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A Noteworthy Collection of American Historical Prints
We begin this auction with a noteworthy collection of historical prints which spins a narrative of America stretching from the arrival of Columbus to the start of the Civil War. This collection was compiled over the past three decades by a Virginia gentleman, buying mostly from the leading dealers and auction houses in the field.
Here you can find famed rarities such as the 1776 London engraving of the Romans view of Bunker Hill (lot 22, only one seen at auction since 1973); unknown gems such as the Battle of Buena Vista lithographed by Frances Palmer (lot 106, none traced in OCLC); beautiful copies of old favorites including the southeast and southwest views of Manhattan from the 1768 Scenographia Americana series (lots 6 and 7); at least one previously unknown item, a circa 1832 printing of the Constitution featuring a portrait of Washington (lot 60); and a few bargains to catch the attention of all ranks of collectors.
Dramatic battle scenes (land and sea) alternate with portraiture of the founding fathers, city views, and a thought-provoking section of allegorical prints which reflect on independent America’s new place in the world after the Revolution. A small selection of important illustrated books and pamphlets on the Revolution (lots 15, 25, 26, 40, and 50) complements the mezzotints, etchings, lithographs, and copper engravings.
The collection begins with 13 prints representing the colonial era, including city views and scenes from the French and Indian War, lots 1 to 13.
1
John raphael smith, engraver; after joseph wright.
The Widow of an Indian Chief Watching the Arms of Her Deceas’d Husband.
London: J.R. Smith, 29 January 1789
Mezzotint, 20 x 26½ inches; moderate edge wear, light creasing.
The first engraving of a much-beloved 1784 painting, usually known by the simpler title “Indian Widow,” which is now in the Derby Museum in England. It was likely inspired by a passage on Muscogee and Chickasaw funerary rites in James Adair’s 1775 “History of the American Indians,” page 187: “If he was a war-leader, she is obliged for the first moon, to sit in the day-time under his mourning war-pole, which is decked with all his martial trophies, and must be heard to cry with bewailing notes. . . . They are allowed no shade, or shelter.” A stormy coastline and raging volcano can be seen in the background.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
2
david edwin, engraver; after edward savage.
The Landing of Christopher Columbus.
Philadelphia: Edward Savage, 1 January 1800
Engraving, 31¾ x 22½ inches, with large margins; moderate foxing, 4-inch closed tear and other minor wear in margin, laid down on modern foam board.
The evocative full caption reads “On the morning of October 12th 1492, Columbus richly dress’d with a drawn sword in his hand first set his foot on the New World which he had discover’d” (paraphrasing from Elhanan Winchester’s 1792 “Oration on the Discovery of America”). Savage’s source is said to be “the original picture in the collection of the Grand Duke of Tuscany.”
Estimate
$500 – $750
3
john hall, engraver; after west.
William Penn’s Treaty with the Indians, when he Founded the Province of Pensylvania.
London: John Boydell, 12 June 1775
Hand-colored etching, 19¾ x 24¾ inches; light wear and conservation in margins, image area clean, laid down on modern stiff paper.
“One of the best-known prints of a Philadelphia scene”–Snyder, City of Independence, page 252. Thomas Penn, son of William, commissioned the painting and engraving to help bolster his family’s reputation. Fowble 130.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
4
james moore, engraver; after giacomo amiconi.
America! of Wealth thou Modern Mine.
London: Robert Sayer, circa 1760-65
Mezzotint, 14½ x 10¾ inches; dampstaining in caption area, moderate edge soiling, 4 pinholes (one in image), small repair in lower left corner.
Second state, issued by Sayer alone, from a series of mezzotints titled “Quarters of the World.” Its allegorical America is a bearded man wearing a goat skin (head still attached) and feathered head-dress, while brandishing an arrow and what appears to be a gold ingot. Other important American trade products such as palm trees, hammocks and crocodiles are depicted. It is captioned with an original bit of verse: “America! of Wealth thou modern Mine / What if by conquest we possess thy Shore / Thy Savages reveng’d should less repine / Since we’re the Slaves of thy corrupting Ore.” Sayer issued other prints with the “Fetter Lane, opposite Fleet Street” imprint from at least 1748 onward; this series was listed in his 1766 sale catalog.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
5
[after george heap.]
The East Prospect of the City of Philadelphia in the Province of Pennsylvania.
[London, October 1761]
Hand-colored engraving, 7½ x 21 inches; vertical folds as issued, light toning, repaired diagonal tear, laid down on modern board.
This view had a long history. The proprietor of Pennsylvania, Thomas Penn, wanted an engraved view of his bustling young city. Several artists tried and failed to capture the scene from across the river before mapmaker George Heap completed his 7-foot drawing in 1752. The resulting engraving was majestically detailed but too large to be conveniently displayed. A 3-foot version was engraved in 1756, followed by this unofficial adaptation of the second version which was issued as a plate in the London Magazine in October 1761. It features insets of the State House and battery. Snyder, City of Independence, 25 and pages 42-47, 57-58.
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
6
pierre canot, engraver; after thomas howdell.
A South West View of the City of New York, in North America.
London: John Bowles, circa 1768
Engraving, 16¾ x 23 inches, on laid paper, with caption in English and French; minimal wear.
This view from the southern part of Manhattan shows the island’s densely populated southern tip to the right, Governor’s Island (here “Nutting Island”) at center, Staten Island in the far distance, and a bit of Brooklyn (“Long Island”) to the far left. A brewery is seen in the foreground. Published as part of the Scenographia Americana series. Cresswell 552. Provenance: Old Print Shop.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
7
pierre canot, engraver; after thomas howdell.
A South East View of the City of New York.
London: John Bowles, circa 1768
Engraving, 16¾ x 23 inches, on laid paper, with caption in English and French; minimal wear.
A bucolic view of farm pastures in lower Manhattan. The main building seen in the distance is King’s College Hall, which then housed New York’s recently launched first college–now Columbia University. The key here describes it simply as “New Colledge.” Behind it is the first Trinity Church. In the distance to the right is the wilderness of Staten Island. Published as part of the Scenographia Americana series. Cresswell 551. Provenance: Old Print Shop.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
8
(french & indian war.) pierre canot, engraver; after ince.
A View of Louisburg in North America . . . when that City was Besieged.
London: John Bowles, et al., circa 1768
Engraving, 16½ x 22 inches; minimal foxing in lower margin, manuscript “8” in upper corner.
Issued as part of the Scenographia Americana series, this view depicts the Siege of Louisbourg early in the French and Indian War in 1758, as seen by a British captain from his position looking across the harbor toward the town and French fortress. It is captioned in English and French, with a six-point key.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
9
(french & indian war.) purcell, engraver; after reynolds.
Sir Jeffrey Amherst . . . Commander in Chief of His Majesty’s Forces in North America.
[London: Ryland and Bryer, 1766]
Mezzotint, 13½ x 9½ inches; tightly trimmed within platemark, mount remnants on verso, minor dampstaining, ¼-inch of fill in upper left corner.
Jeffrey Amherst (1717-1797) was a British army officer who was victorious at Louisbourg in 1758, and then became commander in chief of the army in North America through the successful conclusion of the French and Indian War. In this portrait, he wears full armor, with his helmet resting on a map of Montreal. This is apparently a later state from the example held by the British Museum, with lines added for emphasis in the head and hands. Chaloner Smith, page 1008 (not noting later state).
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
10
(french & indian war.) william elliot, engraver; after smith.
A View of the Fall of Montmorenci and the Attack made by General Wolfe
London: T. Jefferys, 5 November 1760
(caption in English and French). Hand-colored etching, 15 x 21¾ inches; moderate wear including 1½-inch repaired closed tear, other short tears in margin, light creases in image, mat toning.
A view of the Battle of Beauport (or Montmorency) in the French and Indian War, in which British forces under General Wolfe were driven off a few miles short of Quebec City. It was originally drawn by a British officer at the scene, Captain Hervey Smith. A key identifies the British naval vessels, their advancing troops on the beach-head, the French camp, Quebec in the far distance, and more. This is the apparent first issue; it was later reprinted for Scenographia Americana in 1768, with several publishers listed in the imprint line. Cresswell 369 (the later issue). None traced at auction since 1965.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
11
(french & indian war.) william woollett, engraver; after west.
The Death of General Wolfe.
London: Wollett, Boydell, & Ryland, 1 January 1776
Hand-colored engraving, 19 x 24 inches; minor edge wear, a few minor repairs in image area. With original engraved key sheet, 5½ x 7 inches, minor wear.
First completed state after the proof. One of the best engravings of Benjamin West’s popular historical painting depicting General James Wolfe’s death at the 1759 Battle of Quebec. None others with the accompanying key traced at auction. Fagan, Works of Woollett XCIII.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
12
(french & indian war.) juste chevillet, engraver; after watteau
Mort du Marquis de Montcalm Gozon.
Paris: Fournisseur, circa 1770s?
Engraving, 22½ x 28¼ inches; mat staining, wear and conservation in margins, image area largely clean, backed with modern paper.
The composition was likely inspired by Benjamin West’s much-loved 1770 painting “The Death of General Wolfe,” set at the 1759 Battle of Quebec. Wolfe’s French counterpart Montcalm also suffered a mortal injury that day. While West’s painting took a few liberties with the historical facts, this one goes a bit farther, as Montcalm had been badly wounded on the retreat from the Plains of Abraham, but made it back within the city walls on horseback and did not die until the next morning. Palm trees are also notably in short supply in Quebec.
Estimate
$600 – $900
13
(french & indian war.) james mcardell, engraver; after hudson.
The Hon’ble Robert Monckton, Major General, Governor of New York.
[London?], circa 1762-65
Mezzotint, 15¾ x 11 inches; trimmed to plate mark, laid down on board.
Robert Monckton was an important British leader in the French and Indian War, serving directly under Wolfe at the Battle of Quebec, and leading the capture of Martinique in 1762.
Estimate
$600 – $900
Lots 14 through 37 tell the story of the American Revolution, from three depictions of the Boston Massacre, the opening salvos of Lexington and Bunkers Hill, the victory of John Paul Jones at Flamborough Head, through the British surrender at Yorktown.
14
(revolution–prelude.) [after benjamin wilson.]
The Repeal, or The Funeral of Miss Ame-stamp.
[London: Carington Bowles, circa March 1766]
Etching, 9¾ x 13¾ inches; minimal wear and light toning, mount remnants on verso.
An engraving celebrating the repeal of the Stamp Act, with a pro-trade and pro-American message. A group of bumbling Stamp Act supporters mourn the repeal in the foreground; note the dog urinating on the leg of their leader. In the background, several warehouses full of English trade goods are now ready for shipment to America, while a box of “Stamps from America” has just been returned. At least three publishers issued their own versions of this popular cartoon; the present plate is also seen without the caption but with an imprint line from publisher Carington Bowles. Cresswell 624; Fowble 86.
Estimate
$4,000 – $6,000
15
(revolution–prelude.)
A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre in Boston.
London: E. and C. Dilly, 1770
Frontispiece plate. 166 pages. 8vo, attractive modern gilt ½ morocco, minimal wear; frontispiece trimmed touching three letters in caption only, with faint offsetting to title page; bookplate on front pastedown.
English edition. About as fresh a copy of this important book as you are likely to find. The etched frontispiece after Paul Revere depicts the infamous massacre, with the victims including Crispus Attucks named in the caption. Adams, American Controversy 70-5d; Church 1078n; Howes B632 (“b”); Sabin 80672.
Provenance: private library of James S. Copley; Sotheby’s Copley sale, 14 April 2010, lot 25, to the consignor.
With–Additional Observations to a Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre in Boston. 12 pages. 8vo, modern ½ morocco; minimal wear to contents; Copley bookplate on front pastedown. Boston, 1770. Evans 11583; Sabin 6741.
Estimate
$12,000 – $18,000
16
(revolution–prelude.) [stratton], engraver; after revere.
The Bloody Massacre Perpetrated in King-Street, Boston.
Boston, 1832
Hand-colored engraving, 13¾ x 10¾ inches, on heavy wove paper; 3 short repaired tears, toning.
William F. Stratton’s accomplished and honest facsimile of Paul Revere’s famous 1770 engraving of the Boston Massacre, with an imprint line added for transparency. “It copied the original Revere print as faithfully as any engraver could copy it”–Brigham, Revere pages 71 and 76.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
17
(revolution–prelude.) bufford, lithographer; after champney.
Boston Massacre, March 5th 1770.
Boston: Henry Q. Smith, 1856
Chromolithograph, 22 x 27¾ inches; skillfully repaired 4-inch closed tear in margin and sky, minor edge wear, light mat toning, laid down on modern paper.
Issued as the abolition movement was reaching its peak, this composition places Crispus Attucks front and center in this seminal moment in the nation’s founding. Armed only with a club, he is about to be run through by a British soldier’s bayonet. Champney’s 1855 drawing, though created more than 80 years after the event, was the first image to acknowledge the historical fact of Attucks at the massacre. While the background is largely faithful to Paul Revere’s depiction, here the colonists are engaging directly with the British rather than being gunned down at a distance. See Tom Gearty in “Acquired Tastes: 200 Years of Collecting for the Boston Athenaeum,” pages 296-8.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
18
(revolution–prelude.)
The Able Doctor, or America Swallowing the Bitter Draught.
[London, May 1774]
Engraving, 5 x 7½ inches; minor creasing and soiling, pencil memoranda on verso.
A satirical British reaction to the Boston Tea Party, as published in the London Magazine and soon copied by Paul Revere. An American Indian is attacked by four British ministers, who forcibly pour tea down her throat. “A Frenchman and Spaniard look on, while Britannia weeps. In the foreground a Boston Petition lies torn on the ground, and in the background the British fleet is bombarding Boston”–Cresswell 664 (“another impression”). Shadwell 38; see also Brigham’s Revere, pages 117-118. Provenance: Swann sale, 18 March 2010, lot 32.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
19
(revolution–prelude.) [carl guttenberg, artist.]
The Tea-Tax-Tempest, or The Anglo-American Revolution.
[Nuremberg or Paris, 1778]
Engraving, 16¼ x 19 inches, with title in English, German, and French; minor foxing and minimal wear.
Allegorical image of Father Time projecting a view with a magic lantern showing Indians and American patriots pursuing red-coats, with a bonfire of tax-stamped documents used to boil a teapot. The scene is viewed with wonder by women representing the four continents: America, Africa, Europe and Asia. British Museum Satires 5490; Fowble 99.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
20
(revolution.)
His Most Excellent Majesty George the IIId, King of Great Britain / Her Most Excellent Majesty Charlotte,
London: Carington Bowles, 4 June 1783 and 3 August 1775
Queen of Great Britain. Pair of hand-colored mezzotints, 14¼ x 10¼ inches; toned, moderate wear, George spot-mounted to modern mat board.
King George III is best known, of course, for presiding over the loss of the American colonies in the Revolution. Queen Charlotte is sometimes credited as the first English royal to have African ancestry; her claim was in the news four years ago when Meghan Markle became Duchess of Sussex.
Estimate
$300 – $400
21
Cornelius tiebout, engraver; after tisdale.
Battle of Lexington.
New York: C. & A. Tiebout, 1 January 1798
Hand-colored engraving, 18 x 21¾ inches, on laid paper with Van Gelder watermark; mat toning, moderate foxing, tape mount remnants on top edge.
An inspired re-imagining of the Battle of Lexington. To the right, two farmers seem to be drawn into the fight–an older man shoots from the door of his house, while a young man in the foreground abandons his plow and tells his sweetheart his services are needed on the front line. Tiebout is described by Deak as “the first American-born engraver to produce really meritorious work.” This print was produced as part of a never-completed series titled “The Columbian War, or Battles for American Independence.” Deak, Picturing America 141; Fowble 306; Stauffer 3213.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
22
Bernard romans, artist.
An Exact View of the Late Battle at Charlestown, June 17th, 1775.
London: Wallis & Stonehouse, 4 June 1776
Engraving, 14 x 20 inches; pinholes in corners, mount remnants on verso, early manuscript “29” in corner; a clean and strong impression.
Bernard Romans (circa 1720-1784) was present at the Battle of Bunker Hill as an artillery captain, applying his expertise as a mapmaker and engineer to the task of recording the scene for posterity. He also engraved the original version of this print, which was announced in Philadelphia in September 1775 along with a smaller “Correct View” engraved by Aitken for the Pennsylvania Magazine. The present edition, a close copy of the Romans original, was engraved in London 9 months later. The key indicates the city of Boston, the burning buildings of Charlestown, General Putnam rallying the rebel troops on horseback atop Breed’s Hill, and the British regulars retreating amid heavy losses.
“Romans undoubtedly designed this striking scene from his eyewitness view of the Battle of Breed’s Hill”–Shadwell 55. Fowble 108 (“technically an improvement upon the original engraving”); Stauffer 2732 (calls this version “very much better engraved”). Provenance: Shreve, Crump & Low in Boston.
One of the original Philadelphia edition and none of this London edition in OCLC, although Colonial Williamsburg holds an example. One other example of either large-format edition traced at auction since 1973, a hand-colored example which brought €120,000 in 2005.
Estimate
$40,000 – $60,000
23
J.g. müller, engraver; after john trumbull.
The Battle at Bunker’s Hill near Boston.
London: A.C. de Poggi, 1798
Engraving, 22¼ x 30¾ inches to sight; toned, 2 small punctures in image area, laid down on board, not examined out of mat.
The young nation’s best-known artist depicts the first important battle of the Revolution. “An impressive work, most carefully and elaborately engraved”–American Battle Art 16.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
24
J.t. clemens, engraver; after john trumbull.
The Death of General Montgomery in the Attack of Quebec.
London: A. C. de Poggi, et al., circa 1830s
Hand-colored engraving, 23 x 31½ inches; 6-inch closed tear in lower left, light wear and soiling and some conservation in margins, laid down on stiff modern paper.
A later printing of a dramatic Revolutionary War view. We find no other examples with this imprint line, “London: Published by A.C. de Poggi, New Bond St. by Justin Carpenter, N. York, and Horace Billings & Co., Canada.” De Poggi’s original London printing was in 1794, but Carpenter and Billings co-published the Encyclopedia Americana in 1834.
Estimate
$500 – $750
25
[thomas anburey.]
Travels through the Interior Parts of America.
London: William Lane, 1791
Folding map with hand-colored routes, 6 plates. xii, 414; [4], 492 pages. 2 volumes. 8vo, contemporary tree calf, moderate wear, joints starting; with half-titles; foxing and 3-inch repaired closed tear to map; 1815 inscription on front free endpaper.
Second edition of this well-illustrated military history and travel book. Anburey describes his services as a lieutenant under Burgoyne in the British Army, his capture at Saratoga, and his time as a “Convention Army” prisoner of war in Virginia and Maryland. Howes calls for 7 plates, apparently in error; the plate list calls for 6, as seen in all other copies we’ve traced. Clark, Old South I:192; Howes A226; Sabin 1366.
Estimate
$500 – $750
26
[edmund burke?]
An Impartial History of the War in America.
London: Printed for R. Faulder, 1780
Folding map, 13 portrait plates. xi, [1], 608, 44 pages. 8vo, contemporary ½ calf, minor wear including rubbing to front joint and light wear to ends of backstrip; offsetting from plates and occasional toning, minimal wear to contents; edges tinted red.
This book is an early British history of the Revolution through 1779, adapted from the accounts in the Annual Register and often attributed to the pro-American political philosopher. It is best known for its portrait plates of William Howe, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, “A Real American Rifle Man,” George Washington, Benedict Arnold, “Robert” [Esek] Hopkins, Charles Lee, Richard Howe, Israel Putnam, Benjamin Franklin, David Wooster, and Horatio Gates. “Contains in the most concise form the most able, impartial, and authentic history of the dispute which can be found”–Smyth, Lectures on Modern History. Adams, American Controversy 80-45; Church 1171; Howes B975 (“aa”); Sabin 34375. Provenance: Winkworth Collection; sold at Christie’s South Kensington to the consignor, 1 April 2015, lot 97.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
27
(revolution.)
[A Picturesque View of the State of the Nation for 1778.]
[France, circa 1780?]
Engraving, 8¾ x 12¼ inches; moderate toning; moderate wear and repairs to corners.
While a distraught Englishman wrings his hands and a British lion sleeps, a cow representing British commerce is being exploited by its enemies. An American saws off one of its horns, it is milked by a Dutchman, and a Frenchman and a Spaniard stand by with bowls of milk. Philadelphia looms in the background. This composition initially appeared in Westminster Magazine in February 1778, and was frequently re-engraved in this period. The present version was issued without a date or credit line, but has a lengthy caption in French beginning “La Vache a Lait, Représente le Commerce de la Grande-Bretagne.” It can be distinguished by other versions by the tears in the Englishman’s eyes. Cresswell 781a.
Estimate
$600 – $900
28
Fittler & lerpinière, engravers; after paton.
Pair of naval views, including the great victory of John Paul Jones.
London: John Boydell, 12 December 1780 copyright (early restrikes)
Hand-colored engravings, 19½ x 23 inches, with titles and captions in English and French, restrikes on 1830 Whatman paper; minimal wear except for a 4-inch repaired closed tear to the second print.
The first of these paired prints, issued in the same format and on the same date, is “The Memorable Engagement of Captn. Pearson of the Serapis, with Paul Jones of the Bon Homme Richard & his Squadron, Sep. 23 1779.” It is a British depiction of one of the Battle of Flamborough Head, one of the great American naval victories of the war, spinning the defeated HMS Serapis as having “saved the Baltic fleet under his convoy, tho’ obliged to submit to a much superior force.” It was this battle in which John Paul Jones is said to have uttered the immortal words “I have not yet begun to fight.” This print shows the battered Serapis near the end of the fight, with its mast blown off and two crew members clinging to it in the water.
Also included is the “The Distressed Situation of the Quebec & the Surveillante, a French Ship of War . . . 6th of October 1779.” This lesser-known battle between the British ship Quebec and a French naval vessel attempting to break blockade. The scene depicted is yet more dramatic than the Flamborough Head view, with the ruins of the Quebec in flames as the desperate crew takes to the water.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
29
J. peltro, engraver; after robert dodd.
. . . Gallant Defence of Captn. Pearson . . . against Paul Jones’s Squadron.
[London: John Harris, 1 December 1781]
Engraving, 13¼ x 18¼ inches; cropped and worn along lower edge with partial loss of caption.
A contemporary depiction of the Battle of Flamborough Head, in which the USS Bonhomme Richard defeated HMS Serapis. It was this battle where John Paul Jones was credited with the famous words of defiance, “I have not yet begun to fight!” Here we see the Serapis and Bonhomme Richard lashed together in a death grip while the French-captained USS Alliance pours heavy fire into both of them. Both sides regarded the battle as a victory. This British print expresses gratitude to the captain of the Serapis for successfully covering the escape of a British merchant convoy. Provenance: Swann sale, 2 October 2012, lot 101.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
30
J. caldwall, engraver; after george carter.
The Engagement between the Quebec Frigate . . . and the Surveillante Frigate.
London: George Carter, 1 October 1780
Engraving, 20 x 25 inches to sight; foxing and toning, early conservation at edges, 9-inch repaired closed tear in image, backed by linen and laid into an overmat at an early date.
This naval battle was part of the American Revolution, though it took place far from American shores and did not involve an American ship. The British navy was blockading France in retaliation for French support of the rebels. On 6 October 1779, off the French island of Ushant, two French naval vessels engaged with a British frigate Quebec, which was lost in a powder magazine explosion. The desperate British survivors are seen here fleeing the burning wreck.
Estimate
$200 – $300
31
J.r. smith, engraver.
Engraving of Banastre Tarleton after the portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
London: J.R. Smith, 11 October 1782
Mezzotint, 26 x 17 inches; repaired closed 1-inch puncture and 4-inch scratch in image area, light mat toning, light wear on bottom edge, mount remnants on verso.
A period portrait of the British cavalry colonel, best known as commander of the unit which massacred the surrendered American troops at the Battle of Waxhaws.
Estimate
$600 – $900
32
John sartain, engraver; after john b. white.
Gen. Marion in his Swamp Encampment Inviting a British Officer for Dinner.
[New York: Apollo Association for the Promotion of the Fine Arts, 1841]
Mezzotint, 21¼ x 24½ inches plus worn additional margins wrapped around; laid down on linen at early date and mounted on stretcher; uneven toning, dampstaining in margins, 3 punctures in image.
The first print issued by what became the American Art-Union. It illustrates a story first set to print by Parson Weems in 1809 (the biographer who also brought us Washington and the cherry tree), in which a British officer visited Marion’s camp to discuss an exchange of prisoners, and was treated to a crude dinner of sweet potatoes.
Estimate
$200 – $300
33
Alfred jones, et al., engravers; after durand.
The Capture of Major Andre.
New York: American Art Union, 1846
Hand-colored engraving, 19½ x 23 inches; wide margins, light mat toning, 5-inch repaired closed tear extending slightly into image, other minor repairs in margins.
Estimate
$200 – $300
34
Edwin, engraver; after warrell and barralet.
. . . Peter Francisco’s Gallant Action with Nine of Tarleton’s Cavalry.
Philadelphia: James Webster, 1 December 1814
Hand-colored engraving, 23½ x 32 inches; minor edge wear including 2 short repaired tears, light mat toning, mount remnants on verso.
Depicts the legendary Portuguese-American soldier single-handedly driving off a detachment of nine of Tarleton’s raiders in Virginia in July 1781. It is embellished with a small Stuart portrait of Washington in the caption area. American Battle Art 26; Hart 368.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
35
(revolution.)
Plan of the Siege of Yorktown in Virginia.
London, 1 March 1787
Engraved map, 17 x 20¼ inches, with hand-colored troop movements; folds as issued, light mat toning, worn in right margin.
A plate from “Tarleton’s History of the Campaigns of 1780 and 1781.”
Estimate
$300 – $400
36
James heath, engraver; after robert smirke.
Cornwallis Resigning his Sword to Washington.
[Philadelphia: Fry & Rittenhouse, 1807]
Engraving, 14¼ x 10¾ inches; minimal wear and soiling; untrimmed.
This plate was also used to illustrate the 1807 first edition of Joel Barlow’s epic poem of the Revolution, “Columbiad” (facing page 278), although the present untrimmed example was apparently offered separately.
Estimate
$400 – $600
37
Tanner, et al.; after renault.
The British Surrendering their Arms to Gen. Washington after their Defeat at York Town.
[Philadelphia], 23 January 1819
Engraving, 25 x 37 inches; 1-inch closed puncture in image area, light edge wear in lower left corner, light toning, laid down on early board.
The artist John Francis Renault had served as a secretary to the Comte de Grasse at Yorktown, and remained in America after the war. Washington, Lafayette, Hamilton, Cornwallis, and several others are identified in the key. American Battle Art 29.
Estimate
$600 – $900
Lot 38 through 63 all depict George Washington and related scenes, including three of the first printed portraits ever produced (apparently from the active imagination of engravers), a fascinating variety of more reliable portraits, and several poignant memorial prints. These are followed by portraits of other founding fathers–Hancock, Lee, Franklin, Hamilton, Lafayette, and Jefferson through lot 71.
38
George Washington, Esqr., General and Commander in Chief of the Continental Army in America.
Mezzotint, 17¾ x 12 inches; 4 small repairs in margins; uncut with large margins.
One of the first engraved portraits of Washington ever produced, said to be after the wholly imaginary artist “Alex’r Campbell of Williamsburgh in Virginia,” for a European audience eager to see the face of the new revolution. It depicts him on horseback with a drawn sword as his troops repel a British charge in the background. A copy of this print was sent to the Washingtons a few months later. General Washington replied politely, describing the subject of this print in the third person: “Mr. Campbell, whom I never saw to my knowledge, has made a very formidable figure of the Commander-in-Chief, giving him a sufficient portion of terror in his countenance”–Morgan & Fielding 53. Fowble 75; Hart 721.
Estimate
$2,500 – $3,500
39
George Washington, Esqr., General and Commander in Chief of the Continental Army in America.
London: C. Shepherd, 9 September 1775
Mezzotint, 14 x 9¼ inches, by an anonymous engraver after “Alexander Campbell of Williamsburgh in Virginia”; minor soiling and wear, laid down on early mat board with dealer description laid down.
A dramatic ¾-length portrait of the general standing confidently as a battle rages behind him. Printseller C. Shepherd, responding to a great European demand for images of the American Revolution, issued a series of portraits during the war’s first months, including 3 poses of General Washington. However, Washington had never crossed the Atlantic and no other Washington images were available on the British market until 1781, so these portraits were apparently created from Shepherd’s imagination. No other record has been found of an actual artist named Alexander Campbell working in Virginia during this period. “If the publishers assumed that priority alone would make these . . . likenesses popular, they were right . . . Within only a few years these fictitious images of Washington had spread through Europe”–Wick, Washington pages 18-22. “These Shepherd prints alone furnished to Europe a representation of Washington’s appearance, and for that reason they have considerable importance”–Morgan & Fielding, Life Portraits of Washington, page 53. Cresswell, American Revolution 206 (different state); Hart, Portraits of Washington 730.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
40
Benjamin west.
Bickerstaff’s Boston Almanack, for the Year of our Redemption, 1778.
Danvers, MA: E. Russell, [1777]
Woodcut cover portraits of Generals Washington and Gates, 12 additional illustrations heading the monthly almanac pages. [24] pages, interleaved with 7 manuscript leaves. 12mo, disbound; moderate soiling to title page and final pages, minimal dampstaining toward rear, a few manuscript notes in margins, edge wear throughout with slight loss of text in imprint lines, small hole through final 2 leaves.
“A very early, if not the first, attempt to depict Washington in the medium of the woodcut”–Hamilton 82. While the Gates portrait bears some resemblance to other known portraits, the source material for the Washington portrait is unknown. Printed among the usual almanac frivolities is a patriotic poem, “A Farewell to Boston, or a Few Scattered Thoughts by a Young Lady on her Embarking on Board the Ship Symmetry, December 8, 1775, in Order to Quit that Capital.” Cresswell 209; Drake 3274; Evans 15705; Wick 1 (“the first known American print of George Washington”).
Estimate
$6,000 – $9,000
41
Valentine green, engraver; after john trumbull.
General Washington.
London: Valentine Green, 15 January 1781
Mezzotint, 23 x 15¾ inches; cropped within platemark, wear including light wrinkling, a double horizontal fold, light soiling, and several small repairs near edges.
The earliest representations of Washington in Europe were the fictional Shepard-Campbell portraits of 1775 and their many imitators. In July 1780, Washington’s former aide-de-camp John Trumbull came to London, hoping to launch a career as an artist under the tutelage of Benjamin West. One of his first projects was a portrait of Washington done from memory, and influenced by a Peale portrait he had copied back in America. He was imprisoned in November 1780 in response to the hanging of British officer John André, where he remained through July 1781. During his time in prison, the prominent mezzotint engraver Valentine Green set the portrait to paper, possibly the first print of a Trumbull painting–and the first print of Washington in Europe with any claim to accuracy. In the waning years of the war, it soon became the definitive European depiction of the American commander. Cresswell 215; Hart 84; Morgan & Fielding, pages 172-3.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
42
Unknown engraver; after charles wilson peale.
His Excellency General Washington / Lady Washington.
Np, 1780s?
Hand-colored engraving, 4¾ x 6¾ inches; heavy toning, tightly trimmed as usual, with edge wear touching decorative borders, minor dampstaining, laid down on old board.
These portraits were apparently issued before Washington’s election to the presidency. “Plainly early American work, and the only two copies I have seen were found in the interior of Pennsylvania. Both copies have been clipped”–Hart 47. One institutional copy traced, at the Boston Athenaeum (separated into two prints); none traced at auction. Provenance: purchased from New York dealer G.K.S. Bush in 1983 as a Christmas gift, per note on frame.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
43
Noel le mire, engraver; after le paon.
Pair of matched French engravings of Washington and Lafayette.
Paris, circa 1784-89
Engravings, as described.
“Le General Washington.” Engraving, 19 x 13½ inches to sight; moderate toning, laid down on early board; not examined out of modern mat. Washington holds the Declaration of Independence and a treaty of alliance with France, as he stands on fragments of rejected peace offers from Great Britain. His army marches in the background. The head and some elements of the composition are after a portrait by Peale. It was issued as a companion piece to the Lafayette. Baker 21; Fowble 81; Hart 31; Wick, pages 29-30. This copy was sent to the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco for exhibition; the customs label from the original frame is included.
“Conclusion de la Campagne de 1781 en Virginie.” Engraving, 20 x 14 inches; moderate foxing, light conservation and mount remnants on top edge. A portrait of Lafayette designed to complement the Washington above. It is dedicated “To his Excellency General Washington this Likeness of his friend, the Marquess de la Fayette, is humbly dedicated.”
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
44
Pair of matching Savage prints of Washington and Franklin.
London, 1793
2 mezzotints, as described.
[Unknown engraver, after Edward Savage.] “George Washington, President of the United States of America.” Mezzotint, 23½ x 17¾ inches; closed tears, skillfully conserved. An early copy from Savage’s own engraving, “From the Original Portrait Painted at the Request of the Corporation of the University of Cambridge in Massachusetts.” The president holds a map of the District of Columbia in his lap. Hart 229, Wick 34. [London, 1793]???
Edward Savage, engraver; after David Martin. “Benjamin Franklin L.L.D., F.R.S.” Mezzotint, 21¼ x 16 inches, laid down on early paper and mounted on stretchers, light dampstaining and minor wear, not examined out of modern mat enclosure. A bust of Sir Isaac Newton looks down on Franklin as he reads a manuscript. Shadwell 83. London: Edward Savage, 17 September 1793.
Estimate
$2,500 – $3,500
"ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT OF THE WASHINGTON PORTRAITS"
45
Edward savage; artist and engraver.
The Washington Family / La Famille de Washington.
[London: Savage & Wilkinson, 10 March 1798]
Stipple engraving, 21¼ x 27 inches; moderate wear including several repaired closed tears, two of them 4 inches and extending into image, publisher’s imprint line cropped, conserved and laid down on heavy tissue.
The first engraving of this famous painting, described by Morgan as “one of the most important of the Washington portraits.” Depicts Washington with Mrs. Washington, her two grandchildren, and his longtime valet William Lee, an enslaved man who would be freed upon Washington’s death the following year. Washington has his hand on a map of the capital city which bore his name. Based on a portrait of Washington which Savage painted from life in 1789; Savage and several assistants worked on the plate intermittently for eight years before its publication. Four copies were delivered to Washington. Fowble 202; Hart 235; Morgan & Fielding, Life Portraits of Washington, pages 183-6; Wick 55.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
46
David edwin, engraver; after rembrandt peale.
General George Washington.
Philadelphia: J. Savage, 1800
Stipple engraving, 15½ x 10¾ inches; foxing, deep toning, minor dampstaining, laid down on early board, worn in lower margin. Can ship with early frame.
Second state, with publisher’s credit line added. “Edwin’s engraving was large and imposing–a dignified image of the President which suggested, without benefit of military or allegorical symbols, the leadership and accomplishments of a deeply mourned national hero”–Wick 86. Hart 701a; Stauffer 903-II.
Estimate
$400 – $600
47
James heath, engraver, after gilbert stuart.
General Washington.
London: James Heath, 1 February 1800
Engraving, 22¾ x 14½ inches; worn with early repairs to top and bottom edges, two extending slightly into image.
Heath copied this image without permission from the Stuart portrait of Washington then owned by the Marquess of Lansdowne (the famed “Lansdowne portrait”). Adding to the insult, he miscredited the artist as “Gabriel Stuart.” At least three plates were made under Heath’s name, this being the second, with the painting’s owner spelled “Lansdown.” Hart 286.
Estimate
$300 – $400
48
After gilbert stuart?
George Washington, Late President of the United States of America.
London: Haines & Son, 21 March 1801
Mezzotint, 13¾ x 9¾ inches; minor wear, 2-inch closed tear, 3½-inch fold across bottom right corner, laid down on paper.
Hart describes this as a fictitious portrait (802).
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
49
Alexander h. ritchie, engraver; after huntington.
[Lady Washington’s Reception.]
Np, [1867]
Engraving, 26 x 38½ inches; proof before letters, signed in pencil by Ritchie, minimal wear, a bit of dampstaining along bottom margin.
Estimate
$250 – $350
50
Issue of the United States Oracle of the Day devoted to Washington’s death.
Portsmouth, NH, 4 January 1800
4 pages, 19¼ x 11¾ inches to sight, on one folding sheet; moderate wear including binding holes in gutter, and other small holes at the intersection of folds with slight loss of text; housed in a sturdy wooden frame with double-sided glass.
A black-bordered issue of a weekly newspaper devoted largely to the memory of the recently fallen Father of our Country. The front page features an engraved American eagle in the masthead, and the text of his famous farewell address of 1796, with the admonition that “every American listen to the voice of the departed, as if he spake from the skies, with the trumpet-tongue of an Angel.” The second page has his 1798 letter on accepting command of the army, as well as a report of his Georgetown funeral with a diagram of the procession. The third page includes an account of his final illness by attending doctors Craik and Dick, the local Portsmouth ceremonies, and resolutions issued by the Senate and John Adams. The final page (which displays with the first) features hymns sung in Washington’s honor, as well as an advertisement illustrated with an American flag.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
PAIR OF RARE WASHINGTON MEMORIAL PRINTS
51
G. Washington in his Last Illness, Attended by Doc’rs Craik and Brown / Lived Respected and Fear’d–
Philadelphia: Pember & Luzarder, 1800
Died Lamentd and Rever’d. Pair of hand-colored etchings, 11¾ x 9¾ inches; marginal wear, moderate soiling, several early repairs to each, including 4 small fills in the image area of the second print near the margins. Can be shipped with period frames.
The first piece is a deathbed scene, with one of the two physicians checking Washington’s pulse and Martha Washington weeping at the foot of the bed. A bottle of medicinal port sits on the bedside table. Below are four lines of verse: “Americans behold & shed a grateful Tear / For a man who has gained yo’r freedom most dear / And now is departing unto the realms above / Where he may ever rest in lasting peace & love.” This print was not issued with an imprint line, but was issued as a companion piece with “Lived Respected and Fear’d.” “Its stark and unadorned simplicity . . . is truly a prototype for that favorite of lithographic images in the nineteenth century, the deathbed scene”–Wick 73.
The companion print shows Washington’s portrait atop a funeral urn. Above him flies the angel Fame bearing a scroll titled “Tears of America.” The mourners are allegorical figures of Columbia (bearing an uncanny resemblance to Martha Washington in the earlier print) and Justice (holding her scales). This also has four verses below: “Columbia lamenting the loss of her Son / Who redeem’d her from Slav’ry & Liberty won / While Fame is directed by Justice spread / The sad tidings afar that Washington’s dead.” This is the second of 3 states of this engraving. The first, identified by Hart as 644a, had a portrait after Wright. This second state replaces the portrait with one after Stuart. The more commonly seen third state erases the final words “& Luzarder 1800” from the imprint line.
Provenance: sold as a pair at Sloan’s Auction Galleries circa 1985 to Alexandria, VA dealer Sumpter Priddy; “Lived Respected and Fear’d” sold shortly thereafter to the consignor; “Last Illness” spotted in a 2001 auction, withdrawn, and sold to the consignor to reunite the pair. One other traced at auction since 1929, a “Last Illness” at a 2011 auction. 3 in OCLC. Deutsch, “Washington Memorial Prints,” in Antiques, February 1977, pages 326 and 329, figures 5 and 13; Fowble 205-6; Hart 644 (Lived Respected only); Wick 72-73.
Estimate
$6,000 – $9,000
52
Francis jukes, engraver; after robertson.
Mount Vernon in Virginia, the Seat of the Late Lieut. General George Washington.
London and New York: Francis Jukes, 31 March 1800
Hand-colored aquatint, 14 x 20 inches; minor wear, light toning, tasteful conservation, spot-mounted to modern mat.
A view of Mount Vernon published in London just 3 months after the death of Washington, although it did not reach New York until 25 July. Deutsch, “Washington Memorial Prints,” in Antiques, February 1977, page 330, figure 15.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
53
Virtue Weeping over the Tomb of George Washington.
London: Francis Anone, 20 June 1800
Mezzotint, 14 x 9¾ inches; trimmed within plate mark, worn, lacking bottom corners with slight loss to caption, laid down and stabilized on later paper.
A British tribute to the late president, with an allegorical figure of Virtue standing over a monument bearing Washington’s likeness. Not in Hart or OCLC, though Mount Vernon holds an example; none traced at auction since the 1910 Holden sale.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
54
Thomas clarke, engraver.
Sacred to the Memory of the Illustrious G. Washington.
Boston, 1801
Stipple engraving, 8½ x 8 inches, tightly trimmed as usual, minor wear, tipped to mat board along top edge.
Three mourning Americans pay tribute at a Washington monument reading “There is Rest in Heaven.” Second state, with thicker border and shadows across monument base. Hart 279a.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
55
David edwin, engraver.
Washington, Sacred to Memory.
Philadelphia: D. Kennedy, circa 1800
Stipple engraving, 16 x 11¾ inches; moderate toning, 5 small punctures in image area, minor dampstaining on bottom edge.
Third state, with new border and title, repurposing the original plate as a memorial print. Here F. Bartoli is credited as the artist, “revised by I.J. Barrelet” (who presumably engraved the border). It was based in part on the Gilbert Stuart Athenaeum portrait, although Hart describes it as fictitious. Hart 788b; Wick 61.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
56
P.s. duval & son; lithographer.
Washington.
Philadelphia, 1858
Chromolithograph, 26¾ x 21 inches; moderate wear including 3½-inch closed tear, skillfully conserved and laid down on archival paper.
This scarce print was lithographed and “printed in oil colors” by P.S. Duval & Son, “from the original in the possession of J.P. McKean” of Washington, DC, who is also credited as the publisher and copyright holder. The original painting is described in Morgan & Fielding’s “Life Portraits of Washington” as #7 by Joseph Wright (page 78 and plate facing page 80), which was purchased at auction in Alexandria, VA in 1815 by Thomas Shields. James P. McKean (1805-1882), listed here as the owner of the painting, was the son-in-law of Shields. The painting was later sold by the McKeans to the Cleveland Museum of Art. This print is not in Hart or in OCLC; we trace only one other at auction since 1910.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
57
Enoch g. gridley, engraver; after coles.
Pater Patriae: Sacred to the Memory of the Truly Illustrious George Washington.
[Boston, 1800]
Engraving, 14 x 10 inches; several tastefully repaired short tears and small fills.
First state. An inset Washington portrait (after Edward Savage) appears on a monument tended by allegorical figures of Minerva and Fame, whose trumpet blasts out his greatest victories: “Trenton, Princetown, Monmouth, Yorktown.” The plaque calls Washington “Renowned in War, Great in the Senate, and possessed of every Qualification to render him worthy of the Title of a Great and Good Man.” A soldier weeps in the foreground. Deutsch, “Washington Memorial Prints,” in Antiques, February 1977, page 325, figure 4; Fowble 325; Hart 221; Stauffer 1184; Wick 81.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
58
[samuel seymour, engraver; after savage.]
In Memory of Genl. George Washington and His Lady,
Philadelphia: J. Savage, 1 January 1804
Hand-colored engraving, 13¼ x 17¾ inches; moderate wear, engraver’s credit obscured, conserved and backed.
Three mourners visit a monument bearing the busts of George and Martha Washington, with Mount Vernon in the background. One other example in OCLC, at the American Antiquarian Society. Hart 246.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
59
John james barralet, artist and engraver.
Commemoration of Washington.
Np, circa 1820s
Hand-colored engraving, 27 x 20½ inches; long diagonal fold, 4 short tape repairs in margins, minor edge wear, early pencil notes on verso.
This literally uplifting image was first published in 1802. Washington is raised from his tomb by two figures described in the advertisement as “Immortality” and “the spiritual and temporal Genius.” The weeping allegorical figure of America mourns at his feet, bearing a liberty pole and trampling a serpent, with a mourning Indian beside her. The emblems of the Society of the Cincinnati and the Freemasons hang on ribbons from the tomb. This print was often known as “The Apotheosis of Washington,” but never actually bore that caption. It went untitled until the present title, “Commemoration of Washington,” was added circa 1816. The composition was repurposed in 1865 with the superimposition of Lincoln’s head (see lot 248, from a different consignor).
A long pencil note on verso offers a bit of provenance: “This print acquired in Glasgow, Scotland from the estate of Mr. G___ about 1870 after being in storage for over 50 years. Remarkable early Americana, highly esteemed as a portrait of Mr. Washington.” Deutsch, “Washington Memorial Prints,” in Antiques, February 1977, page 329, figure 12; Hart 675b; Stauffer 118 (state IV); Wick 101.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
60
Constitution of the United States.
Philadelphia: Thomas Morrison, circa 1832
Illustrated letterpress broadside, 27½ x 20½ inches; separations and wear at folds, laid down on later board.
Dozens of printings of the Declaration of Independence were produced through the 19th century, but we see very few broadside Constitutions. The present one appears to be unknown. It is embellished with a woodcut portrait of Washington, a decorative border and columns, and a list of “Members of the Convention for Framing the Constitution.” Thomas Morrison is named as publisher, and C.A. Elliott of Philadelphia as the printer. We find Thomas Morrison at this 47 South 3rd Street address in October 1830 and February 1832, but he had moved elsewhere by July 1833. He issued a very similar Declaration of Independence broadside from this same address, with the same printer, in December 1832. Not found in Hart, OCLC, at auction, or elsewhere.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
61
Albert rimensberg ritter von radmansdorf.
Georg Washington, Nordamerikas erster Bürger und Feldherr.
Vienna: Lithographisches Institut in Wien, circa 1820s
Hand-colored lithograph, 13 x 10¼ inches; minimal wear, mount remnants on verso.
The lithographer is listed slightly differently in OCLC as Albert Riemensberg von Radmannsdorf, with the dates 1802-1860. The publisher was active from at least 1820 to 1833. A copy was offered in the 1906 auction of James Tyndale Mitchell’s collection as lot 412, where it was described as “a fine and rare portrait.” We do not find it in Hart, OCLC, or elsewhere at auction.
Estimate
$400 – $600
62
Miniature portrait of George Washington in a frame made from Mount Vernon wood.
Washington: Horace Barnes & Co., 1859
Engraving, just over 2 inches round, under glass in original wood frame, 3 inches round; lacking explanatory label on verso and original glass; minimal wear.
The engraving includes a half-inch portrait of Washington superimposed over a view of Mount Vernon and his tomb, with patriotic emblems and the text “He lived for his country.” It was produced by the American Bank Note Company, after a design by H. Billings, based upon Houdon’s portrait of Washington. A note on verso by J. Crutchett (here absent) explained that the frame was “manufactured at the Mount Vernon Factory from wood grown at Mount Vernon” by the authorization of John A. Washington. Hart 190.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
63
Group of George Washington engravings.
Vp, circa 1780-1860s
6 items, size and condition as noted.
[Jean-Victor Dupin, engraver?; after “Alexander Campbell.”] “George Washington Eq’er, Général en Chef de l’Armée Anglo-Amériquaine, Dictateur par le Congrès en Fevrier 1777.” Engraving, 10¼ x 7½ inches; closed tear in margin. Cresswell 208; Hart 743. Paris: Esnauts et Rapilly, circa 1780.
Engraver unknown. “Geoe. Washington, Esqr.: Commander in Chief of the Forces & Late President of the United States of America.” Engraving, 7¼ x 4¾ inches to sight; full fold, moderate foxing. This was issued as a frontispiece plate for the July 1799 issue of “The Historical, Biographical, Literary, and Scientific Magazine,” published by Cawthorn. Hart 817 calls it a fictitious portrait (its 31 June date certainly sets off alarm bells), but it resembles the 1790 Wright portrait. London: George Cawthorn, “31 June 1799.”
W.B. Annin, engraver; after J.R. Penniman. “Washington-Independence . . . Eng’d for the Naval Monument.” Octavo frontispiece for the 1816 first edition of The Naval Monument. Boston: A. Bowen, 28 December 1815.
Unknown French engraver; after Gilbert Stuart. “George Washington né à Bridges-Creek . . . Mort le 14 Décembre 1799.” Engraving, 9½ x 6½ inches; minor foxing. Other states of this engraving have the publisher’s name and address; other plates done at Rue Gít-le-Cœur #8 were printed in 1821. Hart 278c. [Paris: Ménard & Desenne], circa 1820s.
Matching untitled portraits of George and Martha Washington, each 16 x 12 inches, toned and quite worn at edges. New York: Currier & Ives, circa 1860s.
Estimate
$500 – $750
64
(founding fathers.)
The Hon’ble John Hancock of Boston in New England, President of the American Congress.
London: C. Shepherd, 25 October 1775
Mezzotint, 14¼ x 10¼ inches; light conservation in margins, small inked monogram stamp on verso.
Unlike other mezzotints produced by Shepherd for the British market early in the war, this one bears some resemblance to its subject, as it was based on a circa 1770 portrait by John Singleton Copley. However, the artist cited in the caption, Littleford, is apparently fictitious. Cresswell 102; discussed in Fowble 63.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
65
(founding fathers.)
Charles Lee, Esq’r, Major General of the Continental-Army in America.
London: C. Shepherd, 31 October 1775
Hand-colored mezzotint, 14½ x 10½ inches; moderate wear, laid down on late 19th century board.
Charles Lee (1732-1782) was an early rival to George Washington for leadership of the Continental Army. The engraver is variously attributed as C. Corbutt, R. Purcell, or Johann Martin Will; the original artist is stated to be “Thomlinson.” It was one of several mezzotint portraits produced very early in the war by this publisher to meet British demand, along with the “Alexander Campbell” portraits of Washington (see lots 38 and 39) and John Hancock (above). Fowble 66. Provenance: antique dealers Price and Isobel Glover; their Sotheby’s sale, 21 January 2018, lot 621 to the consignor.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
66
(founding fathers.) j.c. vasseur, engraver; after borel.
