Printed & Manuscript Americana
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Rick Stattler
Vice President & Director, Books & Manuscripts
rstattler@swanngalleries.com
(212) 254-4710 ext. 27
David Rivera
Administrator
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(212) 254-4710 ext. 13
George S. Lowry
Chairman
Nicholas D. Lowry
President, Principal Auctioneer
924899
Andrew M. Ansorge
Vice President & Controller
Alexandra Mann-Nelson
Chief Marketing Officer
2030704
Todd Weyman
Vice President & Director, Prints & Drawings
1214107
Nigel Freeman
Vice President & Director, African American Art
Rick Stattler
Vice President & Director, Books & Manuscripts
Administration
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Vice President & Controller
aansorge@swanngalleries.com
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Client Accounting
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Communications Manager
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(american indians.) george catlin.
Catlin’s North American Indian Portfolio.
London: George Catlin, Egyptian Hall, printed by C. & J. Adlard, 1844
25 hand-colored lithographs, each 22½ x 16½ inches. 20 text pages. Folio, publisher’s ½ calf, moderate wear including a light scrape touching the gilt title on front board, tastefully rebacked with most of original backstrip laid down; interleaving paper renewed, plates mounted on tabs; quite minor wear to plates (a few ½-inch chips at the corners, a few closed tears under an inch) and minimal foxing.
First edition, first issue. After creating his most important paintings in the American West in the early 1830s, Catlin had been giving public lectures on his paintings in Great Britain from 1841 onward, sometimes with a group of American Indians in what was essentially one of the first Wild West shows. For this seminal portfolio of large-format lithographs, he selected what he felt were the 25 most popular images from his shows. “In The North American Indian Portfolio, Catlin immortalized those scenes that would become forever associated with life on the Great Plains–buffalo, buffalo hunting, galloping horses, bronco riding, and roping”–Reddin, Wild West Shows, page 43.
Catlin first issued these 25 plates with printed captions bound with the 20 pages of introductory text. Later issues put out by Bohn or Chatto & Windus were variously either mounted on card without captions, or had six extra plates, or had only 16 pages of text. A lovely, well-preserved copy. Abbey Travel 653; Field 258; Howes C243 (“c”); Sabin 11532; Wagner-Camp 105a:1.
Estimate
$40,000 – $60,000
(alaska.) adolphus w. greely.
The author’s working copy with manuscript revisions of his “Handbook of Alaska.”
[New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1909], with manuscript notes circa 1914
Photographic plates. 280 pages. 8vo, unbound signatures; lacking all front matter, frontispiece plate, and “General Map of Alaska”; minor dampstaining; extensive revisions in the author’s hand and by inserted typescript notes.
Adolphus W. Greely (1844-1935) is best remembered as the leader of the 1881-1884 Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, which successfully explored Ellesmere Island in the Canadian High Arctic, but also resulted in the unpleasant deaths of most of his crew. Greely recovered to command the Army’s Signal Corps, and supervised the construction of an elaborate telegraph network in Alaska in the first years of the 20th century. In conjunction with that project, he authored this extensive Handbook of Alaska, which went through four editions in his lifetime, 1909, 1914, 1919, and 1925. Offered here is his personal copy of the 1909 first edition, with his extensive revisions made in preparation for a new edition.
All four editions of the Handbook are available on Hathitrust, allowing for easy comparison. The first three editions seem to have been produced from stereotype plates, with the only substantial differences seen in the title pages and prefaces, and all coming to 280 pages in the main body. The fourth edition is 330 pages.
The text contains dozens of corrections in three forms: handwritten on the original pages, handwritten pieces tipped in, and typewritten pieces tipped or laid in. These revisions appear to have been made to pages from the 1909 first edition, with notes frequently referencing data and events through 1913. Greely’s intent was apparently to have these revisions reflected in the 1914 edition, but the main body of text in the second edition was simply reproduced via stereotype plates from the first. The publisher may have decided that a complete resetting of the type was not cost-effective. Not until 1925 was Greely able to publish a complete revision of the text, but the changes seen here are unevenly reflected in the 1925 edition. Page 45 contains a revised partial sentence on a typed slip which is ignored in the 1925 revision, with the chapter moved to later in the book on page 140. Many more substantial revisions can be seen, ranging from added paragraphs to completely revised tables and charts. The table of mountains and volcanoes on page 268 has heavy revisions on a duplicate sheet, while a summary chronology on page 260 has a whole additional typescript and manuscript sheet extending it through 1914. In short, these are edits for an early revision of the text which was never published.
Arctic Bibliography 6112; Smith 3824. Provenance: an old typescript description from an unknown dealer promises “We purchased this from a descendant, directly out of family storage.”
Estimate
$400 – $600
(american indians.)
“Ledger art” self-portrait by the Sioux leader Crow Dog, made during his murder trial,
Deadwood, SD and elsewhere, 1882-1887
in an autograph book kept by a local resident during and after the trial. [75] manuscript pages. Oblong 12mo, 4 x 7 inches, original embroidered cloth with printed title “Aldine Album” produced in 1878, minor wear; minimal wear to contents.
In August 1881, the Brulé Sioux subchief Crow Dog (1833-1912) shot and killed tribal police commander Spotted Tail, who had been handpicked by federal authorities and was regarded as an accommodationist. The facts of the killing were not disputed; in accordance with Sioux custom, Crow Dog made restitution to Spotted Tail’s family and the matter was regarded as settled. However, the federal Indian agent pressed charges, and Crow Dog was brought to trial in Deadwood, SD in March 1882. The jury pronounced him guilty, but the United States Supreme Court overturned the conviction, ruling that as the killing took place on tribal land, the federal government had no jurisdiction. The ruling remains of seminal importance to Indian law today.
This autograph album dates to 12 March 1882, during the trial. Standing out among these inscriptions is a hand-colored drawing in ink and colored pencil which represents Crow Dog on horseback killing a mounted rival. Behind him is a representation of his name: a crow riding on the back of a dog, linked by a line to Crow Dog’s head. The drawing is done in the well-documented ledger art style which was commonly practiced among the Plains Indians during this period.
In addition, the volume contains dozens of signatures from the key figures in the trial: jurors, bailiffs, attorneys, and more. 15 of the Sioux witnesses signed by mark, with the marks made within calligraphic captions, including Spotted Tail Jr. One page contains the signatures of all 13 jurors, with names matching those listed in the 17 March 1882 issue of the Black Hills Daily Times, including one juror who was replaced due to illness, along with his replacement. The two court bailiffs also signed this page. 4 of the jurors also added fuller inscriptions on separate pages. 18 other South Dakota men also signed the volume, almost all of them dating their signatures in March 1882, including General John Cook; interpreter Charles Talkett; attorney Thomas E. Harvey; E.E. Corbin of the Sidney & Black Hills Stage Line; and Lead City newspaper editor Dolph Edwards.
