Printed & Manuscript Americana
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924899
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2030704
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1214107
Nigel Freeman
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Rick Stattler
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General Americana
(alaska.) charles sumner.
Speech . . . on the Cession of Russian America to the United States.
Washington, 1867
Folding map printed in red, blue and black (24 x 38 inches). 8vo, original printed wrappers, minimal wear; moderate foxing to title page only, light vertical fold throughout, map detached with minimal wear including short separations at intersections of folds. In modern custom folding ¼ morocco case.
A detailed exposition of the merits of the recent Alaska Purchase. In closing, Sumner advocates for renaming the late Russian territory “Alaska,” and moving the international date line to bring it in line with American calendars. The map is not found in all copies; it is the original stated “Second edition, May 1867” as described in Lada-Mocarski. Howes S1134; Lada-Mocarski 159.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(alaska.) william coxe.
Account of the Russian Discoveries between Asia and America.
London, 1780
4 folding maps. xxii, 344, [16] pages including leaf of publisher’s ads. 4to, later buckram, worn, rebacked in calf; hinges split, 3-inch early repair to frontispiece map, lacking the view of a Chinese town facing page 211; early signature of a Major Jeffries on title page, perforated library stamps on title and page 51.
First edition of a history compiled by an English scholar in St. Petersburg. “Recounts the principal Russian discoveries and explorations made in northwestern America in their attempts to open communications with Alaska and the Aleutian Islands”–Hill 391. “A result of contemporary and authoritative sources translated into English, not to be overlooked by scholars and collectors alike”–Lada-Mocarski 29. Without the 1787 supplement, often found bound in. Howes C834; Sabin 17309; Streeter sale VI:3492.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(alaska.)
Three early issues of the weekly newspaper The Alaskan, including the first issue.
Sitka, AK: Alaskan Publishing Company, 1885-1886
Volume I, Numbers 1, 2, and 21. Each 4 pages, about 19½ x 12¼ inches, on one folding sheet; stitch holes along inner margin, tightly trimmed with slight loss along fore-edge of #2 and #21, a few contemporary inked notations, moderate wear and toning.
The Alaskan was one of the first newspapers published in Alaska, preceded only by the short-lived Sitka Times (1868-1871) and Sitka Post (1876-1877). The Alaskan survived much longer than its predecessors, through at least 1908.
The first issue dated 7 November 1885 includes some colorful details on the obstacles faced by the new publication. The man contracted to serve as printer never arrived, but the Deputy Collector of Customs proved to have the needed skills. In other news, a tomcat stole a haunch of venison off the territorial governor’s plate during dinner, so the governor grabbed a gun and shot the cat as it fled. Although the Yukon Gold Rush was still many years away, the mining industry is discussed frequently in all three issues. Issue Number 2, dated 14 November 1885, reports that “the native boys, most of them barefooted, are engaged in a game of base-ball on the parade ground.” Number 21, dated 27 March 1886, featured a long report on the black-tailed deer.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(american indians.) johann jacob kleinschmidt, engraver.
Tomo Chachi Mico oder König von Yamacran.
[Halle, Germany, circa 1735?]
Engraving, 8½ x 5¾ inches, on laid paper; cropped just within margins, minor wear and foxing, laid down on early paper with mount remnants on verso; early owner’s inked stamp on verso.
Tomochichi was raised among the Creek people and left to found his own Yamacraw tribe on what soon became the Georgia coast. Eager for trade with the English, in 1733 he granted James Oglethorpe permission to create the settlement of Savannah. The next year he and a small group of his people accompanied Oglethorpe on a trip to England, where they had an audience with George II, and were present for the signing of the treaty establishing the settlement. During this visit, Tomochichi, his nephew Toonahowi, and a captive bald eagle sat for a formal portrait.
This engraving was originally published as an illustration to a scarce Georgia emigration tract by Samuel Urlsperger, “Der ausführlichen Nachrichten von der Königlich-Gross-Britannischen Colonie Saltzburgischer Emigranten in America.” The source image was a 1734 British mezzotint by John Faber after the original painting by William Verelst (here credited as “pinxt.”) Howes U27; Sabin 98133. A large-margined example recently hammered for $13,000.
Estimate
$5,000 – $7,500
(american indians.) samson occom.
A Sermon Preached at the Execution of Moses Paul, an Indian, who was Executed at New-Haven.
Boston: John Boyles, 1773
22 pages. 8vo, stitched, worn fragment of plain front wrapper present; edge wear, a few short closed tears, leaves C2-3 quite worn with slight loss of text and edges reinforced, final unnumbered leaf C4 (biography of Moses Paul) in facsimile only; uncut; early owner’s signature at base of page 22.
Early edition of the 1772 first published work by an American Indian. Occom was a Mohegan who studied under Eleazer Wheelock and was ordained by the Presbyterian Church. He later preached among the Montauks of Long Island. Bristol B3610; Littlefield, Biobibliography of Native American Writers, 1772-1924; Sabin 56635.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(american indians.) james otto lewis.
[The Aboriginal Port-Folio . . . of the Most Celebrated Chiefs of the North American Indians.]
Philadelphia, 1835-[1836]
56 [of 80] hand-colored lithographic plates. 3 text advertisement leaves (all issued). Folio, lacking boards and backstrip but remaining bound with original worn flyleaves; intermittent dampstaining, moderate foxing, minor wear, lacking the final 3 numbers as well as the collective title page, plates numbered in pencil in upper corners; early pencil signature on flyleaf.
The first of the large illustrated folio publications devoted to the American Indians, preceding the work of McKinney & Hall and Catlin. It was issued in 10 parts of 8 plates each, but complete volumes are almost never seen, as the last two parts were issued in much smaller print runs. The plates were lithographed by George Lehman and Peter S. Duval after original paintings done on the midwestern frontier by Lewis, mostly in the mid-1820s while on treaty expeditions with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Field 936; Howes L315 (“b”); Reese, Stamped with a National Character 23; Sabin 40812.
Estimate
$12,000 – $18,000
(american indians.)
Surrender of sovereignty by the Chippewa and Ottawa tribes of Michigan.
Allegan County, MI?, 18 April 1853
Letterpress handbill, 9¾ x 3¾ inches, signed in type by 44 tribal members and a notary public, and additionally in manuscript with an “X” by Peter Adawich; horizontal folds, uncut, minimal wear.
Efforts to displace the Chippewa and Ottawa inhabitants of Michigan began with the Indian Removal Act of 1830, but were widely resisted. Prospective destinations on the Great Plains would have been too great a shift from the northern woodlands, while more familiar terrain in Wisconsin or Minnesota would have put them in conflict with the Sioux. See Elizabeth Neumeyer, “Michigan Indians Battle Against Removal,” in Michigan History 55 (1971), pages 275-288. Rather than submit to removal, some exchanged land rights for American citizenship, as seen in this document from southwestern Michigan:
“We the undersigned descendants of the Chippewa and Ottawa tribes of Indians, having been born in the State of Michigan, and always resided therein–being attached to the soil, where the bones of our Fathers are laid” promised to adopt “the laws, habits of life, and Government of the white people of the United States . . . that we may enjoy the benefits of civilization and Christianity, and the privileges and civil rights of citizens and voters.”
No other examples of this handbill have been traced in OCLC or at auction.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(american indians.) thomas mckenney and james hall.
History of the Indian Tribes of North America.
Philadelphia, 1855
120 hand-colored lithographed plates. iv, 333; xvii, [9]-290; iv, 17-392 pages. 3 volumes. Large 8vo, publisher’s full morocco with ornamental frame stamped on covers, binding detached on volume II, otherwise minor wear; minimal foxing; all edges gilt, a handsome unsophisticated copy; early bookplates on front pastedowns, owner’s inked stamps on free endpapers.
Third octavo edition of the classic work of American Indian portrait iconography, with color plates after paintings later destroyed in the 1865 Smithsonian fire. The original edition in folio format was published in 1836-44. “The most colorful portraits of Indians ever executed”–Howes M129 (“aa”).
Estimate
$4,000 – $6,000
(american indians.) william henry blackmore.
A Brief Account of the North American Indians.
London, 1877
45 pages. 8vo, original printed wrappers, moderate foxing; printed on heavy paper stock with minimal wear to contents.
Blackmore was an English land promoter and speculator who was active in the American west. He took a deep interest in the Plains Indians and founded a museum of Indian artifacts in England. This essay was published as the introduction to Richard I. Dodge’s book “Hunting Grounds of the Great West” in 1877, but is here published separately “for private circulation only.” It draws heavily on his personal experiences, and also devotes several pages to the recent Battle of the Little Bighorn. He emphasizes the savage cruelty of the American Indian and predicts that “in a few years the only reminiscence of the Red Men will be the preservation of the names of some of the extinct tribes and dead chiefs in the nomenclature of the leading cities, counties, and States of the Great West.”
Ironically, Blackmore became heavily indebted and killed himself in a fit of drunken despair the following year, while the American Indians are still here. We find 10 in OCLC and trace one at auction since 1923.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(american indians.) thomas augustus bland.
A Brief History of the Late Military Invasion of the Home of the Sioux.
Washington: National Indian Defence Committee, 1891
32 pages. 8vo, original printed wrappers, splitting at fold, “Assassination of Sitting Bull” penciled on front wrapper, minor wear; several pages splitting at fold, interior sheet detached, bit of rusting at staples.
An important investigation made shortly after the Wounded Knee Massacre by the sympathetic founder of the National Indian Defence Association, featuring extensive interviews with Sioux witnesses regarding the context leading to the Ghost Dances, resistance, and massacre. None traced at auction since 1924.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(american indians–photographs.) camillus s. fly, photographer.
Geronimo and Natches Mounted.
Tombstone, AZ, March 1886 image
Albumen photograph, 4¾ x 8 inches, on original mount, with photographer’s copyright statement in the negative, and his printed sticker on verso, image #171 from Fly’s “Scene in Geronimo’s Camp” series; light crease with an inch of image loss around Geronimo’s shoulder, moderate foxing.
In March 1886, the Arizona photographer Camillus Fly accompanied General Crook’s forces for their negotiations with Geronimo’s band of Chiricahua Apache, who were holding out in the Sierra Madre mountains about 20 miles south of the New Mexico border. Mounted on the left is the famed Chiricahua Apache leader Geronimo. The man at his left (holding a baby) is Geronimo’s son. On the other horse is Naices (here spelled Natches), the hereditary chief of the Chiricahua Apaches. Geronimo and his band escaped shortly after surrendering.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(american indians–photographs.)
Photograph believed to depict Geronimo and other Apache prisoners.
[Fort Sill, OK?], circa 1900-09
Photograph, 5 x 7 inches, signed in negative “L.H.”; unmounted, moderate wear including ¼-inch tear on top edge.
Geronimo and the Chiricahua Apaches surrendered to the United States Army in 1886, and became prisoners of war. 341 surviving members were sent to Fort Sill, OK in 1894, where Geronimo spent the remainder of his years until his death in 1909. This photograph, which probably dates to the first decade of the 20th century, apparently shows Geronimo (front row, third from left) and 16 other men. The photographer is identified in the negative only by the initials “L.H.”
Estimate
$200 – $300
(american indians–photographs.)
Group of 11 photographs.
Various places, circa 1900-35
Various sizes and formats, condition generally strong.
“Indian Village, Crow, Montana,” gelatin silver print, 4 x 6½ inches, matted.
“Squaw Dancers,” real photo postcard, 3¼ x 5¼ inches.
Untitled and uncredited image of 3 men and a wagon backstage at a wild west show, gelatin silver print, 4 x 5 inches.
George Lyman Rose, “Yava Supai Indian Girl, Cataract Canyon,” albumen print, 8 x 6 inches.
Pair of portraits of “Ka-Ti-Sa-Tchi (Don’t Go Out), commonly known on the reserve as Whisky John,” cyanotype prints, each 8½ x 6½ inches.
Shemild of Minneapolis, photographer, “Chief Max Big Man, Crow,” gelatin silver print on heavy stock, light folds, 8 x 10 inches.
Harold Evans Kellogg, group of 4 gelatin silver prints of buffalo dancers and others at San Ildefonso Pueblo in New Mexico, framed together in brass mat, each 2¾ x 3¾ oval to sight, in 8¾ x 10¾-inch frame, Santa Fe, NM, circa 1930s.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(american revolution–prelude.)
Receipt for drinks and damages incurred by the New York Triumvirate at a famed Sons of Liberty tavern.
[New York], 7 February 1769
Manuscript document, 5¾ x 4 inches, almost blank on verso; folds, minor wear.
In the years before the American Revolution, a group of three New York lawyers became known as “The Triumvirate”: William Smith (1728-1793), William Livingston (1723-1790), and John Morin Scott (1730-1814). In 1752, they founded a short-lived but influential weekly political journal called the Independent Reflector, the only of its kind in the colonies. As the colonies veered toward rebellion, the three friends took different paths: Scott became an outspoken member of the Sons of Liberty, Livingston was a moderate patriot who opposed independence, while Smith became a prominent Loyalist.
This document places the Triumvirate together in a very interesting time and place: Bolton & Sigell’s tavern, where the New York Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1768, and where in March 1769, New York merchants active in the Sons of Liberty met there to enforce their non-importation boycott. It was leased from Samuel Fraunces, and still stands today as the legendary Fraunces Tavern. In this hotbed of liberty, the three friends were joined by William Bayard (1729-1804), a delegate to the Stamp Act Congress of 1765 and member of the Sons of Liberty, although he later cast his lot with the Loyalists.
Knowing the background of these men makes this humble tavern receipt more interesting. The bill is for supper, spruce beer, punch, porter, a large quantity of madeira wine costing twice as much as supper, and 15 shillings for “china plates broke.” The total cost is billed to “Mr. Wm. Bayard, Mr. Smith, Mr. Wm. Livingston, Mr. Scott,” and is signed “Received the contents, Bolton & Sigell.”
At a time when New Yorkers were anxiously picking sides between loyalty and rebellion, these four strong-willed leaders with very different paths met in the hotbed of rebellion and shared more than a few drinks. Plates were broken–innocently dropped, or hurled across the room in anger, in a fight about a drunken insult, or over the fate of America–we will probably never know.
Provenance: recently acquired from a dealer who also offered other William Bayard documents.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(american revolution–prelude.)
A Continuation of the Proceedings of the House of Representatives of . . . Massachusetts-Bay,
Boston: Edes and Gill, 1770
Relative to . . . Keeping the General Assembly at Harvard-College. 8vo, disbound; minor foxing, minor wear to final leaf.
Concerning the relocation of the Massachusetts colonial government to Cambridge in the wake of the Boston Massacre. On the first page, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams and others are appointed to protest this decision to the Lieutenant Governor. Evans 11733; Sabin 45695.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(american revolution–prelude.)
Manuscript notes on St. Andrews Masonic Lodge of Boston, and its famous Green Dragon Tavern.
[Boston], 1760-1807
12 manuscript pages, 12 x 7½ inches, on 4 unbound folding sheets; folds, minor wear and dampstaining.
These notes were apparently taken during an investigation of the finances of a Masonic lodge in Boston at some point not long after 1807, ensuring that it had clear title to its lodge building. However, this was not just any lodge, and not just any building. The notes were taken from the original records of St. Andrews Lodge, which had been established in 1756 and quickly became a locus of revolutionary activity. The lodge acquired its building in 1766 and used the first floor for meetings, while the basement was operated as the Green Dragon Tavern, otherwise known as the “Headquarters of the Revolution,” where the Sons of Liberty held surreptitious meetings.
Whoever went through the records to untangle the lodge’s finances clearly also had an interest in the lodge’s place in history. Special note is made of Joseph Warren’s admission as a member on 14 May 1765. Paul Revere is mentioned thrice as a member of the lodge’s standing committee during the 1768 purchase discussions and in 1777. James Otis, the Patriot lawyer who wrote “Taxation without Representation is tyranny,” is here consulted in 1767: “A com’e was appointed to get advice from Mr. James Otis respecting the house.” The last document discussed in the notes is an 1807 report on the lodge’s finances, which found that the lodge had paid $1555.56 for the “Green Dragon Tavern,” followed by $39.24 in repairs from 1760 to 1774.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(american revolution–1775.)
The Battle of Lexington, April 19th 1775.
Boston, circa 1828-1834
Lithograph, 15 x 17½ inches; 3-inch closed tear on left edge, edges and caption area worn, but beautifully restored.
Moses Swett (1804-1838) here adapts the well-known 1775 view of the battle by Amos Doolittle, with his drawing then put on stone by Boston’s first lithographers, Pendleton’s Lithography. Swett made some adjustments to Doolittle’s contemporary rendering, cleaning up some of the primitive perspective and scale from the original, and altering the buildings in the background for composition purposes. The biggest change, though, is with the patriot troops in the foreground. Doolittle had depicted the event as a massacre of unorganized civilians by a formidable British military, with the dead or scattering Americans portrayed as victims. This made sense in the context of 1775, when the British were viewed as aggressors. By the 1830s, with the United States well established and annual Independence Day celebrations in honor of its origin stories, Swett reshaped the scene to show the patriots standing firm and firing back at the British regulars. See “Imagining the Battle of Lexington” at the American Revolution Institute website for more on this interesting comparison. One copy in OCLC, at the Boston Athenaeum; another is held by the Worcester Art Museum. None traced at auction since 1916.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(american revolution–1775.)
Loyalty petition from what is now Portland, Maine.
Falmouth, ME, 1 June 1775
Manuscript document, 11¾ x 7¾ inches, 2 pages on one sheet; separations and moderate wear at folds, 4 tape repairs.
In 1775, Falmouth was a sprawling township in the northern section of Massachusetts which would soon become known as the District of Maine. The most populous section of Falmouth was “the Neck,” which would be broken off as the city of Portland ten years later. Falmouth Neck was the site of considerable revolutionary action, including “Thompson’s War,” a standoff between the Royal Navy and a patriot militia in early May 1775. The present document was written in Falmouth shortly afterward to ensure loyalty among the “several hundreds on ye Neck.”
“Agreeable to a resolve of our provincial Congress on the 8th of May ult’o, the Committee of Correspondence in this town, in order to know who are enemical to the rights of mankind and the interest of America, having proposed the following declaration of agreement to be sign’d by the inhabitants thereof, we the said inhabitants do heartily & cheerfully subscribe the same, viz:
We solemnly and sincerely declare that it is our opinion that the ministry of Great Britain and the Parliament have of late invaded the constitutional rights and liberties of this country by prosecuting their avowed design of raising a revenue here without our consent, as well as arbitrarily infringing our charter, and altering the civil government of this province, and therefore, to prevent a state of slavery, do sincerely and heartily agree and engage to do our utmost to carry into execution whatever measures have been or may be consistently recommended by the Continental and our provincial congresses for the purpose of opposing and frustrating those evil designs and for the preservation of our happy constitution, until a reconciliation between Great Britain and America upon constitutional principles can be obtained, which God grant may be speedily brought about, and that we will readily and heartily join our countrymen on all occasions in defence of our said rights and liberties as we trust our cause is righteous, and that we may succeed. We shall endeavor to oblige all persons to pay due obedience to the general resolves of Congress in particular, one for the regulation of the militia, to obey the orders of the several military officers who have been or shall be elected by the several companies and regiments, agreeable to the resolves of Congress, and to preserve peace and good order among ourselves and safety to the lives and properties of every individual among us.”
This is not the original petition with signatures. Added in a different hand is a note: “This was signed by several hundreds on ye Neck, indeed all but the Custom House officers, Mr. Pagan, who gave ye committee a very handsome letter in excuse, and Mr. Courning[?], and I don’t recollect any body except those who have left us. This method was agreed upon by ye committee to find out who were enemies, as the presumption was that those who were Tories &c would not sign it.”
Similar resolutions were passed in other New England towns during these early months of the Revolution, but this Falmouth resolution does not seem to be published.
Estimate
$5,000 – $7,500
(american revolution–1775.) samuel stearns.
The North-American’s Almanack, and Gentleman’s and Lady’s Diary, for . . . 1776.
Worcester, MA: Isaiah Thomas, [1775]
[24] pages. 12mo, stitched; uncut, moderate toning and edge wear.
Includes an extensive “Account of the Commencement of Hostilities” by “Rev. Mr. William Gordon of Roxbury,” which features an eyewitness account of the Battle of Lexington, quoted at length in Sagendorph’s America and Her Almanacs, 89-93 as “the most striking example of this kind of on-the-spot reporting.” Also includes Sir Richard Rum’s long and rather unpleasant cure for drunkenness involving emetics, laxatives, and vinegar, and the more serious “Directions for Preserving the Health of the Soldier in the Camps.” The almanac makes a prophetic prediction for the 4th of July: “Thunder.” Drake 3260; Evans 14473; Sabin 90943.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
(american revolution–1776.) [john hathaway?]
Militia officer complaining about unfair promotions in his brigade.
No place, 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
$200 – $300
(american revolution–1776.) nathaniel low.
An Astronomical Diary; or, Almanack, for . . . 1777.
Boston: J. Gill, [1776]
Map. [24] pages. 12mo, disbound; dampstaining, leaves 9-11 supplied from another copy, moderate wear, uncut.
Featuring a full-page map of the New York City area, “A View of the Present Seat of War, at and near New-York,” which shows General Washington’s position on Manhattan. Also Low’s extended “Address to the Tories,” and a poem beginning “Let tyrants rage.” Drake 3264; Evans 14829; Hamilton, Early American Book Illustrators 77; Sabin 42402.
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
(american revolution–1778.)
Pay list for Captain Daniel Burgsteiner’s company.
Ebenezer, GA, 3 August 1778
2 pages, 12½ x 7½ inches, signed by Burgsteiner and two officials; toning and foxing, partial separations at folds, 1-inch early paper repair.
Lists pay due to the captain and 39 of his men for service of up to 63 days, “for duty & rations done at the magazine at Ebenezer.”
Estimate
$400 – $600
(american revolution–1779.) [john jay.]
A Circular Letter from the Congress of the United States of America to their Constituents.
New London, CT: T. Green, [1779]
19 pages. 8vo, stitched; title page quite worn with some soiling but no loss of text, dampstaining to early leaves, final leaf laid down on scrapbook paper; uncut; early inscription on title page.
Originally printed in Philadelphia earlier that year. A discussion of the finances of the war, with a rousing conclusion: “Determine to finish the contest as you began it, honestly and gloriously. Let it never be said that America had no sooner become independent than she became insolvent, or that her infant glories and growing fame were obscured and tarnished by broken contracts and violated faith, in the very hour when all the nations of the earth were admiring and almost adoring the splendor of her rising.” Evans 16560. None of this edition traced at auction.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(american revolution–1780.) varton, after “bundury” [bunbury].
Nouvelles Troupes de Grenadiers Englois.
“London”: Dickinson, 1780
Hand-colored engraving, 13¼ x 10¼ inches; horizontal fold, minor dampstaining in caption area, early edge reinforcement on verso.
A French copy (probably pirated) of a popular satirical print by Bunbury titled “Recruits,” with a British officer reviewing three bedraggled potential conscripts. No other examples of this French variant traced in OCLC or at auction.
Estimate
$200 – $300
(american revolution–1782.) james crawford.
Letter describing the dramatic naval Battle of Delaware Bay.
Philadelphia, 16 April 1782
Autograph Letter Signed “J.C.” to John Brown “care of Governor Hancock” in Boston. One page, 9 x 7½ inches, plus integral blank with docketing and address panel marked “4” for postage; seal tear to address leaf, otherwise minimal wear.
While the land battles of the American Revolution came almost completely to an end at Yorktown in 1781, the two powers still clashed at sea. This letter passes on the fresh news of the Battle of Delaware Bay (or Battle of Cape May). Three American privateers were accompanying a merchant convoy into Philadelphia when they were attacked by three ships of the Royal Navy. The privateer Hyder Ally was commanded by Continental Navy captain Joshua Barney, who delivered the British a thrashing.
Here, a Philadelphia merchant writes to Continental naval agent John Brown (1748-1833) of Philadelphia, then visiting with Governor John Hancock in Boston. After addressing a minor insurance matter, he passes on dramatic news. “Nothing new since my last, except Capt. Barney in the ship Hyder Aly taking the King ship Monk of 10 nine pounders, in an action of 30 minutes. The Hyder Aly mounted 6 nines & 10 sixes. There never was more execution done by the same force in the same time. The Monk had every officer except two, killed or wounded. Amongst the latter was the Capt. She had in all 21 kill’d & 32 wounded. The Hyder Aly had 4 kill’d & 11 wounded. From such slaughter no doubt you’d conclude one of them boarded, but it was not the case. A fair action within pistol shot.”
Crawford also adds a postscript about a notable American privateer: “Rec’d a New York paper of the 11th giving an acc’t of Capt. Nicholson in the Dean being cary’d into Jam[aic]a by a 40-gun ship.”
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(american revolution–1783.) robert r. livingston.
Letter announcing the cessation of hostilities with Great Britain.
Philadelphia, 12 April 1783
Letter Signed “RR Livingston” to Lyman Hall as Governor of Georgia. One page, 13 x 8 inches, plus integral blank with docketing “Cessation of Hostility, Treaty of Peace”; partial separations at folds, uneven toning, moderate dampstaining.
“A national character is now to be acquired. I venture to hope that it will be worthy of the struggle by which we became a nation.”
The Declarations for Suspension of Arms and Cessation of Hostilities which ended the war was signed by British and American officials at Versailles in January 1783, and news crossed the Atlantic by April. This circular letter was sent to the various American governors along with a copy of the treaty (not present). The author, Robert R. Livingston (1746-1813), had helped draft the Declaration of Independence, served as the first United States Secretary of Foreign Affairs, and was Chancellor of New York for 24 years.
“Permit me to offer you my congratulations on the important event announced by the United States in Congress in the enclosed proclamation for the cessation of hostilities, an event which is not only pleasing at it relieves us from the accumulated distresses of war in the bowels of our country, but as it affords the fairest and most flattering prospects of its future greatness and prosperity. I need not, I am persuaded, Sir, use any arguments to urge your Excellency and the State in which you preside, to the most scrupulous attention to the execution of every stipulation in our treaty, which may depend on you or them. A national character is now to be acquired. I venture to hope that it will be worthy of the struggle by which we became a nation.”
Estimate
$10,000 – $15,000
(architecture.) batty & thomas langley.
The Builder’s Jewel: or, The Youth’s Instructor and Workman’s Remembrancer.
Charlestown, MA, [1800]
99 (of 100) plates including frontispiece. 46 pages. Large 16mo (5½ x 4½ inches), contemporary calf, backstrip chipped, front board detached; lacking plate numbered 98, moderate foxing and offsetting.
First American edition of a work first published in London in 1741. Intended as a pocket manual of basic architectural information for workmen and students. Describes the proper classical proportions and designs of columns, pedestals, moldings, and more. Evans 37778; Rink, Technical Americana, 2491.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(arctic.)
Photograph album from the 1899 Peary Relief Expedition.
Various places, 1898-1899
175 silver print photographs, various sizes, mounted on 52 album leaves, a few with manuscript captions. Folio album, original stiff wrappers, backstrip ends chipped, otherwise just light wear; minor wear to contents including a couple of partly torn photographs and a few others coming detached.
Robert Peary’s third Arctic expedition from 1898 to 1902 resulted in the discovery of the northernmost point on mainland Greenland at Cape Morris Jesup. The first relief expedition was planned for the summer of 1899, to bring supplies aboard the steamer Diana. This album was compiled by a participant in the relief expedition.
The Diana made stops at Sydney, Nova Scotia, and the larger settlements at Disko Bay and Upernavik, Greenland, before reaching Peary’s base at Etah in northern Greenland. The photographs show everything one might expect, and more: Arctic scenery including glaciers, fjords, and icebergs; sled dogs; numerous groups of Inuit at work or with their children; shots of the Diana and its crew; and several walrus carcasses. Only a few of the photographs are captioned. One of them shows Matthew Henson, Peary’s longtime colleague and the most notable Black Arctic explorer, who was with Peary in their still-controversial 1909 dash to the North Pole. Henson is seen wearing his furs on the ice as he prepares to enter an open rowboat. Robert Peary is named in one caption, standing outside his Etah headquarters with the expedition’s physician T.F. Diedrich. Another uncaptioned shot of the pair is clearly from the same sitting. Another shows Peary, Henson, and Diedrich posed with more than 30 Inuit. Two photographs near the end show the Diana and its expedition members in Sydney, Nova Scotia on 20 July 1899, with long appended captions and photographer credits. The photographer is not credited for the other photographs, but they were likely taken by the relief expedition member who compiled the album. We have traced no other examples of these images.
3 photographs at the end are captioned from a different expedition, to Alaska. One is dated 18 August [1898?]. One shows four named men in a canoe, another shows the harbor at Skagway, and the last shows a party of Alaskan Natives in a canoe on the Yentna River near the southern Alaska coast. Another group of 10 uncaptioned photos near the end, printed on a different stock from the other Peary Relief photos, may also date from this Alaska expedition.
This album was apparently compiled by Frank Caspar Hinckley (1874-1935) of Bangor, ME, an 1896 graduate of Harvard who was part of an 1898 United States Geological Expedition to the southern coast of Alaska, and then spent the summer of 1899 as part of the Peary Relief Expedition in Greenland. Newspaper reports name him as part of the relief expedition’s “Sportsmen’s Party.” He is named in the captions of photos from both expeditions in the rear of this volume. He spent the remainder of his life as a woodsman, mapping and exploring timberlands from Maine to Labrador; and then establishing parks and campgrounds in northern Maine.
Provenance: found at a tag sale by Connecticut antique shop owner Susan Snow.
Estimate
$7,000 – $10,000
(aviation.)
Photograph of the first flight from an aircraft carrier.
[Hampton Roads, VA, 14 November 1910]
Silver print, possibly a period copy print, 7½ x 9¾ inches, on original plain mount; ½-inch puncture and other moderate wear to image, mount worn and stained, missing 3 inches from upper right corner.
The bold aviator shown here was Eugene Burton Ely (1886-1911), launching his Curtiss Model D (the “Curtiss Pusher”) from an improvised wooden ramp on the deck of the USS Birmingham. As seen here, the plane dipped the moment it left the ramp; its landing gear splashed through the water before he was able to regain some altitude and land safely on a nearby beach. This was the first airplane to take off from a ship, ushering in the age of aircraft carriers.
Ely was a civilian stunt pilot; two months later he succeeded in landing the Pusher on the USS Pennsylvania in the first successful shipboard landing. A crash in an October 1911 air show ended his life; he was later awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his pioneering aircraft carrier flights.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(bible–illustrations.)
Biblical Pictures of the New Testament.
Philadelphia: John Weik, circa 1856
30 hand-colored etchings by B. Hummel, plus title page and contents leaf. Oblong folio, 10¾ x 13¾ inches, original illustrated boards, worn and coming disbound; text leaves and first 2 plates detached; early owner’s signature on title page.
30 Biblical scenes, each captioned in French, German, and English with a citation to a verse. B. Hummel signed most of the plates as artist and engraver. The front board reads “Album of the Holy Bible.” Weik also released a similar 30-plate Old Testament volume (not present). The volume is undated, but Pennsylvania State University determined that Weik was active in Philadelphia from circa 1851 onward, and their copy has an 1856 inscription. None of either volume traced at auction. 2 in OCLC.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(bible in english.)
The New Testament of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Worcester, MA: Isaiah Thomas, 1791
18 plates. [787]-1012 pages. Folio, contemporary calf, moderate wear, rebacked; moderate foxing, intermittent dampstaining, early repairs to several leaves.
The New Testament only, extracted from the first folio Bible issued in America. Issued in the same month as the ratification of the Bill of Rights. The plates are all by American engravers, the bulk of them by Joseph Seymour, but also including examples by Norman and Amos Doolittle (his first biblical illustration, pictured).
“The two Thomas Bibles of 1791 were without doubt far in advance of any other publications of the same kind that had appeared in America in point of typography, excellence of paper, binding, and general execution”–Wright, Early American Bibles, pages 74-88. Evans 23186; Hills 29.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(bible in english.)
The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments.
Philadelphia: Berriman & Co., 1796
2 maps, 16 plates. 748 [of 752] pages. Folio, contemporary calf, moderate wear, joints starting; moderate foxing, minor dampstaining, 7 leaves defective or with long closed tears, lacking final 2 leaves and rear free endpaper; partial early gift label on backstrip reading “Deborah Morris to,” early gift inscription on title page, library markings of the Crozer Theological Seminary including bookplate on front pastedown, catalog number on backstrip, and embossed stamps on title and final pages.
“Valued by collectors, as its illustrations give excellent examples of the work done by several American engravers of that time”–Wright page 325. Not usually seen with a full complement of plates. Among the engravers represented are Alexander Anderson (two maps of the Holy Land, and a view of Solomon’s Temple) and Amos Doolittle. Doolittle’s “Triumph of David after having slain the Giant Golioth the great Champion of the philistine Army” (illustrated) might be considered an apt subject for the famous engraver of the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Evans 30065; Hills 53.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(bible in english.) noah webster, translator.
The Holy Bible . . . with Amendments of the Language.
New Haven, CT: Durrie & Peck, 1833
xvi, 907 pages. 8vo, contemporary calf, worn, joints split and front board re-hinged; moderate foxing; early owner’s signatures on free endpapers, later library markings.
First edition of Webster’s translation, one of the earliest American revisions to the King James version. Webster first conceived of updating the language of the Bible in 1822, but met with little encouragement. However, after the success of his 1828 Dictionary he revived the project with the mindset of producing a non-sectarian Bible to modernize archaic language, correct improper grammar and rectify mistranslations from the original Hebrew and Greek. He thought that “a version thus amended may require no alteration for two or three centuries to come” (Preface, page v). Hills 826; Wright, pages 141-48. Provenance: 19th-century ownership signatures of Luther P. Hubbard (undated) and R.T. Hall (1894); after ca. 1954 in the Howell Bible Collection, Pacific School of Religion (properly released). We trace 2 sold at auction since 1966.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
(bible–blind.)
A Selection of Psalms from Doctor Watts and other Authors.
Boston: New England Institution for the Education of the Blind, 1835
97, [3] leaves, printed in raised Boston Line Type. Large 4to, contemporary ½ calf, quite worn with boards detached; moderate wear and foxing to first 3 leaves, otherwise minor wear to contents, leaf 32 bound upside down and cropped; 1912 library gift bookplate and deaccession stamp on front pastedown.
One of the first books printed in Boston Line Type, created in 1834 as an alternative to Braille, using embossed representations of stylized letters rather than raised dots. This volume was prepared under the direction of the inventor of Boston Line Type, Samuel Gridley Howe of the Institution for the Education of the Blind. He is better known as the husband of composer and activist Julia Ward Howe. 5 examples in OCLC, and none traced at auction.
WITH–“A Catechism; That is to Say, An Instruction to be Learned by Every Person before he be Brought to be Confirmed by the Bishop.” [1], 9 pages, also in Boston Line Type. Oblong 4to, ¼ sheep, moderate wear; disbound, moderate dampstaining; early owner’s signature on front pastedown. “Printed in the Improved, Combined Letter; for the Use of the Blind.” One example in OCLC, at the Library of Congress. Philadelphia: Napoleon Kneass, 1866.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(bible–blind.)
The New Testament printed in Boston Line Type, Volume II only.
New York: American Bible Society, 1850
[191]-430 pages. Folio, ½ calf, moderate wear and water damage to binding; hinges split, only minor foxing to contents.
Not in Hills or Wright. 5 in OCLC, and none others traced at auction.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(blind.)
Issue of “Students’ Magazine” in Boston Line Type.
Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Institution for the Blind, 6 December 1843
Volume VI, No. 72. [89]-96 leaves on 4 folding sheets. Oblong folio hinged at top, 8 x 12¼ inches; stitch holes in upper margin, first two leaves toned and chipped in margins.
The content of this student magazine for the blind is religious in nature. Not in Lomazow; no other issues have been traced at auction since 1990.
WITH–“Specimen of Printing Done in the Pennsylvania Institution for the Blind” / “The Music-Type Invented by M. Snyder, 1839.” 2 leaves, 5 x 8¼, on one folding sheet. None others traced in OCLC. [Philadelphia], 1839?
Estimate
$500 – $750
(business.)
Small group of very early Procter & Gamble invoices and other documents.
Cincinnati, OH, 1841-1844
6 manuscript or partly printed documents, several signed “Procter & Gamble”; minor wear and toning.
A group of documents from very early in the life of what is now a multi-billion-dollar personal care conglomerate, all addressed to the same Virginia merchants. The firm was founded in Cincinnati in 1837 as the partnership of candlemaker William Procter and soapmaker James Gamble. Includes:
Invoice on printed letterhead of “Procter & Gamble, Soap and Candle Manufacturers and Starch Factors” for lard and tallow candles, a tallow dipper, and the boxes to house them, noting “Those boxes branded Procter & Gamble are all tallow.” Cincinnati, 23 April 1841.
Receipt for the payment of the same invoice, “paid in goods,” 23 April 1841.
Letter reading in part “Have riten to Procter & Gamble at Cin for the candles,” 11 April 1842.
3 bills of lading with appended letters and short letters from Procter & Gamble, sending 40, 20, and 35 boxes of candles by the steamboat Lelia up the Ohio River, Cincinnati, 29 November 1842, 22 April 1843, and 26 April 1844.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(business.)
Reports and stock ledgers of the Bull Creek Oil Company.
Various places, 1864-1876
5 folio volumes, 0.7 linear feet; moderate wear to bindings, minor wear to contents.
The Bull Creek Oil Company was founded in 1864, not long after an 1859 success in Pennsylvania launched the first American oil boom. The company’s offices were in Philadelphia, and their wells were in Pleasants County, WV, near the Ohio border. The founder was prominent early oilman Thomas Wharton Phillips (1835-1912), who later went on to serve in Congress for Pennsylvania.
The main volume in this lot is titled “Account Sales &c” on the front board, and its pages are headed “Superintendent’s Report,” running from 1864 to 1876. It summarizes expenses and production at the company’s wells, starting with three wells on the Hendershot Farm, which produced 636 barrels by 1 August 1864 after an initial outlay of $3238 for machinery, salaries and labor in June and July. A detailed 3-page listing of the initial expenses through 30 September is tipped in. For the early months, the names of some laborers are given, as well as other expenses such as a tin dipper, funnel, copper boiler, and more. Production slowed after that first year. The last barrels sold were reported in 1873, and the final page covers mostly taxes and legal fees through 1876. Near the rear of the volume are 4 pages of expenses for a new well boring project in 1866. The volume includes 33 manuscript pages total, plus 4 receipts and memoranda laid in.
Also included are 2 volumes of the company’s stock certificate transfers, one thick volume nearly filled at 503 leaves from July 1864 to April 1866, and a smaller volume with only 13 completed pages from April 1866 to October 1873. Thomas W. Phillips’ initial 50,000 shares are recorded on page 2. Each transfer is signed by the seller or his attorney. The company’s petty stock ledger is arranged alphabetically by stockholder and extends to 278 pages, perhaps half of them blank. Last is the capital stock register of the semi-related Niagara Oil Company from 1864 to 1873. Isaac Newton Phillips (1820-1883) appears as the principal stockholder; he was the brother of Thomas. T.W. Phillips and “Phillips Brothers” appear in the volume.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(california.)
A Narrative of the Adventures and Sufferings of Captain Daniel D. Heustis . . . with Travels in California.
Boston, 1847
Frontispiece plate. 168 pages. 12mo, disbound, with publisher’s front wrapper illustrated with a portrait of Heustis, detached later library boards present; minimal wear to contents; embossed New England Historic Genealogical Society stamp on wrapper, with their bookplate and withdrawal stamp on the detached front board.
First edition. Heustis was raised in New England and went to Lower Canada as a young merchant. There he was caught up in the rebellion of 1837, and was sent as a prisoner to Australia in 1840. After obtaining his pardon, he secured passage on a whaling ship in 1845 (pages 131-140). His description of life as an American in California just before the Mexican War and the Gold Rush fills pages 141 to 149, including encounters with Thomas O. Larkin and John Sutter. Cowan 1933, page 277; Ferguson, Australia IV:4536 (“one of the rarest of the Canadian Rebellion prisoner narratives”); Graff 1874; Howes H449 (“aa”); Streeter sale IV:2518; TPL 2718.
Estimate
$4,000 – $6,000
(california.) albert lyman.
Journal of a Voyage to California, and Life in the Gold Diggings.
Hartford, CT: E.T. Pease, 1852
Numerous illustrations including frontispiece and another full-page engraving paginated with text. 192 printed pages. 12mo, original illustrated wrappers, light dampstaining, minor wear to backstrip, price corrected in manuscript from 50 to 37½ cents; bookplate removed from inner wrapper, minor foxing and minimal wear to contents; early owner’s signature on flyleaf.
A detailed and articulate diary of an early Gold Rush adventure with the Connecticut Mining and Trading Company, starting in February 1849 with the trip around Cape Horn, continuing with accounts of San Francisco and mining, and concluding in January-February 1850 with a trip to Hawaii. The cover illustration shows the company’s ship at Cape Horn. Cowan 1933, page 400 (“a very rare and curious work”); Forbes 1887; Hill 1047; Howes L577 (“b”); Streeter sale V:2715; Wheat, Gold Rush 129. Provenance: early owner Charles W. Carrington; Sloan’s California Gold Rush sale, 15 February 2006, lot 98.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(california.) john bigler.
Inaugural Address of the Governor of the State of California, January 8, 1852.
14 pages plus final blank. 8vo, self-wrappers; moderate toning and edge wear, splits along backstrip, title detached, 2 horizontal folds, inked number in upper corner, small tape repair to final blank; uncut; inscribed “Respects of John Bigler” on title page.
John Bigler (1805-1871) was a Pennsylvania lawyer who went west with the Gold Rush. He found work in such undignified professions as wood chopper, stevedore and auctioneer, before gaining a foothold in state politics. In 1852 he became California’s third governor, and the first elected after statehood. He was popular enough to gain re-election, and the state’s largest lake was named Lake Bigler in his honor; it was later renamed Lake Tahoe.
In this inaugural address, Bigler looks back at California’s history from his own personal experience: “But a short time since and we were a roving and unsettled people; mere dwellers in tents.” He embraces the rapid advance of agriculture and education, and opposes efforts to establish mining monopolies: “The mines should be left as free as the air we breathe” (page 9). Hoping to stamp out corruption, he warned that it would be “our own fault then, if California does not grow to be one of the most prosperous and flourishing States of the Union.” This address was also published in the California Senate journal, but we can trace no other examples of this separate printing in OCLC or at auction. Not in Greenwood’s California Imprints.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(california.)
Auction Sale! The Undersigned Having Sold his Farm and Intending to Go to California . . .
Taylor Township, IA, 15 August 1852
Letterpress broadside, 14 x 10½ inches, signed in type by Philo Seeley; toning, minor foxing and wear, laid down on later board.
The personal property of Philo Seeley of Taylor Township in Allamakee County (near the northeastern tip of Iowa) is to be sold at auction by J. Moon, including his wagon, harness, bedding, carpets, stoves and more. He later appears in Stanislaus County , CA–gold-mining country–in the 1860 census, farming on 160 acres of land. No other examples traced.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(california.)
Auction Sale! . . . The Property of Mr. Geo. B. Gibbs, who is Going to California.
North Fork, IA, 26 January 1853
Letterpress broadside, 13¾ x 10¼ inches, with manuscript note reading “condition”; toning, moderate foxing and wear, small dampstain in margin, 2-inch closed tear, laid down on later board.
The large Grove Farm owned by George B. Gibbs in Delaware County (northeastern Iowa) is to be auctioned by J. Moon, including numerous cattle, horses and hogs, ploughs, 15 tons of hay, and more. No other examples traced.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(california.)
The Mexican Ocean Mail and Inland Company: New Orleans, Vera Cruz & Acapulco Line to San Francisco.
New York: George F. Nesbitt & Co., 1853
8 pages with all versos blank. 12mo, 6½ x 4½ inches, unstitched; vertical fold, several early manuscript corrections, light soiling to final page.
This company promised faster mail communication between California and the east. They established an overland express route across Mexico from Vera Cruz to Acapulco, eliminating the Cape Horn passage. This pamphlet establishes the mileage between various points on this overland Mexican route, naming more than 50 stops–some of them villages with populations of 10 or 20. No other examples traced in OCLC or elsewhere.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(california.)
Fan letter to the early western satirist George Horatio Derby from an influential editor.
Knickerbocker offices [New York], 19 August 1856
Autograph Letter Signed from Lewis Gaylord Clark, signed “L. Gaylord Clark” and “L.G.C.,” to “dear Phoenix” [George Horatio Derby]. 4 pages, 8 x 5 inches, on one folding sheet; minor foxing.
George Horatio Derby (1823-1861) was an officer in the Army’s Corps of Topographical Engineers who was assigned to San Diego in 1853. There he launched a side career as a humorist under the pen names “Squibob” and “John Phoenix,” contributing pieces to several California newspapers. An extended illness led to his resignation from the Army in 1859; he removed with his wife and son to New York, and died in 1861 well before his 40th birthday. His satirical writings have remained popular over the years.
This letter was written by Lewis Gaylord Clark (1808-1873), who as editor of the Knickerbocker Magazine was one of the literary tastemakers of his era. They had apparently corresponded several times before. Clark flattered Derby’s wit and tried to solicit his submission for the Knickerbocker: “I vow, I never laughed so loud and long as I did when I got that letter. . . . My wife heard me, and our friends, full half a mile off. . . . That letter was over six mos. in coming. . . . Look here, Brother Phoenix, write for the Knickerbocker. Your humor hits my poor fancy, such as it is, exactly. That satire which tells without stinging, that equivoque which does not go too near the edge, that burlesque which, while it exposes folly and humbug, does nothing else (a rare merit, Mr. Derby)–these are yours. Is a fact, and no flattery, as true as you live. Give us su’thin. Don’t be a-feared. . . . You will hear something about yourself in our Sept. no. Keep your good things for me. . . . The K is such a medium, that there is not another like it in the country. We go before 150,000 readers a month, and the right kind.”
Clark also alluded to Derby’s other sideline, as an artist, as Derby had mailed him a portrait: “Washington Irving sent me over a note yesterday–his cottage is exactly opposite me, across the Tappan Zee–in which he acknowledges your picture of Washington. . . . He says ‘Let me thank you for the composite picture of General Washington. It is inimitable. I have placed it to the disposition of Mr. Putnam, for his series of American illustrations.’”
WITH–approximately 210 letters dated circa 1885-1905 from Derby’s widow Mary Angeline Coons Derby (1827-1906) mostly from Brooklyn, NY to their son George McClellan Derby (1856-1948), most still in their original envelopes; approximately 50 letters circa 1895-1907 from Mary’s sister Virginia Coons Shaler, aka “Aunt Jenny” (1836-1908) to George McClellan Derby (some while she was with her husband in Panama where he was a railroad superintendent); and approximately 24 other miscellaneous letters to George McClellan Derby dated 1874-1903. The son was a West Point graduate and Corps of Engineers career officer best known for his important role in Cuba in the Spanish-American War, where he conducted reconnaissance missions, mapped troop landing areas, and surveyed the field by balloon ascension during the advance; he was later stationed for several years in New Orleans.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(california.) charles f. lummis.
The Home of Ramona: Photographs of Camulos, the Fine Old Spanish Estate.
Los Angeles, 1888
10 cyanotype prints and 14 text leaves, bound with ribbon, 4½ x 7½ inches oblong; title page text cropped and laid down on paper, minor wear to next 2 leaves.
This souvenir booklet was issued to capitalize on the popularity of Helen Jackson Hunt’s 1884 novel Ramona, a story of injustice to the American Indians in southern California, which was set at Rancho Camulos north of Los Angeles. Lummis provides two pages of historical context, a poem titled “Camulos,” and caption leaves for each of the attractive cyanotype photographs of the ranch. This is apparently the second edition, as it was originally issued with a cyanotype title page.
WITH–another booklet by Lummis, this one unillustrated: “Record of Brigadier General James Worden Pope, U.S. Army, Retired” (caption title), 4 pages, in plain wrappers.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(canada.) george heriot.
Travels through the Canadas.
London, 1807
Folding hand-colored map, 26 (of 27) tinted aquatint plates. xii, 602, [2] pages. 4to, modern calf; hinges split, repairs to frontispiece plate, heavy offsetting and repairs to title page with inch-wide strip down the center replaced in facsimile, offsetting from plates, lacking one plate and final text leaf; 3 inked library stamps.
First edition. Heriot was a British army clerk who came to Canada in 1792, and then became assistant postmaster general in 1799. He had studied drawing under Paul Sandby while in military school and is considered an important early Canadian artist; the plates in this book are done after Heriot’s own paintings. The work is of more than strictly Canadian interest–most of the book is dedicated to “a comparative view of the manners and customs of the Indian nations of North and South America,” including a 31-page Algonquin dictionary. Dow, Niagara pages 127-130; Field 687; Lande 433; Sabin 31489; TPL 805.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(canada.)