L’Amérique Indépendante, Dédiée au Congrés des Etats Unis de l’Amérique.
Paris, 1778
Engraving, 20 x 15¼ inches; pinhole in top margin, minor edge wear, 2-inch repaired tear in lower left corner.
An allegorical portrait of Benjamin Franklin, dedicated to the Continental Congress. He is shown surrounded by female allegorical figures of America, Wisdom, Prudence, and Liberty, watching as a warrior beats a crowned figure into submission. The vignette at the bottom shows a chain of 13 links, each inscribed with the name of one of the 13 original states. Fowble 142; Sellers, Franklin pages 120-121, 195-197. 4 in OCLC, and none traced at auction since 1932.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
67
(founding fathers.) cornelius tiebout, engraver; after barralet
In Memory of Gen’l Alex’r Hamilton.
Stipple engraving, 12 x 16 inches; trimmed with partial loss to imprint line, 4 spots of foxing, ½-inch repaired hole in image area, corner-mounted to modern mat board.
A monument to Hamilton bears his portrait on an urn. It is attended by an eagle perched above, a woman and baby to the left, and a mourning goddess of war to the right. A sword and cannonball allude to his services in the Revolution. The cause of his death is indicated by the two crossed pistols beneath the urn, and at left, the grinning figure of Death holds a tablet representing the Ten Commandments, chillingly pointing to VI: thou shalt not kill. Only one in OCLC (American Antiquarian Society), and no other examples traced at auction.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
68
(founding fathers.) john scoles, engraver.
Consecrated to the Memory of Gen. Alexander Hamilton.
Np, circa late 19th century
Stipple engraving, 15½ x 19¾ inches, on 19 x 23½ inch mount; moderate foxing.
This appears to be a later impression of a circa 1805 print. Lady Liberty stands guard over the tomb of Hamilton while commerce proceeds in the background. None of any printing in OCLC, though examples are traced at the Library of Congress, Museum of the City of New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts–Houston. None others traced at auction since 1939.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
69
(founding fathers.) achille moreau, engraver; after dubouloz.
Le Général Lafayette.
Paris: Chaillou-Potrelle, 1825
Aquatint, 20¼ x 23½ inches; two 1½-inch repaired closed tears, one entering image, other minor wear, laid down on modern paper; small embossed stamp by artist’s name.
Sometimes known as “Lafayette’s Dream on the Deck of the Brandywine,” this print imagines the Marquis on his return to France after his grand American tour. Spirits of Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, and other old American patriot friends share the deck with him. The caption (in parallel French and English) reads “The spirits of the defenders of the American liberty are visiting him during his passage; the genii protectors of America drive away the storms.”
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
70
(founding fathers.) j.m. leroux, engraver; after scheffer.
Full-length portrait of Lafayette, produced as he began his tour of America.
Paris: Durand & Sauvé, 1824
Engraving, 27½ x 19½ inches; 2-inch filled abrasion in lower center, minor wear and marginal dampstaining; wide margins.
Estimate
$500 – $750
71
(founding fathers.) [david edwin, engraver; after peale.]
Thomas Jefferson.
[Philadelphia: George Helmbold, 1801]
Engraving, 23¼ x 15½ inches; light soiling, repaired tears, laid down on paper.
Third state of this full-length portrait of the newly-elected president, with the names of the publisher and engraver removed from the plate. Cunningham, Image of Jefferson 7.
Estimate
$600 – $900
As seen in lots 72 through 80, the birth of the United States required a seismic shift in world view on both sides of the Atlantic. Printmakers tried to make sense of this shift using symbols and allegories–often by elevating America to the status of one of the four great continents (apologies to South America, Australia, and Antarctica). These are followed by four examples of the early American engraving craft including Amos Doolittle’s famous Prodigal Son series from 1814.
72
(allegories.) joseph strutt, engraver; after robert edge pine.
To Those who Wish to Sheathe the Desolating Sword of War–America–
London: R.E. Pine, 6 October 1781
and, to Restore the Blessings of Peace and Amity, to a Divided People. Stipple etching, 19 x 24 inches; 5-inch repaired closed tear in image, other short tears, edge wear, tightly trimmed within plate mark to the caption, laid down on modern paper. Hinged on top edge to modern mat.
This image by Robert Edge Pine, published by the artist, depicts the allegorical figure of America mourning at a monument to four martyred American generals, amid the ruins and desolation of war. Other figures bring her peace (an olive branch), liberty (represented by a cap on a pole), and plenty (a cornucopia). The original painting was done in 1778; the American generals named in the monument all died from 1775 to 1777. The message of this engraving was perhaps even more timely when this engraving was published two weeks before the Battle of Yorktown. Another engraving of this painting, done by Amos Doolittle, is thought by Reilly to be a later production. Cresswell 761b; Fowble 137, Reilly 1781-1.
Estimate
$7,000 – $10,000
73
(allegories.) john ogborn, engraver; after s. harding.
The Birth of American Liberty.
London: T. Macklin, 1 October 1784
Stipple engraving, 19½ x 15½ inches, printed in sepia; minimal foxing and wear.
Thirteen young women representing the new states surround a mother playing with the infant Liberty, while “Freedom’s Genius” flies above bearing a liberty cap, with ships in the background representing commerce. The poem below calls American Liberty “the destin’d Lord of the whole peopled Earth.” One in OCLC, at Yale.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
WITH THE SCARCE PROSPECTUS
74
(allegories.) peter c. verger, engraver; after j.f. renault.
Triumph of Liberty, Dedicated to its Defenders in America.
New York, November 1796
Etching, 16 x 21 1/2 inches; skillful restoration in margins scarcely affecting image, faint vertical fold.
First state. An allegory of ascendant American liberty using Roman iconography. The goddess Minerva pays tribute to fallen American war heroes amidst monuments, the Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence. A bonfire is fueled by crowns and scepters. In the foreground, horrified monarchs flee into the woods while a partially dismembered hydra twitches in the darkness. Much of this is explained by the accompanying prospectus, as well as a lengthy caption which was later added to the 1798 second state. Fowble 322; Reilly 1796-1; Stauffer 3344.
With–Renault & Verger. “Prospectus of an Allegorical Picture of the Triumph of Liberty.” One printed sheet, 10 x 8¼ inches, in parallel English and French; toned, worn with slight loss of text, laid down on later paper with conservator’s pencil note: “This prospectus was posted on board and taken off and mounted.” Issued two months after the plate was completed, it explains the symbolism in greater detail than the caption of the 1798 printing would. The union of French and American revolutionary ideals is stressed by the presence of Rousseau’s ashes in an urn, and “a little Genius presenting to view the Marseilles Hymn.” Within 18 months the two nations were on the verge of war. Np, 6 January 1797.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
75
(allegories.)
An Emblem of America / An Emblem of Europe / An Emblem of Asia / An Emblem of Africa.
London: P. Stampa, 21 April 1800
Set of 4 hand-colored mezzotints, each about 14¼ x 10¼ inches; America with conservation on top edge and area about an inch square just below hand, several short repaired closed tears; others not examined out of matching frames.
A set of allegorical representations of the four major continents. The figure of America holds a flag and stands with an American Indian child in front of Niagara Falls, with her hand on a monument to George Washington. Danforth, Encountering the New World, figure 76.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
76
(allegories.)
Europe, America / Asia, Africa.
London: P. Gally, 6 October 1804
Pair of hand-colored mezzotints, 10¼ x 14¼ inches; some restoration in margins, light toning.
This pair of representations of the four major continents apparently takes inspiration from Stampa’s 4-print Emblems series, released 4 years earlier. Once again, the allegorical “America” wears a feathered headdress, holds an American flag, and stands aside a small monument to George Washington. In this one, her American Indian (or enslaved?) sidekick sits behind her, apparently learning to read; a rattlesnake slithers on the ground at her feet (a symbol of the betrayal of England?). Hart 83.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
77
(allegories.)
Africa / America.
Amsterdam: A. Poncia & Co., circa 1807
Mezzotint, 10¾ x 15½ inches; one-inch area on top edge tastefully filled, just touching image, 3 short repaired closed tears.
Allegorical figures of Africa and America. America is probably intended to be an American Indian; she holds a stylized flag of the United States, with a palm tree and leopard behind her. The composition is strikingly similar to a British print by W.B. Walker which celebrated the 1807 abolition of the Atlantic slave trade, but this Dutch print omits those elements such as portraits of William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson. Provenance: Swann sale, 28 February 2005, lot 97, to the consignor. None others traced at auction or in OCLC.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
78
(allegories.)
[An Emblem of America.]
[London: John Fairburn, 4 September 1798]
Hand-colored mezzotint, 13 x 10 inches; toning and minor dampstaining, cropped with loss of caption and imprint, tiny puncture in image area.
A woman representing America holds a stylized flag and shows two Indian children a column representing the young nation’s history, with portraits of Columbus, Americanus, Raleigh, Franklin, Washington, and Adams. “Americanus” is an American Indian who may be based on the “red man” racial classification in the recent Systema Naturae of Linnaeus: Americanus Rubescens. Hart 828.
Estimate
$500 – $750
79
(allegories.)
L’Amerique.
Paris: Aumont, circa 1800?
Stipple engraving, 10 x 7¼ inches; moderate foxing, light mat toning, 2 small tape remnants on verso; uncut.
An early French allegorical representation of America, with feathered head-dress, quiver and bow. The Library of Congress holds another printing from this plate by Chez Bance, but we have traced no others with this “A Paris, chez Aumont, M’d d’Estampes” imprint.
Estimate
$300 – $400
80
(allegories.) benjamin tanner, engraver; after barralet.
America Guided by Wisdom: An Allegorical Representation of the United States.
[Philadelphia, 1815 or earlier]
Hand-colored etching, 19¼ x 24¾ inches; two 2-inch repaired closed tears slightly entering image, mat toning, light wrinkling, mount remnants on verso.
Minerva, goddess of wisdom, is in the foreground offering counsel to the Genius of America (seated with the “Union and Independence” shield). An equestrian statue of Washington stands guard in the background, with the fruits of American commerce, agriculture, and industry all on display. This is apparently the first state; Stauffer 3115 describes another state which credits the engraver as Tanner, Vallance, Kearny & Co., a firm which Tanner joined in 1815. Fowble 324.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
81
(american engraving.) amos doolittle, engraver; text by rowland
An Epitome of Ecclesiastical History.
New Haven: William F. and Henry A. Rowland, 5 March 1806
Engraving, 38½ x 27 inches, on two conjoined sheets; 2 repaired closed tears, 4 and 9 inches; edges uncut.
This graphic representation of eighteen centuries of Christian history was compiled by David Sherman Rowland (1719-1794), a Congregational minister in Windsor, CT. It was published by his sons twelve years after his death. The renowned Amos Doolittle was brought in to do the engraving and printing. Two vignettes depict Adam and Eve, and Solomon’s Temple. Some American history is presented for context in the 17th and 18th centuries, including the founding of the colonies and Yale College, and the key events of the American Revolution. Many of the sects which went from Europe to the colonies, such as the Moravians, Methodists, and Shakers, are noted, though the Society of Friends (Quakers) are notable by their absence.
“The central stream of Christianity becomes murky with ‘the dark shades of error’ during the Middle Ages, with only a thin, clear channel of dissent running through. During the Protestant Reformation, several dissenting channels separate from and then rejoin the main stream of Christianity”–Rosenberg & Graton, Cartographies of Time, page 148. O’Brien, Doolittle page 34.
Estimate
$4,000 – $6,000
82
(american engraving.) thomas gimbrede, artist and engraver.
American Star.
New York: A.G. Reynolds, 30 January 1812
Stipple engraving, 9 x 11 inches; toned, dark staining along right edge, worn in upper right corner.
Produced on the eve of the War of 1812, this engraving features portraits of the first 4 American presidents (Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison). Much-expanded versions featuring ten or fifteen presidents later became mainstays of the print-making business. Other states appear with imprints from Cheshire, CT and from Andrew Maverick of New York (priority undetermined). This A.G. Reynolds imprint appears to be unrecorded since a 1906 Henkels sale. Hart 794; Reilly 1812-5 (Cheshire variant).
Estimate
$500 – $750
83
(american engraving.) isaac eddy; and james wilson.
[Chronology Delineated to Illustrate the History of Monarchical Revolutions.]
Weathersfield, VT: Isaac Eddy, 1813
Engraved time chart, 20 x 23 inches; one of two parts, offered without the upper sheet, untrimmed on all but the right edge, minor wear and toning.
One of James Wilson’s earliest works, published shortly after he established himself as America’s first globe maker in 1813. Depicts the world’s monarchies as branches of a tree emanating from creation through history. It was issued in two sheets; the sheet offered here shows the world’s history from “Adam, or the Creation” through 83 A.D. Wilson studied with Amos Doolittle, and shows the influence of Doolittle’s distinctively American engraving style. Rosenberg & Grafton, Cartographies of Time, pages 146-7.
Estimate
$400 – $600
84
(american engraving.) amos doolittle; artist and engraver.
The complete Prodigal Son series:
Cheshire, CT: Shelton & Kensett, 1814
The Prodigal Son Receiving his Patrimony / The Prodigal Son Revelling with Harlots / The Prodigal Son in Misery / The Prodigal Son Returned to his Father. 4 hand-colored engravings. Each about 14½ x 10½ inches, toning, minor edge wear, tack holes in corners, #2 trimmed a bit tighter with 4 early repaired closed tears and heavier toning and mount remnant on top edge recto. Can ship with period frames lined with fragments of early newspaper.
Amos Doolittle (1754-1832) was one of the pioneers of American engraving, best known for his eye-witness images of the American Revolution. These representations of the parable of the Prodigal Son depict a young wastrel receiving an inheritance, squandering it in a tavern, sitting in tattered clothes among swine, and then begging his father for forgiveness. “Presented with utter sincerity and resultant effectiveness”–Shadwell, American Printmaking 112-3. D’Oench, Prodigal Son Narratives 21; Fowble 353-6; O’Brien, Doolittle pages 79-85; Stauffer, American Engravers 539-541 (“Patrimony” not recorded).
Estimate
$5,000 – $7,500
The War of 1812 is covered in lots 85 through 100, with naval battles a particular strength.
85
(war of 1812.) [george graham, engraver?]; after stuart.
This Portrait of Capt’n Isaac Hull of the United States Navy.
Philadelphia: Freeman & Pierie, 1 February 1813
Mezzotint, 21½ x 14¾ inches; laid down on early heavy board, moderate wear and toning, early adhesive remnants in top margin.
First state. As commander of the USS Constitution, Hull achieved one of the greatest naval victories of the war against the HMS Guerriere on 19 August 1812. A portrait by Gilbert Stuart soon followed, and in less than 6 months this engraving was on the market. It is embellished with a 3½ x 9-inch vignette of the famous battle “from an original drawing under the direction of Capt’n Hull.” Stauffer 1165:I.
Estimate
$2,500 – $3,500
86
(war of 1812.)
Engagement between the U.S. Frigate Constitution . . . and the British Frigate Guerriere.
Philadelphia: Benjamin Tanner, 1 October 1812
Hand-colored engraving, 14 x 17 inches; worn at edges with staining and remnants of early overmat in margins, 5-inch closed tear in image area and some shorter tears, laid down on later card.
This print was published within 7 weeks of the naval battle, which is an impressive turnaround time. It includes extracts from the letters of Isaac Hull, captain of the Constitution. Stauffer 1544.
Estimate
$500 – $750
87
(war of 1812.) cornelius tiebout, engraver; after thomas birch
This Representation of the U.S. Frigate Constitution . . .
Capturing His Britannic Majesty’s Frigate Guerriere . . . is Respectfully Inscribed to Capt. Isaac Hull, His Officers, and Gallant Crew. Engraving, 21 x 28 inches; skillfully repaired tears, minor edge wear, laid down on rice paper.
An early depiction of the 19 August 1812 American naval victory. Embellished with a vignette medallion portrait of Captain Hull in the caption area. American Battle Art 34; Stauffer 3206. Provenance: Philadelphia Print Shop.
Estimate
$500 – $750
88
(war of 1812.)
A View of Col. Johnson’s Engagement with the Savages (Commanded by Tecumseh) near the Moravian Town.
[Boston, 1828]
Hand-colored engraving, 8½ x 15 inches; vertical folds as issued, worn, moderate soiling.
The frontispiece from Trumbull’s “History of the Discovery of America,” depicting a frontier battle from 5 October 1812.
Estimate
$400 – $600
89
(war of 1812.) thomas sutherland, engraver; after major dennis.
The Battle of Queenston.
London: I.W. Laird, 12 April 1836
Hand-colored aquatint, 15 x 21¼ inches; minimal wear.
Depicts the first major land battle of the War of 1812, in which an American force made a disastrous effort to cross the Niagara River into Canada. The subcaption notes that the battle “ended in a complete Victory on the part of the British, having captured 927 Men, killed or wounded about 500, Taken 1400 Stand of Arms, a six Pounder, and Stand of Colours.” The date given in the caption is incorrect; the battle took place on 13 October 1812, not 1813.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
90
(war of 1812.) samuel seymour, engraver; after thomas birch.
This Representation of the U.S. Frigate United States . . .
Capturing His Britannic Majesty’s Frigate Macedonian . . . is Respectfully Inscribed to Capt. Stephen Decatur, his Officers and Gallant Crew. Engraving, 21¼ x 28 inches; 4 repaired closed tears extending slightly into image, minor wear and light staining, laid down on modern paper.
View of the 25 October 1812 battle fought off Madeira, which resulted in the first captured British warship ever brought back to an American port. A medallion portrait of Commodore Decatur appears in the caption area. Possibly a later impression, without the Philadelphia, May 1815 imprint line called for in Stauffer 2879. Provenance: Philadelphia Print Shop.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
91
(war of 1812.) robert dodd, artist.
. . . His Majesty’s Ship Shannon . . . Waiting the Close Approach of the American Frigate Chesapeak.
Engraving, 15 x 19½ inches; worn with several small early repairs, foxing, laid down on early board.
The moment before the short but intense naval battle in Boston Harbor, showing the USS Chesapeake “bearing down to the attack with all the confidence of victory.” 147 of her men would be killed or wounded within fifteen minutes. Dying captain James Lawrence cried out “Don’t give up the ship” in vain. This composition was drawn in consultation with Captain Falkiner of the Shannon, and made its way to a London engraving plate after just 3-plus months, quite fast considering the trans-Atlantic journey.
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
92
(war of 1812.) john jeakes, engraver; after webster and lee.
Pair of views of the battle between the Chesapeake and Shannon.
London: G. Webster, circa 1813
Hand-colored aquatints, each about 17½ x 22 inches to sight; condition as noted; not examined out of matching modern frames.
These British views celebrate the 1 June 1813 capture of the USS Chesapeake in Boston Harbor by the HMS Shannon after a short but intense battle. The Chesapeake’s badly wounded captain James Lawrence urged “Don’t give up the ship!” before the British boarding party overwhelmed his crew.
“To that Distinguished Nobleman . . . John Earl of St. Vincent . . . this View of the Commencement of the Action Between His Majesty’s Ship Shannon and the United States Frigate Chesapeake, off Boston Light House . . . is Respectfully Dedicated.” After a painting by John Theophilus Lee; 3 repaired closed tears of up to 4 inches are visible.
“To Captain Broke . . . this View of the Boarding & Capturing the American United States Frigate the Chesapeake, off Boston . . . is with Respect Dedicated.” After a painting by G. Webster “under the direction of Capt’n Falkner, late Lieut’t of the Shannon during the Action”; 1½-inch repaired tear visible.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
93
(war of 1812.)
Cut signatures of naval heroes Oliver Hazard Perry and James Lawrence in matching frames.
Np, circa 1810s
Clipped signatures, each about 1 x 3 inches to sight, matted with hand-colored wood engravings of each, in decorative 19th-century oval frames, 8¼ x 6¼ inches; minimal wear but not examined out of frames.
James Lawrence (1781-1813) commanded the USS Chesapeake, and is known for his dying command “Don’t give up the ship!” His autograph is understandably quite scarce. His friend and comrade Oliver Hazard Perry (1785-1819), who had “Don’t Give Up the Ship” emblazoned on his battle flag in Lawrence’s honor, is paired with him in matching frames.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
94
(war of 1812.)
The Pelican Sloop of War, Cap’t Maples, Raking & Capturing the American Brig Argus.
London: W.B. Walker, circa 1814
Aquatint, 13¾ x 9¾ inches; spot-mounted to modern mat, trimmed to image with three letters of caption lost, skillfully repaired 3-inch closed tear in upper right corner.
The USS Argus had spent much of July and August 1813 terrorizing merchant shipping off the coast of England. This dramatic view shows her final defeat by the HMS Pelican on 14 August, after a brutal fight which resulted in the death of the commander of the Argus, William Henry Allen. None in OCLC, none others traced at auction thus, though Christie’s offered another on glass in 2015.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
95
(war of 1812.) benjamin tanner, engraver; after j.j. barralet.
Perry’s Victory on Lake Erie, September the 10th 1813.
Philadelphia: Tanner, 1 November 1814
Engraving, 22 x 27¾ inches; considerable edge wear with slight loss to imprint line, restoration to several closed tears, backed with paper.
An early (first?) issue of an important naval view by a Philadelphia artist and engraver. “Represents the position of the two Fleets at the moment when the Niagara is pushing through the enemy’s line, pouring her thunder upon them from both broadsides, and forcing them to surrender in succession to the American Flag, Commodore Perry having a short time before left the Lawrence in a small boat, amidst a tremendous fire from the British squadron and hoisted his Flag on board the Niagara. The Lawrence is seen at a distance disabled.” American Battle Art 39; Holden sale, 27 April 1910, lot 3833 (gives a 1 June 1815 publication date); Stauffer & Fielding 3138 (another copy, giving a 1 January 1815 publication date).
Estimate
$400 – $600
96
(war of 1812.) murray, draper, fairman & co., engravers.
Battle of Lake Erie, Fought Sept. 10 1813–First View.
Philadelphia: William Smith, circa 1840s
Hand-colored engraving, 22½ x 31¾ inches; light mat toning, minor edge wear, laid down on stiff paper and tipped into modern archival mat.
Second state, from a plate copyrighted 15 July 1815, after a painting by Sully & Kearney. Stauffer 2288-II.
Estimate
$400 – $600
97
(war of 1812.)
Battle of the Thames, October 5th 1813 . . . Dedicated to the Tippecanoe Clubs.
Philadelphia: Philip Banks, 1840
Lithograph, 19½ x 26 inches; several repaired closed tears in image area, mount remnants on verso, minor dampstaining in lower margin.
Depicts the American victory in southwestern Ontario which established control over the frontier near Detroit. Tecumseh was killed in the fighting. General William Henry Harrison commanded the American troops, which explains the renewed interest for his successful 1840 presidential campaign. A key identifies Harrison and other figures. No other examples traced at auction or in OCLC, although Rosenbach offered one in a 1948 catalog.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
98
(war of 1812.) benjamin tanner, engraver; after reinagle.
Macdonough’s Victory on Lake Champlain and Defeat of the British Army
[Philadelphia: Rogers & Esler, 4 July 1816]
at Plattsburg. Engraving, 20 x 25¾ inches; minor wear and toning, short repairs in margins, one extending an inch into the image.
A view of the American victory at the Battle of Plattsburgh which ended the British designs on the northern front in the War of 1812. “Four of Macomb’s officers are presumably galloping with despatches past a group of interested local spectators, men and boys, whose gestures proclaim their excitement. A realistic dog turns tail, afraid of the guns, and three boys are to be made out in the grandstand seats, high in the branches of the big stage-set tree at the right. Warfare, Reinagle and Tanner believe, can be fun, especially if our side wins”–American Battle Art 44. Offered without the scarce accompanying key. Stauffer 3134.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
99
(war of 1812.) joseph yeager, engraver; after william e. west.
Battle of New Orleans, and Death of Major General Packenham.
Philadelphia: McCarty & Davis, 1817
Hand-colored engraving, 19½ x 22½ inches, on laid Van Gelder paper; mat toning, moderate foxing, 2 small chips on bottom edge.
Second state, with key, and with General Lambert pointing rather than weeping into a handkerchief. Andrew Jackson’s portrait appears in the caption. “West’s quaintly rugged picture gives a vivid idea of the heroic and suicidal British advance against the powerful redoubt, from which big guns and muskets pour forth a sea of fire and smoke”–American Battle Art 48.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
100
(war of 1812.) chataigner, engraver; after julia plantou.
Peace of Ghent 1814, and Triumph of America.
Philadelphia: P. Price Jr., circa 1818
Hand-colored engraving, 12¾ x 16¼ inches; minor edge wear, faint dampstaining in lower right corner.
An allegorical celebration of the treaty which ended the War of 1812. A lengthy caption explains that “Minerva represents the wisdom of the United States” and “dictates the conditions of peace.” An obelisk bears the names of the nation’s principal military leaders (including future presidents Jackson and Harrison) and the key battles of the war. The ruins of the Capitol can be seen in the background. The artist Julia Plantou (1778-1853) was a French-born woman described here as “Citizen of the United Stades, pinxit.” She exhibited the original canvas at her home in 1818, a date which accords with a caption inset listing of the first 20 states through Mississippi (admitted late in 1817) One in OCLC (Library of Congress), and just one other traced at auction since 1912.
Estimate
$2,500 – $3,500
Closing out this noteworthy print collection are lots 101 through 121, relating broadly to the rapidly expanding commerce and westward exploration of the young nation, covering American Indians, the Mexican War, Perry’s arrival in Japan, the whaling industry, and a lone Civil War print, described as “an enduring image of the Lost Cause.”
101
Denis dighton; lithographer.
The North American Indian Warriors, from Lake Erie, of the Tribe of Seneca,
[London: Francis Moser, 1819]
who were in London in 1818. Hand-colored lithograph, 18 x 23 inches; cropped to just within border, repaired closed diagonal tear across image and other smaller repairs, moderate toning and foxing, laid down on tissue.
These seven men went to England as part of a travelling show managed by the firm of Storrs & Co. of Buffalo, NY. They were all Senecas from Buffalo Creek, and arrived in Liverpool in January 1818, and toured at least through may–one of the first such Indian shows to hit Europe. Pictured are: Beaver, I Like Her, Two Guns, Steep Rock, Black Squirrel, Long Horns, and Little Bear. See the Hampshire Telegraph, 4 May 1818; and “The Indian Show of Storrs & Co.” in Publications of the Buffalo Historical Society IV (1896), pages 415-6. The artist was a favorite of the Prince of Wales and was best known for his views of the Waterloo battlefield.
One listed in OCLC, at Yale. Another uncolored copy held by the Six Nations Public Library in Ontario names the printer and date in pencil. One traced at auction, in 2015.
Estimate
$2,500 – $3,500
102
Lehman & duval; after j.o. lewis.
A pair of portrait plates from the first edition of the Aboriginal Portfolio.
Philadelphia, [1836]
Pair of hand-colored lithographs, 16 x 11½ inches; each toned and laid down on early board.
Full-length standing portraits of “Kee-O-Kuck, or The Watching Fox, the Present Chief of the Sauk Tribe and Successor to Black Hawk” and “Nabu-Naa-Kee-Shick, or The One Side of the Sky, a Chippewa Chief.” Keokuk, one of the great American Indian leaders of his era, was painted by James Otto Lewis in Wisconsin during negotiations for the First Treaty of Prairie du Chien in 1825. “First attempt made in the United States at a large scale work devoted to the American Indian”–Reese, Nineteenth Century American Color Plate Books, 23.
Estimate
$500 – $750
103
Mcgahey; after george catlin.
Ball-Play Dance.
London: Day & Haghe, [1844]
Hand-colored lithograph 16¾ x 22 inches; some restoration and moderate wear in margins, 1½-inch closed tear through caption, mat toning.
Catlin originally painted this scene of a Choctaw lacrosse ceremony in 1834 near Fort Gibson, in what is now eastern Oklahoma, while accompanying General Leavenworth’s First Dragoon Expedition. In his “Letters and Notes,” he recalled “Night came on without the appearance of any players on the ground. But soon after dark, a procession of lighted flambeaux was seen coming from each encampment, to the ground where the players assembled . . . and at the beat of the drums and chaunts of the women, each party of players commenced the ‘ball-play dance.’ Each party danced for a quarter of an hour . . . rattling their ball-sticks together in the most violent manner, and singing as loud as they could raise their voice . . . and all their voices joined in chaunts to the Great Spirit; in which they were soliciting his favour in deciding the game to their advantage.” It is here set to stone as Plate #22 from the first edition of Catlin’s famous North American Indian Portfolio.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
104
The Debilitated Situation of a Monarchal Government . . . The Flourishing Condition
Np, [1836]
of a Well-Formed Industrious Republic. Lithograph, 16 x 19½ inches; light mat toning, minimal wear.
Bankrupt France and a strong vigorous America are contrasted in this well-crafted print. King Louis-Philippe and President Andrew Jackson face off across the water in a dispute over the unpaid multi-million-dollar spoliation claims against France. Jackson is backed up by his patriotic citizen-soldiers, and another helpful citizen is reaching out to offer him a bag of tax money. Reilly 1836-2.
Estimate
$600 – $900
105
Hill, engraver; after george catlin.
To the Cadets of the West Point Military Academy.
New York, 1828 and circa 1831
Pair of hand-colored aquatints, each about 14 x 20 inches; a few minor repairs, light mat toning and soiling.
The artist George Catlin is best known for his American Indian portraits. Two years before he headed west to begin his life’s great work, he painted and published these two matching views of West Point: one looking north across the parade ground up the Hudson River, and the other looking south. In both, the cadets can be seen drilling, with civilian spectators watching raptly. The Eleazar D. Wood monument can be seen in the foreground of the south view, and in the distant background of the north view; it was often used as a navigational landmark for ships coming down the Hudson. The southern view is the first state published by Catlin under his 15 May 1828 copyright; the north view is the second state issued after the plate was “transferred to G. & C. & H. Carvill” (they were active circa 1830-31). Stauffer 1354.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
106
Frances palmer, lithographer.
Battle of Buena Vista: View of the Battle-Ground and Battle of “The Angostura.”
New York: H.R. Robinson, [1847]
Chromolithograph, 22 x 31¼ inches, signed “F Palmer” in the stone; light mat toning, 4-inch repaired closed tear, otherwise minimal wear, backed with tissue, mount remnants on verso.
This sweeping Mexican War view is credited to “a sketch taken on the spot by Major Eaton, aid de camp to Gen’l Taylor.” Among the junior officers who distinguished themselves that day were Braxton Bragg, William T. Sherman, and Jefferson Davis. The artist, Major Joseph Henry Eaton, was an accomplished amateur who left no other known works. Much of the credit for the quality of this print is surely due to the lithographer, Frances Flora Bond “Fanny” Palmer (1812-1876), who was foremost among the very few women in her field during that period. She began her career in England, emigrated to New York circa 1843, and did freelance work for a variety of publishers through 1849. She is best known for her prolific work for Currier & Ives through 1868.
American Battle Art 57. Not found in OCLC (although the Library of Congress holds a worn copy), and none traced at auction since 1924.
Estimate
$4,000 – $6,000
107
George b. mcclellan, artist.
Battle of Cerro Gordo, April 17th & 18th 1847.
Np, circa 1847
Engraved map, 19 x 23 inches, hand-colored details; moderate foxing, minor wear and tiny repairs at intersection of folds.
The artist and co-surveyor of this map was in the Corps of Topographical Engineers during this Mexican War campaign; he is better known as a Civil War general and 1864 presidential candidate.
Estimate
$300 – $400
108
G. pfau, lithographer; after s. rowse.
Encampment at Neponset-Dorchester . . . of the First Brigade Massachusetts Militia.
Boston: Tappan & Bradford, [1849]
Hand-colored lithograph, 24 x 30¾ inches; several repaired short tears and folds in margins, two just entering image, laid down on archival paper.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
109
Pair of early views of Philadelphia’s Fairmount Water Works.
Philadelphia, 1824
Size and condition as noted.
These two views commemorate a great engineering feat which provided water to the city of Philadelphia, and also created one of the city’s most appealing gathering spots. The structure remains along the banks of the Schuylkill today, downhill from the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Cephas G. Childs, engraver; after Thomas Doughty. “To Joseph S. Lewis Esquire, this View of Fair Mount Works, is Inscribed.” Engraving, 21½ x 28½ inches; repaired tears in margins, minor edge wear, tastefully conserved. The artist Thomas Doughty was best known as an early member of the Hudson River School. Deák 333. Philadelphia: C.G. Childs, circa 1824.
R. Campbell, engraver; after Thomas Birch. “View of the Dam and Water Works at Fair Mount, Philadelphia.” Hand-colored engraving, 11 x 18 inches; mat toning, mount remnants on top edge, 2-inch repaired tear. [Philadelphia]: Edward Parker, 1824.
Estimate
$500 – $750
110
Sarony, lithographers; after heine.
Passing the Rubicon . . . through a Fleet of Japanese Boats . . . July 11th, 1853.
New York: E. Brown Jr., 1855
Hand-colored lithograph, 20¼ x 31¾ inches to sight plus caption; two long repaired tears and other wear in image area, possibly laid down on board, not examined out of frame.
One from a series of 6 large prints produced after William Heine, the artist who accompanied Commodore Perry’s expedition to open Japan to commerce–a turning point in American “gunboat diplomacy” and naval might.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
111
Sarony, lithographers; after heine.
First Landing of Americans in Japan, under Commodore M. C. Perry at Gore-Hama, July 14th 1853.
New York: E. Brown Jr., 1855
Hand-colored lithograph, 26 x 37 inches; mat toning, 13-inch repaired closed tear in image, laid down on board, not examined outside of mat.
One from a series of 6 large prints produced after William Heine, the artist who accompanied Commodore Perry’s expedition to open Japan.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
112
Sarony, lithographers; after heine.
Landing of Commodore Perry . . . to Meet the Imperial Commissioners at Yoku-Hama, Japan, March 8th 1854.
[New York: E. Brown Jr., 1855]
Hand-colored lithograph, 26 x 35¾ inches; full 36-inch horizontal repaired tear, otherwise minor wear and light mat toning.
One from a series of 6 large prints produced after William Heine, the artist who accompanied Commodore Perry’s expedition to open Japan.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
113
Sarony, lithographers; after heine.
Landing of Commodore Perry . . . to meet the Imperial Commissioners at Simoda, Japan, June 8, 1854.
New York: E. Brown Jr., 1855
Hand-colored lithograph, 26¼ x 36¾ inches; minor wear and light mat toning.
One from a series of 6 large prints produced after William Heine, the artist who accompanied Commodore Perry’s expedition to open Japan.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
114
C. parsons, lithographer.
Ocean Steam Navigation Company of New York: Steamer Washington.
New York: G. & W. Endicott, circa 1847
Chromolithograph, 21¾ x 33¾ inches to sight; toned and faded, minor wear, laid down on early board, not examined out of overmat.
This steamship brought passengers and mail on a regular route between New York and Bremen circa 1847 to 1857. Frederick Hewitt, noted here, was listed as captain in the late 1847 shipping notices.
Estimate
$400 – $600
115
Endicott & co., lithographers.
Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, Havre-New York, “Lafayette.”
New York, circa 1865
Chromolithograph, 21 x 36 inches; laid down on early board, quite chipped, 7-inch closed tear and other damage.
A depiction of a French steamer running a regular trans-Atlantic route between Europe and New York. Captain Bocandé and the crew of the Lafayette were widely celebrated for their role in the rescue of the wrecked ship William Nelson in July 1865. We find no other examples of this print in OCLC or at auction.
Estimate
$200 – $300
116
F. crow, lithographer.
Le Oriental, Built by McKay & Aldus, East Boston, Mass.
Boston: J.H. Bufford & Sons, circa 1866
Hand-colored lithograph, 22½ x 32½ inches; 1½-inch repaired closed tear in caption area, otherwise minimal wear.
This side-wheel steamship was built in East Boston in 1866 and is seen here cruising with passengers on deck and flying the American flag. Its hull and engine dimensions are given in the caption. This print was likely commissioned by the builders. Little can be found on the steamer’s service, but a manuscript journal of the USS Shamokin currently offered by the William Reese Company describes La Oriental’s loss in heavy seas on 24 September 1866, apparently off the coast of South America. None in OCLC.
Estimate
$600 – $900
117
Endicott, lithographers; after wall.
New Bedford, Fifty Years Ago.
Chromolithograph, 21 x 28 inches; minor edge wear, repaired tear on top edge, toning.
A view of New Bedford in its heyday as a whaling center, circa 1808. Brewington, Kendall Whaling Museum 267.
Estimate
$400 – $600
118
Endicott; after van best and gifford.
Sperm Whaling, No. 1–The Chase.
Hand-colored lithographs, 20½ x 29¾ inches; conservation in margins, 2 repaired closed tears extending into image, backed.
In a scene crowded with whaling ships and whales, a harpooner stands in his boat, prepared to strike. This and the following print were issued as a series by the same publisher, although with different artistic teams. Brewington, Kendall Whaling Museum 16.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
119
Prang & mayers, lithographers.
Sperm Whaling No. 2, The Conflict.
New Bedford, MA: Charles Taber & Co., May 1858
Hand-colored lithograph, 21 x 31 inches; mat remnants and 3 short tears in margins, mat toning around caption.
A dramatic scene of a whaleboat being flipped by an angry sperm whale, after Joseph Foxcroft Cole. Brewington, Kendall Whaling Museum 17.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
120
J.h. bufford’s, lithographers.
Set of 5 prints depicting the “Abandonment of the Whalers in the Arctic Ocean, Sept. 1871.”
New Bedford, MA: Benjamin Russell, 1872
Hand-colored lithographs, each about 14½ x 21 inches; light spotting and minor wear, #3 with repaired tears, all professionally cleaned, stabilized and conserved.
These views depict the Whaling Disaster of 1871, in which a fleet of 40 whale ships north of the Bering Strait were caught by an unexpectedly early freeze in late August. 33 of them were trapped in the pack ice, with some of them crushed. In a remarkable show of solidarity, their entire crews were transferred by small whaleboats to the 7 ships which remained free of the ice. All 1219 men were saved, but the 33 ships were lost–a harsh blow to an already dying industry. One set in OCLC, at Dartmouth College.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
121
(civil war.) a.g. campbell, engraver; after w.d. washington.
Burial of Latané.
New York: W.H. Chase, 1868
Mezzotint, 27¾ x 34½ inches; edge wear and toning, spot-mounted to modern mat and overmat.
Captain William Latané was a Virginia cavalryman killed in action under Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart in June 1862. His body was taken to a nearby plantation for burial. As the plantation’s white men were fighting at the front, and the local minister was delayed from attendance by Union troops, the funeral was handled by the women and enslaved people. The scene was described in a poem, and in 1864 was captured on canvas by William R. Washington. After the war the painting was reproduced in several popular prints, of which this was the first, and became an enduring image of the Lost Cause. “A standard decorative item in late-nineteenth-century white southern homes”–Drew Gilpin-Faust, This Republic of Suffering, page 84. The Civil War brings the first era of the Republic to a close.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
Printed & Manuscript Americana (various consignors)
We now continue with our regularly scheduled Americana programming, lots 122-349: Americana from a variety of consignors, spanning the 17th through 20th centuries, including books, broadsides, manuscripts, archives, photographs, prints, original art, and even a sculpture. This will be followed by a selection of Latin Americana (lots 350-388) which extends back as far as 1566.
122
(agriculture.) washington ludlum.
Diaries of a struggling Illinois farmer who relocates to Washington, California and Florida.
Vp, 1884-96
3 diaries, each about 12 x 8 inches, with 177, 280, and 200 pages of manuscript entries; various bindings with worn original calf-backed boards, first volume warped, final volume’s front board detached; condition of contents generally strong. With–5 pieces of ephemera including 1884 marriage proposal note.
Washington Ludlam (1854-1935) began this diary in 1884, working on his father’s farm in Bradfordton, IL just north of the state capitol in Springfield. That October he married a widow named Lillian with 3 children–his proposal letter is included in this lot. A baby girl followed in 1889. Tending to 80 acres (corn, oats, other crops, and livestock) was difficult work, made more difficult by the region’s hot summers and brutal winters. His diary entries are thorough and readable (he took college classes at Illinois Wesleyan as a young man), and he made time to comment on national and local politics. Illinois first permitted women to vote in school elections in 1892, and Ludlum recorded the historic moment: “This morning Lillian, Josie, Grandma [Lillian’s mother], Mrs. Stone, and Mary Tabler went up to the school house and were registered to vote at the next election for school officers. They are the first ladies that have ever registered in this township. We had some trouble to convince the judges that they were entitled to register, til Mr. Stone went home for a copy of the last law. This I believe to be the beginning of universal suffrage” (1 November 1892). A week later “all went to the poles, the ladies to cast their first balot for school officers, which after the judges had argued and talked and opposed (2 of them) for an hour, they were permited to do, and came away triumphant.”
The challenges of life on the farm started to take a bleaker and stranger turn in the 1890s. The family barn burned down on 14 March 1890, with no fire insurance: “It looks like it had been set on fire, but I hate to think anyone could be so mean. . . . It is a dead loss.” On 29 October 1891, they found a colt’s throat cut: “How it was done we cannot immagine, as there was no barbed wire near it.” The family enjoyed a visit to Chicago’s great Columbian Exposition on 3-7 October 1893, described in great detail over 10 pages. However, it was clear that their life in Bradfordton was unsustainable.
Almost 40 years old, Ludlum had never been more than ten miles west of his family farm. On 6 February 1894, in the midst of the harsh winter, he got on a train west. 4 epic days of entries describing the Dakota Badlands, Rocky Mountains, Indians, and saloons, before arriving in the new settlement of Sunnyside in central Washington. Pleased by the “magnificent orchards” he “concluded that I will invest here and try my fortune” (12 February). He returned to Illinois to sell off his land and livestock, gathered his family, and brought them west. They brought 16 rooms worth of furniture and could only find a two-room cabin; they were unfamiliar with the land and climate: “Clear but a terrible dust storm all day, which is the second day of it. Our garden is about ruined, what is not blown out of the ground or killed is covered under a sand bank. I don’t think I want to live on this sand hill another year” (4 May 1894). More dust storms followed; jackrabbits attacked their fruit trees.
On the 4th of July, Ludlum seemed to grasp the absurdity of the young settlement: “This is the first celebration of our town, about 300 people present, where last 4th was nothing but sage brush and jackrabbits.” On 13 September, they announced their plans to leave Sunnyside for southern California. Several of their neighbors said they had the same plan. On 22 October, he arrived in Los Angeles to scout land: “I have been in beautiful cities before and seen beautiful grounds and residences, but nothing equal to this. Here for the first time I saw oranges growing, whole groves of them, and other tropical trees & shrubs in profusion.” Back in Sunnyside it was harvest time: “We finished digging our potatoes . . . but price is so low they are hardly worth hauling off. Fine potatoes but not a very large yield. Have covered them up in the field. Have not yet sold my corn” (3 November 1893).” The Ludlams left on 18 November and arrived in late November in Palmdale, CA, just north of Los Angeles, where they bought 20 acres and a small hardware store on 13 January 1895. The town’s land titles and water rights came into question. After a town meeting on 26 July 1895 he wrote “The whole district is upset and we don’t know where we are, who the water belongs to, who the land belongs to, or who we belong to.” On 2 August 1896, after a long gap, Ludlow summarizes: “Our titles are still uncertain, the tunnel still unfinished, the winter rains and snows were short and our water long since failed to reach us. The alfalfa is as dry as the road. . . . We are thinking of going to Fla if we can raise enough money.”
On 1 November the increasingly desperate family arrived in Auburndale in central Florida, following yet another scenic cross-country train trip, where they set out to raise oranges and tomatoes. Ludlam’s final entry in the diary also closed out the year: “Settled to try our fortunes at orange and truck raising. . . . We hope and believe that the change has been for the better” (31 December 1896).
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
American Indians
123
(alaska.) lomen brothers, photographers.
Photograph of 5 Inuit children in Nome.
Nome, AK, 1905
Warm-toned silver print, 7½ x 9 inches, with photographer credit, date, and inventory number 213 in the negative; minimal wear.
The Lomen Brothers operated a drug store and a photography studio, and also exported reindeer meat. Provenance: collector Stephen White, published in his “The Photograph and the American Dream 1840-1940,” 54; Swann’s Stephen White sale to the consignor, 23 March 2010, lot 23.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
124
(american indians.)
Treaty Entered into between the United States and the Cherokee Nation.
Nashville, TN: S. Nye & Co., 1836
23 pages. 8vo, unbound, on 6 folding sheets, with stitch holes and just a tiny bit of thread remaining; foxing, small ink burn on title page, final leaf worn without loss of text; uncut; original owner’s signature on title page.
A previously unknown printing of the disastrous Treaty of New Echota of 29 December 1835, in which an unauthorized minority faction of the Cherokee Nation agreed upon removal west to Indian Territory and cleared the path for the Trail of Tears. The treaty was signed in northwestern Georgia, but it also affected Cherokees living in Tennessee and Alabama. This copy was printed by order of the Tennessee House of Representatives. It includes the supplementary articles signed into law by Andrew Jackson on 23 May 1836. We trace no other existing copies of this printing in OCLC or elsewhere; it is not recorded in the 1942 Checklist of Tennessee Imprints.
Provenance: issued to Thomas Kennedy Gordon (1792-1880), then serving in the Tennessee House of Representatives for Giles County, who had served as captain under Andrew Jackson in the War of 1812 and became a life-long friend; consigned by Gordon’s great-great-granddaughter.
Estimate
$4,000 – $6,000
"THE UNSETTLED STATE OF THE INDIAN COUNTRY RATHER DETERS ME"
125
(american indians.) robert h. pettigrew.
Letter by a Georgia planter discussing the Creek War in Alabama.
Savannah, GA, 5 October [1836?]
Autograph Letter Signed to brother Ebenezer of Sumter County, AL. 3 pages, 12½ x 7¾ inches, on one folding sheet with address panel bearing inked Savannah, GA postmark on final blank; small seal tear, moderate wear, separations at folds with modern tape repairs.
Robert H. Pettigrew (1788-1841) of Savannah discusses the unsettled situation in Alabama as the local Creeks faced removal in the Creek War of 1836: “I am very desirous to visit you . . . but the unsettled state of the Indian country rather deters me. . . . I wrote to father & mother some weeks since but have received no answer. This renews my apprehension that the intercourse is not free or safe. I conversed with some wagoners from the Chattahoochee & they said travellers through the Creek country was not safe.”
Pettigrew also announces with relief that he has “lost no lives among my negroes” during a recent hurricane. He considers selling his plantation and moving west: “Your land and Negroes must follow the price of cotton, that is very low. The papers give frequently an account of Negroes selling for 300 dollars. . . . I could put fifteen or twenty hands in the field and a certainty of revenue . . . would make me very comfortable.”
Estimate
$500 – $750
126
(american indians.) charles fenderich, artist and lithographer.
P.P. Pitchlynn, Speaker of the National Council of the Choctaw Nation.
Washington [Philadelphia]: P.S. Duval, 1842
Lithograph, 17¾ x 13¾ inches, printed chine-collé on a printed heavy paper mount; minimal wear.
Peter Perkins Pitchlynn (1806-1881) was a Choctaw from Mississippi, the son of a Scottish-born father who was raised among the Choctaw himself. He graduated from the University of Nashville and became an important educator, moving with his people to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears. When this portrait was done he was serving as Choctaw delegate to the United States, and became chief of the Choctaws in 1864.
Shortly after this portrait was done, visiting author Charles Dickens had an intense conversation with Pitchlynn while on a steamboat on the Ohio River, which he described at length in his American Notes: “He was a remarkably handsome man; some years past forty, I should judge; with long black hair, an aquiline nose, broad cheek-bones, a sunburnt complexion, and a very bright, keen, dark, and piercing eye. There were but twenty thousand of the Choctaws left, he said, and their number was decreasing every day.” Pitchlynn noted “with a good-humoured smile and an arch shake of his head, that the English used to be very fond of the Red Men when they wanted their help, but had not cared much for them, since.” Pitchlynn “sent me a lithographed portrait of himself soon afterwards; very like, though scarcely handsome enough; which I have carefully preserved in memory of our brief acquaintance.”
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
127
(american indians.) hayes litho co.
Execution of the Thirty-Eight Sioux Indians at Mankato Minnesota December 26, 1862.
Buffalo, NY: John C. Wise, 1883
Chromolithograph, 16¾ x 21 inches; minimal wear.
In the midst of the Civil War, the Union army also fought the Dakota War on the Minnesota frontier. At the conclusion, 498 Dakota Sioux warriors were put on trial; 300 were sentenced to death. President Lincoln commuted most of the sentences, but 38 of them died in the largest mass execution in American history.
Estimate
$400 – $600
128
(american indians.) john gregory bourke.
On the Border with Crook.
New York, 1891
7 plates. xiii, [3], 491, 4 pages including publisher’s ads. 8vo, publisher’s pictorial cloth, minimal wear; rear joint split between ad leaves, minimal wear to contents, a fresh copy; December 1891 pencil owner’s signature on front flyleaf.
First edition. “A truly great book, on both Apaches and Arizona frontier”–Dobie, Life and Literature of the Southwest. Graff 367; Howes B654 (“aa”).
Estimate
$300 – $400
129
(american indians.)
Illustrated promotional card for “The Mohawk Indian, Asa R. Hill (Ska-Hue-Haw-Di-Seo), Denison University.”
Granville, OH, circa 1912?
Illustrated card, 6¼ x 3½ inches; moderate wear and minor foxing, blank on verso.
Asa Rholston Hill (1888-1955) was born on the Six Nations reserve in Ohsweken, Ontario, and studied for the ministry at Denison University in Ohio in 1912. He did some lecturing in local towns (see the Zanesville Times Recorder, 7 August 1912, for example), and presumably used these cards to promote his appearances. He is depicted in a full-length portrait, in traditional garb with head-dress. None others traced in OCLC or at auction.
Estimate
$400 – $600
130
(american indians–photographs.) david f. barry.