The album is accompanied by a 2013 letter by the director of the Plains Indian Ledger Art Project, placing the drawing in historical context. This was one of at least three albums produced at the time of the Crow Dog trial, each with very similar Crow Dog drawings, and similar sets of witness signatures framed in the same calligraphic hand. Reproductions of the other two known drawings (one at Deadwood’s Adams Museum) are included. A Black Hills Daily Times article dated 15 December 1882 describes the creation of these drawings, explaining that the captive Indians would “while away their spare moments by filling out autograph albums for their pale-faced friends. . . . They generally draw illustrations of some valorous deed performed while at war with their natural enemies–the Crows and Pawnees.” The same newspaper also noted: “Crow Dog’s autograph is a very plain and comprehensive specimen of calligraphy. It consists of a crow riding on the back of a dog.”
Several entries were made in the book after March 1882. The original owner made stops in Albuquerque, NM and Agua Fria, AZ in August 1882; Lynx Creek, AZ in May 1883; Prescott, AZ in 1883; Jerome, AZ in May 1884; Arizona in December 1884 (where a fellow traveler signed “Snow bound, Black Hills, Yavapai Cn., Arizona”); Pine Cienega, NM in 1885; and Beaumont, CA in the fall of 1886. Three pages of entries are made in Chinese.
The album’s compiler and original owner are not credited, but one entry by U.S. Attorney Hugh Campbell is addressed with “my highest respects to an independent and upright juror who dared to do his duty in face of a maudlin sympathy & a silly press.” A list of witnesses near the rear of the volume in a distinctive tidy hand perfectly matches the signature and inscription by juror Frederick Ernest Bachelder (1846-1915) of Portland, SD, who may well have been the original owner. He signed the book with the inscription “Now is the time for hungry men to hang together.” Bachelder spent most of his adult life in as a railroad clerk and newspaper editor in Clinton, Iowa but spent two years in the Deadwood area from 1880 to 1882 and returned to Clinton in 1884 (per Pierce, “Batchelder, Batcheller Genealogy” page 333).
Provenance: collection of the late South Dakota antiques dealer Jim Aplan; through two other parties and thence by auction to the consignor.
Estimate
$10,000 – $15,000
(american indians.)
Scrapbook kept by the notorious Indian impersonator Edgar Laplante, a.k.a. Chief White Elk.
Various places, 1908-1920
Approximately 18 manuscripts, 33 postcards (most of them Real Photo postcards), 52 other photographs, 9 handbills and programs, and numerous clippings, all mounted on the stiff coated-stock leaves of a somewhat dismembered 1919 textile sample book of the United American Tailors of Chicago. Folio, 18 x 16 inches, pictorial red, white and blue gilt cloth, worn; contents generally worn, with many of the larger clippings ragged at the edges.
Edgar Laplante (circa 1888-1944) was a con man from Central Falls, RI. In his longest-running scam, from about 1917 to 1926, he assumed the character of Chief White Elk (or sometimes Prince Tewanna Ray), and toured the world singing, dancing, and giving speeches on Indian rights. His purported tribal affiliation was generally left vague, although we find one reference to him as a “Cherikee.” His wife Burtha Thompson often accompanied him, billed as “the Princess.” He was imprisoned for fraud in both Switzerland and Mussolini’s Italy. This is his own personal scrapbook kept as Chief White Elk, apparently maintained to demonstrate his credentials to the gullible. It is filled with photographs, testimonial letters, promotional broadsides, newspaper clippings, and more. Highlights:
A letter from the chairman of an American Red Cross chapter in California testifying that “Dr. Whitelk” volunteered during the influenza outbreak, “thinking not of himself but only of the welfare of the helpless who were left in his charge,” 14 November 1918.
Letters from the offices of the Treasury Department and Committee on Public Information addressed to Chief White Elk, thanking him for his patriotic endeavors, 1918.
A promotional photograph of William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody with a quite possibly forged inscription, “With my best compliments to Chief White Elk, W. Cody, May 15th 1914.”
A photograph of “Milton J. Thompson, my father-in-law” which ties the album to Laplante, although his born name appears nowhere in the album.
Certainly one of the strangest lots to pass through Swann’s Americana department–and we have seen some strange ones.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(american indians.) george catlin.
North American Indians.
Philadelphia, 1913 [printed by Oliver & Boyd of Edinburgh]
3 color maps (one folding) among 180 numbered color plates. ix, [3], 298; xii, 303, [1] pages. 2 volumes. 8vo, publisher’s gilt pictorial cloth, minor wear; minimal wear to contents; title pages in red and black.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(american indians.)
Exposition of Indian Tribal Arts, Grand Central Art Galleries.
[New York], December 1931
Poster, 21¼ x 13¼ inches, on cardboard; discoloration in text areas, moderate wear including 1½-inch chip in upper left corner and a pair of 2-inch closed tears on the bottom edge.
This is generally regarded as the first major exhibition of American Indian art, as opposed to an anthropological collection of curios. The poster features a piece by one of the exhibited artists, Oqwa Pi (1899-1971), also known as Abel Sanchez, from the San Ildefonso Pueblo in New Mexico.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(american indians.)
Poster for a Sun Dance to be held at D-Q University in California.
Davis, CA, 2 August 1976
Poster, 23 x 14½ inches; moderate wear and soiling, stapled to a slightly larger piece of plywood, with two bumper stickers and another poster (all worn and soiled) affixed on verso.
D-Q University in Davis, California was one of the first six tribal colleges and universities in the United States, remaining in operation from 1971 to 2005. This poster advertises a Sun Dance to be led by Oglala Sioux medicine man Leonard Crow Dog (1942-2021), spiritual leader of the American Indian Movement, which would be the “first time in history on the West Coast.” However, he had been sentenced to federal prison in 1975 for his role in the Wounded Knee incident, and would not be released on parole until March 1977. Leonard Crow Dog was the great-grandson of the Sioux leader Crow Dog (1833-1912) featured in lot 3.
Mounted on the other side of the board are three other period pieces from circa 1976: a “Boycott Coors” bumper sticker, an official-looking Bicentennial “200 Years of Freedom” bumper sticker emblazoned with the vulgar Spanish term “puro pedo”; and a poster by the California Institution for Men Prison Preventers: “Prison Has Something for Every Body,” with the name of a student contact inked below.
Estimate
$600 – $900
American Revolution
(american revolution–prelude.) nathaniel whitefield.
Whitefield’s Almanack for the Year of Our Lord 1760.
Newport, RI: James “Franllin,” [1759]
[22 of 24] pages. 12mo, restitched; lacking final leaf, otherwise moderate wear.
Contains the first known appearance of “The Patriot’s Prayer,” which reached greater fame when appended without attribution as an appendix to Paine’s Common Sense in 1776. “Let me not faction’s partial hate / Pursue to Britain’s woe / Nor grasp the thunder of the state / To wound a private foe / If, for the right, to wish the wrong / My country should combine.” The reference to Britain was changed to America by the time it was reprinted with Common Sense. See the entry on “American Patriot’s Prayer” in John Vile, “Prayer in American Public Life: An Encyclopedia,” pages 50-51.