Kingston, Picton, and Belleville! The Steamer Kincardine will Run as Follows.
Oswego, NY, 1878
Illustrated broadside, 11¾ x 6 inches, signed in type by agent C. Allison of Oswego; horizontal folds, tasteful repairs to center fold and margins.
This excursion steamer ran from the northern New York town of Oswego across the eastern end of Lake Ontario to the city of Kingston, Ontario and then westward to the Bay of Quinte, a popular Ontario tourist destination. The ship left Oswego on Tuesday evening and returned from Belleville at the end of the bay on Friday morning. No other examples traced.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(children’s books.)
12 American children’s books as packaged by A.S.W. Rosenbach, his bibliography in its original crate, and more.
Mostly Philadelphia, 1808-1822 and 1933
15 items, as described; condition generally strong.
Abraham Simon Wolf Rosenbach (1876-1952) was the leading dealer of antiquarian books in early 20th century America. In addition to his vast holdings and expertise in early Americana and American Judaica, he also became the leader in a more humble field: early 19th-century children’s chapbooks, based on a stock of remainders from his uncle Moses Pollok. His 1933 bibliography remains the state of the art for these ephemeral works. This lot demonstrates his marketing: a limited-edition copy of the bibliography, a promotional broadside, and a total of 13 early 19th-century chapbooks in custom slipcases:
A collection of 12 chapbooks in original boards or wrappers, most published by Jacob Johnson or Johnson & Warner of Philadelphia, all housed in the original moderately worn custom Rosenbach slipcase as marketed by his firm, with spine title “American Children’s Books 1808-1828.” Contents include “Village Annals,” 1814; “Die Gefahr in den Strassen,” 1810; “The Blackbird’s Nest,” 1812; “The Daisy,” 1808; “M’Carty’s American Primer,” 1828; “The New-York Preceptor,” [1823]; “The Search After Happiness,” 1811; “The Uncle’s Present: A New Battledoor,” undated; “Think Before You Speak,” 1811; “The Council of Dogs,” 1809; “A Picture Book, for Little Children,” undated; and “The American Primer” printed by Mathew Carey, 1813.
Another Rosenbach remainder, “The Tragi-Comic History of the Burial of Cock Robin,” in original wrappers, 1821, housed in a custom morocco slipcase.
Rosenbach’s bibliography, “Early American Children’s Books.” Numerous plates. lix, 354, [3] pages. 4to, publisher’s illustrated morocco, minimal wear; uncut; one of 88 copies on Zerkal Halle paper, numbered “L” and signed by Rosenbach on the limitation page. Portland, ME: Southworth Press, 1933. In its original slipcase, and housed in the original wooden shipping crate bearing a partial Rosenbach Company mailing label.
A color broadside promoting the bibliography titled “Charles F. Heartman Reviews Dr. Rosenbach’s Young American Parade,” 17 x 12¼ inches; minor edge wear.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
(children’s books.)
The Juvenile Gem,
New York: Huestis & Cozans / Philip J. Cozans circa 1855
featuring the proto-comic book “The Adventures of Mr. Tom Plump.” Heavily illustrated. 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 pages. 12mo, original hand-colored illustrated wrappers, apparently stitched without a backstrip, moderate wear and soiling; minor foxing, lacking rear free endpaper, intermittent moderate wear and faint dampstaining; early owner’s pencil signatures on front endpapers.
This illustrated chapbook contains 6 stories, each with their own title page: “Story of the Little Drummer,” “The Two Sisters,” “The Picture Book,” “The Adventures of Mr. Tom Plump,” “Old Mother Mitten and her Funny Kitten,” and “The Funny Book.” Tom Plump is the star of the show: the story of a boy who goes to California to make his fortune, returns home a failure, grows fat, gets married, and drowns. It is told in 35 small engravings, much like a comic book or graphic novel.
The Juvenile Gem title page is apparently a remainder from the Huestis & Cozans partnership, which dissolved in 1853. It was used to bind together these chapbooks in various combinations, as seen in other examples. These 6 chapbooks were all printed by Cozans at his 107 Nassau Street address, where he moved in May 1855.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(civil war.)
Bound run of the New-York Daily Tribune from the early part of the war.
New York: April 1861 to July 1863
76 complete 8-page issues, plus 42 additional defective issues. Folio, 1960s ¼-buckram, minor wear and a bit musty; minor dampstaining, a few issues unopened; edges untrimmed; a few issues with inked “Pays-Bas” revenue stamps, later owner’s signature on front flyleaf.
Horace Greeley’s New-York Tribune was one of the nation’s principal anti-slavery Republican newspapers during the war. This volume contains scattered issues from 29 April 1861 to 30 April 1862, plus a few additional issues from July 1863 (a list is available upon request). Noteworthy among the complete well-preserved issues are 22 October 1861 with a first report on the Battle of Ball’s Bluff; 9 November 1861 on the Battle of Belmont, with a long abolitionist address by Gerrit Smith; good post-battle coverage of Gettysburg on 10 July 1863; and most notably the extensive first-day coverage on the New York Draft Riots on 14 July 1863.
This volume also includes at least two dispatches from the paper’s London correspondent, Karl Marx–Das Kapital would not be published until 1867. The 21 October 1861 issue includes his “The London Times and Lord Palmerston,” and 7 November has “The London Times on the Orleans Princes in America”–both credited to “an Occasional Correspondent.”
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(civil war.) george webb morell.
A Union general’s letters home to his family from the front, including a balloon ascension.
Various points in Virginia, December 1861 to July 1862
4 Autograph Letters Signed simply as “Geo.” to his mother, niece, and nephew. 6, 4, 4, and 3 pages, various sizes; mailing folds, the first two letters with moderate water damage.
A significant group of letters, some written as a division commander on the Peninsula Campaign. George Webb Morell (1815-1883) of Cooperstown, NY graduated first in his West Point class in 1835, and rejoined the army as a brigadier general early in the war in August 1861. His most notable service was as a division commander on the Peninsula Campaign in the spring of 1862, but his loyalty to his commander Fitz John Porter effectively ended his military career when Porter was court-martialed.
These letters are not signed with his surname, but can easily be attributed to Morell by his frequent discussion of the units under his command, by the names of his relatives, and his handwriting. The first two letters are to his mother Maria Webb Morell (1793-1868) from Minor’s Hill, a large Union encampment near Arlington, VA. On 2 December 1861, he reports on his brigade’s Thanksgiving: “The officers of the N.Y. 14th gave a dinner to which they invited Gen. Porter & staff, myself & staff & the colonels of my three other regiments . . . & went off as well as if the dinner had been served by Delmonico.” He also notes: “I enclose a copy of Gen. McClellan’s order complementing our division. We can hold our own.” The printed order (General Orders No. 44 of the Army of the Potomac) remains with the letter. His 26 February 1862 letter also mentions his controversial commander: “The absence of Gen’l Porter has prevented my visiting the city.” He also reports on a hurricane “demolishing an observatory nearly 60 feet high which was erected in the autumn beside my quarters to command a view of the surrounding country.”
On 12 June 1862, he wrote to his sister’s daughter Julia Mitchell Chester (1840-1891) from “Camp near New Bridge, Va.,” after a promotion. He explains that “Gen. Porter now commands a corps, & I have his division.” He discusses the recent battles of Hanover Court House and Fair Oaks. At Hanover Court House, he describes what has since become known as the fog of war: “Had we known half as much of the country & localities there as we did a few hours later, we could have captured the whole force opposed to us.” At Fair Oaks, his division was stranded on the wrong side of a swollen river, so he missed the fighting, but did have one adventure: “I was up in the balloon (& so was Andy at another point, for there are two of them) & saw a very large force over the river with Richmond in the background.” This was the first Civil War battle in which the famed balloons of Thaddeus Lowe were deployed. Perhaps Brigadier General Andrew Humphries was the “Andy” who also enjoyed an ascension.
Morell’s final letter in this lot was to his sister’s son Captain George Morell Chester (1838-1891), who had apparently spent time on Morell’s staff. It was written from “Camp at Harrison’s Bar, James River, Va.,” on 5 July 1862, days after McClellan’s withdrawal ended the Peninsula Campaign. The campaign’s final battles are described: “My division bore the brunt of the fight at Gaines’ Mill & Malverne & has suffered terribly–my old brigade more than the others. It (my brigade) was engaged at Mechanicsville also. . . . Col. Black & Woodbury & Lieut. Col. Skillen are killed, Col. Cass wounded, probably mortally; Lieut. Col. Sweitzer wounded & a prisoner. You will remember all of them.”
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(civil war.)
A Traitor’s Peace.
New York, 30 October 1863
Letterpress broadside, 18¾ x 11¾ inches, signed in type by “A Democratic Workingman”; tasteful 3-inch repair in lower right corner, other minor repairs, minor foxing.
Warns of politicians who promise an easy peace with the Confederacy, and shares the recent punishing peace demands issued by the Richmond Enquirer. Concludes: “Comrades! Vote for the party that stands by the government, and vote for the men who stand by us, and by our brave brothers in the field, and let the ballot box tell the story of your patriotism.” Attributed to Sinclair Tousey as part of his series of anti-Copperhead broadsides issued in the wake of the July 1863 draft riots; another undated version bears the imprint of his Loyal Publication Society. Other similar broadsides with the same title are undated, but were apparently issued later. We trace none of this dated broadside at auction since 1948.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
(civil war.)
A book defaced by a Union soldier with anti-rebel graffiti.
Washington, 1855, with inscriptions circa 1862
“Message from the President of the United States to the Two Houses of Congress.” 638 pages. 8vo, publisher’s calf, worn; lacking front free endpaper, closed tears to title page, moderate foxing and toning; pencil inscriptions to front and rear endpapers and flyleaves.
John Randolph Jackson (circa 1840-1891) was a private in the 1st Maryland Infantry Regiment, part of the Potomac Home Brigade in the Union army. At some point in 1862, he got hold of this banal volume of United States governmental documents (Franklin Pierce’s State of the Union address and diplomatic reports) and filled its blank pages with patriotic notes and doodles. The front pastedown has a flag reading “Plaid out”; the rear flyleaves include his name and the proclamation “Jeff Davis is a son of a bitch and all others Rebbles.” The rear endpapers are decorated with a large Union flag reading “The Union For Ever”, adding “Old Baltimore ever true to the Union.”
If we had to guess when this work was done, Jackson’s regiment was captured in the fall of Harper’s Ferry in September 1862 and then sent to a Union-run parole camp in Maryland to await exchange. Perhaps he had access to unloved and untended books in the parole camp; you certainly can’t imagine him lugging around this tome while fighting at Gettysburg, as the regiment did the following July.
Jackson worked as a painter and raised a family in Baltimore after the war.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(civil war.)
A Virginia law book owned by the Harper’s Ferry mayor killed in the John Brown raid–later defaced by Union troops.
Richmond, VA, 1849, with inscriptions through 1864
xxxi, 898, [1] pages. 8vo, contemporary calf, worn; lacking front free endpaper, dampstaining and foxing to contents; inscribed by Fontaine Beckham on the spine and by 10 Union soldiers within.
This law book began its life quietly, as most law books do. An 1849 Richmond printing of “The Code of Virginia,” it was purchased by Fontaine Beckham (1788-1859), the railroad station agent at Harper’s Ferry, VA who doubled as a county magistrate. He inscribed his name “F. Beckham” on the spine. He was eventually elected mayor of Harper’s Ferry, and was as surprised as anyone by John Brown’s raid upon the town’s federal armory in October 1859. While Brown’s men were besieged in the famed engine house, they got off a shot at Mayor Beckham and killed him. A relative moderate on slavery by Virginia standards, Beckham had arranged to free his 5 slaves in his will. His death ironically led to the only slaves directly freed by Brown’s raid.
We don’t know who assumed ownership of Beckham’s books after his death. The Civil War raged through Harper’s Ferry several times. One unit which played a prominent role in the region was the 1st Maryland Cavalry Battalion, also known as the Potomac Home Brigade or Cole’s Cavalry. They dramatically evaded capture during the siege of Harper’s Ferry in September 1862, and then returned there on 6 July 1863. At some point, a member of Company D got their hands on Beckham’s old Code of Virginia. They defaced the title page, crossing out the words Virginia and Richmond, and then used it as a sort of company autograph book. 10 members signed the book, on its endpapers, flyleaf, and index leaves, often adding their ranks or unit name, and one adding the year 1864. Another inscribed “Loudoun Heights, Virginia,” where the battalion fought in January 1864.
The book’s index shows dozens of entries which relate to “Negroes,” “Emancipation,” “Slaves,” and “Patrols.” Mayor Beckham likely knew most of those laws, but he probably never spent much time on page 722, which covers “If a free person advise or conspire with a slave to rebel or make insurrection”–and also defines another word which would become relevant shortly after his death: “Treason shall consist only in levying war against the state, or adhering to its enemies. . . . “
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(civil war.) [jacob krotzer.]
Diary of a carpenter with the United States Military Railroad.
Tennessee and elsewhere, 1 January to 7 July 1864
107 manuscript diary pages, plus [16] pages of memoranda. 12mo, 5½ x 2¾ inches, original limp calf, moderate wear; hinges split, entries in pencil and sometimes difficult to read with a few pages smudged.
Even if you have seen a few hundred Civil War diaries, you may not have seen one from the United States Military Railroad–the unheralded civilian contractors who restored and maintained the vital army-owned rail lines along the federal front. Our diarist was not a “solger” but he performed vital work for the military effort as a skilled carpenter.
Our diarist began by catching a train from Elmira, NY toward the front via Harper’s Ferry, Cincinnati, Louisville, Nashville, and Stevenson, AL. He arrived on 1 February in the recently captured city of Chattanooga on the Georgia border, which would become the supply base for Sherman’s Atlanta campaign in May. His crew was dispatched from Chattanooga to work on a nearby rail line. On 7 February he wrote “the boss detaled me to make a washboard. . . . After diner I went to flag trains. I don’t feel well yet for work, but can sit down one place as well as eny. I flaged until night.” The labor gang was apparently not under tight military discipline; on 12 February he wrote “Some of the boys got an auger to boar a hole in log to put in blast, to have fun. It startled som of the boys. It raysed an excitement. Some fired a revolver and som sed blow out the lites.” On 18 February he made a door and 12 axe handles. More typical would be long days in the woods transforming trees into railroad ties. Morale was poor; on 8 March he wrote “The men are a getting tired of this kind of treatment and say that they will not stay eney longer than the first of April, when they mean to start for Pensylvania, where they can enjoy free days and not be under bondage.” On Sunday, 13 March, they put in a half day on the Sabbath: “We are in the woods halling ties on a cart, and some of them are a carry out by hand, good fellows to work, we all worked until noon and quit for the day.” Two days later: “Stil in the woods as usual, fawling trees, roping and lineing, skoreing and hewing.”
The crew was moved north to Nashville on 1 April, where our diarist helped erect a building for the commissary department, which seemed a better fit for his carpentry skills, and which he described in good detail. On 15 April he was “puting top on work bench and dresed up door stuff for pannel doors . . . and dressing stuff for windows sash.” On 19 April he returned to Chattanooga to collect his pay, which took a week. On 23 April he wrote “Want to get away from this city. The mules are piled in heaps and stink aful, all threw the town.” Back in Nashville, he continued to throw up buildings, noting that “solders came in by the swarms” on 30 May. On 6 June he helped raise a building for a machine shop. On 27 June he reported “Still in the city of Nashville, working with my tools for the goverment.” He received his final pay on 7 July, and was nearly home by 9 July, concluding his diary.
The author was Jacob Krotzer (1817-1880) of Dunmore, PA, just east of Scranton. He signs and dates the volume on both flyleaves, and also at the bottom of page 53; he mentions his brother Sidney Krotzer on 17 April and 25 May. The first inscription on the front flyleaf reads “Care of C.L. McAlpine, Enginere US RR’ds.” Charles LeGrand McAlpine (1828-1884) was a well-educated career engineer who served as the Engineer of Repairs for the City Point branch of the military railroad from July 1864 onward. McAlpine was very likely not the author of this diary–for one, he would have known how to spell “engineer.” McAlpine also was not married in 1864–this diarist corresponds frequently with his wife.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(civil war.) alexander bliss and john p. kennedy, editors.
Autograph Leaves of our Country’s Authors.
Baltimore, 1864
xi, 200, [1] lithographed pages including illustrated title page and final view. 4to, publisher’s gilt pictorial cloth, minor wear; front hinge split.
The book was published to raise funds for the troops via the Baltimore Sanitary Fair. It consists of lithographic reproductions of dozens of important manuscripts by American authors, starting with Francis Scott Key’s Star-Spangled Banner. Lincoln wrote out a fresh copy of his Gettysburg Address; this was the first appearance of the address in manuscript facsimile. Most of the great American authors of the mid-19th century were also represented–Hawthorne, Irving, Whittier, Longfellow, Stowe, Emerson, Audubon, Poe, Sigourney, Howe, Melville, Cooper, Thoreau, and many more.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(civil war.)
Group of unused patriotic covers.
Various places, circa 1861-1865
74 unused printed postal covers; generally minimal wear.
A good mix of stirring patriotic images with humorous covers such as “Jeff Davis & Co. Seeing the Elephant.”
Estimate
$600 – $900
(civil war.)
National Celebration of Union Victories: Grand Military and Civic Procession [extra-illustrated].
New York, 1865
Extra-illustrated with 19 plates. 72 pages. Tall 8vo, contemporary ½ morocco over marbled boards, moderate wear, with original printed front wrapper bound in; moderate foxing to plates, text leaves largely protected by interleaving.
This celebration was held in New York’s Union Square on 6 March 1865 to celebrate “the surrender of Savannah, the fall of Charleston, the re-possession of Sumter, and other brilliant successes of Union arms.” A grander celebration might have attended the fall of Richmond and Lee’s surrender, but that was more than a month away. The report gives the parade’s order of march, and preserves several speeches by civic leaders. This copy is extra-illustrated with 18 engraved portraits of military and civilian leaders (several by Alexander Hay Ritchie) plus the engraved title page of a different book, Orville Victor’s “The History, Civil, Political & Military, of the Southern Rebellion.” Sabin 51942. None traced at auction since a similar extra-illustrated copy appeared at Parke-Bernet in 1939.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(civil war.)
Issue of the New York Herald announcing “The Surrender of Lee and His Whole Army.”
New York, 10 April 1865
Large map on final page. 8 pages, 22¼ x 15½ inches, on 2 disbound folding sheets; minor wear at edges and intersection of folds, first and final sheets detached.
The front page features a long running headline: “The End. The Surrender of Lee and His Whole Army to Grant. Terms of Surrender.” The correspondence between Lee and Grant negotiating the surrender is reproduced, as well as the previous evening’s note of thanks from Secretary of War Stanton and his order for a national salute. On the rear page is a 16-inch map of central Virginia and North Carolina titled “The Surrender of Lee,” with Appomattox shown just to the east of Lynchburg. The editorials on page 4 also celebrate the victory.
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
(civil war.) amelia russell whitman fish.
Courtship letters to a veteran on the hunt for unmarked Union graves.
Various places, 1868-70
71 Autograph Letters Signed to her sweetheart / husband, Army captain Lawrence B. Fish, in one small box; condition generally strong. Almost all remain folded in original stamped and postmarked envelopes.
Amelia Russell Whitman Fish (1840-1905) was raised in Massachusetts and was living in Louisville, KY when she met Civil War veteran Lawrence Brainard Fish (1841-1898). They were married in September 1869. Fish was assigned to a massive project to document Union gravesites throughout the South, so they could eventually be disinterred and consolidated into national cemeteries (see Swann’s 17 September 2015 auction, lot 87, for a related notebook kept by Fish). Amelia resided in Louisville, KY and in Stone Mountain, GA while Fish traveled widely; her letters are addressed to him in Corinth, MS (where he was stationed for a longer period), various locations in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Georgia, and occasionally further afield. The letters cover the period of their courtship and first year of their marriage.
This collection is also of potential philatelic interest. Most of the letters are in their original envelopes with 3-cent Washington stamps, some grilled.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(civil war.) francis trevelyan miller, editor.
The Photographic History of the Civil War.
New York, 1911-1912
Profusely illustrated. 10 volumes. 4to, later buckram with original pictorial endpapers laid down, minor wear; internally clean.
“Still remains the major source for photographs; the greatest single collection of Brady illustrations”–Nevins page II:22.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(civil war–confederate.) howell cobb.
Letter written as United States Secretary of the Treasury, supporting secession.
Washington, 25 November 1860
Autograph Letter Signed to unknown correspondent. One page, 7¾ x 6½ inches, plus integral blank; paper clip stain, mailing folds.
Howell Cobb (1815-1868) of Georgia was President Buchanan’s Secretary of the Treasury, but became an avid secessionist while still holding federal office. Writing just weeks after the election of Abraham Lincoln had pushed secession talk to the fore, he describes a conversation with his fellow secessionist cabinet member John Floyd, former governor of Virginia and at that point the Secretary of War: “I receved your letter and . . . immediately called to see Gov. Floyd. He authorizes me to say to you that Col. Hardee shall have the additional leave of absence asked for.” Lieutenant Colonel William J. Hardee of the 1st United States Cavalry Regiment would soon resign his commission to join the Confederacy.
Cobb continues, “It gives me great pleasure to do any thing in my power to advance the policy of our noble state in preparing to maintain out of the Union that equality & independence which there is no hope longer any hope of preserving in the Union. God speed her cause & strengthen her resolution.”
Just two weeks later, on 8 December, Cobb resigned his position in the United States cabinet. In February, he was chosen president of the provisional congress of seceded states in Montgomery, AL, and was thus the de facto leader of the Confederacy until the election of Jefferson Davis as president the following year. Cobb then became a general in the Confederate Army, and remained in the field until after Appomattox.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
(civil war–confederate.)
Manuscript pledge by the citizens of Burnet County to care for the families of Confederate soldiers.
Burnet, TX, December 1861
Manuscript signed by 34 county residents, the first 17 in pencil and the remainder in ink. One page, 13¾ x 8¼ inches, plus integral blank docketed “Guaranty to aid soldiers’ families”; horizontal folds, moderate foxing and light staining.
“We, the undersigned citizens of Burnet County, pledge ourselves that the families of all those who enlist and go into the service of the country in the existing war from Burnet County, shall be taken care of, and we pledge ourselves that the said families shall be provided with the necessaries of life during the absence of the husband or father, as the case may be, in the service of the country.”
As you might expect, most of the signers we are able to trace were prosperous ranchers who were past fighting age but still wanted to show their support for the Confederate cause. For example, C.C.C. Kavanaugh and Thomas W. Hunt were neighbors aged 50 and 41 in the 1860 census, each engaged in stock raising and worth more than $4,000. This pledge appears to be unpublished.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(civil war–confederate.) william heartsill.
Fourteen Hundred and 91 Days, in the Confederate Army.
[Marshall, TX, 1876]
61 albumen photographs laid down on 19 leaves as issued. [8], 264, [1] pages. 8vo, original black cloth with stamped spine title “Camp Life of the W.P. Lane Rangers,” moderate wear, scuffed and possibly retouched; minor wear and foxing to contents.
“The rarest and most coveted book on the American Civil War.”
First edition. Heartsill kept a manuscript journal during four-plus years in the Confederate Army, serving in Col. Walter Lane’s famed First Texas Partisan Rangers until his capture in 1862. After time in Federal prisoner camps, he was exchanged in time to serve at Chickamauga under Braxton Bragg. Chafing under Bragg, he and other Texans eventually fled to reconstitute their original cavalry regiment in Texas.
After the war, as a general store keeper in Marshall, TX, Heartsill acquired an Octavo Novelty Press in December 1874 and began typesetting his journal page by page during slow moments at the store, printing a total of 100 copies of each page and then redistributing the type. He also solicited portraits of 61 of his comrades in arms, and made 100 prints of each, laying them down on special sheets with typeset captions. Bindings varied widely. As might be expected, no two copies of Heartsill’s book are exactly identical. His self-deprecating preface apologizes for his grammar and unpolished printing, and he promises that “a second edition of this journal will never be printed by the undersigned on an Octavo Novelty Press.”
Howes H380 (“b”–“printed by the author, page-by-page, on a hand-press; one of the rarest journals by a Confederate combatant”); Jenkins, Basic Texas Books 89 (“the rarest and most coveted book on the American Civil War”); Lowman, Printing Arts in Texas, page 14; Nevins, page I:102 (“a product of homemade printing”).
Estimate
$25,000 – $35,000
(civil war–confederate.) a.g. campbell; after w.d. washington.
Burial of Latané.
New York: W.H. Chase, 1868
Mezzotint, 28½ x 35½ inches; moderate toning, 5-inch complex repaired closed tear by left edge, otherwise minimal edge wear.
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–it is subcaptioned “Presented to every annual subscriber to the Southern Magazine.” It 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.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(civil war–confederate.) kurz & allison, lithographers.
General T.J. Jackson.
Chicago, circa 1890
Lithograph, 25¾ x 19 inches; 1-inch closed tear and dampstaining in caption area, light wrinkling, otherwise clear and fresh.
Only one example found in OCLC (Virginia Military Institute), and none other traced at auction.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(civil war–confederate.)
Stonewall Jackson memorial songsheet, with a souvenir from his grave.
Various places, 1874 and undated
2 items as described below.
“Stonewall.” Letterpress songsheet with black border, 9¼ x 6 inches; folds, moderate wear including loss at one corner and 1-inch tear extending within border. The presenter named here was Pinkey M.E. Biggs (born 1824), a Baltimore seamstress. She had them printed for distribution at a Confederate memorial service at Loudon Park Cemetery near Baltimore, as reported in the Baltimore Sun of 11 June 1874. The poem appeared in print as early as 1867 in “Southern Poems of the War” edited by Emily Mason, so Biggs was apparently not the author. We trace no other examples of this printing. Baltimore, MD, circa 1874.
Rev. John J. Lafferty. “A Souvenir from the Grave of Lt. Gen. T.J. ‘Stonewall’ Jackson, C.S.A.” Letterpress card, 6 x 3½ inches, with ¾ x 2½-inch piece of wood affixed; 1-inch repaired tear. Lafferty, who died in 1909, explains that a tree planted on the grave in 1864 was removed in 1884, and “the roots had gone directly to the coffin and embraced by curious curves and bendings the body of the dead Champion of the South.” The present fragment is said to be “made from wood nourished by the mighty dead, and holding in its fibers the dust of the matchless hero.” The card was printed “with compliments of James Z. McChesney, Charlestown, WV,” a commander in the United Confederate Veterans. Charleston, WV, circa 1900-1910.
WITH–a foxed 1865 engraving, “Rebel Generals,” 9 x 6 inches, removed from an unknown book.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(civil war–illinois.) carrie e. weir.
Charming letters from an Illinois teacher to her soldier pen pal.
Elizabeth, IL, 1864-1865
7 Autograph Letters Signed to friend Marcus Walker of the XX Corps Ambulance Corps; various sizes, minor wear. Most with original stamped and canceled envelopes.
Caroline Elizabeth “Carrie” Weir (1840-1883) taught school in rural Elizabeth, IL and wrote frequently to her brother Lt. Frank Weir of the 96th Illinois Infantry, about to embark on the Atlanta Campaign. One of those letters went astray and was found by ambulance driver Marcus Walker (1843-1922) of the 141th New York Infantry, who wrote a joking response in which he pretended to know her friends. This began a charming correspondence which extended over the last year of the war. This lot consists of 7 of her letters to Marcus.
In her first letter on 8 March 1864, she expresses her love of teaching: “Don’t really feel at home any place more than in the school house with a lot of motley urchins swarming around me.” She also announces that “you wrote to a girl about 5 ft 3 in. in height, rather heavy, blue eyes, dark brown or almost black hair & altogether I am about as good looking as any other half-sensible person.” On 6 April, she inquires “Are you good at playing ball? I had a good game with the scholars today morn. I never played before, but I like it. I like almost anything that is fun.” On 5 May she writes “I am a real farmer’s girl, like to be out romping around, can plant & husk corn, work in the garden & milk the cows & like nothing better that to get on a wild horse that will run away 2 or 3 times during a 5 mile ride.” On 5 July she notes that her soldier brother was wounded in the face, but was back on duty. On 7 March 1865 she writes “I am learning a new piece to play when the boys come home. You must come here too when your time is out & I will play & sing it for you. It is called ‘The Soldier’s Return.’ It is very pretty.” In her final letter, 12 July 1865, she describes the grand reception for the 96th Illinois held in Galena, with dancing, singing, two 80-foot tables for the soldiers, 2000 guests, and “one cake made to represent Lookout Mountain.”
We would very much like to report that Carrie and Marcus were wed later that year. However, she married later that year to a farmer named Robert Willson; Marcus married Belle Rose in 1872 and raised a family in his home town of Avoca, NY.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(civil war–kansas.)
Carte-de-visite portrait of Brigadier General George Collamore, the doomed mayor of Lawrence.
No place, circa 1861
Albumen photograph, 3½ x 2 inches, on plain mount; small areas retouched, “Brig. Gen. Geo. Collamore” in early pencil hand on verso.
George Washington Collamore (1818-1863) was a Boston lawyer and abolitionist who went west to Kansas in 1856, helping to furnish food and supplies to Free-State settlers. At the outbreak of the war he served as brigadier general in the Kansas militia, and then was elected mayor of Lawrence in 1863. Lawrence had long been the base for Unionist raids on Confederate areas of nearby Missouri. On 21 August 1863, William Quantrill and his Quantrill Raiders descended on the town in revenge, killing 150 unarmed men and boys in what is known as the Lawrence Massacre. Among the fatalities was Mayor Collamore, who dove into a well when his home was surrounded; his body was pulled out after the raid.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(civil war–maryland.)
The Massacre at Baltimore.
Hartford, CT: C.B. & E.C. Kellogg, circa 1861
Hand-colored lithograph, 10 x 14 inches; dampstaining in upper left corner, toning, minor wear in top margin.
Depicts the reception afforded in Baltimore to the 6th Massachusetts Infantry, among the “First Defenders” units heading to Washington after the fall of Fort Sumter. They were met by a mob of secessionist civilians hurling bricks, and barely escaped. Here a Black man is shown in the foreground among the angry insurrectionists, which seems unlikely. Nick Biddle, a Black man with a Pennsylvania militia company, is thought to have been the first man wounded that day.
None traced at auction or in OCLC, though copies are held by Connecticut Historical Society and the Maryland Center for History and Culture.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(civil war–maryland.)
Broadside resolution honoring the Baltimore Riot “First Defenders.”
Washington: Bell Litho. Co., 1891
Lithographed manuscript facsimile with engraved border, 21 x 16 inches, bearing the embossed seal of the United States House of Representatives; minor wrinkling and wear along upper left edge.
An extract from the journal of the House of Representatives: “Resolved, that the thanks of the House are due, and are hereby tendered, to the five hundred and thirty soldiers from Pennsylvania who passed through the mob of Baltimore and reached Washington on the 18th day of April last, for the defence of the National Capitol.” This was apparently printed for the surviving members of the First Defenders, and distributed at a 30th reunion gathering in 1891.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(civil war–maryland.)
Run of the Baltimore Sun from the early months of the war.
Baltimore, May to December 1861
47 unbound issues, each 4 pages of about 23 x 17 inches on a folding sheet; stitch holes in inner margins, minor wear; most issues bearing printed subscriber tags of H. Ridgely near the masthead.
This run includes most of the issues from 1 May to 19 July 1861, as well as 3 later issues from September and December 1861. It begins during the aftermath of Fort Sumter and Baltimore’s bloody Pratt Street riots. The 13 May issue reports the Confederate declaration of war; 14 May reports the Federal occupation of Baltimore under Benjamin Butler. The 27 May issue reports the arrest of secessionist militiaman John Merriman, which caused “quite an excitement”; the legality of his imprisonment was the subject of an important Supreme Court case. The impending dread of a border state on the eve of a bloody war is felt throughout.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(civil war–maryland.)
Group of 4 pieces of patriotic Maryland sheet music–Union and Confederate.
Various places, 1861-1864
Each 5 pages, about 13 x 10, variously disbound or rebound; minor to moderate wear.
“C.E.” “Maryland! My Maryland . . . Written by a Baltimorean in Louisiana.” 5 pages, disbound; edges worn, ink note on title page. A secessionist anthem for a state very much on the fence: “Dear Mother! burst the tyrant’s chain / Maryland! My Maryland! Virginia should not call in vain! . . . Huzza! she spurns the Northern scum!” Baltimore: Miller & Beacham, 1861.
Sep Winner. “Maryland my Maryland, Union Words.” 5 pages, disbound, dampstaining to inner margin. A response to the song above: “Thy sons shall battle with the just / And soon repel the traitor’s thrust . . . Virginia feels the tyrant’s chain / Her children lie around her slain.” Philadelphia: Lee & Walker, 1862.
George Lansing Taylor and “Miss Fortune.” “Maryland’s Free.” 5 pages, bound with backstrip of marbled paper. One verse reads “Glorified Maryland! Sanctified! Sealed with the blood of the free / Now in thy streets no more / Purified Baltimore / New England’s blood shall pour! Baltimore’s free!” New York: Horace Waters, 1864.
James R. Randall. “We Sleep, But We Are Not Dead: A Patriotic Song.” 5 pages, nearly disbound. Baltimore: George Willig, 1862.
WITH–one earlier song, Stewart Macaulay’s “Maryland My Home!,” Philadelphia: Beek & Lawton, 1853.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(civil war–maryland.)
Group of 3 patriotic Union songsheets on Antietam and Maryland.
No place, [1862] and [1870]
Letterpress songsheets, various sizes; minor wear, folds, foxing.
“Union Version of Maryland, My Maryland.” 11½ x 4½ inches, in decorative border; folds, faint dampstaining. A different version than appears in lot 74 above.
“Rebel Raid in Maryland My Maryland.” 12 x 4½ inches, in decorative border. 8 verses on Lee’s September 1862 Maryland campaign and the Battle of Antietam, though it is not mentioned by name.
“Antietam Cemetery . . . The Soldier’s Grave.” 7¾ x 3 inches. Minutes of a meeting to plan a Monday, 30 May [1870] ceremony at Antietam Cemetery, including the order of procession and words to be sung. None of these three printings appear in OCLC.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(civil war–maryland.)
Pair of issues of the weekly Hammond Gazette issued to benefit a Union hospital.
Point Lookout, MD, 27 October and 18 November 1863
Each 4 pages, about 11¾ x 8¼ inches, on a folding sheet; unbound, minor wear and toning.
The 27 October issue discusses the defeat of Lee’s Maryland campaign. The 18 November issue features a long poem on Point Lookout by a New Hampshire lieutenant. The final page of each gives a complete list of Union patients arranged by home state and regiment.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(civil war–maryland.)
Pair of issues of The Crutch, issued at the U.S.A. General Hospital in Annapolis.
Annapolis, MD, 28 May and 12 November 1864
Each 4 pages, about 14 x 9¾ inches, on one folding sheet, with patriotic masthead; folds, moderate dampstaining and wear.
The 12 November issue celebrates Lincoln’s recent reelection, including a small woodcut of “The Union Bird as Usual Victorious.”
Estimate
$300 – $400
(civil war–maryland.)
Memoirs and correspondence of Jacob Duryee, who commanded the 2nd Maryland Infantry at Antietam.
Los Angeles and New York, 1913-1914, 1970 and undated
8 typescripts, the bulk typed out by a stenographer and top-bound with fasteners circa 1914, with occasional manuscript corrections and minimal wear; plus 6 letters dated 1913-1914, most with minimal wear.
Jacob Eugene Duryee (1839-1918, also spelled Duryée or Duryea) was born into a distinguished old New York family. Days after the fall of Fort Sumter he enlisted in the 7th Regiment of the New York State Militia, the famed “Silk Stocking Regiment,” which had been commanded by his father Abram Duryee (later a brigadier general). He was soon promoted to lieutenant in his father’s 5th New York, and then in September 1861 was made Lieutenant Colonel and de facto commander of the 2nd Maryland Infantry. At Antietam he led his regiment on a famously desperate attempt to cross Burnside’s Bridge, with 44% casualties. That same week, after the Governor of Maryland failed to visit his broken regiment at the hospital, he resigned his command in protest and left the army; he was later made a brevet brigadier general.
Offered here are 7 typescript sections of Duryee’s memoirs which he intended to make the basis of a book. One covers his earliest service in the New York regiments, including a short notice of his fellow private Robert Gould Shaw (later of 54th Massachusetts fame). Of most interest is the 53-page “Story of Burnside’s Bridge, Antietam, Maryland,” which contains his heart-rending personal recollections of the battle, including the many dozens of dying men gathered in an old cow shed which functioned as a crude field hospital. A rumor spread that he had been killed in the battle with so many of his men, and a chaplain told him “General Warren has sent me for your body to send home to your mother.” Duryee replied “Give my compliments to General Warren, and say to him he cannot have it.” Also of interest is a separately bound 3-page section describing his resignation shortly after the battle, after consultation with General Burnside.
6 letters to and from Duryee are dated 1913 and 1914, all with later Silk Stocking Regiment members Daniel Appleton and Charles E. Lydecker regarding the regimental history; the portion relating to his New York service was apparently published in 1914 in the Seventh Regiment Gazette edited by Lydecker. Also included with the lot is a family genealogical manuscript, apparently written by Duryee and then expanded and typed by a descendant in 1970.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(civil war–massachusetts.) charles m. smith.
“What It Cost, or One Soldier’s Experience,” an unpublished memoir of cavalry life.
Worcester, MA, 1885
[4], 62 unbound manuscript pages on lined paper detached from a notebook, 9¾ x 7½ inches; toning to title page, final leaf worn without loss of text.
Charles Mather Smith (1842-1908) served as a corporal in the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry Regiment, which was present at several of the major battles of the war. The first extended portion of his memoir takes place on Beaufort Island, which his company occupied in January 1862. Wealthy planters had deserted their summer homes upon their approach, smashing and defacing their opulent furnishings as they left, “not willing that it should benefit our people” (page 4). The regiment was sent northward for the Maryland campaign, and saw their first heavy action at Antietam (pages 11-12), where his regiment supported an artillery battery which had crossed the Middle Bridge: “I never saw men work as those gunners did for about two or three hours, but they finally succeeded in silencing the enemy.” He visited the battlefield and its fresh graves two weeks later, poignantly described in a note to page 15.
Smith’s company was detailed for a “daring little feat” on 17 October, a reconnaissance to the village of Smithtown where they just missed intercepting General Lee with his staff on a country road (pages 20-23). Smith’s horse collapsed from this effort, and he pays the loyal beast a touching page-long tribute. He visits Harpers Ferry and reflects on John Brown’s courage as well as the “wildest, grandest and most impressive” scenery (page 25). He describes hand-to-hand sabre combat at the Battle of Brandy Station, with Confederate officers shouting “Charge them! They are nothing but Massachusetts hirelings!” This was followed immediately by the Battle of Aldie which wiped out most of the 1st Massachusetts: “In about twenty minutes we had lost 154 killed wounded and missing. . . . I escaped unharmed, with the exception of a piece of flesh being cut from my finger, as I suppose, by a ball” (pages 47-49). His decimated regiment was held in reserve at Gettysburg two weeks later, but he reports on the “continual unbroken roar” which “seemed as if the elements of nature were convulsed” (page 50). The memoir ends with the 14 October 1863 Battle of Auburn, where a shell killed Smith’s horse instantly. He soon found a member of his company whose “side had been shot away by a shell which passed thro’ a man just in front of him. He died in about half an hour, and I mounted his horse and joined the company.” Smith was captured the following month at the Battle of Mine Run and sent to Andersonville. He told that portion of his story in a separate narrative not included here: “From Andersonville to Freedom,” published by the Rhode Island Soldiers and Sailors Historical Society in 1894.
The present memoir was originally written “during the winter following my return from the service,” which would be the early months of 1865. The present manuscript is a clean transcript in an unidentified hand, with numerous revisions in Smith’s hand, as well as a new preface in his hand signed and dated 1885. The preface explains his motivation to instill the same kind of patriotism as the Revolutionary War narratives of his youth: “It is very strongly impressed upon my own mind that the Union cost something and meant something. If I can contribute anything to keep the fire of patriotism brightly burning, I am happy to do so.”
WITH–a complete modern typed transcription of “What It Cost”; an 8-page typed tribute to Smith by John H. Jewett titled “Our Comrade Charles Mather Smith, a Sketch for By and By” dated 1901; and a lightly hand-colored uncased tintype portrait of Smith, 4 x 3¼ inches including frame, with paper caption label on verso and only minor wear.
This expansive memoir has apparently never been published, but has more than enough original historical detail and literary flair to warrant publication. Smith clearly wanted to share his story with the world, and it is not too late.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(civil war–massachusetts.) isaac bullock.
Group of artfully displayed patriotic poems and essays.
[Salem, MA?], circa 1861-62
6 pages on 3 leaves, each about 7 x 5 inches or smaller; minor wear. In double-sided frame.
These patriotic pieces were set to paper by mariner Isaac Bullock (1800-1870) of Salem, MA; in the first of them he describes Massachusetts as his “mother state.” They include: selections of Elbridge Jefferson Cutler’s poetry beginning “Thank God! We are not buried yet?” including parts of his poem delivered at the Phi Beta Kappa annual meeting on 15 July 1861 and part of his poem “Reveille.” Transcribed by “I.B.” around a red, white and blue cut of Liberty excised from a piece of stationery, with a selection from Tocqueville on verso
Essay (apparently original) titled “In the Civil War now commencing among us,” drawing parallels to the English Civil War, on a sheet of patriotic letterhead, signed “I.B.” June and July 1861.
Poem titled “Sumter is Fallen” (apparently original), decorated with original watercolor patriotic motifs including a rider trumpeting “News!!”, signed “I.B.”, with additional “Musings” on verso dated 10 June 1862 signed Isaac Bullock.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(civil war–new york.)
Hand-colored photograph of a soldier in the 56th New York Infantry, also known as the Tenth Legion.
No place, circa 1861-1865
Hand-colored mammoth photograph, 19½ x 15¼ inches to sight; crease near top edge, minor wear. Not examined out of frame
This unidentified soldier wears the regiment’s distinctive “X” badge (signifying the Tenth Legion). The regiment served from October 1861 until the end of the war, with engagements including Yorktown, Seven Pines, and Malvern Hill.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(civil war–new york.)
Inaugural issue of The New York Ninth, a regimental newspaper.
Warrenton, VA, 31 July 1862
Volume 1, Number 1. 4 pages, 14½ x 9¼ inches, on one folding sheet; foxing, minor dampstaining, wear at folds including a 5-inch tear; early pencil gift inscription above masthead.
The Ninth Regiment of the New York State Militia served in the Army of Virginia, and was later designated the 83rd New York Infantry. This regimental newspaper was issued from a seized printing press in newly captured Warrenton in northern Virginia, using paper shipped in from Washington. It features a long poem on the battle of Bunker’s Hill, a glowing description of the occupied town (although “our reception by the inhabitants has not thus far been as cordial as we could wish”), and notes that the soldiers have renewed interest in their grooming upon to exposure to “the bright eyes of Warrenton’s fair Traiteresses.” An article describes efforts to employ “twenty or thirty Negroes” on a street-cleaning project.
Issue 2 was published on 7 August, but no others have been traced–the regiment soon became otherwise engaged in the Northern Virginia Campaign. In the next few months, they suffered many fatalities in the Second Battle of Bull Run, Antietam and Fredericksburg. Only one other traced at auction (Swann, 22 March 2007).
Estimate
$400 – $600
(civil war–new york.)
Letters from two doomed privates in the 109th New York Infantry, one written at the Siege of Petersburg.
Various places, 1862-1864
21 Civil War soldier’s letters (16 from Daniel H. McPherson and 5 from George W. Roe), to Daniel’s sister Amy Elizabeth “Libbie” McPherson of Willseyville, Tioga County, NY; generally minor wear; many with original postmarked envelopes (stamps removed).
“Every man who shows himself outside our works, draws down upon us a shower of bullets.”
Daniel Harrison McPherson (1840-1864) of Caroline, NY near Ithaca served two years as a private in the 109th New York Infantry, from 1862 to 1864. The regiment spent its first 18 months doing light guard duty in the Washington area. Private McPherson complained bitterly about life under military discipline, and was arrested in March 1863 for a disagreement over his furlough. On 21 May 1863 he described a hometown friend in the regiment, Reuben Young, who was hospitalized with erysipelas: “He has been totally blind, but is better now . . . his face is swelled up pretty bad.” He discusses the New York draft riots on 29 July: “They had a fine time in New York City & we expected to go there & shoot a few Copperheads as our regt. was the next one booked to go if more force was called for.”
Daniel’s final letter is dated “In the rifle pits before Petersburg, Va., July 9th 1864,” and reacts to the death of his brother-in-law George W. Roe (1831-1864), who was married to Daniel’s sister Sarah, and was drafted from the same town in 1863, joining Daniel in the 109th and returning home to die from an unspecified disease on 28 June 1864. The letter goes on to describe the Siege of Petersburg, where a fellow soldier named Jonathan Stamp was badly wounded: “He will lose his arm if not his life. The wound was made by a piece of shell striking his wrist, which it cut about one third off, arteries, cords, bone & all. The blood spurted out every time his heart beat & it was considerable trouble to stop it.” The regiment was stationed on the second line, where “the enemy’s breastworks & forts tower high above us, where they can watch our every movement & every man who shows himself outside our works, draws down upon us a shower of bullets. . . . The well here where we draw water is in plain easy range of the Johnies & every day more or less is killed there. . . . This morning one of our Negro cooks was killed near the well. . . . Nearly every man who is wounded, let it be ever so slightly, dies. Mortification sets in in about four days & he is gone. There is some kind of green matter gets in the wound, litterly eating a man alive. Whole hospitals are cleared out by it in the course of one day.” This was Daniel’s final letter in this collection; within a month he succumbed to typhoid fever in a Philadelphia hospital on 2 August 1864.
Also included are 5 letters from the unfortunate George W. Roe to his sister-in-law, August 1863 to March 1864. From Falls Church, VA on 25 November 1863, he describes the Virginia countryside: “The country all about here has been overcome by both armies & is consequently a barren waste. Fences have been destroyed & to the north, east & west from here the buildings have been burned or torn to pieces. Indeed, Virginia as a whole presents one wide waste of unproductive desolation.” On 24 January 1864 he predicts at great length “the downfall of the rotten fabric of secession & the restoration of peace to our heretofore prosperous & happy country.” His final letter, dated 4 March 1864, describes the botched plan of Union cavalry commander General Hugh Kilpatrick “to make a dash into Richmond, liberate our prisoners there, and if not able to hold it, burn the place & make good his retreat.”
WITH–9 civilian letters from this family, 1863-1865.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(civil war–new york.) milbourne g. whited.
Diary of an artilleryman chasing Lee’s army in the wake of Gettysburg, with photo.
Virginia, January to December 1863
[122] manuscript diary pages plus [7] pages of manuscript memoranda. 24mo, original limp cloth, minimal wear; many entries with contemporary overtracing in ink, hinge split; author’s inked stamps on front endpapers.
Milbourne G. Whited (1840-1918) of Orleans County in western New York served in the 12th Independent Battery of New York Light Artillery. The battery was on garrison duty outside of Washington for the first half of 1863, during which his most exciting diary entry was “Played a match game of ball” (21 February). Days after Gettysburg, though, the battery was dispatched in pursuit of Lee’s army. They camped on the Antietam battleground (10 July). At Wapping Heights on 23 July they had their first taste of combat: “Moved forward to attact Longstreet in Manassas Gap.” On 29 August he noted “5 deserters shot today,” and on 7 September the battery was reviewed by General Meade. At the start of the Bristoe Campaign on 13 October he noted “the Rebs are after us yet.” They caught up with the Rebs at the Second Battle of Rappahannock Station, 7 November: “6 a.m., comenced to advance. Came into position on the Rapahannock and first our first gun at the Johnys. Crossed the river at Barnett’s Ford.” At Mine Run on 30 November, “laid in position in front of the enemy and threw shell into their rifle pits.” Whited went west after the war, spending his final years in Yakima, WA.
WITH–16th-plate cased tintype with light hand-tinting, 1¾ x 1½ inches, with later manuscript tag reading “Milburn G. Whited just after the war was over.”
Estimate
$500 – $750
(civil war–new york.) john l. little.
Diary and memorandum book of a captain at the Siege of Suffolk.
Various places, 1863-64
[13] manuscript diary pages, plus [77] pages of memoranda. 16mo. contemporary calf, worn and nearly disbound; moderate dampstaining.
John L. Little (1840-1913) was a clerk in civilian life, son of an Irish-born baker in Manhattan. When he wrote this diary from 28 March to 22 May 1863, he was captain of Company A in the 127th New York Infantry. For much of that time he was part of the besieged Union force at Suffolk, VA, writing “Continual cannonading kept up by our gunboats on the woods” (19 April) and “Fort Nansemond firing at the Rebs all the time” (1 May). He helped determine that the siege was lifted on 4 May with an epic march: “At 3 a.m. left camp in light marching order on the Somerton Road. After marching about 15 miles and finding that the enemy had retreated, we returned to camp, which place we reached at 6 p.m., having marched about 33 miles.”
