Lincoln and the Music of the Civil War. Illustrated with Photographs.

Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1966. Signed and inscribed by the Author. Octavo, red cloth (hardcover), xix, 333 pp. Good, with cello tape to endpapers; in a like, mylar protected dust jacket. Photographs gladly provided upon request. From dust jacket: The Civl War was, in a sense, a “musical war.” During the first year alone, an estimated two thousand musical compositions were produced, and the outpouring continued so that by the end of the conflict more music had been created, played, and sung, perhaps, than during all our other wars combined. Abraham Lincoln -- rail-splitter, circuit lawyer, preserver of the Union and emancipator of the slaves -- was no musician. Yet he was extremely fond of music and as President he probably heard more music than any other occupant of the White House. He heard the old patriotic tunes and the new songs of the Civil War period. He listened to bands, choruses, and soloists. He came to know the songs and the singers, the bands and their leaders. He heard exuberant serenaders outside the White House and quiet singers within; he heard noisy bands in the streets of Washington and he listened to their soft strains at evening in many of the “hundred circling camps.” Here, as told by Kenneth A. Bernard, is an account of the music of the era and of Lilncoln’s relationship to it. Against a background of specific events, Professor Bernard shows how the music of the war was inspired, how it inspired and affected the soldiers and the folk back home, and, finally, how it inspired and affected Lincoln himself... Lincoln and the Music of the Civil War presents a fresh approach to an understanding and appreciation of the emotional side of the great conflict. No President, before or since, has been sung to and played to as much as was Lincoln. No President enjoyed the sound and sentiment of music any more than did Lincoln.