Lot 185: FORBES, EDWIN

FORBES, EDWIN Life Studies of the Great Army. New York: Published by Edwin Forbes, [1876] 40 engraved plates (19 x 24 in.; 485 x 610 mm), loose in portfolio (of which 6 matted, glazed, and framed and not examined outside of frames); marginal soiling, fraying, and chipping with minor losses affecting 15 plates. Black pebble cloth, lettered gilt on upper cover, black cloth ties; worn, gilt lettering faded, rebacked.

General Alfred C. Barnes (gift plate to unknown library on front pastedown)

An historical work illustrating the life of the Union Army during the Civil War. Forbes was among the best artist-correspondents of the war who worked for Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. He spent two and a half years with the Army of the Potomac, covering critical battles such as the Shenandoah Campaign, Second Bull Run, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Early's Raid on Washington, and the Siege of Petersburg. Daily camp life and incidents in the field were his favorite subjects but Leslie, who liked action scenes best, published fewer than half of Forbes's drawings. Forbes returned to New York in 1864 and began to produce copperplate engravings based on his war time sketches. The resulting work was exhibited to popular acclaim at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition in 1876.