Libri Novi

September 2022

KENYA'S CORNER

Goodbye, Summer.

Thank you for guessing my age in last month's newsletter. I am a firm middle age 8. Not telling you my dress size. Woof.

But I will tell you that I am dog tired. This was what I looked like when Pop tried to wake me up the day after I got done managing the Antietam-Gettysburg 2022 Author Reader Meetup: grumpy, eyes swollen from Pennsylvania pollen, and barely able to get my head off the pillow.

Managing authors is like herding cats. Don't get me wrong. I love cats. With BBQ sauce. Or in a nice Purina curry. Ok, I am kidding. Benson, our neighborhood cat, often sleeps on the deck with me.

We had a ball out east as you will read and see below. Maybe those of you who did not make it this year can attend next year at . . . darn, I lost my train of thought. Stay tuned while I remember. Meanwhile, we will add photos and info for next year on our website. Bookmark THIS.

The Passing of Miss Audrey Ladd

If it were not for Miss Audrey and her decade or more of work transcribing and helping her husband David, we would not have published and indexed the Bachelder Papers. Let that sink in for a moment.

Pop never met Audrey but they spoke on the phone and emailed often. I liked to listen from under the desk where I sleep. She was a dear--Pop liked her immediately. She was so excited that SB planned on reprinting the set because Morningside had only done a few hundred--four decades ago. She thought all of that work had been essentially wasted.

When her son David told Pop she had cancer, he planned to organize a large-scale "send a card to Audrey" campaign. Just as it was getting off the ground she died. It was all very fast.

During the Meetup at Gettysburg, Richard Hair was kind enough to bring his Bachelder Papers set out to Seminary Ridge. Pop had a photo taken for the family and Miss Sarah of our office suggested it be framed and sent to the family with a card. The family read the card and displayed the image at her interment.

Click HERE for a short obituary of Miss Audrey. I miss her already. Please feel free to leave a message on the guestbook about how much you are thankful for her work. That would mean a lot.

* * *

BOOK NEWS BOOK NEWS BOOK NEWS

It has been as always a busy month. New books, new announcements, new projects underway, and much more. Peruse the newsletter friends and enjoy.

Oh, almost forgot! I convinced Shadow the husky that one of Pop's prized peaches was up for grabs to eat. She loves fruit. So the not-so-smart huskey snuck onto the deck and lifted the ripe peach off the railing where it had been basking in the sun. Then, I told Mom. She told Pop.

Finally, the golden child is the Grounded Child.

Loving Woofs, as always,

Miss Kenya

PHOTE RECAP: 2022 Savas Beatie Meetup

Antietam & Gettysburg (August 12 - 14, 2022)

Join us next year?

Antietam Day 1: The Long March led by author and Antietam guide Tom Clemens.

Look at this attentive bunch of historians listening in during Chris Bryan's tour at Antietam. Well, except the guy wearing the Baltimore Ravens jersey looking off in the distance.

Day 2 Mingus's tour focused on the Confederate charge up East Cemetery Hill.

Many of our weekend authors gathered at The Heritage Center for talks, a panel discussion,

book signings, and photos.

Above: Harold Knudsen at the Heritage Center signing his new bestselling James Longstreet and the American Civil War: The Confederate General Who Fought the Next War book.

Below: Sunday morning began early with free bagels and coffee (courtesy of author Gerald Christensen) before the two tours on Seminary Ridge.

Authors Mike Harris (l) and Charlie Knight (r) get a chuckle watching Mark Wade stuff an entire slice of pizza in his mouth without taking a breath. If only Kenya had been there.

WE HAVE STRONG INTEREST AND WILL BE REPRINTING

THE GETTYSBURG PAPERS, 2 vols., &

THE ANTIETAM and GETTYSBURG OFFICIAL RECORDS

(2 & 3 vols., respectively)

Prices will be announced next week on the website.

