Beschreibung:

GRANT, Ulysses S. Manuscript document signed ("U. S. Grant"), CO-SIGNED BY ADAM BADEAU ("Adam Badeau"), a memorandum agreement between Grant and Badeau, signed by Grant 7 February 1885 and by Badeau on 2 March 1885, on payments in connection with Grant's Memoirs. 2 pages, 8vo, small closed tear, remnants of tipping along left edge .
GRANT, Ulysses S. Manuscript document signed ("U. S. Grant"), CO-SIGNED BY ADAM BADEAU ("Adam Badeau"), a memorandum agreement between Grant and Badeau, signed by Grant 7 February 1885 and by Badeau on 2 March 1885, on payments in connection with Grant's Memoirs. 2 pages, 8vo, small closed tear, remnants of tipping along left edge . GRANT PAYS BADEAU FOR THE DAMAGE INFLICTED BY THE PUBLICATION OF THE IMMENSELY POPULAR PERSONAL MEMOIRS A bitter quarrel lay behind the creation of this agreement--one that would continue even after Grant's death: "In consideration of the fact that the book which I am now engaged upon will be in competition with Badeau's History of my Campaigns, which was written with my consent and with the expectation that it would take the place of all I would have to say on the subject; in further consideration of the fact that I shall use maps which he had prepared with great care, and at great expense, as the basis of my maps; in further consideration of the assistance which he is to give, in the preparation of my forthcoming book, I have voluntarily stipulated as as [sic] small compensation for his various services rendered to me, proposed and to propose and bind myself, to give him, General Badeau, Five thousand dollars (5,000) from the first twenty thousand dollars (20,000) realized from the sale of my book, and an additional five thousand dollars (5,000) from the next ten thousand dollars (10,000) so realized." Grant signed on 7 February 1885. A month later Badeau adds his signature, and records the receipt of Grant's first payment: "Received of Genl. U. S. Grant $250, my share of $1,000 received by him this day on account of his book. 3 East 66th St. New York. March 2, 1885." Badeau had labored for 15 years on his 3 volume Military History of Ulysses S. Grant , with Grant's close collaboration and approval. The first volume appeared in 1868 with the last two coming out in 1881. Grant intended that to be his authorized biography, but bankruptcy and Mark Twain famously intervened to change the General's plans. Badeau all too accurately foresaw the Personal Memoirs dooming his own book's salability. Nobody would want to read Badeau on Grant when they could read Grant on Grant. Badeau edited and corrected what Grant had written for the Memoir thus far, but he was in no way the ghostwriter or collaborator on the work. What he read, however, convinced him that sales would likely go far higher than the $30,000 envisioned in this agreement. With Grant failing badly, Badeau proposed a new arrangement in April 1885: he would complete the work at the price of $1,000 a month, plus 10 of the profits. Grant found the offer presumptuous, and he was even more annoyed by press leaks that painted Badeau as the true author of the forthcoming work. Grant broke off relations with his long-time aide and refused to pay him the $10,000 called for here. And when the sales of the Memoirs skyrocketed past $30,000--they eventually brought $450,000 for the Grant family--Badeau sued to get his money. Eventually Mrs. Grant paid him the originally agreed upon $10,000 plus interest of $1,200 (see Brooks D. Simpson article on Badeau in American National Biography).