The memoranda consist mostly of supply requisitions issued to the company’s individual soldiers from May 1863 to October 1864, mostly while stationed on the South Carolina coast.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(civil war–new york.) leroy p. deuel.
A small-town private helps defeat Lee, and finds the love of his life.
Various places, 1 January to 5 October 1865
278 manuscript diary pages plus 13 pages of memoranda, in pre-printed “Clayton’s Pocket Diary.” 16mo, 4 x 2½ inches, original limp calf, minor wear; contents sometimes faint but legible, with minimal wear; signed with regiment on front free endpaper, explaining that the diary was bought on 14 March 1865 (with the earliest entries presumably transcribed from notes).
This humble diary traces the Siege of Petersburg and the Appomattox Campaign–and an unlikely love story. Leroy P. Deuel (1845-1927) was from Marion, NY, not far east of Rochester. He served as a private in the 9th New York Heavy Artillery, which mainly functioned as an infantry unit and saw heavy fighting though 1864 in the Overland and Shenandoah Valley campaigns. This diary opens with the Siege of Petersburg underway. On New Year’s Day, he was on picket when “two Jonies come in to our lines and give themselves up. . . . Went to Core headquarters with them.” The next day “the Jonies made a raid on our picket pine, killed two & captured 23 of our boys & a good many knapsacks and blankets.” On 7 February he reported that “5 p.m. Rebs made a charge on our line near Hatcher’s Run but were repulsed.” His regiment was reviewed by General Meade on 7 March, and on the 11th he witnessed the execution of deserter James Kelley of the 67th Pennsylvania. On 23 March he wrote “A Lincoln was here today. The 2 Corps had a review.”
On 25 March, Deuel reported on the Battle of Fort Stedman, a desperate Confederate attempt to break the siege: “The Jonies broke in to our lines on the right. We had orders to pack up every thing. The Battalion went to the rifle pits. They made a charge and took the picket line. Thare was 14 wounded in our Co.” The next day, one of his company’s corporals was shot through the heart. Fort Stedman cleared the way for the events of 2 and 3 April which broke the back of the Confederacy: “Charged the enemy’s works, carrying them, & capturing many pieces of art’y & many prisoners, driving the enemy for some distance. . . . Richmond was entered this morning by our troops ½ 8 a.m.” In the ensuing Appomattox campaign on 6 April, “drove the Jonies, captured old Lea’s son [General George Washington Custis Lee], Battle of Sailor’s Creek,” and finally on 9 April “Gen. Lea surenderd his army today at 5 p.m. Thare was grate rejoicing in camp.” As in countless other diaries from this month, the rejoicing was short-lived. On 18 April, “the news reached here that the Presedent was dead. It is tough.”
From that point onward, camp life was sleepy. Most notably, on 10 May he wrote “Went to arest a Negro this evening. Got aquainted with a girl by the name of Louisa Nucom.” Then on 18 May he decided to be more discreet: “Went into the contry to see the girls, had a fine time with J.W.G., L.W.N.” In the back of the volume, his sweetheart Louisa W. Newcomb of Mossingford, VA signs three times, adding “May ever blessing be thy lot, I only ask, Forget me not.” Deuel did not muster out of service until 29 September, and the diary ends on 5 October with his arrival in Manhattan and a speech by Governor Reuben Fenton.
Deuel spent the rest of his long life as a farmer in his hometown of Marion. In 1869, he married Louisa Newcomb (1844-1925)–the girl he met on garrison duty back in Virginia. They remained married for 56 years and raised two children.
The war diary is accompanied by two later diaries of similar size written in Marion in 1867: one by Leroy, and one by Leroy’s mother Nancy Keeler Deuel (1819-1896). Mother Deuel was a better-than-average chronicler of small-town life. Also included is a worn and incomplete 1835 printing of Union Hymns in the same size.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(civil war–new york.)
Group of military manuals carried by a New York lieutenant colonel and his staff.
Various places, 1855-1865
7 volumes, 8vo and 12mo, original cloth and ¼ calf, some worn with boards detached.
Gustavus Sniper (1836-1894) was a German-born officer from Syracuse who started the war as captain in the 12th New York Infantry, soon became Major of the 101st New York, and rose to be the Lieutenant Colonel commanding the 185th New York Infantry. These books would thus appear to have been variously carried at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Siege of Petersburg, and the Appomattox Campaign. Includes:
“U.S. Infantry Tactics,” Volume I, Philadelphia, 1861, inscribed by Captain Church of the 12th New York, with Major Sniper’s ink stamp on rear pastedown.
Hardee, “Rifle and Light Infantry Tactics,” Volume II, Philadelphia 1855, with 1858 militia order laid down on rear pastedown.
Egbert Viele, “Hand-Book of Active Service,” New York, 1861, with inscription of Sniper as major of the 101st.
William H. Morris, “Infantry Tactics,” Volume I, New York, 1865, inscribed to Colonel Sniper by J. Dean Howley.
“Out of Darkness into Light; or, The True Ground of Peace,” New York, 1865. Presented to Sniper “In Camp” on 7 January 1865 by Chaplain Hawley.
Silas Casey, “Infantry Tactics,” Volume III, New York, 1862. With inscription of Lieutenant William C. Rapp of the 185th New York.
“Revised United States Army Regulations of 1861,” Washington, 1863, inscribed for the headquarters of the 185th New York.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(civil war–ohio.) andrew j. raub.
Diaries describing heavy fighting at Corinth, with his portrait and other family papers.
Various places, 1861-1912
Approximately [76], [80] manuscript diary pages, plus 17 other items, in one folder; diaries quite worn and likely missing pages, one completely disbound.
“We held our ground 3 howers, runout of amunition and fell back. . . “
Andrew Jackson Raub (1836-1919), a farm laborer from Bucyrus, OH, enlisted in the 3-month 8th Ohio Infantry Regiment early in the war, stayed with them when they were reorganized as a 3-year regiment, but was discharged with a disability on 19 October. He then on 12 November 1861 enlisted as a corporal in the 15th Michigan Infantry under the name Jackson Raub. He remained with them until almost the end of the war. Raub was barely literate, and wrote mostly short sporadic entries. His first diary, covering 1861, has almost no content of interest. His second diary is a packet of disbound sheets, likely with some leaves missing. However, Raub did have some interesting things to say, including one long combat passage.
Raub saw his first heavy combat at Shiloh, here noted only briefly: “Arrived at Pittsbarg Tennisee on the 5 day of April 1862, in tow days fiting on the 6 and 7 of April 1862 gaind the day.” He had more to say about the lead-up to the Battle of Corith, which he begins on “September 31th”: “Atact, tow men wounded, and reinforsed by the 17 and 18 Wisconstent and tow 10-pound cannon. 15th [Michigan] deployed as scermishers, 17 and 18 and artilery runs, leeves us surounded.” The next day, “cut our way out, burnt our clothing for saftey,” and then “fitting and fall back by the insh towards Corinth.” On the days of the battle proper, he filled more than 2 pages: “We gaind a smawl bluf, opend fire on the enemy. We had 1 cannon, 500 men, the enemy 6 brigades. We held our ground 3 howers, runout of amunition and fell back, seen the enemey’s black flag. We then ralleyd and 17 and 18 Wis and us, we charged on the enemy for life, drove them back in to the wodds.” After the fighting, “we got the first bit to eat and first watter to drink we had for 4 days, and plenty of whiskey” (4 October).
Raub struggled with illness for the remainder of his service. On 21-22 August 1863 he wrote: “Sick, A.J. Raub lung fever. The collonel orders evry sick man out to do duty. 6 men of Co. E refuse, not able to obey the orders. Sick in tent, lung feever and the bluddy disentery and cramps but on duty, damd the doctor kills his men wit his duty.” On 2 September 1863 he notes a “grand review today by Genrel Shermon.” We perhaps should not take this 28 November 1863 menu literally: “Very poor breakfast, eal hash and stewed rats.” His final entry was written in a Memphis hospital on 27 January 1864 while contemplating his fate–by far his longest entry at 5 pages, reflecting on his service: “I was under arest onst by the officer of the guard for arguing the scripturs. He said the Prodestins ware all hore masters and hoears, and the Catholicks ware the only cherch that sirved God & I told him that they sirved calves and engravin imeges. . . . I apeeled to Jenrell Shermon and . . . sene my antagnist casheerd and dishonorable discharged. His naim was John Maran, capton of Company G, 15 Mich.” Raub was a better artist than a writer. Both diaries are embellished with several doodles, including crossed bayonets to start and close the 1861 diary.
Accompanying the diary are a group of related family papers. A set of 5 photographs includes a tintype of a very intense-looking soldier bearing a rifle, who we believe to be Raub. A postwar photograph of the same man and his wife was taken by a photographer in his hometown of Bucyrus, and another tintype shows the same young woman (presumably his wife Alice Gillespie Raub); the other two photographs may show their children. An 1842 Ohio land grant certificate is docketed as filed by Raub in 1884, and a worn 1880 circular relates to his pension claim. A clipping of his 1919 obituary from the Bucyrus Evening Telegraph clarifies his biography and adds that “He was wounded in action and carried the bullet which struck him to the end of his life,” and he spent his final decades in the Toledo State Hospital for the Insane. Also included are 3 small memorandum books of son Jackson C. Raub (1873-1937) of Bisbee, AZ, including a volume of safe combinations from 1904 to 1912–he was apparently a locksmith.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(civil war–ohio.)
Letters of Montgomery County private Andrew Laughlin, including two discussing his death in the service.
Various places, 1862-1863
8 manuscript letters (4 of them on patriotic letterhead), various sizes, generally minor wear; with 9 worn patriotic covers, most of them addressed and cancelled.
Alfred A. Laughlin (circa 1844-1862) lived in Germantown in southwestern Ohio. The earliest letter in this lot is dated 13 January 1862 from two hometown friends who enlisted before Laughlin: James Gunckel and Abiah Z. Hoffman of the 35th Ohio Infantry, then in camp in Kentucky. Gunckel strongly encourages Laughlin to enlist: “If you woud a went with me, I think you woud see more then you wood by staing at home, and wood have plenty to eat and to wear, and plenty of foun in the camp, and git 13 dolers a month, and won’t haf to dow enny thing.”
Laughlin soon joined the 112th Ohio, which never reached full strength and was merged into the 63rd Ohio Infantry. The lot includes 5 letters he wrote to his parents David and Susan in Germantown from September to December 1862. The last letter, dated 7 December, is from the front near Corinth, MS, where his regiment expected to face off soon against Confederate general Sterling Price: “Sunday we could here the cannon roar all day. There are troops enough around here to eat old Price and all his men. A deserter from Price’s army came in here yesterday. He says that the most of the soldiers’ time is up, and they won’t fight any more.”
Laughlin died of dysentery in camp later that month. The lot concludes with two letters from men in his regiment to the grieving parents. Francis Emley tries to give his best account of Laughlin’s final days: “He did not appear to suffer much pain and he died very easy. . . . Thank God he died in a glorious cause, that cause was for the old flag, that ower forefathers fought for. . . . Alford was buried very nice, for I helped to dig his grave, and I know that it was don right.” The company captain George Wightman followed up in September with advice on securing Laughlin’s effects and final pay.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(civil war–pennsylvania.)
Issue of the 19th Pennsylvania’s regimental camp newspaper, “The National Guard.”
Camp Pennsylvania, Baltimore, MD, 26 June 1861
4 pages, 8 x 5 inches, on one folding sheet; folds, punch holes in upper margin, early inscription on first page.
The editor was Harmanus Neff, a captain in the 19th Pennsylvania Infantry; August Wilhelm and Frederick Schell of the same regiment engraved the regimental coat of arms for the masthead. This issue is dubbed “Vol. 2, No. 1” but a note explains that Volume 1 was issued when the regiment was in militia service in 1856. The editor apologizes for the “Camp Field and Tent not affording the same facilities for elaborate execution and neatness of appearance as our well-regulated offices in the cities.” Written very early in the war before Bull Run, topics include the recent Battle of Big Bethel, and the genius of General Winfield Scott. At least one other issue followed, on 4 July (not present).
Estimate
$300 – $400
(civil war–pennsylvania.)
War diaries, ambrotype and other papers of a Gettysburg survivor, Pvt. John Scowcroft Settle.
Various places, 1860-1915 and undated
13 items in one box, generally with moderate wear except as noted, most significantly two diaries written as an enlisted man from September 1862 to May 1865: [28], [37] manuscript diary pages plus memoranda, 16mo (4½ x 3 inches) in worn original calf, second diary lacking at least two diary leaves, other leaves coming loose with moderate wear.
“Many straglers who had taken too much apple jack straggled away from regiment and were captured by girillas.”
John Scowcroft Settle (circa 1839-1917) was born in England and came with his parents to the Frankford neighborhood of Philadelphia as a boy. He enlisted in the 121st Pennsylvania Infantry in August 1862; the regiment saw heavy fighting at Fredericksburg, Gettysburg and the siege of Petersburg, all described in his diaries. The entries are mostly short and of modest literary quality, but his humor and poetic nature shine through in spots–and he was a witness to history.
The first diary begins shortly after the regiment was mustered, in September 1862. On 30 October he wrote “Thus began our Va campaign under Gen’l Burnside. I only hope it may be successful.” Their first taste of combat was at Fredericksburg, where he wrote “the Rebels gave us shot and shell in front of the Reb batteries, many a gallant soldier fell” (13 December). For four days in January he noted Burnside’s abortive offensive against Richmond, the infamous Mud March–or as Settle wrote on 20 January 1863, “Marched on what is called the Mud Skedadle.” He briefly describes his movements at Chancellorsville from 20 April to 4 May, and then to start July he describes the Battle of Gettysburg: “Came off picket, the battle commenced about 1 mile from Gettysberg. The Rebs drove us about 1 mile on the 1st day. I was wounded in the left arm and right shoulder but not bad. . . . Our forces drove the enemy at all points and many prisoners taken. . . .Our men re-took Gettysburg.” Left for a Philadelphia hospital shortly after the battle, where he continued with sporadic entries through May 1864.
Settle’s second diary begins in September 1864, when he is released from the hospital and returns to his regiment, then engaged in the Siege of Petersburg. On 30 September and 1 October he describes the related Battle of Peebles’s Farm: “Our First Division captured a fort. We then advanced and threw up breastworks. . . . Early the Rebs moved on and drove our brigade from behind the breastworks. We then went to the rear and threw up others.” He served as a clerk for the regiment’s participation in the presidential election on 11 October, and records a strong showing for the “Union” over the Democrats. At the Battle of Boydton Plank Road, “Moved at 4 a.m. and were engaged with the Rebs at 3 p.m. We got lost with firing on every side, battalion of sharpshooters capt[ured]” (28 October). A raid to destroy Confederate transportation and supplies concluded on 10 December: “The 2nd Brigade in the rear charged by girillas. 14 girillas killed by charging on the cavalry through brigade. Barnes, houses, hay stacks and churches destroyed by our troops but destroying the church was condemned by all. Many straglers who had taken too much apple jack straggled away from regiment and were captured by girillas.”
Settle suffered his second wound at the Battle of Hatcher’s Run on 6 February 1865: “At 1 p.m. engaged the rebels, they driving our 1 Brigade, ours charged on them and drove them back, but not without heavy loss on our side. We ware finally driven back to the breastworks and they checked the enemy. I received a slight wound on the arm and went to the rear. The same ball struck my hatchet and glanced and passed through my cap.” He was back on picket the next day, and fought at the pivotal Battle of Fort Stedman on 26 March, where he noted a “truce of 3 hrs for the parties to bury their dead wich are about equal in numbers.” After that, the rebels were on the run. On 9 April, he writes “Reported surrender of Lee’s army. Ours drawn up in line of battle. All kinds of reports, not knowing wich is the right one. Capture of an ammense number of prisoners.” The leaf which must have noted Lincoln’s assassination is missing; the diary concludes shortly after the Grand Review of 23 May. This second diary also includes two pages of primitive drawings of corps flags in Meade’s Army of the Potomac, as well as his division’s and brigade’s flags; and also a two-page song titled “Happy Land of Canaan,” apparently unpublished, commenting on the start of the war.
The diaries contain frequent mention of letters to or from Alice; John and Alice married in 1865 not long after he mustered out. They raised a large family in Leeds, MD, where he ran a general store. Included with Settle’s Civil War diary are a small collection of personal papers:
His letter to future wife Alice. “I suppose you begin to think by my former letters that I was begining to be a secesh . . . decived by our generals &c was enough to make us so, but with good treatment we are begining to be as patriotic as ever. Old Joe Hooker is making us all into regulars, blackened shoes &c. . . The change is for the better. Every one thinks Old Joe is going to win.” 4 pages; dampstaining. Belle Plain, VA, 1 April 1863.
Four versions of Settle’s poem “The Frankford Boys” recounting his company’s achievements at Gettysburg and elsewhere. It begins “All honor to the loyal boys / That wore the Union blue” and each verse ends with “The Frankford boys were there.” Present are a clipping of a newspaper publication dated 13 December 1909; a partial typescript dated 1911; a manuscript dated 1915; and an undated typescript.
An incomplete post-1890 pension application in Settle’s name citing “gunshot wound of left fore-arm, general debility and debility naturally due to age.”
A carte-de-visite portrait of Settle’s grandfather(?) John Scowcroft of Harwood, England.
Settle’s 1860 pocket diary signed in Manayunk, PA. The entries are mostly brief and of little consequence. On 20 March he attended a debate at his local lyceum: “Question debated was, Has a state a right to secede from the Union?” At least one entry was added in 1861, noting the Battle of Port Royal on 15 November.
“History of the 121st Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers by the Survivors’ Association.” 292 pages; moderate wear. Private Settle is listed on page 281; he has inscribed the volume on the flyleaf. Philadelphia, 1893.
Finally, a sixth-plate cased ambrotype portrait (3¼ x 2¾ inches) in strong condition of a young man, presumed to be Settle, holding an American flag. He wears a ribboned beret and has another ribbon on his breast.
These diaries and the related papers offer a portrait of a patriotic humble soldier with an edge of sarcasm. They are apparently unpublished and unrecorded. Additional notes on the diaries are available upon request.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(civil war–rhode island.) j.p. newell, artist.
Lovell General Hospital, U.S.A., Portsmouth Grove, R.I., View from Dyer’s Island.
New York: Endicott & Co., 1864
Hand-colored lithograph, 16 x 23 inches to sight; moderate dampstaining, a few short closed tears. Framed with an 1863 freight receipt for the Steamer Perry depicted in the print; not examined out of frame.
A view of the sprawling Union Army hospital in Portsmouth, RI, which treated thousands of wounded soldiers from 1862 to 1865. One in OCLC, at the American Antiquarian Society, and none others traced at auction.
The steamer Perry, featured prominently near the center of this view, ran a regular passenger route along Narragansett Bay between Providence and Newport. Its engineer Charles Lewis Stanhope, whose name is printed on the receipt, had a colorful history. In 1862 and 1864 he had violent altercations with passengers who were unable to pay their fares; both won lawsuits. He later served on an illegal gun-running expedition to Haiti. In 1871 he married Carrie Clark, but they were soon separated. She became linked with star baseball pitcher Charles “Old Hoss” Radbourn by 1884, and they were married in 1895. Stanhope died in the Rhode Island State Hospital for the Insane in 1898. This may be more than you care to know about Charles L. Stanhope.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(civil war–tennessee.) francis a. thuis.
View of Cumberland Gap and the encampment of the 91st Indiana Infantry.
Cumberland Gap, TN, early 1864
Ink and watercolor, 8½ x 15½ inches, on an opened sheet of faintly lined stationery; tack holes in corners, slight wear at intersection of folds, ¾-inch closed tear, foxing.
This view depicts Cumberland Gap at the junction of the Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee borders, a heavily traveled thoroughfare for western migration and a strategic objective during the war. The Union finally gained control in September 1863. This view was drawn from the southeast on the Tennessee side, with the sprawling encampment of the 91st Indiana Infantry in the foreground, with its commissary, tents, and dress parade in progress; as well as the headquarters of General Kenner Garrard, a cavalry commander in the Army of the Cumberland, and the post’s hospital, commissary, and guard house. Commanding the heights in the background are batteries of artillery regiments from Ohio, Michigan, and Tennessee. Framed at center is the gap, with the American flag flying high, captioned “Long may she wave, we’ll keep her there or die.” A small marker at the crossroads is captioned: “That blue stone in the Gap is the corner stone of Virginia, Ky and Tenn.” The sun sinking to the left helps to establish the orientation.
The 91st Indiana was stationed at Cumberland Gap from January to May 1864. The artist was Francis Adolph Thuis (1837-1898), who was raised in the Netherlands and came to Vincennes, IN as a young man in 1857. He enlisted in Company A of the 91st Indiana Infantry but was detailed as a musician. After the war he was a harness-maker in Vincennes, and remained active in music with his church chorus. He made at least one other nearly identical version of this view, which is held by the Indiana Historical Society.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(connecticut.) martin bull, engraver.
Bookplate explaining the rules for the Monthly Library in Farmington.
[Farmington, CT], circa January 1801
Engraving, 6¼ x 4¼ inches, completed in manuscript with inked catalog number 216 (changed to 73); early tape reinforcement along bottom edge verso, moderate wear and dampstaining.
One of the more memorable American bookplates of the early Federal period. It lists 5 laws for library borrowers: late fees, “one penny for folding down a leaf,” “other damages as apprais’d by a committee,” and more. A 4-line poem appears at bottom, promising great rewards to the young seeker of wisdom. An eager youth is depicted standing before a bookshelf, guided by the allegorical figures of Wisdom, Virtue, and Honour. 3 pages are devoted to this plate in Allen & Hewins, The American Book-Plate, pages 62-64.
The engraver Martin Bull (1744-1825) was a Farmington goldsmith, gunpowder manufacturer, church deacon, probate clerk, and treasurer. This bookplate was his best-known work as an engraver. The library assumed this name in January 1801, when Bull served as chairman of its committee, so he likely engraved the bookplate shortly afterward. See Julius Gay, “An Historical Address Delivered at the Opening of the Village Library of Farmington,” page 12.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(connecticut.)
Statement in support of a suspended Yale student, signed by his classmates.
[New Haven, CT], 23 November 1848
Manuscript document signed by 92 members of the Class of 1851. 33 x 13½ inches on 2 conjoined sheets; laid down on later mat board, moderate foxing, 5-inch repaired closed tear, dampstaining to mat board.
The rising Yale sophomores had a longstanding traditional ceremony, the “Burying of Euclid,” which featured the destruction of their freshman textbooks. The student chosen by his classmates to lead the ceremony in 1848, Asa French, was singled out by the administration for suspension, which both surprised and angered his classmates. They drafted and signed this statement, insisting that “the custom of burying Euclid is time-honored” and “should be regarded as a class matter, each acting the part assigned to him by his class, assuming of course no individual responsibility.” The statement was intended to serve as a sort of letter of reference, insisting that the suspension should not be regarded as a blight on French’s character.
Asa French (1829-1903) of Braintree, MA was reinstated, graduated with the Class of 1851, and went on to a long law career; he was active in alumni affairs. Among the noteworthy students who signed here in his defense are journalist Richard Henry Sylvester (1830-1895); John William Hendrie (1830-1900), benefactor of the Law School’s Hendrie Hall; Henry H. Jessup (1832-1910), missionary to Syria; and Colonel William Woolsey Winthrop (1831-1899), an expert on military law.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(declaration of independence.) frédéric lepelle, engraver.
Early French printing, based closely on the famous Stone engraving.
Engraved broadside, 32 x 26 inches; folds as issued, minor foxing.
This printing was produced to accompany a French edition of the Jared Sparks biography of George Washington. Sparks was introduced to the translator François Guizot by none other than the Marquis de Lafayette. Lafayette had been the recipient of two of the original 200 William Stone printings of the Declaration of Independence. One of his Stones was quite possibly the source for this faithful engraved copy–there could not have been many other good facsimiles in France at that time. Not in Bidwell.
Estimate
$4,000 – $6,000
(early american imprint.) samuel clough.
Kalendarium Nov-Anglicanum, or An Almanack of the Coelestial Motions for . . . 1705.
Boston: B. Green for Benjamin Eliot, 1705 [1704]
Astronomical diagram. [16 of 24] pages. 12mo, disbound; lacking the final 4 leaves, moderate dampstaining, a few early manuscript notations; uncut.
Clough issued annual almanacs in Boston from 1700 to 1708, with an anonymous competitor publishing the “N. England Kalendar” from 1703 to 1706. Clough’s introduction denounces this competitor at length, after enduring their mockery of his astronomical calculations. Drake 2918; Evans 1153. 6 examples in ESTC. We trace only one other Clough almanac sold at auction since 1921 (Swann, 16 April 2019, lot 3).
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
(early american imprint.) daniel travis.
An Almanack of Coelestial Motions and Aspects for . . . 1711.
Boston: [Bartholomew Green? for] N. Boone, 1711 [1710]
Astronomical diagram. [16 of 20] pages. 12mo, disbound; lacking 2 final advertisement leaves, moderate dampstaining and wear, numerous contemporary inked notes; uncut.
Daniel Travis issued almanacs from 1707 through 1723. Drake 2940; Evans 1490. 4 in ESTC. While several 1720s Travis almanacs have appeared at auction, we trace no other earlier ones sold at auction since 1923.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(early american imprint.) [nathaniel whittemore.]
An Almanac for the Year of Our Lord, 1718.
“America” [Boston]: [Thomas Fleet?] for the author, [1717]
Astronomical diagram. [14 of 16] pages. 12mo, disbound; lacking final leaf, repairs along backstrip, 2 minor repaired tears on fore-edge, numerous contemporary inked notes; uncut.
The annotations include notes on three deaths: of Isaac Foster on 13 January; “A.H.” on 20 January; and Rev. Thomas Barnard of North Andover, MA on 13 October. Barnard had some connection with the Salem Witch Trials, and his house is now operated as an historic site. Another entry notes that “Hannah Foster took sick” on 6 December. Drake 2979; Evans 1937. 2 in OCLC, both at the American Antiquarian Society.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(early american imprint.) nathaniel ames.
An Astronomical Diary; or an Almanack for . . . 1754 [1755, 1762].
Boston: John Draper, [1753-1761]
[16], [16], [24] pages. 3 volumes. 12mo, rebacked with tape; restored at inner margins, generally minor wear.
The 1762 almanac features a poem in celebration of victories in the French and Indian War: “The best of Kings has laid his Scepter down / And George the Third adorns the British Crown / New-conquered Realms join to his boundless Sway / And Savage Chiefs their willing Homage pay.” Drake 3095, 3097, 3132.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(early american imprint.)
Extracts of Articles from the Treaty-Marine with Holland, Concluded at London the First Day of December 1674.
Boston: John Draper, 1757
Illustrated with a woodcut of a sailing ship. 3 pages, 13 x 8¾ inches, on one folding sheet; stitch holds, light toning, folds.
This abstract shows which articles were legal to trade with Holland by the terms of a treaty signed shortly after the Third Anglo-Dutch War. The third page offers a similar abstract of material legal to trade with Spain by the terms of the 1667 Treaty of Madrid. This would have been useful information for members of Boston’s large mercantile community. Evans 7906. Just one example traced in ESTC, at Massachusetts Historical; none traced at auction.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(early american imprint.) nathaniel ames.
An Astronomical Diary; or an Almanack for . . . 1768.
New London, CT: T. Green, [1767]
[24] pages. 12mo, stitched; moderate wear, staining heavier toward rear; uncut.
Includes a Massachusetts resolution against the use of “foreign superfluities,” and a patriotic address against excessive taxation signed by “A New England Man.” Bristol B2731; Drake 250.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(early american imprint.) samuel hopkins.
An Inquiry into the Nature of True Holiness.
Newport, RI: Solomon Southwick, 1773
vi, [2], 220 pages. 8vo, original plain wrappers, worn, without backstrip; foxing, minor dampstaining; uncut and partly unopened; original owner’s signature on title page and his purchase note on page 81. In modern full morocco folding case.
First edition. The Rev. Samuel Hopkins (1721-1803) studied under Jonathan Edwards at Yale, and was best known for his tenure at the First Congregational Church of Newport; he was one of the first prominent opponents of slavery in the American colonies. He discusses a biblical passage on the release of servants from bondage on pages 137 and 138. Alden, Rhode Island 514; Evans 12811; Sabin 32955. Provenance: sold by bookseller Ebenezer Bradford to Andrew King, 1775.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(early american imprint.) nathaniel ames.
An Astronomical Diary; or an Almanack for 1774.
Hartford, CT: Ebenezer Watson, 1774 [1773]
[16] pages. 12mo, disbound; minor wear and dampstaining, lightly trimmed.
The 16 December calendar entry commemorates the very recent Boston Tea Party: “East India Tea destroy’d in Boston 1773.” An unusually scarce Hartford reprint of the long-running Boston almanac. Drake 287 records only one example, in a private collection; none are shown in ESTC, but the American Antiquarian Society does hold another example.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(early american imprint.) john somers, baron somers.
The Judgement of Whole Kingdoms and Nations Concerning Rights . . . of Kings.
Newport, RI: Solomon Southwick, 1774
156 pages. 8vo, original wrappers, worn, lacking backstrip; moderate dampstaining and wear to contents; uncut; original owner’s inscription on rear flyleaf. In modern full morocco folding case.
Early American edition of “Vox Populi, Vox Dei, being True Maxims of Government,” originally published in England in 1709 as a critique of the monarchy and a call for religious freedom. It was reprinted in three American editions in 1773 and 1774, finding a new audience among the patriots on the eve of the Revolution. The early London editions were published anonymously because of their inflammatory nature; authorship is disputed and sometimes ascribed to Daniel Defoe or others, although given as “Lord Sommers” here. Alden, Rhode Island 564; Evans 13631.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(early american imprint.) henry gardner.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts . . . by Virtue of . . . an Act for Apportioning and Assessing.
Boston, 25 November 1780
Letterpress broadside, 16½ x 13 inches, completed in manuscript and signed by Gardner as treasurer of Massachusetts; separations at folds with 3 generations of repairs on verso; minor foxing and offsetting; uncut.
An order to raise taxes from the towns of Massachusetts in accordance with an act dated 18 March 1780. This copy was issued to the constable of the town of Reading, who was ordered to raise £8,511.
While other tax broadsides from this era are recorded, we can trace no other examples of this printing in ESTC, Evans, or Ford’s Massachusetts Broadsides. In addition, this was one of the first broadsides to style Massachusetts a commonwealth rather than a state, in keeping with the 25 October passage of their new constitution. Ford lists only one earlier Commonwealth broadside, issued 12 days earlier on 13 November. Provenance: purchased on 21 January 1955 from dealer S.C. Hamilton per a pencil note on verso.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(economics.)
“The History of White Negroes,”
New Haven, CT: Meigs & Dana, 13 April 1786
as published in the New-Haven Gazette, and the Connecticut Magazine,” Volume I, No. 9. Pages [65]-72. 4to, 9¾ x 8½ inches, disbound; moderate foxing.
This deadpan satirical piece notes the discovery of a “race of negroes in the middlemost parts of Africa who are as white as snow,” and posits the evolution in the other direction of white laborers being transformed into negroes by large-scale economic forces. The descent of the white laborer into slavery had long been blamed on the oppressive policies of Great Britain. The continuance of this process under American liberty is thus ascribed by the author to the “design of natures.” His satire seems to implicate public debt and high taxation for the degradation of free labor.
This essay is credited to “Lycurgus,” which was the pen name of the Gazette’s editor Josiah Meigs; he wrote other satirical pieces under this name. This is the essay’s first and possibly only appearance in print. It is discussed at length in Jared Gardner’s “Master Plots: Race and the Founding of an American Literature, 1787-1845,” pages 15-17.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(family papers.)
Papers of the Macomber family, seed merchants of Portsmouth, Rhode Island.
Various places, bulk 1852-1877
Approximately 800 items neatly sleeved and organized in 15 binders (3.5 linear feet); condition generally strong, many of the letters accompanied by original stamped envelopes.
Joseph Ellwood Macomber (1822-1906) was raised in Vermont, and taught school in Farmington, NY and Portsmouth RI as a young man. He eventually established a successful strawberry farm and seed distribution business in Portsmouth, and was an active member of the Society of Friends (Quakers). Offered here are the extensive personal and business papers of Joseph and his sons Isaac Borden Macomber (1852-1938) and William Penn Macomber (1854-1885).
Letters and inventories relating to Macomber’s seed business fill three binders, with letters dated from 1854 to 1875. They are arranged by customer, with regular correspondents including seed retailers in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Boston, and beyond. Produce dealers Sweet & Arnold in Providence were regular buyers of his strawberries in the 1860s. Also included are 3 broadside advertisements for Macomber’s Fertilizer Distributor, developed by son Ellwood Gassett Macomber.
Personal letters to Joseph Ellwood Macomber span from 1852 to 1876 in 3 binders. A letter to his wife is on the elaborate letterhead of the Elmira Water Cure while he was under treatment there in 1854. The family as Quakers did not fight in the Civil War, but certainly grappled with the issues of the day. Brother William Macomber (1832-1918) wrote in 6th Month 1863 “I have one scholar who lost an arm in the battles under Gen. Pope in Virginia. . . . There may be a draft, but I do not now feel as tho’ I could consistently take up arms to destroy that which God has created on purpose for his own glory.”
Letters addressed to Isaac Borden Macomber dated 1868 to 1877, plus other ephemera, fill 2 binders. He attended the Friends School in Providence, and then received a business degree at the Mowry & Goff School in Providence, before returning to farm in his home town of Portsmouth. Among his correspondents were brother William, a Yale student (see below).
Letters addressed to William Penn Macomber and a handful of other documents fill 4 binders extending from 1870 to 1877, mostly from friends and family while he was enrolled at the Providence Friends School (Moses Brown School) and Yale University, graduating in 1877. Many of the letters are from his sister Lizzie while she was at the Friends School. Highlights include a small manuscript map of the Yale campus, and seven of his juvenile Friends School essays from 1868, including “Base-Ball,” describing the rules of the new national game: “Base-ball is a very healthy sport and there are but few who do not like it. It is not only healthy but amusing.”
Last are 3 binders of miscellaneous letters and documents, mostly invoices and other business records. A strawberry sales memoranda book from 1863 and 3 bank books are included. William Macomber discusses a grisly murder in his hometown of Chelsea, Michigan in a 16 September 1863 letter. An untitled pencil property map shows a house, grape arbor, barn, well, and dozens of trees. 16 reports from the school districts of Portsmouth are dated 1858-1859. One of the binders consists of estate records from 1917-1919, otherwise the entire collection dates from the narrow window of 1852 to 1877.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
(film.)
A Wonderful Animated or Moving Picture Exhibition.
Chicago: Sears, Roebuck, & Co., circa 1899
Illustrated broadside, 28 x 21 inches; moderate edge wear.
This poster from the very early years of commercial motion pictures advertises an exhibition of “life-size views of life and motion . . . illustrating our new possessions and Free Cuba,” in the wake of the Spanish-American War. An “Optigraph Moving Picture Machine” projected animated pictures on a screen, interspersed with 52 still views projected with the more established stereopticon technology. The Philippines, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico are all featured.
It might seem odd that Sears & Roebuck would be publishing an exhibition broadside. They produced and marketed early film projectors and films, with independent exhibitors as their intended audience, promising that “you have no boss or bosses, you conduct the business to suit yourself.” See David Nasaw’s 1999 book “Going Out: The Rise and Fall of Public Amusements” (page 142). The posters were apparently produced to accompany the projectors so exhibitors could start advertising their performances without delay. The first reference we find to an actual performance was in the Chadron Record in rural Nebraska, 21 July 1899: “A right royal entertainment is promised to be given in Nelson’s opera house tomorrow night when the wonderful animated or moving picture exhibition will be given.” None traced at auction since 2005.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(florida.) [andrés gonzález de barcía].
Ensayo Cronológico para la Historia General de la Florida.
Madrid, 1829
2 folding plates (one of them paginated with the text). 2 volumes. [4], 508; [4], 512 pages. Small 8vo, later ¼ morocco; very clean internally; small bookplates of bibliographer J.M. Andrade on front pastedowns.
Later edition of a 1723 work, written under the pseudonym Gabriel de Cardenas z Cano as a companion piece to Garcilaso de la Vega’s La Florida. It covers not only modern Florida, but also much of North America north of Mexico. Title pages read “Tomo VIII” and “Tomo IX,” as this edition was published as part of the series “Historia de la Conquista del Nuevo Mundo.” Palau 105050.
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
(food & drink.) william coxe.
A View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees, and the Management of Orchards and Cider.
Philadelphia, 1817
77 wood-engraved plates of apples, pears, peaches, and other fruit. 253, [15] pages. 8vo, contemporary calf, worn with boards detached, needs binding; moderate foxing, moderate dampstaining at rear from page 245 onward; early owner’s signature on title page.
“William Coxe, who was born in Philadelphia, wrote the first home-grown American book on fruit-growing. . . . [At his farm in Burlington, New Jersey] he grew most European and American varieties available, importing several from France or Holland besides developing new ones. . . . His elaborate descriptions are linked to the relevant drawings, though not all the varieties are illustrated”–Raphael, An Oak Spring Pomona 57. Cagle 198; Sabin 17313.
Provenance: signature of Charles Wister–either the noted botanist Charles Jones Wister (1782-1865), whose Philadelphia estate Grumblethorpe is now a museum, or a relative.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(food & drink.) john adlum.
A Memoir on the Cultivation of the Vine in America, and the Best Mode of Making Wine.
Washington, 1828
Folding facsimile plate of a letter from Thomas Jefferson. 179, [1] pages. 12mo, publisher’s ¼ sheep over printed boards, backstrip perished, front board detached; foxing; later owner’s inked stamp on front free endpaper.
Second edition of “the first American book on American grape culture. . . . A compilation of European sources adapted from Adlum’s experience for use in America, with correspondence from American growers”– Gabler, Wine into Words, page 6-7.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(food & drink.)
A pair of early American works on bee-keeping by Thacher and Weeks.
Various places, 1829 and 1839
Two volumes as described.
James Thacher. “A Practical Treatise on the Management of Bees.” 162, [4] pages. 12mo, publisher’s cloth-backed plain boards, minor wear; moderate foxing. Boston, 1829.
John M. Weeks. “A Manual, or an Easy Method of Managing Bees in the Most Profitable Manner to their Owner.” 96 pages. 16mo, publisher’s printed wrappers, minimal wear; foxing, light vertical fold; early owner’s signature on front free endpaper. 4th edition. Laid in are “Supplementary Remarks,” apparently by Weeks to accompany this work, 2 pages on a 6¾ x 4¼-inch folded slip. Brandon, VT, 1839.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(food & drink.)
Early catalog and price list for the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association.
St. Louis, MO, circa 1884
16 pages. Large 8vo, 10 x 6¾ inches, original illustrated wrappers, minor wear including light chipping at edges, light vertical fold; minimal wear to contents.
This is the earliest known Anheuser-Busch catalog. The front wrapper shows the brewery’s trademark eagle on a shield bearing the stars and stripes perched upon the brewery’s “A.” It bears the title “Price List and Trade Circular, Anheuser, Busch Brewing Assn.” The rear wrapper is a full-page view of the main brewery complex, with a table of annual sales showing rapid growth from 1874 through 1882. The rounded 1883-1884 number, 350,000 barrels, appears to be projected. The contents are lively: a “Message to our Patrons,” a display of counterfeit labels, illustrations of satellite breweries in Arkansas, Wyoming and Texas; a centerfold spread of their 1883 gold medal certificate; and a 3-page price list for their various brews: Anheuser-Busch Standard, Liebotschaner, Erlanger, Pale Lager, Faust Beer, and “the Budweiser beer,” offered by the bottle or keg. Souvenir traveling cases, beer glasses, and corkscrews are also offered. Romaine, American Trade Catalogs, lists the earliest known American brewery catalog as being a price list and trade circular from Anheuser Busch in 1885 (page 21). One example of the present issue in OCLC, at the Missouri Historical Museum, and none traced at auction.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(geography.) jedidiah morse.
The American Gazetteer.
Boston, 1797
6 (of 7) folding maps, lacking scarce Georgia map. viii, [619] pages. 8vo, modern calf, minor wear; frontispiece map worn with tape repair.
First edition. Evans 32509; Howes M839; Sabin 50923.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(geography.) joseph scott.
A Geographical Dictionary of the United States of North America.
Philadelphia, 1805
Folding frontispiece map. iv, [592] pages, 8vo, contemporary calf, worn, rebacked with original backstrip laid down; tape repairs to map, light toning, minimal dampstaining.
Estimate
$120 – $180
(georgia.) johann jacob haid, engraver; after jeremiah theus.
Portrait of Johann Martin Boltzius, leader of early German emigrants.
Augsburg, Germany, 1754
Mezzotint engraving, 6½ x 4¾ inches, on laid paper; cropped just within margins, minimal dampstaining, mount remnants on verso; early owner’s inked stamp on verso.
Johann Martin Boltzius (1703-1765) was a Lutheran minister who led the refugee community of Salzburger Protestants to the new settlement of Ebenezer, GA in 1736. This print is captioned “Johann Martin Bolzius, erster Evangel Prediger der Salzburg Colonistengemeine zu Ebenezer in Georgien.” No other examples traced at auction since 1914.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
Alexander hamilton.
Treasury report featuring the first formal federal budget.
[Philadelphia], 6 January 1791
12 pages. Folio, disbound; minimal wear and toning.
As Secretary of Treasury under the new Constitution, Hamilton did not submit formal budgets for 1789 or 1790, so this report was the first formal budget ever submitted to Congress for its review.
The report does not have a title page. It is headed with the printed text of Hamilton’s cover letter to Speaker of the House F.A. Muhlenberg: “Sir, I have the Honor to transmit to you a Report to the House of Representatives, relative to the Appropriations of Money.” This is followed by Hamilton’s short introduction, which concludes with an apology for the growing Treasury Department bureaucracy, explaining that officials went through so much stationery that they could not possibly cover the expense out of their modest salaries. The budget itself begins with the salaries of all federal employees, headed by President Washington at $25,000. The Treasury Department’s budget dwarfed that of the departments of State and War, who employed only 7 men each, although the actual military force is listed separately (as submitted by Henry Knox). Continental soldier pensions were rare enough to list all 15 by name, including Baron von Steuben and “Youngest children of the late Major-General Warren.” Evans 23925; Ford, Hamiltoniana 180.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
(alexander hamilton.)
Report of his death in the Connecticut Courant.
Hartford, CT, 25 July 1804
4 pages, 20¼ x 12½ inches, on one folding sheet; minor wear at edges and intersections of folds, minor dampstaining.
This black-bordered newspaper was issued 13 days after the death of Hamilton. It prints his correspondence with Burr and others regarding the fatal duel, his will, numerous tributes, and an article on his funeral illustrated with a cut of the coffin. The great majority of the paper relates to Hamilton.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(hawaii.) king kalakaua (words) and henry berger (music).
Hymn of Kamehameha I, or Hawaii Ponoi.
San Francisco, CA: M. Gray, 1874
Engraved wrapper in blue and gray, 14 x 10¾ inches, printed on the first page of a folding sheet, illustrated with a 5¼ x 4-inch albumen photograph of Kalakaua, unbound, with a double-sided sheet of printed music laid in; moderate foxing, light wrinkling to the wrapper, 1½-inch closed tear to music leaf.
First edition of what became the Hawaiian national anthem. The music was written by the Hawaiian royal bandmaster in 1872. King Kalakaua, an avid music lover known widely as “The Merrie Monarch” who proved to be the last king of Hawaii, added the lyrics in Hawaiian in 1874 and dedicated it to the first king, Kamehameha. It was adopted as the national anthem in 1876, and remains the state anthem today. Forbes 3054 (illustrated on page 582). 5 in OCLC, all in California.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(immigration.) stephen j. field.
The invalidity of the “Queue Ordinance” of the City and County of San Francisco.
San Francisco, CA, 1879
43 pages. 8vo, original printed wrappers, moderate chipping at edges; minor wear to contents. In custom ¼ morocco folding case.
Subtitled “Opinion of the Circuit Court of the United States, for the district of California, in Ho Ah Kow vs. Matthew Nunan, delivered July 7th, 1879.” In this case, a federal judge ruled unconstitutional the practice of shaving the heads of male prisoners, which was intended to encourage queue-wearing Chinese immigrants to pay fines rather than serve jail time. Immigrants who lost their braids would have difficulty returning to China, as they would then be marked as revolutionaries.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(judaica.)
Estate bond signed by Mordecai Sheftall, who became the highest-ranking Jewish officer in the Revolution.
Savannah, GA, 29 December 1769
Partly printed document signed by Mordecai Sheftall, by Levi Sheftall and Samuel Savory as sureties, and by a witness. One page, 12¾ x 8 inches; foxing, moderate wear, partial separations at folds.
Mordecai Sheftall (1735-1797) was a leading member of the Jewish community in Savannah, GA, holding worship services in his own home in the absence of a synagogue. He was a vocal opponent of the Stamp Act in 1765, and served as a colonel in the Revolution–the highest-ranking Jewish officer in the Continental Army. In this document, he is bonded as administrator of the estate of Solomon Solomons and pledges to submit an inventory within 3 months.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(judaica.) [thomas dibdin.]
The Jew Broker: A Favorite Song in the New Entertainment of the Jew and the Doctor.
Philadelphia: R. Shaw, circa 1800-1803
2 pages of words and music on 2 detached sheets, 12½ x 8½ inches; moderate foxing, 5 x 1½-inch old paper repair in margin of second sheet, pencil sketch of a head on verso of first sheet.
First American edition. Thomas Dibdin’s 1798 English farce “The Jew and the Doctor” was part of a trend toward more sympathetic portrayals of Jewish protagonists at the turn of the 18th century. The heavily accented dialect in this song from the play is broadly drawn, but the caricature of the money lender ends on a positive note: “I loves de Christians dearly would dee to pleasur you / If you but as sencerly vill try to lofe de Jew.” Sonneck-Upton, page 217. 3 copies in OCLC, and none traced at auction.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(judaica.) solomon henry jackson, editor.
The Jew; being a Defence of Judaism against all Adversaries.
New York: Johnstone & Van Norden, March [1823] to March [1825]
viii, 254; [4], [255]-481 pages. 24 issues in 2 volumes, complete. 8vo, attractive modern period-style gilt morocco by Baker Bindery; a few leaves washed, minor scattered dampstaining, a few tasteful minor repairs including restoration of two words to final leaf; inked library stamp of the Hebrew Theological College of Chicago on page 49.
A complete run of the first Jewish periodical published in America. It was issued in response to a Christian missionary publication, “Israel’s Advocate; or, the Restoration of the Jews Contemplated and Urged”–and is subtitled “Against the Insidious Attacks of Israel’s Advocate.” It grapples with the Advocate’s arguments issue by issue, drawing upon both the Old and New Testaments for its theological points, and also finds time to rebut other enemies. The “black Jews” of Malabar are discussed at length on pages 263-278.
The editor Solomon Henry Jackson (circa 1770-1847) emigrated from England in 1787 and lived in rural Pike County, Pennsylvania for many years before establishing himself as a printer in New York in the 1820s. He later translated and printed the first American Hebrew prayer book and issued the first American Haggadah (Goldman 34 and 125).
Lomazow 169 (“rare . . . the second volume is extremely scarce”); Rosenbach 258, 275; Singerman S161. No other complete sets traced at auction going back to 1920, although Swann sold a Volume I in 2007.
Estimate
$20,000 – $30,000
(judaica.) isaac leeser, editor.
The Form of Prayers According to the Custom of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews.
Philadelphia: C. Sherman, 1846 and Slote & Mooney, 1853
7 volumes. 8vo and 12mo, mixed set in uniform modern calf; moderate wear to contents of Volume I, moderate dampstaining to Volume IV; some volumes with marbled edges; inked ownership stamps to Volume II.
Mixed second and third edition of Leeser’s six-volume Form of Prayers series, which was “the first comprehensive prayer book published in America”–Goldman 36 (note). This set includes the “Second edition, revised” of Volume I from 5606 [1846] and Volumes II through VI from the stated “Second edition” (actually the third) of 5613 [1853] with Volume III here bound into two volumes. Both of these later editions are less frequently seen than the 1837 first edition. In Hebrew and English on facing pages. Singerman 0939, 1282.
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
(judaica.) isaac leeser, editor.
The Book of Daily Prayers for Every Day in the Year,
Philadelphia: C. Sherman, 5608 [1848]
According to the Custom of the German and Polish Jews. [4], 243 leaves, in Hebrew and English on facing pages. 8vo, crudely bound in circa 1920s boards with unrelated gilt trademark; hinges split, dampstaining, minor wear; all edges gilt; inscription on front pastedown.
