Hardtack and Coffee; Or, The Unwritten Story of Army Life

Boston: George M. Smith & Co, 1887. First Edition. Cloth. Near fine. First edition of Hardtack and Coffee: The Unwritten Story of Army Life, a memoir by John D. Billings.. Octavo, vi, 408pp. Brown cloth, title stamped in gilt, campfire scene stamped in black. Solid text block. Faint foxing to endpapers, private ownership stamp on front free endpaper, otherwise clean. A touch of wear to heel of spine. This work is complete with six color plates and two hundred illustrations by Charles W. Reed. (Nevins I, 59) (Dornbusch I, 46) A beautiful, bright example. Scarce in this condition. A classic "reminiscences of solder life in the Civil War," from John D. Billings, a veteran of the 10th Massachusetts Artillery. Billings recounts in "simple language," not battle maps and artillery movements, the "trivial and daily aspects of solider life in the Federal Army." (Eicsher 449).