“The following unpretending narrative of some of the actual experiences of a boy in the War of the Rebellion is fraternally dedicated to my comrades of the G.A.R.
Part of these adventures were recorded in the press of the country at the time of their occurrence, and more recently in a crude form, as a serial in a weekly paper.
Through the kindness of many friends, and especially that of my relative comrade, Col. J.H. Madden of Danville, Illinois, the revised and corrected Story is now offered to the public from the original notes and [manuscripts]” (from the Preface by the Author)
- Title: The Boy Spy: A Substantially True Record of Events During the War of the Rebellion; The Only Practical History of War Telegraphers in the Field—A full account of the Mysteries of Signalling(sic) by Flags, Torches, and Rockets—Thrilling Scenes of Battles, Captures and Escapes
- Author: Major J.O. Kerby
- Publisher: Belford, Clarke & Co.
- Place: Chicago
- Year: 1889
- Edition: First Edition
- Length: 556pp
- Dimensions: 75” x 8” x 1.75”
- Condition: The cover appears to be a private library binding. It is leather bound with gilt titles on black fields on the spine. The leather is worn, soiled, and pock marked with age. Pieces of the leather are flaking away, particularly along the edges and hinges. Most of the bottom quarter of the spine is gone. The binding is tight. No pages are missing. The endpapers are brittle and quite brown, much more tanned than the pages of the text block. The text block is generally clean. Its edges are marbled. There are no folds, tears, or marginalia. A stamp for the Boston publisher Bardwell, Blackmer & Co. sits on the title pages, and a stamp for an “agent” J.A. Fuller is on the verso. Black in illustrations are interspersed throughout the text.