From the Preface of this 1,006 page book: "Two hundred years ago - on December 7, 1776, to be exact -- Silas Deane, the American commissioner in Paris, and the nineteen-year-old Marquis de Lafayette signed an agreement which made the young Frenchman a major general in the United States Army. When that agreement was finally and reluctantly approved by the Continental Congress in Philadelphia on July 31, 1777, Lafayette became the youngest person ever to serve as a major general in the American forces.

Thereby, he was launched upon a career which made him not only an outstanding leader in the revolutionary floods that subsequently inundated Europe and the Americas but also a willing correspondent until his death (in 1834) with hundreds of prominent figures in government, politics, business, agriculture, and the arts on both sides of the Atlantic.

This Bicentennial Edition of my studies of Lafayette's career in the American Revolution begins with his birth (September 6, 1757) and ends with his return to his birthplace, Chavaniac in Auvergne, in March, 1783, after the signing of the general preliminaries of peace by Britain, France, and the United States. Essentially this phase of Lafayette's biography is the story of an obscure individual who became somewhat of a symbolic figure at the very moment he emerged from relative anonymity into renown." This volume is divided into three books: Lafayette Comes to America; Lafayette Joins the American Army; and Lafayette and the Close of the American Revolution.

Condition info: Published by l'Esprit De Lafayette Society, Arveyres, France, 1975. First bicentennial edition. Signed by Louis Gottschalk and numbered BG539. Good to very good condition. Not an ex-library copy. Binding tight; spine straight and smooth, with little wear; cover in good condition with minor wear to edges or corners. There is slight spotting on the outer page blocks due to age. Minimal signs of handling or shelving. Packaged with care and shipped with delivery confirmation. If you are not satisfied with the condition of the book, please return the item for a refund.