Garfield's Personally Owned Book, Authored and Inscribed to Him by Congressman Samuel S. Cox, Who Spearheaded the Creation and Expansion of the U.S. Coast Guard, the Life-Saving Service

From Garfield’s library, the first Presidential memorial library, completed at the Lawnfield estate in Ohio by his widow four years after his assassination, this book signed and inscribed, “Gen. Garfield - / With New Years’ / Greeting - / from the author, / Saml S. Cox / 1 Jan 1870 / N.Y” on front free brown endpaper, James A. Garfield Library bookplate on fixed endpaper, 8vo, 442 pps., London: Sampson Low, Son, and Marston; New York: D. Appleton & Co, 1869. Lapis blue decorative boards, elaborately adorned with gilt. Shelf wear and tears at spine caps. Cracked inner hinges and binding shaken, else good condition. Flaws that can easily be restored.

Samuel Sullivan Cox was in 1870, a Congressman from New York. He first served in Congress as a Democrat from Ohio, elected in 1856. He served three terms before being defeated largely due to his impassioned speech denouncing Republicans for supporting a pamphlet promoting miscegenation (inter-racial relations), a hoax later determined to have been conceived and printed by Democrats to influence racially biased voters to vote Democratic. The hoax was unsuccessful and Cox lost in the election. Cox left Ohio and moved to New York to practice law, and returned to Congress to represent New York’s 6th district in 1868. In Congress, Cox headed legislative efforts to create, organize, and expand the U.S. Life-Saving Service, a predecessor of the Coast Guard. It was established in 1871 to rescue victims of shipwrecks by maintaining patrol stations along American shores. Two years after his death, members of the Life-Saving Service presented Cox’s widow with an elaborate silver vase which she presented to the Smithsonian the following year.

The book was de-accessioned from Garfield's Presidential Library which houses almost 3,000 books that were used and treasured by the 20th president. Books were a scarce commodity to young James, who lost his father before the age of two and was raised by his mother who struggled to maintain a humble existence. Both James Garfield and his wife Lucretia were voracious readers and amassed a large collection of books. 

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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