Photograph of Curley.
Np, circa 1877, printed circa 1910
Albumen photograph, 10 x 6 inches, on original mount, with embossed “D.F. Barry” copyright stamp in image, embossed “Barry” stamp on mat, Barry’s Superior, WI printed label on mount verso, and inscribed “To Mrs. Jewell, Good wishes, D.F. Barry” on mount; captioned on verso in pencil “No 92, Curley, scout” apparently in Barry’s hand.
Curley was a Crow employed by Custer as a scout at the Battle of Little Bighorn. As a scout, he did not participate actively in the battle, and escaped by disguising himself as a Sioux. Barry photographed him circa 1877, about a year after the fight.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
131
(american indians–photographs.) w.r. cross; photographer.
Pair of cabinet cards showing Rain in the Face and Sitting Bull.
Hot Springs, SD, circa 1900?
Silver prints, 5½ x 3¾ inches, on original gilt-edged mounts with photographer’s backmarks, captioned in negative; minimal wear.
“642. Rain in the Face, Slayer of Gen. Geo. A. Custer” / “Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill (Wm. Cody).”
Estimate
$400 – $600
132
(american indians–photographs.) charles f. lummis.
Pair of cyanotype views of New Mexico Pueblo life.
New Mexico, 1888 and 1891
Various sizes, minimal foxing and wear.
Journalist and ethnographer Charles Fletcher Lummis (1859-1928) was a New Englander who moved west to become editor of the Los Angeles Times, but suffered a mild stroke at the age of 29 and spent three years recuperating among the Puebloans of Isleta, New Mexico. He became a vocal advocate for their traditional culture in addition to his photographic documentation of their daily life. Offered here are:
[View of Cochiti Tablita Dance] (as identified at the Getty Museum) at Cochiti Pueblo in New Mexico, 8½ x 11 inches including large margins; signed and dated 1888 in negative.
“Spring Foot-Races, Pueblo of Isleta, N.M.,” 5 x 8 inches, unsigned but captioned and dated in negative.
Estimate
$500 – $750
133
(american indians–photographs.) carl moon.
Untitled portrait of an Indian bird hunter.
Np, early 20th century
Silver print, 9½ x 7½ inches, signed “Karl Moon” in the image, on original mount with “Carl Moon , 565 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena, CA” blindstamp; minimal wear to photo edges, minor wear to mount.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
134
(american indians–photographs.) s.w. ormsby.
Group of 9 Indian portraits and views, including his famous “Peace.”
Montana, 1900 and undated
9 silver prints, some captioned, signed and/or dated in the negative, each just under 8 x 6 inches except as noted, each variously chipped or creased along lower edge, mounted to album leaves or removed from same. With the original album which once housed these photographs, limp pictorial felt-covered paper with embossed monogram “G.F. McK” on rear cover.
Sanderson Woodruff Ormsby (1858-1929) was a photographer best known for his work among the Assiniboine and Sioux people of Fort Peck Indian Reservation in northeastern Montana. Included here are 9 original prints by Ormsby, including:
“Walks on the Ground, Assiniboine,” signed in negative, mount remnants on verso.
“Two Hawk, Sioux,” mounted on an album leaf with an untitled full-length portrait of a young man holding a hatchet mounted on verso, both signed and dated 1900 in negative.
Untitled view of tipis being set up, just under 5 x 8 inches, mount remnants on verso.
Another portrait of “Walk on the Ground, Assiniboine,” 1900, signed in negative, with the bottom half inch detached but present, mounted on an album leaf with an untitled portrait of a woman mounted on verso.
Untitled print of Ormsby’s masterwork “Peace” or “The Real Indian” (illustrated), mounted on an album leaf with an untitled portrait of a woman on verso.
Untitled view of tipi and 5 occupants (attributed elsewhere to Ormsby), 1-inch closed tear in center of image, mounted on album leaf.
The standard biographical account of this photographer reads “Very little is known about S.W. Ormsby.” He led an unusually random and peripatetic life, with his photographic career as only one short but interesting chapter. As nearly as we can piece together, he was born in 1858 in Santa Rosa, CA. He was apparently named after Judge Silas Woodruff Sanderson (1824-1886), who had married into the Ormsby family. His father was a physician in a succession of gold-mining towns, and also dabbled in minting gold coinage. We don’t know much about Ormsby’s early adulthood, but by 1897 he was working as a Great Northern railway station agent in remote Wolf Point, Montana. He was an amateur photographer in his free time, of which he had quite a bit. On the morning of 10 August 1897, he got a local Assiniboine named Yellow Boy to pose in the traditional gesture of peace, standing with his weapons on the ground and one hand lifted to his forehead. The shot won first prize in an amateur photography contest held by the Minneapolis Tribune, which pronounced that “we do not remember ever having seen so good an illustration of the Indian as he appears in poetry and romance” (7 November 1897). They later declared it “the finest Indian photograph ever made” (4 September 1898). This opportunity thrust Ormsby briefly on the path to photographic stardom. Variously titled as “Peace,” “Chief Yellow Boy Giving the Peace Sign,” or “The Real Indian,” his masterpiece was published in Cosmopolitan Monthly (January 1898, page 330), “Photograms of ‘98” (page 41), and several newspapers. A life-sized painting of the photograph on glass by Marion Graves was displayed across the country, including the expositions at Omaha (1898) and Buffalo (1901). Ormsby took this opportunity to quit his day job as a station agent and pursue photography full-time, but was unable to capitalize on his initial success. By 1900, he was working as a cashier in Spokane, WA. The last reference we find to his photographic work was in 1901 as an assistant to Harrie C. Barley in Skagway, Alaska (Daily Morning Alaskan, 23 May 1901).
The remainder of his life was spent cycling through occupations and cities. He married Lucy Maley in 1902 in Des Moines, Iowa; their only son Francis Maley Ormsby was born there the following year, and in 1904 he was listed a manager of a land and loan company. From 1910 to 1912, he and the family were back in Spokane, where he was an advertising writer for the Inland Advertising Agency. He was in Portland, Oregon from 1913 to 1917, at one point selling real estate. His final stop was Boise, Idaho. He was listed as a hotel clerk in 1927, a woolgrower in 1929, and finally on his 1929 death certificate as simply a “laborer.” Shortly after his death, his son Francis assumed the name Brother Zara, became a Buddhist monk, and removed to Japan. This earned him extensive newspaper coverage. If you have any doubts that the many lives led by these S.W. Ormsbys were one and the same, a 1943 profile of his son Francis recounted that “his mother, Mrs. Lou M. Ormsby, was teaching American Indians on reservations in Iowa, Idaho and Minnesota, and his father, the late Sanderson W. Ormsby, was adopted by Assiniboin-Yankton Indians in Montana” (Berkeley Daily Gazette Archives, 22 November 1943).
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
135
(american indians–photographs.) william soule.
Lodge of the Plains Indians among the Cottonwood Trees in a Comanche Camp . . .
Indian Territory, 1872
of Dressed Buffalo Skins. Albumen photograph, 7½ x 5¾ inches, signed “Soule” faintly in the mount, on original wide-margined 14 x 11-inch plain mount with manuscript caption; minor foxing and minor wear to mount.
William Stinson Soule (1836-1908) spent eight years in the west. In 1872 he was the post photographer at Fort Sill in what is now Oklahoma. This large-format card photograph shows a saddled horse and tipi in the foreground, with a small girl and man in western dress nearby. 4 other tipis and camp gear can be seen in the background. A very early and unusually high-quality image.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
136
(american indians–photographs.) ben wittick.
Inauguration Dance . . . View in Pueblo Laguna, New Mexico.
Laguna, NM, 12 January 1887
Albumen print, 7¼ x 9¼ inches; light toning and wear to image, light soiling along left edge, two small corner chips to mount.
George Benjamin Wittick (1845-1903) was a New Mexico photographer based out of Fort Wingate, about 60 miles west of Pueblo Laguna. He is best known for taking the only known surviving portrait of Billy the Kid; that one would cost you more.
Estimate
$400 – $600
137
(american indians–photographs.)
Photograph of “Crazy Snake and his Band.”
[Oklahoma?], 1901
Silver print, 3½ x 4½ inches, captioned and signed “F.C.C.” in negative; later crop marks on verso.
Chitto Harjo, the Creek popularly known as Crazy Snake, led organized resistance to the Congressional distribution of tribal Indian Territory lands in 1901. His followers created their own extralegal police force to intimidate their opponents, during the period of this photograph; he may be the tallest one, standing at far right. In 1909, an attempt to arrest Chitto Harjo resulted in the death of two posse members, a skirmish known as the Crazy Snake Rebellion. He escaped and was never captured.
Estimate
$300 – $400
138
(american indians–photographs.)
Portrait of Shawnasee, a Potawatomi leader.
Holton, KS, 1898
Albumen print, 5½ x 3¾ inches, on original plain mount, captioned in manuscript on verso “Shawnasee, Chief of the Pottawotamie Indians”; minor soiling to mount, minimal wear, negative overexposed in lower left corner.
Shawnasee was a leader of the Prairie Band Potawatomi, whose reservation is located a few miles north of Topeka, KS. This studio portrait was taken in Holton, just north of the reservation.
Estimate
$200 – $300
139
(american indians–photography.)
Group of 9 cartes-de-visite of Indians and street scenes by early New Mexico photographers.
Santa Fe and Ralston City, NM, circa 1872 and undated
Albumen photographs, each about 3½ x 2 inches on original mounts with photographer’s backmarks; minor wear and toning.
5 by H.T. Hiester of Santa Fe, each captioned in pencil on verso: “J. Orne Cole, Indian Agt., and Pueblo Indians”; “Pot Kettle, Navajo”; “Street Scene in Santa Fe”; “Racked Burro” (donkey heavily laden with barrels); and “Kit Carson” (a photograph of a rather flattering painting of the famed frontiersman). John O. Cole was Indian Agent at the Pueblo Indian Agency from 1872 to 1873.
2 by E. Andrews & Co. of Santa Fe, captioned in pencil on verso: “Navajo Squaw”; and a man with two burros.
One by N. Brown & Son of Santa Fe, captioned in pencil on verso “Church, Santa Fe.”
One by L.C. Withaup of Ralston City, NM, a silver-mining center which is now a ghost town: uncaptioned view of a cart hauling branches.
With–one uncredited carte-de-visite landscape view captioned on verso “Elizabeth Lowrie, Moreno Valley (California).”
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
140
(american indians–photographs.)
Group of 5 early 20th-century photographs.
Vp, circa 1910-1930s
Various sizes, condition as described.
Carl Moon. “Bear Legs, Osage.” Sepia-toned silver print, 17 x 13¼ inches; minimal wear, captioned in ink on verso. Np, undated.
Burton Frasher. [Indian ceremonial dancers.] Silver print, 6½ x 8½ inches; punch holes in upper margin, bit of adhesive at top left; photographer’s inked stamp and pencil notes on verso. Caption and date from the copy held at Pomona Public Library; caption here reads “Ye Be Cha, Navaho” and depicts the ceremonial Yeibichai dance. Pomona, CA, [1931].
A.M. Hartung. “Kiowa–Papoose” and “Kiowa-Squaw-Papoose”, silver prints, each 5½ x 4 inches, captioned in negative on photographer’s illustrated 10 x 8-inch mounts; moderate corner wear to mounts. Brownwood, TX, circa 1910.
Virgil Gipson. “Hopi Sam.” Hand-tinted silver print, 13¾ x 11 inches; taped into period mat, signed and captioned in pencil on mat. Np, circa 1930s.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
The American Revolution
"FRUSTRATE THE DIREFUL MACHINATIONS OF THE ENEMIES OF OUR COUNTRY"
141
(american revolution–prelude.)
Pact to enforce New York’s “Agreement of Non-Importation” during the heyday of the Sons of Liberty.
New York, 12 November 1769
Manuscript document, 2 pages, 10½ x 8 inches; wear and dampstaining at edges with minimal loss of text, folds, trimmed at top edge. With an annotated transcript.
This agreement was made among Sons of Liberty leader Isaac Sears and other members of New York’s mercantile community who resisted British taxation. After the Stamp Act was repealed, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts in 1767, hoping to recoup some of that lost income with a series of other taxes. This in turn inspired Non-Importation Associations among merchants in most of the major American ports, closely allied with the radical Sons of Liberty. Merchants found to be offering newly imported goods were identified and shamed, and coaxed into making public apologies.
This agreement recalls that a “certain agreement of non-importation” was unanimously agreed upon by the city’s merchants in 1768, and lists 25 men by their initials who had been appointed in 1768 to enforce the agreement. This committee had fallen down on the job, “the majority of whom, by their sordid designs, ignorance, inattention & timidity have utterly perverted the laudable intention of the afores’d inhabitants, & will, if not timely prevented, accomplish a general importation.” Thus a new committee was formed “frustrate the direful machinations of the enemies of our country & preserve its most manifest rights, do hereby solemnly promise & engage mutually to assist each other on all necessary & justifiable emergencies.” The members are sworn to absolute secrecy.
24 signatories are listed, among them the undisputed local leader of the Sons of Liberty, Isaac Sears; and another active member, Edward Laight. Other prominent men on the list include Isaac Low, who later served in the first Continental Congress and later switched sides to the Loyalists; and Peter T. Curtenius, who later became a Commissary General for the Continental troops.
The enforcement of the non-importation agreement was a constant struggle in New York during this period, discussed in numerous broadsides and newspaper articles in 1769 and 1770. Offered here is the secret agreement of the men who made it happen.
Estimate
$10,000 – $15,000
142
(american revolution–prelude.) john hodgson; reporter.
The Trial of William Wemms . . . for the Murder of Crispus Attucks.
Boston: J. Fleeming, 1770
217 pages. 8vo, modern plain wrappers; browned, title page worn and next 3 leaves worn and repaired, unevenly trimmed throughout, moderate dampstaining; original owner’s inscription on final blank. In modern ¼ morocco tray case.
First edition. “In this, one of the most significant trials of our history, young Josiah Quincy and John Adams, at a point when public feeling had been fanned to flame by Samuel Adams and John Hancock, volunteered to defend the eight British soldiers charged with murder at the Boston Massacre. We have here a very full account of the trial, except for the closing argument for the Crown by Robert Treat Paine, which is given in brief summary”–Streeter sale, II:741. As an example of the firsthand testimony found here, John Danbrooke testified that he was standing next to Crispus Attucks when he was shot: “Did the Molatto say any thing before the gun went off? I heard him say nothing. The Molatto was leaning over a long stick he had, resting his breast upon it” (page 31).
Original owner Nicholas Roche has inscribed this book on the final blank, explaining that be bought it in Boston in May 1771, and urging us “Steal not this book, my honest friend / For fear that ye gallows should be yr end / Steal not this book for fear of shame / Here under lies ye owner’s name.” Evans 11683; Howes H561; McDade 122; Sabin 96951.
Estimate
$4,000 – $6,000
143
(american revolution–1775.)
Journals of Congress, Containing the Proceedings from Sept. 5, 1774 to Jan. 1, 1776.
Philadelphia: Robert Aitken, 1777
Volume I only. [2], 310 pages. 8vo, original boards, moderate wear, without backstrip; lacking front free endpaper, rehinged, moderate dampstaining, lacking the 6 index leaves at end; uncut; inked library stamps with withdrawal stamps on inner board and page 1, no other library markings.
The first collected printing of the early sessions of Continental Congress, including the first months of the Revolution. Evans 15683. Provenance: Milton Slater collection; Swann sale, 4 February 2016, lot 18, to the consignor.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
144
(american revolution–1776.)
[Nomination for Election in May 1776.]
[New Haven, CT?: Thomas and Samuel Green?, 1775]
Letterpress broadside, 9½ x 8¼ inches; dampstaining, folds, worn with loss of top quarter of the document including title and Connecticut arms.
A list of names nominated for upcoming Connecticut elections. Heading the list is the sitting governor Jonathan Trumbull, who went on to become the only pre-1775 colonial governor to win re-election after independence. 4 of the other listed candidates (Roger Sherman, Oliver Wolcott, Samuel Huntington, and William Williams) would soon sign their names to the Declaration of Independence. 3 in ESTC, and none traced at auction since 1921. Bristol B3947 (posits a New London origin); ESTC W34900.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
145
(american revolution–1776.) [john hathaway?]
Militia officer complaining about unfair promotions in his brigade.
Np, circa February 1776?
Autograph Letter to George Godfrey (1720-1793) of Taunton, MA, Brigadier General of the Bristol Brigade of Massachusetts Militia. One page, 12½ x 7½ inches, with address panel (no postal markings) and docketing on verso, plus integral blank; 2½-inch fore-edge chip with loss of several words including most of signature, other moderate wear.
“I am informed, sir, that you offered the major’s place in the army to two of your captains before Major Mitchell was appointed. . . . How they could be cal’d major and bare the same rank they now do is a thing I cannot solve by rule or grammar. . . . I realy conceive of your conduct to be degraiding of that set of officers, and as one of them I very modestly and calmly resent your conduct.” Quite a cheeky letter to write to your commanding officer.
The damaged signature reads only “Jo—,” but the docketing reads “Maj’r Hathaway’s reflecting letter to G. Godfrey.” Godfrey served as Brigadier General from January 1776 to July 1781. He appointed Abiel Mitchell as Major in February 1776, about the same time as John Hathaway was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.
Estimate
$400 – $600
146
(american revolution–1776.)
Muster roll for Capt. Abner How’s company in the Continental Army.
[Harlem Heights, NY?], circa late September 1776?
One manuscript page, 12¾ x 7¼ inches; wear and repairs at folds, edge wear not affecting text.
Captain Abner How (1736-1776) of Brookfield, MA served as an ensign with a Minutemen company. He then joined the Continental Army, as captain of the 7th company in the 4th Massachusetts Regiment. He died on 30 December 1776, 4 days after the regiment fought at the Battle of Trenton. This list of 55 soldiers appears to date from late September 1776, while Washington’s army slowly retreated north from Manhattan into Westchester County, NY. Samuel Hinkley, who joined the company on 24 September, is added at the end in a different ink. Samuel Wood, who joined on 3 October, does not appear. See the company’s detailed payroll list in Wright’s “Soldiers of Oakham,” pages 274-5.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
147
(american revolution–1776.) eleazer fitch.
A Loyalist Connecticut sheriff complains of his unfair treatment, and hints at retribution.
[Windham, CT], circa October 1776
Autograph Letter Signed “Fitch” to his brother [Samuel Fitch?]. One page, 9 x 7 inches; moderate wear at folds, laid down on tissue.
This letter is the key turning point in an interesting story, though if you are squeamish about bad language you might want to skip to the next lot. Eleazer Fitch (1726-1796) was a very prominent resident of rural Windham, CT: a Yale graduate, sheriff from 1752 to 1776, colonel in the French and Indian War, and a huge man for his era at 6’4” and 300 pounds. In the 1770s, Windham became one of the more radical towns in eastern Connecticut, but Fitch did not join in the sentiment, and became an increasingly outspoken Tory. By 1774, the town radicals had arranged a total boycott on Fitch, but he remained sheriff. Even after independence was declared, when Tories were being rounded up across the new nation, the people of Windham petitioned the state government in September 1776 only to remove Fitch as sheriff–either out of deference to his high station or naked physical fear. While this petition was being considered, the local Committee of Inspection intercepted a damning letter from Fitch–the letter offered here:
“It will be no news to tell you the infamous storey of my treatment here as you must have heard it before this time. They begin to be very much ashamed of their conduct, and I believe wish most heartily they had let me alone. Butt whether that be so or not, I despise them all together. That you may rely upon is a sacred truth. I am not att liberty to say many things that I want to communicate to you. Butt the time will soon com, I hope, when we may all speak our minds without fear or restraint.”
The letter, which concludes with family pleasantries and travel plans, was written to a known Tory, likely his brother Samuel Fitch (1724-1799), a Boston attorney. Despite this evidence, and having in another instance told the governor and council to take “his sheriff’s commission and wipe there damned arses with it,” Fitch was not brought to trial for disloyalty until September 1778. Even then, despite substantial evidence, he was acquitted. By this point, though, he was ostracized and rapidly sinking into debt. He moved to Nova Scotia at the end of the war. Part of this letter was published (without giving a source) in William Willingham’s “The Strange Case of Eleazer Fitch: Connecticut Tory,” in the Connecticut Historical Society Bulletin, July 1975 (40:3), page 75-79.
Estimate
$600 – $900
148
(american revolution–1777.)
Pass issued to a Loyalist family to depart for British-occupied territory under Washington’s order.
Np, circa January-February 1777
Manuscript document, 3 x 8¾ inches; minor foxing, faint dampstaining and wear to left edge affecting a few letters.
This pass was issued in compliance with George Washington’s 25 January 1777 order that all Americans take an oath of loyalty to the United States. He granted a one-month exemption for crown loyalists to relocate to British-held territory. The pass reads in full:
“Joshua Sulice of New Rochele is permited to pass to Long Island or within the enemy lines near New York, agreable to the orders contained in His Excellency General Washington’s proclamation dated Jan. 25th 1777, and he is also to carry with him his wife, children, mother, sister, wearing apparel of himself & family, six beds & necessary beddings, one week’s provisions and domestic accounts.”
We cannot determine whether Joshua Soulice (1722-1799) of New Rochelle, NY and his family actually used this pass to settle on British-held Long Island, but we know he was back in New Rochelle by 1790, and was buried there in 1799. However, at least one member of his family, his brother Daniel Soulice (1726-1820), was an active Loyalist who settled in Nova Scotia after the war. We know of no similar Loyalist exit passes at auction.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
149
(american revolution–1777.)
Group of 3 volumes of the early Journals of Congress.
Vp, circa 1786-88
8vo, original paper-backed boards, minor wear except as noted; uncut.
Journals of Congress, Containing the Proceedings from January 1, 1777, to January 1, 1778. Volume III. 603, [1], xxii pages; lacking most of backstrip, spine split, front board detached, library stamps on title page. New York: John Patterson, [1788?]
Resolutions, Acts and Orders of Congress, for the Year 1780. Volume VI. 257, [1], xliii pages; possibly rebacked with paper, rehinged, minor foxing, partly unopened. [Philadelphia] John Dunlap, [1786].
Journal of the United States in Congress Assembled: Containing the Proceedings from the 3d day of November, 1785. to the 3d day of November, 1786. Volume XII [i.e., XI]. 287, [1], xvi pages; lacking most of backstrip, intermittent dampstaining in margins and toning. [Philadelphia] John Dunlap, [1786]. Evans 21527, 20079, 20068.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
150
(american revolution–1778.)
List of Continental Army brigades 4 days after leaving Valley Forge, with “Receivers of Cattle” for each.
[Southern New Jersey?], 22 June 1778
Manuscript document, 9½ x 8¼ inches, docketed on verso; folds, moderate edge wear, minor foxing.
This document was issued just 4 days after the Continental Army left Valley Forge in pursuit of the British toward Manhattan. Just 6 days later, the two armies met in the Battle of Monmouth. It lists 16 “Brigades of the Grand Army” plus the “Staff Department,” and the appointed “Receivers of Cattle” for each brigade. After a lean six months in camp, they may have encountered improved forage opportunities on the march, and welcomed a fresh supply of beef in their provisions. The 16 brigades listed here were all among the 18 which spent the spring at Valley Forge. Maxwell’s New Jersey Brigade had left Valley Forge the previous month and is not listed here. The 3rd Pennsylvania Brigade is not listed here for some reason, and the 1st and 2nd Pennsylvania Brigades had no appointed receiver of cattle–no beef for them. Among the listed brigade commanders are Varnum, Muhlenberg, Varnum and Knox.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
CLAIMING EXPENSES FOR HIS SERVICE AT VALLEY FORGE
151
(american revolution–1779.)
List of expenses incurred by Colonel Philip Van Cortlandt at Valley Forge.
Np, [1779]
One page, 12½ x 7½ inches, on paper with 1779 watermark; full separation at lower horizontal fold below text area, moderate edge wear; docketed on verso.
Following his service at Saratoga in the fall of 1777, Van Cortlandt was temporarily detached from his command to help supervise the encampment at Valley Forge before returning to his regiment that summer. In this account, Van Cortlandt is registered for reimbursement for six separate expenses incurred during the Continental Army’s final months at Valley Forge. He had paid Samuel Loudon of Fishkill, NY for military printing; Lawrence Fledetner for repairing drums; and Sergeant Thomas Bunting for an expedition in pursuit of deserters. In May he claimed “expences of Several Officers from Valey Forge to Easton on command to receive recruits.” The account concludes with a claim for “expences on com’d by order of Genl. Washington from Valey Forge to White Plains.”
Estimate
$2,500 – $3,500
152
(american revolution–1779.) maurice simons.
A militia colonel pushes back on the return of borrowed wagons to the Continental Army.
[South Carolina?], 25 September 1779
Letter Signed as colonel of the Charleston Militia to Major Edmund Massingbird Hyrne, Adjutant General of the Southern Department. One page, 7 x 7½ inches, with docketing and address panel on verso (no postal markings); light soiling.
“I this moment rec’d your order for these waggons belonging to the third regiment to be return’d them. I must first beg leave to inform you that without those waggons, we cannot move without leaving the ammunition & baggage they carry behind, & as the third reg’t with some other regiments have more than that number of waggons taken from them, & impress’d by order of the Gov’r, I will submit to you, if it is not just they should first be return’d, especially as I had the general’s promise for their being return’d or others, in the room of them. At present the waggons are out for provisions & forrage.”
Estimate
$400 – $600
153
(american revolution–1781.)
The Smithfield and Cumberland Rangers militia company is summoned for muster.
Providence, RI, 4 March 1781
Autograph Document Signed by Benjamin Wallcott as lieutenant, addressed to the clerk of the company. One page, 6½ x 7½ inches; folds, foxing, light wear on right edge.
Estimate
$400 – $600
154
(american revolution–1781.)
Account of a French ship’s naval battle with the British off Pensacola.
Np, covering events of 16 to 19 April 1781
13 manuscript pages plus 3 blanks, 12½ x 8¼ inches, on 4 folding sheets, headed “Extrait du Journal de la Licorne depuis le 16 jusqu’au 19 avril 1781,” stitched with ribbon; minimal wear.
In 1780, the French navy captured the HMS Unicorn, and renamed it “La Licorne” (French for Unicorn). This French-language account is transcribed from the apparently unpublished journal of the Licorne’s captain. It begins with the Licorne being separated from its squadron off the southern coast of the Florida panhandle near Cape San Blas on 16 April 1781. Three days later a ship was spotted which was assumed to be one of the lost squadron, so Licorne closed in. It soon became apparent that this ship was an enemy British ship, but as it appeared inferior in strength, the Licorne continued to draw nearer, “having been well prepared for combat for a long time.” Unleashing his first broadside, the captain was disconcerted to see that it had minimal effect, and that the British frigate had a surprising number of men aboard with superior arms. The Licorne attempted some clever maneuvers, but soon found most of its masts shot off. The captain concluded that “there was nothing left for us to do but continue such an unequal and disadvantageous fight to save the honor of the flag as long as possible.” Soon enough his ship was completely helpless and he decided that “it was much better for the interest of the state to save the brave people who remained to me than to sacrifice them to a certain and inevitable loss.” After two hours of combat he lowered the flag to bring about a cease-fire. Two minutes later, though, one of his cannons accidentally discharged, which brought a fresh onslaught from the Resource. Upon re-surrendering and being rowed to the Resource, the French captain was surprised to learn that his opposing captain had been Bartholomew Rowley (1764-1811), a youth of only 16 years old who was descended from a long noble lineage of naval commanders. The narrative ended with praise for Rowley’s treatment of his captives, and of the heroism of his own officers in a hopeless cause. La Licorne was taken back into the British Navy, becoming once again the HMS Unicorn.
Captain Rowley wrote his own short account of this battle in a 2 June letter to Sir Peter Parker which was published in the London Gazette of 31 July 1781 and innumerable other sources, which has been the primary (if not only) source of information on this naval battle. Rowley named “the Chevalier de St. Ture” as the commander of la Licorne, who would be the author of this account. As we can find no other record of St. Ture, we suspect the name may be incorrect. In any event, this French account far surpasses Rowley’s account in detail. It is accompanied by a modern full typed transcription and English translation, from which all quotes here have been abstracted.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
155
(american revolution–1781.) jonathan lawrence, jr.
Letter by a young officer attempting to raise a new company of New York troops.
Rockland, NY, 26 May 1781
Autograph Letter Signed to George Clinton in Poughkeepsie as Governor of New York. 2 pages on 2 sheets, 6¼ x 7½ inches, stitched at an early date, with address panel (marked “¼ 1.8 Public service”) and docketing on versos; minor wear and foxing.
Jonathan Lawrence (1759-1802) was an intrepid young officer who helped deliver dispatches to General Washington and later corresponded with him. At this point, he had been serving as a captain in a state militia regiment, and was trying to raise a company to become a captain in the Continental Army, in response to the governor’s call for new troops. He resided in the village of Palisades, part of the small town of Orangetown in what soon became Rockland County (the docketing refers to “raising levies in Orangetown”), at the southernmost point of New York west of the Hudson River. As shown in this letter, fresh troops were hard to come by.
“Every endeavor in my power has been made use of to perswade the field officers of our militia to be speedy in raising the levies agreeable to the act of the Legislature, but few are classed as yet. . . . They will not be more than nineteen exclusive of the officers. . . . Giveing your Excellency an account of the low proceedings of the officers will create me many enemies, but as it is my duty I determined to do it. . . . I have several times applyd to the officer of the whale boats to go with one to fetch off those familys . . . could I have procured the boats only I might have got volunteers. . . . As it is not likely I shall have a command in the levies, I shall be happy Your Excellency would recommend me to Gen’l Du Portail for a company in his Corps of Sappers.”
Lawrence was indeed appointed as captain in the sappers shortly thereafter. He resigned his commission late in 1782 due to tuberculosis contracted in his service, a disease which apparently ended his life at the age of 43.
Estimate
$500 – $750
156
(american revolution–1783.) sir guy carleton.
Letter of recommendation for a New York Loyalist seeking refuge in Nova Scotia.
New York, 4 September 1783
Contemporary manuscript copy of a letter as commander in chief of the British army in North America, to John Parr, Governor of Nova Scotia, in the hand of Carleton’s commissary general Sir Brook Watson and bearing Watson’s signature. One manuscript page, 12¼ x 7¾ inches, plus integral blank with docketing; moderate wear not affecting legibility.
As the Treaty of Paris slowly moved through diplomatic channels, the thousands of anxious American Loyalists in occupied New York sought new homes elsewhere in the empire, with Nova Scotia being the most popular destination. As they departed northward, they were sometimes granted letters of recommendation by the British military leadership, such as this example:
“I beg leave to recommend to your Excellency’s favourable notice and assistance the bearer Mr. Nemiah Haydon, who is a zealous Loyalist and has rendered many services to government during the late war. He intends to proceed from hence with several other Loyalists with him in a vessel of their own to Port Shelburne, where they are desirous of setling, and as they are chiefly ship carpenters and mean to enter into the business of ship building there, which may prove of great benefit to that settlement, I have no doubt but they will receive that protection and countenance from your Excellency so usefull a body of people deserve.”
The Loyalist in question, Nehemiah Hayden (1755-1791), came from an important shipbuilding family in Saybrook, CT; he did indeed settle in Chester, NS and later died in Bermuda.
Sir Brook Watson (1735-1807), who wrote out and signed this file transcript, is best known for a shark attack which cost him his leg in 1749. In 1774, he commissioned Boston artist John Singleton Copley to commemorate his rescue with the now-famous painting, “Watson and the Shark.”
The date of this letter is interesting, although just a coincidence. The Treaty of Paris, first drafted in November 1782, was actually signed in Paris on this date, 4 September 1783. However, there would have been no way for General Carleton to know that in New York. The final British evacuation took place on 25 November.
An earlier partial draft of this letter was abstracted in the 1909 “Report on American Manuscripts in the Royal Institution of Great Britain,” Volume IV, page 326.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
157
(american revolution–history.) william austin.
An Oration, Pronounced at . . . the Anniversary of the Battle of Bunker’s Hill.
Charlestown, MA: Samuel Etheridge, 1801
29 pages. 8vo, later marbled wrappers; title page worn with 2 repairs, otherwise minor edge wear; uncut.
A patriotic oration on Bunker Hill, delivered on its anniversary at the request of the Charlestown Artillery. “The respect which a people pays to the memory of those who purchased their freedom, is the standard of their own worth.” Sabin 2428.
Estimate
$250 – $350
158
(american revolution–history.) alexander h. ritchie, artist.
Washington and his Generals.
New York: Emil Seitz, circa 1870
Hand-colored mezzotint engraving, 29 x 39¾ inches; 3-inch repaired closed tear entering image area, minor wear in caption area, mat toning, minor edge wear, mount remnants on verso.
A later printing of a handsome and desirable large-scale print, originally issued by the artist-engraver in 1856.
Estimate
$400 – $600
159
(art.)
Scrapbook of letters to art editor Samuel G.W. Benjamin, including Eakins, Church and dozens more.
Vp, 1853-81 and undated, bulk 1876-80
83 manuscript items (mostly Autograph Letters Signed received by Benjamin) laid down or tipped into a period scrapbook. 4to, 11 x 9 inches, contemporary gilt pictorial cloth, worn; hinges split, leaves rather brittle but contents in moderately strong condition, some adhesive staining.
Samuel Greene Wheeler Benjamin (1837-1914) had an eclectic career as a diplomat, artist, and author. Son of missionaries, he was born in Greece, covered the Crimean War as a young journalist before graduating from Williams College in 1859, painted marine landscapes, wrote and edited numerous works on art, especially for the Magazine of Art, and was American Minister to Persia from 1883 to 1885. Offered here is a scrapbook of Benjamin’s correspondence–mostly but not exclusively from prominent American artists in response to his journalistic queries, 1876-1880.
In 1878, Benjamin had sought permission to reproduce a work by realist painter Thomas Eakins, possibly in the Magazine of Art. Eakins responds here on 1 November 1878: “I should be very pleased to have you reproduce my zither player or my Prof. Gross picture or a part of it or anything else of mine you might like. The things at William Sartain’s would be the handiest for you to get, and I would value his judgement as to which one more than my own.” Eakins references what is now possibly his best-known work, “The Gross Clinic” from 1875.
Hudson River School master Frederic Edwin Church replied to a similar request with a dolefully self-deprecating letter on 7 January 1879: “Your request for the use of a picture to engrave for your papers on American art ought to have a favorable and prompt response. . . . I possess but one of my own pictures and that one is not suited for black and white. I have never been accustomed to work with the engraver’s art in view, and I must confess that my works generally are defective in effective treatment of light and shade. Partly in consequence of this, nearly all photographs of my work are absolute failures.”
Other artists represented (in order of appearance) include George Henry Boughton, James Craig Nicoll (2 letters), William Morris Hunt, Robert Swain Gifford, David Dalhoff Neal, George Loring Brown, Albert Fitch Bellows, Francis Blackwell Mayer, botanical illustrator Ellen Robbins, Robert Walker MacBeth, western landscape artist Thomas Hill, Eastman Johnson, Samuel Colman, Arthur Quartley, Jervis McEntee, Sanford Robinson Gifford, William Rudolf O’Donovan, James D. Smillie, John Joseph Enneking, Titanic victim Francis Davis Millet (“Life seems too short to paint all there is to paint”), Charles Stanley Reinhart, sculptor Anne Whitney, James Carroll Beckwith, Oliver Ingraham Lay, William James Linton, Stephen James Ferris, Hugh Bolton Jones, Charles Henry Miller, Harry Chase, Thomas Addison Richards, William H. Beard (a long manuscript list of paintings), illustrator Mary Hallock Foote, Homer Dodge Martin, and Daniel Huntington. Stained glass designer Louis Comfort Tiffany invites Benjamin to dinner–“very informally, come in your studio clothes.”
In other realms, James Milton Turner was the nation’s first Black diplomat, serving as consul to Liberia from 1871 to 1878. Here he writes from the island of Tenerife on 7 April 1873, reporting on quarantine conditions and asking Benjamin to have some parcels at the Customs House “shipped to me at Monrovia.” Benjamin also received letters from Williams College presidents Paul A. Chadbourne and Mark Hopkins, Smith College president Laurenus Clark Seelye (describing his efforts to form a world-class American art collection at Smith), and Bowdoin College president (and Civil War general) Joshua Chamberlain. Authors William Dean Howells, Elizabeth Akers Allen, and Paul Hamilton Hayne are also represented, as is senator (and fellow Williams alum) John James Ingalls.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
160
(art.)
Sketchbook of eccentric outsider and occult art kept by a working-class New Hampshire teen.
Hudson, NH, 1903-05
[103] manuscript pages. Folio, 13¼ x 7½ inches, original ¼ calf, worn; pencil drawings and notes drawn in the remnants of an old industrial notebook, numerous pages torn out; several pages signed with various names.
The pages of this notebook are filled with art, which grows increasingly bizarre: a pentagrammed hat over a broom titled “Witchcraft” (page 81); Jesus on the cross captioned “Names, Magii, Magic, wisdom or wisemen, the same who found Christ” (106); a suite of drawings of circus freaks including Siamese twins, Elephant Boy, a legless horse and a sword swallower (pages 110-119); gartered legs and women’s heads which appear to be intended as tattoo art (129); the psychedelic masterwork, “Ancient Mode of Worship” (134); a virgin having her heart ripped out with a sword in a Mexican occult ceremony (136); dozens of souls being burned inside a demonic creature called “Wicker Man . . . in time of druids in England” (137); and finally two pages of tortures inspired by the Spanish Inquisition (138-9).
The drawings are interspersed with occasional textual passages. An incoherent manuscript note reads “What has and does rule the world: mesmerism, clariavoiancy, hynatism, fire, fear, farce, and the mighty gold dollar.” 6 pages are devoted to horoscopes (122-6). Among the more staid artistic compositions (most of them earlier in the volume) are a sign for the artist’s father’s (imaginary?) business, “Deerfield Farm, O.D. Philbrick & Sons”; a full-page landscape featuring the school in Hudson, NH; three fire engines titled “Philbrick Fire Co.”; a crowded car on the Nashua & Lowell Rail Road; a Jewish junk dealer; men in military uniforms; an “American school teacher”; a naval vessel titled the USS Maybrick; Masonic emblems; Black Heart, chief of the Apaches; and a whaling scene.
Two names appear repeatedly throughout this album. The main artist appears to be Ren W. Philbrick (1888-1953). Philbrick was aged about 16 when he made these drawings. His father Orrin D. Philbrick was a teamster and farm laborer. Ren would be married by 1910 and never had children, working on odd jobs ranging from farm laborer to railroad shop repairman to brush burner on a reforestation project. The other name which appears repeatedly in the album is Charles H.F. Daigneault, which appears completely untraceable, though Daigneault is a fairly common French-Canadian surname in northern New England. It may well have been a fictional persona adopted by Philbrick.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
161
(bible in english.)
The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments.
Philadelphia: Berriman & Co., 1796
2 maps, 15 [of 16] plates. 750 [of 752] pages. Folio, later red gilt roan, moderate wear, gilt-lettered “St. Paul’s Church, Georgetown” on front board; intermittent dampstaining and toning, a few leaves torn, one plate and two text leaves somewhat defective, lacking frontispiece plate and the engraved table, lacking final leaf (subscriber list); all edges gilt; Paynter family births and deaths through 1814 recorded on two blank pages, later inscription on front pastedown.
“Valued by collectors, as its illustrations give excellent examples of the work done by several American engravers of that time”–Wright page 325. Among the engravers represented are Alexander Anderson (two maps of the Holy Land, and a view of Solomon’s Temple) and Amos Doolittle (Triumph of David, and Judas Maccabeus defeating the Samarian army). Evans 30065; Hills 53.
This Bible has two pages of records from the family of Samuel Paynter (1736-1814) of Delaware. It was presented shortly after his death by his son Samuel Paynter Jr. (1768-1845), later the governor of Delaware, to St. Paul’s Church in Georgetown, DE, as seen by the binding. The inscription explains that several decades later, after the church obtained a new Bible, this one was then repatriated to Gov. Painter’s son Edwin R. Paynter (1839-1910).
Estimate
$500 – $750
162
(business.)
Western Coal and Lumber Resources . . . of the Central Coal & Coke Company of Kansas City.
Chicago: American Lumberman, [1902]
Frontispiece plate and numerous illustrations. 191 pages, 4to, limp cloth gilt, minimal wear to wrappers and contents.
This company had wide-ranging investments in the extractive industries, including lumber in Texas and Louisiana, and coal in Wyoming, Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. They also owned a rail line. This promotional book documents all of these operations with numerous photographs and extensive descriptions. It is described as “chiefly a reprint” of the 1 November 1902 issue of American Lumberman devoted to the company. Still, we don’t often find substantial books which are unrecorded in OCLC. None traced at auction.
Estimate
$300 – $400
163
(california.)
Business license and billhead for San Francisco’s first antiquarian bookseller, Epes Ellery.
San Francisco, CA, 1856 and 1864
Pair of partly printed documents, 10½ x 8 and 4¾ x 8½ inches; folds, moderate edge wear to the license.
Epes Ellery (1830-1914) arrived from Massachusetts to San Francisco in 1852, and by 1855 had opened an antiquarian book store–the city’s first according to the California State Library. It was located on Washington Street through the 1861 city directory, and at 225 Montgomery in the 1862 and 1863 directories. From 1864 onward Ellery was listed as engaged in selling his own patent rubber cement, or as a real estate and mining investor. He moved across the bay to Alameda in 1867, where he spent his remaining 47 years.
Offered here is the county license issued to “E Ellery . . . to transact the business of books in Washington Street” for the preceding three months, for which he paid $7.50. It is signed by 3 local officials and dated 8 March 1856. Also included is an illustrated billhead for his “Antiquarian Book Store, 225 Montgomery Street, Importer and Dealer in New and Second-Hand Books, Stationery, Blank Books, Sheet Music, &c.” It apparently documents his own company’s $50 payment to Ellery as secretary of the “Antiquarian S.M. Co.,” dated 12 May 1864–about the same time the book store disappeared from the city directories.
With–a group of 60 of Ellery’s receipted invoices and cancelled checks relating to Ellery’s later business ventures and household expenses, 1865-94. Most notable is an invoice from Newhall’s Sons & Co., Auctioneers, for “2 pictures,” which hammered at $1.75 and $3.50, in San Francisco on 2 March 1882.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
164
(california.)
Letters from a gold-mining engineer in Oroville at war with his investor.
Oroville, CA, 10 October to 27 November [circa 1900?]
3 Autograph Letters Signed as “Jack” to his partner Eric. 13 total pages on 7 sheets of lined paper, 9¾ x 8 inches; minor wear.
Our correspondent was working out a new mechanical process for gold mining on a promising site. However, his partner Eric had given power of attorney to an investor named Wyckoff who is described as “a snoty little devil” who “knows no more about a mine or my affairs than a jack rabbit,” but was starving the operation of cash while delivering a steady stream of insults. At one point he “left me without cash for ten days when we had nothing but potatoes to feed in the camp.” Wyckoff is also suspected of trying to steal the proprietary process, which had already yielded fruit in Mexico. If that wasn’t bad enough, the author was in poor health–passing blood, suffering from continuous headaches, and feeling faint. And yet, as with any mining venture, a fortune was just around the corner: “I will make you money in the mine and prove the process, so we can get bigger mines. Everybody is gold-crazy over here.” Someone familiar with the history of Oroville mining might be able to identify the author.
Estimate
$500 – $750
165
(california.)
Collection on pioneering naturalist Galen Clark and Yosemite National Park.
Vp, 1906-11 and undated
9 items, various sizes and conditions, several items worn.
Galen Clark (1814-1911) was an early California pioneer who discovered the Mariposa Grove and dedicated his career to protecting the surrounding Yosemite National Park. Included in this lot are:
Postcard addressed by Clark to his great-grandson Lloyd Estabrook Hosmer (1906-1956), circa 1907-09.
Real Photo postcard of Clark with renowned Yosemite photographer George Fiske, captioned on verso, circa 1906.
3 photographs, each 7½ x 4¼ inches plus mount, with inked George Fiske stamps on verso: “Sequoias near Wawona, planted by Mr. Clark when he first came to Wawona”; “Cathedral Rocks mirror view, Yosemite”; and “Cloud’s Rest & Half Dome thru the Trees.”
Handbill from Clark’s 93rd birthday celebration, featuring a poem by Julia M. Burnett, 1907 (worn and torn).
Photograph of “My grandfather’s funeral” by Boysen of Yosemite, [1910].
Second edition of Clark’s “The Yosemite Valley,” 1911, with later inscription of Mary Hosmer.
Quite worn first edition of Clark’s “The Big Trees of California,” 1907, inscribed by Clark on flyleaf, and later inscription of Mary Hosmer.
Estimate
$400 – $600
166
(california.)
School placards in honor of gay rights pioneer Harvey Milk.
[San Francisco], circa 1978
3 sheets manuscript on heavy card stock, each about 28x22 inches; the memorial placards with horizontal folds and minor wear, the Harvey O’Milk placard with tape stains, staple holes and some edge wear, and mounted to later board.
These placards were created at the Douglas School, a public elementary school in Harvey Milk’s Castro neighborhood. Milk fought to keep the school open although most of the gay residents of the Castro did not have children. One placard, presumably created for a Saint Patrick’s Day celebration during Milk’s lifetime, reads “Supervisor Harvey O’Milk” in bold green letters (circa 1978?). The other, probably created shortly after his death, is headed “In memory of our good friend and neighbor, Harvey Milk. We will always remember with thanks his support and caring. From the children, faculty and parents of Douglas School.” It is followed by the signatures of approximately 200 children, filling the remainder of the first board and most of a second. The school has since been renamed the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy.
Estimate
$400 – $600
167
(chang and eng.)
Siamese Twins . . . The United Brothers, Chang-Eng.
New York: J.M. Elliott, circa 1838-45
Illustrated broadside, 12½ x 7¾ inches; minor wear.
A promotional broadside for Chang and Eng’s personal appearances, with an admission fee of 50 cents. The broadside also advertises pamphlets and lithographs for sale. This unused copy has blanks for the place and date of the performance.
Estimate
$400 – $600
The Civil War
168
(civil war.)
Album of cartes-de-visite including one of spymaster Lafayette Baker.
Philadelphia and vp, 1863-65 and undated
130 items, mostly cartes-de-visites with a few tintypes and engraved cards, inserted into a 25-page period album. 4to, original decorative morocco, “John A. Stambach” in gilt on front board, worn and lacking backstrip; corners of cards clipped, otherwise minor wear to contents.
Probably the most notable photograph in this volume is a Mathew Brady studio portrait of the shadowy United States military intelligence leader, Colonel Lafayette Curry Baker (1826-1868). It is inscribed on verso “Presented me by Mrs. Col. L.C. Baker, June 8 / 65.” Soon after the war, Baker became enmeshed in a variety of scandals and was fired for spying on President Johnson. A conspiracy theory alleges that he was then poisoned for his inside knowledge of the Lincoln assassination.
The volume was kept by John Augustine Stambach (1840-1916), a Philadelphia hatter and furrier who served as a private in a Pennsylvania regiment. One photograph, captioned “Ida,” is likely his sister Ida Valerie Stambach (1853-1926), an early female medical school graduate who later practiced in California. Among the 7 photographs of uniformed soldiers in the album, one is inscribed by “Capt. S.J. Kiffer”[?] on recto. Notable figures include Samuel Morse, Horace Greeley, and Abraham Lincoln (a photograph of an engraving).
Estimate
$600 – $900
169
(civil war.)
Biblical satire describing “Abraham of the House of Lincoln” and “Jeff, wicked King of Secessia.”
Np, circa December 1863
2 manuscript pages on one sheet, 9½ x 7½ inches; folds, minimal foxing. With stamped postal cover bearing a New London, CT postmark.
While other similar satires were published about “Abraham of the House of Lincoln” from 1865 through the early 20th century, we have found no close match for this one. It begins “Now it came to pass in the year 1860 that Abraham of the House of Lincoln was chosen ruler over the land of Columbia,” and concludes “Are they not written in the second Book of Chronicles?” (the biblical text which deals with the divided Kingdom of Judah).
The manuscript is unsigned, but was addressed to Lieutenant Jay Wilcox of the 6th Connecticut Infantry, a distinguished regiment best known for charging up the beach behind the 54th Massachusetts at the Battle of Fort Wagner (the climactic scene of the film Glory). Its envelope is postmarked 11 December 1863, just 5 months after that battle. Wilcox was then on leave in Waterbury, CT.
Estimate
$400 – $600
170
(civil war.) l.w. manning.
Letter describing Lincoln’s carriage arriving in newly occupied Richmond.
Richmond, VA, 5 April 1865
Autograph Letter Signed to his wife. 4 pages, 8¾ x 5¾ inches, on one folding sheet of toned Rebel “necessity paper”; folds, minor dampstaining.
Lloyd Willis Manning (1837-1883) was a private in Company I of the 3rd Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, which specialized in building pontoon bridges. His company arrived in the rebel capitol just two days after Union troops took possession: “We arrived here at half past nine, within a short distance of the Rebel capitol. . . . President Lincoln went up ahead of us. His carriage is here at the wharf, and he is up to Old Jeff’s House. . . . You have no idea how the colored people welcome the Yanks. Lincoln has just gone down the river on a small boat. More than five hundred women and children have come flocking down here to the wharf to see him.” Manning also describes evidence of the chaos which enveloped the city during the rebel evacuation: “I am told by the cittizens that while the fight was going on at Petersburg, Gen. Lee telegraphed to Jeff that Grant had broken their lines and that they must evacuate R immediately, so there was no time to take off their big guns. He told them to take what stores they could, and throw the doors open and let the poor have the rest. . . . They say that Jeff was here Sunday morning but went off in a special train. . . . These bridges that they burned was ordered to be burned by Gen. Ewel. He said burn them if it burned the whole citty, and it was in great danger. The poor people are suffering for food. A horse cost three thousand dollars here in their money.”