GOOD NEWS! We have exceeded 125+ pre-orders for The Gettysburg Papers and the Antietam Official Records, and 100+ on the waitlist for a second printing of the Gettysburg Official Records. Thank you! All three are at the printer now.

Let's face it. The likelihood of another printing of any of these is exceedingly low. Get on board now. No commitment, no payment needed. Just tell us if you are interested in sending an email to books@savasbeatie.com. The price will be very fair and announced next week. We expect books about the end of the year.

If you would like a payment plan (no extra charge, pay over several months), no problem. Just tell us. Our goal is to get quality classics into your hands.

I get asked about retention value a lot on these sets. These limited sets generally do NOT fall in value. In fact, they almost always go up.

** The Antietam Official Records (2 vols.) **

** The Gettysburg Papers (2 vols.), edited by Ken Bandy **

As usual, there will be a small number of signed and #'d copies.

** The Gettysburg Official Records (3 vols.) **

WHY ANTIETAM, WHY NOW?

We have some major Antietam releases coming in 2023 & 2024, including The Ezra Carman Maryland Campaign Papers (2 vols), edited by Tom Clemens, which will completely reinvigorate the study of the campaign and make possible a host of new books and articles for the next generation. The Bachelder Papers on Gettysburg is an awesome collection (as many of you know). Believe it or not, The Carman Papers is better--and with a lot more Confederate material.

We also plan on publishing The Carman Maps in full color, so keep your TV dialed to this station. These are OMG amazing, with troop placement and movement all arranged by Carman himself after spending years speaking with veterans on both sides.

Add in 2-3 other Antietam titles, and you better have a set of the Antietam ORs at hand. As usual, we can only print a smallish run (250?) and the binding and paper will match your Gettysburg set.

IMPORTANT!

Please do not call our office for more info. We are still organizing the final touches,

and do not yet have pricing in place. We will announce the details soon on our

Facebook page, on the Savas Beatie website, and in future emails.

Just send an email: books@savasbeatie.com

NEW RELEASES

The Battle of Jackson, Mississippi, May 14, 1863 by author Chris Mackowski

T hirteen Months in Dixie, or, the Adventures of a Federal Prisoner in Texas: Including the Red River Campaign, Imprisonment at Camp Ford, and Escape Overland to Liberated Shreveport, 1864-1865 by editors Jeaninne Honstein and Steven Knowlton

Call the office at 916-941-6896, visit our website, or email us to order your copy.

RELEASES THIS MONTH!

WATCH FOR THE SPECIAL SIGNING EMAIL PROMOTION.

Two outrageously good books, world's apart in difference.

Click HERE for details!

The definitive study of the march to Gettysburg by two of the campaign's experts.

Volume 1 of 2

SIGNED BY BOTH AUTHORS

A monumental Ph.D. dissertation resurrected from undeserved obscurity, expertly edited and additionally annotated by Michael Forsyth.

SIGNED BY THE EDITOR

Click HERE for details!

Might be Mr. Savas's Book of the Year pick

5 "Things" with Author Steve Cowie

This month, our Five Things column features author Steve Cowie whose When Hell Came to Sharpsburg, was released in July 2022. Here, Steve shares five facts he discovered while researching and compiling this book.

Take it away, Steve. . .

1.) This project took eighteen years to research and write.

2.) As part of my research, I located and analyzed 3,000 pages of Antietam-related war claims and congressional cases at the National Archives. Some of the envelopes had been sealed since the 1870s, but NARA’s conservation department kindly agreed to open them.

3.) The manuscript’s working title was Ravages of War, a phrase found in several primary sources describing the misfortunes of Sharpsburg civilians.

4.) The Battle of Antietam and its aftermath impacted more than 100 farms within a five-mile radius of the battlefield and several dozen households in the villages of Sharpsburg and Keedysville.

5.) Thousands of Confederate and Federal soldiers were bivouacked in the Sharpsburg area at various times in 1863 and 1864. These forces and their animals appropriated or destroyed copious amounts of resources in the community, inflicting setbacks on families struggling to recover from Antietam.