“To unite Ashkenazic Jews in America using different prayer books and to provide them with an error-free text, Leeser issued this work, the first Ashkenazic prayer book published in America”–Goldman 37. Rosenbach 636; Singerman 1024.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(judaica.) [isaac mayer wise.]
The Daily Prayers, for American Israelites as Revised in Conference,
Cincinnati, OH: Bloch & Co., [1872]
bound with Select Prayers for Various Occasions in Life as issued. [2], 271; 48 pages. 12mo, publisher’s green gilt cloth, minor wear; intermittent finger-soiling, occasional folds; all edges gilt.
First edition of this frequently reprinted revision. The prayers are printed in English and Hebrew on facing pages. The 48-page section of English-language “Select Prayers” includes prayers for children, wedding and burial services, and more. Goldman 59; Singerman 2337.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(judaica.) [isaac mayer wise.]
The Daily Prayers, for American Israelites as Revised in Conference,
Cincinnati, OH: Bloch & Co., [1872]
bound with Select Prayers for Various Occasions in Life as issued. [2], 271; 48 pages. 12mo, publisher’s red gilt cloth, minor wear; minor foxing; all edges gilt.
First edition of this frequently reprinted revision. The prayers are printed in English and Hebrew on facing pages. The 48-page section of English-language “Select Prayers” includes prayers for children, wedding and burial services, and more. Goldman 59; Singerman 2337.
The contents are identical to lot 127 above, with the same 1872 copyright statement on verso of the title page. However, the paper is thinner (this copy is ¾ inches thick, as opposed to 1 inch for the previous copy), and the printing is slightly less distinct. A few pages have bits of dropped text, such as the page numbers for 65 and 113. It may be an early stereotype reprint. The binding is also different although apparently by the same binder: red versus green, with slightly different and more elaborate gilt stamping including added floral patterns between the band on the backstrip, but with the same pattern at the backstrip ends. If you enjoy these kinds of bibliographical fine points, perhaps consider bidding on both copies.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(judaica.)
Group of 3 cards for leftist Jewish organizations in New York.
New York, 1917-1918
Each about 3 x 5 inches; moderate wear and staining.
Invitation card in Yiddish for an Oriental Masquerade held by the New York chapter of Poale Zion, an international Marxist-Zionist group which had only modest membership in the United States. The event was held at the New Star Casino on 107th Street and Lexington Avenue. On verso is a song on Israel. The year is not given, but the date of 15 December fell on Saturday in 1917.
Ticket for a picnic given by the Jewish National Workers Alliance (a.k.a. Farband) at Liberty Park, with music by a union orchestra, featuring the JNWA printed logo and on verso the stamped logo of Branch 83. Brooklyn, NY, 4 August 1918.
Postcard announcing a meeting of Branch 36 of the JNWA, completed in manuscript, addressed on verso to a member in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, and postmarked in Brooklyn, 6 April 1917.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(labor.) d. forbes, artist.
Una Sola Union: Vote UFW
Keene, CA: El Taller Grafico, 1977
(signed by Dolores Huerta and others). Poster, 22 x 17 inches; minimal wear, signatures of 3 UFW leaders in margins.
Poster for the famed union for Mexican-American farm workers, depicting a woman carrying the United Farm Workers flag. Signed by the legendary United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta, who later received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Also signed by Arturo Rodriguez (son-in-law of Cesar Chavez who succeeded him as UFW president from 1993 to 2018), and Helen Chavez (widow of Cesar Chavez). One in OCLC, at the University of Texas at Arlington, and none traced at auction.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(labor.)
El Teatro Campesino: Voice of the Farmworkers.
Screen print, 11 x 14 inches; vertical fold, splash dampstaining.
El Teatro Campesino was formed in late 1965, with its initial target audience being the striking United Farm Workers grape pickers in California. The actors were non-professional and the material was somewhat improvised. Founder Luis Valdez described the performances as “bilingual propaganda theater.” This performance at “UCD” (University of California, Davis?) was part of a tour of California campuses, and was sponsored by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(law.)
The Charter Granted by His Majesty King Charles II / Acts and Laws of His Majesty’s Colony of Rhode-Island.
Newport, RI: Widow Franklin, 1744, 1745
15; [18], 308 pages. Folio, original marbled paper wrappers, backstrip worn, otherwise moderate wear; moderate dampstaining and minor wear to contents, more toward rear.
The third edition of Rhode Island’s Acts and Laws, preceded only by 1719 Boston and 1730 Newport printings; the Charter is almost always found appended at the beginning as seen here. The printer Ann Smith Franklin (1696-1763) was the sister-in-law of Benjamin Franklin, and served as the official printer to the colony for the last 27 years of her life. She ran into a bit of trouble for printing up a few additional copies of this edition for private sale, which was expressly forbidden by the General Assembly in June 1745, with a £5 penalty for each copy sold. She has nonetheless since been inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame. Alden, Rhode Island 68, 72; Church 952 and 952a; Evans 5483, 5683; Sabin 70512; Tower 811.
Estimate
$2,500 – $3,500
(law.) james m. varnum.
The Case, Trevett against Weeden.
Providence, RI: John Carter, 1787
iv, 60 pages. 4to, early plain wrappers; minor foxing, 1-inch chip in margin of title page. . In custom ¼ morocco slipcase.
Trevett v. Weeden was an influential Rhode Island Supreme Court decision. The state’s General Assembly had passed laws mandating that paper currency be accepted as legal tender, with offenders not granted a jury trial or right of appeal. The laws were in direct contradiction to the state’s own constitution. In this case, a butcher named Weeden was charged with refusing the inflationary paper currency, and was represented by United States Congressman (and Continental Army general) James Mitchell Varnum, who convinced the court to refuse to enforce the unconstitutional legislation. This case was later cited as precedent in the 1803 United States Supreme Court case Marbury v. Madison, which established the principle of judicial review. See Kurt Graham, “To Bring Law Home: The Federal Judiciary in Early National Rhode Island,” pages 24-27. Alden, Rhode Island 1105; Evans 20825; Sabin 98638.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(law.)
Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States.
New York: Francis Childs and John Swaine, [1789]
164, clxv-clxxvii pages. Small folio, disbound with possibly unrelated rear board present; intermittent foxing; uncut.
The journal of the first session of the First Congress, including discussion of an early draft of the Bill of Rights (page 107-108). With the index bound at the rear numbered in roman numerals. Evans 22208; Sabin 15554. One other copy traced at auction since 2003.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(abraham lincoln.) benjamin henry grierson.
Campaign Song . . . Offered for Sale by the Meredosia Wide-Awakes.
Meredosia, IL, [1860]
Letterpress broadside, 8 x 7 inches; minimal wear and soiling.
Benjamin Henry Grierson (1826-1911) was a musician and composer in Illinois before the Civil War. He wrote this Lincoln campaign song to the tune of “Old Dan Tucker” for his local Wide Awakes chapter in Meredosia, about 50 miles west of Springfield. The words are unequivocally anti-slavery, accusing the Democrats of bowing “to slavery’s dark command” and hoping “the barbarous slave-trade to revive.” Prognosis: “Dug’s legs are short and he can’t travel / Old Abe will make them all scratch gravel. . . . We’ll send old Abe to Washington / Before they can secede or run / He’ll let the wind out of their sails / And fence them in with walnut rails.”
During the war to follow, Grierson became (somewhat improbably) a distinguished Union cavalry general, and then an enthusiastic leader of a Buffalo Soldier regiment after the war.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(abraham lincoln.)
Leaving the White House.
Boston: J.H. Bufford, circa 1864
Hand-colored lithograph card, 3¾ x 2¼ inches; 2 small ink marks in margins, mount remnants on verso.
This caricature apparently anticipates the defeat of Lincoln in the 1864 election, leaving office with his umbrella and bag in hand. We trace no other examples in OCLC or at auction.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(abraham lincoln.)
Boston Museum playbill starring John Wilkes Booth in The Marble Heart.
Boston, 4 February 1863
Broadside, 12½ x 4½ inches to sight; light toning, minimal dampstaining; not examined out of frame.
Booth, at the peak of his fame, is given top billing in “the role of Raphael, the Sculptor! Which has been pronounced in other cities, the most Successful of this Gifted Young Tragedian’s Impersonations.” The play was “The Marble Heart; or, The Sculptor’s Dream,” a Charles Selby translation of a French play.
Booth continued a national tour in this role, including a stop at Washington’s Ford Theatre nine months later on 9 November. President Lincoln, who saw Booth perform several times over the years, was in attendance. Booth did not shoot anyone that night, but he was just a little creepy. As one friend of Lincoln’s recalled, “Twice Booth in uttering disagreeable threats in the play came very near and put his finger close to Mr. Lincoln’s face; when he came a third time I was impressed by it, and said, ‘Mr. Lincoln, he looks as if he meant that for you.’ ‘Well,’ he said, ‘he does look pretty sharp at me, doesn’t he?’” (Katherine Helm, “The True Story of Mary, Wife of Lincoln,” page 243). The assassination took place a year and half after that performance.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(abraham lincoln.)
Class portrait of James Suydam Knox, an eyewitness to the Lincoln assassination.
[Princeton, NJ], 1860
Salt print, 4½ x 3½ inches oval, on original plain mount, 12 x 9¼ inches, with manuscript caption “Jas. S. Knox, New York, 1860”; apparently disbound from a Princeton College album.
James Suydam Knox (1840–1892) was a Long Island native who graduated from Princeton in 1860 and then enlisted in a New Jersey regiment in the Civil War. He soon moved into hospital duty, which brought him to Washington in early 1865, and he was in the audience at Ford’s Theatre on the night of 14 April. The letter he wrote to his father the next day is one of the best eyewitness accounts of the Lincoln assassination. He went on to a distinguished medical career in New Jersey and Chicago.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(abraham lincoln.) joseph edward baker, lithographer.
Assassination of President Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre.
No place, [1865]
Hand-colored lithograph, 12¼ x 17½ inches; edges worn, 5-inch repaired tear in image area, old tape repairs on verso, mat toning, presents well in mat.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(abraham lincoln.) 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 24 inches; minimal wear, bit of soiling in left margin.
Wiest copied this composition from a popular 1801 print, “The Apotheosis of George Washington” by Barralet, 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.
Estimate
$2,500 – $3,500
(abraham lincoln.)
Now Ready, for Subscribers Only, Carpenter’s Great National Picture.
New York: Derby & Miller, 1866
4 printed pages, 8½ x 5½ inches, on one folding sheet; horizontal folds, bottom edge trimmed, minor wear including short separations at folds.
A pamphlet soliciting subscriptions for the extremely popular 1866 engraving of Francis B. Carpenter’s painting “The First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation before the Cabinet,” as engraved by Alexander Hay Ritchie. Includes endorsements from most of the cabinet members depicted, including Seward, Chase, Stanton, Welles and more, as well as reviews from several New York newspapers. The price is given as $50 for a signed artist’s proof, $25 for an India proof, and $10 for a print, to be sent to the Derby & Miller Publishing Company of New York. No other examples traced in OCLC or at auction, although a different setting of this text appeared at the rear of Carpenter’s 1867 book “The Inner Life of Abraham Lincoln.”
Estimate
$400 – $600
(abraham lincoln.) max bachman, sculptor.
Bust of a beardless Lincoln.
No place, 1905
Bronze, 27 x 16 x 10 inches, with dark brown patina, signed twice in the mold; minimal wear.
The sculptor Max Bachmann (1862-1921) has a wide-ranging body of work, but his various depictions of Lincoln were probably his best known, including a statue in Minneapolis, MN. Some of his works were marketed by the Caproni Gallery of Boston. The source image for this beardless bust may have been a 1 October 1858 ambrotype by Calvin Jackson taken in Pittsfield, IL a couple of weeks before the final Lincoln-Douglas debate (Ostendorf O-10). See Leigh Henson, “Max Bachman’s Lincolns,” at www.findinglincolnillinois.com.
Estimate
$2,500 – $3,500
(abraham lincoln.) adriaan m. de groot, artist.
Portrait of Lincoln.
No place, 1926
Oil on canvas, 23½ x 19½ inches to sight, in period frame, signed and dated by the artist in image; skillfully repaired 2-inch T-shaped puncture in upper left space.
Adriaan Martin de Groot (1870-1942) was Dutch artist who came to the United States in the 1910s. His waist-up portrait of Lincoln, done after the same Gardner photograph, is held by Brown University. He also painted numerous portraits of Theodore Roosevelt (who he had sketched from life) and western views.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(maine.)
Archive of mostly printed documents relating to the Maine militia during the era of the Aroostook War.
Various places, 1834-1851
23 items, various sizes and conditions, a few with separations at folds.
The Maine-Quebec border was the subject of an international dispute from 1838 to 1842, often called the Aroostook War. No shots were fired, but the local militia was called up, and the mood was certainly tense. Offered here are one cavalry officer’s documents from this era.
“Report of the Adjutant General of the Militia of Maine” for 1840. 19 pages plus 3 folding tables (one detached). Page 14 discusses expenses for “military operations on the northern frontier,” and the report closes by urging that “our exposed situation and border troubles should induce us to cherish this institution with great care, and . . . render our militia a sure protection of the integrity of the soil of our State.”
The set of 3 folding tables only from the 1839 Adjutant General’s report.
Martin Van Buren et al. “Message from the President of the United States, Communicating Additional Correspondence in Relation to the Adjustment of the Northeastern Boundary, and the Occupation of the Disputed Territory.” 7 pages, unopened. Discusses the border dispute at length. Washington, 26 March 1840.
“An Act to Organize, Govern, and Discipline the Militia of the State of Maine.” 90 pages. Augusta, ME, 1834–with two separately bound supplementary copies of “An Act Additional” to this first act.
4 militia cavalry commissions and a discharge issued to Captain Leonard Robinson of Foxcroft in north-central Maine, 1837-1851.
7 printed Maine Militia general orders, 1837-1842.
3 manuscript or partly-printed regimental / company orders to Robinson dated 1835-1843.
3 blank Maine militia annual return forms.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(maine.)
Bowdoin College photograph album / yearbook for the Class of 1867.
Brunswick, ME, 1867
Gilt printed title page reading “Class of 1867 Bowdoin”; 55 mounted photographs (almost all with inscriptions on facing pages) including a view of the college, 24 members of the Class of 1867, a group shot of an unknown club (likely the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity), the town’s Congregational church, 16 portraits of the faculty and staff interspersed with 12 views of faculty residences and campus buildings; and 5 pages of inscriptions by members of Delta Kappa Epsilon from the classes of 1868 to 1870. 4to, original stamped morocco, stained with moderate wear, with front hinge spilt and detached from text block; minor wear and foxing to contents; all edges gilt; original owner’s name in gilt on front board.
The most famous man in this album is undoubtedly Joshua L. Chamberlain, a Bowdoin graduate who had served as a professor, reached the rank of Major General as Maine’s leading Civil War hero, was Maine’s governor from 1867 to 1871, and then returned to Bowdoin as its president. He is represented by his well-known Brady portrait, his signature “J.L. Chamberlain” on the facing page, and the following photograph which is captioned “Residence of Gov. Chamberlain occupied formerly by Prof. Henry W. Longfellow, the poet.” On the other end of the socioeconomic spectrum is a photograph of “Pete Curtis, the college janitor, called by the students Diogenes, died April 1868,” followed by his residence “Diogenes’ Hut” containing “one of the best private libraries in Brunswick.” Classmate William Pitt Mudgett had served as a lieutenant with the 11th Maine Infantry during the war, although this is not noted in his inscription. The yearbook was owned by James Wallace McDonald of Stoneham, MA, and the longer inscriptions are addressed to him.
WITH–leaflets for the Class of 1867’s 1901 and 1910 reunions laid in.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(maine.)
Diaries of Farmington farm boy and Bates student George G. Sampson.
Various places, 1886-1905, 1907-1912
26 manuscript daily pocket diaries, each about 5 x 2½ inches, give or take an inch; complete for 27 years except for a missing 1906 volume, generally only minor wear.
George Gordon Sampson (1878-1973) was born and raised in a farming family in central Maine, in the towns of Temple and nearby Farmington. He began this diary before his eighth birthday, and even then was engaged in farm work–on 2 January 1886 he proudly noted “yoked the steers today.” By age 12 he was collecting maple sap and hauling birch timber (see illustration). He went off to nearby Bates College in September 1901, recording his studies as well as glee club meetings and athletic events, graduating in 1905 and removing to West Upton, MA. His father died in 1907, and by 1910 he was living in Worcester, MA with his widowed mother and his sister Angeleen, a musician. There he pursued a master’s degree at Clark University and taught high school physics. After the conclusion of this diary, he married in 1918 and continued to teach in Worcester.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(maritime.)
Watercolor of the brig Young America of Plymouth.
Off Malta, 22 March 1862
Ink and watercolor on heavy paper, 15 x 21¼ inches; minimal wear. With original worn, stained and chipped paper mount bearing manuscript caption: Brig Young America of Plymouth, D V Pool master, entering the Port of Malta, March 22d 1862.”
The brig Young America was a merchant vessel which sailed out of Plymouth, MA from at least 1856 to 1863. David Vining Pool (1823-1884) of Plymouth took command as master in 1857. On this 1862 voyage, the Young America sailed from Cardiff, Wales, arrived in Malta on 22 March, and sailed on to Palermo, Italy a week later, per the New York Daily Herald of 17 April 1862. Malta was at that point a protectorate in the British Empire; the British flag can be seen flying at the fortress in the background. Although the two nations remained major trade partners, relations between the United States and Great Britain were tense at that point because of the crown’s flirtation with recognition of the Confederacy.
Historical context aside, this unattributed painting is an attractive image, with the ship’s name and the American flag giving it a strong patriotic flair.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(massachusetts.)
Proposal to resolve disputed claims over a merchant vessel leaving early colonial Boston.
[Boston], 7 September 1675
Manuscript document in the hand of notary Robert Howard over his signature. 2 pages, 11¾ x 7¾ inches; moderate wear at edges and intersection of folds not affecting legibility of text, minor dampstaining. With typed transcript.
Robert Cannon, master of the ship Dove preparing for a voyage out of Boston, was facing objections from a cook named Henry Tickner and a mariner named Matthew Johnson, presumably his crew members, who were apparently claiming some sort of authority on behalf of the ship’s owners. Cannon has this proposal drafted and notarized to protect himself legally whether these claims proved valid or not. He requested that the two men file formal evidence of their authority and pay him “reasonable satisfaction for the damage . . . I suffer by quitting my imployment”–or provide him with security to protect him against the owner’s claims if their authority proved bogus. Barring that, Cannon “declare my selfe under a necessity to fit out and imploy the ship according to the best advice and incouragement that I can receive from others and to give the owners acc’t of . . . my proposals and the cours I may be constrayned to take.”
The Boston Public Library holds a related deposition “concerning Robert Cannon, Mathew Johnson, and the ship Dove” dated 10 October 1675.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(massachusetts.)
Articles of the Washington Fire-Club, Associated in Salem, October 10, 1803.
Salem, MA: Joshua Cushing, 1803
12 pages, plus 16 blank leaves bound in, 4 of them completed in manuscript. 24mo, original blue coated wrappers, stained, minor wear; minor staining to contents, a few member names marked as deceased or removed; inked library duplicate stamp on title page.
In addition to the articles of incorporation, concludes with a 2-page printed list of the original members, and a 4-page manuscript list of members bound in. The manuscript list includes the home streets of each member, and was continued at least through 1815. Salem native Nathaniel Bowditch, author of the renowned American Practical Navigator series (launched in 1802), appears in both the printed and manuscript member lists. Shaw & Shoemaker 5538. 2 in OCLC, and none traced at auction.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(massachusetts.)
Record book of the New Riding Club.
Boston, 1891-98
13, [29]; [121] pages, in two dos-à-dos sections. 4to, contemporary ½ calf gilt, moderate wear; minimal wear to contents.
This club of elite Bostonians was formed to take advantage of equestrian opportunities among the Fenway, Boston’s new scenic parkway which fully opened in 1893. A commodious club hall and stable was built on Hemenway Street near the Fenway (now the home of the Badminton and Tennis Club).
The front of this volume has the minutes of the club’s organizational and annual meetings, as well as the by-laws. 7 printed annual financial statements, 4 printed meeting notices, and two original meeting petitions signed by the membership are laid down. Member T. Jefferson Coolidge, United States Minister to France, signed both petitions. Minutes of the club’s more extensive Governors meetings appear at the rear of the volume. Approximately 100 membership nomination slips and other membership materials are tipped in or laid into this section. John Quincy Adams II (1833-1894) and Thomas Bailey Aldrich also appear on the membership rolls. A small number of women were elected to membership. The 28 October 1896 minutes discuss the case of Miss Martha Parsons, who had gained access to the club through her brother’s membership at a “time when membership by ladies was expected to be rare and not viewed favorably”; she was granted membership.
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
(medicine.)
Expense account of Dr. Joseph Young for the Albany Hospital during and after the Revolution.
New York, 3 June 1784
Document Signed thrice as “Jo. Young.” 2 sheets joined by seal at lower corner, the larger being 12¾ x 8 inches; moderate wear to the larger sheet, with receipt and docketing on verso.
The Albany Hospital was built in 1754 to treat soldiers in the French and Indian War. The large building was pressed back into service in 1776 to treat Continental troops in the wake of the failed Canada campaign. Local physician Joseph Young (1735-1814), who had been a regimental surgeon, took command of the hospital in 1778. His 1800 book “A New Physical System of Astronomy” is sometimes described as the first medical textbook written in America.
This account lists Young’s expenses in running the hospital from 1782 to 1784, for which he was reimbursed in June 1784 by the young Continental government. The main sheet lists forage rations for his horses from 23 July 1782 to April 1784, as well as $35.62 in cash expended in early 1784, offset against $16 he received from the sale of an iron stove. Attached is a smaller sheet breaking down the 41 cash expenditures totaling $35.62, mostly for deliveries of wood, but also for beef, bread, sweeping chimneys, carting hay, and two patient transactions: “Jno. Bogart taking 2 patients to New York, Reubens & Wheeler” and “Joshua Colwill, passage of John Chase and wife.” The main sheet is receipted on verso as paid by Quartermaster General Timothy Pickering.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(mexican war.) george w. kendall; and carl nebel.
The War between the United States and Mexico Illustrated.
New York and Philadelphia, 1851
Map, 12 hand-colored lithographic plates after Nebel. iv, 52 pages. Folio, modern ¼ morocco, minor wear, with original title text laid down; dampstaining to text leaves only, minor foxing.
Carl Nebel had already published an important volume of Mexican lithographs before the war began, and accompanied the American army at most of the major battles. His field sketches were lithographed in France by Bayot, and include views of the battles of Palo Alto, Monterrey, Buena Vista, Vera Cruz, and more, and conclude with General Scott’s dramatic entrance into Mexico City. Each plate is accompanied by a detailed description by George Wilkins Kendall, a well-known journalist who enlisted in the Texas Rangers for the war and later served on the staff of General Worth. “The very best American battle scenes in existence”–Bennett, Plate Books, page 65. American Battle Art 68; Howes K76 (“b”); Sabin 37362.
Estimate
$8,000 – $12,000
(mexican war.) william h. richardson.
Journal of . . . a Private Soldier in the Campaign of New and Old Mexico.
New York, 1849
4 engraved plates including a manuscript facsimile. 96 pages, 12mo, original pictorial wrappers, minimal wear and toning; minor foxing, one plate coming detached.
3rd edition, 2nd issue. “One of the most reliable and valuable works on the conquest of New Mexico”–Hughes, Doniphan’s Expedition, page 365. Richardson was a Maryland soldier participating in an epic and ultimately quite successful march of 5500 miles. Howes R262 (“aa”); Sabin 71094; Wagner-Camp 137:4.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(military.)
Early photographs of the United States Naval Academy.
[Annapolis, MD], circa 1860-1862
8 salted paper prints, each 6 x 8 inches on original plain coated paper mounts with blind stamps of photographers Fischer & Bros of Baltimore in lower margins; moderate foxing and minor wear.
Most or all of these views show the Naval Academy in Annapolis. Easily identifiable scenes include the Mexican War Midshipmen’s Monument (flanked by 3 midshipmen) and the Herndon Monument (unveiled 1860). Midshipmen are standing guard in two other shots, and 3 others show cannons. The photographers were brothers Arthur J. Fischer and William Fischer of Baltimore; other known photographs in this format are dated 1860.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(military.) john clem.
Letter from the famed “Drummer Boy of Chickamauga.”
Fort McKavett, TX, 25 March 1872
Autograph Letter Signed as “Jno. L. Clem” to Mrs. W.A. [Mary] Menger of San Antonio, TX. 2 pages, 7¾ x 5 inches, on one folding sheet, plus docketing on final blank page; moderate wear including several small holes not affecting legibility.
John Lincoln Clem (1851-1937) ran away from home and joined the 22nd Michigan Infantry as a drummer boy. He not only wielded a rifle at the Battle of Chickamauga, he was said to have shot a Confederate colonel who demanded his surrender. He was then promoted to sergeant at the age of 12, the youngest non-commissioned officer in American history. Cartes-de-visite of the diminutive sergeant were popular during the war. After returning home and graduating from high school, he failed to gain admission to West Point, but President Grant appointed him as a second lieutenant in 1871. By 1915, he was the last Civil War veteran on active duty, and was brevetted as a brigadier general upon his retirement.
Clem wrote this letter in reaction to a mix-up at his hotel during a visit to San Antonio, which he blamed on “the carelessness of your servants, who put my name on Dr. Beers’ mattress, & his on mine.” Thus Clem lost his blankets and quilt, and was sent away with the other guest’s expensive field glasses: “I was very much surprised to get your bill with note, saying Dr. Beers did not owe me any money, but that he would pay me if I returned his field glass–just as though I had stolen it. . . . I am placed in a bad–very bad–light and I wish to have it cleared up. It makes me a thief in the light which you put it.” Clem was eager to defend his reputation and get the matter sorted out; an accusation of theft could have potentially stalled his military career.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(military.)
Pair of photos of the atomic bomb explosions conducted during Operation Crossroads at Bikini Atoll.
[Bikini Atoll, 30 June and 24 July 1946]
Each 4 x 5 inches, with ink stamps on verso reading “Released official Navy photograph, not to be used for publication, printed by U.S.S. Fulton”; light wrinkling and minor wear.
The two atomic bombs tested at Bikini Atoll as part of Operations Crossroads were the first detonated after World War Two. The first, dubbed Able, was detonated 520 feet above its target on 30 June 1946. It can be seen here with an irregular column topped by a cottony cloud. The bomb dubbed Baker was detonated underwater on 24 July; the column is more smoothly vertical, topped by a cloud resembling cauliflower. These photographs were printed aboard the USS Fulton, a maintenance ship for submarines which was present at the tests.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(minnesota.)
Stereoview titled “People Escaping from the Indian Massacre of 1862, in Minnesota, at Dinner on a Prairie.”
St. Paul, MN: Charles A. Zimmerman, after 1862
Pair of albumen prints, each 3 x 3 inches, on publisher’s 3½ x 7-inch mount; minimal wear.
A scene from the Dakota War of 1862, which resulted in the death of hundreds of soldiers, settlers, and Dakota on the Minnesota frontier. The mount credits Charles A. Zimmerman as the photographer, but the caption reads “photographed by one of the party.” The Library of Congress credits Adrian John Ebell as the actual photographer.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(mississippi.)
Petition from the citizens of Adams County shortly after the creation of Mississippi Territory.
Adams County, MS, 6 June 1799
Manuscript document, 9 pages (12½ x 7¾ inches) on 3 folding sheets; folds, minor dampstaining, paper clip stain.
A contemporary transcript of a petition from the newly created Adams County, with Natchez as its county seat. It protests tax policy, the power of sheriffs to arrest delinquents without due process, the seizure of the property of non-residents, and more. Notably, “we present as a grievance the taxing of batteaux and boats carrying above twenty barrels, as it will thereby prevent the freighting our produce and necessities to and from New Orleans in our own bottoms to the manifest injury of our own people employed in that line.” They also complain of the “ruinous state of the roads and bridges throughout the whole of this territory to the great shame and neglect of an industrious and civilized people.”
On page 5 they complain that “a proper white person is not appointed as an Indian Inspector which has hitherto been effected by a Negro slave to the great shame of a free and independent people.” They demand “qualified persons . . . to visit and examine the several public and private cotton gins throughout this territory.”
Disorder in Natchez is a particular source of concern. They complain of the “great number of idle and disorderly people who assemble and meet at the different public houses in the town of Natchez on the Sabbath” and allowing “Negro slaves &c to play about the fences of the out lots at cards, dice and chuck penny upon the above day.”
They conclude by reminding that “it was not a matter of choice our coming into this territory as belonging to the United States” but they still remained “a people descended from the same stock, possessing the same principles and animated with the same desire of freedom.” The names of 17 signers are appended.
This petition was published in The Territorial Papers of the United States, Volume 5, pages 63-66, from another copy in the Timothy Pickering Papers at Massachusetts Historical Society.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(missouri.) jonathan koiner.
Letter describing extensive travels in central Missouri.
Flatwoods, WV, 10 December 1855
Autograph Letter Signed to brother Absalom Koiner. 4 pages, 10 x 7¾ inches, on one folding sheet, with no cover or postal markings; minimal wear.
Jonathan Koiner (1820-1889) of Flatwoods, WV and his brother Absalom went on a western tour in 1855 to scout potential emigration destinations. Absalom quite abruptly stepped off a steamboat in northern Iowa, leaving Jonathan to continue alone. Most of this letter describes his travels in Missouri: from Hannibal by hack to Paris, and then 25 miles on foot to Mexico. There he saw a prairie fire, a bustling courthouse with judges and lawyers chomping on cigars, and several relatives of his wife’s. From there, it was 30 miles by carriage to Columbia, “the Athens of the state, where the state university is situated & several fine female institutions.” At Marshall, his westernmost point, he saw the 300-acre hemp farm of a man named Bruce who “has a good many slaves, but he is one of the largest hemp growers in the U.S.” He also witnessed “scores of wild cranes & wild geese one cloudy day in the corn fields above Marshall.” He met the well-known pro-slavery jurist William Barclay Napton, “the great antagonist of T.H. Benton”; former governor Meredith Miles Marmaduke; and numerous extended family members and friends who had already made the move west. On his way home, he was inspired by St. Louis and Cincinnati, with their “living moving masses of men & things!” He concludes with his decision to sell his Virginia land and move his young family west. Census records suggest that he never went.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(missouri.)
Correspondence of James F. Mallinckrodt, a St. Louis modelmaker with a literary bent.
Various places, bulk 1862-1917
119 items in one sleeve; condition generally strong with a few items worn or stained.
James Ferdinand Mallinckrodt (1842-1921) was born in Missouri and spent most of his life in St. Louis as part of a distinguished extended German-American family; his Mallinckrodt second cousins founded a famous pharmaceutical firm. James served the Union as a lieutenant in the 17th Missouri Infantry during the Civil War, and then embarked on an eclectic career as a machinist, draughtsman, and scientific model-maker. He also styled himself a literary figure, publishing several pamphlets and frequent letters to the editor, and corresponding with famous authors. In 1915 he removed to Salt Lake City to live with his brother and nephew; he is not thought to have been a Mormon.
This lot includes 74 retained drafts of letters sent by Mallinckrodt, almost all of them from 1868 to 1882. 27 of them are to the noted abolitionist clergyman Henry Ward Beecher from 1879 to 1882, and several more are to Theodore Tilton, 1870-1874; Beecher and Tilton were antagonists in a famous love triangle which was national news in the mid-1870s. At least one of the letters to Tilton mentions free-love advocate and presidential candidate Victoria Woodhull, who also featured in the scandal. 5 letter drafts are to famed Scottish philosopher and historian Thomas Carlyle from 1878, and another was addressed to theologian Charles Carroll Everett .
This lot’s 27 letters received by Mallinckrodt are dated 1862 to 1872 and (mostly) 1897 to 1917. Just one has Civil War content, which a civilian friend wrote in 1862, complaining that Mallinckrodt’s letter had taken 39 days to arrive: “It must have traveled about as fast as McClellan’s army before Manassas.” His closing evokes the favorite general of all German-Americans: “As long as you ‘fights mit Sigel’ I am your friend.” Socialist labor activist William Krech of Minneapolis wrote a very long and intellectually dense letter in 1872.
Rounding out the collection are 16 family letters written in German, 1806-1918; Mallinckrodt’s 1874 manuscript essay “Is St. Louis Prepared for the Manufacture of Locomotives?”; and a carte-de-visite of “H.M. at 67,” most likely father Herman Mallinckrodt circa 1877.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(mk-ultra.)
Senate hearing on “Project MKUltra, the CIA’s Program of Research in Behavioral Modification.”
Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1977
[3], 171 pages. 8vo, original printed wrappers, lightly sunned; minimal wear to contents.
Project MKUltra was an extremely controversial covert Central Intelligence Agency program which ran from 1953 to 1973, attempting to develop new techniques for brainwashing and torture. Most memorably, agents delivered high doses of LSD to unwitting or coerced participants including mental institution inmates, convicted criminals, and even CIA operatives, resulting in several deaths by suicide. In addition to LSD, hundreds of other drugs were tested for possible use in mind control and other objectives. In the wake of the Watergate scandal in 1973, the secret program was scuttled and most of its records destroyed, but a 1974 New York Times exposé brought the program to the attention of the public. A cache of surviving records was discovered which formed the basis for this 3 August 1977 joint hearing of the Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committee on Human Resources. It remains a seminal document of one of the CIA’s most disturbing chapters. No examples traced at auction.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(mormons.)
Decades of diaries by rural Missouri church leaders Curtis and Lucy Silvers.
Walker and Nevada, MO, 1902-1953
53 volumes: 26 diaries by Curtis Silver dated 1902-1940 (numbered 2-27), 26 diaries by Lucy Silvers dated 1904-1953 (numbered 3-17 and 19-29) and a church account book dated 1931-1945; minor wear and occasional dampstaining.
Arthur Curtis Silvers (1870-1946) married Lucy A. Wright (1869-1961) in 1900. They had two children, Jessie Fern Silvers (1902-1986) (married to Wal Gustafson) and Arthur Curtis Silvers Jr. (1909-1914). They spent most of their married life in the neighboring villages of Walker and Nevada in Walker County, on the western border of Missouri near the Kansas line. Curtis was an elder in his local branch of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (now known as the Community of Christ). He was employed as a missionary in the Missouri-Kansas region, and after his retirement circa 1935, was a tour guide at the Church’s auditorium in Independence, the town where both he and Lucy spent their final days living at the church’s sanitarium.
These diaries were mostly kept in paperback school composition books, about 8 x 7 inches. Lucy’s 1919-1920 diary bears a cover photograph of Philadelphia baseball player Eddie Collins, although we see no other indication that she was a baseball fan. The births of their children are discussed on 20 December 1902 and 2 November 1909. The 27 August 1914 entries discuss the death of their 4-year-old son. Curtis’s diary of 26 July to 6 August 1931 describes a long driving trip with stops at the Washington Monument, Manhattan, Niagara Falls, and the LDS historic town of Kirtland, OH. The diary is largely devoted to church and family. Major events such as the stock market crash of 1929 go unremarked, although Pearl Harbor is noted in passing by Lucy (“word came that Japan has made war on the U.S.”) On the other hand, one of the longer entries in Curtis’s diary was on 14 April 1915, discussing a succession in the church’s leadership: “Bro. Frederick Madison Smith, eldest son of Pres Joseph Smith deceased was unanimously chosen Pres. of the High Priesthood and of the Church of Jesus Christ of L.D.S. Reorganized.”
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(mormons.) richard f. burton.
The City of the Saints, and Across the Rocky Mountains to California.
New York: Harper and Brothers, 1862
Folding map and folding plan, 8 plates, text illustrations. [5]-xii, [4], 574, [2] pages. 8vo, modern cloth; minor wear to map; embossed library stamp on title page, no other library markings.
First American edition. Burton’s account of his visit to Salt Lake City includes an interview with Brigham Young and impartial observations on polygamy. Flake 1029; Howes B1033; Sabin 9497; Wagner-Camp 370:2.
Estimate
$200 – $300
(music.)
The American Songster: Being a Select Collection of the Most Celebrated American, English, Scotch and Irish Songs.
New York: Samuel Campbell, 1788
xii, 204 pages. 8vo, contemporary calf, moderate wear; lacks free endpapers, a bit of the title, the first table of contents leaf, leaves Aa2-3, and about a third of the final leaf, other contents worn, moderate finger-soiling; early inscriptions on pastedowns, title page, and elsewhere.
The introduction boasts that “a Collection of the best Modern Songs, not only the production of America, but likewise those of Britain, has never before appeared on this continent. . . . Here will be found a number of original Songs, the production of the American Muse.” The first song is “On the Birth of his Excell. George Washington, Esq., by a Citizen of Virginia”–to the tune of “God Save the King,” and indexed by its first line, “Hail Godlike Washington!” 5 in ESTC. Evans 20930; Sabin 1220. None traced at auction, though Goodspeed offered one at retail in 1938.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(music.)
The Vocal Standard, or, Star Spangled Banner / The New American Hymn Book, for the Use of All People.
Richmond, VA, and Baltimore, MD, 1824 and 1812
Each 12mo, publisher’s calf, moderate wear; condition as noted.
A pair of early American compilations, with words and not music.
“The Vocal Standard, or, Star Spangled Banner, being . . . American Patriotic Songs . . . Many of which are Original.” 264 pages; lacks free endpapers, minor wear; ownership inscriptions on pastedowns and title page. Only edition. Francis Scott Key’s words to the Star-Spangled Banner appear on pages 15 and 16 with a long introductory note; the book does not appear in Filby & Howard’s Star-Spangled Books. Sabin 100655. Richmond, VA: John H. Nash, 1824.
J. Kingston, compiler. “The New American Hymn Book, for the Use of All People, at Home and in the Church.” Second edition. 246, [5] pages; minor foxing; early inscription on front endpapers. Baltimore: J. Kingston, 1812 [printed by R. Porter in Wilmington, DE].
Estimate
$600 – $900
(music.)
Sheet music compiled by Abigail Smith Adams Angier, granddaughter of John Adams.
Various places, 1831-42 and undated
319, 147, 227 pages, plus later typed index leaves bound in. Approximately 137 pieces bound in 3 volumes. Folio, contemporary ½ calf, worn, 2 volumes rebacked, some boards detached, “A.S. Angier” ownership labels on front boards; moderate wear and foxing, a few early paper repairs, all pages numbered in manuscript; numerous early Adams family ownership markings and inscriptions, library markings including a few perforated stamps.
Abigail Smith “Abby” Adams (1806-1845) was the granddaughter of President John Adams. At least one source describes her as John Quincy Adams’ favorite niece, and describes his visits to her Medford, MA home after her 1831 marriage to John Angier (Eliza M. Gill, “Distinguished Guests and Residents of Medford,” Medford Historical Register, January 1913, page 19).
The music in these volumes was almost entirely printed in the United States, and several pieces bear the inked stamps of Boston music sellers. One piece, “Araby’s Daughter,” has a pencil note in an unknown hand: “Abby Adams Angier used to sing this.” At least one piece appears to date from before Abby’s 1831 marriage: a Philadelphia printing of “When a Little Farm We Keep” is inscribed “A.S. Adams, Quincy.”
One piece, Malibran’s “Le Rans de Vache,” is inscribed warmly to Abby by her brother Isaac Hull Adams: “Dear Abby, you will find this delightful & if you can get Mr. Joseph to sing it, I am sure you will like it.” Another piece is signed “I.H. Adams.” Several pieces are initialed “TBA,” presumably by Abby’s brother Thomas Boylston Adams Jr. (1809-1837) as their father died in 1832 before some of the signed pieces were published.
Two pieces, “Dark-Eyed One” and “The Mermaid’s Cave” are signed by their author, notable composer Charles E. Horn. An 1840 printing of “Six Irish Melodies” is signed by its composer James G. Maeder.
Among the more interesting pieces is a sort of proto-minstrel song, “Bonja Song, a Favorite Negro Air for the Piano-Forte,” published in New York by J.A. & W. Geib. The London first printing circa 1800 is thought to be the first printed music to mention the banjo.
Provenance: gift from Samuel J. May of Dorchester, MA to historian Ernest Newton Bagg (1861-1937); donated by Bagg in 1913 to the City Library of Springfield, and later deaccessioned; Knotty Pine Antiques auction, circa 2008-2017.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(natural history.) henry muhlenberg.
Catalogus Plantarum Americae Septentrionalis . . . Catalogue of the . . . Plants of North America.
Philadelphia: Solomon W. Conrad, 1818
iv, 108, [113]-122 pages as issued, interleaved with blanks between each page for note-taking. 8vo, contemporary tree calf, worn, front board detached; foxing; inked stamp of early owner W.W. Wister on front flyleaf.
Second edition, corrected and enlarged. The author, born Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg (1753-1815), was the son of the immigrant Rev. Henry M. Muhlenberg, founder of that large and influential family in America. He was a Lutheran minister but best known as a botanist; this was his first and most influential work. Both Harvard copies of this edition were also bound without any pages numbered 109-112 (leaves P3 and P4). Sabin 51248.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(natural history.)
Great American Mastodon!! Now Exhibiting at the Hall.
No place, circa 1845
Letterpress broadside, 25¼ x 17¾ inches; minimal dampstaining and faint offsetting, a bit of edge wear, tape remnants along top edge; uncut.
This broadside advertises a 20-foot-long mastodon skeleton which had been unearthed in Newburgh, NY, “imbedded in a marl pit, lying from 5 to 8 feet below the surface.” It adds that “no animal living approaches this size,” with the bones alone weighing 2,002 pounds. Its discovery was a landmark event in American paleontology. The broadside’s location was left blank for use at each stop on its national tour, which began in November 1845. James Darrach is named as the presenter.
Estimate
$4,000 – $6,000
(natural history.) charles e. bendire.
Two letters from one of America’s leading egg collectors.
Camp near Tucson, AZ, 1872
Pair of Autograph Letters Signed to W.A. Stearns, 2 and 3 pages (8 x 5 inches) on folding sheets; minor wear, a few recipient’s notes and docketing. With full transcripts.
Charles Emil Bendire (1836-1897) was a United States Army officer by trade, but an oologist by passion–a collector of bird’s eggs. His postings in the American West, though hazardous, allowed him to obtain many rare specimens. In one legendary incident, he was climbing a tree to take a zone-tailed hawk egg when an Apache scout opened fire on him. He placed the egg in his mouth for safe-keeping and rushed back to the fort. He later retired as a major, donated his collection to the Smithsonian Institution and served as curator of its egg collection, and he wrote the popular “Life Histories of North American Birds with Special Reference to Their Breeding Habits and Eggs.”
Offered here are two letters which Bendire wrote to a fellow collector, Winfrid Alden Stearns (1852-1909), later the author of “New England Bird Life, being a Manual of New England Ornithology.” The letters were written while stationed as a lieutenant with the 1st United States Cavalry near Tucson, AZ, the same year as his famous Apache incident. On 27 June 1872, he boasts of “quite a number of duplicate sets of eggs all collected on the Pacific coast. . . . My collection numbers over 5000 specimens. . . . Of Arizona eggs, I have quite a number which are very rare. . . . There are eggs among this lot that you must not expect to get unless you can outbid the Smithsonian.” His 25 October 1872 letter is mainly concerned with packing and preservation advice.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(new hampshire–dartmouth.) eleazar wheelock.
Group of 3 narratives of the Indian Charity School which became Dartmouth.
Various places, 1763, 1767, 1773
8vo, various bindings and conditions.
A grouping of Wheelock’s ongoing reports on the school for American Indians he founded at Lebanon, CT, including a 1763 first edition of the initial report, and one from the early years of its new incarnation as Dartmouth College. Includes:
“A Plain and Faithful Narrative of the Original Design, Rise, Progress and Present State of the Indian Charity-School at Lebanon, in Connecticut.” 55 pages; modern plain calf; staining to first and final leaves. First edition of Wheelock’s first work on the school. Boston: Richard and Samuel Draper, 1763.
“A Brief Narrative of the Indian Charity-School at Lebanon.” Second edition, second issue including the “Appendix to the Former Narrative.” 63 pages. Disbound, moderate dampstaining, tape repair to final leaf. London: J. & W. Oliver, 1767.
“A Continuation of the Narrative of the Indian Charity-School begun in Lebanon . . . Now Incorporated with Dartmouth-College.” 40 pages. Stitched; minor wear and foxing; uncut. Second edition; includes, as a 3-page appendix, “a short account of the success of Mr. Ripley’s mission to Canada.” [Portsmouth] New Hampshire: [Daniel & Robert Fowle], 1773.
Bristol B3675; Evans 9537; Howes W334 (“aa”), W327, W330; Sabin 103205, 103203, 103210.
Estimate
$2,500 – $3,500
(new hampshire–dartmouth.)
4 editions of the memoirs of the notorious criminal and Dartmouth dropout Stephen Burroughs.
Various places, 1804-1832
4 volumes, 12mo, various bindings and conditions.
Stephen Burroughs (1765-1840) was kicked out of the Continental Army, dropped out of Dartmouth, pretended to be a doctor and minister, and finally made a prolific career of counterfeiting banknotes. His memoir went through numerous editions, and remains popular among scoundrels and Dartmouth alum to this day. Offered here are:
“Memoirs of Stephen Burroughs, Vol. II.” First edition of the separately published second volume of his memoir, apparently scarcer than the 1798 first volume. 202 pages. 12mo, contemporary calf; worn, moderate dampstaining and finger-soiling, some loss to final leaf, lacking free endpapers; 1816 library inscription on front pastedown. Boston, 1804.
“Memoirs of Stephen Burroughs.” 248, 148 pages. 2 volumes in one. 12mo, contemporary calf, worn; dampstaining and wear to contents, lacking free endpapers; early owner’s inscription to title page. Albany, NY, 1811.
“Sketch of the Life of the Notorious Stephen Burroughs.” 105 pages. 12mo, original paper-backed boards, worn; moderate dampstaining, lacks free endpapers; early inscriptions on front pastedown. An abridged edition. Greenfield, MA, 1812.
“Memoirs of the Notorious Stephen Burroughs.” 443 pages including frontispiece plate. 2 volumes in one. 12mo, contemporary ¼ calf over printed boards, worn; foxing, moderate dampstaining; early owner’s signature on verso of frontispiece. Howes B1022. Boston, 1832.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(new hampshire–dartmouth.) timothy farrar.
Report of the Case of the Trustees of Dartmouth College Against William H. Woodward.
Portsmouth, NH, [1819]
[4], 406 pages, 8vo, original paper-covered boards, original paper spine label, minor wear, slight loss of paper to spine, spine cracked; mostly unopened, scattered minor foxing.
In this landmark case, the New Hampshire government attempted to invalidate Dartmouth’s charter and make the college a public institution. Daniel Webster’s arguments as the school’s attorney, recorded on pages 238 to 283, were instrumental in preserving the school’s private status. In closing, he argued that if the court ruled against Dartmouth, “colleges and halls will be deserted by all better spirits, and become a theatre for the contention of politicks” (283). Sabin 23887.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(new hampshire–dartmouth.)
Large group of early books and pamphlets relating to Dartmouth College.
Various places, 1806-1874
15 volumes, various sizes, bindings, and conditions.
John Smith. “The Newhampshire Latin Grammar.” 204 pages. 12mo, contemporary calf. Written by a Dartmouth professor. Boston, 1806.
“Eulogium of the Rev. John Smith, D.D., Professor of the Learned Languages at Dartmouth College.” 15 pages, disbound. Hanover, NH, 1809.
“Memoirs of the Rev. Eleazar Wheelock, D.D., Founder and President of Dartmouth College.” Frontispiece plate, 336 pages; contemporary calf. Newburyport, MA, 1811.
“Life of the Late Gen. William Eaton.” 448 pages. 8vo, modern buckram; corners trimmed. Life of the hero of Tripoli, a Dartmouth alum. Brookfield, MA, 1813.
Reuben Emerson. “An Oration on Music Pronounced before the Handel Society, Dartmouth University.” 24 pages, disbound. Andover, MA, 1814.
“Sketches of the History of Dartmouth College and Moors’ Charity School.” 88 pages; disbound. No place, [1815].
“A Candid, Analytical Review of the ‘Sketches of the History of Dartmouth College.’” 32 pages; disbound. No place, [1815].
“A Vindication of the Official Conduct of the Trustees of Dartmouth College,” a response to the preceding pamphlets. 104 pages; original wrappers. Concord, MA, 1815.
“A Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Dartmouth College.” 8vo, disbound; 13, 6 pages. Hanover, NH, October 1822.
Jared Sparks. The Life of John Ledyard, the American Traveller. [8], xii, 325 pages; modreate wear and foxing. Life of a famous adventurer and (briefly) Dartmouth student. Cambridge, MA, 1828.
