Ellen Louise Axson in April 1883 during a visit to his cousin in Rome, Georgia. Recognizing her appreciation and talent for art, he thoughtfully presented this gift to her just three months later, during their courtship. They became engaged in September, and wed in June 1885. Ellen studied at the Art Students League of New York and pursued portrait painting after graduation, receiving a medal for one of her works from the Paris International Exposition. A superb Wilson family heirloom. From the Collection of Dr. Lawrence E. Miller.
Terms and abbreviations used in our descriptions.
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