Scarce first edition book: Biographical Sketches of Distinguished American Naval Heroes in the War of the Revolution Between the American Republic and the Kingdom of Great Britain, Comprising Sketches of Com. Nicholas Biddle, Com. John Paul Jones, Com. Edward Preble and Com. Alexander Murray, with Incidental Allusions to Other Distinguished Characters, by S. Putnam Waldo. First edition. Hartford, CT: Silas Andrus, 1823. Hardcover bound in three-quarter navy morocco with marbled boards, 5.25 x 8.25, 392 pages. Includes engraved portraits of Murray, Biddle, Jones, Preble, and President James Monroe. Book condition: VG-/None, with moderate-to-heavy dampstaining and foxing throughout, and the bookplate of Joel Davis Madden, Jr., affixed to front pastedown.
Joel Davis Madden, Jr., left Princeton University in 1905 and moved west to make his fortune in the railroad industry. He went on to become an executive with the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, and died suddenly in 1928 at the age of 41. His book collection, offered by his granddaughter, has not been publicly offered or privately sold in a century.
