The First Iron-clad naval engagement in the world;: history of facts...between the Merrimac...and the Monitor...

GIVEN BY THE V.P. OF THE IRON WORKS COMPANY THAT BUILT THE HULL OF THE U.S.S. MONITOR, AND LAUNCHED IT IN 101 DAYS

WHITE, E[llsberry] V[alentine]. The First Iron-clad naval engagement in the world; history of facts of the great naval battle between the Merrimac-Virginia, C. S. N. and the Ericsson Monitor, U. S. N., Hampton Roads, March 8 and 9, 1862. [Illustrated]. 8vo, later ½ green morocco by The Booklovers Shop, Cleveland (original pictorial wrappers bound in), marbled end papers, title, pp. [2], [20] + 8 plates. [Portsmouth, Va.?, cop. 1906].

First Edition. Not to be confused with the common New York editions. "This pro-Confederate account, written by a participant, includes some of his personal experiences."-CWB I, p. 238. Inscribed by the great American mechanical engineer Ambrose Swasey (see DAB), "Presented to me by Mr. C. H. Corbett, Brooklyn, NY, Ambrose Swasey, Jan. 8th 1915." Charles H. Corbett was Vice-President of Continental Iron Works, the Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York, firm that built the ship's hull, and launched it in 101 days, as well as later a professor of physics at Yale. NYHS has a U.S.S. Monitor collage by Corbett (see. Drawings of U.S. S. Monitor: A Catalog of the Technical Analysis, by Captain Ernest W. Peterkin, NOAA, 30 December 1985, p. 109. Laid in is a 3 x 5" mounted photograph of an 1887 painting by Sheppard of the engagement, March 9, 1862. OCLC locates two copies (NYHS & Swansea Univ. [Wales]). With large Swasey ex-libris depicting the "36 inch Lick Telescope," the observatory having been built by him. Fine.