The printer was James Franklin Jr. (1730-1762), running the Newport shop founded by his father and owned by his widowed mother Ann, where his famous uncle Benjamin Franklin had once apprenticed. James in turn had apprenticed with Uncle Ben in Philadelphia. This was the last almanac published by the Franklins in Rhode Island. Alden, Rhode Island 208; Bristol B2089; Drake 12807. Not traced at auction since a 21 June 1917 Scott & O’Shaughnessy sale (possibly this copy). 3 in ESTC.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(american revolution-prelude.)
Volume of the Pennsylvania Gazette, complete for 1772.
Philadelphia: Hall & Sellers, 2 January to 30 December 1772
53 weekly issues complete, each 4 pages, plus 5 one-leaf supplements, bound in one volume. Folio, 16½ x 10 inches, in sturdy early 20th-century ½-buckram library binding; first leaf worn with slight loss and repairs, moderate wear to contents including occasional tape repairs, minor dampstaining from October onward; uncut.
The Pennsylvania Gazette was a weekly newspaper which had once been published by Benjamin Franklin. This volume covers a year between the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party.
The 25 June issue reports on the Gaspee Affair, in which a British customs schooner was burned by Rhode Island colonists: “a great number of People in Boats boarded the Schooner, bound the Crew, and sent them ashore, after which they set Fire to the Vessel, and destroyed her.”
The 11 November issue describes a militia drill by the Boston Cadets under Colonel John Hancock, and prints an exchange of correspondence between Boston’s Governor Hutchinson and freeholders led by Samuel Adams.
The formation of a pre-revolutionary Committee of Correspondence in Boston was reported in the 18 November issue, in reaction to the response from Governor Hutchinson: “It was then Moved that a Committee of Correspondence be appointed . . . to communicate and publish the same to the several Towns in this Province, and to the World.”
The volume has passed through the ownership of 3 institutions, and the consignor has verified its proper release by all three.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
(american revolution–1775.) “john anderson.”
Anderson Improved: Being an Almanack, and Ephemeris, for the Year of our Lord 1775.
Newport, RI, [1774]
[32] pages. 12mo, stitched; moderate wear and dampstaining including slight loss to illustrated half-title.
The author advises his fellow colonists in a preface: “Wear the manufactures of your own country . . . stop all trade with Great-Britain . . . take up a firm resolution to have no farther connexion with them.” The predicted result: “that America may rise to the summit of freedom and happiness, and prove the guardian of liberty to all the rest of the world.” Alden, Rhode Island 529; Drake 12841; Evans 13115.
Like many 18th-century almanacs, this was used for occasional memoranda or diary entries. This one has two notes regarding British incursions at Jamestown, RI. One reads “Ninth of Octo’r, fired upon the ferry, Jm’s Town.” The other briefly notes a brutal December raid (in which the British burned many buildings and shot an 80-year-old man): “Between the ninth & tenth, burnt the ferry.”
Estimate
$400 – $600
(american revolution–1775.)
Issue of the Massachusetts Gazette, two weeks before Lexington and Concord.
Boston: Mills & Hicks, 3 April 1775
Issue 919. 4 pages, 15 x 9¾ inches, on one folding sheet; dampstaining, folds, stitch holes, trimmed on bottom edge with partial loss of one line to Page 2.
The Gazette was a Loyalist paper. This issue features the final letter from a long series written by Daniel Leonard, writing under the pseudonym “Massachusettensis.” Here, two weeks before Lexington and Concord, he attempts to discourage patriots from taking up arms: “Do you expect to conquer in war? War is no longer a simple, but an intricate science, not to be learned from books. . . . His Majesty’s generals, Gage and Haldimand, are possessed of every talent requisite to great commanders. . . . Alas! my friends, you have nothing to oppose this force, but a militia unused to service, impatient of command and destitute of resources. . . . Nothing short of a miracle could gain you one battle.”
Also included is a brief note on the imminent posting of General Howe to America, where he soon became commander in chief of British forces: “It is said that, with the additional Forces ordered for America, Lord How was to come out with two Regiments of Horse.”
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(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
$2,500 – $3,500
(american revolution–1775.) samuel stearns.
The North-American’s Almanack, and Gentleman’s and Lady’s Diary, for . . . 1776.
Worcester, MA: Isaiah Thomas, et al., [1775]
[24] pages. 12mo, stitched; uncut, foxing and dampstaining, moderate wear, final leaf defective with loss of perhaps 5% of the text.
Issued during the Siege of Boston, this almanac features William Gordon’s “An Account of the Commencement of Hostilities between Great-Britain and America, in the Province of Massachusetts-Bay,” which runs over each of the 12 monthly calendar pages in sequence. It also includes 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.” After that can be found “Sir Richard Rum’s Advice to the Soldiers and Others” and “Directions for Preserving the Health of the Soldiers in the Camps.” The almanac makes a prophetic prediction for the 4th of July: “Thunder.” Drake 3260; Evans 14473; Sabin 90943.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(american revolution–1778.)
Bill for maintenance on Philadelphia’s wetlands “when the English was here.”
[Philadelphia], circa 1778
Manuscript document titled “Account of work done by Wm Jones in the Middle District of Greenwich Island.” One page, 13¼ x 8¼ inches, docketed simply “No. 1” on verso; unevenly trimmed, partial separations at folds, 3 cello tape repairs on verso with stains bleeding through.
Greenwich Island was an area of desolate swampland to the south of Philadelphia, requiring maintenance of dams and sluiceways to allow for a minimum of settlement and navigation. With the threat of British invasion of the new Continental capital, it may have gained some strategic importance. Here is a detailed accounting of work done on the island by William Jones from May 1776 to April 1777: “repairing the old sluice,” “stoping leaks,” “laying in Keen’s Bank to my hazard.” The British took possession of the city in September 1777. Jones continued his work on the maintenance of the island’s primitive infrastructure, adding one entry: “1778 April 17th to May 16th, 59 days work mending banks & stoping leaks when the English was here.” The British evacuated Philadelphia the following month.
Greenwich Island has since been filled, connected to the mainland, and incorporated into the southern part of the city; the Citizens Bank Park baseball field is built on what was once the island.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(american revolution–1779.) state of new hampshire.
Broadside on “a new Proportion to be a Guide for paying Taxes in this State.”
Letterpress broadside, 16¾ x 13¼ inches, signed in type by John Langdon as speaker and E. Thompson as secretary, docketed “a new proportion for taxes 1779” on verso; short separations at intersection of folds, otherwise minimal wear; uncut.
Describes a new method for assessing taxes in the midst of the war, involving detailed inventories of farm produce and livestock. The selectmen are asked to record, among other things, “all Male Polls from eighteen Years and upwards , except Persons engaged in the Army during the War” and “all Male and Female Negroe and Molatto Servants, from sixteen to forty-five Years of Age.” Evans 16389. 3 in ESTC, and none traced at auction since 1924.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(american revolution–1780.)