Sammelband volume of 3 related Dartmouth pamphlets: [Benjamin Hale], “Valedictory Letter to the Trustees,” 24 pages, [1835]; “To the Patrons and Friends of the College,” by “Alumnus,” on the same case, 23 pages, undated; “Remarks on a Pamphlet Entitled Prof. Hale and Dartmouth College,” by “Investigator,” 34 pages, undated.
Single issue of the student publication “The Dartmouth,” in printed wrappers. Windsor, VT, May 1841
Bound volume of the student publication “The Dartmouth,” 8 issues from September 1841 to July 1842. 326 pages. 8vo, contemporary ½ calf. Hanover, NH, 1841-1842.
Charles March, “Daniel Webster and his Contemporaries.” viii, 295 pages. Biographical work on a star Dartmouth alumnus. 12mo, publisher’s cloth. New York, 1852.
“Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Dartmouth College.” 71, [1] pages. 8vo, original printed wrappers. Hanover, NH, 1874.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(new york.)
Pair of broadsides from western New York political contests.
No place, [1806]
Letterpress broadsides; folds, minor wear.
A pair of broadsides issued in upstate New York by Federalist Party partisans. The state party’s leading figure during this period was DeWitt Clinton, who served as New York City mayor and later as governor. They relate to the 1806 campaign for the New York State Senate’s western district, covering Schoharie, Herkimer, Onondaga, and Cayuga counties.
Signed in type as “Uniform Republican.” “To the Republican Electors of the Western District.” 16 x 13¼ inches; slightly defective with minimal loss of text. Shaw-Shoemaker 11490.
“To the Electors of the Western District.” 15¼ x 12¾ inches; apparently unrecorded. A reply to a handbill circulated by “A Republican of 1776,” which had assailed the character of three candidates for State Senate in the Western District, Evans Wharry, Freegift Patchin, and Joseph Annin.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(new york.)
Broadside for the Erie Canal Pilot & Traders Line.
New York: James Van Norden, 1837
Letterpress broadside, 13½ x 10¼ inches, printed in black on white coated stock; minimal wear and toning at edges. Not examined out of modern frame.
This broadside (or perhaps you might call it an oversized trade card) solicited business for a fleet of 34 freight and passenger boats plying the Erie Canal, as well as its connecting services on the Ohio Canal and packet lines on the Great Lakes. Boats carrying parcels for the line left Manhattan daily at 5 p.m. for transport to the canal. The line’s officers are listed, as well as the names of 40 commercial references in western New York, Ohio, Michigan, and beyond. None others traced in OCLC or at auction.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(new york.)
Noyes family papers from western New York, including the loss of family members in the steamboat Lexington tragedy.
Various places, 1791-1936, bulk 1834-1866
Approximately 170 manuscript letters and documents (0.2 linear feet) in one box; condition varies but generally strong.
The central figure in this archive is Thomas Noyes (1786-1860) of Painted Post, Chemung County, NY. His family suffered a terrible tragedy on 13 January 1840 with the sinking of the passenger steam Lexington on Long Island Sound. His son Charles Phelps Noyes (1818-1840) and brother-in-law Charles H. Phelps were aboard, on their way to visit family members in Stonington, CT. 7 letters in this lot dated January and February 1840 discuss the disaster. A New York cousin recalls: “I never saw dear Charles so reluctant to go to Stonington, yet his uncle thought it such a good excuse for him to make a visit.” A black-bordered letter from friend Paul Babcock in New York City recalls: “Yr brother came here in the early part of last week & designed returning the latter part, but having slipped down on Thursday or Friday & sprained his ancle . . . stayed over till Monday the 13th.” He then asked his nephew Charles Noyes to accompany him on the trip “as he was so much crippled.” Babcock offers a long summary of the ship’s loss: a fire, “confusion & the swamping of 3 boats,” the difficulty of a rescue with all nearby small vessels “being ice bound on the shores,” and the rescue of a mere two crew members who clung to cotton bales in the icy waters overnight.
52 other letters are mostly dated 1834-1869. Son Henry B. Noyes wrote to his doomed brother Charles in 1836, asking “Let me know how they get along with the Stonington & Providence RR, when it will be completed.” Charles responded with an 11 May 1838 letter discussing the safety of packet ships and English steamers, less than two year before his tragic death. A handful of 20th-century letters are addressed to Cornell University student Neil Morton and others (relation unknown).
Rounding out the collection are 37 documents (deeds, leases, etc.), 1801-1855; and 52 receipts dated 1784-1862, many of them relating to the family of Pardon and Achsah Redfield of Bainbridge, Chenango County, NY (relation to the Noyes family undetermined). Bainbridge was originally named Jericho, in Tioga County.
Among the more interesting odds and ends: a 16-page manuscript notebook of dessert recipes kept by the Noyes family; a worn fragmentary manuscript copy of the original division of the land in Jericho (Bainbridge), listing dozens of original settlers circa 1791; and a quite defective 1796 lease of Jericho land with a clear signature as witness by the town’s best-known founder, Jedediah Smith Sr. (father of the famous mountain man of the same name).
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(new york.)
Complete set of Prang’s “Niagara Falls Album” cards.
12 chromolithograph cards, 4 x 2¼ inches, inserted at corners into publisher’s accordion-style binding which opens to 36 inches. 16mo, publisher’s gilt cloth, moderate wear; minor foxing and minimal wear to contents.
Views include “The Hermit’s Cascade,” “The American Fall from Goat Island,” “The American Rapids, from the Bridge,” “The Tower and Horse Shoe Fall,” “The American Fall,” “Cave of the Winds,” “Horse-Shoe Fall from below the Tower,” “Horse-Shoe Fall from under the Table Rock,” “The Suspension Bridge,” “The Whirlpool, from the Canada Side,” “From the Suspension Bridge,” and “The American and Horse-Shoe Fall.” One set in OCLC, at the Huntington Library; none traced at auction.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(new york.) howard soule jr.
Two volumes of an engineer’s bridge designs prepared for the Syracuse area and beyond.
Syracuse, NY, 1869-1874, 1884-1885
[37]; [34, 6] manuscript pages plus additional notes laid in, including several dozen sketches. 2 volumes: folio (17 x 11 inches) and oblong 4to (9½ x 13½ inches), both coming disbound with boards detached; minimal wear to contents, other than one leaf excised from the smaller volume.
Howard Soule Jr. (1829-1924) was a prominent civil engineer based in Syracuse, NY; he began his career in 1854 with the Erie Canal. These two volumes document his estimates and proposals for bridge projects in at least 19 New York towns, most of them in the Syracuse / Oswego County area, but some as far-ranging at St. Lawrence County to the far north, Albany and Yonkers to the east, and Elmira and Binghamton to the south. Most projects contain sketches and a detailed estimate for supplies and labor. Often two or more design options for the same project are prepared. His designs included Whipple arch bridges, iron chord bridges, iron trapezoidal truss bridges, and one dubbed “Soule’s Combination Bridge” in Cohoes, NY. Almost all of the dated plans are from 1869 to 1874, with three added later in 1884 and 1885.
In addition to loose notes and sketches laid into the larger volume is an April 1869 letter to Soule from the Office American Sheet and Boiler Plate Co. of Cleveland, OH, quoting him the cost of iron beams. In the smaller volume, a clipping from Rochester, NY shows Soule’s bids in competition with 14 other engineering firms. A significant piece of engineering history, and strong documentation of western New York’s built environment.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
(new york city.)
Ledger for the leading Broadway jewelers, Ball, Black & Co.
New York, 1855-1865
313 manuscript pages in red and black (including a few blanks). 4to, 9½ x 7½ inches, original ½ calf with gilt label on front board reading “William Black, Firm of Ball Black & Co., New York,” rubbed at extremities but remaining handsome and sturdy.
This jewelry firm had roots in New York going back to 1810, and became Ball, Black & Co. in 1851. The showroom they built in 1860, with plate glass windows and a massive underground vault, still stands on Broadway today. They were the leading jewelers in New York, with an elite clientele, until gradually passed by the upstarts of Tiffany & Co. in the 1860s. The firm was dissolved in 1873 after the death of partner William Black (1806-1873).
This tidy general ledger summarizes the firm’s profits and losses at the peak of their fame. A long note on page 59 discusses the expiration and renewal of their lease in 1858, followed by the sale of the remaining lease in 1860 when they moved to the new headquarters. Expense accounts on pages 114 to 115 give a hint of the store’s life, including total money spent on “Dog, alcohol, & chamois skins,” “New Years presents and refreshments”, “Cable celebration, Aug 1858” (for the transatlantic cable), and “6 red morocco chairs for store.” The firm’s staff appear to be listed on pages 116-117. Individual customers are not listed except in a long section on “Bad Debts” from pages 146 to 162, several of them marked as dead. Five annual summaries of stock in hand are broken down into “silver ware,” “diamond jewelry, “watches & movements,” “cutlery,” and other categories on pages 184-188. A monthly summary of merchandise purchases and sales appears on pages 222-235. Their lease of the land at 565 Broadway in 1859-1860, including their detailed commitment to erect a new building on the site, followed by the building expenses for the new store, are recorded on pages 260-275.
The bulk of the volume covers the 1855-1860 period. The Civil War occasionally intrudes into the later entries. The firm’s “Military Department” recorded a profit of $1187 in 1863 (page 301), and they presented $5000 to the United States Sanitary Fair in February 1864 (page 302). On 28 March 1865, weeks before the end of the fighting, Black pays “Orison Blunt for Substitute, U.S. Army, $1000”–presumably on behalf of a son (page 282).
The ledger appears to be written in one sitting in a precise secretarial hand, rather than by a team of clerks over the course of several years. Judging by the label on the front board, it may be a manuscript copy of the firm’s accounts made for the personal use of founding partner William Black. His own expenses are recorded in great detail (boots, newspaper subscriptions, purchases of individual pieces from the firm, even 31 cents for washing), while the accounts of partners Henry Ball and Ebenezer Monroe only summarize their dividends and profits. A balance in favor of Ball for $316,751.90 is recorded for March 1865–the firm was doing well.
A detailed inside look into what was once one of New York’s great luxury establishments.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(new york city.)
Broadside for “Jas. D. Traphagen, Agent for Superior Pale, Amber & Brown Ale, and XX Porter.”
New York, circa 1854
Broadside, 8½ x 11½ inches to sight, in blue and gilt on white coated stock; minor soiling; not examined out of original frame.
This attractive broadside for a Manhattan beer distributor offers “hogsheads, barrels and half barrels, for shipping, bottling & city use.” If you like beer, and like to keep things simple, that’s probably all you need to know.
An ad in the 1853 New York directory shows James D. Traphagen at this 117 Warren Street address as one of two wholesalers for the Albany brewery of Eggleston & Mix. The New York Times of 9 December 1854 reported a fire at this address, where the lower two stories were occupied by “Mr. T. Traphagan, agent for Eccleston & Mise, manufacturers of Albany ale.” Sadly, “a considerable amount of ale was lost.” In the 1857 and 1859 New York directories, James D. Traphagen was reported as a dealer in ale and porter at another address. He was apparently the James Dickerson Traphagen (1825-1863) from Ulster County who lived with his parents in Manhattan through the 1850s.
The frame bears a worn but nearly complete label from G.B. Owen & Co., “Manufacturers and Dealers in Clocks, Looking-Glasses, Portrait and Picture Frames.” George B. Owen was at the 325 Hudson Street address in Manhattan only from about 1854 to 1859, so this broadside was framed circa 1854.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(new york city.)
Statue of Liberty, American Committee Model.
[New York, 1885]
Bronzed statue, with the detachable pedestal nickel-silvered, together 11¾ inches tall, 3 inches square at the base; two spikes slightly bent on crown, otherwise minimal wear.
These scale models were sold by the New York-based American Committee of the Statue of Liberty to raise funds for the erection of the statue. First offered in April 1885, a six-inch model sold for a dollar, while this twelve-inch version brought $5.00. The advertising circular (not included here) exhorted: “Every American citizen should feel proud to donate to the Pedestal Fund and own a model in token of their subscription . . . in this great work.”
At the bottom of the detached statue are the words “American Committee Model,” and at the top of the base are the faintly visible patent dates of 5 November 1878 and 18 February 1879. Inscribed onto Lady Liberty’s tablet is the date “4th July 1776.” Provoyeur & Hargrove, “Liberty: The French-American Statue in Art and History,” pages 163-5, 296.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(new york city.)
Volume of early Grand Central Terminal blueprints and reports.
New York, 1910-1917
[4], 31, [7], 45, 24 leaves of typescripts (erratically paginated), typescript carbons, hand-colored blueprints, plans, and manuscripts. Oblong folio post binder, 11 x 17 inches, with some blueprints folding out to a larger size; minor wear, minor dampstaining toward end, a few items detached or with separations at folds.
Grand Central Station on 42nd Street in Manhattan remains one of the busiest and most elegant transit hubs in the world. It replaced another complex in the same location. Construction began in 1903, demolition of the old terminal began in 1910, and the present terminal was completed in 1913. This volume was compiled in 1917 using documents dating back to 1910, some of them incorporating data going back to 1900. The purpose was apparently to provide a comprehensive valuation of the company’s properties. It is divided into three sections: Land, Building, and Yard. Each section contains detailed tables of valuations of the terminal’s various properties, allocating them to “carrier” or “non-carrier.” These are interspersed with plans and blueprints of various properties owned by the terminal’s participating railroads, some extending as far north as 56th Street. Several tables list the land acquisition costs and grantors for dozens of parcels acquired from 1900 to 1912, each keyed to a color-coded plan. The building reports name the Terminal’s tenants and the rent paid, and the terms of leases for major tenants. At the rear are 22 plans and blueprints of the Terminal properties, including a majestic side view of the main station buildings.
The volume contains a few cover letters, all of them retained carbon typescripts sent by assistant engineer Philip Hichborn Spear (1880-1960) to F.W. Stevens, the terminal’s General Valuation Counsel. The volume appears to be Spear’s retained copy of the detailed notes he submitted for an appraisal. Provenance: purchased by the consignor at a farmhouse auction in Pennsylvania circa 1975.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
(new york city.)
Woodwork designs for an opulent Manhattan townhouse.
New York, 1889
Manuscript contract and 33 pen and ink architectural drawings on coated linen, each from about 8 x 12 inches to 11 x 19 inches, 12 of them bound into small packets with fasteners, the remainder loose; all remain rolled, minor wear and foxing, a few light folds.
These drawings show the ornate woodwork for a Gilded Age Manhattan residence. Some are captioned with titles such as “butler’s pantry,” “3rd story saloon,” Ceilings, doorways, and hallways are shown. Some are signed by draftsman Lorenzo R. Hartung, a Manhattan cabinetmaker. The accompanying contract is dated 21 December 1889 between the builder Francis Crawford and the Freeman & O’Neill Company of Claremont, NH, who were by the first day of March to “prepare and deliver in the new building now being erected on south side of 72nd Street, all of the mantels for the basement, second story extension, and the entire third and fourth stories and all outside and inside blinds, agreeably to the drawings and specifications made by G.A. Schellinger, archt.”
Francis Crawford (1840-1902) was a builder and developer whose offices were also on West 72nd Street. He built at least 4 houses on this block. 136 and 138 West 72nd, put up in 1883, are still standing and have landmark status. The New York Sun announced on 5 October 1891 that Crawford had sold two new buildings, 118 and 122 West 72nd Street, both of them 4-story brownstones, 25 by 60 feet, for the exorbitant sums of $78,000 and $80,000. The plans offered in this lot are quite possibly from one of these addresses.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(pennsylvania.)
A nearly complete year of Dunlap’s Daily American Advertiser for 1791.
Philadelphia: John Dunlap, 1 January to 31 December 1791
315 issues, each 4 pages, in 2 volumes. Folio, 19¾ x 12 inches, contemporary ½ calf over wallpaper patterned boards, worn, rebacked in buckram, front board of first volume coming detached; nearly complete, lacking only 23 April and 30 April issues, a few issues worn or detached, 15 with early or later repairs (most small), but only minimal wear to most issues.
The newspaper’s publisher, John Dunlap, is famous for producing the first printing of the Declaration of Independence (not included here!) News of frontier tensions is often seen. On 22 July, reports from Pittsburgh inform that “Col. Boon” heard that General Scott had burned three Indian towns in Ohio; and that “Cornplanter’s Indians . . . have taken up the hatchet. . . . What the event will be, God only knows.” A black-bordered obituary of patriot-printer William Bradford appears in the 28 September 1791 issue; President Washington’s State of the Union address appears in the 26 October 1791 issue. The 28 November issue announces the first almanac by Black scientist Benjamin Banneker: “An Almanac, for 1792, is published at Baltimore by Benjamin Banneker, a free Negro, born in Baltimore.” The advertisements include notices of runaway slaves, theatrical performances, book releases and auctions, and even a very early prefabricated house on 2 December: “A very strong, new Frame of a Building, which has not yet been put up . . . and all the materials prepared to enclose it” by William Colliday.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(photography.)
Broadside for “Daguerrean or Photographic Miniatures” issued by early photographer Alexander Gibbs Nye.
[Boston?], circa 1845
Letterpress broadside, 16 x 11¾ inches; foxing, wrinkling, moderate dampstaining and wear including slight loss along one fold.
An advertisement for an ephemeral early photo studio at Hyannis on Cape Cod, for which no other record has been traced. “Mr. A.G. Nye, having disposed of is Saloon at No. 62 Milk-st., Boston, begs leave to inform his Hyannis friends and the public generally, that he has constructed a Saloon . . . adapted to taking Photographic Miniatures. . . . As regards the new process . . . he has practiced it for six years, and the new process of coloring (which is by use of the pencil) he has practiced for sixteen years–six years before the photographic art was discovered. . . . His spacious Hall, or Saloon, will arrive at Hyannis in a few days.”
The little-known photographer Alexander Gibbs Nye (1817-1901) was born in Falmouth on Cape Cod, MA. He was at a studio at 62 Milk Street in Boston when reviewed by The Symbol (an Odd Fellows magazine) on 1 February 1844. A June 1846 flier held at Yale University places Nye in Plymouth, MA. An advertisement for selling his daguerrean apparatus ran in the Daily Chronotype of Boston from February 23 to 26, 1847. The 1850 census places him in Plymouth as a painter, and from 1855 until his death he was in Weymouth, MA, where he became a dentist. From this chronology, we suspect this broadside was issued circa 1845.
None traced in OCLC or at auction.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(presidents–1804 campaign.)
Broadside titled “Fellow Citizens!”
Litchfield, CT, 11 September 1804
Letterpress broadside, 17¼ x 10 inches to sight; dampstaining and soiling mostly restricted to margins, 2 light folds; untrimmed; not examined out of modern frame by Perry Hopf, but an unframed image is available by request.
This broadside was issued shortly before Connecticut’s 1804 state elections–for its representatives in Congress, and for the General Assembly’s Council of Assistants. Connecticut did not yet allow direct voting for president; its electors were chosen by the legislature. This state election, then, was the only influence Connecticut’s voters would have on the November presidential election. Founding Father Oliver Ellsworth, in a bid for his last political office, was on the slate for the Council.
Thomas Jefferson was seeking re-election to the presidency, and the Louisiana Purchase had given him great popularity, but Connecticut was an exception–they largely stayed true to the principles of Washington and Adams. With strict property requirements to vote, and a tradition of political leaders serving long terms with the backing of the state’s elite, Connecticut had recently earned the sarcastic nickname “The Land of Steady Habits,” a term which the leaders embraced in this broadside: “They laughed at the steady habits of Connecticut: Yes, we cannot forget that this impious faction attempted to laugh us out of our steady habits, the pillars of our welfare here and hereafter!”
The broadside reflects an era before the formal institution of American political parties, but it contains a full dose of the partisan politics to come. It was issued by what we now call the Federalist Party. Although that term is nowhere to be seen here, a resolution by the “Federal Freemen of this State” is included. Vitriol is poured upon what we now call the Democratic-Republican Party, although for the most part they are here dismissed simply as “the faction.”
The incumbent president Thomas Jefferson is mentioned only once by name, in a passage mocking the state’s Democratic-Republican politicians, who “ask you to vote for men who are in favor of Mr. Jefferson, or who are in favor of liberty of conscience, or universal suffrage, or for a new Constitution; it comes to the same request, and is in plain English, ‘will you put me or us into office?’” Jefferson’s political appointees to local positions are also critiqued: “the Executive of the United States has thought it fit to select some of the most profligate of the Leaders of this Faction for offices of great trust and emolument among us and . . . has brought vice from its lurking places.” The Federalist presidential candidate Charles Pinckney, whose support is being obliquely sought here, is not mentioned by name at all.
The Federalist slate took Connecticut in the September election, in both Litchfield County and the state as a whole. In the November presidential election, they gave the state’s 9 votes to Jefferson’s opponent Pinckney–which accounted for more than half of Pinckney’s total, as Jefferson won re-election in a landslide.
No other examples traced at auction, one other found in OCLC (Connecticut Historical Society).
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(presidents.) breuker & kessler, lithographers.
Andrew Jackson with the Tennessee Forces on the Hickory Grounds (Ala.), 1814.
Philadelphia: William Smith, circa 1870
Lithograph, 30¼ x 24 inches; minor foxing in margins, minimal wear.
Shows General Jackson on horseback, with a War of 1812 battle raging in the background. The Philadelphia lithography firm of Breuker & Kessler was formed in 1867. Printseller William Smith was reported at this 702 South Third Street address from 1863 to 1891.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(presidents–1837.) [edward williams clay], artist.
Major Joe Bunker’s Last Parade, or the Fix of a Senator and His 700 Independents.
New York: H.R. Robinson, 1837
Lithograph, 12½ x 18 inches; minor foxing and uneven toning.
The central figure brandishing his sword is Senator Nathaniel P. Tallmadge of New York, dressed in the costume of a character from a popular play, Major Joe Bunker. Tallmadge was a pro-bank soft money advocate, fighting a losing battle against his president, fellow Democrat Van Buren. As they march toward their distressed “Madisonian” colleagues, a much larger crowd gathers at the Van Buren Hotel under the president’s portrait, eager to hear “The Message”–a 14 September 1837 message to Congress setting forth his plan for an independent treasury. This is the first state, with a reversed “J” in the title, which was corrected in the copyright deposit copy at the Library of Congress. None traced of either state at auction. Reilly 1837-13.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(presidents–1861.) augustus feusier; lithographer.
Presidents of the United States.
Chromolithograph, 27 x 21 inches; dampstaining in upper margin, bright colors, minimal wear.
Vignettes of the first 16 presidents (including a beardless Lincoln), arranged around Liberty standing in front of a steamship and the U.S. Capitol. Reilly 1861-13.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(presidents–1864 campaign.) william h. robinson.
Worse than Beaten.
No place, [1864]
Letterpress songsheet, 8 x 4½ inches; foxing and toning, minor wear, three words added in pencil, long strip of early mounting paper on verso with other mount remnants.
A previously unknown pro-Lincoln campaign song which regards the challenger General McClellan as little more than a traitor: “Though very small is Little Mac / Still smaller are his chances / Let English Tories in our streets / Abuse our Land and Freedom / We’ll treat Old Foes to New defeats / Nor will the Yankees heed ‘em.” The final verse predicts that “Mac will find on ‘lection day . . . that helping Rebels will not pay.” The author regards the defeat of slavery as the main cause and objective of the war, and name-checks military leaders Farragut, Sherman, Sheridan and Grant in addition to “Abraham.” The words were meant to be sung to the tune of Yankee Doodle, which you may find increases your enjoyment.
We can trace no other references to this song, either by its title or by its first line, “Secession’s Friends must clear the track / the Union Host advances.”
Estimate
$400 – $600
(presidents–1865.)
The Guardians of Our Country.
New York: Haasis & Lubrecht, 1865
Hand-colored engraving, 35 x 28¼ inches; top 6 inches worn with slight loss and extensive tape stains, both sides reinforced with tape, otherwise minor foxing and wear, laid down and stabilized on heavy modern board.
Andrew Johnson only assumed the presidency due to tragedy, spent most of his term embroiled in controversy, and did not seek re-election. Thus, not many elaborate engravings featuring his image were ever produced. This is one of the few exceptions. A huge image of President Johnson is surrounded by 17 smaller portraits of Union generals, admirals, and cabinet members, and other patriotic motifs. One example in OCLC, at Indiana Historical Society.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(presidents.)
Grant’s temporary tomb, as featured on the ephemeral wrapping paper of a Rhode Island shoe store.
Westerly, RI, circa 1888
Illustrated wrapping paper, 15¾ x 14¾ inches, headed “The Tomb of General Grant, at Riverside Park, New York: Westerly Boot & Shoe Store”; wrinkled, minor soiling and wear at folds, unevenly torn on bottom edge with loss of imprint line.
Depicts President Grant’s temporary tomb which stood in Riverside Park, NY from his 1885 death until the present grand monument was completed in 1897. Three armed soldiers are shown standing guard over the humble structure. William E. Stockwell operated his boot and shoe store at this address in Westerly, RI from at least 1885 until 1888, but had changed addresses by the time of the 1890 directory.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(presidents.)
“Let Us Have Peace!” Published in Commemoration of the Dedication of the Tomb of Genl. U. S. Grant.
New York: Chas. F. Roehsler Lith., 1897
Hand-colored lithograph, 28 x 21 inches; minor foxing and minimal wear.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(presidents–1900 campaign.)
The Issue–1900: Liberty, Justice, Humanity.
Columbus, OH: Neville Williams, 1900
Chromolithograph, 30 x 20 inches; two substantial chips (about an inch each) on bottom edge not touching image, 4½-inch diagonal crease in same area, otherwise minimal wear, backed by cloth as issued with promotional text still visible.
A striking portrait of presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan, with additional vignettes of Lady Democracy preparing to hack off the octopus tentacles of the nation’s trusts, and of three freedom fighters pleading before the Statue of Liberty, “Give Us Liberty or Give Us Death.” Printed by the Strobridge Lithograph Company of Cincinnati.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(presidents–1914.)
Neutrality, Impartiality, Fairness, and Friendliness.
Santa Cruz, CA, circa 1914
Chromolithograph, 13¼ x 20 inches; vertical fold, cropped, 2 short closed tears, laid down on later heavy board.
This poster’s title is a paraphrase of Wilson’s 18 August 1914 statement of neutrality as Europe went to war. It is juxtaposed with a quote from Abraham Lincoln, “With malice toward none, with charity for all.” The black, white and red flag of the German Empire is behind the American shield to the right, suggesting a “why can’t we all just get along” sentiment which did not age well. This poster was printed for the Santa Cruz Surf daily newspaper (quite possibly as a magazine centerfold or subscriber premium) by Edwards & Deutsch of Chicago. No others traced in OCLC or elsewhere.
Estimate
$200 – $300
(presidents–1920 campaign.) william e. chancellor.
To the Men and Women of America: An Open Letter.
Wooster, OH, October 1920
Letterpress broadsheet, 2 pages on one sheet, 19 x 4½ inches, with author’s printed facsimile signature; folds, minor wear and foxing.
This leaflet, attributed to college professor William Estabrook Chancellor, questioned Warren G. Harding’s ancestry shortly before the 1920 election, and caused a national scandal. It insists that Harding, his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather “were never accepted as white” and asks “Are we ready to make the experiment of entrusting the Presidency of this Republic to this hybrid man? . . . Let us have neither Hayti nor Russia here! May God save America from international shame and from domestic ruin!” Printed on the verso of Chancellor’s statement are 4 affidavits from Ohio men concerning rumors about the Harding family ancestry. Harding survived the scandal and was elected to the presidency, after which Chancellor denied writing the leaflet and then fled to Canada.
Supposedly, hundreds of thousands of these leaflets were distributed to voters across the country in an effort to prevent Harding’s election. Chancellor’s 1922 book “Warren Gamaliel Harding . . . Facts Collected from Anthropological, Historical, and Political Researches” is well represented in library collections and has appeared at auction. However, we have failed to trace any of these “Open Letter” campaign leaflets in OCLC or in auction records.
Provenance: found among Charles C. Fisher’s Harding-related ephemera in the next lot.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(presidents–1921.)
Group of correspondence, speeches and ephemera relating to Warren G. Harding, gathered by a close friend.
Various places, bulk 1906-1924
64 items, generally minor wear, in one small box.
Charles Clement Fisher (1855-1949) was an attorney from Marion, OH, where he was a friend and neighbor of President Warren G. Harding. This collection includes:
Letter from Charles C. Fisher and his wife Rose (signed “Dad” and “Mother”) to their daughter Ruth Schofield Fisher (born 1889) describing their Jamaican vacation with the Hardings. Rose Fisher writes: “As Mrs. H. and I are still rocking somewhat like the waves, we shall not attempt to do much for a little while. . . . We had great fun reading a book, The Conquest of Canaan by Booth Tarkington aloud on the boat. Our reading circle consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Peck and Gladys, Mr. and Mrs. Harding. . .” The Fisher and Harding vacation was briefly noted in the Marion Star of 13 February 1906. Port Antonio, Jamaica, 19 February 1906.
Letter from Caroline B.D. Kling (sister-in-law of Mrs. Harding) to Charles C. Fisher, offering condolences upon the death of his mother. Daytona, FL, 8 March 1909.
John H. Clark, Charles C. Fisher and Hayes Thompson, signed retained copy of outgoing telegram to Warren G. Harding. “The Harding for President Club of Marion County by unanimous vote at its first meeting since the nomination expresses its joy and congratulates America. When you come home the initials of your name will stand for Welcome, Gratitude, Happiness.” Marion, OH, 24 June 1920.
Nomination speech for Harding as State Senator. 4 pages: 2 leaves in pencil on lined paper, apparently in Charles C. Fisher’s hand; and 2 leaves of typescript with manuscript notes. No place, [1899].
4 typescript carbon speeches, most uncredited but possibly by Charles C. Fisher:
“Harding, the Boy and Man at Home.” 8 pages (first page worn), filled with anecdotes from Harding’s youth; apparently unpublished. Undated but written during Harding’s 1920 presidential campaign.
“Our Lost Friend, by C.C. Fisher.” 2 pages, recounting Harding’s importance to Marion, [1923].
Untitled memorial to Harding by the directors of the Marion County Bank Company, 2 pages. Marion, OH, August 1923.
“A Century of Progress.” 2 pages, on the centenary of the town of Marion. Notes that “thousands of strangers will throng its streets . . . to see the home town of our chief magistrate and the first lady of the land. In all America only about a dozen cities have enjoyed the honor of furnishing a president. And here it should be mentioned that President Harding will be present and deliver an address at the climax of this festival.” [Marion, OH, 1922].
Packet of 41 postcards, most unaddressed or addressed to Charles C. Fisher or his daughter Hope, most relating to Harding or to local Marion history. One Real Photo postcard of the auditorium in Marion’s Garfield Park is captioned on verso “Where Harding made his speech of acceptance, July/ 20.” Another dated 1913 from Dr. & Mrs. C.E. Sawyer is noted “Doctor in attendance at death of Florence Kling Harding (Pres’s wife).” Various places, 1909-1946 and undated.
Printed ephemera relating to Harding, including:
Printed invitation to “the ceremonies incident to the nomination of the Honorable Warren G. Harding of his nomination for the office of President,” Marion, OH, 22 July 1920.
“Inaugural Address of Hon. Warren G. Harding,” 13 pages. Washington, 1921.
“Official Program and Souvenir Book: Marion, Ohio Centennial,” 94 pages, making surprisingly scant note of President Harding but listing him on the speaking program on page 93. No place, 1922.
Charles E. Hughes, “Memorial Address in Honor of the Late President Warren G. Harding,” 18 pages. Washington, 1924.
Isaac Goldberg, “President Harding’s Illegitimate Daughter,” 64 pages. Girard, KS: Haldeman-Julius Publications, [1929].
Packet of 10 newspaper clippings on Harding, 1920-1924.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(presidents.)
Invitation to the wedding reception of Eleanor Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt.
[New York], 17 March [1905]
Printed invitation, 6¾ x 5¾ inches, completed in manuscript to invitee “Miss Livingston,” plus integral blank leaf; horizontal mailing fold, minimal wear, tipped to mat. Framed with 3 photographs; not examined out of frame.
Eleanor Roosevelt’s 1905 wedding to fifth cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt was widely reported in the society pages, as she was the favorite niece of sitting president Theodore Roosevelt. She had been orphaned at the age of 9 and raised in part by her grandmother Mary Livingston Ludlow Hall, who issued this wedding invitation: “Mrs. Valentine G. Hall requests the pleasure of Miss Livingston’s company at the wedding reception of her granddaughter Anna Eleanor Roosevelt and Mr. Franklin D. Roosevelt . . . at Eight East Seventy-sixth Street.” President Roosevelt not only attended the wedding, but gave his niece away.
Provenance: collection of Donald Scott Carmichael (1912-2008), who authored “Franklin Roosevelt and Me: Brief Encounters in the Thirties,” and was a leading collector of Roosevelt memorabilia. With his bookplate on verso of frame, along with his 1998 typed note explaining that “the photos of the bride and groom were taken in 1907 when their first child Anna was born; the photo of Grandmother Hall’s is dated 1894. In 70 years of collecting FDR, this is the first time I have seen this invitation–except for the one at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.”
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(presidents.)
Large archive of photographs kept by Roosevelt and Truman’s White House aide William Rigdon.
Various places, circa 1942-1953
More than 1000 photographs (1.3 linear feet) in one box and one folder, various sizes but most 8 x 10 inches; most moderately curled, but otherwise with generally minimal or minor wear.
William McKinley Rigdon (1904-1991) served in the Navy from 1923 to 1953. From 1942 to 1953, he was stationed in the White House as the naval aide to Presidents Roosevelt and Truman, reaching the rank of Commander. His duties extended far beyond naval matters; he was one of the Truman family’s closest aides, and was involved in travel planning. In 1964, he published the book “White House Sailor,” recounting how he accompanied Roosevelt and Truman on dozens of trips as “secretary, mess officer, mailman, baggageman, banker, storekeeper, photographer, custodian of secret files, and keeper of official logs.”
A large number of the photographs show Roosevelt and especially Truman at official events, often with national and international leaders. Just a small fraction of the highlights include Roosevelt meeting with Ethiopian leader Haile Selassie; Truman smiling with Joseph Stalin at the 1945 Potsdam conference; many shots of Winston Churchill, including one smoking a cigarette with a scowling Stalin and Roosevelt, another receiving an honorary degree with Roosevelt at McGill University, and two of Truman showing mounted photographs to a cigar-wielding Churchill as if at an auction exhibition; several of General Douglas MacArthur, one of them examining an enormous wall map with Roosevelt, and another with MacArthur, Roosevelt and Admiral Nimitz eating pineapples at a Hawaii luncheon; Roosevelt meeting with Prime Minister Anthony Eden in Quebec; and Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt seated with the Churchills. Some Navy press images unrelated to the presidents are also found, such as Senegalese laborers building an American air base at Dakar.
These photographs bear a variety of credits. Some are marked in the negative as work of the Army Signal Corps, and others are from the Navy Department. Others bear just an inked date stamp on verso, while many have no credits whatsoever. Some of the smaller snapshots come from the Bureau of Aeronautics at the Naval Air Station, while a few have substantial manuscript captions signed by Rigdon. Knowing that Rigdon served as an unofficial presidential photographer, it seems likely that many of the uncredited images were shot by him.
More than 700 of these photographs are standard 8 x 10-inch prints, generally unmounted except for 3 mounted on worn black scrapbook leaves. Also included are more than 300 smaller 4 x 5-inch prints, a few of them captioned in manuscript over Rigdon’s signature. Finally, the collection includes 21 larger prints, ranging up to 11 x 14 inches; some of these are duplicates of 8 x 10 images. 10 of the 8 x 10 prints are glossy color prints, most apparently taken at Truman’s Key West retreat. Truman is shown posing in bathing trunks in two of these shots.
Rigdon retired from the navy in August 1953, and then attended Cornell University’s school of hotel administration for a year. These photographs were found in a house purchased near Cornell University in 2009.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(presidents.)
Pair of yearbooks from the Choate School featuring student John F. Kennedy.
Wallingford, CT, 1934 and 1935
Heavily illustrated. 295, 45; 292, 48 pages. Volumes XXXV and XXXVI of “The Brief.” 4to, full morocco gilt, first volume worn with tape repair, second volume tastefully rebacked and restored with original endpapers retained; a bit musty, minor dampstaining and edge wear to endpapers in second volume; signed on endpapers by a classmate.
The 1934 yearbook from Kennedy’s junior year gives his name on pages 113 and 286, and he probably appears somewhere in the class picture on page 114. He is also listed as an associate editor of the yearbook on page 119, and appears in the yearbook staff’s group shot on the facing page. Kennedy’s brother Joseph Jr., who had graduated from Choate in 1933, is mentioned for winning a Harvard football trophy on page 257.
The 1935 yearbook features Kennedy’s senior portrait on page 76. It gives his nicknames as “Jack” and “Ken”, lists his participation in several sports and as general manager of the yearbook, and notes Harvard as his next destination. In the “Class Votes” on page 107, Kennedy was not listed as “Most Respected” or “Most Influential” or “Best Looking”–but he won “Most Likely to Succeed” by a landslide. He also appears on pages 116 and 117 featuring the yearbook staff, including a group photograph where he is seated in the front row. His name appears on pages 49 and 283, and he may be in the class group portrait on page 50. Kennedy’s roommate and lifelong friend Kirk “Lem” Billings appears on page 52 (and voted “best natured” and “quietest” on page 107). A candid shot of Billings and Kennedy playing in a snowdrift on page 268 is titled “Leem” and “Rat Face”–a nickname Kennedy was apparently comfortable with, as he served on the yearbook staff.
Also shown in both volumes is headmaster George St. John, who is said to have delivered sermons to the students urging them to ask “not what Choate does for you, but what you can do for Choate.” This may have influenced Kennedy’s most famous bit of oratory in 1961: “Ask not what your country can do for you–ask what you can do for your country.”
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(presidents–1963.) cecil w. stoughton, photographer.
3 photographs of Kennedy touring Houston’s NASA Center the day before his death.
[Houston, TX, 21 November 1963]
Color prints, 8 x 10 inches, on Kodak paper with photographer’s negative numbers inked in verso, and one with his inked stamp; minimal wear.
On the afternoon before his death, President Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy toured Houston’s Manned Spacecraft Center (now the Johnson Space Center), where his visit was captured by official White House photographer Cecil Stoughton. Provenance: Bonham’s Stoughton sale, 9 December 2010.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(presidents–2021.)
“Emergency No Parking” notice in advance of the January 6 United States Capitol attack.
Broadside, 16¾ x 10¾ inches, with official posting instructions on verso; 4 unused mounting punch holes, 2 strips of clear tape where taped to pole, light dampstaining and wrinkling.
This date first came into the public consciousness on 18 December 2020, when President Trump announced “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!” On 1 January 2021, Women for America First obtained a permit for a rally with an estimated attendance of 5,000 on First Amendment (free speech) grounds.
In preparation for the rally, these parking notices were affixed to utility poles in the rally area. This example was posted on 7th Street where it meets the north end of the National Mall, about halfway between the Washington Monument and the Capitol building. It restricts parking along several blocks of 7th Street “from Independence Avenue SW to E Street NW.” The reason for the restriction is given as “First Amendment Activity.”
On 6 January 2021, at about noon, President Trump gave a speech on the Ellipse, assuring his supporters that he would never concede the election, and urging them: “We fight. We fight like Hell and if you don’t fight like Hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” They then marched east along the Mall, passing this sign, to the Capitol building where the certification of the Electoral College results was taking place. Exactly what happened next is still a matter of public and legal debate.
Approximately 4 days after the attack, our consignor salvaged this rain-dampened sign.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(radicalism.) adin ballou.
Practical Christian Socialism: A Conversational Exposition of the True System of Human Society.
Hopedale, MA, 1854
Frontispiece portrait. 655 pages. 8vo, publisher’s cloth, minor wear and lightly sunned; minor foxing; pencil signatures of an early owner on preliminary leaves.
Adin Ballou (1803-1890) was a minister from Cumberland, RI whose teachings contained elements of anarchism, socialism, and pacifism; he was an active abolitionist. He founded the utopian community of Hopedale near Milford, MA in 1840, where Frederick Douglass once came to lecture. Practical Christian Socialism was one of his best-known works, and contains practical instructions for organizing a community.
The original owner of this book, Edward C. Cranston of Woonsocket, RI, was an abolitionist himself. He corresponded with his home state’s prominent abolitionist Elizabeth Buffum Chace.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(radicalism.)
Collection of books and ephemera on the Centralia Tragedy of 1919.
Various places, most 1919-1935
48 items (one box and one oversized volume), various sizes and conditions.
On Armistice Day in 1919, an American Legion parade in Centralia, WA stopped in front of the union hall of the Industrial Workers of the World (the Wobblies), a year after the hall was looted during another parade. Soon five legionnaires and one of the Wobblies were dead, with the facts and meaning of these events still hotly debated to this day. Offered here are 24 items on the tragedy issued from 1919 to 1935, and 24 additional books and ephemera published more recently. Many but not all of these items are cited in Miles, “Something in Common–An IWW Bibliography.”
1. “You Ought to Know”, 4 pages on one folding sheet. Miles 4742. [Centralia, WA], circa 1920s.
2. “Speeches by Elmer Smith and Capt. Edward P. Coll.” 16 pages; Miles 4514. Centralia: Centralia Publicity Committee, 1929.
3-5. 3 mimeographed 2-page bulletins issued by the Centralia Publicity Committee: “Loren Roberts Released” 21 August 1930; “James McInerney Buried in Centralia,” 21 August 1930; “Elmer Smith Passes Away”, 24 March 1932. None of these are recorded in Miles.
6. “The Centralia Case: A Chronological Digest.” 4 pages; Miles 4006. Seattle: General Defense Committee, 1927.
7. “Judicial Murder,” 4 pages; Miles 4275. Seattle: General Defense Committee, undated.
8. Ralph Chaplin, “The Centralia Conspiracy.” 3rd edition; Miles 4011. Chicago: General Defense Committee, 1924.
9. Walker C. Smith, “Was It Murder?” Miles 4519. Seattle: Northwest District Defense Committee, August 1922.
10. Walker C. Smith, “Was It Murder?” 8th edition. Seattle: Centralia Publicity Committee, August 1923.
11. Memorial card for IWW victim Wesley Everest, 5 x 3 inches. Seattle: Centralia Victims Washington Branch General Defense, undated.
11a. Ed Delaney and M.T. Rice. “The Bloodstained Trail: A History of Militant Labor in the United States.” Miles 4058; features a reproduction of the Wesley Everest memorial card on page 135. Seattle: Industrial Worker, December 1927.
12a-b. “I.W.W. Songs; Special Centralia Edition.” 21st edition; two copies, one with much larger margins. Chicago: Industrial Workers of the World, 1925.
13. “The Anvil: The Proletarian Fiction Magazine,” No. 11, featuring “One Night in Centralia” by McCauley & Kilraine (and an unrelated Langston Hughes story, “Dr. Brown’s Decision”). St. Louis, MO, May-June 1935.
14a-c. “American Protective League . . . The Minute Men Division.” Organizational booklet for the Washington state chapter of a prominent anti-IWW organization, with two pieces of letterhead for the Lewis County District naming George Dysert as county chief; his son Lloyd was suspected in the lynching of Wesley Everest in Centralia. Seattle, circa 1919.
15. Bound volume of the New York Times for November 1919, including reports on Centralia from 11 November onward, particularly a two-page pictorial spread on 27 November; brittle with moderate wear.
16. Walker C. Smith. “Their Court and Our Class,” one-act play. 16 pages; Miles 4517. Seattle, undated.
17. Walker C. Smith. “In the Kangaroo Court of the State of Lumberlust.” 32 pages; not in Miles. Several pencil changes are made to page 20 to make clear that this is a fictionalized recounting of the Centralia trial. Seattle: Seattle Prison Comfort Club, undated.
18a-c. Three newspaper clippings concerning Centralia: issue of the Seward (AK) Gateway on 12 November 1919 with headline “I.W.W. Lynched by Mob”; page from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer of 25 January 1920 with photos of “Radicals Who Will Be Tried Monday on Centralia Murder Charge”; page from the Seattle Union Record of 5 February 1920 with photos of “Montesano I.W.W. Defendants and Wife and Daughters of One of Them.”
19a-g. Seven later books concerning Centralia: “Centralia Tragedy and Trial” (1965 reprint of 1920 American Legion publication); Ralph Chaplin, “The Centralia Conspiracy” (1973 reprint); “Centralia Dead March” (1980); “The Centralia Tragedy of 1919: Elmer Smith and the Wobblies” (1993); “The Centralia Case: Three Views of the Armistice Day Tragedy” (1971), “Ripples of a Lie: A Biographical/Labor History of Eugene Barnett” (2010); and “Wobbly War: The Centralia Story” (1987).
20. Issue of Labor’s Heritage with three articles on Centralia headed “Labor History and Community Reconciliation.” Silver Spring, MD, Fall 1999.
21a-c. Pamphlet and two photographs from a 2000 clocktower commemoration at Centralia College; one of the photographs shows Governor Gary Locke seated with the aged son of Elmer Smith, who according to the consignor said at the event “Until that day he was told his father had done something wrong.”
22a-g. Packet of handouts from a 2019 commemoration.
23. Group of 3 photocopies of reference sources on Centralia
24. Poster, “The Resurrection of Wesley Everest,” featuring a mural by labor artist Mike Alewitz, circa 1997.
25-26. Modern reproductions of two I.W.W. broadsides.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(radicalism.)
Group of books from the library of the Astoria Finnish Workers Club in Oregon.
Various places, 1907-1924
6 volumes, various bindings and conditions, all in Finnish; all but one with the bookplate of the Astoria Finnish Workers Club on the front pastedown.
Astoria in the northwestern corner of Oregon saw heavy migration from Finland in the early 20th century, drawing workers into its fishing industry. Many of the workers were radical; noted Finnish-Soviet journalist Santeri Nuorteva edited “The Comrade” there in 1912. We don’t know much about the Astoria Finnish Workers Club, but they sent a $2.68 donation to the Daily Worker’s emergency fund, as reported on 19 March 1929.
Jack London. “Kurjalistoa (The People of the Abyss).” A translation of London’s 1903 novel into Finnish, published in one of the main destinations of Finnish-American migration. Hancock, MI, 1911.
Edgar Rice Burroughs. “Marsin Jumalat (The Gods of Mars).” Hämeenlinna, [1923].
James Oliver Curwood. “Salomaiden Samoilijat (Nomads of the North).” An American novel in the Jack London tradition, originally published in 1919. Hämeenlinna, Finland, [1924].
Kaarlo Valli. “Liekeissä.” Valli was a Finnish labor activist; this novel was based on his experiences serving in the Red Army in World War One. [Vaasa, Finland, 1922].
John Parkkila. “Siirtolaisen Kannel: Kokoelma Runoja.” A collection of poems by a Finnish-American author. Hancock, MI, 1907.
“Proletaari Lauluja,” a pamphlet of Socialist worker’s songs, without the Astoria bookplate but found with the same collection. Duluth, MN, 1918.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(radicalism.) american defense society.
Look Out for the Snake.
[New York, 1919]
Numerous illustrations. 20, [2] pages on one folding 3 x 44-inch strip; minimal wear and soiling.
This little accordion-style folding pamphlet raises alarms about the Bolsheviks who had gained control of Russia and were heading for America. Issued by the nationalist American Defense Society, it asserts that “in parts of Russia today, women and children are State property. All over eighteen, married and unmarried must register at the bureau of free love subject to the will of any man who may order them to follow him.” A membership blank is addressed to treasurer Robert Appleton. The illustrations are mostly cartoons by Erickson, with one borrowed from the Saturday Evening Post of 12 April 1919. None others traced in OCLC or elsewhere.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(religion.) john cotton.
The Bloudy Tenent, Washed, and Made White in the Bloud of the Lambe.
London: Matthew Symmons, 1647
[2], 195, 144 pages. 4to, contemporary calf, rebacked in 19th century with new backstrip mostly perished, boards nearly detached; lacking the initial blank as usual, minor foxing, lone worm hole in lower margin through page 60, a few later manuscript notes.
In 1644, the Rhode Island founder Roger Williams issued his book “The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution,” denouncing the Massachusetts Bay Colony’s intolerance, and their lack of separation between church and state. The present defense was issued by Massachusetts minister John Cotton. Williams issued a third volley in this publication war in 1652, “The Bloody Tenent Yet More Bloody.”
Includes, as usual, Cotton’s appendix “A Reply to Mr. Williams his Examination,” which describes the numerous conflicts of the Rhode Island founder with church and civil authorities. The manuscript notes in this section (pages 15, 37, 39, 80; and rear pastedown) appear to date from a hostile 19th century reader who accuses Cotton of “Jesuitry.” Church 479; European Americana 647/56; Sabin 17045 (“a rare volume”), 17077.
Estimate
$5,000 – $7,500
(religion.)
