THIS IS A MICROFICHE of the Alden edition of Captain David Perry's memoir, a republication she produced ca 1912.

The full title of the 1822 first edition of this book is long and descriptive as was typical of that time period. It is:

"Recollections of an Old Soldier: The Life of Captain David Perry, a soldier of the French and Revolutionary Wars, Containing many extraordinary occurrences relating to his own private history, and an account of some interesting events in the history of the times in which he lived, nowhere else recorded. Written by himself."

In her republication, Mrs. Alden was careful to keep this entire title intact.

A notice inside the original copy of this republished edition (placed on microfiche in 1970) reads:

"This book is an exact copy of the original issue and has been republished by Mrs. John Ferriss Alden, a great great granddaughter of Captain David Perry."

Mrs. John Ferris Alden's complete name was Mary Emma Bogue Alden. She prepared her manuscript by hand-copying a first edition in the holdings, probably, of a research library. In the process, some words, and in one case several lines, were unintentionally left out. She reproduced the words as exactly as possible and it took her more than one sitting to complete it, filling several notebooks.

Her final manuscript was typeset and printed at her own expense by Vredenburg & Co., Inc., in Rochester, N.Y., where she lived. She died there in 1939. Her intent was to share her progenitor's words with as many of his descendants she could find, with no though of profit. She offered a copy to any descendant who wanted a copy at the charge of $1.00, printing it on demand, ca1903-1930. (Source: Denise G. Jones, fifth great granddaughter, The Captain David Perry Web Site, c1999-.)

Due to the discovery and rise of photography in the 100 years since Captain David Perry died, Alden was able to include a photograph of "the house at Ira, Vt. where David Perry died" (taken sometime before the house burned down in the early 1900s) with that caption, on the page opposite the title page.

In addition she was able to include a photograph of Captain David Perry's gravestone [in Ira, Vermont] as a plate just after the concluding text of her edition, above which is time-honored French word for "The End ": finis. Her completed edition had 73 pages, compared to the 55 of the first edition printed by Ide.

The addition of these photographs complete the record of Captain David Perry's life in a visceral way, and added greatly to the events after his life story's publication in 1822. It provided that fact that he died in Ira, Vermont, on 2 May 2, 1826, without any changes to his record, a visual addendum, as it were.

Since Mrs. Alden didn't republish the Advertisement/Preface by the printer Simeon Ide included in his publication of the 1822 first edition, this valuable piece of writing was not preserved beyong the very rare actual first editions, for some years. William Abbatt's The Magazine of History edition in 1928 included it, but that book was rare, too, and printed for a certain clientele: university libraries, historical societies, and a certain esoteric pool of subscribers.

Microforms of the 1822 first edition, and of the Abbatt edition, eventually added to the preservation of this Advertisement and, with the rise of the Internet, The Captain David Perry Web Site (c1999-) included both it and the entire 1822 edition of Perry's Recollections, incorporating later editions' contributions and changes in a system of brackets.

The National Union Catalog [NCU] description of Perry's Recollections given below, follows here with corrective revisions in brackets by Denise G. Jones:

"The writer's life was spent in Rehoboth and Dighton, Mass., Killingby [Killingly], Conn., Plainfield, N.H., and Chelsea, Vt. [Note: He lived his final years in Ira, Vermont, where he died in 1826, and was buried.] He served in four campaigns of the French and Indian War from Massachusetts, 1758-1762 and in two campaigns of the Revolution from Connecticut, 1775-1776 [1775, and 1776-1777]."

Note: Any edition that gives the number of pages as 73 is a form of the Alden edition, either an actual book, a microform, or a reprint of hers in 1971 by Winston DeVille using her plates but with changes to the title and published under as his new imprint Polyanthos Press, Cottonport, La. (later New Orleans, La.), or a microform of that one. Anytime the pages given are 55, the book is either an actual first edition, published in 1822, or a microform of it. (Microform include microfiche and microfilm.) The only other case is where the first edition book, or a later edition, has been scanned, but the number of pages still holds true as an identifying marker between the first edition (55 pages) or the Alden/Polyanthos editions (73 pages).

In this case, the microfiche was produced in 1970, which means it is definitely a preservation of the Alden edition, since the Polyanthos edition was not published until 1971. This microfiche of the Alden edition, which is still a rare edition, is of great value in the preservation of that edition.

(Source: Denise G. Jones, The Captain David Perry Web Site, c1999-. Mrs. Jones has researched Perry's book, his life, his times, and his posterity for over 35 years.)

NOTE: For more information on Captain David Perry's book, click on “Recollections of an old soldier” AT THE TOP OF THIS PAGE to go to the main Recollections page. Included are a description of Perry's life and times, excerpts, links, etc.