Click here to preview Steve's work.

A Look Inside a Library . . .

One of our most popular features: A Look Inside a Library continues with author Charlie Knight (author of From Arlington to Appomattox) sharing his library photos and answering a few of our questions.

1) How old were you when you got the Civil War "bug" and when did you begin collecting Civil War books? I don’t recall exactly how old I was, but it must have been around 3^rd or 4^th grade. My Dad took me to Petersburg – my first ever visit to a battlefield. In 4^th grade, we had to write a book and the result was my first CW book about the Crater, complete with my own illustrations. (Publishing rights are still up for grabs, just sayin…)

I remember getting the Golden Book of the Civil War either on or shortly after that Petersburg trip – I loved those maps or whatever you want to call them, showing the individual soldiers. That was the initial catalyst. In middle school, a teacher recommended Killer Angels to me.

After reading that, I started collecting any and every CW book I can find. As memory serves, the first two I got after that were Landscape Turned Red and George Stewart’s book on Pickett’s Charge. Doesn’t everybody in high school spend all their money on CW books?

2) How many books do you have and how do you organize your library? I’ve got around 3,200 books, not including the ORs, Southern Historical Society Papers, or any of the other multi-volume sets. More than half of that is Civil War books, which I organize along the lines of biography, letters/memoirs, battles, unit histories, naval, and misc. In addition to CW I’ve got about 350 volumes on Virginia, 200 on railroads, 150-ish on North Carolina, and about 200 volumes on WWII. I use librarything.com to keep track of what I’ve got.

3) I have the most books on... Out of the CW collection, I’ve got nearly 200 Confederate memoirs, diaries, or collections of letters, not including regimental histories written by veterans. Titles relating to Robert E Lee are a close second, clocking in at just shy of 150.

4) If you had to pick a special favorite collectible/rare/special book in your collection, what is it and how did you come to acquire it? That would be 1st edition of Jefferson Davis’s Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government that my now-wife gave me upon graduating college.

5) I collect Civil War books because... I am fascinated by this part of American history and want to learn as much about it as possible and make my own contributions to the field.

6) Anything else? I DO NOT recommend packing up a several thousand volume library and moving it across the country, not once but twice. As you can see from the photo, unpacking and re-organizing is quite the task. And there’s never, ever enough shelf space, which is why I’ve got books in just about every room of the house.

Titles Now Available Digitally!

Dreams of Victory: General P. G. T. Beauregard in the Civil War

by author Sean Michael Chick

James Longstreet and the American Civil War: The Confederate General Who Fought the Next War

by author Harold Knudsen

Look Who's Out and About

It was another busy month of events for Savas Beatie authors, the hardest working writers in the industry! Check out where they signed and presented their books.

Did you know you can bookmark our Author Event Calendar? Click HERE.

During the 160th Anniversary of the Battle of Cedar Mountain, Michael Block author of The Carnage Was Fearful, was joined by fellow ECW and Savas Beatie authors Rob Orrison (left) and Dan Welch (right).

Authors Leon Reed and Lois Lembo presented their book, “A Combat Engineer with Patton’s Army: The Fight Across Europe with the 80th “Blue Ridge” Division in World War II” at the 103rd Annual Reunion of the 80th Division Veterans Association in Richmond, VA. Seen above is WWII veteran Burt Marsh of the 319th infantry regiment, president of the association.

Welcomed by a very large audience, author Steve Cowie gave his first talk on his new book, When Hell Came to Sharpsburg. Thanks to the Jacob Rohrbach Inn for hosting Mr. Cowie and for the photo!

Look at the proud smiles on the faces of co-editors Jeaninne Honstein (above) and Steve Knowlton (below) after receiving copies of their new book, Thirteen Months in Dixie, or, the Adventures of a Federal Prisoner in Texas.

Excerpt Central

Did you know we have excerpts posted on our website? Here are a few, and from now on we will have a list right here for you to view. Happy previewing!