Coming to Providence: Convent Life Exposed, Great Lectures on Romanism.
Providence, RI, 19 September 1893 or 1899
4 pages, 12 x 9¼ inches, on one folding sheet; thin paper, light chipping at edges.
Advertises a Rhode Island appearance by Margaret L. Shepherd, a popular anti-Catholic lecturer who claimed to be a former nun, though her biography was widely disputed.
Estimate
$300 – $400
Paul revere.
Masonic certificate engraved by Revere.
Boston, circa 1773 and 1796, and filled in 15 March 1815
Engraved certificate printed on vellum, 13¾ x 10 inches, and completed in manuscript for William Rogers upon completing his third degree at Union Lodge in New London, CT, with signatures of 4 officers, and embossed seal attached by 10-inch ribbon; tacked to mat board, printing crisp and clear, manuscript portions a bit faded, minor wear to ribbon and seal.
This certificate is illustrated with an angel blowing a trumpet, two statues on pillars, a woman with three small children, and other ornaments. At bottom is the clearly visible imprint: “Engraved Printed & Sold by Paul Revere Boston.” Revere initially engraved this plate circa 1773, perhaps earlier. He seems to have offered copies at his shop, for sale to his fellow Masons. The original version was in regular use through at least 1779. In 1796, he made some changes to the original plate, most notably adding the line at top “And the darkness comprehended it not; in the East a place of light.” He then sold the plate to Elias Perkins, Junior Warden of the Masonic lodge in New London, CT. Brigham records only 3 other known examples of this state of the certificate, all issued to New Haven masons between 1799 and 1812. The original plate was given to the National Gallery in 1943. See Brigham, Paul Revere’s Engravings, pages 188 and 195-197 (plate 65). We trace no other Revere-engraved certificates at auction since 1976.
WITH–a hand-painted leather Masonic apron of similar vintage tacked to the same mat board, 13 x 15 inches; minor wear to silk fringe, the mat board itself being a bit chipped at bottom.
AND–another Masonic apron of embroidered silk, 14 x 14 inches, with initials BGW; wear to silk fringe and backing.
Estimate
$2,500 – $3,500
(rhode island.)
An Act for the Establishment of a College, or University, within this Colony.
Newport, RI: Samuel Hall, February 1764
8 pages. Folio, 13 x 8 inches, modern paper boards; horizontal fold, foxing, minimal worming; uncut.
First edition of the legislation which authorized what became Brown University. In keeping with the spirit of religious freedom, it was the first in the American colonies to accept students regardless of religious denomination. The Board of Trustees was to be divided among Baptists, Quakers, Congregationalists, and Episcopalians. Brothers John Brown and Nicholas Brown are named among the early supporters, with Nicholas named as a founding trustee. The Rev. Ezra Stiles has been identified as author of the original draft. Alden, Rhode Island 315; Evans 9823; Sabin 70716. 8 in ESTC and none traced at auction.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(rhode island.)
Large and wide-ranging collection of tickets, broadsides and ephemera from Rhode Island lotteries.
Various places, 1752-1844
137 items, all neatly sleeved; condition generally strong.
Rhode Island was the lottery capital of early America despite its small size, authorizing almost half of the lotteries which took place among the 13 colonies, and almost 250 lotteries through 1842, when the launch of new lotteries was banned by the state constitution. Lotteries were granted for various charitable purposes, and greatly aided the development of Rhode Island’s infrastructure, churches, and schools in lieu of taxes. By 1800, the grantees would often contract out the work of running the lottery to a specialized management firm which printed tickets, placed advertisements, and distributed prizes. This collection includes:
77 lottery tickets from across Rhode Island, 1752-1842. Each is signed by a manager, gives a ticket number in manuscript, and states the beneficiary or authorizing act; some have the purchaser’s signature on verso. The earliest is for the 1752 Newport Street Lottery. 10 others are from the colonial period, including Providence street and meeting house lotteries, the “Furnace-Unity Bridge Lottery,” “Glocester Road Lottery,” “King Street Lottery,” and “Pawtuxet Baptist Parsonage Lottery.” One ticket for “disposing of the Real Estate of George H. Peckham” was authorized during the Revolution, in 1782. 3 uncut sheets of two or more tickets are included. Later tickets benefitted the Providence Episcopal Church (1785), the Providence Great Bridge (1790), Pier Wharf in South Kingstown (1791), the Cumberland Meeting House (1795), Smithfield and Cumberland Bridge (1795), Beneficent Congregational Meeting House (1796), Rhode Island College a.k.a. Brown University (1797), Barrington Meeting House (1798), Bristol Church (1801), Washington & Coventry Meeting House (1808), Providence and Worcester Road (1825), Washington Canal (1826), Washington Lodge for construction of a Masonic Hall in Wickford (1826), Buck Hill Road (1826), Blackstone River Bridge (1826), the Rhode Island School Fund, and many more. Some are signed by leading merchants such as Samuel Nightingale Jr.
3 tickets from the November 1776 United States Lottery issued by the Continental Congress, each signed by an official Continental lottery manager (either John Purviance or Sharp Delany). One is signed on verso by two co-owners.
7 receipts issued for the purchase of lottery tickets, 1804-1823, including the Scituate & Foster Academy and the Greene Academy.
18 miscellaneous lottery-related documents, including two legal writ issued against men who failed to pay for tickets in 1818 and 1823; 3 slips recording the official numbers drawn for lotteries in 1839; a formal application to act as a lottery broker, 1836; a list of licensed lottery dealers from 1841; 3 out-of-state tickets; and 4 documents from an 1835 trial of a man selling Rhode Island lottery tickets in New York.
32 broadside lottery advertisements, 1825-1844. Most of these state the total distribution of prizes, the managers, the date and place when winning tickets will be drawn, and the designated charity–at this late date, almost always for the benefit or encouragement of public schools. This may remind modern Providence readers of “Mayor’s Own Marinara Sauce,” which for decades now has promised that it is “benefiting Providence school children.” One unusual broadside is for an 1839 Maryland lottery promoted in Providence, promising “Great Luck at Jones’ Office,” with prizes to be distributed at the “Truly Fortunate Office.” Sizes range from 7 to 17½ inches in height, with surprising variety in graphic design. Bibliography: Bartlett, “History of Lotteries and the Lottery System in Rhode Island,” edited by Russell J. DeSimone, 2003 (copy included). Provenance: collection of Russell J. DeSimone.
Estimate
$5,000 – $7,500
(rhode island.) john brown francis, et al.
State Prison Report.
[Providence, RI?], January 1834
Letterpress broadside, 15¼ x 10¾ inches, with decorative border; moderate soiling, short separations at folds; untrimmed.
A report to the legislature advocating for the creation of Rhode Island’s first state prison, which would be opened in 1838. Notes that “the infliction of corporal punishments, such as cropping, branding, whipping &c, has fallen into disuse,” and argues that the present county jails do little to reform their inmates. One in OCLC (Brown University).
Estimate
$300 – $400
(rhode island.)
Pair of scarce early Newport views: “Townsend’s Hotel” / “Newport Ruin.”
Various places, 1837 and 1833
2 lithographs, worn as described.
J[ohn] Childs, lithographer. “Townsend’s Hotel, Newport, R.I.” Lithograph, 11 x 14 inches; heavy folds, uneven toning, 3 short tears in margins, several individuals identified in manuscript: “Capt. Connor, U.S.R.; R.K. Randolph; Um Ennis; Nat Ruggles; Thomas A. Hazard & Bride,” with the year 1837 also added. Townsend’s Coffee House or Hotel was a major Newport landmark from the 1790s through 1840s, run by the famed Townsend cabinetmaking family; John Quincy Adams dined there. None traced at auction or in OCLC. We do find a copy reproduced in an Internet press release, “Historic Townsend Table Returns to Newport,” which cites it as coming from “the collection on William H. Hammett.” [New York], [1837].
Endicott & Swett of New York, lithographers, after William Guy Hall. “Newport Ruin.” Lithograph, 12 x 14 inches; worn with several early paper repairs including a 5-inch closed tear and 3 large filled holes in the right margin. A view of the enigmatic ancient structure which has puzzled Newporters for centuries. None traced at auction since 1922. One in OCLC (American Antiquarian Society). Newport, RI: Henry Barber, 1833.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(rhode island.)
Large collection of billheads from Rhode Island and beyond.
Various places, 1752-1975, bulk 1850-1910
Approximately 1300 items, neatly sleeved in 9 binders (2.3 linear feet); condition generally strong.
A substantial and absorbing collection of ephemera. Just about any kind of mid or large-sized business involved in invoicing customers might have its own printed billheads. Represented here are everything from cracker bakers to silversmiths to toy stores to hotels. Many are illustrated, ranging from generic woodcuts to expertly rendered views of storefronts and factory complexes. Interspersed with the billheads are a few examples of illustrated letterheads used for correspondence. The great bulk of the billheads have been used for invoicing a wide variety of customers, allowing us to get a taste of the products offered. Many are marked as paid, either in manuscript or with an inked stamp, and many were docketed on verso. Several billheads from printers and stationers are included; if you want to get “meta,” there is even an 1898 billhead from Worcester, MA for printing letterheads.
Billheads from Providence, RI comprise approximately half of the collection, arranged alphabetically by business name. 2 binders with approximately 250 billheads cover the remainder of Rhode Island, arranged by town. 3 binders with approximately 400 items extend beyond Rhode Island. Arranged by state, the bulk are from Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York. A bill from the Danvers Lunatic Asylum in Massachusetts bills an inmate’s guardians for 24 days’ board plus mortuary expenses in 1891.
The glory days of commercial billheads were from about 1850 to 1910, but a handful of examples are included outside those bounds, with the earliest being a manuscript bill for pickle pots and jugs issued by a Newport merchant in 1752, and the earliest printed example being a 1794 invoice from Philadelphia haberdasher William Holdernesse. The latest is an illustrated 1975 letterhead from fine pen maker A.T. Cross Company. The bulk seem to be from the Yankee establishment which made up New England’s middle and upper classes, but a few represent the immigrants who came in the late 19th century, such as 7 different examples from the wholesale grocers of the Ventrone family who catered to Providence’s Italian community, 1897-1916; and funeral director Arsene Therien, “entrepreneur de pompes funèbres” in French-Canadian Woonsocket.
Much of this collection was exhibited at the University of Rhode Island in November 2001. Included with the lot is the exhibition catalog by Russell J. DeSimone, “A Survey of 19th Century Rhode Island Billheads” (#50 of 250). Provenance: collection of Russell J. DeSimone.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(rhode island.) safford & geffroy.
Spring and Summer Goods!! At the Ladies’ Exchange.
Newport, RI: Jackson’s Cheap Job Printing, 1848
Illustrated broadside, 26½ x 18¼ inches; moderate foxing, several short repairs at folds, other minor wear.
A large and eye-catching advertising broadside for a Newport store, just as the town was beginning to reinvent itself as a fashionable summer resort. A wide variety of fabrics, bonnets, ribbons, and more are on offer: “We wish ladies who go out a shopping to bear in mind . . . we can afford to sell cheaper than others, whose expense are more than twice as much as we intend our ever shall be.” Features an original woodcut of a small crowd gathered outside the store. None others traced.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(rhode island.)
Drunken daily log kept at the clubhouse of the First Light Infantry Company.
Providence, 1851-1855
[137] manuscript pages, plus 4 pages repurposed as a clippings scrapbook. 4to, 10¾ x 8½ inches, later buckram gilt-stamped “Infantrys Bulletin”; moderate wear including occasional pieces torn out, general incoherence.
The First Light Infantry Company was an independent unit in the Rhode Island militia. Based in Providence, it saw occasional duty during times of crisis such as the Dorr Rebellion, but mostly seemed to function as a social club. This register was apparently kept at their well-stocked headquarters over a four-year period, including almost daily entries from February to July 1851. Each night, the members signed in and filled the margins with silly inside jokes, the meanings now lost to time.
“T.S. Browne, Harts are trumps, Sober Capt.”
“Henry Staples, gone out to take a drink.”
“Francis J. Sheldon, Always on hand, ready for anything, Bah!”
“Harvey Gladding, Feels bigger than the What Cheer building, cos he’s got a new belt.”
“James H. Stewart, Looks foggy, How do you know whether it is foggy or not, you ain’t sober yet.”
“J.W. Richardson, What have been eating Pa! Punk! Punk! Punk!”
We do not fully understand most of these notes in 2022. We suspect the members themselves did not understand them as soon as the next morning. The daily roll calls of intoxicated militiamen are interspersed with occasional longer notes regarding actual militia business, and guest lists of more formal “hops” where wives and sweethearts were invited to attend. A rare slice of life from the front lines of the bar. You can almost smell the booze wafting off the pages.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(rhode island.)
Group of 8 Rhode Island carrier addresses.
Providence, RI, 1863-1892; and Newport, RI, 1893-1896
5 broadsides ranging up to 24 inches in height, plus 3 pamphlets; various conditions as noted.
Most of these are the traditional New Year’s poems handed out by newspaper carriers in search of holiday tips. The 1867 address was actually issued for distribution by letter carriers.
“New Year’s Address of the Carriers of the Providence Journal,” 1863. Broadside, 18½ x 11½ inches. Sets the battle of the Monitor and Merrimac to verse, among other war events of 1862.
“Providence Letter Carrier’s Address, Happy New Year To All,” 1867. Broadside, 12 x 6¾ inches, repairs at fold. Providence: John F. Greene.
“New Year’s Address of the Carriers of the General Advertiser,” 1870. Broadside, 18 x 11¼ inches, illustrated with a cut of a mariner with anchor; moderate foxing, folds.
“Carriers’ New Year’s Address to the Patrons of the Evening Press and Morning Star,” 1884. Broadside, 20¾ x 14½ inches; folds, chipping. In the year when Providence would claim the world baseball championship, it looks back: “Those who had no occupation / Gave their time to games of base ball / Betting who would be the winners / And therein becoming sinners.”
“Carrier’s New Year’s Address,” 1892. Broadside, 24 x 16 inches; separations at folds. Discusses the shocking murder of the widow Josephine Barnaby. [Providence]: E.A. Johnson & Co.
“Twenty-Third New Year’s Address of the Veteran Carrier of the Newport Enterprise,” 1893. [1], 10 pages, 5½ x 4¾ inches.
“A Happy New Year: Newport Enterprise New Year’s Offering and Carrier’s Address,” 1896. Frontispiece plate, [20] pages, 8¾ x 5¾ inches.
“The Newport Mercury Carrier’s Address,” 1896. [8] illustrated pages, 7¾ x 5 inches. Provenance: collection of Russell J. DeSimone.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(science & engineering.)
“Atlantic Cable Album” featuring a small segment of the first transatlantic cable.
New York, 1858, with inscriptions through 1859
23 manuscript pages and 2 engravings. 4to, original gilt morocco with cable cross-section laid in, moderate wear, rebacked; one leaf detached, otherwise minor wear to contents.
Cyrus Field’s first functioning transatlantic cable began transmitting messages in August 1858, and failed the following month. Almost immediately, fragments were cut up into souvenirs. The present album was first advertised in the New York Times on 9 October 1858 by its promoter Eugene Ely.
It is a standard commonplace book or friendship album of the period, with the addition of a 5/8-inch cross-section of the cable mounted in the middle of its front board, surrounded by the words “Atlantic Cable Album” and “Charm.” The front board is considerably thicker than the rear to accommodate the cross-section. Ely’s copyright notice, gilt-printed on black glossy stock, is mounted to the inner wrapper: “This Specimen of the Atlantic Cable guaranteed to be genuine by the Publisher.”
The album was then used as a typical commonplace book of the era. It was presented in 1859 to William B. Hoyt of Ashtabula, OH for his work as superintendent of a Methodist Sunday school. Two religious engravings are bound in, in addition to 23 pages of manuscript inscriptions to Hoyt, 1859 and undated. No other examples of the Atlantic Cable Album have been traced at auction.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(science & engineering.)
Correspondence of Canadian motorboat innovator W. Albert Hickman.
Various places, 1900-1912
45 letters addressed to Hickman in Pictou, Nova Scotia from a variety of correspondents; minimal to minor wear.
William Albert Hickman (1878-1957) was a maritime engineer best known for the Hickman Sea Sled and other high-performance motorboats. Most of these letters are from suppliers, contractors, customers, and journalists in the boating world, many relating to his Viper series of boats. Correspondents include E.W. Johnston, editor of Canadian Motor Boat; the Ferro Machine & Foundry Company of Cleveland, OH; and Walter M. Billing, editor of The Rudder in New York, who illustrated one letter with a drawing of an 1877 riverboat (illustrated). Hickman boasts about his boat’s performance at a Canada-wide exhibition in an 18 October 1910 letter to his engine supplier: “It was not a race, any more than any Viper race ever has been. It was a feverish holocaust. . . . Boat for boat, we licked her by 2 min. 7 sec., and the Essex by nearly 5 minutes. There is not a motor boat man in Eastern Canada who doesn’t know what engine is in Viper.”
Estimate
$500 – $750
(science & engineering.) ezra weld.
Patent exploitation license for an early American washing machine.
Rowley, MA, 18 March 1800
Party printed document, signed twice by Elias Weld and witnesses. 2 pages, 12 x 7 inches, on one folding sheet; minor wear at intersection of folds, minor foxing.
The first American patent was issued in 1790, and the number issued in following years was modest. Patent holders would attempt to capitalize by licensing their new discoveries to manufacturers across the country. The first American patent for a washing machine was issued to Nathaniel Briggs in 1797. Less is known about the second washing machine patent, issued to Ezra Weld of Braintree, MA on 26 June 1799. The original patent papers have long since been lost to fire. However, Weld had contract forms printed to set forth the terms of his standard agreement.
Offered here is one of Weld’s license agreements for “the exclusive right and liberty of making, using, and vending to others to be used, his new and useful improvement, called Lavater and Wringer, for the washing and wringing of clothes.” The license was granted by Weld’s son Elias Weld (1772-1863) to Captain James Chute of Rowley, MA for a period of 14 years “in the towns of Rowley, Ipswich, Gloucester, Hambleton [Hamilton], Manchester, Wenham, and the parish of Byfield”–a large portion of Essex County north of Salem. For these rights, Chute paid a fee of $214 on 18 March 1800. A duplicate printing of the same form appears on the second integral leaf, featuring nearly identical license to Captain Chute–this time signed in Elias’s hometown of Amesbury, MA, with a date of 4 June 1801 and a fee of $300.
The Rev. Ezra Weld (1736-1816) served for almost 50 years as a Congregational minister in Braintree, MA, but very little is known about his side work as a washing machine inventor–it is not mentioned in his lengthy profile in Yale’s “Biographical Sketches.” However, the invention seems to have found at least modest success. Weld’s fellow minister Timothy Alden, in an 1801 sermon titled “The Glory of America. A Century Sermon,’ mentioned in passing that Weld’s washing machine was “a great improvement upon all other machines of the kind, and is coming into general use in many parts of the country.” In the early federal period, when such a list was still feasible, his invention sometimes shows up in a list of all American patents, such as in the May 1806 issue of the Medical Repository, page 111-2. Weld was licensing the patent at least through 28 April 1804, when one of his other assignees ran an advertisement in a Rutland, VT newspaper: “To save labor and that of females, cannot here be unimportant. To spare the toils of the wife must be an object with any husband.”
No other examples of this licensing agreement have been traced; it sheds new light on an obscure but significant early American invention.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(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
$80 – $120
(slavery & abolition.)
Stationery with the famed “Am I Not a Woman and a Sister” engraving by Patrick Reason.
New York, 9 May 1836 (on 1835 letterhead)
Autograph Letter Signed by George Russell (“G.R.”) to stepmother Amelia Russell of Kingston, MA and other family members, on printed letterhead “Engraved by P. Reason, a Colored Young Man of the City of New York, 1835.” 3 pages, 10 x 7¾ inches, plus address panel on final blank bearing Boston postmark; mailing folds, light offsetting, minor wear.
This engraving was produced by Patrick Henry Reason (1816-1892) of New York, an early Black engraver. The image went on to be used frequently by the American Anti-Slavery Society, including in the 1836 book “The Fountain for Every Day in the Year,” and sometimes appeared with the caption “Am I Not a Woman and a Sister.”
This letterhead was used by a Boston merchant visiting New York. The contents include short notes to more than a dozen friends and family members, but nothing relating to the abolition movement.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(sports–angling.) [john j. brown.]
The American Angler’s Guide.
New York: Burgess, Stringer & Co., 1845
2 plates, frontispiece engraving. 224, [5] pages including publisher’s ads. 12mo, publisher’s gilt pictorial cloth, minimal wear; 1867 pencil signature on front free endpaper.
First of many editions. Bruns B253; Henderson, page 30; Westwood & Satchell, page 4.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(sports–archery.)
United Bowmen of Philadelphia constitution and related ephemera.
Philadelphia, 1839-1844 and undated
3 items, minor wear as described.
“Constitution and Regulations of the United Bowmen of Philadelphia.” 11, [1] pages. Illustrated title page. 12mo, original marbled wrappers; one lone foxing mark, otherwise minimal wear. Includes a membership list headed by the noted brothers, Philadelphia Mint head Franklin Peale and illustrator Titian R. Peale, who were among the founders of this elite club in 1828. Titian Peale had become interested in archery while on an expedition to the Plains Indians in 1819. One in OCLC, at the American Antiquarian Society; none others found at auction. Philadelphia, 1844.
Engraved invitation to a United Bowmen of Philadelphia meeting. One illustrated page, 7¾ x 5 inches, completed in manuscript (signed and addressed with hieroglyphs), with integral blank bearing the name and address of John F. Frazer and embossed seal; separations at folds, seal tear on address leaf. [Philadelphia], circa 1840s.
Invitation to the United Bowman Twelfth Annual Prize Meeting. One printed page, 8 x 5 inches, with added manuscript note “with the compliments of Jas. C. Booth,” plus integral blank addressed to “Dr. B.H. Coates.” Folds, minor wear. Philadelphia, 1 September 1839.
Provenance: the first two items from a Parke-Bernet sale, 20 May 1958, lot 186.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(sports–archery.)
Pair of archery manuals, “How to Train in Archery” and “The Archer’s Complete Guide.”
New York, 1878 and 1879
Both publisher’s gilt pictorial cloth, minimal wear.
Maurice Thompson and Will H. Thompson. “How to Train in Archery, being a Complete Study of the York Round.” Full-page illustration. [6], 54, [4], 67-74, [4] pages, apparently as issued. 12mo; printed in red and black; long and witty gift inscription on verso of half-title. New York: E.I. Horsman, [1879].
“The Archer’s Complete Guide, or, Instructions for the Use of the Long Bow, by an expert.” Numerous illustrations, 26, [6] pages. 8vo. New York: Peck & Snyder, 1878.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(sports–baseball.)
Porter’s Spirit of the Times: A Chronicle of the Turf, Field Sports, Literature and the Stage.
New York, 6 September 1856 to August 28 1858
Frontispiece equestrian chromolithograph premium in Volume I, numerous engraved illustrations. 104 early issues, each 16 pages: Volumes I-IV complete. 424, 416, 416, 416 pages. Folio, publisher’s gilt cloth, moderate wear, Volume I backstrip perished with front board detached, Volume III front board nearly detached; minor wear to contents, intermittent minor dampstaining.
Porter’s Spirit of the Times was a general sporting and theatrical weekly, but is best remembered today for its role in recording a critical period during baseball’s amateur era. The National Association of Base Ball Players was the first baseball organization to extend beyond a single club, and its birth coincides neatly with the first volume of Porter’s. The first hint comes in Volume 1, issue No. 6 (11 October 1856): “It is said that a Convention of all the Base Ball Clubs of this city and suburbs will be held this fall, for the purpose of considering whether any and what amendments to the rules and laws governing this game should be made.” A baseball column on 6 December 1856 includes the complete rules of the dominant New York variant of the game, including a diagram of the field, plus a player-by-player review of the pioneering Knickerbocker club. The beleaguered Massachusetts variant is discussed and diagrammed on 27 December 1856. The first baseball convention was reported at length on 31 January 1857, with a patriotic flourish: “Base Ball . . . ought to be looked upon in this country with the same national enthusiasm as Cricket and Foot Ball are regarded in the British Islands. . . . There should be some one game peculiar to the citizens of the United States.” This organization can be considered the birth of organized league baseball in America.
Perhaps the high point of the baseball coverage is the 12 September 1857 issue, which features “the earliest illustration of adults playing a baseball match” (Block, page 226). The Eagles and Gothams of New York are shown playing at Hoboken’s Elysian Fields. Early stars Jim Creighton of the Niagara club and Harry Wright of the Knickerbockers can often be seen in the box scores by July 1858.
“An important repository of early baseball, including . . . the publication of the first set of rules”–Lomazow 639 and BB1. “In this, the first early heyday of the game, Porter’s set such a high standard for baseball coverage that even the legendary Clipper could not, at first, keep up”–Block, Baseball Before We Knew It, page 226.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(sports–cockfighting.) j.w. cooper.
A Treatise on Cocking, Giving a History of the Various Breeds of Imported and American Game Fowls.
Media, PA: Cooper & Vernon, 1859
Hand-colored frontispiece plate. 96 pages. 16mo, publisher’s gilt cloth, minimal wear; minor foxing, repaired tear to flyleaf, lacking as usual the folding cockpit plate; early owner’s pencil signature on front free endpaper.
First edition of the first American work devoted solely to cockfighting. Henderson, page 52; Phillips, page 86. None traced at auction since 1972.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(sports–golf.) samuel l. parrish.
Some Facts, Reflections, and Personal Reminiscences Connected with the . . . Game of Golf . . .
No place, [1923]
with the Formation of the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. 2 full-page illustrations. 20 pages. 4to, publisher’s illustrated wrappers, moderate wear; minor wear to contents; inscribed by the author to Elmer Willis Van Brunt (1882-1950) on 25 June 1923, and inscribed by his daughter-in-law Eileen McKinley Van Brunt to the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in August 1970.
The author Samuel Longstreth Parrish (1849-1932) was a founder of two of the great institutions of the Hamptons: Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton (the oldest incorporated golf club in America) and the Parrish Art Museum. Here he recounts his instrumental role in bringing golf to America in 1891, after learning of the game during a trip to Europe. He brought over a professional with a supply of clubs and balls, chose the spot for the course in a grassy stretch among the dunes, and even drove “the first golf ball ever struck on the Shinnecock Hills.” The legendary course has since hosted 5 U.S. Opens spread out over three different centuries.
“A valuable addition to the shelf in that it records some first-hand impressions of the start and growth of golf in America”–Murdoch, Bibliography of Golf 591.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(sports–golf.) ross goodner.
The 75 Year History of Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.
Southampton, NY: Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, 1966
Illustrations. 44, [4] pages. 4to, publisher’s gilt pictorial cloth, minimal wear; minimal wear to contents; in original glassine wrappers with moderate wear; one of a limited edition of 500.
A history of Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, NY, the first in America. 4 in OCLC.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(sports–tennis.)
Outing Weekly Tennis Record.
New York, 1890-1892
Numerous illustrations. Volumes I-III, 14, 12, 11 weekly issues, each 8 to 24 pages, in one volume. 4to, contemporary ½ calf, minor wear; minimal wear to contents.
Appears to be the first American magazine devoted to tennis. It was a subsidiary publication to the more general Outing Magazine, and was apparently issued only in the summer months. This may be a continuous run. The title in Volume III changes to “Outing Weekly Record: Lawn Tennis, Cricket and Other Pastimes.” Not in Henderson, Lomazow, or Phillips. One run in OCLC (St. John’s University, which also holds Volume 4 from 1893), and none traced at auction.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(temperance.) thomas man.
Third Circular . . . Perry’s Pupil.
[Providence, RI], 1848
Illustrated broadside, 18¾ x 11½ inches; foxing, worn at edges.
Second edition from a series of temperance broadsides issued by Rhode Island gadfly Thomas Man (1795-1880). This one is devoted entirely to Providence liquor dealer Harvey Perry. A drunk propped up against a lamp post is captioned “Perry’s Pupil.” “By what name shall we call the Rum Seller? There is no such beast on the earth, nor under the earth. What a cursed wretch! Scorn–Contempt–Shame–Infamy–rest on his memory.” 2 in OCLC.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(theater.)
Ethiopian, or Smashing Niggar Songster.
New York: William Mather Song Book Depository, circa 1840
[wrapper title], with caption head “Ethiopian Songster.” 6 hand-colored text illustrations including front wrapper. 34, [2] pages. 12mo, publisher’s illustrated wrappers, moderate wear and staining; coming disbound, minor dampstaining.
This previously unrecorded songster compiles minstrel songs popularized by Thomas Dartmouth Rice (the original “Jim Crow”) and others, such as “Jim Crow in London,” “Zip Coon, on the Go-Ahead Principle,” “The Raccoon Hunt,” and more. The publisher Mather was a bookseller and patent-medicine agent at this 42 Division Street address in the 1838 New York directory, but the only other reference we find to his “Song Book Depository” was the 1840 chapbook “Tom Moore’s Musical Box.” Unrecorded–no other copies traced in OCLC, Shaw & Shoemaker, or at auction.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(theater.)
Theatre Royal playbill for “Mr. Rice, Old Jim Crow! Received Nightly with Uproarious Applause.”
[London], 30 January 1843
Letterpress broadside, 15 x 19¾ inches, in two columns with vertical fold as issued; uncut, minimal foxing and wear.
A British appearance by the American actor Thomas Dartmouth Rice and his character “Jim Crow,” which was introduced in 1832. Jim Crow was the key development in the spread of blackface minstrelsy in America. This performance was of a “comic burletta in One Act, called Jim Crow in his New Place,” in which “Mr. Rice . . . will introduce his Popular Negro Melodies.”
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(theater.)
Grand Provincial Tour of 1865: The Public’s Old Favorites, the Celebrated World-Renowned Christy’s Minstrels!
Birmingham, England: James Upton, 1865
Broadside, 30 x 9¼ inches to sight, printed in red and blue; minor wear and minimal foxing, horizontal fold. Not examined out of mat.
A colorful poster for an English tour by a later manifestation of the famed American minstrel troupe. The show included a performance of the current Civil War anthem “When Johnny Comes Marching Home,” a “Burlesque Italian Opera,” circus acts such as the 9-foot “Celebrated Giant from New York,” a “laughable sketch of Hair-Brushing by Machinery, and a Easy Shave,” and concluding with “the New and Original Plantation dance by the Company.”
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(travel.) richard walter, compiler.
A Voyage Round the World, in the Years MDCCXL, I, II, III, IV by George Anson.
London, 1749
13 maps and plans, 29 plates. [20], 417, [2] pages. 4to, modern calf, with original spine label laid down; hinge split, lacking half-title, title page re-attached, minor scattered foxing and some offsetting; inked library stamps on verso of title and final page.
5th edition. European Americana 749/284; Sabin 1626n.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(travel.)
Diary of a trip through western Virginia by horse, and then to Niagara Falls by foot.
Various places, 1842-1843
[64, 76] manuscript pages. 12mo, original stiff calf wrappers, minor wear, titled in manuscript “Virginia 1842, Niagara 1843”; minimal wear to contents.
This volume is an entertaining recounting of two unusual trips by a young Baltimore man. In the summer of 1842, he undertakes a journey by horseback to see Virginia’s leading tourist attractions, including Mount Vernon. The next year he attempts to walk from Baltimore to Niagara Falls with two friends, although they complete the journey by boat and rail. This young adventurer’s identity has not yet been puzzled out. As the entries are in a tidy and consistent hand with few corrections, we suspect it was a clean copy written out shortly after his arrival home.
The first trip extends from 8 August to 6 September. His itinerary includes the home of Charles Carroll in Carrollton, MD; Harpers Ferry, WV; and then into Virginia: Staunton, Natural Bridge, Warm Springs, his furthest southwest point at Cloverdale near Roanoke, Charlottesville, and back home through Washington. On 20 August he visits Weyer’s Cave (now Grand Caverns), the nation’s oldest show cave, opened to tourists in 1806, and here described at length. His guide shares “a host of tales & stories of witches & fairies & robbers.” He also hits the trifecta of Founding Father homesteads, none of them yet properly set up for tourists. Monticello was “now in the possession of Capt. Levy of the Navy who has just been court-martialed. He is said to be very rude to strangers. He was not at home. A servant showed me in.” Jefferson’s gravestone had been removed to the house to protect it from vandals. At James Madison’s late home Montpelier, “J Payne Todd resides here at present, Mrs. Madison his mother being in Washington. He is very polished & polite, invited me to dinner which I accepted. He is here all alone in his glory, having no more ribs than the number he was born with.” John Payne Todd, President Madison’s stepson, was a wastrel bachelor whose debts forced the sale of Montpelier just two years later, in 1844.
Most notably, our diarist describes his visit to Mount Vernon at length: “The gate was opened by an old woman, one of Washington’s servants, who said she remembered him perfectly well. After arriving at the house, I went to the tomb. It has recently been built & the body of the general is in a sarcophagus & that of his wife in another. The whole affair is very neat but might have been much better. I then went to the old vault which has gone to ruin. The doors are broken down & the stones at the opening have fallen away. . . . The house stands on an eminence. It is two stories high & has a piazza reaching to the top in front. At back are the two gardens, one for vegetables and the other for flowers. The latter I walked through. It was kept by an old negro who, if you manage right, is as clever as the day is long. The negro houses are better here than any I have seen in Virginia.”
The second journey has less star power, but is more unusual. Our adventurer sets out on 17 July 1843 on a “pedestrian tour”: a backpacking expedition with a friend named Herman Wigman, about 120 years before fashion and modern hiking gear made such excursions more popular. Their goal was to walk from Baltimore to Niagara Falls, which today would be a good long day’s drive, but in 1843 with no horses and no modern roads was quite an undertaking. In the first entry, he notes that “our knapsacks although containing only the necessarys of the journy we found ere we had proceded many yards very heavy & wearying to our backs.” They nonetheless crossed into Pennsylvania the second day, and soon joined a third friend on leave from the Navy. They were often able to load their sacks onto canal boats and follow along on the towpaths. They met many inspiring or eccentric local characters on the route, including a canal boat operator who was in competition with former circus performers, and near Danville, PA they went to the top of a cliff where “a man of eccentric habits has built some houses, one leaning over the cliff of 400 feet in height. Here he is said to keep his library.” In Wilkes Barre he describes at length an author calling himself the “Lunatic Bard of Wyoming” (Anthony Brower) who gave them an autographed book and invited them for dinner: “His room was adorned with ends & scraps picked up everywhere, papers, pictures, feathers, calico &c, hung all around the wall.” They are delayed by bad weather and illness near the New York border, and then go the rest of the way to Niagara by rail and canal boat. He describes many of the sights near the falls (already a well-developed tourist site), including the Tuscarora reservation: “These Indians for the most part live in huts miserably constructed of logs. . . . The squaws dress in a peculiar manner. They have a mantle which nearly covers the head & is masst about the body & then hangs down behind in a peak nearly reaching the ground.”
The three young men split up on the way home from Niagara, with our diarist venturing on to Newport, RI to meet his vacationing father. On a steamboat he saw “a soldier company returning home from an encampment at Newport. They were the remnants of the patriots of Dorr’s Rebellion. T’wod have been fun to see them make a charge on a regular set of soldiers.” He arrived back in Baltimore on 6 September. Additional notes on this thoroughly entertaining journal are available upon request.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
(travel.) charles wilkes.
Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition.
Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard, 1845
11 maps, 64 plates, 3 folding tables, numerous text illustrations. 5 volumes. Large 12mo (the size of an 8vo), contemporary polished calf, minimal wear; minor foxing.
The six vessels under Wilkes’s command surveyed thousands of miles of Pacific coast from 1838 to 1842, and made important natural history observations. Covers South America, the coast of Antarctica, the South Pacific, Hawaii, California, Manila, Singapore, and more.
This set is a variant of Haskell’s first regular trade edition (2B). It has the complete complement of plates found in 2B, all eliminated in 3; it also includes the final blanks which were eliminated after 2B. However, it does not include the plate lists usually found in 2B, and it includes the additional signature markings in sixes, so it collates as Haskell 3 other than the presence of the plates. It contains the increased complement of 11 maps but no atlas, also corresponding with Haskell 3. We have seen one other set with a very similar collation. See also Ferguson 4209; Forbes, Hawaii 1574; Hill 1867; and Howes W414 (“The first United States scientific expedition by sea”) for descriptions of the first regular trade edition.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(travel.)
Presented by Lake Superior Transit Company.
Buffalo, NY: Courier Company, 1882
Folding map, 8 full-page engravings of scenery, and a plan of a steamer deck. 16mo, original illustrated wrappers, minimal wear; light vertical fold.
The company ran excursion steamers through all five of the Great Lakes, from Buffalo as far west as Duluth, MN. Half of this volume is devoted to descriptions of the major tourist sights along the routes, and most of the remainder to 116 itineraries including connecting rail services. One in OCLC, at Library and Archives Canada.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(travel.)
Literary archive of author Heath Bowman, including his Mexican collaborations with artist Stirling Dickinson.
Various places, circa 1931-1941
More than 200 leaves in one box, including typescripts, manuscripts, woodcut prints, and printed ephemera; generally minor wear.
The author Frederick Heath Bowman Jr. (1910-1993) was generally known as Heath Bowman. Born in Indiana, his family later moved to Evanston, IL, and he graduated from Princeton University in 1931. There he met woodcut illustrator Stirling Dickinson, and they spent six months together touring Mexico in 1934. Dickinson co-wrote and illustrated three books with Bowman on Latin America: “Mexican Odyssey” (1935), “Westward from Rio” (1936), and “Death is Incidental, a Story of Revolution” (1937). Dickinson remained to lead the American expat artist colony in San Miguel de Allende, where he was visited by Kerouac and other Beat Generation writers. Bowman returned to the United States. With his wife Jefferson he wrote “Crusoe’s Island in the Caribbean” (1939), a history and travelogue on the island of Tobago. He published an historical novel called “All Your Born Days” (1939), and his final book was on his state of birth, “Hoosier: A Composite Portrait” (1941). In later years, Bowman was an international cultural affairs officer for the federal government, and spent his final years in Rome.
From Bowman’s Mexican period, this lot includes: 51 small woodcut prints in various sizes and formats on Latin American themes, some or all by Stirling Dickinson; 16 colorful Mexican broadsides for movie theaters, the lottery and other subjects; Bowman’s 1937 membership certificate in the Sociedad Amigos de San Miguel de Allende; his manuscript list of Mexican books on the verso of another author’s book flier; 3 posters for “Mexican Odyssey” and “Westward from Rio” featuring Dickinson’s artwork; and a 6-page typescript titled “Padre Francisco Hernandez’s Story,” possibly from “Death is Incidental.”
This lot also contains material from several of Bowman’s other projects–approximately 150 leaves of typescript and manuscript notes and drafts on Tobago and Indiana. A typescript short story is titled “The Wienie Roast.” Some notes are typed out in a Beatnik-like stream of consciousness. A sheet titled “US Highways” reads in part “Minnows night or day . . . Oshkosh Caskets & Chairs: Rest for the Dead or the Living . . . Rat River . . . Goat Milk.” Biographical notes are organized by year from 1919 to 1932 and similarly impressionistic. Extensive journal-like manuscript entries date from 1931 and 1932, long before he was widely published, and a typescript travelogue titled “Delaware Water Gap to Princeton” describes a trip in May 1931.
An interesting archive from an interesting travel writer and literary figure.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(uncle sam.) robert orr.
Letter about an arms inspection for Eli Whitney–with the earliest known reference to Uncle Sam.
Springfield, MA, 7 June 1803
Autograph Letter Signed to his son Hector Orr. One page, 12½ x 7½ inches, with docketing and address panel on verso but no postal markings; full separation at bottom fold, toned, minor dampstaining at bottom.
Robert Orr (1745-1811) was a master armorer in Springfield, MA who was contracted to inspect the weapons produced at Eli Whitney’s armory in New Haven, CT. At the close of a chatty letter to his son, he remarks “I expect to go to New Haven next week to inspect armes made by Ely Whitney for Unkel Sam 500.”
The earliest previously known references to Uncle Sam as a slang personification of the United States was in 1810. The phrase became more generally known in the 1830s, and did not assume its full modern iconic status until the famous World War One recruitment posters by James Montgomery Flagg. The term essentially replaced earlier terms such as Columbia, Lady Liberty, and Brother Jonathan. A popular theory traces the origin to a military meat supplier named Sam Wilson in Troy, NY in the War of 1812. This myth was undermined by the recent discovery of the term in a 24 March 1810 diary entry by a navy midshipman named Isaac Mayo, who referred to himself as being in the service of Uncle Sam.
Robert Orr’s letter pushes the timeline back an additional seven years. His casual use of the term with his son suggests it was in common use among military contractors by 1803, and that he had used it in family conversations before. Or maybe he invented it right there on the spot–the meaning is easily gleaned in context. Uncle Sam=U.S.=United States. The phrase has stuck around so long for a reason.
Even setting Uncle Sam aside, this is an interesting letter because of its connection to Eli Whitney’s armory. Whitney signed a contract in 1798 to produce rifles for the United States Army, and set up a water-powered factory creating interchangeable parts just north of New Haven, CT–the first of its kind in the United States. The factory was slow to produce any results, and was met with some skepticism about whether the parts really were interchangeable. It made its first deliveries of 500 muskets each in September 1801 and June 1802 before bringing in Robert Orr to inspect further shipments. Orr’s career is well documented in history. He was the master armorer at Springfield Armory from 1795 to 1802, inspected batches of 500 rifles for Whitney in September 1802 and March 1803, and continued in that work until replaced by another inspector in 1809. See Moller, “American Military Shoulder Arms,” Volume II, pages 156-160. Whitney rifles with his “US–ORR” inspection stamp are still found in collections; Morphy Auctions sold one in 2010.
The main body of the letter is full of family news, all of which matches the known Orr family genealogy and local news events. He writes to his eldest son Hector Orr (1770-1855), a physician in Bridgewater, MA who was then serving as adjutant in the state militia. Orr makes it very clear that Eli Whitney’s federally contracted rifles were being produced for Uncle Sam. There’s no doubt he means the United States government, and not an uncle who was a weapons mogul. Just in case you are wondering, though, as far as we can determine, the Orrs did not have an actual uncle named Sam. Neither Robert Orr, his wife, or any of their four parents had a brother named Samuel.
Estimate
$6,000 – $9,000
(utopian communities.)
The Circular, Devoted to the Sovereignty of Jesus Christ.
Brooklyn, NY, 6 November 1851 to 31 October 1852
52 weekly issues of the “New Series” (Volume I, complete), each 4 pages, 17½ x 12 inches, in one volume. 208 pages. Folio, stitched; intermittent moderate dampstaining, minimal wear; uncut.
The Oneida Community was founded by John Humphrey Noyes (1811-1886) in upstate Oneida, NY in 1848. They practiced complex marriage, and are credited with coining the phrase “free love.” They later instituted a eugenic breeding program, had communal child care, and endured grueling sessions of mutual criticism. In these pages, “Noyes expounded his doctrines of spiritualism, communism, and free love; though uneven in its editing, it was often well written and interesting”–Mott, page II:207. The issues include community gossip and international news in addition to the many essays reflecting Oneida doctrine. Lomazow 568.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(virginia.) john randolph of roanoke.
Letter by the prominent Congressman regarding his household furnishings, with related papers.
Charlotte Court House, VA, 18 September 1832
Autograph Letter Signed, “J.R. of Roanoke,” to David Coupland Randolph, appended to a letter by Isham Randolph. 3 pages total, 7¾ x 6½ inches, on one folding sheet, with address panel bearing stamped postmark and inked “12½” on final blank; minor wear, short tear at seal.
The sharp-tongued congressman John Randolph of Roanoke (1773-1833) was one of the most renowned orators of his era. Offered here is a letter written jointly with his friend and second cousin Isham Randolph (1771-1844). Isham writes to his son David: “ I rec’d yours of the 13th at Roanoke while in bed having . . . a high fever, but my friend J.R. gave some madisen which relieved me. . . . His servants were constantly attending my room both day & night. Indeed if I had been his son he could not have ren’d me more attention. . . . He has made me consent to stay with him till Saturday or Sunday as he says he has a great deal to say. . . . His health is much better than when I saw him last.”
John Randolph then adds a two-page postscript in his own hand: “Do me the favour to tell Mr. Charles Ellis that your father has been so kind as to undertake to select some of his articles (imported in the Equator) for me when he gets to Richmond. I have left Mr. Ellis’s advertisement at home but I will enumerate a few that he will be so good as to keep for me.” He then adds a long narrative list of mercantile goods, such as “ready made great coats for myself & servants. . . . Gaiters, but 3 of the gaiters to be black for servants. . . Grass, bramble & grain scythes. . . . Two hall door brass locks, large size, one dozen ditto for dining, drawing room & bed chamber doors, as many for closets & dressing rooms. I wish them all to be without key holes in the plate of the lock, so that you can lock the door on the outside & bolt it within. I shall also want some acres of carpet–Brussells, Axminster (or Wilton) & Turkey.” He adds a postscript: “Tell my waggoners to keep clear of Cary Street.”
Also included in the lot is a letter to Isham Randolph, discussing John Randolph of Roanoke two months later. Wyatt Cardwell (a close associate of the congressman) writes: “Mr. Randolph has been confin’d at my house ever since the day of election for president, having come down on that day for the purpose of giving his vote. He appears to be entirely free from that high degree of excitement that attended him during last winter & much less than when you saw him last. On the contrary, he is perfectly calm and pleasant, though complains of much pain at times with his usual cough, and I fear weakens. He express’d the warmest thanks for your kind feelings. . . . A visit from you to see Mr. R would give me much pleasure while he is at my house.” Charlotte Court House, VA (very near the Roanoke plantation), 29 November 1832
Also included are 5 identical armorial bookplates reading “Nil admirari, vari quae sentiat, John Randolph of Roanoke,” engraver unknown, 3¾ x 2½ inches.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(war of 1812.) thomas sutherland, engraver; after major dennis.
The Battle of Queenston.
London: I.W. Laird, 12 April 1836
Hand-colored aquatint, 16¾ x 23½ inches; wide margins, 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
$1,200 – $1,800
(war of 1812.) william charles, artist and engraver.
John Bull and the Baltimoreans.
Philadelphia, [1814]
Etching, 10¼ x 14¼ inches plus margins folded over and taped to mat board; 3-inch repaired closed tear extending into lower part of image, other minor wear.
John Bull receives a pointed bayonet in the rear end. “Portrays the repulsion of the Royal Army at Fort McHenry and the gallant performance of the American militia there. In a landscape before Fort McHenry, members of the American Fifth Regiment (at left) pursue a disorderly troop of British and Highland soldiers toward the right”–Reilly 1814-4.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(war of 1812.)
Letter regarding a visit to a lead mine to procure ammunition.
“Lead Minds,” 6 November 1813
Autograph Letter Signed “J.F. Bonner” to Anthony Potter of Milledgeville, GA. 2 pages, 13 x 8¼ inches; toning and foxing, partial separations at folds, moderate wear.
An agent visits an unidentified lead mine, hoping to procure material for the war effort. Transportation is the main obstacle: “I was intirely disappointed in obtaining of wagons to take the lead. . . . They were obliged on to Baltimore, therefore I am disappointed in them. . . . I have contracted with one of the gentlemen who owns the lead mines for the balance of the quantity which . . . to purchase at 6 pr pound.” Payment was to be made in “Virginia notes and silver.” If there is any doubt about the purpose of this expedition, the letter is docketed “amunition.”
Estimate
$600 – $900
(war of 1812.)
Manuscript account of the Battle of the Châteauguay and more.
No place, circa 1815
4 manuscript pages (numbered 9-12), 12¼ x 7 inches, on 2 leaves; folds, worn with occasional fading and text loss but generally legible, lacking the first 8 pages and the conclusion.
This fragmentary manuscript account offers a fresh participant’s perspective on the failed effort to capture Montreal in the St. Lawrence Campaign, as well as the subsequent defense of Plattsburgh. It is written with passion and flair.
Two American forces headed north to attack the city from different directions. Our anonymous author was an officer serving under Major General Wade Hampton, heading north from Plattsburgh, NY. Reaching a British fort on the banks of the River Châteauguay, Hampton split his forces into two divisions to flank the defenders, but both divisions were crushed and forced to retreat in the 26 October 1813 Battle of the Châteauguay.