An Act for Filling Up and Compleating this State’s Quota of the Continental Army.
[Hartford, CT: Hudson and Goodwin], October 1780
Letterpress broadside, 12¾ x 8 inches, signed in type by George Wyllys as secretary of the Connecticut General Assembly; skillfully restored including a repaired 3-inch tear and a few letters in facsimile.
A Connecticut broadside act ordering the recruitment of 4,248 troops to serve for three years. Evans 16741.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(american revolution–1781.) state of new hampshire.
An Act for Raising . . . Beef, Towards the Support of the Continental Army.
Letterpress broadsheet, 2 pages, 15½ x 10 inches, signed in type by Meshech Weare as president of New Hampshire and others; minimal separations at intersections of folds; uncut.
An order to raise 1,400,000 pounds of beef, “well salted and packed in barrels,” payable by each town in six installments to appointed collectors. The allotments of each town are listed, ranging from 40,641 pounds due from Portsmouth down to 880 pounds each from some of small rural towns in Grafton County. Pork was allowed to be offered as a substitute at the “proportion of eleven Pounds of Pork for fifteen Pounds of Beef.”
The act is recorded in the 1916 “Laws of New Hampshire: Revolutionary Period, 1776-1784,” page 353. However, we trace no other examples of this broadsheet in OCLC, ESTC, Evans, or elsewhere.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
(american revolution–history.)
The New Game of the American Revolution.
Boston, MA: Lorenzo Burge, 1844
Hand-colored engraving laid down on board, 14¼ x 18¼ inches, folding in half to convenient folio size, backed in sheep at fold, with illustrated label and empty rules pocket on verso; moderate wear and foxing with slight loss at one corner.
This playing board shows 60 landing spots, each representing an event in the history of the Revolution. Each has either a dated caption or a hand-colored illustration. The players proceed from “Playing Soldier” through the Stamp Act, Tea Party, Bunker Hill, Declaration of Independence, a prison ship, surrender of Cornwallis, Treaty of Peace, and finally at the center “The Land of Freedom & Plenty.” Only the board is offered here; the rules and playing pieces are long since gone. None traced at auction since 1998, and only one in OCLC–at the University of Delaware, which similarly possesses only the playing board.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(american revolution–prints.) d.c. johnston, lithographer.
A New Method of Macarony Making, as Practised at Boston.
Boston: Pendleton’s Lithography, 1830
Hand-colored lithograph, 13¾ x 10 inches; repaired 4-inch closed tear, laid down on stiff paper, tipped to mat board along top edge only.
A careful re-engraving of this 1774 British satirical print by Francis Edward Adams, showing Boston customs officer John Malcolm after he had been tarred and feathered, threatened with hanging, and forced to drink tea. Apparently scarcer than the original; none traced at auction since 1937.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(american revolution–prints.) henry s. sadd; after matteson.
The First Prayer in Congress, September 1774,
New York: John Neale, 1848
in Carpenters Hall, Philadelphia. Mezzotint, 20¾ x 25¾ inches; minimal wear including light crease in lower left margin, very faint scratch in image; proof copy.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(art.)
Papers of critic and curator Charles M. Kurtz.
Various places, bulk 1885-1910
More than 180 items (0.6 linear feet), including 6 diaries dated 1885-1898, approximately 120 letters to and from Kurtz and family members (some with original envelopes), and more; condition generally strong.
Charles McMeen Kurtz (1855-1909) was a notable art critic and curator. Born and raised in New Castle, PA, he attended Washington & Jefferson College and the National Academy of Design, where he launched National Academy Notes, which ran through 1889. He rose to prominence as an assistant to curator Halsey Ives with the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, worked with the 1898 St. Louis Exposition, was Assistant Director of Fine Arts for the American exhibits at the 1900 exhibition in Paris, and served as art director for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904. In the last years of his life, he headed the Buffalo Arts Academy.
The collection includes 6 of Kurtz’s annual diaries: 1885, 1886, 1888, 1892, 1894, and 1898, each with a few weeks or months of entries. In the earliest two diaries, he is a young journalist and curator in Manhattan, on the staff of the American Art Association (predecessor of Sotheby’s New York), often reporting “no picture sold” or occasionally better news. On 14 January 1885 he reported a sale to a celebrity minister: “Henry Ward Beecher in, bought a Chrisanthemum picture by Miss Buell, $75.” He was a regular at exhibition openings and other art-related social events across town. In 1886 he mentions several visits to Bierstadt in May and June. The 1888 diary was written in Minneapolis. 17 January 1888: “First load of effects including painting left by sleds for St. Paul. . . . Went inside the walls of the burnt Universalist Church, all covered with ice formations of great beauty.” 1892 finds him in Chicago preparing for the Columbian Exposition. 30 November 1892: “Prof. Ives and I had Japanese commissioners T. Tegima and Y. Yambe with us at University Club for lunch. Evening, I went to Palette Club reception where I engaged 2 pictures.” 1894 finds him still in Chicago, packing up and shipping paintings from the Columbian Exposition. 2 January 1894: “First lecture given at the new Art Institute Building. Crowded house, audience very kindly and appreciative.” In May 1894 he arrives in Paris. In New York on 15 March 1898, he noted “Judy very much distressed by my recklessness in continuing to buy pictures in these bad times.”
Kurtz’s correspondence file includes many art world figures, such as French dealer Charles Sedelmeyer, German art dealer Adolf Paulus, Charles Ward Rhodes (Kurtz’s assistant on the 1898 St., Louis Exposition), New York dealer Samuel P. Avery Jr., Louisville author Lydia Avery Coonley Ward (5); and artists Charles Sprague Pearce, Patty Prather Thum (3), Walter Appleton Clark, William Henry Howe, Edward Gay, William Anderson Coffin, Joseph Pennell, and Swain Gifford. Other letters are written to or from family members. 13 letters written by Kurtz are present, most to his sister Kate Wilder Kurtz (1875-1949) (they referred to each other as Nunky and Kick-Kick).
A packet on Kurtz’s estate includes lists of art in his collection, and an auction catalog for its dispersal by Fifth Avenue Art Galleries in February 1910. Artists in his collection included Childe Hassam, Ralph Blakelock, and many more. Another folder contains memoranda relating to his art career: lists of his art loaned to institutions in Louisville in 1898, St. Louis in 1900, and Rochester in 1906; Kurtz’s bill to John Wanamaker for curating a Mihály Munkácsy exhibition in Philadelphia in 1887; and a flier for a St. Louis Artist Guild meeting led by Halsey Ives. His notebook on the 1900 Paris exhibition includes notes on each nation’s art halls (“Portugal: the less said the better”).
