MacCarthy, Captain. [John Edward Connor MacCarthy]. RECOLLECTIONS OF THE STORMING OF THE CASTLE OF BADAJOS; by the Third Division, under the command of Lieut. Gen. Sir Thomas Picton ...A PERSONAL NARRATIVE by Captain MacCarthy... to which are added memoirs of the storming of Fort Napoleon, Almarez; and of the battle of Corunna. [SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR]. London: Published for the author, at Egerton's Military Library, [1836]. Octavo, 8-1/2 inches high by 5 inches wide. Hardcover, rebound in mottled brown boards titled in gilt on the front cover and on the spine, with new endpapers. The covers are warped & rubbed. The pagination is as follow: blank leaf, title, 96 pages and a blank leaf. The book includes a list of 59 subscribers to which 5 additional names have been added in manuscript. There are curious pencil markings on 8 pages suggesting editorial notes. There is foxing to the front and rear blanks & to the title page. Very good.
RARE First edition. Signed by the author "MacCarthy Captn" with his address & additionally initialled by him in the text.
Many sources give the author's full name as "John Edward Connor MacCarthy". Other sources give it as "James MacCarthy".
In an "Address" at the beginning of the book MacCarthy comments on a private letter of his having been published in "The Memoirs of Sir Thomas Picton". He has signed this statement in pencil with his initials. MacCarthy has inscribed his name and address on the front blank.
From the library of Ambassador Lincoln MacVeagh with his initials in gilt on the front cover and on the spine.
Lincoln MacVeagh (1890-1972), a Renaissance man, graduated from Harvard magna cum laude in 1913. He went on to study languages at the Sorbonne and became fluent in German, French, Spanish, Latin, Greek and Classical Greek. He served in the Atois, St. Mihiel and Meuse Argonne campaigns of World War I as an aide to the commanding general of the 80th Division and of the Ninth and Sixth Army Corps. He rose to the rank of Major. After the war he became a director of the Henry Holt and Company publishing firm where he became friendly with the poet Robert Frost. In 1923 he left the firm and founded the Dial Press. His name appears on the imprint of many of their publications. In 1933 President Roosevelt appointed him Minister to Greece. He followed presentation of his credentials with a speech in Classical Greek. While in Greece he conducted excavations beneath the Acropolis and made archeological contributions to the National Museum in Athens. He left Greece in 1941 when the German army over ran the country. From there he was appointed the first US Minister to Iceland where he negotiated agreements for the construction of the Keflavik airfield. In late 1942 he became Minister to the Union of South Africa and coordinated American wartime agencies there. In 1943 he was sent to Cairo as Ambassador so that he could assist the governments in exile of Greece and Yugoslavia. He returned to Athens as Ambassador in 1944. MacVeagh gave secret testimony before Congress concerning the Balkans in 1947, testimony that was an important factor in the formation of the Truman Doctrine. In 1948 as Ambassador to Portugal MacVeagh was influential in admitting her into NATO. In 1952 President Truman named him Ambassador to Spain. President Truman wrote to him on March 9, 1948: "On the occasion of your appointment as Ambassador to Portugal, I would like to make some personal expression of appreciation for the high services you have already rendered your country. During the past fifteen critical years you have served with distinction as Chief of the United states Missions to Iceland, the Union of South Africa, Yugoslavia and Greece. In this last post especially - as Minister from 1933 to 1941 and as Ambassador since 1943 - your scholarly statesmanship and diplomatic judgment have been of the utmost value."
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