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Lot 153:1st Printing of Star Spangled Banner

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Lot  153:1st Printing of Star Spangled Banner
<b>Autographs</b><hr><b>First Printing of 'The Star Spangled Banner'
In An American Magazine</b>

<b>(FRANCIS SCOTT KEY), Author of 'The Star Spangled Banner.'</b>
'The Defence of Fort MÕHenry,' on pages 433 and 434 of 'The Analectic Magazine,' Vol. IV, November issue, 1814, Philadelphia: Van Winkle & Wiley, 8.5' x 5.5', Very Good. Calf and marbled boards rubbed and worn, gilt lettering on spine, 496 pages, Moderate foxing throughout; various names and notations on front and back end pages; last five pages are partially lacking; pages 173/174 are missing, and a couple of other pages are torn, not affecting the pages of the poem which became 'The Star Spangled Banner.' The volume contains magazine issues for August -December, 1814. The November issue contains the first magazine printing (after three previous newspaper appearances) of the words to 'The Star Spangled Banner,' under the title 'Defence of Fort MÕHenry.' Its first publication in a book did not occur until later in the year. The editor states that 'these lines' had previously been printed in several newspapers, but 'their merit entitles them to preservation in some more permanent form.' All four verses of the poem were printed, with the note 'Tune--Anacreon in Heaven,' the English drinking song composed by John Stafford Smith in the late eighteenth century. A rare early rendering of the American National Anthem.