Estimate
$500 – $750
WITH MANUSCRIPT REVISIONS BY THE AUTHOR
171
(civil war.) [jonathan d. hale.]
Sketches of Scenes in the Career of Champ Furguson and his Lieutenant; with Champ’s Confession.
Np, circa 1869 or 1870
53, [1] (of 2?) pages. 8vo, stitched, a tiny bit of blue wrapper remaining; moderate dampstaining, worn with corner loss to first and final leaves but minimal loss of text; extensive revision marks and notes by the author in ink and blue pencil, one of them signed.
A history of the Confederate guerrilla Champ Ferguson (1821-1865) who terrorized Tennessee, allegedly killing more than 100 Unionists including civilians. The author gives several detailed examples, and celebrates Ferguson’s eventual execution as a war criminal. The last 14 pages are devoted to Ferguson’s old compatriots who became active in the local Ku Klux Klan after the war, with detailed documentation of their atrocities.
The author Jonathan D, Hale was a local enemy of Ferguson who published at least three similar but distinct pamphlets on the subject: “Champ Furguson: A Sketch of the War in East Tennessee” in 1862 (20 pages); “Champ Furguson: The Border Rebel, and Thief, Robber & Murderer” in 1864 (24 pages); and the present undated work which includes references through 1869. This latest version was credited only to “One Who Has Seen and Felt,” but is credited to Hale by OCLC (5 copies traced). The present copy was Hale’s own, and bears extensive notes for a planned 4th Ferguson pamphlet, including points of substance and style. A note on page 6 reads “notes, 4th edition” and several passages are noted as “already set up” (in type). On page 37, the pamphlet describes an old enslaved man who had been killed by Ferguson after he grew too old to work. Here, a note in blue pencil reads “He often came to our mills previous to the war. J.D. Hale.” OCLC calls for 2 unnumbered pages at the end, so a final leaf may be lacking here. 5 of this edition in OCLC and none traced at auction.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
172
(civil war.)
Pair of large illustrated artillery manuals.
New York, 1860 and 1865
8vo, condition below.
John Gibbon. “The Artillerist’s Manual . . . Adapted to the Service of the United States.” 13 folding plates, text illustrations. 568, [1] pages. 8vo, ¼ sheep with gilt pictorial backstrip, moderate wear; inscribed by Lieutenant Horace W. Love of the 3rd Rhode Island Heavy Artillery. Plates are numbered 1-6 and 8-14; plate 7 not referenced in text and possibly not issued. New York: Van Nostrand, 1860
Alexander Holley. “A Treatise on Ordnance and Armor.” Numerous full-page illustrations. xliv, [4], 900, [14] pages. 8vo, modern buckram; minor foxing, minor repairs to a few leaves; early signature on title page. New York: Van Nostrand, 1865.
Estimate
$150 – $250
173
(civil war–confederate.) samuel [pickens?]
Letter describing the vote for the Ordinance of Secession in central Virginia.
Belmont Academy [Arrington, VA], 24 May 1861
Autograph Letter Signed only as “Samuel” to his mother M.G. Pickens in Raleigh, NC. 6 pages, 8 x 5 inches, in 2 sheets; short separations at intersection of folds. With cancelled stamped mailing envelope bearing Arrington, VA postmark.
The author was a teacher at the Belmont Academy founded by noted educator Dr. Gessner Harrison. “Yesterday being Election Day and the teachers wishing to vote on the Ordinance of Secession, we had only one recitation after breakfast, and then almost all of us went down to New-Market [now Norwood], a small town on the James River about three miles from here. We had some very good speeches; one excellent one from Dr. Harrison. . . . They were trying to get additions to a company which one of our teachers, Mr. Wood, has been drilling and instructing. . . . There was not a vote given at New-Market nor at Lynchburg against secession.”
Estimate
$500 – $750
174
(civil war–confederate.)
Resolutions of Forsberg’s Brigade, Wharton’s Division.
[Richmond, VA, circa early March 1865]
2 pages, 9¾ x 6 inches; toning, moderate edge wear; faint inked “Rebel Archives” stamp.
A committee composed mostly of Confederate enlisted men drafted these resolutions of patriotism in the wake of the failed Hampton Roads peace conference of 3 February 1865. They resolve to continue “the maintenance of this struggle for independence, . . . determined to contest until the bitter end.” They describe the Union army as “a crafty, cruel and merciless foe . . . were he to come with the Bible in one hand, we would look for the dagger in the other.” They join with President Davis in rejection of the peace terms, and place their faith in “the great and glorious Lee–the Christian gentleman and chivalrous soldier” to “eventually lead us forth to victory, honor and liberty.” The resolutions close with a postscript which urges that they be published–“when you present them to Congress, please say that they were adopted near a month ago.” The minutes of the Confederate House of Representatives for 28 February 1865 note the receipt of “certain patriotic resolutions, adopted some time since by Forsberg’s Brigade, of Wharton’s Division. Laid upon the table and ordered to be printed.” Parrish & Willingham 1598.
Estimate
$400 – $600
175
(civil war–confederate refugees.)
Proposed Plan of the Settlement of the Hacienda of San Lorenzo.
Mexico: Mexican Times Printing Office, 1866
11 pages. 4to, original plain wrappers, light soiling, formerly stitched; minimal wear to contents.
First edition, with at least one other issued later in Virginia. The land agent Cornelius Boyle was a Confederate officer who, like many others, crossed the border at the conclusion of the war and tried to start over as a Mexican land speculator. The land he promotes here covered 575,640 acres on Mexico’s Pacific coast in the state of Nayarit, about 50 miles north of Puerto Vallarta. Testimonial letters assert that the land is well suited for cotton cultivation, and that “nature has done its utmost to make of this country a paradise, and only the hands of an industrious Anglo-Saxon population is required to develop it.” We are assured repeatedly, however, that those industrious Anglo-Saxon hands will not be required to do any actual work, as the low cost of farm labor is emphasized: “Cheap and reliable labour can be obtained on the Hacienda, and coolies can be introduced when they are needed.”
Agent Boyle’s most recent experience had been commanding a small Confederate prison camp at Gordonsville, VA, which might not be a strong credential for someone offering accommodations. One in OCLC, and none traced at auction.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
176
(civil war–confederate refugees.) dabney rainey.
Letter describing Confederados refugees arriving in Brazil from the American South.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 25 September 1867
Autograph Letter Signed as “D Rainey” to his brother-in-law Joseph Reuben Herndon of Germanton, NC. 4 pages, 9¾ x 8 inches, on one folding sheet; folds, minimal wear. With typed transcript.
Dabney Rainey (1835-1870) of North Carolina settled in Brazil before the Civil War, helping with his brother Thomas Rainey’s transportation business. After the war ended, he found himself in the vanguard of an influx of Confederate refugees–Os Confederados–looking to start over in a nation which still practiced slavery. This letter expresses his frustration with some of the newcomers: “We have had a great maney southern men here looking for homes, but very few of them are satisfied, and very nearly all have gone home or to some other country. . . . One of them has settled here. His hatred of the U.S. has induced him to do so. He says if he were bound for Hell from here, and had three weeks furlow in the U.S. that he would not stop, but go on to hell. God only knows what is to become of many of the poor devils which have come here.” Discussing local conditions, he notes that “Brazilian money is very much depreciated on account of the Paraguayan War. The Paraguayans have been threshing them like Old Nick lately, and I would not care a tinker’s — if they were to kill the whole race.”
Estimate
$400 – $600
177
(civil war–indiana.) thomas w. kizer.
Letter describing an Indiana Sanitary Commission visit to a Colored Regiment.
Vicksburg, MS, 23 August 1863
Autograph Letter Signed to son William D. Kizer of Winchester, IN. 3 pages, 8 x 5 inches, on one folding sheet; minimal wear. With stamped envelope bearing partial Vicksburg postmark.
Thomas W. Kizer (1824-1901) was a farmer from Winchester, IN who was active in the Indiana Sanitary Commission, providing aid to Union soldiers on the front. This letter is written from his expedition down to Vicksburg, MS, which had recently been surrendered by the Confederacy: “We will start down the river to Natchez this afternoon at 5 o’clock to distribute the stores and to get a lot of sick men.”
Kizer also describes a visit to the camp of the 1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment (African Descent): “We stoped at Goodriches Landing last evening to see the nigger regments . It was a fine sight to see the niggers with new yankee harness and they was glad to see us. E. Sucker, James M’quis & Mrs. Thomas made them short addresses, for which they gave them three harty cheers. They sung Old John Brown and sevral other hymns &c. One of their captains made me a present of a cane.”
Kizer’s account is corroborated by the “Report of the Indiana Sanitary Commission,” which states “Ran down to Goodrich’s Landing, where the first Arkansas (colored) Regiment were, officered by Indiana men; gave them some vegetables, which they needed badly” (page 129). “Mrs. Thomas” who lectured to the troops was very likely the famed Indiana physician and women’s rights activist Mary Frame Thomas, who was also active in the Indiana Sanitary Commission.
Estimate
$500 – $750
178
(civil war–massachusetts.)
Order of Exercises with Reference to the Expected Departure of the Clinton Light Guards for the Seat of War.
Np, circa June 1861
Letterpress broadside, 11 x 6¼ inches; partial separations at folds, minor edge wear, trimmed.
The Clinton Light Guards were a militia unit in Clinton, MA near Worcester. In early March, the town was the first in the state to make an appropriation to send them to the front, in expectation of war. However, the company languished in training camp before being allowed to join the 15th Massachusetts Infantry as Company C. Offered here is the speaking program for their departure ceremony, featuring hymns and sermons by 4 local ministers. Although the Light Guards missed the disaster at Bull Run, the regiment suffered heavy losses at Antietam and Gettysburg, and is credited with the 10th-highest fatality rate among all Union regiments. No other examples of this program are traced at auction or in OCLC.
Estimate
$200 – $300
WITH INTERESTING EPHEMERA
179
(civil war–massachusetts.) rufus m. graham.
Letters of a soldier in Louisiana, including the assault on Port Hudson.
Vp, March to May 1863 (letters)
6 Autograph Letters Signed to his parents and siblings in Haverhill, MA, plus 6 postal covers and 7 other pieces of ephemera; moderate wear.
Rufus Melvin Graham (1845-1922) worked at a shoe factory in Bradford, MA before enlisting as a drummer in the nine-month 50th Massachusetts Infantry in 1863. The regiment’s first posting was on guard duty near Baton Rouge, where his first 5 letters were written. Shortly after his arrival on the banks of the Mississippi on 22 March, he wrote “A party of slave hunters passed our camp on horse back. They all had knives and revolvers, and they were a hard-looking set of fellows. In a little while they came back with negro in tow. When they got to our camp, we took the darkey away from them and sent him home, and told the slave catchers to make themselves scarce.” On 3 April he wrote: “We saw the rebel general Johnson’s plantations. It is a splendid place. He used to keep a 1000 niggers, but it is deserted now.” On 29 April he noted “The’re raising nigger reg’s here fast as they can. They can drill as well and are just as good soldiers as whites. The’re as proud as peacocks to get a uniform on.”
Graham’s 30 May letter was written shortly after the regiment’s first combat: the 27 May assault on Port Hudson, LA. Union troops had surrounded the fort over the previous five days, and an assault on the fort’s northern defenses had failed that morning. Graham was part of Dudley’s brigade which made an assault on the eastern defenses that afternoon: “The battle commenced at half past one and lasted till dark, killing 75 and wounding 250. . . . The artillery was most deafening. We didn’t succeed in taking the fort, but got whipped. The 116 N.Y. and 30 Mass lost most. It is miraculous how our reg. came out so lucky. Our major came near being killed twice. He was leading the men onto the field when a solid shot struck at his feet, covering him all over dirt and most knocking him down, and a shell burst over his head but didn’t hurt him.” After that, the Union forces dug in for a siege: “On the morning of the 28th, some Rebs came out of the fort on a scout and our folks took them, 75 of them and captains and a col. They were a hard-looking set of fellows. . . . Contrabands come in every day. . . . I went down to the hospital (if you can call it a hospital) to see the wounded. They lay there on the ground under the trees, wounded in every place imaginable. Doctor Cogswell does all the amputating. Yesterday, they buried 14 legs and 11 arms that was taken off.”
Accompanying the letters are: stamped and cancelled postal cover with two illustrations of the Volunteer Refreshment Saloon in Philadelphia; an illustrated folding card to advertise the Volunteer Refreshment Saloon; program for “Complimentary Dinner to the Fiftieth Regiment, Massachusetts Militia” at the Refreshment Saloon, Philadelphia, 1 January 1863; program card for “Grand Complimentary Ball to Mr. R.K. Graham” (father of the letter writer), undated; pair of deeds to father R.K. Graham, 1856; carte-de-visite of an unidentified civilian friend; and 6 postal covers.
Estimate
$600 – $900
180
(civil war –missouri.) l.b. parmalee.
Letter describing Bushwhacker guerrilla combat in northern Missouri.
Shelbyville, MO, [21 November 1862?]
Autograph Letter Signed to Charles L. Stilson of Owen’s Grove, IA. 4 pages, 9½ x 7½ inches, on one folding sheet; short separations at intersection of folds. With original stamped envelope bearing inked Shelbyville postmark dated 21 November.
The author, Louis Brooks Parmalee (1817-1873), was a New Jersey-born merchant and apparently a Unionist, though in Missouri in this period it is sometimes difficult to determine who is on which side. He writes to a friend in Union Iowa: “Saturday a part of the company to which Slane & Ely Bertrum belonged left St. Jo to join Glover. Bertrum, two Dutchmen, and one by the name of Stoner got off at Shelbina to stop at home for a few days. . . . Nearly sundown Bertram and one of the Dutchmen walking together, Stoner & the other a little behind them, when bang bang bang went sum guns close to them. Three of them got over the fence as soon as possable. Tthe Dutchman had a shot gun and one of the others a pistol. . . . Burtram cums home, sends for Dr. Preast to pick out sum shot out of him, one in the face left side, one in the left arm. . . . The Dutchman that was with Burtrum was badly shot in the sholder with a ball and other parts with shot. . . . George Galashy, Arch Brant, Hite Shakelford left about a month ago with George’s niggers expecting to go south, found it rather inconvenient to cross the Missouri. . . . Last Friday week there was a returning Pike’s Peaker passed through town with four mules & a wagon. As he got neer Waren, two took advantage of him and shot him, so he has since died. . . . You perseive from these things that we have not as quiet times here as we should have. Bushwhackers are passing and repassing from day to day in town, but do not get molested here in the least.”
Estimate
$500 – $750
181
(civil war–music.)
Dixie’s Nurse.
Philadelphia, PA: Lee & Walker, [1865]
5, [3] pages including illustrated lithographed wrappers on 4 disbound sheets, 13¼ x 10 inches; minor wear and soiling to covers.
Sheet music to a song mocking Great Britain’s support of the losing side in the Civil War. It is illustrated with a caricature of Queen Victoria as “mammy” to the Confederacy. Reilly 1865-10.
Estimate
$300 – $400
"WITH THIS EXPLOSION THE MERRIMAC WAS NO MORE "
182
(civil war–navy.) [philip g. peltz.]
Diary of a naval officer in pursuit of the Merrimac.
Vp, March 1862 to March 1863
78 manuscript pages. Folio, 11¾ x 7½ inches, disbound with original ½-calf marbled boards present; minimal wear to contents. In modern cloth tray case, with complete typed transcription.
This apparently unpublished diary was kept by the chief engineer of the USS Dacotah, a steam sloop which began at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. It arrived for duty in the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron on 13 March 1862, just 5 days after the Battle of Hampton Roads: “Heard for the first time the news of the terrible encounter between the Merrimac (rebel) and Cumberland and Congress (Federal), also the timely intervention of the Monitor. We all listened with much attention to account of the battle, and the glorious and noble, and the never before equalled bravery and heroism of officers and crew of the Cumberland. She sank with her crew still at and firing her guns, and still the noble and unpolluted ensign of our country waves from her masthead” (13 March). For the first two months of the diary, the main character is not a person but rather that enemy ship: the ironclad CSS Virginia, here described as “the Merrimac,” which is mentioned more than 40 times over the next two months. Every day was lived in expectation of a battle with the dreaded ironclad. On 18 March he wrote “We have just received orders in the event the enemy again appears, and we get a chance at them, we are to run them down at full speed. . . . I think we shall cleave her sure if once an opportunity offers.” On 29 March he worried: “In carrying out the orders we now have, to run her down at full speed, at the same time we all expect to be compelled to take to the water for the want of a ship to hold us. . . . Sweethearts and wives have been drank to.” The men debated “how soon they will remove their boots as soon as she begins to go down rapidly.” The Merrimac was gradually bottled in upriver, and this tale ended on 11 May at Norfolk with its self-destruction: “This morning at three o’clock the Merrimac was discovered on fire. Soon the flames spread over her entire length, enshrouding her in one sheet of fire. . . . At 4:54 a.m. the entire mass of flame, a great portion of her iron sheathing, &c., were seen to ascend high into the heavens, presenting one of the most magnificent pyrotechnical views I ever beheld. With this explosion the Merrimac was no more. Not a vestige of her was left.” Bookending this first-hand report is a long second-hand discussion of the loss of the USS Monitor at sea in the 3 January 1863 entry.
The Dacotah had two close encounters with President Lincoln. While still on the hunt for the Merrimac, our diarist wrote: “The president looked on at the bombardment with aparent great interest and felt a great anxiety for our side. He passed close to our vessel, bowed, and moved on with his little tug. His pleasing countenance indicated entire satisfaction with the day’s bombarding” (8 May 1862). Two months later, the author reported his ship at anchor at Harrison’s Landing “in front of Gen. McClellan’s headquarters, but a few hundred yards from us. Several balloons were sent up to make observations. The president visited the Gen. incog., and witnessed the balloon reconnaissance. . . . It is reported that the president made an ascension with the balloon” (8 July 1862). Lincoln did indeed visit that day, although the balloon ascension seems to have been just a wild rumor.
Another recurring theme of the diary is encounters with recently enslaved people. On 12 May, the author learns that the local Norfolk women “went so far as to tell the poor deluded beings that the Yankees would bridle them and put the bit in their mouths and drive them like oxen or horses, and haul stone.” Several “contrabands” reported for duty on the Dacotah on 28 June: “All are well pleased so far with their new vocation, and are also uncontrolably proud of Uncle Sam’s uniform. Their duties on board will be in a great measure menial.” In 12 August he wrote “Rec’d on board one contraband. He tells his tale like all the others. This fellow says he left his master to avoid a flogging. The provocation not being sufficiently great to warrant it according to his estimation, he thought he would skedaddle. I learned that the plantation from which we foraged has lost some two hundred negroes. They are now with the army, digging trenches.”
The diarist at no point signs his name, but has been identified as Philip G. Peltz (1832-1868), a Philadelphia native who remained in the Navy after the war. The author announces the proud receipt of his chief engineer’s commission in his 4 May 1862 entry while serving aboard the Dacotah; Peltz was named as chief engineer of this ship in the 8 February 1862 Philadelphia Enquirer. The diarist makes two mentions of his brother, a naval assistant surgeon, on 29 August 1862 and upon his brother’s appointment to the gunboat Chocura on 20 February. Philip Peltz’s brother Samuel H. Peltz (1838-1865) was the assistant surgeon aboard the Chocura until his transfer (Washington Evening Star, 29 September 1863).
This well-written and extensive diary is a fresh new source on the best-known naval theater of the war, with the eyewitness account of the Merrimac’s destruction being only one of many highlights.
Estimate
$4,000 – $6,000
183
(civil war–navy.)
Portrait and papers of Ensign Christopher Flood.
Vp, 1862-85
20 items in one box: 17 manuscript documents, one original hand-painted photograph, and two copy-print photographs; condition generally strong.
Christopher Flood (1829-1899) of Morrisania, NY joined the Navy as an ensign in November 1862. He served aboard the USS Savannah, Columbine, Fernandina, Harvest Moon, and Norfolk Packet. Included in this lot are his original appointment letter, and his 9 June 1865 promotion letter to Acting Master, both signed by Navy Secretary Gideon Welles. Two letters are signed by Admiral John A. Dahlgren: ordering a ship to assist a “topographical party of the Coast Survey in extending the survey of Ossabaw to McAllister, and other works erected by the rebels” (1 February 1865) and ordering Flood to prepare the USS Norfolk Packet for the journey north as Acting Master (9 June 1865). Flood’s list of provisions for this voyage is also included. A long semi-personal letter from a fellow officer aboard the USS Fernandina dated February 1864 (signature illegible) was written while he was on leave, describing the remaining officers as a “forlorn body” and the recent torpedoing of the USS Housatonic as “tough work, there is no mistake.” Most notably, the lot includes an attractively hand-painted photograph of Flood in his Navy uniform as ensign, 7½ x 5¾ inches oval to sight in a repaired period frame (14 x 12½ inches), labelled on verso “My father Christopher Flood, Civil War veteran, M.A.W.” After the war, Flood was a marshal for the 1870 census and commanded a United States revenue cutter.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
184
(civil war–new york.)
Portrait of militia officer Edward J. Riley, who would soon command the Mozart Regiment.
[New York], circa late 1850s
Salt print with applied color, 9 x 7¼ oval; pinholes at corners, minimal wear; inscribed on verso in early 20th century hand “Colonel Edward J. Riley 1861, Edward’s grandfather.”
Edward Johns Riley (1831-1918) of New York City served in the 8th Regiment of the New York State Militia, known as the Washington Greys, from 1853 to 1859, resigning as the regiment’s senior captain. He is here shown in his Washington Greys uniform, with the “8” badge on his hat. He volunteered at the outset of the war with the 40th New York Infantry, the Mozart Regiment, and was appointed a colonel before they left camp. Shortly before the Battle of Fair Oaks in May 1862, however, he was kicked in the head by his horse and soon resigned from service, spending the remainder of his life in Brooklyn. See his biography in Floyd’s “History of the Fortieth (Mozart) Regiment, New York Volunteers,” page 18.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
185
(civil war–new york.)
Portrait of an unidentified 7th New York Militia sergeant.
Np, circa 1860-65
Oil painting, 18 x 14 inches, on heavy artist’s board, trimmed to oval; minor wear at edges.
A portrait of a sergeant in the 7th New York Militia Regiment, often known as the Silk Stocking Regiment because of the lofty social station of many of its members. His hat with the 7th Regiment badge sits on the table by his hand.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
186
(civil war–new york.)
Mammoth salt print of Alexander Shaler and 7th New York Militia Regiment.
[New York, circa early 1861?]
Salt print photograph on two sheets, 15½ x 33¼ inches, on original plain heavy paper mount, backed by linen at an early date; 3-inch tear in lower corner of mount with tape repair not affecting image, otherwise only minor fading and spotting.
A group portrait of members of the famed 7th New York Militia Regiment in full dress uniforms. The regiment was often known as the Silk Stocking Regiment because of the lofty social station of many of its members. They had helped quell many local disturbances in New York such as the Astor Place Riot and the Dead Rabbit Riot, and would soon be called into action for the New York Draft Riots in 1863. Their commander at this time was Alexander Shaler (1827-1911), seventh from the left, who would soon render distinguished service in the Civil War as a brigadier general at Fredericksburg and Gettysburg. On the pillar in the left frame is a hat bearing the 7th Regiment unit designation. Some of the men wear “NY Second” belt buckles. The man standing fifth from left is fainter, wearing a Union Army uniform, is slightly retouched in the negative, and may be slightly out of scale–he would appear to have been added later to the negative.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
187
(civil war–new york.)
Clarence Mackenzie, Drummer Boy of the 13th Regiment of Brooklyn.
[Annapolis, MD?], [1861]
Salt print with applied color, 7¾ x 5½ inches oval, on original plain mount; not examined out of period gilt frame, 14¾ x 12½ inches.
Clarence David Mackenzie (1849-1861) of Brooklyn enlisted in the 13th New York Infantry as a drummer at the tender age of 12. While the regiment was still in training in Annapolis, MD, he was killed in his tent by a stray practice bullet–Brooklyn’s first casualty of the war. A poignant zinc sculptural monument of him can still be seen in Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery, bearing the title “Our Drummer Boy.”
This studio photograph shows Mackenzie beside his “13th” drum, in uniform with his Company D belt buckle. At least two period engravings were made from this photograph, including as a frontispiece to an 1861 chapbook, “The Little Drummer Boy, Clarence D. McKenzie”; an undated magazine clipping of the other engraving is included with the lot.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
188
(civil war–new york.)
Portrait said to be the Hyde brothers of 22nd Regiment, New York National Guard.
Np, circa May 1862
Albumen photograph, 8½ x 6¼ inches, on original plain mount; light mat toning, moderate wear to mount, image clean.
The 22nd Regiment of the National Guard of New York saw several short stints of active duty during the Civil War. Before they were called up, they wore gray uniforms trimmed in red, with a small “22” on their hats and the company letter on their belt buckle. They did garrison duty at Harper’s Ferry in May 1862, during which many of them were photographed. Shortly after their return to New York, in September 1862, they switched to a more standard blue Union uniform for obvious reasons. This photograph shows 3 privates of the regiment’s Company G, said to be brothers from the Hyde family. Edwin Francis Hyde (1842-1933) mustered in with Company G in May 1862; later photographs bear an unmistakable similarity to the soldier on the right in this photograph. His brother Augustus Lord Hyde also served in the regiment. For discussion of the uniform, see Michael J. McAfee, “Uniforms & History: 22nd Regiment, National Guard, State of New York,” in Military Images 10:3 (November 1988), page 28, which shows an example of another soldier in this uniform.
Estimate
$600 – $900
189
(civil war–new york.) james b. hazelton.
Captain’s farewell order to the men of a New York artillery battery at war’s end.
“Headquarters,” 28 May 1865
2 manuscript pages, 9¾ x 7¾ inches; folds, moderate wear, 5 short tape repairs.
You may have read the poignant farewell orders of General Grant or Lee to their troops at the conclusion of the war. Here is a much more obscure farewell order, issued by the commander of Battery D of the 1st New York Artillery, James B. Hazelton. It is numbered as Company Order No. 19, but is manuscript rather than printed. Were these hand-copied for each battery member by the adjutant, or was this a transcript made shortly after the war? In either case, we find no other example, in manuscript or print.
“By your conduct upon many hard-fought fields, you have won for yourselves a reputation which will live in history. You will ever receive from our people constant esteem and gratitude. . . . As happiness attends each one of you in life, do not forget to at times devote a few moments and water afresh with sacred tears the memory of those who have so nobly fallen from your midst.”
Estimate
$250 – $350
190
(civil war–new york.) jacob j. deforest.
Manuscript history of the 81st New York Infantry.
Np, circa late 1865?
Manuscript Document Signed. 10 manuscript pages of 5 sheets, 12½ x 8 inches, plus final blank leaf; bound with two fasteners on top edge, short closed repaired separations at folds, otherwise minimal wear. With full typed transcript.
An apparently unpublished history by the commander of the 81st New York Infantry, Colonel Jacob J. DeForest (1820-1904). The Oswego-based regiment saw its first heavy combat in McClellan’s Peninsular Campaign of mid-1862, including Yorktown, Williamsburg, Bottoms Bridge, Savage Station, Seven Pines, Malvern Hill and Fair Oaks, where Colonel DeForest was wounded in the chest. DeForest rues the army’s retreat: “Had the Commander of the Army [McClellan] pressed the enemy into Richmond instead of faltering and finally retreating back to the cover of his gun boats on the James River, the situation would have been very different.” In contract, DeForest calls General Grant a “bull dog fighter.” At Cold Harbor, as the 81st lost their entire color guard, and thirteen commissioned officers, with “two thirds of its numerical strength . . . swept from the ranks. . . . Lieut. J.W. Burk, standing near my side, was pierced by a ball from a sharp-shooter directly through the head between the eyes.” At Fort Harrison, “81st colors were the first ones planted on the rebel fort, taking two redoubts, several pieces of artillery, large number of prisoners, and one battle flag.” In Richmond in April 1865, they were “the first infantry regiment to enter the rebel Capital and its commanding officer released the Union prisoners from Libby Prison and filled it with as many rebels as it would hold, locked its doors and put the key in his pocket, and has it now in his safe keeping.” He closes by noting proudly that the colors of the 81st “were never in the hands of the enemy,” despite the fact that “on several occasions the color guard were swept out of existence.”
Estimate
$500 – $750
191
(civil war–new york.) george k. collins.
Unpublished novel, “The Cracker Line in the Mountains,” based on his Civil War service.
Np, circa 1910
6 illustrations bound in (a photostat engraving and 5 postcards), 2 of them with manuscript caption labels. [2], 165 typescript leaves with occasional manuscript corrections. 4to, contemporary buckram, minimal wear; minimal wear to contents.
George Knapp Collins (1837-1931) was raised in Syracuse, NY and spent most of the war with the 149th New York Infantry. After the war he was a prolific author of local and military history. This unpublished novel was apparently his only venture into fiction, but he did not venture far. Pages 77 to 158 are dedicated to the central character’s military service as colonel of a regiment much like the author’s own. He is wounded at Gettysburg, and then rejoins his regiment to aid in the relief of the besieged Union forces at Chattanooga, setting up the titular “Cracker Line” to deliver supplies through the mountains. He sends detailed reports back to his mother, who reads them aloud at a local literary society (pages 106-158). These passages cross the line into military history, offering numerous details of the Chattanooga Campaign, including the battles of Wauhatchie, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. The regiment is unnamed, but belongs to the New York Brigade in the 12th Army Corps–not coincidentally the same brigade in which Collins’s regiment served.
The novel was likely written circa 1902-1912, as it is dedicated to his grandchildren William Wolcott Wiard (born 1902) and Elizabeth Sumner Teall (born 1900), but not his grandson Ralph Lee Irish (born 1912). It was likely typed and compiled around the same date; one of the laid-in postcards is used and bears a 1910 postmark.
With–a printed book by the same author, “An Abbreviated Account of Certain Men of Onondaga County who did Service in the War of 1861-65 in the 149th New York Volunteer Regiment Infantry.” Plates, 53 pages. 8vo, publisher’s cloth, minor dampstaining. Features a short biography and photograph of Collins, as well as narratives of several compatriots. 2 in OCLC. Syracuse, NY, 1928.
Estimate
$600 – $900
192
(civil war–ohio.)
Archive of diaries, plans, sketches, and correspondence of an articulate young Cleveland soldier.
Vp, 1861-66
79 items housed in 2 binders (0.3 linear feet): 3 complete yearly manuscript diaries from 1864-1866, each 6½ x 3 inches with three entries per page plus memoranda; 5 manuscript sketches and plans from his service in Washington; a 150th Ohio regimental ribbon, 6¾ x 2¼ inches; a certificate of membership in his militia unit; and 69 letters addressed to the soldier, many accompanied by the original stamped and postmarked envelopes. Condition generally very strong.
Samuel Whitfield Folsom (1844-1929) was born and raised in Cleveland, OH , son of a prosperous early settler. When the war broke out, he was just starting a long career as an accountant, and joined an Ohio National Guard unit. As his diary begins in January 1864, he attends a variety of cultural events in Cleveland. On 21 February he writes: “Heard Frederick Douglas deliver a lecture on the ‘Mishions of the War.’ I enjoyed it very much. Douglas displays very fine powers of oratory and has a head that looks as though it might contain a great deal of knowledge.” On 26 April, he began a new position in Meadville, PA as private secretary to the president of the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad. 4 days later, he wrote: “Received an order . . . to report at the Armory, Cleveland, 10 o’clock A.M., the National Guards (to which I belong) having been called out for 100 days. I telegraphed home to inquire if Father had procured a substitute for me. Rec’d an ans., ‘No.’”
Folsom’s diary of his experience as a private in the 150th Ohio Infantry is well-written and legible, with a full entry for each day. His company spent the entire period in the defenses of Washington, mostly shuttling back and forth between Forts Stevens and Bunker Hill. He spent 7 June on picket duty on the property of Lincoln’s cabinet member Montgomery Blair: “Have been furnished with all the milk we could drink from Postmaster Blair.” On 14 June he wrote : “Attended a picnic by colored people held in a grove nearby. They had dancing, with pretty good music. Had a good opertunity of judging the character of these people. I took strawberries at their tables for refreshments.”
His closest brush with combat was the Battle of Fort Stevens, part of which he was able to observe from nearby Fort Bunker Hill: “This morning heard very heavy firing of musketry & cannon. Think Rebels have made a charge on Ft. Stevens. Was relieved from picket 8 a.m., found a good deal of excitement among the boys at the fort. They have slept side of the cannons for two nights. There has been pretty hard fighting at Fort Stevens all day. . . . Rebels left Fort Stevens last night. We saw most of the fighting yesterday from our fort. Expected the Rebs would attack this fort last night. . . . Saw a cloud of dust north of here & I went with 6 others & Lieut. on a scouting expedition, found it to be a large force of Rebs on the retreat” (12-13 July). Over the next week, Folsom made two visits to the battleground to hunt for relics, noting that he “saw the several graves of the Rebels, one containing 17, one 37, another 2, & several single graves” (17 July).
Folsom soon mustered out, but his diaries continue through the end of 1866. He describes the scene in Meadville on the eve of Election Day in 1864: “Democratic meeting here today. The Union party played a good joke on the McClellanites. Last night they made a battery in the square & placed a Quaker gun pointing towards the square. Upon the battery was written Manassas. I never saw so many intoxicated here before today” (2 November). Additional notes on his diaries are available upon request.
Folsom was a good amateur draftsman, and sent home 5 pieces from his wartime service: a detailed drawing of a highway turnpike gatehouse in Washington where he did picket duty, described in his diary on 17 June 1864; a view of the barracks at Fort Bunker Hill (noted in his diary on 8 July 1864); detailed plans of Forts Bunker Hill and Stevens; and finally a map of the Battle of Fort Stevens, some of which he had witnessed. It shows the location of the Union and Rebel skirmishers north of the fort, the other forts comprising the northern defenses of Washington, the home of Montgomery Blair where he had previously been on picket duty, and the location where Folsom was on picket not far from the start of the fighting.
Finally, the collection includes 69 letters addressed to Folsom during the war years by friends and family members, most of them in Cleveland. Two are on patriotic letterhead. Many of the letters are from his sister Hadassah, a Cleveland educator who wrote regularly during his months at the front.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
193
(civil war–ohio.) charles cotter.
Description of the Battle of Rowlett’s Station by the captain of Cotter’s Battery.
Green River [near Munfordville], KY, 21 December 1861
Autograph Letter Signed “Charley” to parents in Middlebury, Summit County, OH. 7 pages, 8 x 4¾ inches, on 3 sheets (2 of them being illustrated “From Cotter’s Battery” letterhead); folds, light toning. With original stamped Cotter’s Battery envelope bearing Louisville, KY postmark.
Cotter’s Battery was formed in Ravenna, OH as a 3-month regiment in the early months of the war, and then re-upped for 3 years as Battery A of the 1st Ohio Light Artillery. Charles Sumner Cotter (1828-1886), author of this letter, was the captain of the battery. He writes: “We are at Green River, where Buckner (the rebel genl) blew up the RR bridge. It was a beautiful structure of iron, one thousand yards from bank to bank. . . . He blew up one pier and destroyed two spands of the bridge and took all the track from the rest. . . . We have had several skirmishes with our picketts but have never come in range of my peices untill last Tuesday. They came up in force to attack us and prevent us from repairing rail road bridge. We had one regt of infantry acrost the river. They charged on them with the Texan Rangers but they were repulsed and I opened two of my peices on them with shell. . . . Their was fifty-four of the rebels killed and left on the field. . . . We lost sixteen killed.” He also describes the battery’s new flag given by the ladies of Louisville. Captain Cotter served for the entirety of the war and mustered out as a colonel.
Estimate
$300 – $400
LAST BATTLE OF THE CIVIL WAR?
194
(civil war–ohio.) theodore longwood.
Comical account of a mass breakout from the Union parole camp at Camp Chase.
Camp Chase, OH, 7 June 1865
Autograph Letter Signed to brother Amos Longwood of Aberdeen, IN. 4 pages, 8 x 5 inches, on one folding sheet; folds, minor wear. With mailing envelope bearing Columbus postmark but stamp excised.
Theodore Longwood (1843-1877) was serving in the 20th Indiana Infantry when captured at Weldon Railroad in 1864. He was exchanged from a Confederate prison and (like many exchanged Union soldiers) sent to a Union parole camp at Camp Chase in Columbus, OH. In this letter, Longwood grumbles that after the fighting ceased, “the officers are not in any hurry about getting out of the service, so they want to keep us as long as possible.” A small group of parolees escaped through the stockade fence and enjoyed an evening in town. Emboldened, “the proled men thought they had been in prison long enough, so on last Tuesday eve we thought we would show the millitias that we would not be guarded so close, so we got about 500 paroles together and went with a yell for the stockade and we was successful, for we knocked two or three holes in it that you could drive a eight horse teem through. So when we went out and stayed as long as we wanted to, we come back. Since then, the Gen. lets some go out every day. We got one man wounded in the leg, so that was the last battle we was in. It is called the Battle of Camp Chase, Ohio, one of the most successful of the war.”
The generally accepted last land skirmish of the Civil War was at Palmito Ranch, TX on 13 May, so if you count this Battle of Camp Chase as a real battle, it would be one for the record books. You shouldn’t count it–but it’s a fun story.
Estimate
$300 – $400
195
(civil war–pennsylvania.)
Pair of circular letters from Philadelphia’s Committee of Public Safety during the war’s opening months.
Philadelphia, May-June 1861
2 partly-printed items, both addressed to William D. Lewis, Esq.; moderate foxing, folds.
In the early days of the Civil War, Philadelphia felt vulnerable to a rebel naval attack. A Committee of Public Safety was formed to create a home-guard militia and purchase cannons to prevent a naval assault. By June, as the outlines of the conflict became more clear, the alarm subsided, and the government took over defense efforts. Offered here are two circular letters from the Committee of Public Safety. We trace no other material related to this committee at auction, and these circulars do not appear in OCLC.
1. The Committee’s partly-printed meeting notice sent on 9 May 1861, 7½ x 5 inches.
2. Printed circular letter with a report of the committee’s Finance Committee, advising “no further contracts,” a 50% refund of all subscriptions paid so far, an effort to sell the committee’s batteries to the city, and finally to disband the committee, 13 June 1861, 9¾ x 7½ inches.
Estimate
$250 – $350
ATTACK THE ENEMY AT THEIR USUAL FISHING PLACES
196
(colonial wars.)
Order regarding protection of the Maine frontier, from two future Salem witch trial judges.
York, ME, [1 May] 1690
Manuscript document, 11¾ x 7¾ inches, in unknown contemporary hand; worn with loss to dateline, separations at folds with two early tape repairs on verso. With typed transcript.
In 1690, Maine was a frontier part of the colony of Massachusetts, and the front line in King William’s War. The region was subject to frequent raids by the French and their Indian allies. Just in the preceding year, English settlers had suffered heavy losses at Dover, NH; Saco, ME; Pemaquid (Bristol), ME; Falmouth (Portland), ME; and Salmon Falls (Berwick), ME, with many taken prisoner. The frontier was rapidly becoming depopulated of Englishmen, pushing the front line ever closer to Boston. This document is a report by two important citizens of Salem, MA who were sent to Maine to advise on defenses.
The commissioners offered a 6-point plan to local Maine officials. First, they urged a need to maintain civil government, in order to serve as a “a terror to evell doers and a prayse to them that doe well.” They also urged that “in millitary concerns that theire be due care taken in watchin & wardinge that you may not be surprised by the enemy & suddenly destroyed as other playses have been. That you draw your selves into soe fewe garrissons and soe conveniently situate as you may be in a good poster of defense. That a convenient number of the inhabitance that know ye countrey be imployed by turns in constant scoutinge. That a sutable party or partyes be sent forth to distress and attauqt the ennemy at theire usuall fisshinge places or els wheare as theire may be oppertunitye.”
In short, they urged that the few remaining inhabitants gather together in small well-fortified groups, from which they could take the offensive against Indians with surprise sorties. The advice was either not heeded or insufficient. Just two weeks later came the Battle of Falmouth, in which 200 inhabitants of what is now Portland were massacred, and a hundred more taken captive.
The two commissioners who delivered this report would very soon play a bigger role in history as judges in the Salem witch trials of 1692. John Hathorne (1641-1717), great-great-grandfather of author Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Jonathan Corwin (1640-1718) worked together to take the preliminary testimony which launched the case; Corwin’s house is now a museum known as the Witch House. The horrors of war so nearby on the frontier are sometimes cited as part of the context for the witch hysteria.
Another version of this manuscript (with nearly identical content but a different set of creative phonetic spellings) is transcribed in under the title “Report of John Hathorn and Jonath. Corwin, commisionated to visit the eastern parts,” in Documentary History of the State of Maine, Volume 5, pages 92-93. While the date is partially illegible in the present document, it is given there as 1 May 1690.
This report is a powerful reminder of the fear which gripped the frontier of northern New England during this period, with an unusual connection to the witch trials which began less than two years later.
Estimate
$5,000 – $7,500
197
(colonial wars.) horatio sharpe.
Letter expressing Maryland’s reluctance to trade with the Six Nations.
Annapolis, MD, 28 March 1763
Letter Signed. 2 pages, 12¼ x 7¾ inches, on one sheet; moderate wear, tape repairs along folds.
This letter was written as governor of Maryland, and is apparently addressed to Sir William Johnson, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Sharpe writes a few months after the extended peace conference held with the Six Nations tribes at Lancaster, PA. Apparently, the Six Nations had made some kind of trade overtures with the Maryland colony. Sharpe discusses his formal response (not included), and asks Johnson to send it to the Six Nations along with a wampum belt. Sharpe doesn’t sound optimistic about the trade prospects: “As no Indian trade hath been carried on from this province for some time, it would not be possible for me to purchase any wampum here, and indeed . . . the postage of it would amount to more than a belt’s value. I do not think our Assembly will ever be persuaded to cultivate the Indian friendship.”
Provenance: Sotheby’s sale, 23 April 1982; Swann sale, 15 September 2011, lot 115.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
198
(colonial wars.) timberlake, henry.
Voyages . . . de Conduire en Angleterre trois Sauvages, de la Tribu des Cherokees.
Paris, l’an V [1797]
[2], viii, 187, [1] pages. 12mo, contemporary ¼ calf over marbled boards with paper spine label, joints split; bound with 2 other titles, ink doodle on verso of title page, moderate foxing, lacking frontispiece plate.
First French edition of a 1765 memoir. Timberlake was a Virginian who fought for the English against the Cherokees in the French and Indian War. Later he was sent on an expedition to bring three Cherokee leaders on a diplomatic mission to England. Sabin 95837. Bound at the end of a volume including: Fontenelle, “Histoire des Oracles” including a long appendix titled “Poésies Pastorales.” [2], 212, 142 pages. London, 1785 * “Confessions de Clément Marot.” [6], 197 pages. Paris, 1798.
Estimate
$400 – $600
199
(congress.)
Plan of the Senate Chamber, First Session, Thirty-First Session.
Decorative letterpress broadside, 14¾ x 16¼ inches; moderate dampstaining, folds, minor wear.
A seating chart for the 31st Congress, 1st Session, which ran from December 1849 to September 1850. This diagram shows Vice President Millard Fillmore with a central seat as president of the Senate; he rose to the presidency of the United States after Zachary Taylor’s death in July. Among the better-known senators shown are Stephen Douglas, Sam Houston, William Seward, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun. The future war vice president Hannibal Hamlin is seated directly behind future Confederate president Jefferson Davis. It would be difficult to find a Senate with 8 more historically significant members than these. Below the seating plan is a directory showing the hotel or boarding house in which each senator resided. This session of Congress passed, in its waning days, the Fugitive Slave Act and the Compromise of 1850. 2 in OCLC.
Estimate
$500 – $750
200
(connecticut.) [thomas hooker.]
The Soules Exaltation.
London: John Haviland, 1638
[16], 311 pages. 4to, later ¼ calf, boards detached, needs binding; minor wear to title page, lacking free endpapers, minimal worming toward rear; two early signatures on title page, library bookplate and withdrawal stamp on front pastedown.
Thomas Hooker (1586-1647) was an early English settler of New England, serving as the first minister in Cambridge, MA before helping to found the Connecticut Colony in 1636. In 1639, he helped draft the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, a pioneering democratic constitution. The present theological work contains 3 parts, of which only the second, “The Soules Benefit from Union with Christ,” has its own title page. Sabin 32850. None traced at auction since 1948; no other contemporary printings of any works by Hooker traced at auction since 2009.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
201
(constitution.)
Order for voting on delegates to Connecticut’s convention for ratifying the Constitution.
Middletown, CT, 2 November 1787
Document Signed by Bezaleel Fisk and two other selectmen of Middletown, issued to Constable Jozeb Stocking. One page, 8 x 7½ inches, with docketing and receipt on verso; folds, minor wear.
Offered here is one of thousands of small steps on the path toward the ratification of the United States Constitution–one which demonstrates the influence which a common citizen had on the process. On 19 October 1787, the Connecticut Assembly ordered a town-by-town vote for delegates to a state constitutional convention. The present notice was issued two weeks later in Middletown, CT. The town selectmen ordered the constable to summon all qualified inhabitants to “meet at the town house in said Middletown on the second Monday of November instant at one o’clock in the afternoon for the purpose of choosing delegates agreeable to act of Assembly in Oct. last, and to do any other business necessary.” The delegate vote was held as ordered on 12 November, setting up a final vote on 9 January 1788. Their result was not much in doubt, as the two-house Congress (Senate and House of Representatives) had been calibrated specifically to satisfy Connecticut and other smaller states. Connecticut became the fifth state to ratify the Constitution, by a vote of 128 to 40.
Estimate
$600 – $900
202
(constitution.) samuel henshaw.
Inspirational letter to two Massachusetts delegates to U.S. Constitutional Convention.
Northampton, MA, 22 November 1787
Letter Signed as chairman of a meeting of the inhabitants of Northampton, MA, to delegates Caleb Strong and Benjamin Sheldon. 3 pages, 12 x 7¼ inches, on one folding sheet, plus a town clerk’s copy of the same with the related town minutes, 2 pages on one sheet (13 x 8¼ inches); folds, faint dampstaining, minor wear.
Strong and Sheldon were delegates to the Massachusetts ratification convention, authorized on 25 October 1787, both representing the towns of Northampton and Easthampton. This letter sets forth their mission in the most inspiring patriotic terms:
“We have delegated you to meet . . . for the purpose of adopting or rejecting the reported Constitution for the United States of America. The object of your mission, gentlemen, is of the highest magnitude in human affairs. Much time & unwearied application are requisite in order thoroughly to investigate it. The civil dignity & prosperity of this state; of the United States; and, perhaps, of humanity, are suspended on the decision of this momentous question. . . . Be not unduly influenced by any local consideration. Let your minds be impressed with the necessity of having an equal, energetic, federal government. ‘Tis the welfare & dignity of the Union, as well as of Massachusetts, that you are to consult. And while you are tenacious of the rights & privileges of the People, be not afraid to delegate to the federal government such powers as are absolutely necessary for advancing & maintaining our national honor & happiness. . . . Having the fullest confidence in your political wisdom, integrity & patriotism, we chearfully, on our part, submit the all important question to your decision. And we beseech the all-wise governor of the world to take the convention under his holy influence, that so the result may be the best good of the people of the United States of America.”
Strong and Sheldon both voted “yea” on 6 February 1788, helping to make Massachusetts the sixth state to ratify the Constitution.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
203
(crime.) [thomas f. daggett.]
The Outlaw Brothers, Frank and Jesse James: Lives and Adventures of the Scourges of the Plains.
New York: Richard K. Fox, 1881
28 plates. [3]-67, [7] pages including ad leaves. 8vo, publisher’s illustrated wrappers, worn and lacking most of rear wrapper and backstrip, skillfully restored; conservation to the two outer leaves, otherwise minor wear to contents.
First of many editions of a popular sensationalist account, part of the “Police Gazette Series of Famous Criminals.” None of any edition traced at auction. Adams, Six-Guns 542; Howes D9 (“aa”).
Estimate
$600 – $900
204
(currency.)
Fractional currency shield with mounted specimen notes.
[Washington: Treasury Department, circa 1867-68]
Engraving, 24 x 20 inches, printed in gray on stiff board, with 39 mounted specimen notes, many of them signed by Treasury Department officials; moderate foxing and dampstaining (mostly in margins out of visible area when matted), archivally mounted in modern shield-shaped mat for an attractive presentation; 1898 gift inscription in outer margin. Could ship with period frame.
These shields were issued to aid in the detection of counterfeits among the fractional currency issued during the Civil War. See Kravitz, Collector’s Guide to Postage & Fractional Currency, page 136.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
205
George a. custer.
My Life on the Plains; or, Personal Experiences with Indians.
New York, 1874
8 plates. [3]-256 pages. 8vo, publisher’s maroon gilt pictorial cloth, minor wear including slightly bumped corners; minimal wear to contents and one small ink mark.
First edition of a “classic account of military operations against various tribes of Plains Indians in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas”–Encyclopedia of American War Literature, page 84. This copy has no ownership markings, but came down with the papers of the historian Frederic F. Van de Water, who did much to counter the early hero worship of Custer (see lot 209). Graff 961; Howes C981.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
206
George a. custer.
Letter from the Secretary of War, Transmitting . . . a Report of the Expedition to the Black Hills.
Washington, 26 February 1875
9 pages. 8vo, stitched; lightly toned, minimal wear. 43rd Congress, 2nd Session, Senate Ex. Doc. 32.
Custer’s official August 1874 dispatches from his Black Hills expedition. Here Custer writes: “Gold has been found at several places . . . I have upon my table forty or fifty small particles of pure gold . . . most of it obtained to-day from one panful of earth.” His second report elaborates: “It has not required an expert to find gold in the Black Hills, as men without former experience in mining have discovered it at an expense of but little time or labor.” This news unsurprisingly launched a gold rush, and the resulting tensions with the Sioux led to Custer’s death at Little Bighorn less than two years later.
