The West Point Scrap Book. A Collection of Stories, Songs, and Legends of the United States Military Academy by Wood, Oliver E - 1871

New York: Van Nostrand, 1871. First edition. Hardcover. Good + condition. Important Hudson River book as well as West Point title, with fascinating annotations by someone familiar with West Point in 1871. One of the sentimental tales is titled "The Cadet's Baby", about a cadet who rescues a baby on the train and through twists of fate, weds her 17 years later. While the endpaper has been removed to hide the identity of the original owner, there is throughout the volume pencil notes identifying the class members who had penned the printed stories.... including Fitzhugh Lee, CSA general in the American Civil War, 40th governor of Virginia and US Army general in the Spanish-American War. He was a nephew of General Robert E. Lee. P. 142, under the poem "Darker Here", the annotation states "Professor Weir has never known a Cadet to get a drawing dark enough to suit him". Weir was the Hudson River painter and Drawing master at West Point.

8vo, 339pp, 18pp ads. Engraved frontispiece map of West Point with tissue guard and wood block illustrations in text. Original green and gilt stamped binding, gilt lettering on spine, gilt decoration on cover. Spine tips worn, a bit rubbed and marked. But fascinating with the annotations.