Other highlights include a minute book of the C.H. Art Circle of Louisville, KY, 1906-1907 (connection to Kurtz unknown); a partial manuscript essay apparently by Kurtz titled “Impressions of the Primitives in Italy”; and an unpublished group of stories by Kurtz, “Five Stories Never Told Before, for Children of All Ages,” in typescript with manuscript corrections, 1898.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(art.) f. luis mora, artist.
Shaw Prize poster from the Salmagundi Club, signed by its members.
[New York], 1911
Poster print, 20 x 27¼ inches to sight, mounted on board, with 45 pencil signatures; moderate wear including two punctures in lower margin and 3-inch crack in upper margin; not examined out of modern frame.
The Salmagundi Club, a venerable New York art club, gave a prize each year sponsored by patron of the arts Samuel Shaw. The winning painting was reproduced for the members, with their signatures added below. This winning entry is a beach scene by artist Francis Luis Mora (1874-1940). It is inscribed to member Leigh Hunt by Shaw, with 45 additional signatures in the lower margin including notable artists Charles Schreyvogel, Edward Potthast, Paul Cornoyer, Gifford Beal, Albert Lorey Groll, Thomas Fogarty, Ernest Blumenschein, Eugene Speicher, Henry B. Snell, Walter Granville-Smith, and Mora himself.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(art.)
Invitation to the formal opening of the 1913 Armory Show, the first major modern art exhibition in America.
[New York], 17 February 1913
Engraved card, 4¼ x 6½ inches, blank on verso; minor staining, minimal wear.
The International Exhibition of Modern Art, more commonly remembered as “the Armory Show,” was held at New York’s 69th Regiment Armory from 15 February to 15 March 1913. It introduced a broader American audience to controversial European artists such as Duchamp, Matisse, and Cézanne. The reaction of mainstream critics was generally vicious, but its importance continues to resonate, including a November 2013 anniversary auction of Armory artists at Swann (which is located across the street from the Armory). None traced at auction; one is held by the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art as part of the papers of organizer Walt Kuhn.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(aviation.)
Small but substantial archive of Hugo Eckener, the Zeppelin company, and the Hindenburg disaster.
Various places, 1935-1938
47 items in 4 folders; condition varies.
Hugo Eckener (1868-1954) led the Zeppelin operations from 1917 until he was sidelined by Hitler in the late 1930s, including Luftschiffbau Zeppelin and the American Zeppelin Transport Inc.; he also commanded the Graf Zeppelin airship on many voyages. This lot, from the papers of Eckener and his American-based assistant, captures the rapid decline of transoceanic airship travel in the wake of the 1937 Hindenburg disaster and deteriorating diplomatic relations.
Perhaps the highlight of this lot is a retained carbon of Eckener’s letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, dated Washington, 25 May 1937, accompanied by a 23 May hand-corrected draft. Writing just three weeks after the Hindenburg disaster, Eckener pleads for a supply of subsidized American helium to replace the highly flammable hydrogen fuel which had destroyed the Hindenburg. The successful airship industry had “with one stroke been checked by the disaster that befell the Hindenburg. . . . We must not assume the responsibility of continuing with our lighter-than-air merchant ships without the use of helium. It depends upon your Government, Mr. President, if it is prepared to enable us to use safe Helium, and . . . would represent a tremendous step forward in world traffic for the benefit of mankind.” Eckener’s quest for American helium was well reported in the press in May 1937, but this important letter appears to be unpublished.
Also included are 4 other personal Eckener items: 2 fan letters written to him in 1937 and 1938; an invitation issued to Eckener by the Germania club at Dartmouth College in 1938; and an apparently unpublished piece of photostat sheet music, “Wings of Victory,” dedicated to “Dr. Hugo Eckener, Air Ambassador,” by Mona Reed of Cleveland, OH.
Also included are 9 letters and postcards addressed to Friedrich Wilhelm “Willy” Von Meister (1903-1978), a German immigrant to New York who acted as Eckener’s personal representative, dated 1935-1938. One is signed by Eckener and others; one is a copy of a letter from the White House, thanking Eckener for the 1937 Zeppelin calendars. A Mr. Theilig thanks Von Meister for a complimentary trip aboard the Hindenburg from New York to Great Britain in July 1936, describing its pleasures at length: “While over the Hudson the ship rolled a few times very slightly. It was so little that I paid no attention to it. Afterwards I was told that that was the worst rolling the ship had ever done. . . . I felt that the first night on an airship was not made to go to bed early, so we enjoyed the company of a couple bottles guten Weines. . . . The whole matter feels so natural . . . the airship is really ready for the commercial field.” Famed American airship captain Thomas “Tex” Settle wrote a 4-page letter in December 1935, expressing his hopes to retire from the Navy by 1940 “unless the Navy should experience a tremendous expansion” and jokingly asking “Will you give old Tex a job as office boy?” Settle has enclosed a photograph of the captains of his destroyer group in Haiphong. One envelope is addressed to von Meister on a Zeppelin Von Hindenburg illustrated cover. In addition, 5 other letters and postcards appear to be addressed to Von Meister as representative of the company. In October 1938, Charles E. Rosendahl (the captain of the fatal Hindenburg flight who survived the wreck) wrote from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, hoping to write an article on the superiority of airships for trans-Pacific flight; this carbon copy was forwarded to “Willy” for response.
One folder contains 19 American newspaper and magazine clippings on Zeppelin, many of them gathered by a clippings service in 1938. Finally, an envelope of 7 pieces of ephemera includes a 1938 Lufthansa brochure; a maquette for a brochure for the Graf Zeppelin LZ130 airship in parallel English and German; a brochure and newspaper for Cleveland’s 1936 centennial celebration; a photograph of a caricature of an NBC reporter aboard an airship; and an invoice for copper and rubber washers shipped by the Zeppelin company in 1938. A ticket for a “Zeppelin Hindenberg Eckener Feier” was to be held by a New York German-American group on 10 May 1936. Taking place four days after the disaster, we feel safe in assuming the event was canceled.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(bible.) michael zinman, compiler.
The American Bible: Original Leaves from Rare and Historic Bibles Printed in the Colonies
Ardsley, NY: Haydn Foundation for the Cultural Arts, 1993
and the United States during the Seventeenth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth Centuries. 38 Bible leaves, each hinged to mat, with [31] accompanying text leaves. Folio, 22 x 14 inches, contents loose in 4 cloth folding cases with gilt morocco labels as issued; in original condition; #47 of 100.
First edition, limited to 100 numbered sets. Includes leaves from the 1663 Eliot Bible in Massachusett, the first in any language printed in America (pictured), and from editions in other indigenous languages; the 1782 Aitken Bible, the first complete English-language Bible printed in America; from the first complete Bibles in German, French, Hebrew, and Spanish, and the first New Testaments in Greek, Portuguese, Dutch, and Swedish printed in America; and from various noteworthy English-language editions. Includes a preface by the compiler, and an introductory essay, “The Bible and American Culture,” by Mark A. Noll.
