Our Martyred President: Memorial Life of William McKinley, Salesman's Copy, 1901, presented with Original Small Mourning Flag

Townsend, Col. G. W. Our Martyred President: Memorial Life of William McKinnley.  {together with} The Life of President Roosevelt. New York: Memorial Publishing Company, 1901. Salesman's Copy. In publisher’s blue cloth binding, stamped in gilt, black, and green, with inlaid oval portrait of President William McKinley to the front boards. Profusely illustrated throughout. Presented with an original small mourning flag. 

Presented is a salesman's copy of Our Martyred President: Memorial Life of William McKinley and The Life of President Roosevelt, published in New York by the Memorial Publishing Company in 1901. The book is sold with an original silk mourning flag, issued in the wake of President William McKinley's assassination. The book is bound in the publisher's elaborate blue cloth, elaborately embossed in gilt, black, and green, and featuring an inset oval portrait of McKinley on the front board, with the salesman's prospectus pages and sample leather spine in the back. This salesman copy is an important example of the nation's collective response to one of the most shocking political tragedies of the early twentieth century and also a rare-surviving relic of American publishing.

President William McKinley was shot on September 6, 1901, while greeting visitors at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. The assassin, Leon Czolgosz, approached the President during a public reception and fired two shots at close range. Although McKinley initially appeared to be recovering from his wounds, infection set in and worsened and he died on September 14. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in as President shortly after McKinley's death, ushering in a new political era while the nation continued to commemorate its fallen leader. McKinley's death plunged the nation into mourning. Public memorial services were held throughout the United States, all while countless commemorative publications were rushed into print to satisfy an extraordinary public demand for remembrance and information about the assassination.

This volume is a rare surviving salesman's copy, also known as a “prospectus” or “dummy copy.” Such books were carried by subscription agents who traveled door to door securing advance orders before the complete work was printed and distributed. Rather than containing the full text, the volume offers only selected portions of the publication, intended to demonstrate its contents, illustrations, and binding styles to prospective purchasers. This prospectus for Our Martyred President and The Life of President Theodore Roosevelt begins with numerous engraved illustrations, followed by the title page, preface, an introduction by Hon. James Rankin Young, Member of Congress and former Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, and a detailed table of contents outlining the complete work of nearly five hundred pages. Included are sample chapters relating to McKinley's early life, selected accounts of his administration, a chronology of principal events during his presidency, biographical summaries, and 1-2 page chapter excerpts describing the assassination, his final days, the swearing in of President Roosevelt, and the national mourning that followed.

Particularly noteworthy is the extensive subscription material preserved at the rear. In addition to the English-language prospectus, the volume also contains prospectuses and sample texts in Swedish and German, reflecting the marketing strategies employed by publishers seeking to reach immigrant communities across the United States. Affixed to the rear board is an original leather spine sample, embossed and titled in gilt, allowing customers to examine an upgraded binding option. Additionally, several pages of the original ruled subscription sheets survive, two partially completed in pencil with the names, towns, and their selected binding styles of eleven prospective purchasers. Ephemeral sales materials like this example were frequently discarded once a publication campaign concluded, making surviving examples considerably scarcer than the finished books they promoted.

Accompanying the volume is an original small silk mourning flag dating to the same period. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, mourning flags and memorial banners became common features of American public life following the deaths of prominent national figures. Displayed in the windows of homes, storefronts, public buildings, and along parade routes, they served as visible expressions of grief and patriotic remembrance. This vertical example is constructed from red, white, and blue silk, with a hand-sewn blue star applied to a white field. It is fitted with a display hook at the top and its small scale suggests use in a shop window, residence, or other personal display during the national period of mourning following McKinley's death. 

CONDITION: 

Good condition. Blue cloth, front board titled in gilt, elaborately stamped and bordered in green and black, with oval black and white portrait of President McKinley inlaid at center. Front board with scratches, scattered staining and discoloration, bumping to corners, bumping and wear to spine, scattered stains to spine and back boards. Original blue patterned endpaper, with stains on front pastedown. 64 pages of photographs and illustrations, then English prospectus, followed by Swedish title page, with 6 sample pages in Swedish, and a Swedish prospectus, then German title page, with 7 pages of text and then a German prospectus. 8 pages of ruled line paper, two filled pages halfway in pencil with 11 names and selections of subscribers. Back endpaper has an affixed strip of leather, with flower embossing and gilt titles as an example of a leather bound spine binding option. Offsetting to free endpaper opposite leather. Spine partially splits in back, sold as-is. Book Dimensions: 9 1/4 “ x 6 13/16” W x 9 /16” D.

Very good condition flag. Silk blue star morning flag. Machine and hand-sewn, vertical flag. Red borders, red hem, white toned center, with blue silk star, hand sewn to the white silk, with navy thread. A hook has been attached to the top center, for display in the window. Red silk intact, with scattered faint stains and a few creases. White silk with several vertical splits, toning. Blue silk star frayed on edges but full attached, no splits, hand-sewn. Flag Dimensions: 7 7/8” H (8 1/16” with the hook) x 5 1/2” W x 1/16” D . 

Accompanied by our company's letter of authenticity.