Estimate
$400 – $600
207
(george a. custer.) judson elliott walker.
Campaigns of General Custer in the North-West, and the Final Surrender of Sitting Bull.
New York: Jenkins & Thomas, 1881
7 portrait plates. 139, 9, [2] pages including ad leaves. 8vo, original printed wrappers with illustration on back, minimal wear and fading; minimal wear to contents.
With a portrait of Sitting Bull on the rear wrapper, and 10 pages of ads for businesses in Bismarck, Dakota Territory. Graff 4513; Howes W40 (“aa”).
Estimate
$300 – $400
UNPUBLISHED FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT OF LITTLE BIGHORN
208
(george a. custer.) thomas o’neill.
With Reno at the Little Big Horn Fight (Custer’s Last Battle): The Thrilling Escape of Lieut. Chas. C. de Rudio and Sergeant Thomas O’Neill.
[Los Angeles, 1924?]
[1]. 34 typescript pages. 4to, ½ polished calf, rubbed at extremities; minimal wear to contents; early bookplate on front pastedown.
A first-hand account by a sergeant who was separated from Major Reno at Little Bighorn, rejoining his regiment after several terrifying days of near-misses in the wilderness. The author wrote it in manuscript form in 1895 while serving in the park police in Washington, DC, and it was here transcribed by historian Earl A. Brininstool. This account was apparently never published in full, although it was extensively excerpted by Brininstool in the magazine Hunter-Trader-Trapper from March to May 1924 as “With Reno at the Little Big Horn,” which was then published in Brininstool’s 1925 book “Troopers with Custer: Historic Incidents of the Battle of the Little Big Horn,” pages 125-152.
Provenance: Rt. Rev. Nathaniel Seymour Thomas (1867-1937), the second Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming (bookplate); his Anderson Galleries sale, 30 January 1929, lot 235; Parke-Bernet’s Charles H.P. Yallalee sale, 24 November 1942, lot 140; and again the following year in Parke-Bernet’s 23 March 1943 sale, lot 204, as the property of a “N.Y. Private Collector.” One other copy known, at the Newberry Library. Theirs bears a slightly different title and is dated Los Angeles, 1924.
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
THE NOTEBOOKS WHICH TOOK CUSTER DOWN . . . AGAIN
209
(george a. custer.) frederic f. van de water.
Pair of original notebooks for “Glory-Hunter,” along with an inscribed copy of the book.
Vp, circa 1930-34
3 volumes, various sizes and conditions.
“Glory-Hunter: A Life of General Custer” was a landmark in Custer scholarship, the book that dismantled the general’s reputation as a hero. Offered here are two of Van de Water’s original notebooks for the project.
Untitled notebook. [128] typescript leaves, 11 x 8½ inches, with some manuscript notes, and some notes on verso, in period ring binder; intermittent toning and minor wear. Consists entirely of research notes on Custer from both printed and manuscript sources. Some of the manuscripts transcribed here appear to be unpublished, including letters written by Bighorn survivors to W.A. Falconer and E.A. Brininstool in the 1920s and early 1930s.
Notebook titled “Custer Record” with 200 pages, 9¼ x 5½ inches, most blank, 30 of them having manuscript notes; original cloth binding, worn and dampstained; only minor staining to contents. An alphabetically arranged series of notes on Custer research (and occasional personal memoranda through 1948), including a Custer bibliography and notes for a foreword. Under Little Bighorn he writes “Have to admit existence of a gigantic and foul plot with otherwise righteous men as conspirators, or Custer’s blameworthiness.”
“Glory-Hunter: A Life of General Custer.” 15 plates. 394 pages. 8vo, publisher’s gilt cloth, moderate wear; moderate foxing; worn dust jacket, inscribed on front free endpaper “To Ma, from me, with love, Frederic F. Van de Water.” First edition. Indianapolis, IN, [1934].
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
210
(george a. custer.) charles a. varnum.
Letter by the commander of Custer’s scouts, praising the book “Glory Hunter.”
San Francisco, CA, 13 November 1934
Autograph Letter Signed to A.H. Hepburn. 2 pages, 9 x 6 inches, on 2 sheets; mailing folds, minor toning and edge wear.
Charles Albert Varnum (1849-1936) was Custer’s commander of scouts at Little Bighorn, surviving the fight alongside the Reno-Benteen detachment. He remained in the army and retired as a colonel at the end of World War One. By the time of his death, he was the last surviving officer from Little Bighorn. He wrote this letter in response to Frederic F. Van de Water’s book “Glory-Hunter: A Life of General Custer” (see above), the first to examine Custer critically.
“I received the copy of ‘Glory Hunter’ in due time. . . . At my eighty-five years of age I am not always in condition to think or write. I . . . have read it & enjoyed it. I agree with the author’s comments on the General’s actions & his dividing his command. Had the Indians captured the pack train we would all have lost our lives. Saving that & uniting with Benteen saved us. What might have happened if Terry with Gibbon’s command had not arrived on the scene, the good Lord only knows.”
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
211
(george a. custer.) fred dustin.
The Custer Tragedy: Events Leading Up To and Following the Little Big Horn Campaign.
Ann Arbor, MI, 1939
3 folding maps in rear pocket; text illustrations. xxii, 251 pages. 4to, publisher’s gilt cloth, minimal wear; one of 200; inscribed on third leaf by the author: “To Frederic F. Van de Water, the first truthful biographer of Col. George A. Custer, from Fred Dustin, May 23, 1939.”
Estimate
$400 – $600
212
(declaration of independence.)
An early English printing of the Declaration, in the Universal Magazine.
London, August 1776
3 unrelated plates. 57-112 pages, without title page (as bound). 8vo, disbound; minimal foxing.
The Declaration of Independence appears on pages 91-93 under “American Intelligence,” signed in type by John Hancock.
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
213
Declaration of independence.) george g. smith; engraver.
Declaration of Independence, in Congress July 4th 1776.
Boston: George G. Smith, circa 1843
Engraved broadside, 12 x 9½ inches, on heavy coated paper; tightly trimmed, minimal wear.
First edition showing the first 10 presidents through Tyler. The Declaration is rendered in small calligraphic text above facsimile signatures, surrounded by an elaborate decorative border depicting the presidents and the seals of the 13 original states. A second edition circa 1845 added President Polk and a view of the Capitol, and a third circa 1849 replaced the Capitol with Zachary Taylor. We trace no other examples of this first state in OCLC, Bidwell, or at auction. Bidwell 20; Hart 590 (for the later editions).
Estimate
$600 – $900
214
(declaration of independence.) j.h. bufford; lith.
Declaration of Independence . . . Executed Entirely with a Pen by Gilman R. Russell.
Manchester, NH: William H. Fisk, [1856]
Lithograph, 28¼ x 22 inches; toning, moderate edge wear, 3½-inch closed tear, 3 small holes in margins.
The text surrounds a portrait of Washington, and is in turn framed by a decorative border topped by an eagle. Bidwell 28.
Estimate
$400 – $600
215
(early american imprint.) robert barclay.
An Apology for the True Christian Divinity . . . by the People, Called in Scorn, Quakers.
Newport, RI: James Franklin, 1729
[12], 574, [31] pages. 8vo, contemporary polished blind-tooled paneled calf, backstrip worn, boards stitched on at an early date; lacking front free endpaper and blank leaf A2, moderate dampstaining and wear, light finger-soiling; 1823 gift inscription on verso of final page.
First American edition of this standard exposition of Quaker tenets. It was a very early Rhode Island imprint, issued by the brother and mentor of Benjamin Franklin, and the first full-length book published in the colony–preceded only by a few pamphlets and broadsides, and a 150-page book issued the previous year. Alden, Rhode Island 11; Evans 3129. Provenance: Caleb Arnold (1757-1838) of Glocester, RI to his grandson Edward Greene Arnold (1810-1893) of Norwich, Chenango County, NY, in 1823.
Estimate
$400 – $600
216
(early american imprint.) douglass, william.
A Summary, Historical and Political, of the . . . British Settlements in North-America.
Boston: Rogers and Fowle / Daniel Fowle, 1749 and 1751 [1752]
2 volumes. [2], iii, [3], 568; [4], 416 pages. 8vo, contemporary unmatched calf, moderate wear, rejointed; first volume with moderate dampstaining, second volume lacking free endpapers, inked doodles on title page, minor dampstaining and wear; first volume with 1756 owner’s signatures and early 20th century library markings including inked stamps on title page, second volume with unknown family’s 1766-73 birth register on front pastedown.
First edition in book form of what Howes calls the first American history of the whole country (it was originally issued in parts beginning in 1747). Douglass was a physician from Scotland who had settled in Boston. His “Digression Concerning the Small-Pox” which concludes Volume II is a highlight; it was written after a Boston epidemic which ended in July 1752. Clark, Old South 226-2; Evans 6307, 6663; Guerra a-231; Howes D436 (“b”); Sabin 20726.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
217
(early american imprint.)
Der Kleine Catechismus des sel. D. Martin Luthers.
Philadelphia: Henrich Miller, 1770
[4], 144 pages. 12mo, contemporary ¼ calf, minor wear; minor foxing. 7th edition. Evans 11705.
Estimate
$300 – $400
218
(early american imprint.) anthony benezet.
The Pennsylvania Spelling-Book.
Philadelphia: Joseph Crukshank, 1776
160 pages. 16mo, stitched; title page detached, moderate wear to exterior leaves, lacking the 4th leaf, full closed tear to leaf E7, a bit dog-eared, minor dampstaining toward rear. In modern custom folding case.
First edition, with others following in 1779 and 1782. The author was a Huguenot immigrant who joined the Quakers and became one of the leading early abolitionists in America. In 1770 he founded a “Negro School” in Philadelphia, and in 1775 he was a leading organizer of the first anti-slavery organization in America, the Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage. This spelling book contains little overtly abolitionist material, but it is “particularly calculated for the use of parents, guardians and others, remote from schools; in the private tuition of their children, and illiterate domesticks.” The content includes vocabulary lists and short sentences, working up to more complex essays. A catechism near the end asks “Who is our neighbor, whom we must love?” The answer is “We are to love all men. . . . The Indians and Ethiopians or Negroes are consequently our neighbors, our brethren, whom we are enjoined to love as ourselves.” Bristol B4181; Rosenbach, Early American Children’s Books 86 (describing the second edition only). 4 copies in ESTC; none of any edition traced at auction since 1971.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
219
(erotica.)
The Fair Maid’s Song, When All Alone.
[Enfield, MA: John Howe, circa 1838?]
Letterpress broadside, 6¼ x 6 inches; minimal foxing; uncut.
In six stanzas, a country maid fantasizes about a miller, a sawyer, a shoemaker, a tailor, and a teamster. “As racy as anything printed in that period”–Gura, Crossroads of American History and Literature, page 131.
Estimate
$600 – $900
220
(food & drink.) susannah carter.
The Frugal Housewife: or, Complete Woman Cook.
Philadelphia, 1796
2 plates. 132 pages. 12mo, ¼ calf over marbled boards, minor wear; minor foxing.
Fourth American edition of one of the most popular early cookbooks. Includes sections on pickling and wine, as well as sample bills of fare. Evans 30168; Lowenstein 15.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
221
(food & drink.) [amelia simmons.],
American Cookery, or, The Art of Dressing Viands, Fish, Poultry, and Vegetables . . . By an American Orphan.
Np: “Printed for the publishers,” 1808
72 pages. 12mo, unbound, stitched; toned, moderate dampstaining, corner wear to first three leaves touching one letter, closed tear to leaf D3, final gathering and flyleaf detached; charming pencil note on flyleaf reading "Grandma Badger's cook book--splendid mince pies."
5th edition of the first cookbook to be written and published in the United States; it first appeared in 1796. Cagle 701; Lowenstein 46.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
222
Benjamin franklin.
Political, Miscellaneous, and Philosophical Pieces.
London, 1779
4 plates, folding table. xi, [1], 567, [7] pages. 8vo, early 20th-century ½ morocco, joints rubbed; moderate foxing; marbled edges; bookplate of Frederick Perry Boynton on front pastedown.
First collected edition, “the only edition of Franklin’s writings (other than his scientific) which was printed during his lifetime”–Ford 342. Edited by the British politician Benjamin Vaughan, a friend of Franklin’s who later helped negotiate the peace between their warring nations. Howes F330; Sabin 25565.
Estimate
$4,000 – $6,000
223
(georgia.) george watts.
A Sermon Preached Before the Trustees for Establishing the Colony of Georgia in America.
London: M. Downing, 1736
27 pages. 8vo, later ½ gilt morocco by Bradstreet, minor wear and staining; bookplate removed, joints split, moderate foxing, repaired worming in upper corner not touching text; top edge gilt.
Urges the colonists to “prepare themselves a city to dwell in, to sow their lands, and plant vineyards to yield them fruits of increase,” so that they could turn the “wilderness into a fruitful, well-watered habitation” (pages 3-5), in the hope that “so healthy, pleasant, and fruitful a country, under so mild and secure a government, will make this the common asylum of all who are persecuted for conscience sake” (page 17). Sabin 102173. None traced at auction since 1987.
Provenance: Georgia historian Charles Colcock Jones Jr. (1831-1897); Richmond Literature Company’s Edward N. Crane sale, 25 March 1913, lot 336; American Art Association sale, 26 February 1917, lot 77 (describing the prior provenance and now now-absent bookplate); Parke-Bernet sale, 7 February 1940, lot 481.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
224
(hawaii.) aaron s. daggett.
Letter describing a royal Hawaiian funeral.
Honolulu, HI, 4 July 1899
Autograph Letter Signed as “A.S. Daggett” to his niece. 6 pages, 7¾ x 4¾ inches, on 2 folding sheets; a few small ink blots, minimal wear.
Aaron Daggett (1837-1938) had served as a Union general in the Civil War. At this writing, he had recently been appointed as colonel of the 14th United States Infantry, passing through Hawaii en route to the Philippines. He arrived on 2 July, and wrote “How strange that we should have arrived just in season to witness what, it is said, can never again occur on these islands, a funeral of the last of the original of the royal family. It was gorgeous, beautiful in many aspects, and interesting to all. . . . A weird atmosphere seemed to pervade the ceremonies, but they were mostly those of the Episcopal Church.” He added that “we are all enjoying ourselves by visiting the town . . . and, I fear, will be overwhelmed by proffered hospitalities.”
Hawaii became a territory of the United States in 1898. The Dowager Queen Kapi’olani, widow of Hawaii’s King Kalakaua, had died on 24 June 1899, and was buried on 2 July, the day of Daggett’s arrival.
Estimate
$500 – $750
Judaica
225
(judaica.) ezra stiles.
A Discourse on Saving Knowledge: Delivered at the Instalment of the Reverend Samuel Hopkins.
Newport, RI: Solomon Southwick, 1770
48 pages. 8vo, unbound and unstitched; light toning and minor wear, a bit of tasteful conservation work, final 4 leaves apparently supplied from another volume; uncut, with half-title.
A sermon preached by one prominent Congregationalist Protestant minister in honor of another. Stiles was a scholar of Hebrew who helped launch Brown University and later became president of Yale; Hopkins was an important early abolitionist. However, the sermon is probably most notable for the appearance of 5 lines of Hebrew type in a footnote to page 13, quite early for an American press. “Contains a passage in Hebrew, & an important discussion on the Trinity from statements in the Sapher Hajatzirah & rabbinical books”–Rosenbach 52. Provenance: Swann Judaica sale, 17 May 1988, lot 18 ($1000 hammer).
Estimate
$400 – $600
226
(judaica). moses lopez.
A Lunar Calendar, of the Festivals, and other Days in the Year, Observed by the Israelites.
[130 of 132] pages. Small 8vo, contemporary calf, worn, rebacked; front free endpaper detached, lacking leaves G2-3, final leaf apparently supplied from another copy; Cohen family inscriptions on rear free endpaper and elsewhere. In modern cloth folding case.
Only the second book published for a Jewish audience in America–and the first Jewish calendar. It also includes the calculations to determine “the Hour to commence the Sabbath, in the City of New-York. . . . It may, with a small variation, answer well for all the Northern States of America.” The author Moses Lopez (1739-1830) was a member of the important Jewish community at Newport, RI, the nephew of wealthy merchant Aaron Lopez. The community went into rapid decline after the American Revolution, and Moses was said to be the last Jewish resident until he ultimately departed for New York in 1822. Goldman, page II:1166 (discussing the present copy in his “Manuscripts” appendix, with 4 illustrations); Rosenbach 135; Singerman 0163.
Provenance: inscribed by original owner Jacob I. Cohen (1744-1829) in 5566 (1806 CE) on leaves B1-2; gift from Jacob I. Cohen (1744-1829) to his nephew Jacob I. Cohen Jr. (1789-1869) in 1808, per inscription on the final blank. The nephew was one of the leaders in the fight to secure passage in 1825 of the “Jew Bill,” which allowed Jews to hold public office in Maryland; he then gained election to the Baltimore City Council the following year. He brought his large Jewish book collection to his new home at 415 North Charles Street, where the collection and various family members remained for very close to a hundred years. This book was sold at the auction of his niece Bertha Cohen (1838-1929) as detailed in the catalog “Antique Furnishings of the Cohen House,” Baltimore, 13 November 1929, lot 380 (Cohen sale noted in pencil on final blank).
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
227
(judaica.) mordecai m. noah.
Travels in England, France, Spain, and the Barbary States.
New York, 1819
Portrait frontispiece and 4 plates. vi, [2], 431, xlvii pages. 8vo, modern ¼ morocco; minor foxing.
First edition. This volume recounts Noah’s experiences as American consul to Tunis, where he successfully negotiated for the release of captured seamen, and then was recalled by James Monroe on at least partially anti-Semitic grounds. “See pp. xxiv-xxvi for text of letters from Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and John Adams concerning American Jews and religious liberty”–Singerman 0304. Rosenbach 205.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
228
(judaica.) isaac leeser.
The Jews and the Mosaic Law.
Philadelphia, 5594 [1833]
viii, [2], 278 pages. 2 parts in one volume. 8vo, modern calf; dampstaining, moderate foxing; early printed stamps of A. Collins on flyleaf and title page.
The first original work by Isaac Leeser. Rosenbach 375; Singerman 0578.
Estimate
$500 – $750
THE FIRST JEWISH TRANSLATION OF THE PENTATEUCH INTO ENGLISH
229
(judaica.)
The Law of God.
Philadelphia: C. Sherman, 5605 [1845-46]
5 volumes. 12mo, contemporary embossed calf, moderate wear; minor wear and finger soiling to contents, Volume II lacking free endpapers; 1881 gift inscription on front flyleaf.
First edition. This is the first translation of the five books of the Torah by a Jewish translator into English, with text in Hebrew and English on facing pages. Previous editions published by Jews in England had simply utilized the King James translation.
The translator was Isaac Leeser (1806-1868), who worked without assistance. In his preface, he apologizes for any errors: “How can it be expected that I should escape, when I have no Jewish compositors, and have necessarily to be often away when the work goes to press?” Despite these obstacles, Leeser doubted that “the precious word of God ever appeared among us in a more beautiful form than the volumes in which I am now engaged.” Leeser avoided reliance on earlier English translations, though he made some use of German translations, and noted that “the arrangement is strictly Jewish. My intention was to furnish a book for the service of the Synagogue, both German and Portuguese.” Goldman 7; Hills 1273; Rosenbach 569.
Estimate
$5,000 – $7,500
230
(judaica.) max rosenthal, lithographer.
Dr. Isaac Leeser, Rabbi of the Jewish Congregation Beth-El-Emith.
Philadelphia, 1868
Lithograph, 12 x 8¼ inches, printed chine-collé on 7x5-inch thin sheet laid down on heavier stock with original printed caption and facsimile signature below; minor foxing, laid down on modern board.
A portrait of the important Philadelphian Jewish scholar, by a noted lithographer. No other examples traced at auction or in OCLC.
Estimate
$600 – $900
231
(judaica.) moses a. dropsie.
Panegyric on the Life, Character and Services of the Rev. Isaac Leeser.
Philadelphia, 1868
11 pages. 8vo, original printed wrappers, moderate wear, disbound; moderate edge wear.
A sermon before the Hebrew Education Society of Philadelphia on leader Isaac Leeser, who had passed less than three weeks before. Singerman 2065.
Estimate
$400 – $600
232
(judaica.)
Hymns Written for the Use of Hebrew Congregations.
Charleston, SC: Congregation Beth Elohim, 5616 [1856]
[iii]-xv, [3], 212 pages. 12mo, contemporary gilt morocco, front board crudely rejointed, rear board and final leaf detached; front free endpaper worn and laid down on flyleaf, minor dampstaining, a few early manuscript notes; all edges gilt; inscriptions and bookplate on front endpapers, owner’s name gilt-stamped on front board.
Second edition, revised and enlarged. The volume begins with the three hymns sung at the 1840 dedication of the congregation’s synagogue. Singerman 1424. Provenance: gift inscription from Dr. M. Mayer of Congregation Beth Elohim to important Reform rabbi David Einhorn of Baltimore, “a token of profound collegial esteem and friendship,” 8 June 1856; Einhorn’s name stamped on front board; bookplate of Einhorn’s grandson Max J. Kohler.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
233
(judaica.) [david einhorn; compiler.]
[Olath Tamid] Book of Prayers for Israelitish Congregations.
New York, [1872]
vi, 394 pages. 12mo, contemporary patterned calf, worn, rebacked with tape; front hinge split, free endpaper and final leaf detached, browning, occasional marks in red pencil; edges gilt; early owner’s inscription on rear free endpaper.
First edition in English, with extensive text also in Hebrew. The 1858 first edition, Gebetbuch für Israelitische Reform-Gemeinden, was “the first prayer book in America published for general use that radically deviated from the traditional liturgy” (Goldman 45). Einhorn was the leader of American Reform Judaism in his day, and his Olath Tamid went through numerous editions in both English and German. Einhorn fled Baltimore in 1861 because of his antislavery views, and this edition was translated for his new Congregation Adath Jeshurun on 39th Street in New York. Goldman 91n; Singerman 2340 (records just two copies).
Estimate
$600 – $900
234
(judaica.) joseph r. brandon.
Some Thoughts on Judaism.
San Francisco, CA: M. Weiss, 1881
71 pages. 8vo, original printed wrappers, minor wear; vertical fold; minor foxing; inscribed on front wrapper “With J.R.B.’s comp’s,” later inscription on verso of title page.
A pair of lectures by Joseph Rodriguez Brandon (1828-1916), a Sephardic Jew who came to San Francisco from Barbados in 1855. None traced at auction. Singerman 2971.
Estimate
$400 – $600
235
(judaica.) george shinn.
March of the Jewish Warriors.
Boston: Oliver Ditson, [1882]
7 pages, 14 x 10½ inches, on 2 folding sheets; light soiling and minor wear.
The apparent first American edition of an instrumental work first issued in London in 1881. A London edition was issued with text as “The Victories of Judah after the Captivity, as Achieved by Mattathias & his Son Judas Maccabaeus: A Sacred Cantata with Historical Readings, in the Form of a Service of Song (with original words and music). The poems and connective readings written and compiled by James Shepherd; the music composed expressly for the work by Geo. Shinn.” The present piece is listed under “new music received” from Oliver Ditson in the 9 July 1882 Boston Globe. This edition not traced in OCLC.
Estimate
$300 – $400
236
(judaica.)
Group of 4 Judaica books and pamphlets.
Vp, 1848-84
4 volumes, various sizes and bindings; moderate wear.
Isaac P. Mendes. “Pure Words: A Collection of Special Prayers.” 56 pages. 8vo, publisher’s gilt cloth; library markings. Savannah, GA, 1884.
Gotthold Lessing; Isidor Kalisch, translator. “Nathan, the Wise: A Dramatic Poem.” [4], ix, [2]-212, [1] pages. 12mo, publisher’s cloth. New York, 1869.
Isaac M. Wise. “Moses: The Man and Statesman.” 28 pages. 8vo, stitched. Cincinnati, OH, [1883].
A.A. Lindo. “A Retrospect of the Past . . . disclosed in the Sacred Books Received as Authority by Jews.” 49 pages. 8vo, disbound. Cincinnati, OH, 1848. Singerman 3272, 2143, 3195, 1026.
Estimate
$500 – $750
238
(law.)
The Charter Granted . . . of Massachusetts-Bay / Acts and Laws of . . . Massachusetts-Bay,
Boston: B. Green, 1714-21
bound with 18 later addenda of the colony’s acts and laws, complete through May 1721. [2], 13, vi, [2], 350 pages. Folio, contemporary calf, worn, boards detached, tape repairs; front free endpaper and first title page detached and worn, third contents leaf defective, final 1721 addendum defective, otherwise moderate wear and dampstaining, a few early manuscript notes; early owner’s inscriptions on endpapers, later signature and note on title page.
A compilation of the acts and laws passed in Massachusetts from 1692 through 1721. The “Act against Adultery and Polygamie” on page 57 mandates that offending parties wear “a Capital A of two inches long . . . of a contrary Colour to their Cloaths,” though the color scarlet is not mandated. An act restricting the manumission of slaves appears on page 178, and the “penalty for a Negro or Molatto Man committing Fornication with a Christian Woman” appears on page 190. Evans 1686 (the main work, through page 239). Cushing, Massachusetts Laws, 292, 295, 296, 297, 298, 299, 300, 302, 303, 304, 305, 306, 308, 309, 311, 312, 314, 318, 319.
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
239
(law.)
Laws of New-York, from the Year 1691, to 1751, Inclusive.
New York, 1752
[6], iii, [1], 488, [1] pages. Folio, contemporary calf, worn; foxing, minor dampstaining; original owner’s inscription on front pastedown.
First edition. Compiled by William Livingston and William Smith, Jr. Evans 6897; Sabin 53730.
Estimate
$600 – $900
240
(law.)
Acts and Laws of the State of Connecticut.
New London, CT: Timothy Green, 1784
8, 6, [2], 265 pages. Folio, contemporary calf, worn, rejointed; foxing, final 8 leaves detached; 1753 group ownership inscription from another law book bound in as endpaper; early inked library “sold” stamp on final blank.
First edition as a state. Also the first edition with an ornamental type design on the first page of acts and laws. It begins with the colony’s original charter granted by Charles II in 1662, followed by the Articles of Confederation. Evans 18409.
Estimate
$400 – $600
THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE
241
(law.)
Acts Passed at the First Session of the Eighth Congress of the United States of America.
[Washington, 1804]
225, vi pages. 8vo, original plain wrappers, worn and lacking backstrip; foxing, minor wear to upper corner, moderate dampstaining toward rear; uncut.
Official printing of the Louisiana purchase treaty and related acts on pages 3-11, 112-125, and 174-203. Also includes treaties with the Kaskaskia, Choctaw, and other American Indian nations.
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
242
(law.)
Manuscript rules, constitution, and founding minutes of the “Gentlemen of the Bar in the County of Middlesex.”
Cambridge, MA, 17 December 1807
[14] manuscript pages, 7¾ x 6½ inches, on 4 folding sheets of laid paper, titled “Rules and Regulations of the Bar in the County of Middlesex,” transcribed in an unknown contemporary hand including the secretarial signature of president Artemas Ward; vertical fold, closed separations at folds, minor wear and toning.
The preamble to this interesting document describes how “the counsellors and attornies residing in the county . . . are desirous to cement and confirm their union, to cultivate a hearty benevolence, and an ardent concern for each other’s welfare.” The six articles of their constitution cover membership, the training of students, conduct of members, and more. The document closes with the minutes of the organization’s founding meeting at Porter’s Tavern in Cambridge, MA, where Revolutionary War general Artemas Ward was chosen as their founding president, and future congressman Samuel Hoar as their secretary.
This organization was part of the first wave of American bar associations, which were essentially short-lived social clubs. Their more institutionalized successors began with the American Bar Association in 1878. The present-day Middlesex County Bar Association dates its founding to 1899. Middlesex County covers a large swath of Massachusetts immediately northwest of Boston, including Cambridge, Lowell, Lexington, and Concord.
Estimate
$600 – $900
243
f.b. helmsmüller.
President Lincoln’s Grand March, Respectfully Dedicated to the Union Army.
New York: E.A. Daggett, 1862
6, [2] pages including wrappers. Folio, 13 x 9½ inches, original chromolithograph pictorial wrappers, disbound; faint dampstaining, minor wear.
An instrumental piece composed by the leader of the 22nd New York regimental band.
Estimate
$400 – $600
LINCOLN'S FINAL LIFE PORTRAIT
244
henry f. warren; photographer.
The Latest Photograph of President Lincoln, Taken on the Balcony
Waltham, MA, 1865
at the White House, March 6, 1865. Albumen photograph, 13¼ x 10 inches, laid down on 15½ x 11¾-inch photographer’s mount with printed caption on recto; light toning and 1-inch repaired closed tear to mount, laid down on paper on verso.
The last known photograph of Lincoln, taken two days after his “With malice toward none” second inaugural speech. Lincoln’s full beard has here been trimmed to a rather imposingly severe goatee. According to one story, photographer Henry Warren had no appointment with the president for this sitting, but tricked young Tad Lincoln into bringing his father to the balcony. “Posing just to please his son, Lincoln appears preoccupied and perhaps a little annoyed”–Hamilton and Ostendorf, Lincoln in Photographs, O-112 and pages 213-4. After the assassination, the image was re-issued with the caption “The Last Photograph of President Lincoln,” but this is the first edition. It is usually seen in a much smaller format, about half this size.
Estimate
$2,500 – $3,500
"PRES. JOHNSON! WE CAN TRUST YOU!"
245
horace c. hovey.
A minister reports on Lincoln’s assassination and funeral, and a visit to President Johnson.
Florence, MA, 1 May 1865
Autograph Letter Signed to the Rev. Edward Franklin Williams, also of the United States Christian Commission. 4 pages, 8 x 5 inches, on one folding sheet; vertical fold, short separation at fold.
The Rev. Horace Carter Hovey (1833-1914) of the United States Christian Commission was visiting troops at City Point, VA: “At the close of my discourse, a chaplain startled us by announcing the news which had just arrived of Pres. Lincoln’s assassination. . . . On Tuesday, I reached Washington just in time to accompany some sixty delegates on a visit to the remains of our beloved president, whose horrible death has thrown the whole country into a state of astonishment & grief from which it has by no means as yet recovered.”
He also describes an encouraging visit to Lincoln’s successor: “We called to pay our respects to Pres. Johnson. He made a fine speech to us, full of emotion & good sense, making a most favorable impression on every one of us. At its conclusion, we exclaimed with one voice, ‘Pres. Johnson! We can trust you!’ This interview went far to remove in my own mind the strong prejudice created by his disgraceful conduct on Inauguration Day.”
Estimate
$500 – $750
246
Group of retouched photographs of five Lincoln conspirators, used by Alexander Gardner for cartes-de-visite.
[Washington, 1865]
Retouched albumen prints, each about 7 x 6 inches on original cards, trimmed within margins; framing nail stains on verso, each with pencil inscriptions on verso dating from circa 1869, 3 with remnants of original backing paper and second inscriptions over the first, mat toning to O’Laughlin only, a bit of mat adhesive remnants at the edges of Atzerodt and Arnold.
In April 1865, the great Civil War photographer Alexander Gardner was commissioned to photograph the surviving Lincoln assassination conspirators aboard the USS Montauk and Saugus at the Washington Navy Yard. Gardner found it necessary to have them retouched for distribution as cartes-de-visite. Offered here are the original retouched photographs which were reproduced for distribution under Gardner’s copyright in 1865. The retouching has been attributed to Washington artist Eleazer Hutchinson Miller (1831-1921), who did at least one other project for Gardner during this period (an original cartoon titled “The Devil To Pay” in 1866).
This lot includes the original retouched photographs of conspirators Samuel Arnold, George Atzerodt, Michael O’Laughlen, Lewis Payne [Powell], and Edward Spangler.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
247
george alfred townsend.
The Life, Crime, and Capture of John Wilkes Booth.
New York: Dick & Fitzgerald, [1865]
frontispiece plate and 2 full-page illustrations. 64, [2], plus 6 erratically paginated leaves of publisher’s ads (unopened). 8vo, publisher’s illustrated wrappers, worn and lacking rear wrapper; dampstaining, unevenly opened.
First edition. Howes T315 (“aa”, calls this the scarcer of two issues, priority undetermined); Monaghan 781 (calls this the first edition).
With–“Booth’s Theatre: Behind the Scenes.” Frontispiece portrait, numerous illustrations. 16 pages. 8vo, original illustrated wrappers, worn; minor foxing and wear to contents. New York: Henry L. Hinton, 1870.
Estimate
$500 – $750
248
d.t. wiest; artist and engraver.
In Memory of Abraham Lincoln, the Reward of the Just.
Philadelphia: William Smith, circa 1865
Hand-colored lithograph, 29 x 22½ inches; minimal wear and foxing.
Wiest copied this composition from a popular 1801 print, “The Apotheosis of George Washington” by Barralet (see lot 59), making only two substantial changes: replacing Washington’s head with Lincoln’s, and changing the inscription on the tomb. Faith, Hope, and Charity welcome him into heaven. Other details might properly have been updated, but remained the same. Most notably, the shield in the lower left corner bears only the 15 stars of Washington’s time, rather than the 35 stars of the union which Lincoln had worked so hard to restore. The badges of the Society of Cincinnati and the Freemasons hanging from the tomb were also far more appropriate for Washington than for Lincoln. “Others may have wondered about the mourning Indian; a freed black man would have been far more appropriate”–Holzer, et al., Lincoln Image, pages 198-203. A beautiful example.
Estimate
$2,500 – $3,500
249
(louisiana.)
Geographische Beschreibung der Provinz Louisiana . . . von dem Fluss St. Lorenz bis an den Ausfluss de Flusses Missisipi.
[Leipzig?], circa 1720
6 pages on one folding sheet, 14½ x 17 inches; tightly trimmed, minor dampstaining. Offered without the accompanying map. Stored folded in a custom ¼-morocco folding case.
This piece was printed to accompany a map of the region, “Novissima Tabula Regionis Ludovicianae Gallice dictae La Louisiane,” not offered here. However, it stands alone as a scarce and important promotional piece to attract German investment in the French “Company of the Indies,” encompassing not only modern Louisiana but also much of the entire Mississippi River basin. Settlements, forts, American Indian groups, and natural resources are all discussed. Efforts like this brought thousands of German immigrants to the area, many of them settling on the “German Coast” west of New Orleans.
Wild speculation in these shares was known as the Mississippi Bubble, which soon burst and wiped out the investments of many participants, large and small. The architect of the bubble, the economist John Law, is mentioned here: “The whole trade of the shares rests on the credit of a Scotsman named Law . . . a clever and sharp mind, who started the bank in Paris and afterwards got the West Indian Mississippi trading company going. He also knew by persuasion and imaginative advertising to exalt the enterprise as great and profitable for the people so that everybody wanted to share in these profits” (translation taken from the Cornell University catalog). After the bubble burst, Law left France in disgrace and eked out a living as a gambler, yet his economic theories remain influential today. European Americana 720/102; Streeter sale I:116.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
250
(louisiana purchase.) lewis cist.
Letter describing a procession in honor of the Louisiana Purchase.
Philadelphia, 12 May 1804
Autograph Letter Signed to Jacob Cist of Washington, DC. One page, 13½ x 8 inches, with docketing and address panel (no postal markings) on verso; short separations at folds, 1-inch seal tear in left margin.
“We have just been watching a procession in commemoration of the acquisition of Louisiana. All of our volunteers–infantry, foot, horse, artillery–the governor, followed by the councils, the Cincinnati, the Incorporated Cordwainers with an 8-gallon shoe & flags with the names of the states, territories &c. It made a very good appearance & lasted from the beginning to end about ¾ hours.”
Estimate
$400 – $600
251
(maritime.) nathaniel bowditch.
The New American Practical Navigator.
Newburyport, MA: Edmund P. Blunt, May 1807
Folding map, 8 [of 10] plates, many text illustrations. 312, [276], 613-679, [1] pages. 8vo, modern binding; bookplate removed from pastedown, minor dampstaining to some plates, 1½-inch closed tear to map, tear to title page with slight loss to fore-edge, a few early pencil notes, soiling to final ad page; early ownership inscriptions on verso of map.
“Second edition, with many improvements”–including a glossary of sea terms, a dissertation on marine insurance and more. “Often termed the greatest book in all the history of navigation”–Grolier Hundred 25. Campbell, Practical Navigator 5; Howes B657 (“aa”).
Estimate
$400 – $600
252
(massachusetts.)
Group of 4 broadside proclamations for “a day of public fasting, humiliation and prayer.”
[Boston], 1817-39
Letterpress broadsides signed in type, various sizes and conditions as noted; folds.
Governor John Brooks, 4 March 1817, 22 x 18½ inches, toning and edge wear, partial separations at folds.
Governor John Brooks, 26 February 1820, 22 x 18½ inches, moderate toning and edge wear.
Governor Samuel T. Armstrong, 4 March 1835, 24 x 19¾ inches, moderate foxing.
Governor Edward Everett, 1 March 1839, 23½ x 19¼ inches, partial separations at folds.
Estimate
$250 – $350
253
(medicine.)
Large group of railroad “Yellow Fever Bulletins” detailing quarantine conditions in southern cities.
Washington, 1897 and 1905
81 items, most 11 x 8½ inches, each 1 to 4 pages with various filing notes; condition generally strong, a few with tears.
These notices provide nearly daily updates on travel restrictions in many cities in the deep south over the course of two major yellow fever epidemics. Many cities required health certificates for entry, quarantines of up to 30 days, or barred disembarkation altogether. Includes:
31 printed “Yellow Fever Bulletins” issued by the Passenger Department of the Southern Railway Company, each describing quarantine conditions at specific stations on their routes, September to November 1897.
7 related telegrams and circulars on the resumption of service, 13-20 November 1897.
43 printed “Quarantine Notices” and 2 mimeographed “Quarantine Bulletins” issued by the same department, August-November 1905.
Estimate
$600 – $900
Mormonism
FIRST EDITION
254
(mormons.)
The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon, upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi.
Palmyra, NY: E.B. Grandin, 1830
588, [2] pages. 8vo, publisher’s calf, backstrip blind-tooled in seven double bands, original black leather spine label blind-stamped “Book of Mormon,” front board skillfully replaced with period board, other minor conservation to binding; dampstaining, damage to front flyleaf and first 4 text leaves professionally stabilized, moderate soiling, numerous early underlinings and marginal notes, many of them keyed to a list of points in the endpapers.
First edition of the scripture of the Mormon church, released just days before the official establishment of the church on 6 April 1830. This was the only edition listing Joseph Smith as the “author and proprietor” rather than as the translator, and the only edition with his 2-page preface. This copy has the 2 pages of witness testimony at the end, but not the index pages which were inserted in later copies.
The first edition was printed with numerous variants; Crawley concludes that “very few copies of the book exist which are entirely identical.” This copy includes the uncorrected sheets for 6 of the 41 variants noted in Jenson: page 212 is numbered “122”; page 393 reads “neither does”, page 487 is numbered “48”; page 514 reads “maybe” instead of “may be”; page 575 reads “elder priest” instead of “elder or priest”; and page 576 reads “un-to the baptism.” See Janet Jenson, “Variations between Copies of the First Edition of the Book of Mormon,” BYU Studies 13 (Winter 73), 214-222. Crawley 1; Flake 595; Grolier Hundred 37; Howes S623; Sabin 83038; Streeter sale IV:2262.
Provenance: an early (but probably not original) owner was Nicholas Summerbell (1816-1889), who signed the front flyleaf and title page, and also added the date 1858. Summerbell was born in Peekskill, NY, was a Protestant clergyman in Cincinnati by 1850, and in 1858 became the founding president of Union Christian College in Meron, Indiana. During the Civil War he served as chaplain of the 115th Indiana Infantry. He spent his final years in the Cincinnati area. The signatures are a good match for the one seen on his 1888 passport application, and the notations to the volume appear to have been done during a careful reading by a scholar of religion.
This past year, the book was found in Wolfeboro, NH, a popular Mormon summer resort town. A resident asked her grandson to remove some boxes of rubbish to the trash, and he noticed this book inside. It has since been conserved, and a new front board added which might well pass for the original.
Estimate
$30,000 – $40,000
THE PHINNEY BIBLE, BASIS OF THE JOSEPH SMITH TRANSLATION
255
(mormons.)
The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments.
Cooperstown, NY: H. & E. Phinney, 1828
768 pages. 4to, contemporary marbled calf, worn, front board coming detached; intermittent foxing, minor dampstaining toward rear; edges tinted yellow; 4-page family register preceding the New Testament with births, marriages and deaths of the Nathan Beard family of Jefferson County in northern New York through 1867.
When Joseph Smith set out to create a new translation of the Bible in 1830, he began with a copy of Phinney’s 1828 quarto edition. Changes were written in the margins by a series of assistants; the Joseph Smith Translation was then published from the annotated Bible in 1867. The original annotated Bible is still in the possession of the Community of Christ (RLDS). This Phinney Bible is not annotated by Joseph Smith, but it is from the same edition. We notice one other unusual quirk in this Bible: a faint diamond pattern impressed across the length of each sheet, presumably to flatten the leaves as they came off the press. Only one other book comes to mind which is often seen with a similar pattern, the 1830 first edition of the Book of Mormon.
This copy is the discount issue, published without plates or the 99-page Apocrypha. Hills 618.
Estimate
$400 – $600
"I HAVE AN EYE TO THE WORLD AS IT IS MARSHALLING ITSELF FOR SOME GREAT EVENT"
256
(mormons.) w.w. phelps.
Early letter by the pioneering church publisher, just months after the burning of the Book of Commandments.
Liberty, MO, 30 December 1833
Autograph Letter Signed as “W.W. Phelps” to friend Oliver Phelps of Albany, NY. 2 pages, 9½ x 7½ inches, plus integral blank with docketing and hand-cancelled address panel; folds, minor wear, seal tear to integral blank.
William Wines Phelps (1792-1872) was a central figure in the early years of the Latter-Day Saints. A newspaper publisher in small-town Canandaigua, NY in the late 1820s, he purchased a Book of Mormon in April 1830, and soon became a leader in the faith’s new settlement at Independence, Missouri. There, he published the Evening and the Morning Star newspaper and began publishing the Book of Commandments until his press was destroyed by a mob in July 1833. At that point most of the Missouri members returned to Kirtland, OH, but Phelps wrote this letter from Liberty, MO, a few miles north of Independence (and now a suburb of Kansas City).
This letter is addressed to Oliver Phelps, a prominent lawyer from his old home town of Canandaigua, NY, now living in the nearby state capital of Albany, NY. Despite sharing a last name and home town, the two were apparently not close relatives. William wrote (in part):
“I ask of you as a signal benefit for myself, as well as the perusal as distinguished partisans of the Jackson party in this region, that you will have goodness to forward to me, while the session of the New York legislature, one of the semi-weekly papers of Albany. . . . I am located about 2,500 miles from you, still I have an anxiety to know how the Empire State maintains her dignity amid the crowd of nations that exist, and are striving to burst into being. I have an eye to the world as it is marshalling itself for some great event and, as ever, I feel a warm desire to act well my part, and enjoy the confidence of all, both friends and foes.”
This letter makes no direct reference to Phelps’s religious faith or activities; his conversion had been controversial in Canandaigua, and thus probably not a point to bring up when asking for a favor. However, his apocalyptic description of the “world as it is marshalling itself for some great event” would have no ready explanation in the national news at the time (Jackson had been re-elected the previous year), and might suggest his frame of mind after having his business recently burned by an angry mob. Why he wanted access to New York state political news is also a mystery; he may have been curious whether the Saints were getting any media coverage.
We know of no earlier extant Phelps letters. Brigham Young University and the Church History Library each have substantial William Wines Phelps collections with letters dating as early as 1835.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
THE SAME EDITION USED BY JOSEPH SMITH TO LEARN HEBREW
257
(mormons.) joshua seixas.
Manual Hebrew Grammar for the Use of Beginners . . . Second Edition Enlarged and Improved.
Andover, MA: Gould and Newman, 1834
119 pages. 8vo, publisher’s cloth-backed boards with printed label on front board, moderate wear; moderate foxing, minimal wear to contents; Richmond, VA bookseller’s tag and early Virginia library stamp on front board.
In 1836, Joseph Smith decided that the Saints required knowledge of Hebrew to advance their theological studies. They brought the Hebrew scholar Joshua Seixas to Kirtland to give daily lessons to a group of more than thirty, including Smith. Seixas had written a Hebrew grammar, and provided Smith with a copy of the 1834 second edition for his studies. The lessons continued for more than two months, and had some influence on the further development of the faith–most notably in the word Nau-Voo, which appears on page 50 of the Seixas grammar. See Louis C. Zucker, “Joseph Smith as a Student of Hebrew,” in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 3 (Summer 1968), pages 41-55. The grammar offered here is not the one used in Kirtland–that remains among Smith’s papers in Salt Lake City–but it retains the same binding and printed label as Smith’s copy. Goldman 183n; Rosenbach 381; Singerman 0590; not in Flake although an 1836 supplement is noted (7619).
Estimate
$600 – $900
258
(mormons.) john cook bennett.
The History of the Saints; or, An Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism.
Boston, 1842
2 plates, 4 full-page illustrations including a plan of Nauvoo. ii, 344 pages. 12mo, later ½ morocco gilt, minor wear; moderate foxing; top edge gilt.
First edition. Bennett was briefly an important leader of the Latter Day Saint movement, serving as mayor of Nauvoo and general of the Nauvoo Legion until his excommunication in early 1842. By the end of that year, this bitter exposé was on the market. After the 1844 death of Joseph Smith, Bennett joined the Strangite branch of the Mormons, but was excommunicated from them in turn in 1847.
The illustrations include a portrait of Joseph Smith over his facsimile signature, done after the June 1842 portrait by Sutcliffe Maudsley. This was the first portrait of Smith to appear in print. Flake 403; Howes B358 (“aa”); Sabin 4733.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
259
(mormons.)
Acts, Resolutions, and Memorials, passed by the First Annual . . . Legislative Assembly, of the Territory of Utah.
Great Salt Lake City, UT: Brigham H. Young, 1852
8, 48, 37-258 pages. 8vo, modern cloth-backed marbled boards; minor dampstaining to first 5 leaves only.
Includes a printing with a separate title of the Constitution of the United States and the Act to Establish a Territorial Government (accounting for the unusual pagination). Other early territorial laws relate to the establishment of roads, mail routes, telegraph lines and railroads. “An Act for the Relief of Indian Slaves and Prisoners” appears on page 93. The printer was the nephew of Brigham Young. McMurtrie 15.
Estimate
$600 – $900
260
(music.) “frances s. keys” [francis scott key].
The Star Spangled Banner, featuring a cover lithograph by Winslow Homer.
Boston: Oliver Ditson, 1856
5 pages including illustrated cover, 13¾ x 9½ inches, on 3 detached sheets; minimal wear.
The famed illustrator Winslow Homer (1836-1910) launched his career at age 19 as an apprentice lithographer for J.H. Bufford in Boston, working mostly on sheet music. Much of his work was uncredited, but this illustration has the initials “WH” craftily inscribed between the two lower medallion views, with a more formal credit going to “J.H. Bufford’s Lith.” This cover, featuring a battle scene, raised flag, eagle, and other patriotic motifs, was used for six different patriotic songs arranged by Francis Brown for the piano.
The following year, in 1857, Homer began his long run as a freelance illustrator for Harper’s Weekly and other publications, but as an artist rather than a lithographer. His original credited lithographic works are not often seen, and to have this quintessential American artist grace the cover of the national anthem is a fortuitous combination. Not in Filby & Howard’s Star-Spangled Books.
Estimate
$600 – $900
261
(navy.)
Regulations for the Uniform & Dress of the Navy and Marine Corps of the United States.
Philadelphia, 1852
14 [of 16?] plates, 12 of them chromolithographs. 15, [1] pages. Folio, 14 x 11½ inches, crudely hand-stitched into early cloth-backed heavy plain wrappers, moderate wear; plates bound out of usual sequence, lacking one or two plates, 1-inch tear on bottom edge throughout, minor dampstaining, moderate foxing and soiling; moderate edge wear, 1939 owner’s pencil signature on flyleaf.
A seminal work on naval uniforms, including the full set of regulations in effect at that time, and finely executed plates, most of them lithographed by C. Schuessele after drawings by J. Goldsborough Bruff, and printed by the Philadelphia firm of P.S. Duval & Co. This example is lacking one of the two “Full Dress” plates, and possibly one other plate. Sabin 68960. One other example, the Copley copy (15 plates), known at auction since 1981.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
262
(navy.) a. aubrey bodine; photographer.
Large photograph of the USS Missouri.
[Annapolis, MD, June 1954]
Silver print, 16 x 13¼ inches, on original plain mount; light surface wear to photograph, mount worn and lacking upper right corner, presents well in modern mat.
A large-format print by the important Maryland photographer Aubrey Bodine (1906-1970), whose work appeared in the Baltimore Sunday Sun Magazine for more than forty years. The Missouri served at Iwo Jima and Okinawa during World War Two, in the Korean War, and again during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. It is presently a museum ship at Pearl Harbor. Bodine’s official website provides the date of this image, and explains that every June a naval task force sailed up the Chesapeake to the United States Naval Academy, where the midshipmen boarded for a summer cruise.
Estimate
$600 – $900
263
(new jersey.)
Deed for a portion of West Jersey near Trenton, predating the first English settlement.
[Yorkshire?], 29 January 1677
Manuscript deed signed by Mahlon Stacy of Handsworth, Yorkshire to Robert Stacy, with signatures of witnesses George Hutchinson, Robert Schooley and Thomas Revell on verso, 13 x 28 inches on vellum, with wax and metal seal affixed on bottom edge; folds, minor soiling, ½-inch hole in text area; docketed “Given by A to Howard Edwards June 1st 1897” on verso.
