Conference Internationale de la Croix-Rouge [International Conference of the Red Cross]

Geneva: Comite International de la Croix-Rouge, 1885. First Edition. Very Good. First edition of this early annual report of the International Red Cross. A presentation copy, signed by Clara Barton and warmly inscribed "To Senator Preston U. Plumb of Kansas, from a friend who honors him, Clara Barton, President of the American National Red Cross, Washington, DC, March 18, 1891." Plumb was a United States Senator, as well as an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Bound in publisher's original blue cloth stamped in silver and red; text in French. Very Good with some rubbing and soiling to covers, light fraying at corners and spine ends. Bookplate of a R.E. Plumb of Emporia Kansas, descendant of Senator Plumb, to front paste down. Inner front hinge started and a bit tender. Barton was a hospital nurse during the American Civil War, who gained notoriety after the war traveling the country delivering lectures about her experiences.

Barton began working with as a nurse during the American Civil War before aiding the International Red Cross during the Franco-Prussian War. Upon returning to the United States, she began a movement to gain recognition for the International Committee of the Red Cross by the United States government, and would become president of the newly-formed American branch of the society.