[Important American Provenance] Plutarch

Updated August 6, 2026

Estimate: 200 / 2000 Plutarch. PLUTARCH'S LIVES, TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL GREEK; WITH NOTES CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL, AND A LIFE OF PLUTARCH. London: Printed for J. Mawman et al., 1819. 8vo, 6 vol. set. Engraved frontispiece to first volume. bound in period full calf. Exceptional Perry family association copy, bearing the contemporary presentation inscription: "Oliver H. Perry, from his devoted friend, J. Hamilton Junior, Charleston, June 20, 1820," and later signed "Oliver H. Perry Junior, 1873." James Hamilton, Jr. (1786–1857), later Governor of South Carolina, was among Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry's closest friends and associates. Hamilton served as Perry's second during the celebrated 1818 duel with Marine Captain John Heath, an affair that attracted national attention and further cemented their friendship. Although the inscription is dated approximately ten months after Perry's death in August 1819, the later ownership signature of Oliver Hazard Perry, Jr. (1815–1878) strongly suggests descent through the Perry family, and this set was likely presented by Hamilton to the widow and/or estate of Oliver Perry by his friend. This remarkable provenance links one of America's greatest naval heroes with one of South Carolina's most prominent nineteenth-century political figures. Oliver Hazard Perry (1785–1819) ranks among the most celebrated officers in the history of the United States Navy. His decisive victory over the British fleet at the Battle of Lake Erie on September 10, 1813 secured American control of the Great Lakes during the War of 1812, enabled General William Henry Harrison's successful Northwest Campaign and the recapture of Detroit, and established Perry as a national hero. His famous victory dispatch, "We have met the enemy and they are ours," remains among the most iconic military messages in American history. Condition: Bindings with light general wear, some boards appear to have been reattached with glue to gutters, thus all are intact. Frontispiece, titles and endpapers with moderate foxing, though generally clean otherwise. Good.

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