Books and Manuscripts

(Philadelphia: Pember & Luzarder, ca. 1800). Memorial cotton handkerchief, printed in brown; 18 3/4 x 20 3/4 in. (476 x 527 mm). Corners stitched to larger cloth for mounting; ownership initials "A.B" stitched in bottom left; soiling and several small holes in top, within central vignette and in top text; soiling and two small holes in bottom text; scattered minor edge-wear. In mat and in frame, 24 1/2 x 26 5/8 in. (622 x 676 mm). Collins, Threads of History 21; Wick 73

A rare and well-preserved memorial handkerchief commemorating the death of President George Washington. The central motif is based on the engraving “G. Washington in his last Illness attended by Docrs. Craik and Brown” (1800, sometimes attributed to Amos Doolittle, see Wick 73), and is surrounded by excerpts from Henry Lee's 1799 eulogy given before Congress, and Tobias Lear's 1799 letter to John Adams describing the deathbed scene at Mount Vernon.