Best of
History

1885

Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Volume 1


Ulysses S. Grant - 1885
    This is the simple soldier who, all untaught by the silken phrasemakers, linked words together with an art surpassing the art of the schools and put into them something which will bring to American ears, as long as America shall last, the roll of his vanished drums and the tread of his marching hosts.' -Mark Twain

Fifty Years in the Church of Rome


Charles P. Chiniquy - 1885
    We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

War of the Rebellion Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies


U.S. Department of War - 1885
    Each of the 128 volumes is published in full, including the Index, and all are heavily bound in buckram for long and continued use. (This 1985 edition was reprinted by Historical Times, Inc.)Printed on acid-free paper.

Personal Memoirs


Ulysses S. Grant - 1885
    Grant (1822-1885) was one of the most esteemed individuals of the nineteenth century. His two-volume memoirs, sold door-to-door by former Union soldiers, have never gone out of print and were once as ubiquitous in American households as the Bible. Mark Twain, Gertrude Stein, Matthew Arnold, Henry James, and Edmund Wilson hailed these works as great literature, and Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush both credit Grant with influencing their own writing. Yet a judiciously annotated clarifying edition of these memoirs has never been produced until now.The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant is the first comprehensively annotated edition of Grant's memoirs, fully representing the great military leader's thoughts on his life and times through the end of the Civil War and his invaluable perspective on battlefield decision making. An introduction contextualizes Grant's life and significance, and lucid editorial commentary allows the president's voice and narrative to shine through. With annotations compiled by the editors of the Ulysses S. Grant Association's Presidential Library, this definitive edition enriches our understanding of the antebellum era, the Mexican War, and the Civil War. Grant provides insight into how rigorously these events tested America's democratic institutions and the cohesion of its social order.The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant preserves and extends a work of profound political, historical, and literary significance and serves as the gateway for modern readers of all backgrounds to an American classic.

The Annals of the Cakchiquels


Daniel G. Brinton - 1885
    Written by a native who had grown to adult years before the whites penetrated to his ancestral home, himself a member of the ruling family of one of the most civilized nations of the continent and intimately acquainted with its traditions, his work displays the language in its pure original form, and also preserves the tribal history and a part of the mythology, as they were current before they were in the least affected by European influences. The translation I offer is directly from the original text, and I am responsible for its errors; but I wish to acknowledge my constant obligations to the manuscript version of the late Abbe Brasseur (de Bourbourg), the distinguished Americanist. Without the assistance obtained from it, I should not have attempted the task; and though I differ frequently from his renderings, this is no more than he himself would have done, as in his later years he spoke of his version as in many passages faulty.

Three Years of Arctic Service: An Account of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition of 1881-84, and the Attainment of the Farthest North, Volume 1


Adolphus Washington Greely - 1885
    In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.

Aristocracy in England


Adam Badeau - 1885
    Absolutlutly fascinating> Found it in our local second hand book store. Did you know the Parliament was only called into session after the fox-hunting ended? Usually in February/

In The Lena Delta: A Narrative Of The Search For Lieut. Commander DeLong And His Companions (1885)


George Wallace Melville - 1885
    Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

A Popular History of Astronomy During the Nineteenth Century Fourth Edition


Agnes Mary Clerke - 1885
    The author received a world-wide reputation on the appearance of this exhaustive treatise on astronomy in 1885.

ROYALTY RESTORED - London Under Charles II


J. Fitzgerald Molloy - 1885
    The Grammont Memoirs, devoid of date and detail, and addressed "to those who read only for amusement," present but brief imperfect sketches of the wits and beauties who thronged the court of the merry monarch whilst the brilliant Frenchman sojourned in England. Pepys, during the first nine years of the Restoration, narrates such gossip as reached him regarding Whitehall and the practices that obtained there. Evelyn records some trifling actions of the king and his courtiers, with a view of pointing a moral, rather than from a desire of adorning a tale. To supply this want in our literature, I have endeavoured to present a picture of the domestic life of a king, whose name recalls pages of the brightest romance and strangest gallantry in our chronicles. To this I have added a study of London during his reign, taken as far as possible from rare, and invariably from authentic sources. It will readily be seen this work, embracing such subjects, could alone have resulted from careful study and untiring consultation of diaries, records, memoirs, letters, pamphlets, tracts, and papers left by contemporaries familiar with the court and capital. The accomplishment of such a task necessitated an expenditure of time, and devotion to labour, such as in these fretful and impatient days is seldom bestowed on work. As in previous volumes I have writ no fact is set down without authority, so likewise the same rule is pursued in these; and for such as desire to test the accuracy thereof, or follow at further length statements necessarily abbreviated, a list is appended of the principal literature consulted. And inasmuch as I have found pleasure in this work, so may my gentle readers derive profit therefrom; and as I have laboured, so may they enjoy. Expressing which fair wishes, and moreover commending myself unto their love and service, I humbly take my leave.--J. FITZGERALD MOLLOY

Europe and the French Revolution: The Political Traditions of the Old Régime


Albert Sorel - 1885
    It is above all a grand survey of the Europe of the Enlightenment and the Ancien Regime in the last generation before the Revolution. Catherine of Russia and Maria Theresa, Frederick II and Louis XV, their public professions their real aims, their courts, their ministers, their notions of conduct, are presented with a lucidity, elegance and ruthlessness worthy of their own age.But the book is also much more. Sorel's whole argument is that the Revolution can only be understood, and its subsequent development explained, by the study of causes rooted deep in the past. His naturally analytical, profoundly historical, cast of mind leads him to trace characteristics, to coin epigrams, to strike off generalisations, to reveal insights that illumine the whole course of European history in language both witty and graceful.So many-faceted a work asks much of its translators. In professor Cobban and Mr.Hunt it has found a breadth of erudition and a literary skill equal to all the demands made upon them. They have identified all Sorel's sources and where necessary supplied additional notes.

The Congo and the Founding of its Free State - 2 Volume Set


Henry M. Stanley - 1885
    After emigrating to America in 1859, Stanley worked as a journalist for the New York Herald. In 1869 he was instructed to undertake an expedition to find the missionary David Livingstone, and the success of this mission brought him public recognition and financial success. These volumes, first published in 1885, provide an account of Stanley's exploration of the Congo river in the service of Leopold II of Belgium between 1879 and 1884. Deriving from Stanley's personal journal, the books describe the difficulties he faced as he founded permanent trading stations, and his negotiations with indigenous leaders, together with his plans for the commercial exploitation of Africa. Stanley's controversial methods to achieve this aim, which led to his modern reputation as a racist and imperialist, are also revealed.

L'armée française: An Illustrated History of the French Army, 1790–1885


Édouard Detaille - 1885
    First produced in 1883, this book revisits the French armies of the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean War, the Mexican Expedition, and the Conquest of North Africa, among others.