THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER from NATIONAL SONGS OF AMERICA
Boston: Oliver Ditson, 1856. Hardcover. Contemporary black morocco-backed boards with leather corners and a gilt-lettered black morocco label on the front cover with the owner's name: "Lottie B. Almy" (10-1/4" x 13-3/4"). Bound with a number of other pieces including a Longfellow poem set to music, "The Curfew," and a minstrel tune titled "The Darkies' Wedding." Several songs have pictorial covers. An early appearance of the final revised version of the national anthem of the United States before it was recognized for official use by the Navy in 1889 and the President in 1916. It was made the national anthem by a congressional resolution on 3 March 1931. Although the song has four stanzas, only the first is commonly sung today, with the fourth ("O! thus be it ever when free men shall stand...") added on more formal occasions. The fourth stanza includes the line "And this be our motto: In God is our Trust." The United States adopted "In God We Trust" as its national motto in 1956. Foxing to some pages including the third and final page of the anthem; joints rubbed with leather lacking from the bottom spine about 3 inches, covers firm. Good. Item #022499
Price: $350.00