Description:

Caroline Fillmore's Copiously Signed Life of Michael Angelo, 2-Vol. Set

A biography of Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), celebrated Renaissance artist, sculptor, and architect, once personally owned and used by Caroline C. Fillmore (1813-1881), second wife of 13th U.S. President Millard Fillmore (1800-1874). Featuring 13 signatures by Caroline Fillmore as "Mrs. M. Fillmore", "Mrs C.C. Fillmore", and "C.C. Fillmore" scattered throughout the volumes. Deaccessioned from the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Library, the institution founded by Millard and Abigail Fillmore.

The two hardcover volumes have matching brick red morocco leather boards blind embossed with typical Eastlake designs. The gilt embossed spines have Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society original library call number labels attached. In the first volume, the Table of Contents section has been cut, but the rest of the book has not. The second volume has a few cut pages relating to Vittoria Colonna, Michelangelo's platonic love interest; the rest of the pages are uncut.

Each volume stamped "Peter Paul & Bro. Booksellers and Stationers, Buffalo." Expected light wear to the covers, including one with tiny notch at top of spine. Lightly toned interior pages, else pristine. Each volume measures 5.375" x 7.875" x 1.375". 8vo. Combined length of 1090pp. Herman Grimm's Life of Michael Angelo was so popular it ran into a 10th edition, published in Boston by Little, Brown, and Company in 1879. The biography proceeds chronologically and provides and exhaustive overview of the artist's personal and professional life. While the book's uncut pages suggest Caroline Fillmore only selectively perused its contents, the fact that she signed the volumes no fewer than 13 times indicates a degree of possessiveness!

Caroline Fillmore's signatures appear as: Volume I 1. "Mrs C.C. Fillmore / Jany 1880" in pencil on front pastedown endpaper 2. "Mrs M Fillmore / 1880" in pencil on front loose end paper 3. "Mrs M Fillmore / 1880" in pencil on front loose end paper 4. "C.C. Fillmore / 1880" in pencil on front fly leaf 5. "Mrs C.C. Fillmore / 1880" in pen on full title page 6. "Mrs C.C. Fillmore / 1880" in pencil on p. 512 (the end of the text) 7. "Mrs M Fillmore / 1880" in pencil on back pastedown endpaper Volume II 8. "Mrs M. Fillmore / 1880" in pencil on front loose endpaper 9. "Mrs M. Fillmore / 1880" in pencil on front loose endpaper 10. "Mrs C.C. Fillmore - / 1880" in pencil on front fly leaf 11. "Mrs C.C. Fillmore / 1880" in pen on the Table of Contents page 12. "Mrs M Fillmore / Jany. 1880" in pencil on back pastedown endpaper 13. "Mrs C.C. Fillmore / 1880" in blue colored pencil on back loose endpaper.

When Caroline and Millard Fillmore married in 1858, he had been out of the White House for five years, and had been widowed the same length of time (first wife Abigail Powers Fillmore had died just three weeks after Fillmore's presidential term ended.) The newly married Fillmores signed a pre-nuptial agreement to protect Caroline's fortune and later settled in Buffalo, where they ranked among the city's leading socialites and philanthropists. Caroline, a native of Morristown, New Jersey, had been married to affluent Troy, New York businessman and railroad executive Ezekiel C. McIntosh (1806-1855) between 1832 and his death in 1855.

Millard Fillmore had died 7 years before these volumes entered Caroline's collection. Caroline signed the volumes in January 1880, a little less than two years before her own death in August 1881. A glance at the titles in Caroline's personal library indicates that she was interested in art, theater, music, literature, current events, politics, religion, manufacturing, sports, weather, humor, and human interest.

Books were also important to Caroline's second husband. Millard Fillmore had been a lover of books since boyhood. By the time he reached adulthood, his library differed little from those found in families of wealth and education. Yet Fillmore was born into a poor family and became an indentured servant. His responsibilities, which ranged from farming, accounting, wood-cutting, and textile-making, prevented him from receiving a continuous education. So Fillmore educated himself. Motivated by a thirst for knowledge and a growing awareness of his comprehensive deficiencies, Fillmore read voraciously - using a dictionary to learn the meaning of words he didn't understand. Fillmore taught himself to read, and as he could not afford to buy books, sometimes he stole them. Still obsessed with his education, he attended school in a nearby town, and his teacher, Abigail Powers, encouraged his studies. In time, she became the most influential and trusted person in his life. Abigail helped him learn with precision, and on subjects where they both lacked knowledge, they studied together. Fillmore realized when he later moved away that he had been "unconsciously stimulated by the companionship" of his teacher, but, too poor to visit Abigail Powers, they did not see each other for three years. In the interim, he apprenticed to a lawyer, began to teach professionally in the city of Buffalo, and was able to begin a law practice across the street from which he built a home to share with his new wife. When Millard Fillmore went to the state capital in Albany to serve a term in the state legislature, his wife stayed behind and began to purchase books of literature, poetry, and the classics to build upon his collection of law books at home, the core of what would become their personal library. Together, the Fillmores established a lending library and college in the city: the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Library.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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