This deed begins by sketching out the entire title history of West Jersey, from King Charles’s grant of New York and New Jersey to his brother James, Duke of York, in 1664; the Duke’s grant of what became New Jersey to Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley; Berkeley’s sale of his half to a group of Quakers led by William Penn in 1674; and the partition of this half as West Jersey in 1676. It then describes the sale of a portion of a 7/90th portion of West Jersey to the partnership of Thomas Hutchinson, Thomas Pearson, Joseph Helmsley, George Hutchinson and Mahlon Stacy. This land extended from the Assumpink Creek south to Burlington–the modern city of Trenton and points south.
Finally, this deed grants by “Mahlon Stacy for & in consideration of the sum of ffive and twenty pounds on lawful English money to him in hand paid by the said Robert Stacy . . . one full equall & undevided sixth pt, in six pts to be devided of one of the aforesaid seaven nynetieth pts of all that the said westernly pt.” Mahlon Stacy (1638-1704), a tanner and devout Quaker, became a central figure in the earliest history of the Trenton area. His brother Robert Stacy (1631-1701) also remained in the area. In August 1677 he became the first magistrate in West Jersey.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
264
(new york.)
Anti-Rent Lyrics: A Correct Likeness of an Anti-Renter Lecturing.
Np, circa 1845
Illustrated broadside, 15¼ x 7¼ inches; light wrinkling and minor wear.
A pair of anonymous poems to rally the insurgents in the Anti-Rent War which spread across upstate New York from 1839 to 1845. The Van Rensselaer family had exercised feudal dominion over the Manor of Rensselaerswyck surrounding Albany, NY throughout the colonial period, and for decades after the revolution. After the 1839 death of Stephen Van Rensselaer, his heirs attempted to collect back rent from the tenants to cover the estate’s debts, resulting in a widespread and long-running insurrection, which culminated in the 1845 killing of an undersheriff by masked marauders at an eviction sale in Delaware County.
The Anti-Renters consciously evoked the Boston Tea Party with their American Indian costumes and imagery, a connection drawn clearly in this broadside. The illustration is a crude woodcut showing one of their “brave Indian boys” in full regalia. The first poem begins “Ye sons of Tuscarora, to arms! to arms! advance /’Tis time to take your guns in hand, and make landholders prance / For sixty years our Rents we’ve paid / And not a word against it said / Now it’s time a settlement’s made / With brave Indian boys.” “Lyric No. 2” similarly begins “With his mask upon his brow, and his rifle in his hand / The Indian marches forth to drive oppression from the land.” (One suspects that large groups of actual Indians with rifles might not be embraced as brothers by these Anti-Renters.) Boston and Rhode Island are name-checked to recall the befeathered revolutionaries of the Tea Party and the Gaspee Affair. Several references are made to the tin horns famously used by guerrillas to communicate across the hills–and terrify the sheriff’s men.
Any material from the Anti-Rent War is scarce, and (as with any rebellion), material from the insurgent side is considerably scarcer. 2 copies in OCLC, and none traced at auction.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
265
(new york.)
Loss of the Steamboat Swallow, on the Night of the 7th April 1845.
[New York: James S. Baillie, 1845]
Hand-colored lithograph, 9½ x 13¾ inches; minimal wear.
A dramatic rendering of a night-time steamship disaster on the upper part of the Hudson River between the towns of Athens and Hudson. The ship is seen in flames, with passengers leaping from the wreck which torch-wielding rescuers in rowboats seek survivors and two other steamships close in to help with the rescue.
The American Antiquarian Society holds the only known institutional example of this print, but bearing the credit line of James Baillie as the lithographer and publisher. Nathaniel Currier published a very similar lithograph of this scene, basically a mirror image, but this version has a few additional details, including flags identifying the rescue ships. The Currier version has a similar caption but lists the death toll at “nearly 40 lives,” while here “nearly 100 lives are supposed to be lost.” The early press reports placed the death toll at between 30 and 40, since revised downward to the mid-twenties. We suspect that one of these rival lithographers pirated the other. As Baillie tripled the death toll of the newspaper reports, and then apparently removed his name from the stone, we suspect this may be the pirated one–but it remains a compelling view.
Estimate
$300 – $400
266
(new york.)
Time-table, fare schedule and information sheet for travel on Lake Ontario in 1846.
Utica, NY: Welch & Grove, 1846
Letterpress handbill, 8 x 3¼ inches, titled “Lake Ontario Steamers 1846”; foxing, horizontal fold, trimmed with slight loss to left border.
This handbill describes a route along the shore of Lake Ontario from Lewiston (just north of Buffalo) through Rochester, Oswego, Kingston, ON, and finally Ogdensburg down the St. Lawrence River. It names the four ships plying this route and their captains, as well as the fares and connection information to Toronto, Montreal, and Erie Canal packet boats. It is illustrated with two small vignettes of steamboats. None traced in OCLC or elsewhere.
Estimate
$400 – $600
267
(new york.) john e. alden.
Letter documenting his exploration of hundreds of mountains and lakes in the Adirondack Mountains.
Lake George, NY, 8 December 1888
Autograph Letter Signed to Seneca Ray Stoddard. 10 pages, 8 x 5 inches, on 3 sheets; straight pin holes in upper margin, first leaf neatly torn on inner margin.
In 1874, the naturalist and photographer Seneca Ray Stoddard (1844-1917) published the first tourist map of the Adirondack Mountains; he also produced numerous guidebooks to the region. In this letter, a young woodsman and inventor named John Elford Alden (1862-after 1925) colorfully offers Stoddard the wealth of his personal knowledge of the region. He begins with his credentials: “I have been on to over 200 lakes and ponds now shown on your map, and on to over 500 mountain peaks, and have seen a good many more ponds and streams which I did not have time to explore. I have been through windslashes, swamps, burnt timber, beaver meadows, heavy timber thickets, over ledges, waded creeks . . . carried boats and packs, climb over range after range of mountains and crossed numberless brooks . . . also found a good many comfortable shanties not on your map.” Over the course of 4 pages he proceeds to list the various lakes and high peaks on his “life list,” describes some of his impressive feats of navigation, and describes the location of the “best brook trout fishing I have had the luck to see” (you will need to be the winning bidder to get that tidbit). He also describes numerous wilderness lakes not on the Stoddard map. In closing he notes: “Have also heard wolves howl from my log house at Indian Lake and lost a good deal of venison at my camp by bears and been through miles of raspberry brush where they were all trampled down with bears near south branch of Moose River.” It is not clear from this letter what Mr. Alden wants, but he offers a remarkable wealth of observation on one of the last great frontiers of the East.
Estimate
$300 – $400
268
(new york.) [george barker, attributed to.]
Mammoth photograph of Niagara Falls from the suspension bridge.
[Niagara Falls, NY, circa 1880s]
Albumen photograph, 16½ x 19 inches, or original plain mount; lightly toned.
Estimate
$200 – $300
269
(new york city.) james horton taft.
Diary of a young man in 1840s Manhattan.
Vp, 23 August 1845 to 9 August 1847
130 manuscript pages. 4to, contemporary ½ sheep, moderate wear; minimal wear to contents.
James Horton Taft (1822-1906) wrote this diary as a devout young Manhattanite, very active in the Allen Street Methodist Episcopal Church and missionary activities. At least 90% of the content relates to Bible readings, church services, missionary society meetings, Sunday school, church social events, and spiritual discussions. An effort to have an African boy named in his honor for a $30 sponsorship is discussed on 1 September and 28 October 1845, and 26 March 1846.
Horton rarely discussed his work as a drug merchant, although a business trip to Philadelphia on 6-12 January 1846 is recounted at length, including visits to factories for linseed oil and quinine, as well as some tourist excursions. A visit to extended family in Warren, RI is described from 2 to 6 July 1846. He also made an enigmatic reference to a manuscript about the famed whale ship Essex, an inspiration for Moby Dick: “Spent the evening at Ms. Fuller’s. . . . Read there the account of the loss of the whaling ship Essex, which vessel was struck & stove by a whale. The account was written by Capt. C.R. Griffith, who obtained it from one of his crew on board of the ship Southport, who was on board the Essex at the time of her loss.” (6 October 1845). We can find no other reference to this account of the Essex, which Horton described as a manuscript in the next day’s entry.
Although Horton was a young man, and baseball was being born as an organized sport in the New York area in 1845 and 1846, we find no mention of the New York Knickerbockers or their games in Brooklyn and Hoboken. He did visit Elysian Fields in Hoboken on 12 October 1846, 4 months after the famous inaugural game. Horton did indulge in a classic 1840s New York treat on occasion, though: “Ate some stewed oysters, walked down the Bowery a short distance, saw a political procession of the Young Democracy & then returned home.” (31 October 1845). The diary concludes with a short entry on Horton’s marriage, to the daughter of the minister of his church.
Estimate
$400 – $600
270
(new york city.)
Papers of one stagecoach operator’s long lonely battle against the Third Avenue Railway.
Vp, bulk 1859-1875
Several hundred manuscript and printed documents (0.7 linear feet) in one box; condition varies, with many documents having some wear or dampstaining, as well as heavy annotation by Mills.
John Toan Mills (1821-1910) ran the Bull’s Head stagecoach line along Third Avenue up to 42nd Street in Manhattan, which was being driven out of business by a horse-drawn rail line along the same route. Starting in 1859, Mills began petitioning to be allowed to run his own horse-drawn cars along a portion of the same rails, on the principle that the rails were a public utility. This was granted in December 1863, which brought him into conflict with the Third Avenue Railroad Company, a fast-growing company in the process of becoming the dominant streetcar operator in the city. This battle, which had a David vs. Goliath tone, continued in one form or another though at least 1886. Offered here are the files kept by Mills relating to this fight: correspondence, petitions, drafts of legislation, resolutions. Mills wrote constantly to governors, mayors, and state legislators in an effort to get formal support for his claim. One side battle was over construction costs due to his son-in-law John L. Brown; another was a battle with one Henry Hart, who had apparently welched on an offer to buy out the stage line.
One interesting file contains 11 long petitions circa 1861 filled with names and addresses of “property owners and residents,” urging the state legis;lature to grant Mills rail access, “as a relief against the inconvenience and suffering we have been obliged to submit to for a number of years, by riding in crammed, over-crowded and ill-ventilated cars.” Another file contains printed handbills, court cases, and legislative speeches on the case; other files include many manuscript drafts of legislation. Mills was continually writing and re-writing the history of the case. One result is a heavily annotated manuscript draft timeline history of the railway by Mills, starting in 1830 (“Since 1830 stage lines existed on 3rd Ave & the Bowery & Chatham St. The first established was known as the Bulls Head Line”), and continues over 6 closely written pages through 1868, plus 4 pages of appended documents. Similarly, slips of paper contain extracts from his diary dated 1866 to 1872. His correspondence file includes retained drafts of letters to Governor Fenton, Mayor A. Oakey Hall, state senator Charles Folger (later Secretary of Treasury), and many others. Most of the papers relate to the Third Avenue Railway case, but also included are a file on construction work done for the Croton Aqueduct in 1868; and a battered but heavily annotated album of cartes-de-visite–family, friends, and Ulysses S. Grant. This archive is more than just a legal case–it is a twisted corner of New York life in the mid-19th century.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
271
(new york city.) irving underhill, photographer.
Pair of large-format photographs of Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange.
New York, 1923 and 1924
Silver prints, each 10¼ x 13½ inches, signed and captioned in the negative; minor wear as noted, each laid down on verso of an unrelated landscape print.
Two views by one of New York’s most notable commercial photographers. Includes:
Untitled view of the Stock Exchange trading floor; minor wear including 1-inch repaired closed tear and short diagonal creases in bottom corners, copyright 1923.
“Broad St. North & N.Y. Stock Exchange,” an exterior street view, with 1-inch repaired chip and 1-inch crease on lower edge, copyright 1924. The copyright on both images was held by the New York Stock Exchange Building Co.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
272
(new york city.) john burgee architects with philip johnson.
“Statue of Liberty National Monument Site Plan & Improvements” blueprints.
New York, June-December 1985
Set of 37 blueline prints, 30 x 42 inches, bound with large metal clip; moderate edge wear and toning, “GEOD” inked on verso of final print.
These plans were produced as part of the statue’s centennial renovations, which took place from 1984 to 1986. While the statue itself was being thoroughly cleaned and restored, the site and grounds on Ellis Island also underwent a major renovation. Included here are everything from an irrigation plan, to paving plans at the arrival mall, to a lighting plan. A title and contents leaf includes an inset map placing Ellis Island in the context of the surrounding harbor. An overview site plan (illustrated) shows the entire site, including a view of the monument from above.
Estimate
$500 – $750
273
(ohio.)
Hunting Expeditions of Oliver Hazard Perry of Cleveland, Verbatim from his Diaries.
Cleveland, OH: for private distribution, 1899 [printed by Marion Press in Jamaica, NY]
3 plates, numerous text illustrations. viii, 246, [2] pages. 8vo, publisher’s gilt pictorial cloth, minimal wear; uncut, number 61 of an edition of 100; gift inscription of the copyright holder Charles W. Bingham and bookplate of noted collector Paul Lemperly on front endpapers.
Oliver Hazard Perry (1817-1864) of Cleveland, OH was not a close relative of the War of 1812 naval hero of the same name, but was certainly named in his honor. He kept detailed diaries of his hunting trips for deer and elk in the woods of Ohio and Michigan from 1836 to 1855.
Perry died in a railroad accident in 1864, and this finely printed volume was produced as a tribute “for distribution among his personal friends” 35 years later. It is illustrated throughout with tailpieces printed from original circa 1800 woodblocks by Alexander Anderson and others. The bookplate of distinguished collector Paul Lemperly (1858-1939) of Cleveland graces the front pastedown. Lemperly was too young to have been among Perry’s friends, but he was certainly known to the proprietors of Marion Press, who produced this volume–they had printed his study of bookplates earlier that year. See “A List of Books Printed at the Marion Press,” 38 and 41. Both the book’s editor Charles W. Bingham and Lemperly were active in the Rowfant Club, Cleveland’s bibliophilic society, which would have been the natural constituency for this production. Graff 3258; Howes P250 (“b”); Streeter sale VII:4116.
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
274
(pennsylvania.)
Receipt and memorandum book kept by early Philadelphia tradesman James Bingham.
Philadelphia, bulk 1719-37
[70] manuscript leaves or fragments. 4to, original tooled calf, worn, front board detached; contents quite worn, many pages and portions of pages excised, several extant leaves and fragments detached.
This volume was kept by James Bingham (1694-1737), a saddler of Philadelphia, and his heirs. His son William Sr. (1725-1769) was also a saddler, but grandson William Bingham Jr. (1752-1804) made some fortuitous investments and married into the wealthy Willing family, and became perhaps the most prosperous man in Philadelphia by the time of his death, also serving a term in the United States Senate.
Hundreds of receipts issued to Bingham (signed by other early Philadelphia residents) show the evolution of James Bingham’s business, with several saddles and related works described in the early entries, such as “eight hunting sadles” sold in November 1719 and a “sidsadle” on 25 July 1722. He made increasing land investments, and in June 1731 dabbled in mercantile shipping investments, sending a marble table to Jamaica “for as much as it will fech”, and then investing in rum from Barbados. He continued with his original trade, though, with purchases of large quantity of leather in September 1733. The famed Philadelphia mapmaker Nicholas Scull signed a receipt on 11 August 1737 for “suroveghing 2000 acres land & . . . 500 acres at Cohogan, Lanchester County and for 279 bushells lime.”
In addition to the receipts are several pages of other accounts and memoranda. The first full page includes a long “memorandum of outlay on ye boatt” including tar, timber, oakum, nails, oars and more. On the second page is a recipe for rum punch. A few of the receipts were issued to James’s widow Anne through 1747, and one to son William in 1765. A short memorandum reads “Miss Benezet accepts with pleasure Miss B & Mr. Cadwal”; it was perhaps written by William’s granddaughter Maria Benezet (1778-1799).
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
275
(pennsylvania.)
Receipt book kept by a Sunbury merchant during the Revolution.
[Sunbury, PA], June 1776 to June 1778
[20] manuscript pages. Oblong 12mo, original ¼ calf, disbound with front board detached; all 10 manuscript leaves detached and worn at edges, with numerous blank leaves present.
Michael Troy (1743-1800) was an immigrant from Ireland who settled in central Pennsylvania. This volume records 49 receipts issued to Troy for various expenses ranging from grain purchases to shoes to school tuition. On 18 September 1777, Troy paid a local man “forty dollars in full for my hire as a substitute for him in the first class of the militia.” On 6 November 1777 Troy paid for “surveying two tracts of land on Muncy Creek . . . and a small tract in Chilisquaque Valley.”
Estimate
$300 – $400
ACT AUTHORIZING MILITARY FORCE TO PUT DOWN THE WHISKEY REBELLION
276
(pennsylvania.)
An Act Directing a Detachment from the Militia of the United States.
[Philadelphia: Childs and Swaine], 9 May 1794
2 printed pages on one sheet, 13¼ x 8 inches, signed in type by George Washington and John Adams; stitch holes, light toning, manuscript “199” in upper margin; uncut.
By early 1794, much of western Pennsylvania was in open rebellion over high taxes on whiskey producers, the first serious challenge to the United States under its new Constitution. The Third Congress here authorizes President Washington “to organize, arm and equip, according to law, and hold in readiness to march at a
moment’s warning . . . eighty thousand effective militia,” with quotas set for each state. Washington would lead the militia west in September to quell the rebellion.
This final authorized act appeared in both broadside and this broadsheet format, priority undetermined. ESTC lists only 6 institutions holding either printing; none traced at auction since 1907. Evans 27852.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
"ARE YOU WHISKEY BOYS? ARE YOU MAKING YOUR ESCAPE?"
277
(pennsylvania.) [robert patterson.]
Letter from a Whiskey Rebellion sympathizer who encounters the army sent to crush it.
“Bonnet’s near Bedford,” PA, 24 October 1794
Autograph Letter Signed as “P.R.” to brother-in-law William Canon of Canonsburgh in southwestern Pennsylvania. 4 pages, 12¾ x 7½ inches, on 2 sheets; including address panel and docketing but no postal markings; moderate wear with loss of a few letters.
Robert Patterson (1773-1854) wrote this letter at Jean Bonnet’s Tavern in Bedford, PA, noted as a hotbed of Whiskey Rebellion sentiment and still in operation as an historic tavern. He was travelling southeast through Pennsylvania during the Whiskey Rebellion, just as the militia called up by President Washington was headed west to suppress the rebels. He wrote: “Early in the morning we met about seven hundred of the army between the foot of the Alegany and the Dry-Ridge. Near their front was Govnr. Mifflin. These we passed without any inconvenience except here and there a question from the soldiers: Are you Whiskey boys? Are you making your escape &c. Then along the Dry-Ridge we met detached parties of light horse, droves, forage and baggage waggons &c &c so frequently that we were rarely out of sight of one company till another was in view. Thus we traveled for about five miles and then we began to meet the thick marching corps of foot and light horse who marched in as close succession as they could, and were in general from five to seven men deep. . . . Among others we were a while with Alexr. Hamilton, Secretary.”
Patterson was ordered to backtrack eight miles to be interviewed by a judge: “I found it a great benefit to me that I had not been actually engaged in any of the riotous marches. I told nothing but the truth and very little of that, and I believe all in such a manner as it would not in the least injure any of my friends.”
The massive military display made Patterson fearful for his nation’s liberties: “My heart inwardly throbed when I viewed the sad condition our poor country must shortly be in because of a few rash illegal measures that had been taken by some of our countrymen.” He noted that the troops “breath out dreadful threats and vengeance against all who have had an active part in the riots, but especially against the liberty poles and their votaries.”
The author was the son-in-law of John Canon (1741-1798), the prominent founder of Canonsburg, near Pittsburgh–known as another seat of rebellion. He was writing to John’s eldest son William (1774-1858). Why he chose to sign as “P.R.” is unknown, but he was obviously nervous about running afoul of the army; the letter is docketed as from “R Paterson Jr.” He attended the University of Pennsylvania, and later became a clergyman and publisher in Pittsburgh. Provenance: Sotheby’s sale, 22 June 1981, lot 293, to Milton R. Slater; Swann sale, 17 September 2015, lot 286.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
278
(pennsylvania.)
Letters from a Pittsburgh steamboat clerk helping to build what would be Mark Twain’s first vessel.
Vp, 1850-63
8 manuscript letters from John Francis Gaitree and his half-brothers to mother Mary Ann Terry Miraben and other family members; generally minor wear; one letter with stampless cover bearing New Orleans postmark.
John Francis “Frank” Gaitree, who was a steamboat clerk and captain based out of Pittsburgh, PA. His 4 letters in this lot are dated 1853-58. Most notably, on 10 April 1854 he wrote: “I am at presant building a boat which employs most of my time. I am building the largest steam wheel boat that ever was built here. When finished she will cost me about twenty-one thousand dollars. I own one fourth.” This may have been the steamer Paul Jones, a very large 353-ton vessel launched out of Pittsburgh on New Year’s Day, 1855. The Pittsburg Daily Post of 1 December 1854 mentions Gaitree as the new ship’s clerk. The Paul Jones was most famous as the ship on which young Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) began his practical studies as a river pilot in 1857.
The remaining letters are written by 3 of Gaitree’s half-brothers. Eldest half-brother John Paul Grimball (1826-1866) was somehow separated from his mother at birth and raised in rural Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. His 1850 letter begins poignantly: “It would be impossible were I to undertake to describe to you my feelings on receiving intelligence that my dear mother was yet alive, and that I had four brothers & a kind sister liveing whom I knew not & who I suppose never knew they had such a brother living.”
Another half-brother, Joseph N. Miraben (1837-1863), was also involved in the steamboat trade. He wrote from Louisiana in 1860: “I want [brother John Gaitree] to take my place for a while, so that I can rusticate. He made a trip up on the boat, or he would have been here 10 days ago. The Pine Bluff left New Orleans last Saturday for Arkansas River. I think she is doing a good business as the papers speak very highly of her.” The New Orleans Times-Picayune of 19 Jan 1860 notes the steamer Pine Bluff leaving for the Arkansas River with John F. Gaitree, clerk.
The youngest brother Leonidas Romulus Miraben (1839-1892) wrote one final letter while serving in the Civil War as a sergeant in Battery C of the West Virginia Light Artillery, 23 September 1863: “We are now camped near the Culpepper C.H., it being only about five miles from here to the front, it being on the Rapidan. I think from present appearances we will move forward soon, as I think the rebels have or are going to evacuate Virginia, with the exception of holding Richmond.” More detailed descriptions of these letters are available upon request.
Estimate
$250 – $350
279
(periodicals.)
Harper’s Weekly: A Journal of Civilization.
New York, 1857-82
25 volumes in 50 (Volumes I-XXV). Profusion of illustrations and maps. Folio, uniform contemporary ½ calf, rubbed, moderate wear, one volume lacking spine label; generally minor wear to contents. Not collated but apparently complete.
The classic weekly magazine of the Civil War era, best known for its full-page or double-page engravings after staff artists such as Winslow Homer and Thomas Nast. Its first quarter of a century spanned John Brown’s insurrection, Lincoln’s presidency, Reconstruction, the Indian Wars and more.
Estimate
$6,000 – $9,000
280
(photography.) mathew b. brady; photographer.
Delegates to the International American Conference.
Washington, 1890
44 albumen photographs, each 13 x 7¾ inches to sight, inserted into 22 original gilt-lined mat leaves, some numbered lightly in pencil, and one (#17) signed by Brady in the negative; plus a printed contents leaf listing 41 of the sitters and their titles, with 4 others added in manuscript. Folio, 17 x 12 inches and 4 inches thick, original gilt morocco, tastefully rebacked and conserved, lacking one clasp, with alternate title “Album of Delegates to the International American Conference” stamped on front board; endpapers renewed, several small worm holes in images and mats, minor wear to contents, minor dampstaining to the bottom edges of the last few mats, moderate fading and toning to portrait #30 and the facing portrait where the album had apparently laid open for a long period.
This album represents two important milestones: the end of Mathew Brady’s career as the most renowned American photographer of the 19th century, and the birth of what became the Organization of American States.
The American politician James Blaine (1830-1893), best known as the losing candidate in the 1884 presidential election, served as Secretary of State from 1889 to 1892. Blaine had an expansive vision of the nation’s role on the international stage, and convening the First International Conference of American States was one of his first accomplishments as the nation’s top diplomat. Held from 20 January to 27 April 1890, it brought together 27 delegates from 17 nations. A secretariat was established on 14 April which evolved into today’s Organization of American States. The date is still observed as Pan-American Day.
The work of photographing the delegates was given to Mathew B. Brady (1822-1896), revered for his pioneering work from 1844 through the Civil War. By 1890, he had gone through bankruptcy and was in poor health, just six years away from an ignominious death in a hospital charity ward. His most recent major commission had been an 1888 album of the members of the 50th Congress. He was later hired to produce a similar album of the 1891 Patent Centennial, but no examples are known.
Among the most well-known delegates represented here are Blaine, who leads off the album as portrait 1; wagon manufacturer Clement Studebaker, #22, and industrialist Andrew Carnegie, #25. Among the Latin-American delegates were two future presidents of Argentina, Manuel Quintana and Roque Sáenz Peña; and a former president of Ecuador, José María Plácido Caamaño. Philippe Hannibal Price of Haiti appears second in the volume. Delegates from Peru, Guatemala, Colombia, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Brazil, Honduras, Mexico, Bolivia, Venezuela, Chile, and El Salvador are also represented. The final image shows the Wallach Mansion on Massachusetts Avenue, where the conference was held.
Estimate
$4,000 – $6,000
281
(photography.)
Image archive of the Bonine family of photographers.
Vp, circa 1870s-1910s
40 mounted photographs, most being cabinet cards or larger, including multiple images on mounts by each of the 3 Bonine brothers, plus one brass nameplate; generally minor wear, only 2 in poor condition, faint musty scent.
Three Bonine brothers had substantial careers as photographers. Robert Atkinson Bonine (1836-1912) was a photographer in Altoona, PA for many years. The best known, Elias Atkinson Bonine (1843-1916) went to California in 1876, and is renowned for his Indian photographs taken on expeditions to Arizona through the 1880s. Archibald Franklin Bonine (1846-1907) was a photographer in Lancaster, PA from at least 1884-1892.
Offered here are a large group of photographs by and of the Bonine family, apparently from the family of niece Flora Jane Sener Weiand (1869-1955). They include:
20 promenade cards of Pasadena, CA views on matching mounts by Elias Atkinson Bonine, each personally inscribed on verso with notes such as “Snow on the mountains, from my windmill” and “My apricot orchard,” plus another on similar mount of a cactus-strewn farm scene in Arizona (uncaptioned).
Set of 3 portraits on Elias Atkinson Bonine mounts, possibly self-portraits; one is marked “Sacramento Ranch–uncle & prospector.”
6 numbered boudoir cards of an 1887 camping excursion in York Furnace, PA by the Algonquin Club of Lancaster by Archibald Franklin Bonine.
Family portrait of the Robert Atkinson Bonine family, along with a double portrait of the same young man captioned “Trick Photography,” both on R.A. Bonine mounts, Altoona, PA.
Pair of cabinet card portraits of Ellwood Elias Bonine (1875-1946), another of Mrs. Archibald Bonine, and 5 other mounted photographs, none on Bonine family mounts; and small brass nameplate of E.M. Bonine (relationship unknown).
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
282
(politics.)
Issue of the Boston Weekly Messenger featuring the map which inspired the Gerrymander.
Boston, 6 March 1812
Volume I, No. 20. 4 pages, 19½ x 13¼ inches, on two detached sheets; minor foxing and edge wear, a bit of soiling at one fold.
In 1812, Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry pushed through a redistricting plan to create safe seats for his Democratic-Republican Party. The injustice of this complex maneuver was difficult to convey to rank and file members of the rival Federalist Party, so a graphic was in order. This front-page newspaper map was the first attempt. It shows the new lines drawn across two Massachusetts counties, Worcester and Essex. The accompanying text describes one of the new Essex districts as being “properly called by the name which children give to a letter in the alphabet, Crooked S.” A long remonstrance against this redistricting fills much of pages 1 and 2, and two long editorials on page 3 continue the case, railing against “the crooked district in Essex.”
Three days later, another Federalist paper, the Boston Gazette, issued their own version of this map as a broadside. Then, on 26 March, they hit on a stroke of genius, engraving the S-shaped Essex district as a horrible winged and clawed creature dubbed the Gerrymander. This was the winning combination to get the message across–and the term remains in common use among political commentators today.
The Weekly Messenger was issued in two editions, the city edition and this somewhat scarcer “Weekly Messenger for the Country” (as described at the end of the final page). We trace neither at auction, though Goodspeed offered one in 1929.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
283
(politics.)
Group of 5 Joseph McCarthy press photographs.
Vp, 1953-54
Various sizes, about 8 x 6 inches; minor wear, some cropping and editing marks, captions in negative or on verso along with newspaper morgue stamps and markings.
A monument erected to sitting Senator McCarthy in Baltimore which had been defaced with a swastika and edited to describe him as a “destroyer of American freedoms,” 7 July 1953.
McCarthy posing with a bushel of “Northern Spies” apples from Canada, 4 December 1953.
McCarthy making a speech in Wisconsin, 13 March 1954.
McCarthy receiving an award “for his fearless persistence in battling the enemies of their country”, 12 November 1954.
Guards watching over bundles of pro-McCarthy petitions in Washington, 2 December 1954.
Estimate
$400 – $600
284
(presidents–1801.) desnoyers, engraver; after bouch.
Thomas Jefferson, President des Etats Unis de l’Amerique.
Stipple engraving, 14 x 10¾ inches; minor wear and soiling.
The source image was the 1800 oil portrait by Rembrandt Peale, as engraved in Philadelphia by Cornelius Tiebout, which was then sketched in crayon in France by Bouch, and then engraved by Auguste-Gaspard-Louis Boucher Desnoyers. Cunningham, Image of Jefferson 23 and page 53.
Estimate
$600 – $900
285
(presidents–1803.)
Invitation to visit President Thomas Jefferson at the White House.
[Washington,], 14 February 1803
Partly printed note, completed in an unknown hand, to [John?] Smith. One page, 5 x 8 inches, spot-mounted on scrapbook leaf with related Smith family material including engraving; folds, minor wear. With detached partial address panel, with no postal markings.
In full: “Th: Jefferson requests the favour of The Honble. Mr. Smith to dine with him on Thursday the 17th instant at half after three, or at whatever later hour the house may rise. The favour of an answer is asked.” John Smith (1752-1816) of Manor St. George, Long Island, was then a United States Congressman representing New York; he later served 9 years in the Senate. He was a member of Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican party.
A likely topic at the White House dinner table that evening would have been Ambassador James Monroe’s recent departure for Paris to negotiate for the purchase of New Orleans. The Louisiana Purchase soon followed.
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
286
(presidents–1803.)
Invitation to visit Secretary of State James Madison for dinner.
[Washington], 26 January 1803
Manuscript note in unknown hand to [John?] Smith of New York. One page, 5 x 7¾ inches, plus integral blank with address panel (no postal markings); folds, light toning to address panel.
“Mr. Madison requests the pleasure of Mr. Smith’s company to dinner on Saturday next at 3 o’clock.” This note was apparently sent to Representative John Smith (1752-1816) of New York (see above). The day after the scheduled dinner, Madison sent ambassadors James Monroe and Robert Livingston to Paris to negotiate what became the Louisiana Purchase.
Estimate
$400 – $600
287
(presidents–1840 campaign.)
Bets Made on the Presidential Election in Nov. 1840.
[Petersburg, VA], November 1840
2 manuscript pages on one sheet, 7¾ x 10 pages, all in one consistent hand (presumably Alexander Donnan’s) in two different inks; moderate wear, irregular edges, repairs along folds.
An unusual betting document compiled shortly before the 1840 presidential election. 27 bets are recorded, by 14 different men, all against one Alexander Donnan. Several of the bettors have been traced to Petersburg, VA, most notably the wonderfully named Armistead V. Prosise. Young University of Virginia graduate Alexander Donnan (1818-1892) had just begun practicing law in Petersburg in 1840. The bets are large for 1840, ranging from $1 to $30, but most were paid in articles of clothing: a coat, a vest, a hat, a pair of pantaloons. In all cases, Donnan seems to have supported the Whig Harrison, and his friends were all believers in Van Buren’s doomed re-election campaign. Not all of the bets were for a straight Van Buren victory; some were on specific margins of votes or for specific states. The final accounting is convoluted, but we feel confident that Mr. Donnan went about well-clothed for the entirety of the William Henry Harrison presidency.
Estimate
$600 – $900
288
(presidents–1844 campaign.)
Protection to American Industry: Candidates for President and Vice-President.
Lithograph, 14 x 10 inches, with a bit of hand-coloring; tightly trimmed to margins, moderate soiling, horizontal fold.
This campaign print by Kellogg was probably inspired by the similar “Grand National Banners” which Currier issued for both parties every four years. It features jugate portraits of the Whig ticket of Henry Clay and Theodore Frelinghuysen, which went on to lose the election to the comparatively unknown James Polk. At top is an eagle above six crossed flags (the cantons lightly tinted blue), while below are a farm couple sitting atop a literal cornucopia of trade goods, all surrounded by a theater curtain with highlights in red and yellow. The print was published and distributed jointly by Kelloggs & Thayer in New York; E.B. & E.C. Kellogg in Hartford, CT; and Dwight Needham in Buffalo, NY. We find no others listed in OCLC, and only one other listed at auction: a fully colored example which brought $15,000 at another house two years ago.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
289
(presidents–1864 campaign.)
Ohio ballots for the dueling Lincoln and McClellan tickets, plus a Confederate ballot for Davis.
Vp, 1861 and 1864
3 items, various sizes, minor wear, county names completed in manuscript.
Darke County Ohio Presidential Ticket; for Lincoln-Johnson and electors, illustrated with Liberty bearing a sword, signed by a voter on verso, 7¾ x 3 inches,1864.
Lake County, Ohio National Democratic Ticket; for McClellan-Pendleton and electors, illustrated with McClellan portrait, 9½ x 3¼ inches, [1864.]
For President, Jefferson Davis . . . Virginia Electoral Ticket; for Confederate States of America election, signed by a voter on verso, 5¼ x 4 inches, [1861.]
Estimate
$300 – $400
290
(presidents–1868 campaign.)
Proceedings of the National Convention of Union Soldiers and Sailors, held at Cooper Institute.
New York, 4 and 6 July 1868
[1], 28, [6] manuscript pages, 12¼ x 8 inches, plus a 6-page manuscript telegram addressed to Thomas Ewing, plus a 16-page printed pamphlet, bound with a bit of rope; curled, outer leaves loose and worn without loss of text.
The National Convention of Union Soldiers and Sailors was a Civil War veterans association which was formed in 1866 to support the Democratic Party, as a counter-balance to the Republican-leaning Grand Army of the Republic. The 1868 convention described here was held in conjunction with the Democratic Party convention being held in New York at the same time. These minutes were apparently compiled for publication a few weeks after the event. A few of the speeches and resolutions had been published in newspapers, and these are clipped and pasted in rather than transcribed. The keynote address by Major General Thomas Ewing is inserted in printed pamphlet form, with a copy stamped “Sep 4 1868.” As the organization seems to have lost momentum and disappeared shortly after this convention, these “Proceedings” were apparently never published.
Estimate
$500 – $750
291
(presidents–1868 campaign.)
Manuscript oration in support of the Democratic Party ticket delivered in rural Ohio.
Mecca, OH, mid-October 1868
22 manuscript pages, 12½ x 8 inches, unbound, docketed on verso “Speech delivered at Mecca in the political campaign of 1868”; curled, minor wear to final leaf.
A speech given in the weeks before the racially charged 1868 election, in which Reconstruction stood on trial. This unidentified Democratic speaker in Trumbull County, eastern Ohio, was not a fan of Reconstruction: “Grant in his letter of acceptance says ‘Let us have peace!’ What intelligent mind can expect peace in a country where intelligence is disenfranchised and ignorant, idle and semi-barbarous Negroes have the governing power? Radicalism desires peace on those terms. It is the object of all their machinations to settle a peace upon the country with white men as slaves and serfs. . . . I understand that Mr. Garfield stated in a speech delivered in Warren on last Saturday night that the election of Seymour & Blair would bring war. We say let it come–the sooner the better. When it does come it will not be on the broad savannahs of the south, but in the hills of New England” (14-15). Republican congressman (and future president) James A. Garfield addressed a massive Trumbull County Republican convention on Saturday 10 October 1868 in Warren, OH. This speech apparently shares a common provenance with the Proceedings of the National Convention of Union Soldiers and Sailors (preceding lot).
Estimate
$300 – $400
292
(presidents.) h.k. bush-brown, sculptor.
Bust of Ulysses S. Grant as a general.
New York: Henry-Bonnard Bronze Co., [1885]
Bronze, 7½ inches high including detachable 2¾-inch-square base, with felt cushions applied to base; minimal wear.
The artist Henry Kirke Bush-Brown (1857-1935) produced three equestrian sculptures for the Gettysburg battlefield, among other commissions. Other examples of this bust bear an 1885 copyright statement below the sculptor’s name.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
293
(presidents.)
Collection of presidential sheet music.
Vp, circa 1813-1945
44 items, each about 13 x 10 inches, most illustrated; condition generally strong.
Too many to list individually, but highlights include:
“Washington Guards March,” Philadelphia: G.E. Blake, circa 1813-14.
“General Jackson’s March from the Battle of New Orleans” by P. Ricksecker, a period manuscript.
“President Lincoln’s Funeral March,” by E. Mack. Philadelphia: Lee & Walker, [1865].
“Roosevelt’s Rough Riders Two Step,” by Edward J. Gilbert. Chicago: Chicago Music Company, circa 1898,
and that snappy toe-tapper, “Keep Cool and Keep Coolidge,” by Harper and Goodwin. Plymouth, VT: Home Town Coolidge Club, 1924.
In addition to Washington, the great majority of presidents from Andrew Jackson to Franklin Roosevelt are represented. Tyler, Polk, Pierce, Taft, and Hoover do not make appearances, but if you are truly neurotic, you will be pleased to see that Grover Cleveland is represented more than once.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
294
(railroads.)
Central Pacific Railroad and Leased Lines: Rules, Regulations and Instructions for the Use of Agents, Conductors, Etc.
San Francisco, CA, 1 January 1882
224 pages, including some blank leaves for note-taking. 8vo, contemporary gilt calf, moderate wear to spine, front joint starting; minimal wear to contents; printed transmittal note and early inscription “L. M. Clement’s Office” on front pastedown.
Much expanded second edition of the regulations for the famed railroad line which was founded in 1861 and stretched eastward to complete the Transcontinental Railroad at Promontory Point, Utah in 1869. Chapters are devoted to the six departments of the railroad, including various auditors, freight agents, passenger and ticket agents, and baggage agents. One ethnicity is singled out for special treatment: “When [overland] tickets are sold to Chinese passengers the word ‘Chinaman’ must be written thereon, and the signature of the passenger also taken. . . . Conductors in charge of trains carrying large bodies of Chinamen on special tickets must count the number of same en-route” (pages 145, 154). Lunatics and convicts are similarly handled on page 154. Certain cargoes were heavily regulated, such as transport of salmon in August, or intoxicating liquors bound for Iowa (page 101); corpses were also subject to strict rules (page 98, etc.).
This was the personal copy of the Central Pacific’s civil engineer Lewis Metzler Clement (1837-1914), who had played a central role in bringing the transcontinental line to life with bridges and tunnels across the Sierra Nevadas. 2 copies traced in OCLC, and none at auction.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
295
(railroads.)
Group of 11 pieces of railroad-themed sheet music.
Vp, 1828-80 and undated
Each about 13 x 10 inches, all but the first attractively illustrated, most with railroad scenes; generally minor wear.
“The Massachusetts Grand Railway March, as Played by the Boston Brigade Band.” Undated, but with a note on the outer blank that it came from an 1828 volume of sheet music, “thus it would appear to be certainly one of the earliest rail road sheets of music.” Boston: John Ashton, undated.
“Railroad March for the Fourth of July” by C. Meineke. [Baltimore, MD], 1828.
“Number Twenty Nine” by Will S. Hays. New York: J.L. Peters, 1871.
“The Alsacian Railroad Gallops” by J. Guignard. Philadelphia: A. Fiot, 1845.
“Jim Fisk; or, He Never Went Back on the Poor,” by William J. Scanlon. Cincinnati, OH: F.W. Helmick,. 1874.
“The Tourists in a Pullman Car,” by George Bowron. New York: Spear & Dehnhoff, 1880.
“The St. Lawrence Tubular Bridge Mazurka-Polka,” by “W.H.” [Philadelphia]: Lee & Walker, 1854.
“The Northern Route March,” by C.C. Smith. New York: William A. Pond, 1876.
“Train de Plaisir Galop,” by O. Heyer. Breslau, Germany [and New York], undated.
“Rangers’ Trip to Westborough, or Lion Quick Step,” by James Hooton. Performed by the Boston Brigade Band for the Rifle Rangers. Boston: C. Bradlee, 1834.
“Continental Railroad Chorus, Crossing the Grand Sierras,” by Henry G. Work. Chicago: Root & Cady, 1870 (pre-fire).
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
296
(reconstruction.)
Supplement of the Marietta Journal: What Does This Mean?
Marietta, GA: Marietta Journal, 17 April 1868
Illustrated broadside, 18 x 12 inches; unevenly trimmed, toning and moderate dampstaining.
A thinly veiled reactionary commentary on the Georgia constitutional convention which had recently been held in Atlanta by delegates of all races. The illustration shows clothed dogs and monkeys running wild at a dinner table and a race track. The text professes not to understand the meaning to the picture, but hints broadly that “it looks like a Scallawag Convention of the Sons of Harmony, and we can almost fancy, as we never looked in on the respectability of the Atlanta Convention, that it was designed as a pictorial of that exhibition.” No other examples traced.
Estimate
$600 – $900
297
(reconstruction.)
Documents on the contested 1876 election in South Carolina which ended Reconstruction.
Vp, November 1876 to February 1877
8 manuscript items, various sizes, from the files of Brigadier General Thomas Ruger; condition generally strong.
As the Reconstruction period drew to a close, former Confederates grew increasingly anxious to regain control of their state and local governments. The 1876 election was marked by a variety of clashes between Southern Democrats and formerly enslaved people. Although the first incarnation of the Ku Klux Klan had been largely broken up by federal troops, they were replaced by informal “rifle clubs” which intimidated their opponents, and killed dozens. The unrest brought federal troops from the Department of the South under the command of General Thomas Ruger. Two separate state governments declared themselves the winners; furthermore, the tight presidential election depended upon South Carolina’s votes as well. The disputed governorship lasted for months. This archive documents General Ruger’s efforts to maintain order in the days and weeks after the election. Offered here are 8 documents from General Ruger’s files on the election’s aftermath. They include:
Contemporary copy of a letter from General William T. Sherman to General Winfield Scott Hancock. “Please instruct the commanding general at Columbia, S.C. [Ruger] to hold his troops ready, to consult with and protect the Board of Canvassers in their duty of counting the votes.” Washington, 13 November 1876.
Daniel H. Chamberlain. Autograph Letter Signed as South Carolina’s sitting Republican governor to Ruger. “I am fully persuaded that it is necessary to have a guard of U.S. soldiers around my house tonight. . . . There is danger of some attempt at violence tonight, and no protection can be so efficient as a small number of U.S. troops. I dislike greatly to ask this, but I feel there is a necessity for it.” Ruger’s hastily penciled affirmative response is on verso. Columbia, SC, 28 November 1876.
Official retained copy of a telegram from Ruger to General Sherman, seeking guidance on how to manage the chaos. “The Governor calls on me to eject certain persons claiming to be entitled to places . . . as Democrats. Both parties are now in the Assembly room. In the absence of any riot or violence I have not at once acted. . . . I request . . . that this be brought to the attention of the Secretary of War and President as soon as possible.” Columbia, SC, 30 November 1876.
Telegram from General Sherman to Ruger, in response to the above. “Both your dispatches of today were placed by me in the hands of the Secretary of War, who has gone to the President with the Attorney General for consultation.” Columbia, SC, 30 November 1876.
Official transcript of a telegram from James Donald Cameron as Secretary of War to Ruger, essentially telling him to continue sorting out the electoral crisis himself. “Telegram received, shown to the President and your action so far approved. If any change in your course is deemed advisable, will instruct you from here. Keep us fully advised.” Washington, 1 December 1876.
Official transcript of Ruger’s telegram to President Grant. “Much excitement for few days and large number of men in place, some attending State Fair, but most came on account of political situation. Greater part have gone. No doubt members of rifle clubs came, but did not appear on street as organizations or armed. Have learned that arms were brought into city. No open demonstration has been made against state authorities. Threatening talk by individuals on street and about hotels.” Columbia, SC, 7 December 1876.
Manuscript list of queries presented to Ruger by F.A. Connor, chair of a committee of the Democratic state legislators. “You are aware that troops are in the state house. Will you be kind enough to inform us by whose authority these troops are in the state house, and for what purpose they are there? . . . Are your troops instructed to resist the peaceable entrance of our House into the hall?” Docketed on verso with a note by Connor: “Gen. Ruger, commanding troops in Columbia, will call for your reply at 1 o’clock.” Ruger has hastily docketed the sheet “Handed me by Mr Connor and others on Dec 7th 1876.”
Governor Daniel H. Chamberlain. Autograph Letter Signed to Ruger. “I fully concur in your judgment respecting the proper action to be taken in regard to affairs at Timmonsville. If the danger shall be found to be past, I shall be glad to have the necesity of sending troops avoided.” This apparently related to the assassination of a Black Republican judge in Timmonsville the previous week, resulting in threats of retaliation. Columbia, SC, 4 February 1877.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
FUNERAL ANNOUNCEMENT FOR RECONSTRUCTION?
298
(reconstruction.)
Inaugural ball invitation for Wade Hampton as South Carolina’s hotly disputed new governor.
[Columbia, SC], 3 May 1877
Printed invitation, 7 x 4½ inches, plus integral blank; minor wear, horizontal fold. With original unaddressed envelope.
The 1876 election in South Carolina was marked by widespread violence and voter intimidation by white supremacist “rifle clubs” and resulted in two governors claiming victory: the incumbent Republican Daniel Chamberlain, backed by the federal government and its military, and Democrat Wade Hampton III, an ex-Confederate Lieutenant General. The contested presidential election was decided in favor of Republicans, but with a compromise agreement to withdraw federal troops from the South. When the troops left, Governor Chamberlain left, and General Hampton was free to start planning his inauguration. This invitation lists the dozens of managers on his inauguration committee.
Estimate
$400 – $600
299
(religion.) elnathan chauncey.
Remarkes on the Rev. Mr. Edward Leigh.
Durham, CT, 1743-44
48 manuscript pages. 4to, original wrappers, dampstaining; only minor wear to contents.
Elnathan Chauncey (1724-1796) was son of the first Yale graduate (Nathaniel Chauncey, class of 1702) and himself a Yale Class of 1743 graduate. He then returned home to Durham, CT and was licensed to preach in 1745, but was never appointed as a clergyman; he became a militia officer and tax collector in Durham.
Offered here is his extended commentary upon Edward Leigh’s 1646 work “A Treatise of Divinity,” done as part of his theological studies. He notes on the rear wrapper that it was “wrote by Elnathan Chauncey of Durham in the year of our lord 1744, completed the 4th day of June.”
Estimate
$300 – $400
300
(rhode island.)
Long-running barter account between Governor Greene and General Varnum.
Np, 13 March 1788
Autograph Document Signed by William Greene Jr., additionally signed by James Mitchell Varnum. One page, 12¾ x 15¾ inches, docketed on verso; folds, toning, separations at folds with tape repairs on verso.
This document shows almost eight years of barter accounts between two of Rhode Island’s most prominent figures from the American Revolution. James Mitchell Varnum (1748-1789) graduated from what became Brown University, practiced law in East Greenwich, RI, and then served as a general in the Continental Army during the Revolution. He was noted for enlisting enslaved people into the First Rhode Island Regiment in exchange for their freedom, and for his service at the Battle of Rhode Island and Valley Forge. William Greene Jr. (1731-1809) of Warwick, RI served as governor of Rhode Island from 1778 to 1786, a period including the long British occupation of Newport, the American victory, and Rhode Island’s act for the gradual emancipation of the enslaved.
On the left side of this document are debts incurred by Varnum to Greene, and on the right the services rendered by Varnum to repay the debts. The earliest entry was in June 1780, just after Varnum’s election to the Continental Congress, when Governor Greene sent “six barrels racked sider delivered you in Providence.” Perhaps Varnum shared some of this cider with the French General Rochambeau, whose troops came to Providence for an extended stay the following month.
From 1783 to 1788, Greene provided Varnum with a steady supply of farm goods and services from his substantial Warwick estate: keeping his horse and oxen, and sending butter, wood, corn, onions, and hay. Typically for the period, these men of means trusted that the debt would be settled at some point, either by cash, goods, or services. Varnum’s opportunity to reciprocate came in November 1784. The governor’s son Ray Greene had just graduated from Yale, and was interested in pursuing a law career. Varnum agreed to tutor the youth for two years for £30, a solid investment–Ray Greene later became a United States Senator. Varnum also rented Greene some office space for 12 weeks, returned some old cider barrels, and settled the nearly decade-long account with a mere 4½ pence. Both men signed at the bottom on 13 March 1788, signifying that the account was officially balanced. General Varnum moved to the western frontier as an early Ohio settler soon afterward, where he died of tuberculosis within a year. This account documents the longstanding relationship between two figures of great significance to the state’s history.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
301
(science & engineering.) thomas thomson.
A New System of Chemistry, Including Mineralogy, and Vegetable, Animal, and Dyeing Substances.