Setting the stage for the battle, our narrator notes that the British Lieutenant General Sir George Prévost recognized the threat to Montreal, so he “himself here commanded, for he well knew that [upon] the successful defence of this village, the safety of his rich & beautiful city depended.” Hampton’s Second Division, with the element of surprise, began well: the British “could not resist the impetuosity of the brave reg’ts in the attack & his left gave way & retrieted thro the pass. His right fearing its annihilation retreated also in great disorder, leaving many killed wounded and prisoners.” Then Hampton looked for the expected flanking aid from the First Division under Colonel Purdy. The standard battle account has the Purdy’s division becoming lost in an exhausting muddy night march. This narrative paints Purdy in a less flattering light. At the crucial moment in the battle, “If Col. Purdy had obeyed his orders such a victory would that day have been atchieved. . . . On the opposite side of the river! it was now with extreme mortification that we observed Col. Purdy, in direct violation of the orders he had rec’d, had not advanced within twenty-four hours than the 2nd Division had in twelve. He had permitted his men to sit down (just before we attacked the enemy) and eat their dinners! When we began the attack, we perceived them emerging from the woods, some without arms, to be spectators of the scene!” Both divisions were soon routed, and marched south in a humiliating retreat, their dreams of Montreal crushed: “The army sufferd much on this march, having no tents were obliged to lay down on the snow. Many a poor soldier met their death in consequence of such severe marches.” Our narrator, in addition to his denunciation of Colonel Purdy, also notes the well-known hostility between the two American Major Generals who were supposed to be working jointly toward Montreal: “Had Hampton laying aside folly & pride joined Wilkinson and proceeded against Montreal, cooperating with each other and furthering all in their power the public service with such a respectable army as they might have had, nothing could have opposed them. Quebec would have fallen. . . . Such an army and obliged to fly from Canada! Great God! To retreat with disgrace! And all owing to the damned feuds of its commanders! “
The narrative continues with the arrival in Plattsburgh, where Wilkinson soon took charge of the army. His abortive final assault on Montreal and its termination in the 30 March 1814 Battle of Lacolle Mills are briefly noted. Finally, the events leading up to the September 1814 Battle of Plattsburgh are described in detail. Here the tone is quite different, with the British assembling a mighty and haughty invasion force which would be stopped by a small and scrappy group of American defenders: “The enemy had just rec’d reinforcements of Invincible troops together with a new supply of his most scientific gen’ls from Wellingtons army in Spain & France who had recently conquered Napoleon! With such an army he thought to make Yankees flee like sheep before him, nor stop untill he had sniffed the waters of the Atlantic! He thought we should make turkey tracks here quick on his advance towards us with 14,000 Invincibles. But the result to us, how glorious, to him how unfortunate!” It concludes with General Prevost’s over-confident plans to install military governors throughout New York and New England: “Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia & N. York cities were to fall, and with them the Nation!”
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(war of 1812.) silas ballou.
History of the American War: A New Song on the . . . Late War with Great-Britain.
No place, circa 1815
Letterpress broadside, 17 x 10½ inches; worn at edges and folds with moderate text loss, laid down and stabilized on tissue.
One of several printings of a popular recounting of the war in 42 stanzas, but the measurements do not match exactly with any of the versions catalogued in OCLC.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(george washington.)
Volume of the Federal Gazette & Baltimore Daily Advertiser featuring Washington’s Farewell Address and more.
Baltimore, MD, 22 April to 31 December 1796
Approximately 215 issues, each 4 pages, plus a 20 September broadside supplement, in one volume. Folio, 19½ x 12¼ inches, contemporary ½ calf, moderate wear; minor dampstaining to outer issues, otherwise condition generally strong; not collated.
The 21 September issue prints President Washington’s famous Farewell Address, announcing that he would retire from politics and not seek a third term. He warned against partisan party rivalries and foreign entanglements. In limiting his presidential term, he also established a precedent that would only once be broken, demonstrating by his example that the presidency would not be a life appointment. The 10 December issue contains Washington’s 7 December final address to Congress. The election of John Adams over Thomas Jefferson as president is discussed frequently through November and December.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(george washington.) thomas clarke, engraver.
Sacred to the Memory of the Illustrious G. Washington.
Boston, 1801
Stipple engraving, 9¼ x 8¾ inches, toned, 2-inch repair in left margin, other minor wear, laid down on early board.
Three mourning Americans pay tribute at a Washington monument reading “There is Rest in Heaven.” First state, with thinner border and no shadows across monument base. Hart 279a.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(george washington.)
Sic Transit Gloria Mundi!
Glasgow: C. Gray, 1819
Engraving on cotton, 24½ x 19½ inches; slightly cropped on top and bottom edges with loss of “In memory of,” minor wear including ½-inch hole in lower left corner, minor foxing and toning.
Washington stands upon a pedestal reading “Sacred to Patriotism” in front of the Bowling Green park in Manhattan, where a statue of King George was famously toppled in 1776. He is flanked by two monuments to liberty and independence dedicated to the soldiers and sailors of the Revolution; they bear a resemblance to the later Washington Monument in the capitol. The source image for this design was a 1798 engraving by Tiebout after Charles Buxton, which in turn used a Gilbert Stuart portrait. This rendition adds a long tribute to Washington above, noting that “he was first in peace, first in the hearts of the Americans.” The eagle bears a ribbon reading “This plate is with due respect inscribed to the Congress of the United States,” with 19 state banners hung below–the first 20 states minus Louisiana. Illinois, admitted as the 21st state in 1818, is also omitted. Collins, Threads of History 54; Hart 676n.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(george washington.)
Washington as a Freemason.
Cincinnati, OH: Strobridge & Co., 1867?
Chromolithograph, 23 x 16¾ inches; cropped to image, pair of 1-inch closed tears, toning.
Washington stands in his Masonic apron, surrounded by an ornate border of patriotic and Masonic vignettes including smaller portraits of Lafayette and Andrew Jackson, with the hymn “Let Washington Sleep” printed below. Not in Hart.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(george washington.)
Group of 4 large Washington portraits.
Various places, 1850-1924
Various sizes and conditions, some tipped into mounts.
A. Weidenbach, lithographer; after Stuart. “George Washington.” Chromolithograph, 23 x 19 inches; 2-inch closed tear and other minor wear, laid down on paper. Not often seen at auction, and usually in poor condition. Not in Hart. No place: G.F. Gilman, 1876.
T. Hamilton Crawford, engraver. Hand-colored mezzotint printed chine-collé, 16 x 13 inches on 26 x 17-inch mount; moderate soiling and long crease on mount only. London: Frost & Reed, 1924.
Adam B. Walter, engraver; after Peale. “Patriae Pater . . . Respectfully Dedicated to General U.S. Grant.” Mezzotint, 24 x 20 inches; unevenly toned, mounted on top edge to mat board. Hart 867c. Philadelphia: Hugh McCann, circa 1870.
M. Fanoli, lithographer, after Stuart. Untitled lithograph, 28¾ x 20½ inches; moderate foxing and wear including 2-inch chip in right margin. Not in Hart. New York: Goupil, 1850.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(george washington.)
Group of 3 Washington prints.
Various places, circa 1840s-1889
Various sizes, condition generally strong as noted, all tipped into modern archival mats.
Alexander Hay Ritchie, engraver; after Daniel Huntington. “Lady Washington’s Reception.” Engraving, 26½ x 39¾ inches; untrimmed, missing 2 inches from upper left corner, 1-inch closed tear in right margin. No place, circa 1867.
[R. Lowe, engraver]; published by John I. Donlevy. “Sacred to the Memory of the Illustrious Champion of Liberty General George Washington.” Engraving, 21 x 17¾ inches; toning in margins, minor foxing. Hart 862a. [New York], after 1838.
Kurz & Allison, publishers. “George Washington at Mt. Vernon.” Lithograph, 22 x 28¼ inches; chips and short repaired tears in margins. Chicago, 1889.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(west.) john c. frémont.
Report of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains in the Year 1842, and to Oregon and North California.
Washington, 1845
5 maps, 22 plates. 693 pages. 4vo, publisher’s cloth, crudely rejointed, otherwise minor wear; moderate foxing, minor dampstaining to outer leaves, folding pocket map (32½x 54 inches) toned with only minor wear and short separations at intersections of folds. Senate Document, 28th Congress, 2nd Session, Doc. 174.
First edition, Senate issue, with additional scientific data not included in the House issue. It features an unusually well-preserved copy of the large folding Preuss pocket map. Includes the report on Frémont’s 1842 expedition along the Oregon Trail, as well as his second expedition concluded in 1844: “Guided by Kit Carson, Frémont proceeded down the Snake River and on down the Columbia to Fort Vancouver. Moving into northwestern Nevada, Frémont suddenly took his expedition on a rash midwinter crossing of the Sierra Nevada”–Hill 640. Howes F370 (“aa”); Sabin 25845; Wagner-Camp 115:1; Wheat, Transmississippi West 497 and pages II:194-200 (“magnificent map . . . Great Salt Lake is for the first time adequately mapped”); Zamorano Eighty 39.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(west.) overton johnson and william h. winter.
Route Across the Rocky Mountains; with a Description of Oregon and California.
Lafayette, IN: John B. Semans, 1846
152 pages. 8vo, original plain boards, minor wear, tastefully rebacked with worn original spine label laid down; moderate foxing, a few early pencil marks in margins; inscribed by the co-author on the front pastedown “from Overton Johnson to L.L. McDonald,” later signature of George McDonald on front board. In modern ½ morocco slipcase.
First edition. These two intrepid migrants attended Wabash College together in Indiana before deciding to head west on the Oregon Trail in the Great Emigration of 1843. They left Independence, MO in May 1843, and reached Oregon in November. Winter continued on to California. They both left the west coast in 1845 and reunited on the eastward trail. One of the first accounts of this challenging route to reach the presses. Cowan 1933, page 315; Graff 2221; Howes J142 (“d”–“in historical importance one of the greatest of overland narratives”); Sabin 36260; Streeter sale, V:3145 (“the adventurous trip of two Wabash College boys”); Wagner-Camp 122. Provenance: Christie’s Kenneth Bechtel sale, 31 January 2002, lot 110. We know of no other inscribed copies at auction since 1978.
Estimate
$8,000 – $12,000
(west.)
Group of 5 extras and supplements to the Railroad Record regarding the Southern Pacific Railroad.
Cincinnati, OH, October 1855 to August 1856
36, 8, 8, 8, 8 pages. 4to, each rebacked neatly with paper; minimal wear. In modern custom cloth folding case.
The 4 October 1856 Extra is devoted to “the great enterprise of the age, for our country at least, the Pacific Railroad.” This line, distinct from the later Union Pacific and other similarly named lines, hoped to expand westward from Galveston, TX via the Texas Western Railroad to create a southern transcontinental route. The project is further considered and debated in shorter supplements and extras dated 19 November 1855, 28 April 1856, 19 May 1856, and 26 August 1856.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(west.) james a. scholten, photographer.
Portrait of Custer taken shortly after his famous buffalo hunt with Grand Duke Alexis.
St. Louis, MO, circa 24 January 1872
Albumen photograph, 5½ x 4 inches, on photographer’s monogrammed 9½ x 5¾-inch mount; minimal wear.
This well-known image was taken as part of the grand western tour of young Grand Duke Alexis of Russia, who arranged to have Buffalo Bill Cody lead him on a buffalo hunt on the Great Plains, accompanied by Generals Custer and Sheridan, as well as Chief Spotted Tail. The party stopped in St. Louis on their return from the hunt, where Scholten photographed Custer and the Duke in their hunting garb for posterity. Custer is wearing his trademark red scarf–at least that is what we can assume from this black and white image. Katz, Custer in Photographs K-113.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
(west.) walter scribner schuyler.
Letter written by a cavalry officer three weeks before Little Bighorn.
Fort Laramie, WY, 5 June 1876
Autograph Letter Signed “Walter” to sister Evelyn Schuyler Schaeffer. 2 pages, 9¾ x 7¾ inches; folds, minimal wear.
“I find that the Indian massacres have been greatly exaggerated . . . most of the Indians have concentrated in the north”
This letter was written by an officer in General Crook’s command just weeks before the Battles of the Rosebud and Little Bighorn. Walter Scribner Schuyler (1850-1932), a future Army general, was at this time a second lieutenant in the 5th Cavalry, and was en route from Kansas to serve as an aide to General George Crook, trying to catch up with the main army. Three large columns of cavalry were converging for a long-planned offensive against the Sioux in south-central Montana. Crook’s column set out from Fort Fetterman to the south. Twenty days later, a detachment from Terry’s column led by Colonel Custer would find defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn–a disaster which of course Schuyler could not see coming when he wrote this breezy letter to his sister:
“I arrived here . . . in good order except as to my face, which was badly chapped by the wind. The stage makes the ninety-odd miles in about 12 hours, there being five changes of horses on the route. I find that I shall have to wait here for some days, until a wagon train goes to Fetterman, as I cannot travel thence without escort. At that point I shall have to wait until about the 20th instant, when Gen’l C. is expected to send in a wagon train for supplies. I dislike the waiting, as I am of no use to anyone, and fear that I may miss all the fighting. Nearly all of my regiment has been ordered here from Kansas to reinforce Crook, a very welcome addition to our force. I meet many friends here, whom I used to know at Russell. I am the guest of Lieut. [William Wallace] Rogers, 9th Inf’ty whose company has but recently come in from the Black Hills. I find that the Indian massacres have been greatly exaggerated to me, and for the present there is but little danger in this section as most of the Indians have concentrated in the north, at the mouth of the Powder River on the Little Missouri. If I do nothing else, I shall have a chance to see the country. I hope that some fortunate chance may take us into the famous Yellowstone Park.”
Schuyler had no way of knowing, but Crook’s column had already departed from Fort Fetterman, MT on 29 May toward the Sioux encampment. He was correct about the relative safety of his present location in Wyoming, but a bit off base about the real danger–the mouth of the Powder River was more than 150 miles from the Battle of the Rosebud where Crook’s column would be engaged on 17 June, and from the Little Bighorn site where Custer would be wiped out on 24 June. One thing we can be sure of: in the coming weeks, Lt. Schuyler had no time for a side trip to Yellowstone Park.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(west.)
Album of western photographs by Taber, Jackson, and more.
Various places, circa 1890s
99 photographs of various sizes mounted in scrapbook on both sides of 24 card mounts. Oblong folio, contemporary ½ calf, worn at extremities and lacking backstrip but sturdy; foxing to the mounts and occasionally the photographs.
The album begins with 38 photographs by Taber of San Francisco, almost all of them of California scenes, including views of Pasadena, Los Angeles, San Gabriel, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, San Jose, Monterey, Mariposa Grove, and the Lick Observatory. They are followed by 10 photographs of California orchards, some or all by Reed. Next are two views of San Antonio, TX by Jacobson: the Alamo and Mission Concepcion. At least 3 and probably several others are by William Henry Jackson & Co., showing Royal Gorge, the Garden of the Gods, Eagle River Canyon, and other Colorado scenes.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(west.) william elsey connelley.
Wild Bill and His Era (extra-illustrated limited edition).
New York: Press of the Pioneers, 1933
12 plates as issued. 15 leaves from the original manuscript in the author’s hand (including the title page) bound in. [2], xii, [2], 229 printed pages. 8vo, publisher’s gilt pictorial buckram, minimal wear; minimal wear to contents; #38 of a “special edition” of 200, uncut; small bookseller tag and collector’s tag on rear pastedown.
Connelley spent 42 years researching this biography of the legendary lawman James B. “Wild Bill” Hickok, including numerous interviews with first-hand sources. After his 1930 death, his daughter Edith Connelley Clift completed the editing and saw to its posthumous publication. This copy was part of a limited edition with portions of the original manuscript bound in. The added manuscript title page shows a different subtitle: “Wild Bill, the King of the Border Men.” Adams, Six-Guns 480; Howes C690.
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
(west–colorado.)
Two pieces of illustrated sheet music exposing the darker side of the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush.
Cincinnati and St. Louis, 1859
Two items, each with tinted lithographic covers, as described below.
W.C. Peters, arranger. “Pike’s Peak Gallop.” 5 pages including tinted lithograph cover. 12½ x 9¾ inches, disbound; cover cropped with partial loss of loss of imprint, minor wear and foxing. The cover shows a well-dressed prospective miner confronted with a dismal scene of suicides (one by hanging and two by jumping off the summit), brawling, drunkards, and hundreds of dejected miners marching down the mountain. The instrumental composition is accompanied by a short running narrative in which the failed protagonists trudge wearily back to Cincinnati. When asked by westward migrants about the mining country, they point to their wagon which reads “Fizzle–Ask No Questions.” The wagon is also depicted on the cover. This piece is apparently distinct from the Louisville piece of the same name composed by Felix Roteri. 3 in OCLC, and none traced at auction. Cincinnati, OH: [W.C. Peters], 1859.
Pete Morris. “Pike’s Peak Song, or All Is Not Gold, that Glitters!” 6 pages including tinted lithograph cover. 12¾ x 10 inches, disbound; moderate foxing and minor wear. The cover is a lifelike depiction of a ragged miner carrying an empty satchel away from the mountainside. The five verses of baleful lyrics conclude “If you go there, you will see / Why the Elephant, Yes, ser-ree! / Besides a few chunks of gold / Not bigger than a flea! / I’ve been to Pike’s Peak / And if any here there be / That’s got that yaller fever / Why! only looks at me / And I think old St. Louis / Will suit them to a T.” One in OCLC (at Yale) and none traced at auction. St. Louis, MO: Jacob Endres, 1859.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(west–colorado.)
The Bullion Consolidated Mining Company of Colorado / The Incas Silver Mining Company of Colorado.
Boston, 1866
163; vii, 95 pages. 8vo, matched modern ¼ morocco in different colors; minimal wear to contents; all edges gilt.
Both companies were mining gold and silver. J.P. Whitney is listed as treasurer and director of both firms, and copyright holder of both pamphlets. Three and one complete copies in OCLC, respectively.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(west–colorado.)
Pair of Central City mining prospectuses.
Philadelphia, 1866 and 1868
Two pamphlets in original wrappers.
“Prospectus, Charter and By-Laws of the Girard Gold & Silver Mining Co. of Colorado.” 20 pages. 8vo, original printed wrappers, minor wear, 3 light horizontal folds; light smudges to a few pages. Prospectus for a company with several mines near Central City, CO, with 8 pages of narrative in addition to the by-laws. We are assured that mining investments are better than the failed oil speculations of the early 1860s: “From the commendable zeal with which Americans participate in enterprises tending to the rapid development of our national resources, we have attained a perfection in metallurgy” which will “enable the historian to redeem our reputation from the oily swindles of the past.” One in OCLC (at Yale), and no other examples traced at auction. Philadelphia: W. B. Selheimer, 1866.
“Prospectus of the Franklin Silver Mining Co. of Colorado.” 22 pages. 12mo, original printed wrappers, minor wear including ½-inch chip to front and separating fold to rear wrapper; minimal wear to contents. Features assay reports and testimonials on the company’s several mines. Their president, General Benjamin Franklin Fisher, had been the Union Army’s chief signal officer during the late war. Philadelphia: James B. Rodgers, 1868.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(west–colorado.) william henry jackson.
Album of photographs in decorative “Denver” covers.
Denver, CO, circa 1882
15 albumen photographs (9 of them about 4¼ x 6½ inches; the other 6 being 3½ x 3 inches), on 12 original card mounts with red-lined borders. Oblong 8vo decorative gilt cloth covers with gilt morocco cover label “Denver” and “W.H Jackson & Co., Denver” gilt-stamped below, backstrip faded and worn, tape repair to inner hinge, otherwise minor wear; most of the cards detached from the binding, occasional foxing and minor wear.
The photographs are mounted accordion-style, but in three sections. The first three are a continuous “Panorama of Denver,” with the first card being laid down to the inner binding. The bulk of the images are on 8 cards folded to fit neatly in the binding, but are detached. They include views of Larimer Street, 16th Street, the Windsor Hotel, Tabor Block, Tabor Grand Opera House, St. John’s Cathedral, Union Depot, and more. The images of City Hall and the Court House are actually photographs of architectural renderings, suggesting that the album was compiled shortly before the Court House was completed in January 1883. Finally, a view of the residence of Senator Nathaniel P. Hill is mounted on a card in the same format, but is detached from the others; it has minor wear to the image.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(west–colorado.) george e. mellen, photographer.
Colorado Views.
No place, 1885 and undated
12 albumen photographs (each about 4¼ x 7¼ inches), laid down on stiff folding linen in accordion style as issued, each captioned in the negative, one of them signed by Mellen in the negative and the others in the same size and format. Between 2 original identical decorative cloth boards titled “Colorado Views,” minor wear and dampstaining; minimal wear and foxing to contents.
Few of these images can be readily traced elsewhere. The one credited image here, “Tanglefoot Curve, Cumbres Pass,” has a George E. Mellen signature in the negative–but is credited in the History Colorado Online Collection to William H. Jackson. Mellen and Jackson were collaborators. We assume the remainder of the images are by Mellen, although it is impossible to be sure. Another image, “Gateway to Royal Gorge D.&R.G.R.R. 2000 Ft. High,” is credited to “W. H. L. & Co.” by the Amon Carter Museum. Others include the Veta Pass (with passengers posed on the train), Tomichi Creek, Castle Gate (in Utah), the Garfield Monument at Toltec Tunnel, and Palmer Lake and Station. All relate to the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. We trace no other examples of this compilation.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
(west–colorado.)
Central City: Its Gold and Silver Mines, Sampling and Concentration Works . . . and Other Points of Interest.
No place: Oscar Venettisch, circa 1880
Several text illustrations. 16 pages. 16mo, original illustrated wrappers, minor vermin damage along top margin not touching border.
This promotional for the mining town of Central City was not issued by one of the usual suspects (a railroad, mining company or real estate speculator), but rather by the town’s leading hotel, the Teller House, and its proprietor Oscar Venettisch. Both miners and tourists are targeted. The hotel remains in use today, and is famous for its Herndon Davis painting, “The Face on the Barroom Floor.” One example in OCLC (Southern Methodist University) and none traced at auction.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(west–colorado.)
The Cripple Creek Gold Fields, Placers, Lodes Illustrated
[Denver: Colorado Midland Railway], 1892
(wrapper title), with alternate caption title “Cripple Creek at the Foot of Pike’s Peak.” Map on rear wrapper, numerous text illustrations. 31, [1] pages including wrappers. 8vo, original illustrated wrappers, minor wear, ½-inch hole to title, tape repair to head of fold; light vertical wrinkle to inner margin.
This railroad promotional tract was issued just two years after a major gold strike at Cripple Creek. The town’s mines and stage lines are discussed, as well as nearby Colorado Springs. None traced at auction, although Eberstadt offered one at retail in 1938.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(west–kansas.)
General Laws of the State of Kansas, Passed at the First Session of the Legislature.
Lawrence, KS: Kansas State Journal, 1861
334 pages. 8vo, attractive modern morocco; minor foxing and soiling.
First edition of the first set of laws passed after Kansas statehood, in the early months of the Civil War. Laws governing the state militia are set forth on pages 184-206, including “An Act to Authorize the Governor to Tender One or More Regiments of the Volunteer State Militia to the President of the United States,” and an act to “Borrow Money to Repel Invasion, Suppress Insurrection, and to Defend the State in Time of War.” Kansas Imprints 302; Sabin 37066.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(west–kansas.)
Statement of the Condition and Resources of the Kansas Central Railway, Narrow Gauge.
Leavenworth, KS: Kansas Farmer, 1871
Folding map with routes traced in red. 19 pages. 8vo, original gilt-printed wrappers on blue coated stock, minimal wear.
Includes reports on Indian treaties, geological resources, and agricultural potential of the relevant areas of Kansas. Graff 2273.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(west–kansas.) w.j. ratcliff.
Kansas: Northwest Kansas, the Eldorado for the Investor / Rawlins County, the Gem of the West.
Lincoln, NE: State Journal Company, circa 1906
Broadsheet, 28 x 9 inches, printed in red on one side and blue on the other; folds, minimal wear.
Offers the hard sell for land “in the garden spot of the world,” “the Poor Man’s Mecca.” 2 in OCLC.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(west–montana.)
New York & Montana Mining & Discovery Co., Trustees’ First Annual Report.
New York, 1866
44 pages. 8vo, original blue glazed printed wrappers, moderate staining and minor wear; minor dampstaining; early owner’s signature on title page. In modern custom ¼ calf folding case.
Expanded second issue with by-laws and certificate of incorporation, for a company founded in the early days of the Montana gold rush, including reports from their “Discovery Corps”. None traced at auction since the 1968 Streeter sale, IV:2227 (35-page issue).
Estimate
$600 – $900
(west–nebraska.)
Circular of the Union Settlement Company, Otoe City, Nebraska.
Hartford, CT: Calhoun Printing, circa 1856
Printed circular, 2 pages on one sheet, 10½ x 8½ inches; folds, minor wear and foxing. In modern cloth folding case.
Otoe City was located on the Missouri River about 6 miles south of Nebraska City. This circular promises a pleasant climate, rich soil, mineral resources, and easy transportation. A settlement company went west in April 1856, but the town never flourished, and was long since vacated by the end of the century (see the Nebraska State Journal, 17 March 1901). One in OCLC (Yale University) and none traced at auction.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(west–nevada.)
The Silver Mines of Nevada.
New York: William C. Bryant, 1865
Folding map. 77 pages. 8vo, original printed wrappers, rebacked with tape, otherwise minor wear; intermittent minor foxing, minor wear to map.
An early promotional tract to encourage settlement of the new state of Nevada: “Her mountains of silver yield up their wealth at the touch of the enchanter.” The map, “Map of the Washoe, Humboldt and Reese River Silver Mines” (7 x 16¾ inches) is described in Wheat, Transmississippi West V:1128 and page 156, where it is described as belonging another pamphlet. Howes N61; Wagner-Camp 422c (1864 first edition).
Estimate
$500 – $750
(west–new mexico.)
Squier’s “New Mexico and California,” bound with Abert’s “Examination of New Mexico.”
New York and Washington, 1848
8vo, later ¼ calf, ends of backstrip chipped, otherwise minor wear; hinges split; inked “W.B. Childers” stamps on front free endpapers.
Ephraim G. Squier. “New Mexico and California: The Ancient Monuments, and the Aboriginal, Semi-Civilized Nations of New Mexico and California” (caption title). Text illustrations. 26 pages; lacking the folding map called for in Howes and Sabin but otherwise minimal wear. First separate edition, an offprint from the American Review of November 1848. Field 1481; Howes S860; Sabin 89979. None of this edition traced at auction since Anderson’s 1905 Wilberforce Eames sale, though Goodspeed offered a copy in 1953. [New York], 1848.
James W. Abert. “Report . . . and Map of the Examination of New Mexico.” Large folding map, 24 lithographed plates. 132 pages; original front wrapper bound in, wear in upper left margin and 6-inch repaired closed tear to map, leaf 4:7 missing bottom corner and a bit of text, minor foxing, light vertical fold throughout, one plate bound upside down. Consists mostly of Abert’s diary as an Army lieutenant en route from Bent’s Fort in present-day Colorado to Santa Fé, and then back to Fort Leavenworth, during the early months of the Mexican War, August 1846 to February 1847, including extensive natural history content.
Senate Document, 30th Congress, 1st Session, Exec. Doc. 23. Graff 5; Howes A11; Streeter sale, I:168; Wagner-Camp 143. Washington, 1848.
The volume bears the ownership stamps of William Burr Childers (1854-1908), a prominent Albuquerque lawyer who was elected as the city’s third mayor in 1887, and argued the cause of New Mexico statehood before the Supreme Court.
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
(west–new mexico.)
Field notes on extensive land holdings of the Freudenthal brothers in the Refugio Grant.
[New Mexico], 1888-1902
[1], 89, [9] manuscript pages, 8vo, completely disbound, with original worn calf boards present; title page chipped, otherwise minor wear to contents, apparently complete although the last 4 leaves are not numbered.
This notebook traces the extensive land holdings of Morris and Pheobus Freudenthal in the Refugio Grant, located near Anthony, NM just north of El Paso, TX. The cover and title page state that these are field notes made for the Freudenthals by United States Deputy Surveyors Garrett, Nichols & Woodson in 1888. The notes trace dozens of tracts, describing not only property lines but other distinguishing features: “Enter thick growth of willows,” “Some of this land is low and grown up with a coarse cane-like grass.” The Freudenthals made extensive additional notes in the volume in various hands, tracing land sales through at least 1901, often in impressionistic notes, such as “Olguin took Juan Garcia land” near the end of the volume. Names of neighboring property owners and purchasers are often noted, the bulk of them Spanish.
Brothers Morris Freudenthal (1853-1921) and Pheobus Freudenthal (1854-1922) of Las Cruces were members of one of the pioneer Jewish families of the Mesilla Valley, their uncle Louis having arrived circa 1850.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(west–new mexico.) l. bradford prince.
The Present and Future of New Mexico, a Land of Prosperity and Happiness.
No place, 1891
15 pages. 8vo, disbound, tastefully restored and restitched; minimal wear. In a custom ¼ morocco folding case.
An address by the sitting governor of New Mexico Territory delivered at the Territorial Exposition, promoting local agriculture and industries and advocating for statehood. Even the greatest admirer of New Mexico might blush at the grand claims made in this speech. None traced at auction.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(west–new mexico.)
The Pecos Valley: The Fruit Belt of New Mexico.
14 photographic plates. 28 pages. 8vo, original gilt illustrated wrappers, minimal wear; minimal wear to contents.
An attractive promotional for the southeastern New Mexico valley which includes Fort Sumner, Roswell, and Carlsbad. None traced at auction.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(west–new mexico.)
Photographs of two United Brethren mission schools in the upper Rio Grande Valley.
Velarde and Santa Cruz, NM, circa 1916-1925
27 photographs: 5 of them 5 x 7 inches on original plain mounts, and the others smaller (about 2 x 3 inches) and unmounted, all captioned on verso, though students are not named; generally minor wear.
In 1910, United Brethren missionaries founded a mission school in remote Velarde, NM, between Santa Fé and Taos. An additional campus was launched in 1915, several miles down river in the town of Santa Cruz, NM, which became known as the McCurdy Mission School. These photographs depict the buildings, staff, and students at both schools. They were apparently collected by Mary Esther Brawner (1893-1977), an Illinois native who taught at the Velarde school as a missionary from 1916 to 1925. The large-format photographs bear several generations of captions, but the captions written in blue ink match Brawner’s period of service, and beneath some of them a later owner has written “Miss Bronner.”
The school was the subject of Robert H. Terry’s 1984 book “Light in the Valley: The McCurdy Mission Story” (copy included with the lot), which discussed Miss Brawner at length. The book has only two pre-1920 photographs, not duplicated here. The school survives today as the McCurdy Charter School in Espanola, NM.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(west–north dakota.)
Prospectus of the Harris Cattle Company.
[Boston, circa 1899]
4 printed pages, 11 x 8½ inches, on one folding sheet; folds, minor wear.
The company ranched on 10,000 square miles of grazing land around Girard Lake in North Dakota’s Mouse River Valley. They were incorporated in Maine and based in Massachusetts. A map and illustrated masthead appear on the first page. None traced in OCLC or elsewhere.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(west–south dakota.) george a. eastman.
Letterbook of an agent for South Dakota land and the Catholicon Hot Springs.
No place, 12 December 1892 to 15 March 1893
166 pages of retained transfer copies of typed and manuscript letters, preceded by 20 manuscript index pages. 4to, 12 x 9¾ inches, original cloth, one edge a bit gnawed, other moderate wear; only minor wear to contents.
This letterbook was kept by George A. Eastman as agent and treasurer for two South Dakota real estate firms: Vermont Investment Company (with holdings in Rapid City and elsewhere) and the Catholicon Hot Springs Company (building a spa resort in Fall River County in the southwestern corner of the state).
Eastman writes to a Boston investor on 14 December 1892: “I have no doubt in my mind that we can gather in a barrel of shekels in this deal without risk, as we have passed the point where the future of the Springs can be questioned.” One page 118 is a blank loan application to be made out for potential Catholicon investors. On page 161 is a transcribed testimonial letter from a “happy customer” who had taken his wife to the springs with “a very bad case of rheumatism, and today I take her home cured of her rheumatism and her general health better than for many months as a result of bathing in your Catholicon Waters.”
Eastman’s letters to his firm’s president L.F. Englesby of Burlington, VT are considerably harder-edged than his letters to potential investors. A 7 March 1893 letter cautions Englesby that without bonds, the project may be seen as “a Western scheme to raise money, which scheme would have to be thoroughly investigated, whereas if you are supposed to have the bonds in your possession, they would naturally conclude that you had investigated to your own satisfaction.”
The real excitement took place just a couple of months after this letterbook ends. Eastman lined up a deal to sell Catholicon, but shortly after leaving town, a previous owner took possession. “Knives and revolvers were drawn, and for a time it looked as though some one would be killed,” according to the Sioux City Journal of 18 May 1893.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(west–texas.)
Documents concerning the founding of the Dolores Hacienda, the first Spanish settlement north of the Rio Grande.
Nuevo Santander, August 1750
30 manuscript pages. Folio, 12 x 8½ inches, backed with early 20th century binder’s tape; cover page traced over in 20th century ink, page numbers added later in pencil, dampstained but stable and legible; uncut.
The founding document of the first Spanish settlement in what is now Texas.
José Vázquez Borrego (1682-1770) was a pioneer rancher who in 1750 established the first Spanish settlement north of the Rio Grande: Nuestra Señora de los Dolores Hacienda, in what is now Zapata County. It soon came under the protection of the Texas colonization program of José de Escandón (1700-1770) as the first governor of Nuevo Santander colony. Vázquez set up a ferry leading into his new settlement, making it the primary gateway across the Rio Grande during this very early period.
Offered here is an early manuscript transcript of the original negotiations and agreements between Vázquez and Escandón regarding the settlement at Dolores. Vázquez describes the challenges faced by his initial settlement of 12 families, including lack of water and conflicts with hostile Indians.
Another shorter version of this dossier is recorded in the Archivo General de la Nación in Mexico, Provincias Internas, Volume 180, leaves 63-72. This other version, with a slightly different title, is cited in Lawrence Francis Hill, “José de Escandón and the Founding of Nuevo Santander,” pages 98-99; and the microfilm of that copy is summarized by the University of Arizona’s Documentary Relations of the Southwest with serial number 041-04159 (see https://uair.library.arizona.edu/item/215663). The present copy follows the Archivo General version closely from pages 1 to 12, does not include the two pages of plat maps included in the end of the Archivo General file, but continues for an additional 18 pages beyond what is contained in that file. The Archivo General copy is in a different hand and bears a scribal signature, while the present copy is unsigned.
Provenance: housed in a circa 1930 envelope addressed to the Rev. Jesús Prieto of Laredo (1888-1935) who came to the United States from Spain in 1921 and settled in Laredo by 1923; he was naturalized there in 1927 and apparently became interested in local history. The envelope is docketed “Jose Vasquez Borrego a Escandon,” apparently in Rev. Prieto’s hand. Recently purchased from a collector in Texas.
Estimate
$15,000 – $25,000
(west–texas.) [louis f. l’héritier.]
Le Champ-d’Asile, Tableau Topographique et Historique du Texas.
Paris, 1819
viii, 247 pages. 8vo, original plain wrappers, moderate wear, with printed spine label reading “Le Champ d’Asile”; minimal dampstaining; uncut; early owner’s stylized signature on 3 pages. In modern custom ¼-calf folding case.
First edition, first issue, issued without a map, of “a fanciful and idealized account of the Champ d’Asile . . . perhaps the lengthiest to its date in book form” (Streeter, Texas III:1072). Champ d’Asile was a small colony of French refugee followers of the deposed Napoleon Bonaparte. It was founded under the auspices of the United States on the Trinity River in what was then still Spanish territory. It lasted for only six months in 1818 before being dispersed by the Spanish. Howes L329 (“b”); Sabin 95072.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(west–texas.)
Diary of Texas Ranger Edwin L. Patton during the early Republic, and related family papers.
Various places, 1826-1862
58 items in one box; earlier material generally worn with separations at folds.
Edwin Le Roy Patton (1803-1880) was born in South Carolina, lived briefly in Indiana as a young man, and settled in Robertson County in east-central Texas by 1839. There he became a prominent landholder and was named the county’s Chief Justice in 1843. Though well past the usual fighting age, he volunteered for the Confederacy in the Civil War.
At the heart of this lot is a humble diary kept by Patton from 5 March to 16 May 1839, with 3 additional entries written in 1842. It extends over just 5 pages on a long narrow notebook (12¼ x 4 inches) with worn paper wrappers; the two main diary leaves are detached and worn at the edges with moderate loss of text. Most of the entries make brief note of the grueling labor of frontier agriculture: splitting rails, planting corn and potatoes. Patton was also on the muster rolls as a private in the Texas Rangers during this period, and this diary describes three occasions when he was summoned for “rainging” expeditions. On 16 March, he wrote “Received orders from Capt. [James D.] Mathews [to] range tomorrow week.” This expedition was described briefly on 24 March: “Went rainging with Majr. Weppler, camped on small creek after visiting Grand Praire Creek, Parkers Creek.” The next day he returned home. The next mission started on 9 April: “Went rainging with Capt. Mathews & 20 men, lay near Camp Creek.” The next day, “crossed Duck Creek, came to the Grand Prairae, saw buffalo & antelope, camped on the watters of Little Brasses” [Brazos]. He returned home on the third day: “The company separated, 6 of us, Capt. Reed, Hill, myself and 2 others came down Little B.” Finally he noted on 29 April: “Went rainging, slep in Indian camp,” and returned home the next day.
When not “rainging,” Patton was busy ranching, farming, and participating in civic life. His longest and perhaps most dramatic entry was on 1 April: “Circuit court . . . Heard the trial of Mrs. Mompherd alias Mrs, White for bigamy, found guilty. News came in of Indians having stole horses at Timas and yesterday of driving of cattle from the settlement above Strouds. . . . Hardon found guilty of purgery, sentenced to fifty lashes & $500 fine.” He discussed nearby Stroud’s Station a couple of other times: “Went Strouds with Judge Slaughter & Sqr. Owen, returned in the evening, driveing 9 cow for slaughter & beef” (30 March); “Indians at Strouds stole 2 horses” (7 April). Among the handful of later entries, 28 July 1842 stands out: “Indians stole horses Sunday night last.” Early Texas diaries are rarely seen. We can trace no other manuscript civilian diaries from the Republic of Texas at auction since 2007.
The diary is accompanied by related papers of Edwin L. Patton and his family: 29 letters dated 1826 to 1862, and 28 accounts and legal documents dated 1835 to 1853. Brother William Patton of Sims Creek, AL, wrote on 13 October with extensive commentary on the presidential election, including rumors that “the abolitionists will yet put up a candidate of their own as Clay refuses to harmonize with them.” Another brother, George Ross Patton, wrote from Green County, AL on 20 May 1844 with a detailed list of the family’s recent slave purchases, adding: “We feel considerable anxiety on the subject of the anexation of Texas to the Union and hope the friends of the polacy will act firm and fearless regardless of our political opponants both of England and America on the subject of slavery.” An old friend named McElwain from Pike County, Indiana discussed politics on 28 June 1858: “Two years ago about Kansas, Duglas started the fus to win over the South for president but he can’t comit. . . . As to slavery, I’m willing to wait God time, as I think all things will move agreable to his order.” As war approached, son W.W. Patton wrote from Cotton Gin, TX on 2 December 1860: “We have had a great deel of political excitement . . . we have organized a company at Cotton Gin and are trying to organize another. Cotton Gin is a fast place.” A few items relate to Edwin Patton’s nephew Thomas Monroe Patton (1822-1888), also of Robertson County, including a Texas state land grant issued to and signed by Governor George T. Wood, quite worn, Austin, TX, 3 October 1849; and a letter from cousin Thomas L.C. Means of Sims Creek, SC (“there has been a great deal of sickness about Clinton and some deaths but principally among the Negroes”), 28 February 1846.
Son Thomas McCutcheon Patton wrote 3 times while on duty in the Confederate Army, twice from Camp Wright on Red River County, TX in August 1862, and once from Camp Camden in Arkansas, 13 September 1862. On 13 August he wrote “We heard an Indian preach. He preached in ower tung. He said it was his first time. I do not like the looks of the Indians.” On 13 September he wrote that “L.W. Kidwell shot himself through the hand,” complained that “Arkansis is verry poor country,” and noted that his horse “came very near dying” on the march. Private Patton died two months later on 22 November.
WITH–a small group of family papers of William Gaston Parsons (1837-1873) of Weatherford, TX, who married Edwin Patton’s daughter Mary Louisa and served as a chaplain in the Confederate army. 27 items, including copies of his army commission and discharge, and 2 Confederate tax receipts, 1856-1915.
Estimate
$2,500 – $3,500
(west–texas.) james burns wallace.
A northern abolitionist argues that the Texas Revolution is entirely about slavery.
Canaan, NH, 14 June 1836
Autograph letter signed “J.B.W.” to brother William A. Wallace of Plymouth, NH. 3 pages, 10 x 8 inches, on one folding sheet; disbound, minor worming, 1½-inch seal tear. With transcript.
James Burns Wallace (1813-1853) was an abolitionist merchant and teacher in Canaan, NH. In this letter he reflects on the economic forces behind the Texas Revolution, and calls Sam Houston a “crusader . . . in order to perpetuate slavery.”
“If there is any inequality in the laws of the land, it ought to be in favor of the oppressed. If I lift my arms in defense of rights not my own, it will be for the oppressed. The Mexicans, formerly one of the most powerful nations on this continent, and in 1500 the most enlightened, and now perhaps as much to boast as their would-be more enlightened neighbors, have set them an example worthy of imitation. These children of the sun have proclaimed liberty to the slave by solemn edict. Now, who are the invaders? The Mexicans or Americans? . . . The sole cause of this war was the introduction of slavery in Texas. And Houston, a fugitive from justice from his cradle, like another Peter the Hermit has commenced a crusade against the children of the sun in order to perpetuate slavery in Coahuila and Texas, a Mexican state. . . . What a fine slave-cattle market it will make. The foreign slave trade was abolished and considered a piracy. . . . The foreign trade was abolished to give protection and greater encouragement to the home trade. It cannot be denied. Virginia is a slave-raising state, and the Mississippi is the channel through which her manufactures force their surplus slaves into Louisiana and Texas.”
Estimate
$600 – $900
(west–texas.)
Title for land granted to Adolphus Sterne in Tyler County.
Tyler County, TX, 1867 copy of 1835 original
8 manuscript leaves, 12¼ x 7¾ inches, plus one manuscript map on tracing vellum, 6¾ inches square, bound with ribbon on top edge with paper seal; filing folds, minor wear.
This is an 1867 translation of an 1835 grant of one league of land, made by the Mexican state of Coahuila and Texas to settler Adolphus Sterne (1801-1852). Sterne was an important early settler of Texas who resisted the Mexican government as early as the 1825 Fredonian Rebellion, was a friend of Sam Houston, served as a militia commander, and had a seat in the legislature for Nacogdoches. This translation was commissioned in 1867, long after his death. The plat map was drawn and signed by James Harper Starr of Nacogdoches, who had been treasurer of the Republic of Texas, was a Confederate official, and then operated one of the first banks in Texas. He presumably traced the map from the original in the Mexican land records.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(west–texas.) [george f. folsom.]
Mexico in 1842 . . . to which is Added, an Account of Texas and Yucatan.
New York, 1842
Folding hand-colored map. 256 pages. 12mo, publisher’s cloth, minor wear; minor foxing; early bookseller’s tag and later bookplate on front pastedown, with 1936 inscription on front free endpaper.
First edition. Includes several important documents relating to the 1842 Mexican invasions of Texas. The map has Mexican states outlined in red, with the Republic of Texas blocked in yellow. Graff 1372; Howes F226 (“aa”): Sabin 24968; Streeter, Texas 1413; Wagner-Camp 91.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
(west–texas.)
La Guerra de Tejas, Sin Máscara.
Oaxaca, Mexico: Ignacio Rincon, 1845
12 pages. 8vo, stitched; minor dampstaining, repairs to minor worming.
Second edition. “An anonymous and bitter attack on Santa Anna and his followers who, it is alleged, are in favor of a war over Texas. . . . At the end of the pamphlet are printings of the two agreements made by Santa Anna in May, 1836 when he was a prisoner of the Texans”–Streeter, Texas III:1011; Palau 109719; Sabin 95089. All bibliographies list only the 1845 Mexico City edition, not this Oaxaca printing; 5 of this printing in OCLC. None of any edition traced at auction since 1964.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
(west–texas.) john b. newman.
Texas and Mexico, in 1846; Comprising the History of both Countries.
New York, 1846
Folding map, hand-colored in outline and with a colored American flag imprinted over Texas. 32 pages. 8vo, original printed wrappers, stained and worn without loss of text, stitching largely perished; map detached, minor foxing; uncut.
Dr. Newman sympathized with the Mexicans and opposed annexation. On page 31 he mocks the idea that Texas could extend to the Rio Grande: “No single individual living on the waters of that river ever participated in or openly sympathized with the Texan revolt.” “Probably the first book about Texas to be published after annexation”–Jenkins, Texas Revolution catalogue 521. Howes N122 (“aa”); Sabin 55013. The map does not appear in Wheat.
Estimate
$6,000 – $9,000
(west–wyoming.) [frank jay haynes, photographer.]
Group of 11 views of Yellowstone National Park.
[Wyoming], circa 1885
11 printing-our paper prints, each about 5 x 8 inches, mounted on 8 plain boards; each housed in period paper mats with pencil captions, which could apparently be removed, minor wear to some mats.
These prints do not have credits, but the view of Liberty Cap is widely attributed to Haynes, who was the park’s official photographer. Other views include the Castle Geyser, Golden Gate, Lower Falls, Grotto Geyser, Minerva Terrace, and Grand Cañon.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(west–wyoming.)
Extravagant prospectus for the Rich Charter Oak Copper Company.
No place, circa 1919
One page of plans and 6 full-page photographic illustrations, numbered with the text. 16 pages, printed in red and black. Oblong folio, 9¼ x 12 inches, color illustrated string-bound wrappers, minor wear; minor wear and minimal dampstaining to contents, two light vertical folds throughout.
This elegant production was apparently designed to separate Jay Gatsby from his money. The Art Deco-style cover has no text, only an engraving of an elegant woman holding aloft a nugget of copper ore. Inside the front wrapper is a testimonial letter assuring us that the president of the Rich Charter Oak Copper Company is not a scoundrel, and the first page warns us in large type: “Some men say: I wish I had a million, or if I had a million I would do so and so. Now if you fail to read the following pages, you will never have a million.” The original recipient of this prospectus took it seriously enough to jot down some pencil calculations next to the assay report. The mine was in Encampment, Wyoming. We can trace no other examples in OCLC or at auction.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(west virginia.)
Pair of Real Photo postcards depicting “The Hatfield section of West Va.”
West Virginia, 1907
Pair of postcards, each 3¾ x 5¼ inches, inscribed in image on recto, with address, canceled stamps, and Eckman, WV postmarks dated 11 April 1907 on verso; minimal wear.
These two postcards depict an impoverished but well-armed West Virginia family. The sender has inscribed the seated portrait: “This house is in the territory I travel. It is in the Hatfield section of WVa. Every member of the family carries a gun. This picture was taken last summer by a traveling man.” The other photo, depicting the family riding upon two oxen, is inscribed “Come out to West Va. and I will take you for a ride. This is the way they travel out here.” The postcards were postmarked in Eckman, WV, perhaps 30 miles southeast of Hatfield territory, and mailed to a friend in Roanoke, VA.
We have not ascertained whether this family actually belonged to the famed Hatfields, or which members might be depicted. West Virginia University holds a colorized version of the postcard captioned “Typical Mountain Home and Family, Wyoming County, W. Va.”–an area east of Hatfield country, but not far from where the present postcards were mailed. Our correspondent was not the only one to draw a line from this image to the Hatfields, though. The colorized postcard was used as the lead image in a PBS American Experience video, “How the Newspapers Covered the Hatfield-McCoy Feud.”
Estimate
$600 – $900
(world war one.)
Norman Pennicuik album with illustrations.
Various places, July to December 1918 and undated
101 photographs, most about 2 x 3 inches, mounted on 46 well-captioned scrapbook leaves with occasional illustrations, some laid down and others inserted into corner mounts, plus 13 Signal Corps photographs laid in, 6½ x 8½ inches, captioned in pencil on verso. Oblong 4to, 7 x 11 inches, original limp cloth, minor wear; minimal wear to contents; inscribed by the compiler on the title page.
This album was compiled by a corporal in the 146th Field Artillery of the 66th Brigade in the American Expeditionary Force. The brigade was recruited in the Western states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming, and was one of the first American artillery units in France, serving in many of the principal engagements of the war.
These photographs include candid shots of the brigade’s soldiers, local scenery including war-ravaged buildings, and the occasional dead “boche” (German soldier). Many of the scenes are from Marne and other locations on the front, with just 6 near the end showing training camps in the United States. The captioning is better than usual. Examples include “The first of the regiment: Graves of Pvts. Huff & Rude, killed by breech-block, due to premature explosion of shell in gun”; “Capt. Prell at old Roman baths, Martres à Veyres”; and “Baseball at Veyres-Gironde.” On a few pages, the compiler has embellished the black scrapbook leaves with small well-executed drawings in white ink. A section of 8 pictures “taken from fallen Boche aviator” includes a well-known image of the body of ex-President Roosevelt’s son Quentin at a crash site. A pair of before-and-after shots of a ruined building is captioned “we had a kitchen here . . . For a few minutes!” A shot of several bodies stacked in a crude cart is captioned “German wounded left behind. Bottom man alive–Argonne. Some ambulance!” The larger Signal Corps photographs laid in at rear are also from the 66th Brigade, including two of General John J. Pershing and Secretary of War Newton Baker touring their camp in Bordeaux.
