Poems of the Late Francis S. Key, Esq. [Star Spangled Banner]

Robert Carter and Brothers, 1857. First Edition. Hardcover. Good. New York, 1857. 8vo, publisher's black cloth, xii, (13)-203 pp. First edition. The first edition of the Star Spangled Banner in book form. It had been printed only as a broadside in 1814. A BAL 11093 binding B, with no sequence noted. A good plus to very good minus copy with excellent contents. Lean to spine, chipping to cloth at head and heel of spine, contemporary ownership signature to title page, light normal shelfwear. Remains well preserved. "'The Star-Spangled Banner' has been in recent times censured for its awkward melodic line, but its lyrics are now so much a part of the popular patriotic imagination that any attempt at literary analysis would perhaps seem unusual. (The second and third stanzas of the original song are often omitted in public ceremonies as a gesture of courtesy to the British; the words "hireling and slave" of stanza three refer to the common British practice of using mercenary soldiers.) It is interesting that the critic Charles F. Richardson, writing in American Literature, mentions the "bald, rude rhymes" in the work. He goes on to say that the song, along with "Adams and Liberty" and "Hail Columbia," is "so closely enshrined in the patriotic heart . . . that no one stops to think of . . . [its] literary poverty" (vol. 2 [1889] p. 26). Richardson's comments seem a just assessment of a work that had not yet become a national symbol." - ANB. Please contact us for additional pictures or information. Sabin 37669. BAL 11093.