Philadelphia: Thomas Dobson, 1803
3 plates. [2], 364 pages. 4to, contemporary speckled sheep, front joint just starting; lacking free endpapers and rear flyleaf; minor toning, long repaired closed tear through page 197, small portion of two leaves excised; library plates and withdrawal stamp on front pastedown, additional notes and stamp on final page. First American edition.
Estimate
$150 – $250
GET YOUR PHD: POST HOLE DIGGER
302
(science & engineering.)
Wandle Mace’s Patent Post Morticing and Rail Sharpening Machine.
[New York?], circa 1840
Illustrated circular letter, 11 x 8½ inches, plus integral blank leaf with docketing; folds, minimal wear.
This device was patented in New York in 1837, and if it worked as advertised, it would have been a gold mine. It could allegedly both sharpen a fence post AND dig the post hole. Wandle Mace discussed his invention in his autobiography; he sold the patent and erased a substantial debt, enabling him to emigrate to Illinois. There he became a prominent early Mormon who also helped build the Nauvoo Temple in 1846. None traced in OCLC, though Rutgers University holds an identically titled broadside which credits the printers as Craighead and Allen of New York, 1845.
Estimate
$400 – $600
303
(science & engineering.)
Evans’ Safety Guard.
[Pittsburgh, PA?], 1841?
Illustrated broadside, 12½ x 7¾ inches; annotated with a manuscript list of ships, integral blank apparently unevenly excised, horizontal folds.
This circular describes a widely-used but controversial invention to avert steam engine explosions. A spindle was inserted into a metal alloy near the hottest part of the boiler. If the temperature reached a certain level, the alloy would melt, and the spindle would release steam. Here the illustrations are accompanied by a detailed key and description, as well as a list of 27 boats built in Pittsburgh which had used the safety guard. 23 more ships are added in manuscript. The inventor was Cadwallader Evans, son of well-known engineer and author Oliver Evans. One in OCLC, at Princeton.
Estimate
$500 – $750
304
(science & engineering.)
The Manufacturer and Builder: A Practical Journal of Industrial Progress.
New York, 1869-72
Numerous illustrations. 48 monthly issues in 4 volumes, complete, with collective titles and annual indices. iv, 380; iv, 380; iv, 288, 12; [2], iv, 288, 8 pages. Large 4to, publisher’s gilt cloth pictorial, minimal wear; minimal wear to contents.
The first 4 years, in a handsome run. The May 1869 issue has a cover article on the invention of the telephone, six years before Alexander Graham Bell’s famous call to Mr. Watson. “this invention may, in its present state, have no direct practical application . . . but who can say that it does not contain the germ of a new method of working the telegraph?” (page 129). The August 1870 issue discusses “Calculating by Machinery,” with an illustration of “the Swedish calculating machine at Albany, N.Y.” (page 225). Lomazow 768.
Estimate
$250 – $350
305
(science & engineering.) edwin martz.
Letter by a young astronomer, accompanied by his early photographs of Mars.
Los Angeles County, CA, 14 August 1937
Autograph Letter Signed as “Ed. Martz Jr.” to Walter S. Adams, director of Mount Wilson Observatory. 4 pages on 4 leaves, 4 x 3 inches; toned with minor wear. With photographic print, 10 x 8 inches, minor wear.
Edwin P. Martz Jr. (1916-1967) made his mark as a young astronomer in 1937, creating the first color photographs of Mars. This letter encloses part of his research, demonstrating color separations of the 4th planet by red, yellow, green, and blue light–alas, in black and white. This work was done on 25 and 26 June 1937 at the venerable Mount Wilson Observatory in the mountains overlooking Los Angeles. The details are printed with the photo, and also in the accompanying letter, which was left (with the key to the observatory) on the secretary’s desk as he departed: “Thank you for your kindness in letting me work with the 6-inch and 60-inch telescopes on the mountain the past few months. I feel I have obtained . . . planetary photographs that may prove of some value. In all, 225 plates were taken at Mt. Wilson and Griffith of Mars and Jupiter . . . on 35 nights of observation. I am carrying on analysis of these at the present time, along the lines pointed out by Professor Wright in 1924 and 1926.”
Estimate
$250 – $350
306
(south carolina.)
Receipt book kept by a widowed Charleston boarding house keeper.
Charleston, SC and vp, 1793-1843
[137] manuscript pages, most of them containing signed receipts by a variety of parties, 1793-1804. Oblong 12mo, original calf, worn; a small number of leaves partly or completely excised, otherwise minor wear to contents.
This receipt book was kept by Elizabeth Frazier, widow of Hugh Frazier, starting in 1793. Many of the receipts are for quarterly rent she paid on a boarding house she kept on Charleston’s picturesque Stoll’s Alley. She also paid for schooling for her sons Phil, Alexander William (“Sandy”), George, and James. In 1799 , she began monthly payments for the hired labor of enslaved people. The first of these entries reads “received 30th December 1799 of Mrs. Eliza Frazer six dollars in full up to this date for the hire of my wench Sue one month. Mary Fowke.” In May 1801, she became Mrs. Matthew Miner, continuing with monthly payments for “negro hire” and moving their residence to nearby 21 East Bay Street.
The entries become more sparse after 1804, but reflect moves to Newport, RI, and French Grant and Marietta, OH, where Elizabeth died in 1815. A few later memorandum entries through 1843 were made by her surviving husband, and by son Henry Peregrine Miner.
Estimate
$400 – $600
307
(spanish-american war.)
Album of an Iowa regiment’s service in the Philippines.
Vp, [June 1898 to November 1899]
250 photographs, most about 2 x 3 inches and some a bit larger, laid down on 22 scrapbook leaves with short inked captions and faint pencil numbers below each. Oblong 4to, later buckram binder; minor wear to contents.
This unsigned but compelling album was apparently compiled by a member of the 51st Iowa Infantry; its officers Major J.T. Hume and Captain J.T. Davidson are named. The regiment’s service matches the locations shown here: they arrived in California on 10 June 1898, and on 2 November 1898 boarded the transport ship Pennsylvania for the Philippines. They saw combat from February through August 1899 at San Roque, Pulilan, Calumpit, Santo Tomas, San Fernando, and Calulut. On 22 September, they sailed from Manila for San Francisco, where they were mustered out on 2 November.
Highlights include a shot of the 51st Iowa camp in California (22), Chinese street vendors in San Francisco (56), shots of the Pennsylvania transport ship (54, 55), 5 scenes in Hawaii (43-51), arrival at Cavite in the Philippines (44, 45, 47), Manila scenes (58, 59, 68, 70, 107), Admiral Dewey (91), insurgent prisoners (101), the grave of John Turner of the 51st Iowa (104), gruesome post-battle scenes of insurgent corpses (115, 120, 138, 153, 166), American soldiers in trenches at Culiculi (133), General Arthur MacArthur and staff (198), scenes of Japan (218-228), and the return to California. Photograph 128 purports to show top insurgent general Gregorio del Pilar, although Pilar was never captured and died in combat.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
308
(sports–harness racing.)
Annual records of the Northern New York Trotting Horse Breeders Association’s famed track in Glens Falls.
Glens Falls, NY, 1889-1902
17 manuscript volumes, most with about 40 leaves of printed forms, with perhaps less than half the pages completed in manuscript. Oblong folio, 10 x 16 inches, original ½ sheep or wrappers, most with backstrips perished and boards detached, manuscript labels on front; minor wear and dampstaining to contents, one of the 1898 volumes incomplete, the others not collated.
In 1887, the Glens Falls Breeders Association began harness racing on a half-mile track in Glens Falls, NY. The Northern New York Trotting Horse Breeders Association was formed in 1889 and took over the operation. A new full mile track was opened in 1893. For several years it was very prominent on the national racing Grand Circuit. A speed record was set there on 10 September 1896 between the horses John R. Gentry and Star Pointer.
This lot includes some or all of the N.N.Y.T.H.B.A.’s race records for each year of its existence from 1889 through October 1902, as recorded in pre-printed log books of the National Trotting Association. These are the “Member’s Books,” manuscript copies of the official judge’s books, transcribed at year’s end for each of the association’s members. John R. Gentry’s record-setting 2:01½-minute performance, national news for racing fans at the time, is recorded on page 24 of the 1896 volume. Not included is the association’s aborted 1903 season, which was postponed until 20 July. The track was sold at a foreclosure sale two days later, bringing its racing to a close.
Estimate
$500 – $750
309
(theater.)
Programme for an early performance by the original Christy’s Minstrels.
[New York], 2 December 1847
Letterpress broadside, 12 x 5¾ inches, on thin paper; small dampstain on left edge, light toning, uncut.
Christy’s Minstrels were founded in 1843, and soon became the nation’s leading blackface minstrel performers, helping to define the standard form of a minstrel show. This program is from early in their 7-year residency at Mechanics’ Hall in New York, which began in March 1847. This program contains an unusual footnote: “Gentlemen are requested not to beat time with their feet, as it is annoying to the audience generally, and confuses the Performers.” Founder Edwin Christy and his stepson George disbanded the group by 1855, although other performers toured on the Christy’s name for many years after.
Estimate
$600 – $900
310
(travel.) antonio ardoino.
Examen Apologetico de la Historica Narracion de . . . Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, en las Tierras de la Florida i del Nuevo Mexico.
Madrid: Juan de Zúñiga, 1736 (but possibly issued as late as 1749)
[2], 50, 43, [9], 70, [2] pages. Folio, modern gilt calf; minimal worming in margin, skillfully repaired tear to final leaf, occasional minor foxing; edges tinted red.
An 18th-century Spanish printing of the first narrative of Texas and the Southwest–and one of the strangest and most thrilling stories in the annals of early exploration, extending from Florida to what is now Texas to an improbable safe arrival in Mexico.
This handsomely printed early scholarly edition begins with an 18th century analysis by Ardonio, followed by the complete 1555 narrative of Cabeza de Vaca. It was printed in 1736 per the title page, but was later issued as part of two collections of voyages by editor Andrés González de Barcía: “Varias historias de los primeiros descubridores de las Indias” and later in 1749 “Historiadores primitivos de las Indias Occidentales.” European Americana 749/20; Palau 105051; Sabin 9771; Wagner, Spanish Southwest 1n (page 36).
Provenance: Butterfield & Butterfield auction, 23 February 1995, lot 903, to Bruce McKinney of RareBookHub fame; his 2 December 2010 American Experience sale at Bonham’s, lot 62.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
311
(travel.) richard blome.
The Present State of His Majesties Isles and Territories in America.
London: H. Clark for Dorman Newton, 1687
5 of 7 folding maps, folding astronomical plate. [8], 262, [36] pages plus 3 publisher’s ad leaves. 8vo, modern calf; lacks frontispiece portrait plate and 2 maps (Carolina and New England / New York), repairs to the folding Jamaica map and elsewhere, minor foxing and wear; later signature and inked library stamps on title page and elsewhere.
“Did much to attract immigration to these shores”–Howes B546 (“b”). This, despite the inclusion of the harrowing Indian captivity narrative of Quentin Stockwell (pages 221-232), which should have been enough to keep any potential emigrant safe in their home village. Includes sections on Jamaica and the other Caribbean possessions (expanded from Blome’s 1678 Description of the Island of Jamaica), as well as extensive treatments of the North American colonies. Ayer Supplement 19; Church 699; Cundall, Jamaica 267; European Americana 686/14; Sabin 5972; Vail 252.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
312
(travel.)
Photo album of two long interstate bicycle trips.
Vp, 1932-38
228 photographs (most 3 x 4¾ inches), 3 typescript itineraries and a clipping about his trip, inserted into 52 scrapbook pages. Oblong folio, 10 x 12 inches, original cloth bound with string, minor wear; many photographs captioned on verso (only visible by removing from album), with a few typescript captions attached by paper clip, with minimal wear to contents.
Jackson Edwin Guernsey (1910-1998) was raised in Shavertown, PA and graduated from Williams College in 1931, embarking on a career as a science teacher. On his summer breaks in 1933 and 1935, he undertook impressive cross-country trips, both documented here with photographs and meticulously presented itineraries. In the first, he took a bus from Pennsylvania to Portland, OR, bicycled across to eastern Montana, took another bus to Chicago, and bicycled home. The photographs show the Grand Canyon, redwoods, Crater Lake, Yellowstone Park, and the Century of Progress World’s Fair in Chicago–95 snapshots in all. His 1935 trip took him southward through Kentucky (Mammoth Cave is represented), Alabama, and into Florida, circling around Lake Okeechobee before skirting along the coast to Charleston, SC and cutting inland via Virginia’s Natural Bridge toward home–52 snapshots. Interspersed between and after the bicycle trips are shots of his work at the Wilkes-Barre Academy, including sporting events and a massive flood in March 1936, as well as a few family snapshots (81 non-bicycling shots in total).
Estimate
$500 – $750
313
(virginia.)
The Case of the Planters of Tobacco in Virginia.
London, 1733
64 pages. 8vo, disbound; moderate staining to title page, final leaf detached.
3rd edition. Includes “A Vindication of the Said Representation” attributed to John Randolph. European Americana 733/46; Howes V117 (“aa”); Sabin 99911.
Estimate
$400 – $600
"THE SAVAGE INDIAN WITH HIS SCALPING KNIFE"
314
(war of 1812.) “l.g.,” after william charles.
A Scene on the Frontiers as Practiced by the Humane British and their Worthy Allies!
Np, circa 1813
Hand-colored engraving, 10½ x 14½ inches; heavy toning, minor dampstaining, square-inch area of loss in soldier’s boot from ink burn, several short modern tape repairs on verso.
A gruesome battlefield scene, with one Indian scalping a dead American soldier while another takes payment from a British officer with “Secret Service money” as a “reward for 16 scalps.” In the background, two Indians and two red-coated British soldiers dance around a fire. The inspiration is thought to be the 15 August 1812 Battle of Fort Dearborn near Chicago, where British Colonel Henry Proctor was rumored to have paid for American scalps, resulting in the death of some soldiers and civilians who had surrendered. This is an early pirated reverse copy of a print by William Charles. Another pirated version has the same image unreversed.
“Arise Columbia’s Sons and forward press / Your Country’s wrongs, call loudly for redress / The savage Indian with his scalping knife / Or tomahawk may seek to take your life / By bravery aw’d they’ll in a dreadfull fright / Shrink back for refuge to the woods in flight / Their British leaders then will quickly shake / And for those wrongs shall restitution make.” Reilly 1812-2, 3 (the other two versions).
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
The West
315
(west.) william sydney porter, a.k.a. “o. henry.”
Illustrations for a lost mining memoir, drawn long before his fame as an author.
[Austin, TX, circa 1883-84]
27 drawings laid into one binder: pencil, ink and wash on paper, 21 of them on similar sheets of sturdy paper about 7 x 5½ inches with only minimal wear, 6 possibly unrelated sketches on slightly larger sheets of thin tracing paper with substantial edge wear, and one cartoon from a probably unrelated project on a sheet of lined paper, 8¾ x 5¼ inches. With 2 photographs, 4 letters, and related clippings.
William Sydney Porter (1862-1910), best known to posterity as the author O. Henry, was raised in North Carolina, and went west to Texas as a young man in 1882. After a stint on a sheep ranch, he settled in Austin, TX, where he worked various odd jobs while exploring his interest in writing and drawing. The drawings offered here were his first professional commission, when he was about 21 years old.
The drawings were done to illustrate the frontier mining memoir of Joseph T. Dixon (circa 1844-1929), an eccentric character almost universally known as “Uncle Joe.” Dixon had spent several years prospecting in the Rocky Mountains, and was brought to Austin, TX by a friend named John Maddox to set his colorful memories to paper, to be titled “Carbonate Days.” Young Porter was brought on to illustrate the project, working directly with Dixon for about three weeks while they shared a small cabin on Maddox’s property. After Dixon spent about six months writing at Maddox’s home, arrangements were made to send him to New York to secure a publishing deal. The night before his departure, in a fit of insecurity, Dixon tore the manuscript into small pieces and threw it into the creek. Fortunately, Porter’s illustrations had been given to Maddox for safe-keeping.
The illustrations are almost all captioned in manuscript, and appear well-suited for a lively Wild West narrative, filled with adventure and comic overtones. A man being startled awake by a room full of mules is titled “Early Visitors.” Several show street scenes in rough-edged mining towns, and two show attempts to buck a burro, while one recalcitrant mule is captioned “Don’t wish to go prospecting.” A young woman is captioned “the Señorita of the Cañada.” A claim jumper with a gun to his head is titled “The jumper taken by surprise.” Several of the captions suggest specific locations, all in New Mexico: “Cañon Pino”; the head of the Pecos River; Herlow’s Hotel in Santa Fe; the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway at Apache Cañon; the head of the Rio Grande; and a Santa Fe street scene. Dixon’s later biographical accounts note time in Colorado or “the Rockies” generally. A 1917 profile called him a former “miner and prospector in the Rockies from British Columbia to the Mexican Sierras” who participated in the Leadville, CO gold rush. These drawings only hint at the stories Dixon told the young Porter in 1884.
With the destruction of the manuscript, the drawings now had no practical purpose, but they were not immediately discarded. Porter gave them to a local girl named Pauline Haynie, who kept them as a memento. Porter did not adopt the pseudonym O. Henry until 1899 and did not achieve success as an author until 1902, with his early efforts as an illustrator by that point in the far distant rear-view mirror.
These drawings surfaced in 1912 when 3 items were published in “Rolling Stones,” the twelfth and final volume of O. Henry’s collected works. The “Emigrants’ Camp” drawing is reproduced facing page 29, “Early Visitors” (published as “Morning Visitors”) facing page 49, and “Zeke Sells the Basket of Toads to the Bloated Bondholder (Herlow’s Hotel)” facing page 249. So far as we know, the remainder remain unpublished.
The drawings are accompanied by two photographs: a small worn tintype, 2¾ x 2 inches, of two men said to be young Porter with his friend Wilcox circa 1884 or 1885; and a well-preserved cabinet card portrait of Porter, 6½ x 4 inches including mount, with the backmark of Hamilton Briscoe Hillyer of 916 Congress Avenue, Austin, TX. Hillyer was at this address from about 1881 to 1887. Also included are 4 letters and related clippings of later owner John Hagelstein, 1925-39.
References: Arthur Page, “Little Pictures of O. Henry,” in The Bookman, July 1913, pages 498-501; O. Henry, “Rolling Stones” (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & page, 1912), page xiii; “John Hagelstein Reminisces: Tintype of O. Henry Recalls his Efforts as an Illustrator,” San Angelo Standard-Times, 22 December 1939 (clipping in this lot); “Uncle Joe Dixon Recalls Good Old Days in the West,” Lakeland Evening Telegram, 31 July 1917.
Provenance: given circa 1884 to Pauline Haynie Hagelstein (1866-1914), who was raised in Austin; thence to her widower John Marcus Hagelstein (1871-1942); thence to a private collection.
Estimate
$15,000 – $25,000
316
(west.) george g. street.
Che! Wah! Wah! or, The Modern Montezumas In Mexico.
Rochester, NY: E. R. Andrews, 1883
Folding map, frontispiece plate in blue and black, one additional plate after page 92, 33 mounted albumen photos, and text illustrations. 115 pages. Tall 8vo, publisher’s green gilt cloth pictorial, minor wear, skillfully rebacked with most of original backstrip laid down; minor dampstaining, photo leaves a bit warped as usual.
The privately published narrative of an excursion on the Denver & Rio Grande Railway from Chicago to Colorado, New Mexico, El Paso, TX, and Chihuahua, Mexico. It is illustrated with 33 photographs by R.D. Cleveland, one of the tour participants. A list of the 64 participants is given (mostly cashiers, freight agents and other clerical types from a variety of rail lines), as well as the 15 staff including the cooks and waiters. Adams, Rampaging Herd 2187; Palau 322926.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
317
(west.) carl e. schmidt.
A Western Trip.
[Detroit: Herold Press, 1904]
12 full-page color and 18 smaller black and white photographs mounted as issued. 91, [1] pages. 4to, original pictorial full calf gilt, moderate wear; rejointed, silk endpapers worn and laid down, light offsetting from photographs, light wrinkling to a few leaves; printed in green and brown, uncut; author’s gift inscription on flyleaf, with his presentation letter laid in.
The privately printed memoir of a Detroit tannery magnate who went on a vacation in Yellowstone Park and Utah with his daughter and two friends. The 12 larger photographs are photochromes by the Detroit Publishing Company from negatives by William Henry Jackson, while the smaller photographs were taken by Schmidt’s party. The leather for the binding was done at Schmidt’s own tannery. In addition to the entertaining account of Yellowstone, Schmidt describes a visit to Salt Lake City, where he attends a memorial service for President McKinley at the Tabernacle. The book closes with a long description of the characters at Ophir Mine at Stateline in southwestern Utah, replete with tales of gunfights. Streeter sale VII:4123.
This copy was a gift from the author to Detroit building contractor Albert Albrecht (1853-1936). Schmidt’s 21 December 1904 presentation letter reads in part “I compelled some of my friends to work their way through the manuscript. You would appreciate their labor if you knew just how bad my writing was.” Some copies were issued with printed photographs rather than the 18 black and white snapshots.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
CONNECTED WITH THE WALNUT GROVE DAM DISASTER
318
(west–arizona.)
Articles of Incorporation of the Piedmont Cattle Company.
Yavapai County, AZ, 12 June 1886
4 calligraphic manuscript pages on 2 sheets, 14 x 8¼ inches, plus docket sheet, bound on top edge with ribbon, signed by court clerks in Kentucky and Arizona, and bearing the embossed seal of the Boyd County Court in Kentucky; folds, minimal wear.
This company was intimately connected with the Walnut Grave dam failure which wreaked havoc in Arizona four years later.
The Piedmont Cattle Company was founded with New York investment and incorporated in Kentucky, but as stated here “the corporation proposes to carry on business in Yavapai County in the Territory of Arizona . . . buying, selling and raising horses, cattle, sheep, and other live stock . . . and operating pipe lines, ditches and reservoirs for conducting, storing and distributing water for irrigating the lands of the Company.” The visionaries were the brothers Wells and DeWitt Blake, Arizona miners whose main purpose was to create a dam through their related Walnut Grove Water Storage Company. The water was used for placer mining as well as cattle irrigation. The Walnut Grove Dam failed in February 1890, sending a massive wall of water down the gulch and killing innumerable residents.
The present document is a calligraphic copy of the original which had been recorded in Manhattan on 12 May 1886. This copy bears the certification of the clerk of the Kentucky court where it was recorded on 31 May. It is also docketed with a note by the county recorder in Arizona that it was “recorded at the request of DeWitt C. Bates” on 12 June 1886. This copy would have been retained by the company as proof of incorporation.
Estimate
$400 – $600
319
(west–colorado.)
Extensive papers of William McKay, who went west from Iowa to Colorado as a mining agent.
Vp, bulk 1872-81
Thousands of items (1.5 linear feet), mostly letters received by McKay still in their original envelopes; condition generally strong; with the two battered leather satchels in which they were found.
William McKay (1841-1930) was born in Scotland, raised in Canada, and by the period of this collection was living in Cherokee, Iowa. Circa 1876 he became involved in the Cherokee & San Juan Gold & Silver Mining Company, which sought out mining investments in Colorado. A substantial segment of this lot relates to his mining activities. A file of 15 contracts and agreements covers his claims to specific mines. A file of 36 other mining-related documents includes location certificates, assay office reports, and a receipt given to McKay in Antelope Park on behalf of “D.T. Hendrick (Bronco Dan)”. 35 letters are addressed to McKay in Colorado from 1878 to 1880, most of them to Animas Forks, then a thriving mine village of several hundred souls high in the mountains of San Juan County, but now a completely deserted ghost town. Others are addressed to Silver Cliff and other nearby camps.
At least 20 letters were addressed to McKay from Colorado while he was back east, 1876-81, many of them with original postmarked envelopes. Some of these discuss mining operations, such as C. Allison in Animas Forks, 30 August 1876: “I have found the vain of the Custer Lode. . . . I think it will prove to be a good one. It is about 20 feet wide and think it will show gray copper from the beginning.” Robert Skinner’s letter of 26 December 1880 describes the rapid development of Durango, CO in detail. Ephemera includes a pair of Denver & Rio Grande railroad maps, a price schedule for the Ocean Wave Mining & Smelting Company, a circular letter to the stockholders to the Little Dora Gold & Silver Mining Company, and McKay’s business card as a mining broker. The most visually appealing is a color-coded manuscript map of the related claims he handled, centered in Animas Forks, 15½ x 19 inches (illustrated).
The large mass of papers outside of McKay’s mining activities are also interesting. Much of the correspondence was addressed to him while in Cherokee, Iowa, often relating to work he did as an agent for the Milburn Wagon Company of Toledo, OH, Warrior Mower Company of Little Falls NY, and Aetna Insurance Company, and as a general land agent and Justice of the Peace. At least 33 letters dated 1873-74 are addressed to McKay as secretary of the St. Andrews Society, a chapter of the Scottish-American club hoping to promote settlement in the west. McKay had apparently taken an advertisement in the Scotch-American Magazine and received responses from all over the nation.
A 11 January 1874 letter from a friend in Ann Arbor, MI describes a speech by free love advocate and former presidential candidate Victoria Woodhull “or rather attempt to lecture. She had a very fine lecture, but the students (about 1000) made such an eternal noise, hooting, hissing and groaning that she left the stage in disgust. It approached near to riot.” We have not read more than a tiny proportion of the correspondence; good material undoubtedly remains to be discovered.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
320
(west–colorado.)
A Western Town Called Denver: A Book of Select Views and Concise Information.
Denver: Carson-Harper Co. at the Golden Griffin Print Shop, 1897
Profusely illustrated. [40] pages. 4to, limp gilt calf, moderate wear; minor wear to contents; printed in several colors.
An attractive promotional pamphlet with numerous photographic illustrations, maps, and engravings. None traced at auction.
Estimate
$300 – $400
321
(west–colorado.) george mellen; photographer.
Pair of railroad photographs.
Colorado Springs, CO; Mellen’s Views, circa 1880s
Albumen photographs, each 4¼ x 7¼ inches, captioned in negative, on original mount with photographer’s backmark and early pencil signatures
“On the Bridge at Hook-Eye Curve, C.M.R.R., Chief Engineer Wigglesworth Going to the Front.” A bit faded with light soiling; caption partly illegible, transcribed from copy at Amon Carter Museum. Signed on verso by an early owner in July 1887. Colorado Springs, CO: George E. Mellen, Rocky Mountain View Company, circa 1887.
“Black Canon at Curecanti Needle, D. & R.G.R.R. / Up Black Canon.” Moderate dampstaining and minor wear to image. A striking view of the Curecanti Needle rock formation on the Gunnison River in western Colorado, with several cars of a freight train in the foreground. It apparently dates to shortly before the Denver & Rio Grande Rail Road became the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railway in mid-1881. The view is similar to the stylized view which formed part of the railroad’s distinctive logo as the “Scenic Line of the World.” We trace no other examples of this view. Colorado Springs, CO; Mellen’s Views, circa 1880.
Estimate
$600 – $900
322
(west–colorado.)
Season of 1875: A Brief Description of the Famous Rocky Mountain Resorts in Colorado, and How to Reach Them.
[St. Louis, MO, 1875]
Folding plate, several full-page illustrations, map on page 22. 52 pages. 8vo, green pictorial wrappers, minor wear; short separations to plate, minor wear and foxing to contents.
Third edition of a promotional tract issued by the St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern Railway. The large folding plate by Henry Linton, lettered in red, depicts Pike’s Peak, mining scenes, and other views. None of any edition traced at auction since 1923; not in Howes or Graff.
Estimate
$600 – $900
323
(west–colorado.) william whipple.
Letter confirming the transfer of the doomed Major Thornburgh of the Milk River Massacre.
Chicago, IL, 18 May 1878
Autograph Letter Signed as Brigadier General and aide-de-camp to General Sherman to “My dear General” [Henry Goddard Thomas]. 3 pages, 7½ x 4¾ inches, on one folding sheet; fold, uneven toning, later pencil notes.
The September 1879 Meeker Massacre in northwestern Colorado was one of the more dramatic incidents of the Indian Wars. A Ute uprising on the White River Reservation killed Indian agent Nathan Meeker and 10 others. A cavalry detachment led by Major Thomas T. Thornburgh rushed out from nearby Fort Fred Steele to protect Meeker. They were simultaneously ambushed at Milk Creek, with Thornburgh and 13 of his men quickly killed, and the survivors holding out for 6 days by crouching behind their dead horses for defense.
Offered here is the letter that got Major Thornburgh into this terrible mess. He had been serving uneventfully as a paymaster in Texas until swapping positions with Henry Goddard Thomas of the 4th U.S. Cavalry, a Union general then serving as major in command of Fort Fred Steele. This letter to General Thomas confirms the fateful switch a year before the massacre: “Your letter of April 22d on the subject of transfer with Maj. Thornberg was received by me. . . . The application had passed through, receiving the action of the Lieut. General [Sherman].”
With–another document from General Thomas’s papers, a receipt issued at Fort Fred Steele on 12 December 1877.
Estimate
$400 – $600
324
(west–montana.) f. jay haynes; photographer.
Group of 4 large-format photographs of Montana cowboys.
[Montana, 1885 and 1890]
Silver print boudoir cards, 5 x 8¼ inches, on original mounts with photographer’s backmarks; minimal wear and extremely fresh, crisp images.
Frank Jay Haynes (1853-1921) was the official photographer for the Northern Pacific Railroad and Yellowstone National Park, in addition to his own projects. He operated a studio out of a specially outfitted railway car which was carried from town to town. One of these photographs has a manuscript caption on verso: “Cowboys Branding on the Range,” dated by the negative at the Montana Historical Society to a ranch near Billings, MT on 25 October 1885. The other photographs are uncaptioned, but each has been matched to a corresponding captioned negative in the same collection: “A Montana Cowboy, E. H. Brewster, Mingusville, Montana, June 23, 1890”; “Captain of the Roundup, F. P. Love and Horse, Mingusville, Montana, June 23, 1890”; and “Isadore Nollet House, The Home of the Cowboy, Mingusville, Montana, June 23, 1890.” Numerous Montana newspapers from June 1890 discuss the arrival of Haynes Palace Studio Car’s first visit to the state (see the ad in the Yellowstone Journal of 19 June 1890, for example).
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
325
(west–montana.)
Trio of reports of the Board of Stock Commissioners and the Recorder of Marks and Brands of the State of Montana, for the years 1892 and 1895 plus the appendix of 1899.
Helena, MT, 1893, 1896, and 1899
112; 113; 42 pages, 8vo, original printed wrappers, the first with minimal wear and light toning, the second with moderate wear, perforated library stamp and other markings, the third lacking wrappers; minimal wear to contents, except for wear and repairs to the other leaves of the appendix.
The bulk of each volume is devoted to an illustrated register of cattle brands for each ranch in Montana. The ranch owners are well indexed. The small 1899 appendix has illustrations of livestock showing the brands on location. No other reports traced at auction. Other reports are recorded in Adams, Rampaging Herd 1518 and 1519, but not these.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
326
(west–montana.)
1883-4 Montana Advertising Directory, Containing a Complete List of the Tax-Payers of Montana.
Helena, MT, 1883
3-color advertising plate following page 208. 263, [1] pages. 8vo, publisher’s ¼ calf over printed boards, moderate wear; manuscript table of contents on front free endpaper, occasional pencil check-marks by names, moderate finger-soiling; small later inked owners’ stamp on front free endpaper.
An unusual frontier variation on the 19th-century city directory, which would normally give street addresses for all residents. In early Montana, few of the settlements had proper addresses (or streets), and the territory was too vast to make a house-by-house canvass. However, each county’s tax rolls were available, so they are here transcribed. Each taxpayer’s post office and often an occupation is given. Once you get to Puller’s Springs or Silver Bow, finding your party would be a matter of word of mouth. This method would not catch most wage laborers, itinerant trappers, or squatters, but it does include more than 10,000 names. Frequent occupations include miner, saloon owner, assayer, farmer, and stockman. The list also includes the occasional Chinese laundryman, such as Ah Min Sing & Quong in Billings (page 133). Numerous advertisements, some illustrated, are also included. None traced at auction.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
327
(west–new mexico.) james monroe, et al.
Message . . . Relative to the Arrest and Imprisonment of Certain American Citizens at Santa Fe, by Authority of the Government of Spain.
Washington, 1818
23 pages. 8vo, disbound; minimal wear and foxing. 15th Congress, 1st Session, House Doc. 197.
“A group of Auguste Chouteau’s fur trappers out of St. Louis were seized at Santa Fe and imprisoned in Chihuahua in 1811 or 1812. This report contains testimonies of the men involved and records the government’s steps toward freeing the men”–Streeter sale I:152 (bringing $200 in 1966). Howes S103 (“aa”); Graff 4410; Wagner-Camp 15.
Estimate
$300 – $400
328
(west–new mexico.) josé agustin de escudero.
Noticias estadisticas del estado de Chihuahua.
Mexico, 1834
253, [7] pages. 4to, original printed wrapper, lacking rear wrapper; lone wormhole in upper margin, minor foxing, minimal wear to contents.
First edition in book form, after a serialized newspaper printing in El Telégrafo, although described as “reimpresas.” “The earliest book after Independence published in the Chihuahua-New Mexico section, giving an account of the governmental and military system both before Independence and as changed since 1821”–Streeter sale, I:408 (quoting Henry Wagner). Contains material on the Navajos and Jicarilla Apaches, as well as information on New Mexico, El Paso, TX, the Santa Fe Trail, and more. Graff 1258; Howes E176 (“aa”); Palau 81652; Sabin 22844.
Estimate
$500 – $750
329
(west–new mexico.) william watts hart davis.
The Spanish Conquest of New Mexico.
Doylestown, PA, 1869
Folding map (detached), frontispiece portrait. 438 pages. 8vo, publisher’s cloth, moderate wear; minor dampstaining toward rear, minor foxing, map detached with moderate wear; owner’s signatures on front endpapers.
The author served in various official posts in New Mexico Territory (including present-day Arizona) from 1853 to 1857, closing with a stint as acting governor. “His narrative of the prolonged hostilities between the Spaniards and the Indians, the religious rites, method of warfare, and peculiar ceremonies of the latter, is fresh, vigorous, and highly interesting”–Field 406. Sabin 18905; Streeter sale, II:467. None traced at auction since 2000.
Estimate
$300 – $400
330
(west–new mexico.) william m. berger.
Berger’s Tourists’ Guide to New Mexico.
Kansas City, MO, 1883
Numerous illustrations. [4], 39, [1] pages plus 28 unnumbered pages in the text. 8vo, publisher’s illustrated wrappers, backstrip worn, otherwise minor wear; minimal wear to contents.
An attractive and comprehensive guide to the sights–natural, Indian, Spanish, and English. We trace only one other copy at auction, the Streeter Sale copy (I:479) which hammered for $350 in 1966.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
331
(west–new mexico.)
A miner describes frontier life in the shadow of the Apaches.
“Camp near Chloride City,” NM, 30 October 1881
Autograph Letter Signed as “Samuel” to siblings John and Sarah. 10 pages on 3 sheets, 8 x 5 inches; folds, minimal wear. With possibly unrelated postal cover bearing a Coldwater, MI postmark.
This letter was written from the silver boom town of Chloride, NM, founded early in 1881 by a British miner who found silver ore in the canyon, but was soon killed by Apaches. The settlement nonetheless quickly grew to more than a thousand people. This letter includes lyrical descriptions of the area’s natural beauty, a few cagey references to his mining prospects, and most notably a description of the local Apache fights:
“I can see the top of the San Mateos. These are said to be the most inaccessible mountains in the territory. They are the great stronghold of the Apache Indians. Men who have been in this range say that one hundred men could not be taken in or driven out from this gigantic natural fortress by all the U.S. troops. These are the mts from which the Indians last made their incursion on the settlements. A large body of men from hereabouts drove them back and attempted to follow them into their own country, but were surprised in one of the canyons and those who were not killed only escaped under cover of night.”
The author also makes interesting observations about miner society: “There is a kind of open brotherhood between prospectors. If I make a big strike, my neighbor is not envious, but comes over and sees it and takes almost as much interest as if it were his own. If I were in the mountains and came onto somebody’s cabin and was hungry, I should not hesitate to go in and take or cook any thing that I could find.”
Chloride went into rapid decline after 1893 and is now a virtual ghost town on the eastern edge of the Gila National Wilderness.
Estimate
$400 – $600
332
(west–new mexico.) h.c. burnett, editor.
New Mexico Lands: Their Character and Distribution by Valleys and Counties
Las Vegas, NM: J. A. Carruth, 1889
(caption title). 48 pages, 4to, publisher’s illustrated wrappers bearing alternate title “1889, New Mexico, Winter Edition,” 4 stitch holes, moderate wear; light vertical fold, moderate wear to final page.
A collection of short promotional articles published by the New Mexico Bureau of Immigration, with titles such as “Fruit Culture,” “What Can New Mexico Do for Invalids?,” and “Mining in New Mexico.” “Rare”–Adams, Rampaging Herd 372. None traced at auction.
Estimate
$500 – $750
333
(west–north dakota.) g.e. nichols; compiler.
Fargo City Directory, 1883.
Fargo, ND: Republican Co., 1883
One color advertising plate and 8 inserted ad leaves on colored paper. 196, [6] pages. 8vo, original printed boards, moderate wear and staining, rebacked with cloth; lacking front free endpaper, title page and following ad leaf worn without loss of text, otherwise minimal dampstaining and wear.
The second Fargo directory, following the first issued in 1881. No other Fargo directories traced at auction.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
334
(west–north dakota.) truman ward ingersoll, photographer.
Photographs of the Little Missouri Horse Company.
Dakota Territory, circa late 1880s
5 albumen photographs, each about 4¼ x 7¾ inches on original matching plain mounts, 8 x 10 inches, captioned in negative, 3 with inked stamps on verso of “Ingersoll, Photo., St. Paul, Minn.”; one with short tear in mount, one with light foxing, generally minimal wear.
The Little Missouri Horse Company was established by Arthur Clark Huidekoper in the Dakota Territory in 1884, around the same time and place that Theodore Roosevelt began his own ranching adventures. The Little Missouri soon became one of the largest horse breeding operations in American history, known for its elegant and hard-working Percherons. Various addresses are given for the company in southwestern North Dakota, including Medora, Amidon, Gladstone, and Black Butte; it was a big property. These photographs are captioned in the negative as follows: “River Ranch, Little Missouri Horse Co., No. 12”; “Bunch of Percheron Mares, L.M.H. Co. No 24.”; “Little Boxelder Line Camp Barn, L.M.H. Co., No. 15”; “Gambetta, L. M. H. Co. Stallion, No. 21”; and “Bunch of Range Mares and Stallions.” Most of them also feature the ranch’s “HT” brand in the captions.
The photographer Truman Ward Ingersoll (1862-1922) was based in St. Paul, MN but was known for shooting scenic views throughout the western states. On one trip to this corner of the Dakotas, he captured rancher Theodore Roosevelt circa 1886. One of the photographs offered here shows the company’s prize stallion Gambetta, which arrived in camp in that era (see the Arizona Champion, 8 May 1886).
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
"EVERYBODY GOES ARMED IN THIS COUNTRY"
335
(west–oklahoma.)
Pair of letters from a pioneer in Cherokee territory and Fort Smith, Arkansas.
Vp, 1859
Autograph Letters Signed only as “Seal” to his unnamed sister. 8 quarto pages on 2 folding sheets; minor wear.
The author was an artist who went west and found work on a sheep drive to Texas. The first letter was written from Saline District in the Cherokee portion of Indian Territory, near the present village of Rose, OK, on 13 April 1859. He describes a fire which destroyed his camp and all of his clothing: “It made me angry to think what ragged clothes I had been wearing so as to save my good ones, and then lose them by fire.” He described his present wardrobe as consisting of “a check shirt, jeans pants, and a striped jeans hunting shirt made and manufactured by an Indian woman–oh! I look quite Indian-like. . . . This is the greatest country for reptiles I ever saw. I have killed several rattle-snakes and two centipedes and one tarrantilas.” He also announces his intention to “lay down my crook and take up the old business (Knight of the Brush) as soon as I can reach any place where they have a taste for the Fine Arts.”
The second letter was written just across the border in Fort Smith, Arkansas, five months later on 25 September 1859. He describes the town’s primitive boarding house lodgings at length, adding that he wears a belt “containing a Colt’s revolver & an extra-sized Arkansaw tooth pick. You may think we are in danger of our lives, the way we are supplied with implements of war, but everybody goes armed in this country (and that is the cause of so much bloodshed), and a person does not know what minute he may be attacked.” Two recent murders and an attempted murder in town are described.
Estimate
$500 – $750
336
(west–oklahoma.)
An Indian Territory Deputy Marshal’s prisoner receipt book.
Ada, OK, circa 1904
58 pages of printed forms. Oblong 8vo, ¼ calf, moderate wear; numerous leaves removed at the stub, 7 leaves used as scrapbook for medical cures clipped from newspapers (one detached); signed on inner cover by deputy from Ada, Indian Territory.
An unusual piece of western ephemera: a volume of blank prisoner receipts to be used by a United States Deputy Marshal. Each receipt has blanks to record a prisoner’s name, how many days the deputy had guard over him, and a certification that the lack of a nearby jail made this custody “absolutely necessary for the safe custody of the prisoner herein named.” The original owner was William S. Duncan (1866-1943) of Ada and Hickory, OK, who became a deputy in 1904. A 1937 interview with him in the Indian Pioneer History Collection recounts his exploits as a deputy.
Estimate
$200 – $300
337
(west–south dakota.) isaac e. west.
Letter regarding the defense of Dakota outlaw Laughing Sam Hartman.
Yankton, SD, 25 April 1878
Autograph Letter Signed as “I.E. West” on his letterhead to unidentified “Dear Sheriff.” 2 pages, 10¾ x 8¼ inches; folds, minimal wear; inked stamp of South Dakota dealer James O. Aplan below signature.
This letter was written by attorney Isaac E. West (circa 1838-1900) in Yankton, Dakota Territory, concerning the case of the recently arrested highwayman Samuel S. “Laughing Sam” Hartman, who had been stirring up trouble in and around Deadwood for two years. Legends have Laughing Sam as the survivor of a dust-up with Calamity Jane. West wrote: “I received a letter from Laughing Sam Saturday asking if I had seen or heard from you, that he was anxious to see you &c. What in your opinion ought I to do in this matter? I wish to act fairly and honorably by him, but I am really unable financially to go to Rapid City and incur the expense of hotel bills &c during what may be a tedious trial, with little prospect of remuneration, yet I told him I would do so. If he can raise money to pay expenses only, I will gladly keep my promise & defend him to the best of my skill & ability.” Laughing Sam would soon be released on a technicality, but quickly returned to jail for a long sentence.
The letter continues: “Tell Flanner he owes me two letters & that I expect him to either discharge the debt or go into bankruptcy before they repeal the statute.” Alonzo Joseph Flanner (1851-1913) had been the first district attorney in Deadwood, and by 1878 had settled in nearby Crook, SD.
The most famous sheriff in South Dakota was Seth Bullock of Lawrence County, but he only served for a few months in 1876 and 1877, and by this point had been replaced by John J. Manning. Perhaps more likely as a recipient would be Sheriff Frank P. Moulton of Pennington County, based in Rapid City where Laughing Sam was being held–35 miles from Deadwood. Regardless of who this letter was addressed to, it offers a pungent slice of old Deadwood.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
338
(west–south dakota.)
Photograph of famed Deadwood lawman Seth Bullock on parade, flanked by American Indians.
Deadwood, SD, 4 July 1901?
Albumen photograph, 3¾ x 5½ inches, on original mount with developer’s inked stamp on verso; minor wear to mount, minor staining in image; inked stamp of South Dakota dealer James O. Aplan on verso.
Seth Bullock (1849-1919) was the first sheriff of Deadwood in 1876, and spent the remainder of his life there. This photograph is uncaptioned, but was taken by a Deadwood photographer, and Bullock was probably the only man in the Black Hills with a nose, ears, and moustache this large. He appears in military uniform, dating the scene to shortly after his return from the Spanish-American War as an Army captain. A likely date: Deadwood’s 25th annual Independence Day parade, which featured “the Grand Marshal, Captain Seth Bullock, in his uniform as a captain of United States Volunteers; mounted Indians from the Pine Ridge Reservation; aides to the grand marshal, D.F. Connor, G.P. Mills, and Henry Wyttenbach” (Daily Deadwood Pioneer Times, 5 July 1901).
The stamp on verso reads “C.B. Horton, Jr., Developing, Printing and Viewing, Deadwood St.” This would very likely be Charles Bela Horton Jr. (1876-1944), then resident in Deadwood as telegraph manager, following in his father’s footsteps, though we find nothing else connecting him to the photography business.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
339
(west–texas.)
Grant to an American settler on the empresario lands of Lorenzo de Zavala.
Nacogdoches, TX, 19 March 1835
Manuscript document signed by 4 officials. 4 pages, 12 x 8¼ inches, on one folding sheet of sealed Coahuila y Tejas paper; folds, minor dampstaining and wear.
This document grants land from the empresario grant controlled by former Mexican official Lorenzo de Zavala, who was soon to become one of the leading figures of the Texan fight for independence. The land was granted to Anthony Harris of Louisiana (see Character Certificates in the General Land Office of Texas, page 83), who settled in Cow Bayou in Jefferson (now Liberty) County. This copy was made for Harris from the original filed at the archive. It was signed by land commissioner Jorge Antonio Nixon and two witnesses in March 1835. After Texan independence, it was presented to be signed by the land recorder of Jefferson County, Claiborne West (who also signed the Texan Declaration of Independence).
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
WITH THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF DALLAS ON A MAP
340
(west–texas.) j. calvin smith.
A New Guide for Travelers through the United States . . . Containing all the Railroad, Stage, and Steamboat Routes.
New York: Sherman & Smith, 1846
Folding map, hand-colored in outline, mounted to rear pastedown. 79 pages. 12mo, publisher's gilt cloth, very skillfully rebacked, minimal wear; lacking front free endpaper, possibly lacking an ad leaf, minimal wear to contents.
The first abbreviated edition of the 233-page “Illustrated Hand-book . . . for Travelers through the United States,” which was issued annually from 1846 to 1850. The text consists mainly of distance tables, with some descriptive summary of canals in the rear. The map is 20½ x 26 inches and titled “A New Map for Travelers through the United States of America Showing the Railroads, Canals, & Stage Roads.” It extends as far west as Texas. There, quite alone in the wilderness far up the Trinity River, in the smallest italic type, is the frontier settlement of Dallas–believed to be its first appearance on a map. The map also contains several attractive vignettes and 5 inset maps including “Map of Oregon, Northern California, Santa Fe &c.” Howes S614; Sabin 82929; Wheat, Transmississippi West 522. None traced in OCLC, though one is held by the American Antiquarian Society.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
341
(west–texas.) a.g. campbell.
Letter by a patient taking the water cure at Kapp’s Hydropathic Clinic.
Sisterdale, TX, 4 June 1854
Autograph Letter Signed to J.S. Hoyt in Hays County, TX. 3 pages, 9½ x 7½ inches, on one folding sheet, with address panel on final blank with manuscript “5”; short separations at intersections of folds.
Sisterdale was a predominantly German settlement in the Texas Hill Country, founded in 1847. One of its earliest businesses was a water-cure clinic founded by philosopher Ernst Kapp (1808-1896), who had just recently fled Germany as a political dissident and became the locus of a community of free-thinkers and abolitionists. One of his patients here offers detailed commentary on this interesting time and place. He begins with a discussion of his health: “I cannot say since the first excitement has fully subsided that there is any perceptible improvement in my general health other than an increase of strength & cheerfulness. . . . The doctor says that the treatment has not yet brought my condition to what he calls a crisis, but says with apparent confidence that all my symptoms are favorable & that a crisis is near, after which my progress to health shall be both rapid & certain. . . . You will have but little time to devote to books if you will strictly follow the Doctor’s prescriptions. . . . Your outfit must include two blankets, four Osnaburgh bedsheets, a few towels & a syringe.” One disturbance to the peace is “rumours of Indian depredations from abroad & even from the immediate neighborhoods of the largest towns.”
Moving on to the surprising intellectual ferment of Sisterdale, he explains: “The only question of excitement among the Germans here now is slavery, on which there is a considerable division among the German population of San Antonio, New Braunfels & Fredericksburg. I have attended a party a few weeks ago which in selectness, behavior & taste throughout would do credit to the aristocracy of Jamestown, Va. I was indeed surprised to perceive the tone & cast of the community in this settlement, among which there are men of the highest & best calibratted minds. They are now forming a club which is to meet once a week for the purpose of aiding each other in learning the English language & interchanging sentiments on different & general subjects.”
Estimate
$500 – $750
342
(west–texas.) john c. duval.
The Adventures of Big-Foot Wallace, the Texas Ranger and Hunter.
Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen, & Haffelfinger, 1871 [1870]
8 plates. 291 pages. 12mo, publisher’s cloth, backstrip faded, minimal wear; tears to free endpapers, otherwise minimal wear to contents; inscribed on front flyleaf “To Otis, Christmas 1870.”
First edition of a colorful classic biography of the Texas frontiersman, written by a close lifelong friend. The first 158 pages are devoted to hunting and Indian fighting. Pages 159-228 describe his role in the 1842 Mier Expedition by a Texas militia against Mexico, including his capture, survival of the Black Bean episode, and long imprisonment at Perote. The final 7 chapters are an uproarious and perhaps not 100% reliable account of Wallace’s trip to Virginia via New Orleans. “His narrative . . . is the rollickiest and most flavorsome that any American frontiersman has yet inspired”–Dobie, page 55. Clark, New South I-65; Graff 1187; Howes D602 (“aa”); Jenkins, Basic Texas Books 50.
Estimate
$2,500 – $3,500
GIFT OF FUTURE VICE PRESIDENT HANNIBAL HAMLIN
343
(west–utah.) howard stansbury.
Exploration and Survey of the Valley of the Great Salt Lake of Utah.
