Within eight years of the death of George Washington in 1799, the first major biography of 'the father of his country' was written by John Marshall and published in five volumes. This, the twentieth and final version of the abridgement, published in 1849, is the text reproduced in the new Liberty Fund edition of what Charles A Beard has praised as a 'great' and 'masterly' biography. The editors' foreword and notes, together with maps of major battle campaigns not included in the original edition, make this edition especially attractive for students.