William Tecumseh SHERMAN (1820-1891) Autograph Letter Signed “W.T. Sherman“, 1 page, 235 x 140 mm. (9 1/4 x 5 1/2 in.) bifolium, “5th Ave Hotel” [New York], 13 March 1887, to Edward W. Bok, in Brooklyn on his inability to write something for a memorial volume for Henry Ward Beecher.
“Yours of the 11th is received, on my return from Phia[delphia] some days ago I wrote to Major J. B. Pond some thoughts about Mr Beecher — I have no copy but I am sure the Major must possess enough letters to take up half a dozen volumes. I think you had better see him.”
Despite his apologies, Sherman did finally manage to compose some words on the late pastor for Edward W. Bok’s 1887 volume of tributes to the late pastor of Plymouth Church. Sherman wrote that “The friendship excising between Henry Ward Beecher and myself was most warm. We met often at the festal board and on the platform, and I recall our wanderings together…. His mind and imagination could not be tied down to the narrow dogmas which shackled smaller men…”*
Edward W. Bok (1863-1930) was a Dutch-born American editor and Pulitzer Prize-winning author. For three decades Bok edited Ladies Home Journal where he coined the term, “Living Room”—updating the Victorian parlor for the twentieth century. Bok began collecting autographs in his early teens, impressing presidents, generals, and celebrities in numerous fields with his engaging questions which in turn elected some excellent letters.
Major James B. Pond (1838-1903) began his career as a printer in Wisconsin. During the Civil War, he served with the 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry where he rose to the rank of major. He was one of few the survivors of the Baxter Springs massacre in 1863. Later in life he began managing public lecturers and other performers including Henry Ward Beecher, Mark Twain, Henry Stanley, P.T. Barnum, and William T. Sherman†
Light creases and expected folds, very minor wear along top margin as shown, extremely lightly toned at lower margin on verso, else very good.
(EXA 4666) SOLD
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* Edward W. Bok, ec., Beecher Memorial: Contemporaneous Tributes to the Memory of Henry Ward Beecher. 3-4.
† “Major J. B. Pond is Dead” New York Times (22 June 1903), 1.