Philadelphia, 1852
3 folding maps (the two main maps hand-colored in outline), 57 lithographed plates. 2 volumes. 487 pages. 8vo, publisher’s cloth, minor wear to main volume, second volume (containing only the two large folding maps) disbound and lacking backstrip; one plate detached, some closed tears and verso tape repairs to the folding maps; gift inscription on front free endpaper of text volume, later library bookplates, inked stamps, and duplicate notations. 32nd Congress, March 1851 special session, Senate Exec. Doc. 3.
First edition. “Of particular interest were the newly established Mormon settlements, and the routes and passes through the Rockies and possibly a railroad”–Wagner-Camp 219:3. “A number of outstanding details . . . make the Stansbury expedition map one of the most important of its decade”–Wheat, Transmississippi West III, 764-5 and pages III:117-127. Flake 8360; Graff 3947; Howes S884; Sabin 90370.
The inscription on the front free endpaper reads, “Geo. B. Moore from Hon. H. Hamlin, Washington, March 1853.” Though not in future Vice President Hannibal Hamlin’s hand, it indicates a gift from him while he served as a United States Senator. The volume also has a 1921 bookplate indicating a gift from Mr. Scudney to the Taunton Public Library.
Estimate
$400 – $600
344
(west–wyoming.) henry c. langdon; photographer.
Photographs of soldiers and encampments at Fort D. A. Russell.
Wyoming, 1897 and undated
14 albumen photographs, each about 3¾ x 4½ inches on plain mounts (all but one matching), 5¼ x 6¼ inches; 4 captioned on verso, minimal wear.
Some or all of these photographs show soldiers and scenery at Fort D.A. Russell in southeastern Wyoming (now Warren Air Force Base). One shows a soldier standing by a bicycle with a mail bag attached–possibly a member of the 25th Infantry Bicycle Corps, a short-lived Buffalo Soldier unit which experimented with mail delivery across great distances from 1896 to 1898. Other photographs show military wagon trains, two soldiers holding freshly killed rabbit and turkeys, and views of military tent encampments.
4 of the photographs have manuscript captions on verso, 3 of them identifying the scene as Fort D.A. Russell, and the other reading “Officer’s Quarters . . . Ft. D.A. Russell, Wyo. Photo taken by Mr. Henry C. Langdon, Sept. 18 1897. Prof. J.O. Churchill of Cheyenne and his two children are standing on the sidewalk, Lieut. R.C. Langdon, 8th Inf. standing on their right. They are all in front of Quarters No. 27 occupied by Lt. Langdon.” Russell Creamer Langdon (1873-1962) was a recent West Point graduate who eventually gained the rank of Brigadier General. The photographer is credited twice in manuscript as Henry C. Langdon (1847-1930), a Nebraska railroad engineer and uncle of the young Lieutenant Langdon.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
345
(wisconsin.)
Broadside petition to Congress to construct a harbor at Southport (Kenosha).
Np, 9 January 1841
Letterpress broadside, 13 x 8 inches, headed “Public Meeting. Southport, Wisconsin Territory,” signed in type by Charles Durkee as meeting president, with address panel in verso including Southport postmark and free frank stamp, addressed to United States Congressman John Burton Thompson of Kentucky; minor wear at mailing folds, narrow 1¼-inch seal tear in text, with the strip still affixed to the seal at top.
This resolution was passed at a county meeting in Southport, Wisconsin Territory (now the city of Kenosha). It urges Congress to fund the “construction of Harbors on the western shore” of Lake Michigan, and points out that while the townsmen had paid more than a million dollars in taxes to the national treasury, other much smaller towns had already received lighthouses and other improvements. The harbor site and necessary improvements are described in detail. The final resolution: “that the proceedings of this meeting be . . . published, and a copy sent to each member of Congress.” Charles Durkee, who served as president of the meeting, would in 1849 serve as Wisconsin’s first representative to Congress upon statehood. One copy in OCLC, at Wisconsin Historical Society.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
"PNEUMONIA AND INFLUENZA ARE TO BE MY PROBLEMS"
346
(world war one.)
Long run of letters home by Dr. Harlow Brooks, Chief Consultant in Medicine to the First and Second Armies in France.
Vp, 1917-19 and 1936
More than 160 items (0.5 linear feet): 118 Letters Signed (some autograph, some typed) to his wife Louise and daughter Ruth Walker Brooks, 34 other war-date letters from various correspondents, 9 other personal items, plus printed ephemera; condition of the letters generally strong, many of them still folded in original postmarked envelopes (the envelopes being mostly quite worn). With metal container bearing the doctor’s name.
Henry Harlow Brooks (1871-1936) was a distinguished Manhattan physician and professor of clinical medicine at New York University. He had served as a civilian physician during the Spanish-American War, and had long been a member of the National Guard, so he naturally volunteered for military service in 1917 not long after the declaration of war on Germany.
At the heart of this collection are 118 letters written to his wife and daughter during his war service. They start with 21 letters written from the Long Island training camp at Camp Upton, best known as the subject of the Irving Berlin musical “Yip Yip Yaphank.” At the end of August 1918, Dr. Brooks shipped overseas to France as part of the American Expeditionary Force, where he was soon named Chief Consultant in Medicine to the First Army, holding the rank of Major. He later took the same title for the Second Army under Colonel Charles Ransom Reynolds (1877-1961), later Surgeon General.
Unsurprisingly, the “Spanish Flu” influenza epidemic was a frequent subject in his letters. The epidemic was in its most dangerous second wave when he arrived in France, and he was hardly a bystander: “Pneumonia and influenza are to be my problems, at least I propose what should be done, but that is not all in this game by any means, and most of all we must keep pounding the Boche [Germans] night and day” (12 October 1918). He tried to keep his letters upbeat, but his concern came through: “I hope you will try very hard not to get tired out or under-nourished, for these have been the chief factors in the spread of influenza here. Happily we seem to have gotten over the worst of it in our fighting line, which is my part of the job, though I am told they are having it further back. Be very careful and keep Ruth and mother D. out of crowds” (26 October). He reiterated on 26 November after further hard experience: “I am afraid you are not keeping yourself warm enough. Sleep, food and warmth keep the influenza away. You can not know how I worry about you, so do your very best.”
Brooks worked near the front line, but was generally unable to offer much combat content due to military censorship. One exception was 10 November, the day before the Armistice, when he offered a long and detailed letter describing his work on the rapid final offensive. “With the infantry go the M.O.s [medical officers] establishing their stations as they proceed, and leaving non-coms and privates to continue the work as they can, and wherever possible to move the wounded back to points which can be reached by ambulances, going out also and collecting in a systematic way those who cannot come themselves to the dressing stations. . . . I got my first real whiff of gas today, got my mask on in jig time and rather enjoyed the experience. The next time it may be much worse and I shall be perfectly cool and collected.” With the fighting over, he was freed to share more anecdotes about his experiences. He was eventually promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. His correspondence continues through the end of March 1919, when he began his journey home.
Also included are 25 war-date letters Brooks received from his wife and daughter; 9 other miscellaneous war-date letters; 3 photographs of Brooks in uniform; and his military decorations, said to have been removed from his uniform by his widow at his funeral.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
347
(world war one.) harold h. webster.
Diary of a regimental musician in France.
Vp, September 1917 to January 1919
[118] manuscript diary pages plus [18] pages of memoranda and ephemera including 5 photographs laid in. 8vo, original plain cloth, moderate wear, with title “The Story Book, Harold H. Webster from N.D., France” spelled out with bits of newspaper headlines; minor wear to contents including 2 tape repairs, one detached leaf, others coming loose.
Harold Harley Webster (1895-1924) of Lisbon, ND was a musician with the band of the North Dakota National Guard, which was activated for World War One as the 164th Infantry Regiment. The one time Webster mentions his instrument was his favorite Martin “B-flat bass” on 9 June 1918; we infer that he was a bass clarinet player. His wartime experience was quite different than the soldiers out in the trenches. He was apparently never very close to the front, but did his part to boost morale with almost daily concerts at bases throughout France for a wide variety of military and civilian audiences.
Before the period of this diary, Webster’s guard unit had already been activated for duty on the Mexican border, and then was reactivated for World War One shortly after their return. This diary begins with his departure from a Valley City, ND training camp, followed by two months in camps in North Carolina, Long Island, and New Jersey. On 14 December 1917, they departed for Europe on a massive captured German transport ship. The mood was tense approaching Europe: “No one allowed to undress tonight. Gun crews on full force. 12 men to a gun & they have to sleep on deck now, beside the gun” (21 December).
The band was based mostly at two camps in France, first in Gondrecourt and later at Langres. However, from those bases they travelled far and wide to other military camps, often sharing a bill with other performers. On 8 February they shared the stage with the noted Shakespearean actor Edward Hugh Sothern. Webster often recorded the pieces performed, ranging from patriotic pieces (American, English and French), classical music, popular songs, backing for minstrel shows, and on several occasions jazz. On 21 October 1918 the band even staged a comedy of their own creation: “Over to Turrenne Y and put on our show, ‘Fun in a Band Room,’ a 3 act comedy. It sure went fine. Got a good comp[liment] from the Y man.” In the rear of the volume is a 3-page list of “Our repertoire of big concert numbers,” as well as a group photo of the band (illustrated) and 4 other photographs.
The realities of war were not far away; funerals and hospital visits were a part of his regular routine. Though he noted at Gondrecourt that “we are 25 or 30 miles from the trenches” (14 February), the next day he wrote “Woke up at 3 a.m. and sure could hear heavy bombardment at the front.” He went through gas mask training on 20 March 1918. The band was apparently affected during the relatively mild first wave of the Spanish Flu from 21 to 27 May: “Gewalt went to hosp. with high fever. . . . The band all have the grippe. . . . Nothing doing all day for nearly all have the grippe.” During the more deadly second wave, he mentions it but once, on 27 October 1918: “Nice day, but no playing because of the Spanish Flu epidemic.”
Webster and his bandmates also found time for the occasional amusement. On 11 March 1918 he bummed a joyride with a military pilot for his first airplane ride: “We were up in the air over 20 minutes, and at an altitude of over or between 1800 & 2000 feet.” He participated in several baseball games (described at most length on 4 May 1918). From 25 July to 3 August he and some friends enjoyed a week’s leave at the mountain lakeside resort town of Aix-les-Bains, where they enjoyed music and café life: “Heard part of band concert by N.H. band–sure is a punk band . . . Met a man & his wife (Americans) who took us into a cafe at Grand Port & bot us some champagne & Gewalt played some jazz. I danced some with the Madame, a young woman & wonderful dancer.” He concludes this section with an amusing summary with cast of characters in yearbook form, including the local women they cavorted with. The most joyous passages describe the news of peace on 12 November 1918: “Hiked down town & played a parade to Hotel de Ville. Some wild crowd. Played 2 hour concert & then back to camp. . . . Some wild mob on the streets tonight, everybody happy & doing lots of yelling, laughing & celebrating in all ways.”
With–6 pins and medals from his 1916 service on the Mexican border with the North Dakota National Guard, and his printed folding map of France.
Estimate
$500 – $750
348
(world war two.) david mason.
Diary and related papers of a year driving an ambulance in Africa with the American Field Service.
Vp, bulk May 1942 to June 1943
More than 100 items, including most notably 66 photographs and a manuscript diary from his war service; condition generally strong.
David Woodrow Mason (1917-2007) of Larchmont, NY had an unusual and eventful experience in the war. He had been a 6’5” tennis star at Columbia University, but was not drafted because of imperfect eyesight. Eager to serve the cause, he signed up as an ambulance driver with the American Field Service, who sent him to North Africa. He was attached to the British Eighth Army as they pressed the Axis from Syria all the way to Tunisia.
His diary begins on 20 May 1942 with an 82-day passage by Dutch freighter across the Atlantic and around the Cape of Good Hope, followed by two months in Syria, tending to a regiment of Nepalese Gurkhas. On 12 October 1942 he was suddenly dispatched for the desert front. In Egypt on 25 October he reported “One of my section is from Free French who are just north of Qattara depression, ambulance shot full of holes. As he was dragging patient out to safety, explosive bullet hit & killed patient. Stuck in sand & had to await tank to be pulled.” On 6 November near Daba, Egypt: “My first sight of soldiers killed in action, lying right beside road, already beginning to smell. Booby traps all around, and even though there is lots of loot to pick up, it is best to be careful. Several in CCS [Casualty Clearing Station] from those set off by fountain pens, water bottles, etc.” He crossed into Libya on 15 November. After weeks in the desert with no bath, he washed his clothing in petrol on 1 December. On 8 January 1943, he wrote “Camp on road about 70 miles from Benghazi. Patient sleeps right next to me with contagious jaundice–great sport!” Pressing into Tunisia, he reported on 7 April “Germans retreating now. . . . Several hundred Jerry prisoners pass by walking to POW cages.” Outside of Tunis on 7 May, “we take 4 Jerry wounded back to CCS, looting their kit as we go; can’t say I dealt gently with bumps. . . . They were very young and dead tired, probably hadn’t slept in four days.” The next day, entering liberated Tunis, was “the most exciting day of my life. . . . The people are wild, cheering, clapping, throwing flowers. . . . Climb aboard a Churchill tank and feel like Caesar as we acknowledge acclaim of crowds.” This festive day was a fitting end to his year of service, and he was soon en route homeward; the diary ends on 20 May, with a few additional memoranda about some Egyptian sightseeing and the trip home. Mason spent most of his long postwar life in Fryeburg, ME, where he ran a camp.
Included with the diary are 66 photographs from this period, showing Mason and his fellow drivers as well as the North African scenery. One shows an American Field Service ambulance with its front tire blown off by a land mine (illustrated). Other ephemera includes a large folding map of northern Egypt; a paperback war-era history titled “The Conquest of North Africa”; 8 pieces of paper money collected from various nations; 3 period newspaper clippings; an air-dropped safe-conduct pass intended to convince Italian troops to surrender; other contraband found after German retreats; and about 50 postcards and photographs from tourist sites in Egypt and Jerusalem. A CD containing a long 2007 interview with Mason about his war experience is also included, as well as a detailed transcript of the diary embellished with photographs, additional documents, a route map, and a full itinerary.
Estimate
$600 – $900
349
(world war two.)
Correspondence of Corporal Jack Doyle in the European Theater.
Vp, bulk 1942-45
Approximately 300 items (0.6 linear feet), mostly war-date correspondence; condition generally strong, a few letters dampstained, almost all letters still folded in original postmarked envelopes.
Jack Clarence Doyle (1916-1983) was an Oregon native who met his sweetheart, Kathryn Ramsey of Richmond, VA, shortly before his enlistment as a corporal. Offered here are approximately 120 of his letters to Kathryn written during his military service, a mix of Autograph Letters Signed and V-Mail. In his first letter to Kathryn on 26 December 1942, he wrote “Darling, the only regret I have is that we didn’t go through with it last night. But maybe as your mother said, it will all work out for the best. Believe me, though, darling, I’m yours. All we have to do is wait.” Typically for World War Two letters, he was unable to offer many specific details of his service due to military censors. We do know that his unit, the 8th Tactical Air Communication Squadron, served in the European theater and had an impressive accomplishment: on D-Day, they were the only air support unit to make it ashore with working radio equipment, improvising radio contact with Air Force pilots and diverting them to important targets (see Cooling, Case Studies in the Development of Close Air Support, page 257). His first extant letter after the landing is a V-Mail dated 21 June 1944, “Somewhere in France”: “Still live & kicking, honey, getting tired of sleeping in foxholes, etc. . . . There are about three things I’d like to have: a good bath, an honest to goodness meal, and last a good bed. Boy! I could really do justice to them all.” On 26 June, the day the Allied forces captured Cherbourg as their first port on the continent, he wrote “This will probably be a memorable day and will go down in history no doubt. . . . It is unfavorable as far as the weather goes. That is about all I can tell you. . . . Am beginning to pick up a little French, if you can imagine. The people in here overall now are very friendly, and give us milk, butter, and other things to eat. In return we give them cigarettes, candy, etc.”
Also included in the lot are approximately 60 war-date letters from Kathryn to Jack; 40-plus other personal letters, mostly war-date; a printed roster and home address list of Jack’s squadron (he is listed under Oregon); approximately 50 pre-and post-war family photographs and album; two pocket New Testaments presented to Doyle during wartime; and other ephemera.
Doyle was discharged as a sergeant at the conclusion of the war, with his final letter dated 24 September 1945 from England. Records show that he and Kathryn were married on 29 October. His death certificate indicates that he drove an oil truck in Richmond until his retirement.
Estimate
$300 – $400
Latin America & The Caribbean
350
(chile.) andrés febres.
Arte de la lengua general del reyno de Chile.
Lima: Calle de la Encarnacion, 1765
[30], 682 pages. 8vo, contemporary vellum, minor wear; corner excised from title, a few leaves coming loose, long tear to leaf Xxx4, minor dampstaining and wear toward rear, lacking colophon leaf and free endpapers; title page in red and black, marbled edges.
First edition of a dictionary and grammar of the Mapuche or Mapudungun language, still spoken widely in Chile. This remained the standard work in the field through the early 20th century. Medina, Lima 1228; Palau 87065; Sabin 23968.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
351
(commerce.) josé de veitia linaje.
Norte de la contratacion de las Indias Occidentales.
Seville: Juan Francisco de Blas, 1672
Frontispiece plate. [32], 299; 264, [71] pages. 2 volumes in one. Folio, contemporary vellum, minor wear; minor dampstaining, most notably to frontispiece, lacking front free endpaper, lacking leaves II:L3-4, frontispiece and colophon leaf possibly supplied from another copy.
First edition. “Laws, rules and regulations governing the commerce and navigation between Spain and the Indies”–JCB III:248-249 (describing this as “another issue” without leaves dd6 and ee5). European Americana 672/234; Medina BHA III:1544; Palau 356806; Sabin 98780.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
352
(cuba.) josé maría heredia.
Poesias del ciudadano José Maria Heredia, ministro de la audiencia de México.
Toluca [Mexico]: Juan Matute, 1832
2 volumes in one. 132, [3]; 128, 15 pages. Small 16mo, attractive modern morocco with gilt, black and red inlays; minimal wear and foxing to contents; edges tinted red; inked stamps of later owners on title page and elsewhere, small private library stickers on rear endpapers. In modern slipcase.
“Segunda edicion, corregida y aumentada” of the influential works of José María Heredia y Campuzano (1803-1839), who has been called the national poet of Cuba. Exiled in 1823 for supporting independence, he issued his first volume of poetry in New York in 1825, shortly before joining the Cuban exile community in Mexico. This second edition is substantially expanded and revised, representing the final and most complete edition issued during Heredia’s short lifetime.
This volume collates with the copy at the Biblioteca Nacional de España; we find no other collations. Palau 113262n. 4 institutional holdings in OCLC. We trace no other examples of the first or second editions at auction since Swann’s Hispanic Society sale on 30 November 1961, lot 230. A handsome example of a scarce and important literary work.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
353
(dominican republic.) james e. taylor, artist.
Original drawing of a military parade during the 1871 annexation debates.
[Santo Domingo], 1871
Ink and wash on paper, 18 x 22¾ inches; minor foxing, chipped on all edges with substantial loss including most of signature, laid down on heavy stock and stabilized, attractive despite flaws. Not examined out of frame.
This drawing was done during the visit of a delegation to the Dominican Republic in 1871. Ulysses Grant, the president of the United States, had proposed annexing the small island nation, but had not received approval from Congress. He sent a group of diplomats including Frederick Douglass on a mission to salvage the deal. Accompanying the delegation was James E. Taylor (1839-1901), who had made his reputation as a Civil War sketch artist and reporter for Frank Leslie’s Weekly, and continued with the paper until 1883. Several of his drawings from this trip were engraved for Leslie’s, starting with the 11 March issue.
This drawing, which does not seem to have been published in Leslie’s, depicts Dominican officers and soldiers in dress uniform, apparently preparing to march in a military parade. The standard-bearer can be seen in the foreground tying his shoes, with the musicians behind him, then troops arranged in rows apparently taking instruction from a drill sergeant. Officers in dress uniform can be seen to the left and on horseback in the background, and the Dominican flag flies overhead. The occasion may have been a 27 February dispute in which Haitian troops were said to be marching on the city of Azua, and Dominican troops prepared to face them. The New York Daily Herald of 17 March 1871 wrote: “This military parade has served the purpose, for it has impressed the Commissioners with an idea that all the trouble comes from Hayti.”
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
354
(guatemala.)
Bullarium Latino-Hispanicum Ord. Fratrum Bethlemitarum in Indiis Occidentalibus.
Rome, 1773
v, [1], 308, [1] pages. Folio, contemporary stiff vellum, minor wear; lacks frontispiece plate, minor dampstaining in lower margin; edges speckled red; marca de fuego on top edge.
A compilation of the papal bulls relating to the Bethlehemite Brothers, a monastic order founded in Guatemala in 1653–the first to be founded in the New World. None traced at auction. Palau 37038; Sabin 9122.
Estimate
$300 – $400
355
(mexican cookery.)
Early manuscript cookbook titled “Libro de Cosina.”
No place, commenced 11 June 1844
88 manuscript pages. 4to, original hand-stitched paper-covered wrappers, moderate wear; minor dampstaining toward rear.
The full title reads “Libro de Cosina para el buen uso de los S’ors y S’ras es muy util y en el se allan diversos pasteles, estofados, postres, chanfainas, sopas &c.” A few clues point to a possible origin in the culinary hotspot of Oaxaca, including a partial recipe on the front endpaper for “tortitas de huebo oajaqueña,” and several recipes (pages 20, 39, 87 etc.) featuring the chilguacle [chilhuacle] chile, grown only in Oaxaca. Other Mexican dishes include “vaca beracrusana” (23) and “guiso beracrusano” (35), the stew called manchamanteles (57), tortillas reyenas (67), and in the dessert realm, torta de mamey (78). A small diagram for serving salad can be seen on page 56. Another unusual feature is a pair of chanfainas (Francesa and Española), a type of offal stew which originated in Extremadura, Spain and made its way to Mexico, pages 60-61.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
356
(mexican cookery.)
Group of 3 early Mexican manuscript cookbooks.
[Mexico], circa 1830s
Unbound, various sizes; minor to moderate wear, two of them incomplete.
- “Libro de Repostería.” [30] manuscript pages on wove paper. 8vo, 6 x 4¼ inches, stitched from folding and loose sheets; a few leaves coming loose; inscribed “84 Athia[?]” on first page. Among the distinctively Mexican recipes is a “torta de chico zapote” on page [22] featuring the fruit of the sapodilla, known as chicozapote in Mexico; and the “torta de chirimolla” [cherimoya] on page [16].
2. Untitled partial cookbook. [21] manuscript pages on 6 folding sheets of laid paper with watermarks tentatively dated to 1837. 4to, 8½ x 6¼ inches, unbound. Includes recipes for “Gallinas de chichimeco,” “gallinas en chile,” “escabeche de Beracruz,” and several fish dishes.
3. [20] manuscript pages on 5 folding sheets of laid paper with watermarked tentatively dated to circa 1830. Features savory dishes, less distinctively Mexican than the other two volumes.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
357
(mexican cookery.)
Recetas practicas para la señora de la casa, sobre cocina, reposteria, pasteles, neveria, etc.
Guadalajara, 1892
472 pages. Small 8vo, contemporary ½ calf, moderate wear; foxing, minor dampstaining and wear to contents, lacking pages 173-4. Second of many editions.
Estimate
$150 – $250
358
(mexican imprint–1566.) [bartholomé de ledesma.]
[De septem novae legis sacramentis summarium.]
[Mexico: Antonio de Espinosa, 1566]
404, [8 of 16] leaves. 4to, early vellum, worn, with waste paper pastedowns; lacking free endpapers, lacking 14 leaves (4 preliminary leaves including title page, also leaf 303, illustrated leaf 373, and final 8 index leaves), last 22 extant leaves increasingly defective from vermin damage, minor dampstaining; unidentified marca de fuego on top edge.
First edition. A treatise by the future Bishop of Oaxaca explaining seven sacraments for use in the Mexican church. It was later reprinted in Salamanca in 1585. This book was produced by Antonio de Espinosa, who was just the second printer in the New World and “the man who brought printing in Mexico to maturity” (Woodbridge, page 13). Includes consanguinity diagrams on leaves 352 and 362, the first of them showing descent from Adam and Eve. García Icazbalceta 47; Medina, Mexico I:50; Palau 134124; Sabin 39677.
Estimate
$600 – $900
359
(mexican imprint–1571.) alonso de molina.
Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana * Vocabulario en lengua mexicana y castellana.
Mexico: Antonio de Espinosa, 1571
4 of 6 engravings. 2 volumes in one. [3 of 4], 121, [1]; [2], 160 [of 162] leaves. Small folio, contemporary vellum, worn and darkened; lacking title page (present in facsimile), leaves e5 and V4, and final two leaves, but with final tailpiece clipped and laid down on a blank leaf, edge wear to first 2 and final 5 leaves with some loss, leaf o8 torn with substantial loss, date cropped from second title page, moderate dampstaining, lacking rear free endpaper; early owner’s inscriptions on front free endpaper, facing page 1, and rear pastedown.
Second and expanded edition of the first dictionary printed in the Americas. It begins with a Spanish-to-Nahuatl dictionary (originally published in 1555), followed by the Nahuatl-to-Spanish dictionary (here making its first appearance). The illustrations include a nearly full-page engraving of Saint Francis on the second title page, an engraving of a kneeling man at the end of Volume I, and smaller tailpieces at the end of each volume, in addition to the decorative initials which begin each section of the dictionary. Church 116; García Icazbalceta 60; Medina, Mexico I:65; Palau 174352; Pilling 2601-2; Sabin 49867.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
360
(mexican imprint–1587.)
[Constitutiones Ordinis Fratrum Eremitarum Sancti Augustini.]
[Mexico: Pedro Ocharte, 1587]
Woodcut on verso of leaf 9. 9-225, [39 of 43] leaves. 8vo, modern speckled calf; lacking 65 scattered leaves including title, heavy wear and repairs to a few other leaves, moderate worming and dampstaining (heavier in index).
A quite defective Mexican printing of the regulations for the Order of St. Augustine, following an earlier printing from 1556. Garcia Icazbalceta 98; Medina, Mexico 105; Palau 59840; Sabin 57519 (“an excessively rare production”); Wagner, Mexican Imprints in the Huntington Library 98.
Estimate
$300 – $400
361
(mexican imprint–1611.) fray martín de león.
Camino del cielo en lengua mexicana.
Mexico: Diego López Dávalos, 1611
2 woodcut illustrations. [12], 160, [7] leaves. Small 4to, contemporary vellum, moderate wear; contents worn, lacking 5 leaves and front endpapers, moderate dampstaining, extensive early manuscript notes; ownership inscription on rear free endpaper.
An early catechism, confessional, and church calendar in Nahuatl, with Spanish on facing pages in some parts. This was the last known book printed by Dávalos, who used the type and press inherited from his father-in-law Antonio de Espinosa, the second printer in the New World (Woodbridge, Printing in Colonial Spanish America, page 26). Medina, Mexico 260; Palau 135423; Pilling 2252; Sabin 40080 (“extremely scarce”).
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
362
(mexican imprint–1633.) martín de la madre de dios.
Pratica, y exercicio de bien morir.
Mexico: Francisco Salbago, 1633
[15 of 16?], 189 [of ???] leaves. 16mo, contemporary vellum, worn; endpapers defective, apparently lacking a preliminary leaf (half-title or blank?), leaves Y4-5, and an indeterminate number at end, moderate foxing and wear, manuscript notes on several leaves; marca de fuego of Oratorio de san Felipe Neri on top edge.
First Mexican edition of a 1628 work on death by a Spanish Carmelite monk. This edition not traced in OCLC, Medina, Palau, or at auction.
Estimate
$600 – $900
363
(mexican imprint–1646.) luis dalcobia cotrim.
Primera parte del symbolo de la vida Christiana.
Mexico: Juan Ruíz, 1646
Engraving on title page. [9], 215, [2] leaves. 4to, later vellum, minor wear; title page worn and foxed with reinforcement on verso, minor worming, intermittent moderate dampstaining and foxing, minimal worming, final leaf lacking bottom 1¼ inch without loss of text.
Second edition, though no copies are known to survive of the 1630 first edition–its existence is only known through the preliminaries here. It is essentially a guide to managing one’s life as a Christian, going into more depth than a basic catechism, and resorting frequently to the words of early church fathers and theologians. It is arranged by themes such as feelings, vices, virtues, cruelty, charity, and worldly love. Medina, Mexico 410 (first edition), 624; Palau 68127. 2 copies in OCLC.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
364
(mexican imprint–1684.) francisco de florencia.
Relacion de la exemplar, y religiosa vida del Padre Nicolas de Guadalaxara.
Mexico: Juan de Ribera, 1684
[4], 32, 23, [1] leaves. 4to, later ¼ calf, minor wear; early inscription erased from title page, minor foxing; ownership tag of Joaquin García Icazbalceta on front pastedown.
The life of a Jesuit priest. With a long appendix, “Quatro Tratados que Contienen muy Eficaces . . . por el Padre Nicolas de Guadalaxara,” as issued. Medina, Mexico 1305; Palau 92336; Sabin 24818.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
365
(mexican imprint–1694.) francisco de florencia.
Historia de la provincia de la Compañia de Jesus de Nueva-Espana . . . tomo primero
Mexico: Juan José Guillena Carrascoso, 1694
[all published]. [20], 409, [20] pages. Folio, contemporary vellum, worn; lacking engraved additional title page, minor dampstaining, moderate wear to contents, last 3 leaves and endpapers quite defective, a few early manuscript notes; title page in red and black.
First edition of a history of the Jesuits in New Spain. The author was born in Florida, and discusses early missionaries to Florida such as Martinez, Rogel, and Segura in several chapters. He died the following year before this chronology could be completed. Medina, Mexico 1569; Palau 92348; Sabin 24810 (“amongst the most esteemed and rarest of this author’s works”); Streeter sale, II:1175. None traced at auction since 1986.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
366
(mexican imprint–1699.) alonso alberto de velasco.
Exaltacion de la divina misericordia en la milagrosa renovacion de la soberana imagen de Christo.
Mexico: Maria de Benavides, 1699
[8], 67, [1] leaves. 4to, later vellum, minor wear; possibly lacking a plate (of which Medina was able to find no example), leaves 13-16 in facsimile, minor wear and dampstaining.
First known edition of an oft-reprinted popular work on the miraculous reappearance of an image of Christ in the church of the convent of St. Joseph in Mexico City. It was adapted from his 1688 compilation of the evidence, “Renovacion por si misma de la soberana imagen de Christo.” Medina, Mexico 1754; Palau 357042. None traced at auction.
Estimate
$500 – $750
367
(mexican imprint–1728.) abbé jean-baptiste dubos.
Interesses de Inglaterra mal entendidos en la guerra presente con España.
Mexico: José Bernardo de Hogal, 1728
[32], 196 pages. 4to, contemporary vellum, minor wear; title page nearly detached, minor dampstaining, minor worming to last few leaves; early inscription on verso of title page, later inked stamp of Francisco Plancarte, Archbishop of Linares-Monterrey, on front free endpaper.
First Mexican edition of a 1703 work titled “Les Intéréts de l’Angleterre mal entendus dans la guerre présente” which discussed West Indian commerce and predicted the rebellion of England’s American colonies. This translation is by Juan de Urtassum. Medina, Mexico 3030; Palau 120831; Sabin 98172n.
Estimate
$400 – $600
368
(mexican imprint–1741.)
13 editions of Acta Capituli Provincialis, the guide to Dominican establishments in Mexico.
Mexico, 1741-88
13 volumes in one. 34, 32, 45, 30, 34, 41, 35, 38, 45, 46, 52, 46, 42 pages plus title pages. 4to, contemporary vellum, minor wear; 3 editions lacking some leaves, minor wear and dampstaining; some editions with official paper seals on final leaves; later inked stamp of Francisco Plancarte, Archbishop of Linares-Monterrey, on front free endpaper.
This guide was issued semi-regularly and its title varied slightly over the years. The rear of each volume lists the friars at Dominican convents including Porta-Coeli and Azcapotzalco (Mexico City), Guadalajara, Zacatecas, Queretaro, Sombrerete, Chimalhuacan, Atlautla, Tepetlixpa, and most notably “Missionibus Californiarum,” presumably in Baja California. Included are the editions published in 1741 (lacking final page), 1749, 1752, 1756, 1760, 1761, 1765, 1769, 1773 (lacking pages 1-4, 33-36), 1778, 1782, 1784 (lacking pages 3-8 and 33-34), and 1788. Medina, Mexico 3562, etc.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
369
(mexican imprint–1746.) mathias de escobar.
Voces de Triton Sonoro, que da desde la Santa Iglesia de Valladolid de Mechoacan.
Mexico: José Bernardo Hogal, 1746
[94], 206, 107-111, [35] pages. 4to, contemporary vellum, minor wear; hinges torn, faint dampstaining, closed tear to appendix title page; marcas de fuego of the Convento de san Francisco in Silao, Guanajuato (MFM-12117) on top and bottom edges, modern ex-libris bookplate on front pastedown.
Concerns the remains of Juan José Escalona y Calatayud, Bishop of Caracas and Michoacán, which were exhumed seven years after his death and found to be in a miraculous state of freshness; examination under a microscope found cinnamon and rosemary. See Will de Chaparro, “Death and Dying in New Mexico,” page 108. Includes an appendix with a separate title page, “Testimonio relativo . . . sobre averiguas el estado de las partes intestinales, y liquidos, que se extraheron del cuerpo difunto del . . . Escalona, y Calatayud.” “This strange work contains much curious matter relative to the various modes of embalming”–Sabin 22837. Medina, Mexico 3764; Palau 81077. None sold at auction since 1967.
Estimate
$400 – $600
370
(mexican imprint–1746.) marcos de saavedra.
Confessonario breve activo, y passivo, en lengua mexicana.
Mexico: María de Ribera, 1746
[15] pages. Small 8vo, 19th-century ¼ calf, minor wear; minimal wear to contents, tightly trimmed with text of second leaf grazed at fore-edge; small bookplate of bibliographer Joaquin García Icazbalceta on front pastedown.
Apparently a second edition (“reimpresso”), but no copies of any earlier edition have been traced. A manual for confessors in parallel Spanish and Nahuatl. Beristain states that the author arrived in Mexico in 1623, so the lost first edition presumably dates from that period. Medina, Mexico 3798; Palau 283406; Pilling 3428; Sabin 74650.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
371
(mexican imprint–1764.) hermenegildo vilaplana.
Enchiridion canonico-morale de confessario ad inhonesta, & turpia solicitante.
Mexico: Colegio de San Ildefonso, 1764
[40], 217, [15] pages. 8vo, contemporary tree calf, moderate wear; dampstaining.
First edition. “Indispensable para el conocimiento de una de las mayores preocupaciones de la Iglesia durante toda la Apoca colonial: el castigo de los sacredotes solicitantes”–Palau 365782 (re 1765 second edition–does not list this edition). Medina, Mexico 4925.
Estimate
$200 – $300
372
(mexican imprint–puebla.) antonio vázquez gaztelu.
Arte de lengua mexicana.
Puebla: Diego Fernandez de León, 1689
Illustrated title page with full-page armorial engraving on verso. [6], 42 leaves. 4to, later vellum; title page mounted on stub, tightly sewn, edges worn with minimal loss of text; early owner’s inscription on page 20.
First edition of a Nahuatl grammar, frequently reprinted. Medina, Puebla 125; Palau 354001 (“rarissima”); Sabin 26746 (“of extreme rarity”). 5 in OCLC and none traced at auction.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
373
(mexican imprint–puebla.)
Group of 9 sermons printed in Puebla.
Puebla, 1668-89
4to, each disbound; minor wear except as noted.
“Relacion del celebre jubileo de las missiones . . . de la Compañia de Jesus.” [2], 8 leaves. Puebla: Borja y Gandia, 1668.
Diaz Chamorro. “Sermon que predicó . . . en el Convento de Carmelitas Descalças.” [3], 12 leaves. Puebla: Borja y Gandia, 1675.
Torres. “Sermon panegyrico en la solemne festividad de la gloriosa Sancta Rita de Cassia.” [5], 9 leaves. Puebla: Borja, 1676.
Sedeño. “Descripcio de las funerales . . . doña Jacinta de Vidarte, y Pardo.” [7], 20 leaves plus engraved leaf at end. Puebla: Borja y Gandia, 1681.
Alvarez. “Noticias sagradas.” [16] leaves; worn and stained; one example in OCLC. Puebla: Fernandez de León, [1682].
Torres Pezellin. “Jerusale triumphante y militante.” [3 of 5], 15 leaves; lacking second and third preliminary leaves. Puebla: Borja y Gandia, 1682.
Navarro de San Antonio. “Evangelico panegiris en la fiesta.” [6], 10 leaves; slight loss to title page from marca de fuego. Puebla: Fernandez de León, 1685.
Cruz. “Sermon que a la solemne dedicacion de la capilla.” [5], 9 leaves; staining and worming; none in OCLC. Puebla: Fernandez de León, 1686.
Aguilera. “Sermón, que predico . . . en la solemne fiesta a la colocacion de un nuevo sumptuoso retablo.” [5], 13 leaves; moderate dampstaining. Puebla: Fernandez de León, 1689. Medina, Puebla 64, 70, 72, 76, 77, 78, 93, 98, 112.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
374
(mexico.) “juan focher” [jean foucher].
Itinerarium Catholicum proficiscentium, ad infideles covertendos.
[6 of 8], 99, [9] leaves. 8vo, contemporary vellum, worn and wrinkled, possibly repurposed from another volume; title page in facsimile, lacking the illustrated 8th preliminary leaf, colophon excised from final leaf with crude repair, moderate dampstaining and minor wear; leaves 94-99 printed partly in red; marca de fuego on bottom edge.
“The first scholarly missiological work concerning New Spain, the fruit of over forty-five years of mission experience. It reflects the complicated marriage of Franciscan spirituality and mission work”–Turley, “Franciscan Spirituality and Mission in New Spain,” page 120. The author, Juan or Jean Focher, was a French Franciscan who served in Mexico from 1532 until his death in 1572, learning Nahuatl and providing learned rulings on Catholicism in the context of New Spain. His works are here edited by Diego de Valadés, who served in Mexico himself as missionary to the Chichimeca from 1550 to 1571. European Americana 574/25; Medina BHA I:234; Palau 92930; Sabin 24934.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
"THE EARLIEST PUBLICATION CONCERNED SOLELY WITH CHOCOLATE"
375
(mexico.) antonio colmenero de ledesma.
Curioso tratado de la naturaleza y calidad del Chocolate.
Madrid: Francisco Martinez, 1631
[2], 11 leaves 4to, later stiff vellum with morocco spine label, a bit bowed; about ½-inch of title page fore-edge restored without affecting text, moderate foxing, original 1925 Maggs catalog description laid down on front pastedown.
First edition of “the earliest publication concerned solely with chocolate”–Tigner & Carruth, Literature and Food Studies. Written by a Spanish physician, it was later translated into English, French, Latin, and Italian. Chocolate is here presented as a medicinal drink, to be prepared with red peppers, anise and vanilla, with a logwood husk, sugar, cinnamon, and almonds as options. That does not sound half-bad, with the caveat that we have no idea how the logwood would taste. He also notes that the chocolate is sometimes molded into tablets with sugar, and sold to the ladies of Mexico as a delicacy. European Americana 631/31; Medina BHA II:889 (calls for only one preliminary leaf); Palau 56904; Sabin 14542; Vicaire, page 190. None traced at auction since 1949.
Estimate
$10,000 – $15,000
376
(mexico.) franco, artist.
Elaborate oil portrait of Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, the influential Bishop of Puebla.
Np, circa mid-18th century?
Oil on canvas, 10¾ x 7¼ inches to sight; one-inch crack near bottom of left edge, light craquelure, light repairs and retouching in corners, otherwise minimal wear; in later frame.
A portrait of Juan de Palafox y Mendoza (1600-1659), an important and influential Bishop of Puebla from 1640 to 1655 who also served briefly as Viceroy of New Spain in 1642. He established the first public library in the Americas, and defended the rights of Indians. He is best known for his lengthy power struggle with the Jesuits of New Spain.
This allegorical portrait was likely created in support of Palafox’s long process of beatification, which first received papal approval in 1726, and moved forward with an examination of his writings in 1758 (it was not concluded successfully until 2011). It depicts a beardless Palafox surrounded by seven women bearing emblems pertinent to his career. The caption circling his images reads in Latin “Ven Ioannes de Palafox episcopus angelopolitan et postea oxomen,” surrounded by an elaborate array of saints bearing tribute. At bottom are the additional captions “Ingentes animas prograndia nomina prasal unicus, at gemino spiritu adauctus habet” and “Totus amor virtus sapienta gratis totus, cui sacra candet ovis cui sacra plaudit avis.”
This painting appears to be the source image for at least two period engravings, and possibly three. A 1760 engraving attributed to Franz Regis Göz [Goetz] is held by the National Library of Spain. The other was engraved by [Francisco] Gutierrez circa 1780-1810; an example was sold by Swann on 10 March 2020, lot 346. A similar but distinct composition by Juan Bernabé Palamino after Antonio Velazquez was used to illustrate the 1762 Madrid edition of the Works of Palafox (a copy is held by the John Carter Brown Library).
Provenance: Alcalá Subastas in Madrid, 7 October 2015, lot 193.
Estimate
$4,000 – $6,000
377
(mexico.) juan de esteyneffer.
Florilegio medicinal de todas las enfermedades . . . para bien de los pobres, y de los que tienen falta de medicos, en particular para las provincias remotas.
Amsterdam: Oosterwyck, 1719
Frontispiece plate of Santa Maria de Valvanera. [38], 521 pages. 4to, contemporary vellum, minor wear; front hinge split, lacking leaves Ff2-3, minor dampstaining, moderate worming, lacking rear free endpaper; early owner's inscription on final blank page.
Second edition, a page-for-page resetting of the 1712 Mexican first edition. Written by a Silesian Jesuit (born Steinhoeffer) who served in the missions of New Spain. “Work of popularisation, originally written to assist missionaries and others in remote places. . . . The first two books comprise medicine and surgery, arranged by symptom, and the third is a dispensatory”–Wellcome Americana M.50. Recommends cannabis (cañamo) for nursing mothers on page 233. European Americana 712/52; Palau 84237 (“muy rara”).
Estimate
$600 – $900
378
(mexico.) lorenzo boturini benaducci.
Idea de una nueva historia de la America Septentrional.
Madrid: Zúñiga, 1746
2 plates. [40], 167, [9], 96 pages. 4to, later vellum, minor wear; front hinge split; minor dampstaining and foxing.
Includes as a long appendix the “Catalogo del Museo Historico Indiano,” a detailed listing of the author’s collection of books and manuscripts, most of which was later destroyed. European Americana 746/28; Medina, BHA 3403; Palau 33786; Sabin 6834.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
379
(mexico.) r.g. reeve, engraver; after george ackermann.
Pair of attractive aquatint views of Mexico.
Mexico, circa 1826
Hand-colored prints, 18 x 24 inches; washed, minimal toning.
The English titles are “Mexico: Bird’s Eye View Looking Towards the West” and “Mexico: View of the Great Square and Cathedral,” with alternate titles in Spanish. These prints were issued as a pair. They are discussed in the October 1826 issue of La Belle Assemblée Magazine, page 183: “The idea which they convey is very fresh and vivid; they have all the appearance of accuracy.” We trace no other examples at auction, although Maggs offered the Great Square view at retail in 1939. OCLC lists only one example of the bird’s eye view, at the British Library, and none of the Great Square.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
380
(mexico.)
Atlas volume to the Antiquités Mexicaines.
[Paris, 1844]
166 numbered illustrations on 161 plates (numbered XXXII, LXIX, XLVI [44], IX, X [7]). 12 text leaves (half-title and title for each of 5 sections, plus 2 contents leaves at end). Folio, 20¾ x 13¾ inches, later buckram, with worn portion of original backstrip imperfectly laid down; foxing, minor dampstaining and wear, lacking the map.
Second edition, atlas volume only. Lithographs after original drawings by José Lucian Castañeda. This edition has plates from the same stones as the first, but printed chine collé, with just undated letterpress half-titles and titles, and without the illustrated title and folding map found in the first edition. Offered without the accompanying text volume by Alexandre Lenoir. “Almost an indispensable supplement to Humboldt’s Voyage dans l’Amérique, as it contains many interesting discoveries not in the latter work”–Sabin 40038. Field 468; Palau 23069.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
381
(mexico.)
Album of scenic photographs by Abel Briquet and others.
Mexico, 1890
14 photographs, about 5 x 7 inches or larger, most with printed caption slips, laid down on 8 heavy album leaves. Oblong 4to, elaborate decorative gilt morocco by S.C. Toof & Co., backstrip defective and repaired, otherwise attractive with only minor wear; minor wear to contents; front board embossed in gilt “Mexico, Mr. & Mrs. W.H. Bates, March 11 to 28, 1890.”
12 of these images are albumen photographs credited to the well-known Mexican photographer Abel Briquet, either in the printed caption slip, signed in the negative, or both. Briquet was born in France and became one of Mexico’s first well-known commercial photographers. Most of these images are landscapes from his “Vistas, Mexicanas” series including the cathedral and national palace in Mexico City, the tomb of Juarez, three of the Chapultepec castle and its forest, and two ranch scenes from the scenic mountain town of Amecameca. Also included are two figures in traditional dress headed “Tipos, Mexicanos, Estado de Mexico” and another headed “Antiguedades, Mexicanas, Piedra de los Sacrificios, Museo Nacional de Mexico.” One final uncredited Mexican photograph shows the city of Zacatecas from a distance. Finally, at the end of the volume is a cyanotype photograph of an imposing urban residence–we suspect the compiler’s home in Memphis.
The compiler was William Horatio Bates (1841-1918) of Memphis, TN, president of S.C. Toof & Company, Printers, Lithographers, and Binders, the firm which not coincidentally also produced this handsome custom binding. The Memphis Daily Commercial of 31 March 1890 reports on the return of Bates from a business trip to Mexico, where he attended a bullfight and was “treated to all interesting sights peculiar to the region and the mercurial people of their tropical land, exotic vegetation and erotic individuality.”
Estimate
$500 – $750
382
(peru.) juan luis lopez.
Discurso juridico, historico-politico, en defensa de la jurisdicion real.
Lima, 1685
[10], 5-146 pages, as issued. Folio, contemporary vellum, minor wear; minor foxing and dampstaining.
Defends the clergy against charges that they had unfairly taxed the Indians. Medina, Lima 581; Palau 141410; Sabin 41987. None traced at auction since 1966.
Estimate
$600 – $900
383
(peru.) torres rubio, diego de; and juan de figueredo.
Arte, y vocabulario de la lengua Quichua.
Lima: Plazuela de San Cristóbal, 1754
[6], 254, [2] leaves. 8vo, later calf, rubbed but sound; lacking the first preliminary leaf after title page, minor dampstaining, repair to final leaf affecting a few words; all edges gilt; bookplate of George Wilbraham on from pastedown.
Expanded third edition of a Quechua grammar and dictionary first published by Torres Rubio in 1619. Medina, Lima 1068; Palau 337262; Sabin 96271.
Estimate
$500 – $750
384
(peru.) [esteban de orellana, editor.]
Lugares selectos de los autores latinos de prosa.
Lima: Imprenta de los Huerphanos, 1760
[12], 40, 284, [4] pages. 8vo, contemporary vellum, minor wear, nearly detached from text block; lacking front free endpaper; with half-title.
A Latin reader published in Lima. Medina, Lima 1164; Palau 203722.
Estimate
$300 – $400
385
(peru.)
Constitucion politica de la monarquía Española, promulgada en Cádiz a 19 de Marzo de 1812.
Lima: Imprenta de los Huerfanos, [1812]
[2 of 4], 52, [8] pages. Folio, modern vellum; second leaf (viceroy’s printing order) present in facsimile only, marginal repairs to title page and page 1, final leaf defective and restored with several words in facsimile; signature of the viceroy’s secretary Toribio de Acebal on final leaf, early ownership signature on title page, modern private library label on rear pastedown. In modern ¼ morocco slipcase.
The Lima edition of the important but short-lived Constitution of Cádiz– Spain’s first constitution and an influence on other liberal constitutions on both sides of the Atlantic. Medina, Lima 2738.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
386
(religion.) joannes eusebius nieremberg.
Ideas de virtud en algunos claros varones de la Compañia de Jesus.
Madrid: Maria de Quiñones. 1643
Frontispiece plate. [12], 804 pages. Folio, contemporary vellum, minor wear; front pastedown torn, plate slightly cropped with light edge wear, minimal wear and foxing to text leaves.
The first in a series of 4 compilations of Jesuit hagiographies issued from 1643 to 1647, and later completed in two additional volumes by Alonso de Andrade in 1666 and 1667. “The interest of the work, excluding some ‘jesuitical chaff’, is not inferior to its rarity, as it contains accounts of many early voyages to the Indies, not elsewhere to be found”–Sabin 55269. European Americana 643/89; Medina BHA II:1053; Palau 191023. We find none sold at auction since a complete set of 6 volumes in 1952.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
387
(uruguay.) a.p. di angelo; artist.
Città e Porto di Montevideo.
Montevideo, 1852
Ink and watercolor, 20 x 29¼ inches, on heavy paper, signed and dated in lower right; 3 small holes in margin, minor dampstaining, mount remnants on verso.
This view was done shortly after the Uruguayan Civil War, in which Montevideo lay under siege for 8 years through 1851. The city had a large Italian population, and prominent among its defenders was an Italian legion led by Giuseppe Garibaldi. With peace, the city grew quickly as a mercantile port. This view shows a harbor packed with vessels bearing the flags of the United States, Italy, France, and more. A rowboat in the lower right bears the flag of Uruguay. An elaborately stylized version of the coat of arms of Uruguay appears in the lower margin.