Estimate
$2,500 – $3,500
(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
$600 – $900
(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 Goliath 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
$400 – $600
(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
$1,200 – $1,800
(california.) guadalupe victoria.
A decree to form cavalry companies in the Californias.
Mexico, 8 May 1828
Letterpress broadside, 11¾ x 8¼ inches, signed in type as Mexico’s first president, and also by Manuel Gómez Pedraza as Secretary of War; moderate worming affecting three words, minor staining, 3 x 1-inch loss and 1-inch closed tear in left margin, repaired with a modern private library bookplate on verso.
A decree which organizes 6 cavalry companies in both Alta and Baja California, which were then remote and sparsely populated territories of Mexico. Alta California was to have a Commander General Inspector with an annual salary of 4,000 pesos, while an assistant inspector would be stationed in Baja California with a salary of 2,500 pesos. 2 traced in OCLC.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(california.) valentín gómez farías.
Order to secularize the missions of Alta and Baja California.
Mexico, 17 August 1833
2 printed pages, 12 x 8 inches, plus integral blank, signed in type as Vice President, and by Joaquin de Iturbide as secretary; a few lines underlined faintly in red pencil, modern pencil notes; modern private library bookplate on final blank.
“In this important law providing for the complete secularization of the California missions, the Mexican Congress took cognizance of a strong feeling in California against the missions and set in motion a chain of events that led to their final abolition. Parochial clergy not belonging to any order were to replace the regular clergy, they were to be salaried from the pious fund, and no fees were to be collected for any purpose”–Streeter sale, IV:2468. See Bancroft’s History of California, III:336 for an English translation. One other known at auction beside the Streeter copy, at a Swann sale, 7 January 1999, lot 36.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
(california.) antonio lopez de santa anna.
Decree implementing the secularization of the California missions.
Mexico, 26 November 1833
One page, 11½ x 8¼ inches, plus integral blank, signed in type as President and by Carlos García as secretary; horizontal folds, stitch holes; modern private library bookplate on final blank.
This decree put the preceding document into effect. “The order implementing the secularization of the missions”–Streeter sale IV:2469. One other known at auction beside the Streeter copy, at a Swann sale, 21 May 1998, lot 50.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(california.) john haile jr.
Long and detailed letter from a newly arrived Forty-Niner in San Francisco.
San Francisco, CA, 21 November 1849
Autograph Letter Signed to wife Clara Brayton Haile. 4 pages, densely cross-written, on one folding sheet, with no postal markings; mailing folds, a few light ink smudges. With a carefully done 9-page typed transcript which will have more than the usual utility.
John Haile Jr. (1821-1903), a machinist who left his wife behind in Warren, RI to seek a fortune in the gold fields, was more articulate than the average Forty-Niner. This letter describes his passage around the horn, as well as conditions in San Francisco as he prepared to hunt for gold inland. This was apparently his first letter home. He describes using a spyglass to watch his wife at the Providence wharf as he sailed away: “I could see you all in Rhode’s store, and with the glass very distinctly you was on the left hand side of the doorway.” The ship was caked in ice as they rounded the Horn, and no fires were permitted aboard. “More than a hundred kegs of gunpowder were stowed in the run, and Capt. Allen preferred the cold to the danger of an explosion. . . . The termometer was down to 18, sometimes all the cabin pasengers would turn in, as we were confined below by the snow storms and cold rain.” The ship stopped for nine days in Talcahuano, Chile, which he described as “the worst I was ever in, in all respects; immoral and homley.” He describes a cabin boy who “fell overboard in the Atlantic, the ship sailing quite fast, but being an excellent swimmer and not alarmed was picked up while the birds were lighting on and about him. He received no injury.”
In San Francisco, he noted the exorbitant prices for all goods, which were reported to be yet higher at Sacramento and points further inland. “Gold is plenty, but a great many will come home minus, because they have not got funds to get to the mines. . . . I shall push on immediately and build a log house in company with two others. . . . Thin clothing is of no use in this country. I shall not carry even one thin shirt, only woolen is of any account here. . . . Property is very safe, laying all about the streets and beaches. No one dares meddle with them as the penalty for theft is cropped ears. . . . Revolvers sell for six dollars, and guns are not worth taking care of, except for game. They have a regular form of government, and are preparing to come in to the Union as a state immediately. Frémont is here.”
We have not learned whether Haile was successful in the gold fields, but he was reported back in Warren with Clara by the time the census-taker arrived in July 1850.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(california.) j. carl ludwig fleischmann.
Neueste officielle Berichte . . . über die Lage und Zukunst Californiens.
Stuttgart, Germany: Kohler, 1850
viii, 64 pages. 12mo, contemporary marbled boards, blank label on spine, minor wear; moderate foxing; gilt leather collector’s book label on front pastedown. In custom ½ morocco slipcase.
“Fleischmann served as U.S. Consul, sponsored immigration projects, and put together this short pamphlet to gain interest in the potential of California”–Kurutz, California Gold Rush 241. The title translates as “Latest Official News from the United States Government on the Affairs and Future of California.” Pages 1 to 50 are a translation of customs collector T. Butler King’s March 1850 report to Congress, the first substantial official report on the Gold Rush. Cowan 1933, page 214; Howes F173 (“b”); Sabin 24695. Provenance: Provenance: Dorothy Sloan auction, 15 February 2006, lot 61; only one other traced at auction.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(california.) philipp zimmermann.
Diary of the chief engineer of a Gold Rush-era San Francisco-Panama steamship, with other papers.
Various places, 28 October 1852 to 20 March 1853
[76] manuscript diary pages. 4to, original ¼ calf, worn, front board detached with crude tape repair; several leaves excised near end, minimal dampstaining.
Philipp Zimmermann (1826-1901) emigrated from Germany with his parents, and became a mechanical engineer in New York. He was the chief engineer on the S.S. California, the first steamship to pass through the Golden Gate in San Francisco in early 1849, shortly after the discovery of gold.
This journal was written on a later voyage of the California. It is written rather phonetically, with Zimmermann’s heavy German accent shining through. It begins while docked in San Francisco on 28 October 1852, with Zimmermann trying to secure an order of bolts for crucial repairs in the frontier town. Shortly after departing for Panama on 1 November, the 3rd Mate fell overboard and drowned. He records a wide range of technical data on the ship’s operations, such as steam pressure and revolutions per minute. A coal bunker fire is extinguished on 9 November, shortly after taking on coal at Acapulco. They arrived at Taboga Island off Panama for repairs on 16 November, where he borrowed additional gear from other ships. Some men were sent ashore for leave on 21 November: “All of them came on boar and not one of them trunk. They all behaved themselfs lik gentleman. . . . It is a think I never seen befor, with so many man.” They departed again for San Francisco on 22 December. Three men died of unknown causes at sea on 30 December, and the survivors arrived in San Francisco on 6 January. Zimmermann had time for bit of leave in San Francisco on 9 January 1853: “I and A. Wood spint the day togetter. We took a walk at a.m. on Tellygraft Hill. . . . We injoyed ourselves all day.” Then the ship went up the bay to Benicia, CA, where they undertook more repairs (described in detail).