The compiler, Norman Pennicuik (1891-1980), was born to Scottish parents and came to the United States in 1907. He was a resident of Orange, NJ upon enlistment; after the war he lived in Oregon and Westchester County, NY, working as an accountant.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(world war one.) walter l. rau.
Diary of a Boston artilleryman in the thick of the fighting with a fabled unit.
Various places, 1 February 1918 to 10 April 1919
[90] manuscript diary pages, plus [37] pages of manuscript memoranda. 16mo, original limp calf, minor wear and staining, detached from text block; 2 diary leaves detached, at least a couple of memoranda leaves torn out, otherwise minor wear to contents; signed on front free endpaper. With typed transcript.
Walter Leo Rau (1898-1948) was a German-American from the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston who enlisted in Battery C of the 101st Field Artillery, also known as the Boston Light Artillery. This regiment traces its roots back to its 1636 founding by John Winthrop, making it the oldest field artillery unit in the nation; it has served in virtually every major fight from the Pequot War to Iraq and Afghanistan.
This diary begins shortly after Rau’s arrival in France, earlier than the great wave of American troops; on the second night he was “billeted in an old shell-ruined church,” and on 3 February he “went into a chamber filled with gas today with our English mask & had to change it while in there & put on our French mask . . . to test our mask.” After surviving some air raids and bringing supplies to the front, he had his first combat on 17 March: “Went to front today to act as cannoneer for one day, slept in 4th section dugout. Was woke up at 4 a.m. for a big barrage. We fired from 4 a.m. till 6 a.m. at the Germans. 200 of our inf. gassed.” On guard duty in Vignes, to honor Good Friday, he wandered alone into a small church in a cemetery lit by a single candle at midnight (20 March 1918). He notes the German spring offensive on 9 April 1918: “The greatest drive & attempt by the Huns & greatest battle of the war is now on. All the ammunition that can be possibly taken is being brought to the front every night.” On 12 May he was arrested for taking a couple of shots at birds during target practice: “They say your not a good soldier until you’ve been in the jug.” On 28 May he reported on the travails of the artillery’s brother unit: “The Germans are throwing a lot of gas over. The 101st Inf. is in front of us & they are continually making raids. A number of their men have been gassed. Heard that Jacko Murphy of C Co. went out on a patrol party & he got hit over the head by a barbed wire black jack & was killed outright.”
Rau described the Second Battle of the Marne on 15 July: “Our guns were out in the open field. We are in open warfare now & we have no dugouts. If I ever saw anything that . . . looked like a real battle & battlefield it was this afternoon. Lieut. Smart was running around swabbing out the guns & waving his hands in the air. Lt. Kanuth was wounded, Lt. Smart gassed. . . . We are working night & day, no sleep at all. We have lost about 80 men & the men are loosing their nerves as we are continually ducking shells & are being gassed at the same time.” On 17 October, “we moved over to the Verdun secteur . . . & believe me, it is some lively up here, shells landing all over the valley we were in. Lots of gas up here, loads of shell holes. . . . There is somebody in our btry being killed & wounded every day.” Reinforcements arrived from the Iowa National Guard: “My pal & bunk mate in my gun crew, Swede Lundquist from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was wounded Oct 19 & went to hospital. Our guns are in what is called the Valley of Death.” The mood shifts abruptly on 15 November with the armistice, followed by a grand Thanksgiving dinner; some men visited “Murphy’s Cathouse.” An inspection by President Wilson and General Pershing was a highlight of the coming months; the influenza was noted on 27 December.
Also included in the memoranda are Rau’s itinerary for his period of service, numerous home addresses of friends and family, and transcriptions of two letters to his unit by Generals Edwards and Leclerc. After the war, Rau married and worked as a postal clerk, living in Boston and Dedham, MA.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(world war one.) edward s. vosburg.
Letters from an engineer in the American Expeditionary Forces.
Various places, 1918-1919
Approximately 65 Autograph Letters Signed to parents in Phillipston, PA: 15 while in training stateside (mostly at Camp Custer, MI), 15 with the American Expeditionary Forces before the Armistice, July-November 1918; and 35 after the armistice through about June 1919; moderate wear, many marked by censors, most still folded in original postmarked envelopes.
Edward Sherman Vosburg Jr. (1889-1959) enlisted from Phillipston, PA in Clarion County northeast of Pittsburgh, joining Company F of the 55th Engineers. The regiment trained at Camp Custer in Michigan, where he wrote on 8 May 1918 “There are negroes on each side of our barricks but they never bother us.”
His 19 July 1918 letter announces his safe arrival in France: “You should see the French people and the way they dress, also the wooden shoes they wear. After we landed from the boat we were marching along and were singing Hail, Hail, the Gang’s All Here, and the French kids started to sing it too, which shows some of the boys over here have been teaching the kids.” He expressed confidence on 1 September 1918: “We are here to win the war, and the Huns are finding it out.” On 2 November 1918 he boasted of his regiment’s reputation: “One of the fellows was talking to a Marine the other day, and he asked what regiment we were. . . . He said, I’ve heard of you fellows, you broke the building record.”
Vosburg’s 24 November letter was written after “the censor is lifted,” allowing him to summarize his movements in a 3-page letter: “We landed at Brest after a submarine scare. They claim they saw one when we came over, and the boat zig zagged all night. . . . We got on a train and came here to Gievres, which is a large engineers depot, the largest in France. Our company helped to build it. We put up more barricks and steel warehouses than any company here. There were some airoplane hangers to be built at Issondum and they sent for the best company of engineers, and the colonel of this camp recommended Co. F.. . . . While there, the war stopped. I laughed the day it finished. I told an old French woman who does washing for us boys that war was finished, and she went danceing up the road.” On 27 November 1918 he wrote “It seems very queer to speak of the flu. We are in tents and in the open and have not been bothered with it.” He describes the irony of an engineer regiment’s work on 12 December 1918: “We have built more barricks than any company in France and lived in more tents, but our bunch can fix up a tent so it is real comfortable.”
Vosburg returned safely to Phillipston after the war, and worked as a railroad engineer as his father had.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(world war two.)
Large archive of Signal Corps photographs documenting the last year of the war.
Various places, 1941, 1944-1945
Approximately 380 photographs in one box, plus other supplementary material (1.2 linear feet), almost all with Signal Corps insignia and reference numbers in negative, almost all mounted on linen with binding stubs as issued, some with full printed captions, others marked on verso with reference numbers or Signal Corps stamps, many blank on verso; generally just minor to moderate curling and wear, with heavier wear and dampstaining to approximately 50 photographs.
These official Army Signal Corps photographs document the final phase of the war in Europe, Asia and the Pacific from about June 1944 through August 1945, with a few slightly later images of demobilized Japan. Approximately 80 are in strong condition and well-captioned with printed Signal Corps labels mounted on verso. Many of the images are not for the squeamish, including executed concentration camp inmates, and numerous shots of dead or wounded soldiers. Many show the ruins of German cities after Allied occupation, including one of Army medics examining a truck flipped over by a Nazi shell in Arnoldsweiler in February 1945 (illustrated). Others show Axis prisoners of war arriving in Boston; French civilians sheltering in a Maginot Line fortress; an American flag being raised at Corregidor Island; infantrymen crouching in a snow-filled trench under German shelling; a shirtless rifle-wielding Filipino guerilla scout; liberated American prisoners marching to a hospital in Luzon; the flattened ruins of Hiroshima in August 1945; and much more. Several shots of the war in Burma include “Kachin tribesmen unaccustomed to automotive transport” out for a ride with a smiling G.I. At least 3 of the images date from the Pearl Harbor attack in December 1941.
Also included are about 250 uncaptioned photographs in strong condition. These are accompanied by several packets of unapplied caption labels which have become adhered together; it may be possible to separate these labels and match them up with the original photographs. Google image searching has also proven successful in identifying some of these images. Also included are approximately 50 well-captioned sleeves which originally accompanied 4 x 5-inch prints.
Finally, we include the photo identification badge of the compiler, J.A. Griswold, a civilian with the Signal Corps Photographic Laboratory, which was apparently located on the inactive campus of the Army War College in Washington. His name appears on several packets of photographs. He can also be seen in a group photograph with other staff members, a mix of uniformed and civilian employees.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
Latin America & the Caribbean
(brazil.) tomás tamayo de vargas.
Restauracion de la ciudad del Salvador i Baía de Todos-Sanctos, en la Provincia del Brasil.
Madrid: viuda de Alonso Martín, 1628
[8], 178, [4] leaves. 4to, contemporary vellum, minor wear; moderate foxing, leaves 177 and 178 bound out of sequence at end; marca de fuego on top edge.
First edition. In 1624, the Dutch captured the Brazilian city of Salvador in Bahia. This book recounts the Portuguese and Spanish recapture of Bahia the following year. Borba de Moraes, p. 845 (“rare”); European Americana 628/126; Medina BHA 850 (calls for apostillada leaf not found here or in Google Books examples); Palau 327113; Sabin 94280. None traced at auction since 1986.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(chile.) [juan egaña.]
Constitucion política del estado de Chile, promulgada en 29 de diciembre de 1823.
Santiago, [1823?]
81 pages. 4to, later mottled calf; browned, some leaves reinforced at inner margin.
An early constitution from independent Chile, written in the wake of the departure of autocratic revolutionary leader Bernardo O’Higgins. “Its author, Juan Egaña, was one of the two or three best-read Creole intellectuals of the time. . . . The constitution was far too complex to be applied to Chile (or anywhere else)”–Collier & Sater, History of Chile, pages 48-49. The constitution and its 277 articles were tossed aside the following year. Palau 59709. One other copy traced at auction since 1981.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(colombia.) simón bolívar.
Colombianos! Las voluntades públicas se habian espresado . . . por las reformas políticas de la nacion.
Bogotá, 27 August 1828
Letterpress broadside, 11½ x 7¾ inches; disbound on left edge, faint dampstaining, moderate worming. In modern ¼ morocco folding case.
Simon Bolivar was already the president and founding hero of Gran Colombia in August of 1828. After a failed constitutional convention left the young nation on the brink of chaos, Bolivar declared himself dictator through the Decreto Organico (Organic Decree) of 27 August 1828. This proclamation was issued on the same day as the famous decree. Under the heading “Simon Bolivar, Libertador Presidente de Colombia &&&,” It begins “Colombianos! Las voluntades publicas se habian espresado enerjicamente por las reformas politicas de la nacion.” Bolivar explains why he has found it necessary to assume these extraordinary powers. He also assures his countrymen that he will not remain a dictator any longer than necessary, but in the meantime pledges to “commit myself to strictly obey your legitimate desires” (“obligo a obedecer estrictamente vuestros lejitimos deseos”) and to “protect your sacred religion as the faith of all Colombians and the code of all good men; I will make justice the first law of all transactions and the universal guarantee of our citizens. . . . I will not say anything to you about liberty because if I fulfill my promises you will be more than free–you will be respected.” It is signed in type “Bolivar” as president of Gran Colombia. Palau 32190 (questionable match); not in Sabin. One example traced in OCLC, possibly a different printing.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(cuba.)
Group of 4 prints of Cuban sugar plantation laborers from LaPlante’s “Los Ingenios.”
Havana: Marquier y Laplante, [1857]
4 (of 28) chromolithographs, most about 12½ x 17½, the other trimmed with larger margins; mat toning, mount remnants in margins, laid down on modern board.
These plates come from Justo Germán Cantero’s book “Los Ingenios: Colección de Vistas de los Principales Ingenios de Azúcar de la Isla de Cuba,” a work by a Cuban sugar plantation owner which is most often remembered for these gold-bordered plates by Eduardo LaPlante. Included here are 4 views of laborers (very likely enslaved) at work in field and factory: “Casa de Calderas del Ing’o S’n Martin”; “Ingenio Flor de Cuba”; “Ingenio de Amistad”; and “Ingenio Intrepido.” We trace no complete copies of Cantero’s work with text at auction since 1995 (which brought £10,350).
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
(early exploration.) antonio raymundo pasqual.
Descubrimiento de la aguja nautica, de la situacion de la America,
Madrid, 1789
del arte de navegar, y de un nuevo metodo para el adelantamiento en las artes y ciencias. [8], 320 pages. 4to, contemporary vellum, minor wear; minor dampstaining.
Argues that Ramon Llull discovered the power of the magnet in navigation, and that Llull’s theories regarding the existence of a western continent influenced Columbus. Medina BHA 5346; Palau 214290; Sabin 58993.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(ecuador.) [vicente rocafuerte.]
Ideas necesarias a todo pueblo americano independiente, que quiera ser libre.
Philadelphia, 1823
227 pages. Small 8vo, contemporary gilt calf, minor wear; minor dampstaining; edges tinted red.
Second edition. Written by a noted Ecuadorian patriot while in exile in Philadelphia, this work explicitly links the American Revolution with the struggles for independence in Latin America. The title translates to “Necessary Ideas for any Independent American People, who Wants to be Free.” It begins with a substantial essay by Rocafuerte, but the bulk of the book is devoted to Spanish translations of the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation and Constitution, an address by John Adams, and perhaps the first translation of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense into Spanish (“Sentido Comun”). An early American Spanish-language imprint. The imprint line of this edition reads “Puebla 1823, Impresas en Filadelfia, y por su original en la oficina de D. Pedro de la Rosa, Impresor del Gobierno.” Sabin 72275; Shaw & Shoemaker 13974.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(law.) juan de solorzano pereira.
De Indiarum Jure.
Lyon: Laurent Anisson, 1672
[24], 438, [80], [8], 64, [15]; [12], 858, [141] pages, including half-title in first volume. 2 volumes. Folio, modern ¼ calf over marbled boards; title pages in red and black; early inscription on title pages, later embossed library stamps on several pages.
3rd edition of an important analysis of Spanish colonial law, by a former Lima judge, first published in 1629. European Americana 672/213; JCB III, page 247; Medina BHA 1542; Palau 318977; Sabin 86528.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(mexican cookery.)
Group of manuscript Mexico cookbooks and fragments.
Mexico and possibly elsewhere, circa 1840-1900
19 manuscript items in different hands, ranging from fragmentary segments of leaves to complete manuscript cookbooks; condition varies.
The most substantial item here is a 20-page manuscript titled simply “Cocinero.” It begins with several desserts and moves into more savory dishes. One typically Mexican recipe is for Chilpotles Escabechados (page 10). On hand-lined paper, it appears to date from the late 19th century. Three other multi-page gatherings are possibly complete although they lack titles. A crudely hand-stitched 18-page gathering has a mid-19th century look and recipes such as Escabeche de Veracruz and Ensalada de Jicama. A 12-page unbound manuscript which starts with Otros Estofado includes recipes for Pollos en Orchata and Mole Genoves; one leaf bears a watermark reading “Guise Testa” which seems to date from circa 1840. Among the smaller fragments are a recipe for Sopa de Tortillas, and 3 pages of recipes including Chicharos con Ejote en Xitomate bearing the inked stamp of Manuel Prieto González.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(mexican imprint–1594.)
A 16th-century carta de poder from the Valtón collection.
[México: Pedro Balli, completed in manuscript 25 February 1594]
Partially-printed document signed, 4 pages, 12½ x 8½ inches, on one folded sheet, with printing on first page only in 35 lines of Roman type, the remainder completed in manuscript; disbound with marginal loss, leaves nearly detached, worming near bottom affecting 2 words of printed text, skillfully conserved.
A power of attorney document with the printed text beginning “SEpan quantos esta carta vieren como yo . . . Generalmente, para en todos mis pleytos” as usual.
The manuscript completions were sworn in Mexico City on 25 February 1594 before the notary Diego Martínez. Juan de Torres Loranza of Mexico City gives his power of attorney to Rafael Cabeza de Vaca of Puebla, who then obligates Torres Loranza to pay Juan Gómez Casco of Puebla, 3250 gold pesos for 50 arrobas (more than half a ton) of the insect-derived dye cochineal, registered and in boxes (“grana cuchonilla encajada y registrada”).
This variant of the carta de poder form does not appear in Szewczyk & Buffington’s “39 Books and Broadsides Printed in America before the Bay Psalm Book,” but they have attributed it to the workshop of printer Pedro Balli based on the woodcut initial, typeface, and composition (see Philadelphia Rare Books & Manuscripts dealer description laid in).
Laid into a copy of the limited-edition reference work, as issued: Edwin H. Carpenter. A Sixteenth Century Mexican Broadside from the Collection of Emilio Valtón. Folio, publisher’s cloth-backed boards; one of 140; small inked “MM” stamps from the library of Michael Mathes. Los Angeles, 1965.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(mexican imprint–1698.)
Constituciones de la Provincia de San Diego de Mexico de los Menores descalços.
Mexico: viuda de Francisco Rodriguez Lupercio, 1698
[18], 263, [17] leaves plus 2 additional extraneous leaves bound in after 263 (one dated 1750). 4to, early vellum, minor wear, recased; title page worn with substantial loss and laid down, next 3 leaves with lesser loss and also stabilized, otherwise moderate worming and dampstaining; title page in red and black; inked library deaccession stamp on title page.
A revised constitution and history of the Discalced Franciscan Friars Minor in New Spain from 1580 onward. Medina, Mexico 1691; Palau 59967.
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
(mexican imprint–1745.) antonio de las llagas.
Fragua de amor divino, para ablandar los hierros del corazon humano.
Mexico: viuda de Joseph Bernardo de Hogal, 1745
[10], 264 pages. Tall 12mo, contemporary vellum, minor wear; lacking front endpapers, moderate worming, inscription on rear free endpaper.
A book of prayers and devotions, translated from Portuguese. Medina, Mexico 3727; not found in Palau. 2 in OCLC (none in the United States), and none traced at auction.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(mexican imprint–1786.)
Reglas de gobierno de la Sociedad de Subscritores del Teatro de la Ciudad de México Reyno de N. E.
[Mexico], circa 1786
28 pages. Folio, 11½ x 8¼ inches, original marbled wrappers; lone wormhole, otherwise minimal wear.
The bylaws for one of Mexico’s first theatrical organizations. Concludes with lists of shareholders and officers. Medina, Mexico 9209, 7632n; Sabin 85735. 4 in OCLC, and none traced at auction.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
(mexican imprint–1793.)
Relacion historica de la fundacion de este convento . . . Compañía de María, llamada vulgarmente la enseñanza.
Mexico: Felipe de Zúñiga y Ontiveros, 1793
Portrait plate. [10], ii, 165, [3] pages. 4to, contemporary mottled calf, minor wear; moderate dampstaining to outer leaves, pages 13-20 bound out of sequence, minor wear and finger-soiling, minimal worming; 1922 disinfection tag on front pastedown.
History of a Mexico City convent, and a life of its founder Maria Ignacia Azlor y Echeverz. Medina, Mexico 8255; Palau 259736; Sabin 69226.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(mexican imprint–1803.) josé de iturrigaray.
Late colonial Nahuatl broadside announcing the tenure of Viceroy Iturrigaray.
Mexico, 15 October 1803
Letterpress broadside, 23¾ x 16¾ inches, signed in type by the author with his manuscript rubric, and signed by Ignacio de la Barrera as secretary; several small worm holes, light wear along vertical folds; uncut.
This broadside announces the transfer of power from outgoing viceroy Félix Berenguer de Marquina to José de Iturrigaray, who would serve until his arrest for his support of popular sovereignty in 1808. A rubric appears next to Iturrigaray’s printed name which he likely signed himself.
Examples of late colonial written Nahuatl are rare, as a late 18th-century royal decree technically forbade the official use of indigenous languages. The text also stands out because its Nahuatl is lacking in Spanish loanwords, an oddity as colonial Nahuatl documents since the 16th century were typically peppered with Spanish. Instead, Vicente de la Rosa Saldívar, the official Nahuatl interpreter of the Audiencia, translated almost every Spanish term, including ones that had already made their way into everyday Nahuatl. Even the term Nueva España (New Spain, the viceroyalty that included Mexico), which is ubiquitous in the colonial Nahuatl corpus, is here rendered as Yancuic Caxtillan, the word-for-word Nahuatl equivalent. The Nahuatl renderings of Iturrigaray’s titles are creative, with “General” appearing as “Yaoquizcá-yacanqui”–literally, “leader of going to war.” Saldívar’s motivations in translating the broadside in this manner are unclear. Nahuas themselves at the time may have been purging Spanish words from their language out of a purist ethnic pride, or it may reflect a kind of creole patriotism that sought glory in the indigenous past, rather than Spanish culture.
The text of this rare Nahuatl broadside begins “Nocnopil Joseph de Yturrigaray Técpilli monêtolti itechpa in Tlatecpantli Santiago.” None others traced in OCLC or at auction, but listed in Sabin 106220A. León-Portilla, “Tepuztlahcuilolli, impresos en náhuatl,” page 98, describes it as one of only 7 viceroy’s decrees in Nahuatl.
Estimate
$4,000 – $6,000
(mexican imprint–puebla.) gregorio villagomez y lorenzana.
Prima oratio habita in regio ac pontificio Angelopolitano Seminario.
Angelopolis [Puebla de los Angeles], 1770
Frontispiece plate by José de Nava. [2], 23 pages. 4to, original wallpaper wrappers, minimal wear; lone wormhole, otherwise quite fresh; title page printed in red and black with two lines in gilt.
A beautifully printed oration in Latin on Saint Thomas Aquinas. Not all copies have the gilt printing on the title page. Medina, Puebla 868; Palau 366647.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(mexico–art.) franco, artist.
Elaborate oil portrait of Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, the influential Bishop of Puebla.
No place, 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).
Estimate
$4,000 – $6,000
(mexico–broadsides.)
Situacion actual de Yucatan.
Printed broadsheet, 2 pages, 15½ x 9¾ inches; quite worn at outer corners with water damage and loss of about 2½ inches affecting only two words of text, faint paper clip stain in upper margin, horizontal fold.
The briefly independent state of Yucatan promulgated its first constitution on 6 April 1825 and joined the Mexican federation as one of its original states. This anonymous broadsheet was issued from the capital city of Campeche shortly after the election of José Tiburcio Lopez as governor, and reacts to the disorder of the newly developing nation. No other examples have been traced in OCLC, Sutro Pamphlets, at auction, or elsewhere.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(mexico–broadsides.)
Instruccion al pueblo que ignora las causas de la guerra civil / In altepetl ahmo tlen quimati.
Toluca, 27 March 1859
Letterpress broadside, 18 x 13¼ inches, signed in type only as “Cé Mexicátzin / Un Mexicano”; repaired separations at folds with minor wear, moderate foxing.
This broadside in parallel Nahuatl and Spanish explains the outbreak of the Reform War and argues in favor of the Liberal cause. The anonymous author and translator identified himself only as “A Mexican.” Subtitled “In altepetl ahmo tlen quimati” (“to the communities which do not know anything”) [about the war], the broadside attempts to satisfy curiosity about the conflict. Addressed to a readership consisting of “those among whom there is no knowledge, but a desire for knowledge,” the broadside reads like propaganda, attempting to sway its indigenous readers to the Liberal side, and pinning all recent troubles on the recklessly obstinate Conservatives. It extols the 1857 Mexican federal constitution, heralding it as a modern marvel that could bring prosperity and happiness to all Mexicans. The translator generally refrains from using common Spanish loanwords, preferring instead to use Nahuatl translations. These translations are often either exceedingly literal or ad hoc–perhaps from a belief that the Nahua audience would not understand or be hostile to Spanish terminology. Thus, they rendered Mexico’s congress, the congreso constituyente, matter-of-factly as altepetlaca or “people of the state.” Nación is more metaphorically and colorfully represented as altepepachocanantzin, “the motherly state we submit to.” A rare attempt by non-Indian authorities to engage with this community in their own language, long after most official uses of such languages had fallen out of favor. None in OCLC, and none others traced at auction.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(mexico–history.) francisco lopez de gomara.
Historia, di Don Ferdinando Cortes, marchese della Valle, capitano valorosissimo.
Venice: Giovanni Bonadio, 1564
Illustration on title page. [8], 355 leaves. 8vo, 18th-century stiff vellum, moderate wear and soiling, 19th-century shelf label at base of backstrip; title page soiled with an early inscription incised and verso reinforcement, lacking leaf 1 following the table of contents, cropped with a few headlines and page numbers trimmed, minor foxing, title inscribed on lower edge; early inscriptions on title page, later owner’s signature on front free endpaper.
An early Italian translation of the stand-alone third part of Lopez de Gomara’s 1552 landmark History of the West Indies, dedicated to the exploits of Hernán Cortés. European Americana 564/25; Medina BHA 159n; Sabin 27741; Wagner, Spanish Southwest 2v.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(mexico–history.) francisco de florencia.
Narracion de la marabillosa aparicion que hizo el archangel San Miguel.
Seville, Spain: Siete Revueltas, circa 1740
Full-page engraving on verso of title page. [8], 194, [4] pages. 4to, contemporary vellum, minor wear, stain on front wrapper; minor dampstaining near end; edges tinted red; early inscriptions on front free endpaper, small marca de fuega of a cross on top edge, later owner’s bookplate on front pastedown.
Second edition. The Jesuit Francisco de Florencia (1619–1695) was the first Florida-born author. Here he describes an apparition which appeared in 1631 to an Indian named Diego Lázaro de San Francisco who lived on the Puebla–Tlaxcala border in Mexico. Miracles are recounted, and a full-page woodcut of St. Michael appears on the verso of the title page. A few lines in Nahuatl can be found on page 119. European Americana 740/121; Medina, BHA 6467; Palau 92347; Sabin 24815. The preliminaries are carried over from the 1692 Lopez de Haro first edition, dated 1690 and 1692, but European Americana places this Siete Revueltas edition as circa 1740. This copy appeared previously at auction in 1999 and 2017. No other examples of any edition traced at auction since 1979.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(mexico–history.) antonio de solis y ribadeneyra.
Historia de la conquista de Mexico.
Brussels, 1704 [i.e. 1705]
2 maps, 5 (of 12) mostly folding plates, text illustrations. [20], “604” [302], [18] pages. Folio, later vellum-backed marbled boards, minor wear; hinges split, minor foxing; title page in red and black; bookseller’s tag on front pastedown, later owner’s small inked stamp on title page.
Third Spanish edition of this important narrative, enlarged with the biography of Solis by Juan de Goyeneche. With extra 6-page Indice de los Capitulos and 2-page censura not called for in Palau. European Americana 705/159; Palau 318604; Sabin 86447a.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(mexico–history.) rafael landívar.
Rusticatio Mexicana.
Bologna, Italy: Aquinatis, 1782
3 plates. xxviii, 209, [1] pages. 8vo, contemporary calf, worn; pastedowns detached, minor foxing; marca de fuego on top edge.
Greatly expanded second edition of an epic Latin poem on the people and landscape of Mexico and Guatemala. Landívar was a Guatemalan who moved to Mexico, became a Jesuit, and then went to Italy after the expulsion. The Jesuit university in Guatemala is named in his honor. See Laird’s 2006 book, “The Epic of America: An Introduction to Rafael Landívar and the Rusticatio Mexicana.” Medina BHA 5004; Palau 131046; Sabin 38839. One other copy known at auction since 1971.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(mexico–history.) bernal díaz del castillo.
The True History of the Conquest of Mexico.
London, 1800
Frontispiece map of Mexico City. viii, 514, [1] pages. 4to, modern mottled calf; foxing to map, light dampstaining to last few leaves; later owners’ small inked stamp and inscription on title page.
First edition in English of an important firsthand account of Mexico, Cuba, Yucatan, Florida, and Guatemala, written in 1568. Palau 72373; Sabin 19984.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(mexico–history.)
Tactica de la caballería, escrita para su uso, y dedicada al exercito megicano.
London, 1823
2 plates, numerous text illustrations. iv, 44, 46 pages. 12mo, modern vellum, quite bowed; minor worming and foxing; early military owner’s inscription on verso of second plate.
This manual was issued shortly after Mexico won its independence in 1821, but still faced efforts by Spain to recapture its lost territory. The authorship of this British-printed cavalry manual for Mexican use is generally ascribed to the British soldier of fortune Arthur Goodall Wavell, who had served as a general in the army of independence. 2 in OCLC, one in England and the other in Chile; none traced at auction.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(mexico–manuscripts.)
Volume of colonial manuscript and printed decrees assembled for legal reference.
Various places, 1701-1779
45 items with plus supporting documents on approximately 135 leaves, including 22 printed decrees and the remainder in manuscript. Folio, 12 x 8½ inches, lacking boards and backstrip but still sturdily bound, with some printed decrees folding out to a larger size; varied condition with wear to some folded items, but generally strong, a few documents apparently excised.
In colonial Mexico, the demand for printed royal and viceroyal decrees of local interest would often outstrip the supply, so lawyers, justices and other interested parties would often obtain copies. Not everything was included in the various editions of the Recopilación de Leyes de Indias. Thus lawyers would maintain their own cedularios for reference use. This one covers criminal cases, the army and navy, confiscation of property, the use of stamped paper, the royal treasury, dress codes, bigamy, and other social matters. Many bear the stamped or inked “Yo El Rey” signatures of Felipe V and Ferdinand VI.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(mexico–manuscripts.)
Extensive estate papers of the Vivanco mining family, including an early signature of Miguel Hidalgo.
Various places, circa 1780-1801
[276] manuscript leaves, loose or bound in 14 separate documents, most of them notarially signed copies of the originals as retailed by the family, laid into a limp vellum wrapper, 12¼ x 8½ inches; minor wear.
These papers all relate to the estate of a family with mining interests in Aguascaliente and Bolaños. The principals are Augustina Velázquez, who died in 1780; her husband Antonio Vivanco y Gutierrez (1727-1799), a wealthy mine owner who was made Marqués de Vivanco in 1791 for his service in the Bolaños militia; and their son Antonio Guadalupe Vivanco de Velásquez (1778-1800), the second Marques, who died young, leaving a widow, an infant daughter and a complex estate situation. This packet includes:
[121] manuscript leaves, including dozens of receipts of various sizes, bound together. Various places, 1780-1782. Augustina Velázquez’s will ordered that numerous masses were read in her name in her home region, with priests signing receipts for the payments. One intriguing entry is a receipt for donations signed by 20 priests, including “Br. Hidalgo”–an early signature of Miguel Hidalgo (1753-1811). He had been ordained as a priest in 1773, and much later was a leader in the Mexican war of independence. During this period he was at the Colegio de San Nicolás Obispo in what is now Morelia. The initial “H” evolved in his later signatures, but the remainder is a close match.
“Testimonio de los autos de inventarios formados a los bienes que quedaor por muerte del Señor Don Antonio Vivanco, Marques de Vivanco.” [1], 99, [1] leaves in a consistent hand. Mexico, 3 April 1801.
“Testim’o el . . . D’n Antonio Guadalupe Vivanco, Marqués de Vivanco.” [41] manuscript leaves in a consistent hand. Mexico, 14 July 1800.
10 other related unbound documents in 28 leaves, 1782-1791.
Grant of special privileges by the Bishop of Guadalajara to the Marqués de Vivanco. [5] calligraphic pages, 23 December 1782.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(mexico–manuscripts.)
Membership certificate in the Imperial Order of Guadalupe, signed by the Emperor Maximilian.
Palacio Nacional de Mexico, 30 November 1865
Partly printed Document Signed by Maximilian I as Emperor and Juan Nepomuceno Almonte Ramírez (“Almonte”) as chancellor with their embossed seals, and on verso by F.D. Ulibarri as subsecretary of state; 10½ x 16½ inches, moderate foxing and wear including partial separation along one vertical fold.
The Imperial Order of Guadalupe was created as an official honor for the citizens of Mexico. It had three short periods of use: during the reign of Emperor Agustin I, 1822-1823; for a few months under Santa Anna in 1854; and finally from 1863 to 1867 under Emperor Maximilian I. This certificate names Pedro Cabazos of Matamoros as a Caballero (Knight) within the order. In addition to Maximilian’s bold signature, the signature of Juan Almonte (1803-1869) is notable for his close association with Santa Anna, and his important role in the Battle of the Alamo.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(mexico–photography.) [louis de planque, photographer.]
Carte-de-visite photograph of Mexican general Servando Canales.
No place, circa 1866
Albumen print, 3½ x 2 inches, on original plain mount, captioned on verso; minor foxing.
Servando Canales (1830-1881) was an officer in the Mexican Army. He served as a general in the Republican resistance to the Maximilian regime, and later served three terms as governor of Tamaulipas. The airport at Matamoros is named in his honor. His father Antonio (1802-1852) was an important general in the Mexican-American War. Another pose from this same sitting is published in Thompson & Jones, “Civil War and Revolution on the Rio Grande Frontier,” page 123.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(mexico–plate books.)
Coleccion de estampas que representan los principales pasos . . . del B’to Frai Sebastian de Aparizio,
Rome, 1789
with Mateo Ximénez, Compendio della vita del beato Sebastiano d’Apparizio, 100 (of 129) plates; plus portrait plate in second volume. 228, [1] pages in second volume. 4to, unmatched ¼ calf (Estampas bound later over marbled boards, Vita in contemporary binding over patterned boards with moderate wear); Estampas with modern inked ownership stamps on title and front free endpaper.
Sebastian de Aparicio (1502-1600) grew prosperous as a colonist in early New Spain, then gave it all away to become a mendicant Franciscan friar at the age of 73, traveling across Mexico by oxcart seeking alms for his order. During his fatal illness at the age of 98, he slept in a bed for the first time in 25 years. Offered here are the first edition of an Italian biography of Aparicio, and its companion volume telling his story in engravings by Pedro Bombelli. Palau 377047-8; Sabin 105727-8.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(mexico–plate books.) frederick catherwood.
Views of Ancient Monuments in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan.
London: F. Catherwood, 1844
Map in red and black, 25 tinted lithographic plates, plus gilt chromolithograph title page. [1], 24 pages. Folio, 21 x 14¼ inches, contemporary ¼ morocco with gilt title on front board, minor wear; most plates detached and laid in, intermittent foxing, minor wear; earlier bookplate on front pastedown.
First edition. Catherwood accompanied archaeologist John Lloyd Stephens to sites in Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala from 1839 to 1841. Stephens published his comprehensive account in 1841 with much smaller plates after Catherwood’s drawings, but these folio renderings by leading lithographers are regarded as among the finest archaeological plates of the 19th century.
Others bear an 1844 New York Bartlett & Welford imprint on the title page; some deluxe copies were printed on card without captions. All were issued simultaneously as part of the same edition of 300. This copy bears the bookplate of Lord Braybrooke, presumably Richard Griffin, 3rd Baron Braybrooke (1783-1858), a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. Hill 263; Palau 50290; Sabin 11520 (“beautiful book”).
Estimate
$20,000 – $30,000
(mexico–plate books.) frederick catherwood.
Views of Ancient Monuments in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan.
[Barre, MA: Barre Publishers, 1965]
Map in red and black, 25 color plates, and smaller text booklet of [4], 24 pages. Folio, 20½ x 16½ inches, minimal wear. Laid into original folding cloth portfolio case with gilt title, minor wear, booklet pocket torn.
Reprint edition of the 1844 first edition (see above). Hill 264.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(mexico–plate books.) john phillips; and a. rider.
Mexico Illustrated in Twenty-Six Drawings.
London: E. Atchley, 1848
26 hand-colored lithograph plates including additional title page, each 22¾ x 14½ inches. 26 text leaves, one for each plate. Folio, publisher’s ½ gilt pictorial morocco by Tarrant (as described by Abbey except for backstrip), minor wear, rebacked; minor foxing and a couple of repairs to text leaves, but the plates generally quite clean, recased and rehinged to open flat.
First edition of a beautifully produced book of Mexican views. Created in the wake of the Mexican-American War, this is a travel book rather than a military history, though some of the views depict armies. Some of the plates draw upon Nebel and others for source images, but others were from original paintings by Phillips and Rider, whose signatures appear in the plates for Vera Cruz, Real del Monte, and Zimapán. The views cover much of the country, from the Caribbean coast, inland to Mexico City, and then to the Gulf Coast. All are lithographed by Day & Son. Phillips was an officer of the Real del Monte mining company, and contributed the text, offered in English and Spanish. Abbey Travel, II:671; Palau 224780; Sabin 62498.
Estimate
$10,000 – $15,000
(mexico–plate books.) john pye, engraver; after mrs. henry g.
Six Views of the Most Important Towns, and Mining Districts,
London: Henry Colburn, 1829
upon the Table Land of Mexico. 6 engraved plates and 7 text leaves plus final blank, each 12½ x 19 inches. Oblong folio, contemporary ½ calf, moderate wear, with imperfect gilt title on front board; moderate foxing; bookplate of Baron Northwick on front pastedown.
Large views of Guadalajara, Zacatecas, Sombrerete, Catorce, Valladolid, and Tlalpujahua, published as a supplement to Mr. Ward’s earlier book “Mexico in 1827.” Abbey Travel 668; Palau 374009.
Estimate
$5,000 – $7,500
(mexico–plate books.) alexandre lenoir.
Antiquités Mexicaines, Relation des Trois Expéditions du Captaine Dupaix.
Paris, 1834
150 (of 161) plates in atlas volume, plus lithographed additional title page in text volume. 2 volumes. Folio, 20 x 13½ inches, contemporary ¼ calf, moderate wear, atlas front joint split; moderate foxing, atlas incomplete (lacking the map, 11 plates and all 12 text leaves and title pages), text volume lacking more than 100 pages in the final three sections; ecclesiastical bookplates on front pastedowns.
First edition, quite incomplete but with a very large complement of lithographs after original drawings by José Lucian Castañeda. “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 13069, 134954.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(mexico–plate books.) carlos nebel.
Viaje Pintoresco y Arqueolojico . . . de la Republica Mejicana, en los Años . . . 1829 hasta 1834.
Paris and Mexico, 1840
34 (of 50) plates, 18 of them boldly hand-colored. 22 (of 30) text leaves. Folio, 21 x 14 inches, later ½ morocco, moderate wear; a few short closed tears, minor dampstaining in margin of last half of volume.
Skillfully executed views by a German engineer who spent 5 years in Mexico. Alexander Humboldt wrote the introduction. This is a later edition, originally issued as Voyage Pittoresque at Archéologique in 1836, and first under this title in 1839. The volume is usually found without a full complement of 50 plates, regardless of edition, and this is no exception. Miles & Reese, America Pictured to Life, 18; Palau 188867; Sabin 52178.
Estimate
$6,000 – $9,000
(mexico–plate books.) carl sartorius.
Mexico: Landscapes and Popular Sketches.
London, 1859
18 hand-colored plates including frontispiece and additional title page. vi, [2], 202 pages. 4to, modern ½ morocco; coming detached through page 23.
First edition in English (originally issued in parts starting in 1858). Describes land and people of Mexico, with engravings after Moritz Rugendas. Palau 302682; Sabin 77121.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(natural history.) josé de acosta.
Histoire naturelle et moralle des Indes.
Paris: Marc Orry, 1600
[8], 375, [17] leaves. 8vo, early stiff vellum, moderate wear, later manuscript title on backstrip; front hinge split, minimal worming, minor dampstaining; early and later inscriptions on title page.
Second French edition of Acosta’s important 1589 natural history of America, with extensive discussion of the Incas and Aztecs. European Americana 600/2; Medina BHA 330n; Palau 1987; Sabin 125n.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(natural history.) juan eusebio nieremberg.
Historia naturae, maxime peregrinae, libris XVI distincta.
Antwerp: Moreti, 1635
70 engraved illustrations in the text. [8], 502, [104] pages. Folio, contemporary vellum-covered boards, worn, early failed vellum rebacking; front hinge split, minor dampstaining, moderate soiling to title page with early paper repair on top edge.
An important early work on the natural history of America, mainly devoted to Mexico, with extensive descriptions of plants, animals, and minerals, and 2 chapters at the end on wonders of nature in Europe and the Holy Land. European Americana 635/94; Nissen ZBI 2974; Palau 190738; Sabin 55268.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
(peru.) pedro de perea.
Copia de la carta que el Obispo de Arequipa . . . provando la certeza que tiene,
Lima: Jerónimo de Contreras, 1629
el aver sido la Virgen concebida sin pecado original. [47], 259, [36] pages. 4to, contemporary vellum, minor wear; lacking front free endpaper, minor foxing and minimal dampstaining; includes a colophon leaf not called for in Medina or Palau; marca de fuego on top edge, and early inscription on title page.
A theological work by the Bishop of Arequipa, and an early production from the press of Jerónimo de Contreras, whose family was a major force in Lima printing from 1621 through 1779 . Medina, Lima 137 (citing only the Biblioteca Medina copy); Palau 218288; Sabin 60877 (“a work of the greatest rarity”). 4 copies in OCLC.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(peru.) sebastiano bado [baldí].
Anastasis corticis peruviae; seu chinae chinae defensio.
Genoa: P.G. Calenzani, 1663
[32], 278 pages. 4to, contemporary vellum, backstrip frayed; rear hinge split, lacking rear free endpaper; marca de fuego on top edge.
Discusses the introduction of Peruvian cinchona bark, the source of quinine, to Europe.
Many copies (such as at the National Central Library of Rome) are found bound with an unrelated work by the same author, “Phlebotomiae necessitas,” plus an index covering both works, and 4 extra preliminary leaves. Others like the present copy and the one at the National Library of Austria were issued with fewer preliminaries, no “Phlebotomiae Necessitas” and no index.
European Americana 663/8; Garrison-Morton 1826; Palau 22395 (no collation). None traced at auction since 1998.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(peru.) alejo de alvitez.
Puntual descripcion, funebre lamento, y sumptuoso tumulo de . . .
[Lima, 1757]
la Señora Doña Mariana Josepha de Austria, Reyna fidelisima de Portugal. Large folding plate of catafalque by Contreras. [4], 237, [8], [97] pages. 4to, contemporary vellum, minor wear; repaired closed tears to plate; inked stamp on front free endpaper, private library bookplate on front pastedown.
Describes the ceremonies in honor of Maria Anna of Austria (1683-1754), widow of King John V of Portugal, including poems, sermons, and an “Oracion Funebre” by Francisco Ponze de León (with its own title page). A short poem in English is attempted on page 192, with double v’s substituting for the w’s, and two other poems are in Portuguese. Medina, Lima 1103; Palau 10118.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
(peru.)
Reales ordenanzas para la direccion . . . de la mineria de Nueva-España.
Lima: Niños Huérfanos, 1786 [1785]
[2], lxxix, vii, 269 pages. 4to, contemporary vellum, minor wear; leaf N3 trimmed on bottom edge, minor worming to rear endpapers only; attractive speckled edges in red and blue; later inked stamp of collector Gregorio Beeche on title page.
Second Lima edition. “Valuable compendium of the old mining laws and mineral customs”–Sabin 56260. Medina, Lima 1636; Palau 251938n.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
(peru.) josé hipólito unanúe.
Guia política, eclesiástica y militar del Virreynato del Perú para el año de 1796.
Folding map, 7 folding tables. [2], xii, [2], 323, [1] pages. Small 8vo, publisher’s speckled calf, minor wear; short repair to map; edges tinted red; gift inscriptions and library markings as noted.
One of a series of 5 annual guides to Peru’s geography, church, and government, with the notable map by Andres Baleto and José Vazquez. Medina, Lima 1832; Palau 344279; Sabin 97718.
This copy bears a long and distinguished provenance: gift of Richard Coden to James Stuart, Lima, 1805; gift of James Stuart to the Salem East India Marine Society, 1806; the Society’s 19th century bookplate on front pastedown; embossed stamp of their new name, the Essex Institute, on title page; 1967 release stamp on bookplate; gift inscription from George Goodspeed to noted binding collector Michael Papantonio.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(puerto rico.) iñigo abbad y lasierra.
Historia geografica, civil y natural de la isla de San Juan Bautista de Puerto-Rico.
Puerto Rico: Libreria de Acosta, 1866
Plate with facsimile of Abbad’s signature. x, 508 pages. Large 4to, ¼ sheep, moderate wear; front hinge split and detached from text block; foxing, minor dampstaining; early owner’s signature on title page.
Second edition, revised and expanded, of “the best work on Puerto Rico”–Winsor VIII:289 (first published in 1788). Palau 515; Sabin 6.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(puerto rico.)
Lolita Lebrón . . . Que Viva Puerto Rico Libre!
San Francisco, CA: La Raza Silkscreen Center, 1977
Screen print, 23 x 17½ inches; 3 repaired closed tears (the longest 2½ inches), mount remnants on verso, tack holes in corners, other minor wear.
Portrait of the Puerto Rican nationalist who led an attack on the United States House of Representatives in 1954, shouting “¡Viva Puerto Rico Libre!” (“Long live a Free Puerto Rico!”) as she fired a pistol at the ceiling. After serving 25 years in prison, she was pardoned by President Carter in 1979. She continued to advocate for Puerto Rican independence until her death in 2010. One in OCLC, at a library in the Netherlands; none traced at auction.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(south america.) cosme bueno.
Descripcion geographica de las provincias que componen los reynos del Peru, Buenos-Ayres, y Chile
[Lima], circa 1763
por obispados: se hallan en ella varias particularidades de hist[ori]a, polit’ca y naturál. [1], 321 manuscript leaves. Folio, early ½ calf, moderate wear, rebacked in period style; cropped with slight loss to side notes and page numbers, minor foxing.
Cosme Bueno (1711-1798) was a physician and historian who published an annual almanac in Lima, “El Conocimiento de los Tiempos,” from 1757 to 1798. This longer historical work began appearing in serialized form in his almanacs in the 1760s, but was published in book form in very small numbers, if at all. It
describes parts of La Plata in what are now Chile, Bolivia, Perú, Argentina, and Paraguay, covering geography, climate, population, and religious activity. It was apparently circulated in manuscript form, and finally appeared in proper printed editions in 1902 and 1996.
The book (if there was one) was not recorded by Medina. Palau lists “Descripcion de las Provincias del Perú” as a 1763 Lima imprint in octavo, but with no other details (36683). OCLC lists one copy of “Descripción geografica de las Provincias pertenecientes al Reyno del Perú, Chile y Rio de la Plata” at the National Library of Chile, in [525] pages, with a title page in red and black, but it is not entirely clear whether this might be a manuscript. At least one similarly titled manuscript by Bueno has appeared on the market. The dealer Kraus sold a 42-leaf “Descripcion del Obispado de Buenos Ayres” in 1957, said to come from the papers of Juan Vincente, Conde de Revilla-Gigedo, Viceroy of Mexico (1789-1794); it later appeared at Sotheby’s in 1966.
Estimate
$5,000 – $7,500
(travel.) gustav von tempsky.
Mitla: A Narrative of Incidents and Personal Adventures on a Journey in Mexico, Guatemala, and Salvador.
London, 1858
Folding hand-colored map, 14 lithographed plates (including 5 chromolithograph views.) xv, [1], 436 pages. 8vo, later ½ calf, front board detached, backstrip chipped; inscribed “with the author’s compliments” on flyleaf, later owner’s inked stamps on title and flyleaf.
First edition, inscribed by the author. Abbey, Travel 665; Palau 329979. Provenance: Gift from the author to his wife’s uncle John Zephaniah Bell (1794-1883) of London per inscription on flyleaf with explanatory note; stamps of later owner Walter Lind.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(travel.) thomas gage.
Nouvelle relation contenant les voyages . . . dans la Nouvelle Espagne . . . Nicaragua jusques à la Havane,
Amsterdam: Paul Marret, 1695, 1694
avec la description de la Ville de Mexique. 4 folding maps, 12 folding plates, 2 engraved additional titles. [22], 200, 178; [2], 318, [8] pages. 2 volumes. 12mo, contemporary calf, moderate wear; minimal wear to contents, a few pencil marks in margins; speckled edges; armorial bookplates on verso of title pages.
Second edition in French. Gage was an English Catholic who went to Spain and became ordained as a Dominican priest. Although foreigners were forbidden from traveling to the Spanish colonies, a group of Dominicans helped smuggle him in a barrel to Mexico in 1625. He ended up as a missionary in Guatemala, and desiring to return to Europe, fled in 1637 without permission from the order. In England, he abandoned Catholicism, became an Anglican, and published this book. It was the first original account of the Spanish colonies by an Englishman, and would remain the only one for many years. It also offered detailed advice for an English invasion of the colonies. This advice was heeded when the English captured Jamaica in 1655; Gage accompanied the army and died there the following year.
The map of the Americas depicts California as an island. “He appears to have been a believer in witchcraft and sorcery, and admits into his work many curious relations on those subjects”–Sabin 26298. European Americana 695/80; Palau 96485; Sabin 26304.