GENERAL WASHINGTON’S PERSONAL COPY
[WASHINGTON, George (1732-1799), his copy]. CORBIN, Jacques. Le Code Louis XIII. Roy de France et de Navarre. Paris: Pierre Billaine, 1628. Folio (330 x 245 mm). Title-page printed in red and black, engraved vignette on title, numerous wood-engraved initials and head-pieces (title soiled and chipped, laid down, some light marginal dampstaining and spotting, sigs. K4-L1 with small hole in text). 19th-century half calf, leather lettering-piece gilt (spine worn and disintegrating, covers detached, sold as is). Provenance: FORMERLY THE PROPERTY OF GEN. WASHINGTON (early notation on title-page), also lettered in gilt on spine “Gen. Washington’s Copy”; Library of the New York Law Institute Special Collections (early notation on title-page near gutter, numerous rubber stamps). According to the Mount Vernon Library, George Washington signed many books in his library in the upper corner of the title-page, but not all of his books have signatures or bookplates. Upon Washington’s death, his library was left to his nephew, Bushrod Washington. When Bushrod died, the books and papers were passed to Bushrod’s two nephews, George Corbin Washington and John Augustine Washington II. In 1834, George Corbin sold the presidential papers and military focused books to the US government, becoming part of the Library of Congress. In 1847, George Corbin sold 359 of Washington’s remaining books to the rare book dealer Henry Stevens, who sold the collection to the Boston Athenaeum. The other half of the original library, inherited by John Augustine, passed to his son in 1832 who later sold the nearly 300-volume collection at auction in 1876, scattering it to various private collectors and institutions.