Zimmermann and the California left again for Panama on 16 February 1853. On 26 February, “2 off the coalpassers were fieding today, so I hade them put in irons.” They arrived at Panama on 2 March, and headed back north six days later. The diary ends on 20 March 1853, with the ship nearly back to San Francisco.
WITH–Hand-colored quarter-plate daguerreotype portrait, 4 x 3 inches in original case with front cover detached, with later label identifying it as Zimmermann in 1848.
Zimmermann’s copy of “Official Catalogue of the New-York Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations.” 240, 22 pages. 12mo, original wrappers; moderate dampstaining; Zimmermann’s initials on front wrapper and his signature on the title page. New York, 1853.
2 manuscript letters of recommendation for Zimmermann, 1845 and 1850; and 2 letters to Zimmermann from friends, 1853. Paul Stillman of Downieville, CA writes on 1 September 1853: “The miners hereabouts are being somewhat disappointed in their returns. I am at least. The luck of the Co. failing just at the time to catch me, who was the last in it, and to be the first out, I hope. Mining as it is done here is very hard work and most uncertain. It has ruined many & sent many home rich, but I think it will ruin more than it will enrich hereafter.”
5 pieces of later ephemera, most notably a 1958 typescript of a short biography of Zimmermann by his daughter Lillian Marie Zimmermann (1867-1964). He settled in Madison, SD in 1877 and raised a family there as a pioneer farmer and local official.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(california.) rufus a. lockwood.
The Vigilance Committee of San Francisco: Metcalf vs. Argenti et al.
San Francisco, CA, 1852
47, [1] pages. 8vo, stitched; marginal tape repair to title page, moderate wear, minor foxing.
Peter Metcalf was a San Francisco cartman who claimed to have misplaced a cartload of goods during an 1851 fire. The extra-legal Vigilance Committee then performed a search of his house. Metcalf sued the Committee for this violation of his rights. These speeches were made by Metcalf’s attorney, Rufus Allen Lockwood (1811-1857), who denounced the vigilantes with purple prose. “Heed not the crocodile lamentations and hyena howlings over petty crimes, of those vampyres who at midnight drain the stream of life in your midst, and at mid-day repeat their horrid orgies with triumphant demonstrations” (page 5). Cowan 1933, page 394; Greenwood, California Imprints 333; Howes L420 (“aa”); Sabin 41752; Streeter sale V:2713 (“Required reading for anyone wishing to understand the dark and cruel side of the activities of the Vigilance Committee”).
Estimate
$600 – $900
(california.)
A True and Minute History of the Assassination of James King.
San Francisco, CA: Whitton, Towne, & Co., 1856
26 pages including front wrapper. 8vo, original printed wrappers, minor wear; light vertical fold throughout, minimal dampstaining.
James King (1822-1856), who styled himself “James King of William” since his childhood in Ireland, was a San Francisco newspaper editor who had been an early member of the city’s Vigilance Committee, and became a crusader against the city’s criminal elements. He was assassinated by the friend of an accused murderer. In response to King’s death, the Vigilance Committee sprang back into existence and lynched the murderer. This telling of the events was compiled by a King sympathizer (credited by Greenwood as Frank F. Fargo). Cowan 1933, page 329; Greenwood, California Imprints 680; Sabin 97098; Streeter sale V:2803.
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
(california.)
Trial of David S. Terry by the Committee of Vigilance, San Francisco.
San Francisco, CA: R.C. Moore, 1856
75 pages. 8vo. original printed wrappers, moderate wear to spine; title page slightly trimmed and partially restored, light vertical fold throughout, minor foxing.
Terry was a justice on the California Supreme Court. When the Vigilance Committee lynched two accused murderers held at the city jail, Terry came to San Francisco to help restore order. The Vigilance Committee attempted to arrest Justice Terry, who stabbed one of them and escaped. He was then tried in absentia by the Vigilance Committee. Terry dignified the proceedings with a written defense (page 24-28). “One of the few printed examples of an extra-legal murder trial in the United States”–Greenwood, California Imprints 772 (crediting Charles S. Case as the likely author). Cowan 1933, page 633; Howes T106 (“aa”–“most famous vigilante trial”); Sabin 94889; Streeter sale V:2814.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(california.)
Sacramento City Directory for 1882.
Oakland, CA: Pacific Press, 1882
Two advertising leaves on coated stock printed in blue and red, one with an original photograph laid down. 329, [3] pages including covers. 8vo, publisher’s cloth-backed printed boards, minor wear; library duplicate notation on front pastedown, small inked stamp on title page.
A nicely preserved early California directory. Muckraking journalist Lincoln Steffens lived in Sacramento as a teenager during this time; his father is listed here as a paint company employee.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(california.) stephen j. field.
Personal Reminiscences of Early Days in California, with Other Sketches.
No place: “Printed for a few friends, not published,” [1893]
6, 472 pages. Large 8vo, contemporary ½ calf, worn, rebacked with portion of original backstrip laid down; 2 short repaired tears in margins, otherwise minimal wear to contents; uncut; small gilt leather ownership tag “S.J. Field” on front pastedown.
The author’s personal copy.
Second edition, large type issue. Stephen Johnson Field (1816-1899) went to California early in the Gold Rush, and soon became prominent in law and politics. He was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Lincoln in 1863 and served until his retirement in 1897; until 1973, he held the record for the court’s longest tenure. These memoirs cover mostly his California days, but also touch upon his time on the Supreme Court through 1877. This edition adds George Gorham’s account of the attempted assassination of Field in 1889. Cowan, 1933, page 209; Graff 1316; Howes F117.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(california.)
Collection of pencil sketches by Will Benshoff of the Arcade Sketch Club of Pasadena.
[Pasadena, CA], 1894-1907
52 pencil sketches, most about 4 x 6 inches or slightly larger, and 11 in larger formats up to 13¾ x 10 inches; condition generally strong.
William Alton Benshoff (1859-1949) was an Ohio-born architect who was married in Pasadena, CA in 1895, and remained there through his death. Offered here is a collection of his accomplished amateur pencil portrait sketches, done over a period of 14 years. Several of the earliest drawings from 1894 and 1895 are signed as a member of the Arcade Sketch Club, which was founded in Pasadena in January 1894. The club made sketches of paid models. The 18 January 1894 Los Angeles Times states that they sometimes paid hoboes 50 cents for a sitting, and two March 1894 sketches in this lot appear to depict exactly that. Benshoff did not usually identify his sitters; one is an aged African-American man named Clark, sketched in 1894. At least two show his daughter Hazel (1896-1991) as a young girl, and another shows his son Max (1898-1968) hiding behind curtains. A handful are “after” well-known artists of the day, such as Alice Barber Stephens, Charles Dana Gibson, and Edward Winsor Kemble; one is a portrait of the late President Lincoln, after a photograph.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(california.)
