BALLADS AND OTHER POEMS. | VOICES OF THE NIGHT. | THE SPANISH STUDENT. A Play, in Three Acts

1843. [twice inscribed by Longfellow] [Together, three volumes, bound together.] Cambridge: Published by John Owen, 1843 [all three]. Bound in three-quarter black morocco with gilt-decorated spine (reading "Longfellow's Poems"), page edges marbled.

"Fifth Edition [printing]," "Seventh Edition [printing]," and First Edition respectively -- bound together in a contemporary black morocco binding. All three are dated 1843 (the first two titles were originally published in 1842 and 1839 respectively; THE SPANISH STUDENT came out as here in July 1843). They were originally issued in fragile paper-covered boards -- a binding intended as temporary, (truncated) for the buyer to take to their fine binder of choice -- which the Mackenzie family (see below) undoubtedly did. Condition is very good-plus, rubbed at the extremities. Blanck 12071 (and see 12065 & 12070). All three titles bear related inscriptions, two of them by Longfellow. VOICES OF THE NIGHT is inscribed by Longfellow, "A.S. Mackenzie | with the regard | of the Author. | July, 1843"; THE SPANISH STUDENT bears his similar inscription "Mackenzie | from the Author | July 1843"; BALLADS AND OTHER POEMS bears the signature "Ranald S. Mackenzie." There is quite a story here, revolving around an event in American naval history known as The Somers Mutiny... Alexander Slidell Mackenzie (1803-1848) entered the U.S. Navy as a midshipman in 1815 (at age 12!); over the course of his career, he became an author and a naval historian, getting to know Henry W. Longfellow and Washington Irving. By 1842 he was the Commander with responsibility for the training brig USS Somers (newly launched that Spring, with a generally inexperienced crew). Asea on November 26, 1842, Mackenzie became aware of a supposed mutiny plot by three sailors, and after convening a court-martial within days, the three sailors were found guilty and were hastily executed on December 1, 1842. The purported ringleader of the trio was Philip Spencer, the 19-year-old son of the Secretary of War! Upon the ship's return to the U.S., Mackenzie himself was court-martialed, but on March 28, 1843 he was exonerated; however, throughout that year (i.e., at the time these books were inscribed) he was attacked in the Press (especially by J. Fenimore Cooper) and was vilified by the public. During this time, Longfellow was a strong (albeit quiet) supporter of Mackenzie. Longfellow's letter to Mackenzie (#794 -- undated, but Mackenzie's reply was dated July 13, 1843) accompanied these volumes; in it he says "You will see more and more, my dear Mackenzie, how strongly you are supported in this quarter for maintaining the right at any sacrifice." Three related tidbits... (1) On July 13, 1843 (just a day or two after Longfellow sent these books and his letter to Mackenzie), he married Frances "Fanny" Appleton -- his first wife having died of a miscarriage in 1834; Fanny herself would die in 1861 when melted sealing wax she was using dripped onto her cotton dress, at Craigie House. (2) Mackenzie would die five years later -- soon after which Longfellow wrote his famous "The Building of the Ship" -- believed to pay homage to Mackenzie. (3) The Somers Mutiny is believed to be the actual event that prompted Herman Melville to write the novella "Billy Budd" -- involving a false charge of conspiracy to mutiny, and an execution at sea. As for the signature in BALLADS AND OTHER POEMS, Ranald S. Mackenzie was Alexander's famous son -- a colonel in the Union Army, where Grant spoke of him as one of his most promising young officers (he was known as "Bad Hand" because he had lost two fingers in battle). After the war he went to the frontier, and as a general achieved fame / notoriety leading a "Buffalo Soldier" regiment against the Cheyennes and the Comanches (the 1958-1959 TV series "Mackenzie's Raiders" was loosely based upon his activities). Following a fall from a wagon, in the 1880s he exhibited growing mental instability, and spent much of his last five years (until 1889, age 48) in an asylum. In 1899 Fort Mackenzie in Sheridan WY was named for him, subsequently turned into a VA hospital for mentally ill patients. (Inventory #: 15684)