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Details
SMITH, Samuel French (1808-1895), Author of "America." Cabinet photograph signed ("S.F. Smith") with a stanza of his verses on back ("My country 'tis of thee...") and signed again, by Hahn, "Artist Photographer" of Boston, inscription dated 11 October 1894.
6 3/8 x 4 in., including mount, small stain in lower area of mount. Smith has signed in delicate ink in lower part of image (a bit pale), and on verso has added the lines "My country 'tis of thee, Sweet land of Liberty, Of thee I sing. S.F. Smith," and "Feb. 1832, Autograph written Oct. 11, 1894."
"...SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY...". The Harvard-educated Smith--a classmate of Oliver Wendell Holmes--became a Baptist minister but is today remembered as the author of the verses of the anthem "America," to a pre-existing tune. While Smith in later years was very obliging in writing fair copies of his poem for admirers (with the original and copy dates carefully noted), this cabinet image with a stanza on verso may well be unique.
6 3/8 x 4 in., including mount, small stain in lower area of mount. Smith has signed in delicate ink in lower part of image (a bit pale), and on verso has added the lines "My country 'tis of thee, Sweet land of Liberty, Of thee I sing. S.F. Smith," and "Feb. 1832, Autograph written Oct. 11, 1894."
"...SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY...". The Harvard-educated Smith--a classmate of Oliver Wendell Holmes--became a Baptist minister but is today remembered as the author of the verses of the anthem "America," to a pre-existing tune. While Smith in later years was very obliging in writing fair copies of his poem for admirers (with the original and copy dates carefully noted), this cabinet image with a stanza on verso may well be unique.