Seth Kaller, Inc.

G.T. Beauregard, the former Confederate general, sends a requested autographed photograph to editor, and future Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Edward Bok.

PIERRE GUSTAVE TOUTANT BEAUREGARD. Autograph Letter Signed to Edward W. Bok, New Orleans, La., October, 11, 1882, 2 pp., 4¾ x 8 in. Photograph is no longer present.

Inventory #22359.04       Price: $900

Transcript

New Orleans – Oct 11^th 1882

My Dear Sir,

            On my return from the North, I found your favor of the 22d insta. awaiting my acknowledgment. I regret that I could not comply with all your requests – I send you however with pleasure my phot. taken in 1865, The last year of the War, with my autograph attached, or rather written on it.

            I regret that I have not any letters, or signatures, of the Confederate General you refer to, I   < p. 2 >   have already given away all those that I could spare.

            Wishing you success in your undertaking, I am Yr.s Very Truly

                        G. T. Beauregard

Mr. Ed. W. Bok

Brooklyn N. Y.

Historical Background

The purpose of the correspondence between Confederate Generals and Edward Bok was to acquire autographs, and valuable Civil War information for “The American Pantheon,” a project Bok was clearly excited about, but that never seemed to materialize.

Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard (1818 – 1893) was a Louisiana-born American military officer, politician, inventor, writer, civil servant, and the first prominent general of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Today he is commonly referred to as P. G. T. Beauregard, but he rarely used his first name as an adult and signed correspondence as G. T. Beauregard.

Beauregard was trained as a civil engineer at the United States Military Academy and served with distinction as an engineer in the Mexican-American War. Following a brief appointment at West Point in 1861, with the South’s secession, he became the first Confederate brigadier general. He commanded the defenses of Charleston, South Carolina, at the start of the Civil War at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. Three months later he was the victor at the First Battle of Bull Run near Manassas, Virginia. Following his military career, Beauregard served as a railroad executive. He became one of the few wealthy Confederate veterans because of his role in promoting the Louisiana Lottery.

Edward William Bok (1863–1930) was a Dutch born American editor and Pulitzer Prize-winning author. He was born in Den Helder, The Netherlands. At the age of six, he immigrated to Brooklyn, New York, USA, and became an office boy with the Western Union Telegraph Company in 1876. In 1882, he began work with Henry Holt and Company, and then, in 1884, he became involved with Charles Scribner’s Sons, where he eventually became its advertising manager. From 1884 until 1887, Bok was the editor of The Brooklyn Magazine. His 1920 autobiography, The Americanization of Edward Bok, won the Gold Medal of the Academy of Political and Social Science and the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography. Edward W. Bok died on January 9, 1930.

Condition

Very fine.

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