Poster for Cinco de Mayo celebration at Los Angeles City College featuring Teatro Campesino.
Los Angeles, 3 May [1973]
Poster, 22 x 14 inches, in green and red on light cardboard; minor wear and toning, two white paint spots.
In the wake of the Chicano Movement, the American Cultures Department at Los Angeles City College was founded in the early 1970s. This poster advertises their second annual Cinco de Mayo festival, including traditional Mexican music, dancing, art, rodeo, and poetry. The featured performance was by Daniel Valdez of El Teatro Campesino, an improvisational theater group which had been formed in 1965 to support striking United Farm Workers grape pickers. This Cinco de Mayo event is discussed in the El Sereno Star of 3 May 1973.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(canada.) charles forbes.
Prize Essay. Vancouver Island: Its Resources and Capabilities, as a Colony.
[Victoria, BC: Daily Press], 1862
[4], 63, 18, [1] pages. 8vo, original blue printed wrappers, chipped; several tidy early pencil notes in the margins; early owner’s small inked stamp and signature on front wrapper.
This comprehensive promotional guide to Vancouver Island (the large island to the west of the city of Vancouver) was commissioned in a contest sponsored by the Colonial Secretary’s office. Includes a description of Chinook Jargon trading language (page 25), extensive data on gold mining, lists of native flora and fauna, a description of Victoria and other principal settlements, and more. The author was a surgeon in the Royal Navy. Lande 1177; Sabin 25036; Streeter sale VII:3429. TPL 4138. Provenance: library of William P. Blake, possibly western geologist William Phipps Blake (1826-1910). None traced at auction since Swann’s only joint auction, the Swann-Butterworth sale of the John Howell collection, 14 February 1985, lot 185 (possibly this copy).
Estimate
$500 – $750
(children’s books.)
The Cabinet of Nature, or, Animal World Displayed.
New York: Illman & Pilbrow, circa 1834
[12] hand-colored illustrated leaves with text. Tall 12mo, original illustrated wrappers, toned, moderate wear, crudely re-stitched at an early date; only minor foxing to contents; early owner’s signature on verso of first leaf.
A scarce illustrated bestiary, with an introductory leaf and then illustrated poems abut the lion, fox, bear, elephant, tiger, ass, sheep, horse, ox, dog, and cat. The firm of Illman & Pilbrow was active from about 1829 to 1855. The owner’s signature, “Smith A. Steere,” might help estimate the date with more precision. The only boy we find with this name in early 19th century was Smith Asa Steere (1826-1915) of Glocester, RI. Assuming he was about 8 or 10 when he inscribed the book, it could not have been published much later than 1836. One example in OCLC, at the American Antiquarian Society; none traced at auction.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(children’s books.) [william cowper.]
The Diverting History of John Gilpin.
Philadelphia: Morgan & Yeager / William Charles, 1815 [but circa 1832]
31 pages, including 8 hand-colored full-page engravings. 16mo, publisher’s printed wrappers, minor wear, one short tape repair; waste-paper endpapers coming detached short closed tear to page 17/18.
The first of several American editions of this tale was published in 1793. A William Charles edition was published in 1815, and then the remainders were sold to the short-lived firm of Morgan & Yeager and their Juvenile Bookstore, who kept the 1815 Charles title page but added their own undated printed wrappers. Other Morgan & Yeager imprints bearing dates are from 1824 and 1825. To make this a bit more complex, the wrappers are backed with a piece of waste paper. It proves to be page 253 of Volume III of the Journal of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, issued in 1832, so we assume the wrapper was produced on or after that date. We trace no other examples of this re-issue of John Gilpin. Rosenbach 517; Welch 245.5 (both 1815 issue).
Estimate
$300 – $400
(chinese-americans.)
Cabinet card of Ko K’un-hua, Harvard’s first professor of Chinese language.
Boston: Warren’s Portraits, circa 1879-1882
Albumen photograph, 5¾ x 4 inches, on original mount with photographer’s backmark, captioned in manuscript on verso “Ko Hun”; minimal wear.
Ko K’un-hua (1838-1882) was brought to Harvard in 1879, in the hopes that he could train a generation of students for success as China merchants. Enrollment in his classes was modest, with only 4 or 5 pupils. He died of pneumonia after almost 3 years at Harvard. The books he brought with him were Harvard’s first in any Asian language, and formed the initial core of what became the Harvard-Yenching Library. After his death, Harvard offered no further instruction in Chinese for nearly 40 years.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(civil rights.) [samuel w. thompson; designer.]
Souvenir spoon commemorating the life of Frederick Douglass.
[Chicago, IL, 1896]
Silver-plated spoon, 6 inches in length; light wear.
This spoon features a relief portrait of Douglass, with a chain design running up the handle noting the key events in his life on each link, and his name on verso. The design is illustrated in the 9 February 1896 issue of the Chicago Tribune. Designer Samuel W. Thompson, “the only colored traveling salesman for a jewelry house in this country,” produced it as “a tribute from a colored man to the great negro statesman.” A Douglass spoon with a different design was copyrighted in 1895 by Purdy & Peters of Providence, RI.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(civil rights.)
Pair of early New York civil rights pamphlets.
New York, circa 1955-1961
Each 16 pages including wrappers. Both oblong 8vo in original wrappers; minimal rust at staples.
“Civil Rights in New York State: How New York State Guarantees Equality of Opportunity.” Issued with introductions by Governor Nelson Rockefeller and New York Attorney General Louis Lefkowitz. Senator Jacob Javits had the entire text read into the Congressional Record on 14 September 1961. Only 2 copies traced in OCLC. [New York, 1961].
“F.E.P.C. and the Cost of Discrimination.” New York: Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, circa 1955.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(civil rights.)
An Appeal to You . . . to March on Washington.
New York, 1963
Printed handbill, 8½ x 5½ inches, with additional inked stamp of Chicago committee office; unrelated pencil notes on verso, minimal wear.
A call to join the March on Washington, in an appeal from Martin Luther King, John Lewis, and 8 other march organizers. It lays out the demands of the marchers and directs them: “You can get information on how to go to Washington by calling civil rights organizations, religious organizations, trade unions, fraternal organizations and youth groups.” This was printed in New York but distributed in Chicago, demonstrating the national reach of the event.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
Civil War
(civil war.) josiah m. lucas.
A congressional insider describes the mood as secession spreads.
Washington, 26 January 1861
Autograph Letter Signed to Ozias M. Hatch of Springfield, IL. 3 pages, 10 x 7¾ inches, on one folding sheet; folds, minimal wear.
Josiah M. Lucas (1812-1889) was born in Maryland, went to Illinois as a young man, knew the young Lincoln, and relocated to Washington in 1849. In 1861 he was postmaster of the House of Representatives. Here, he writes to another old Lincoln friend, Ozias H. Hatch (1814-1893), then the Illinois Secretary of State. In the months between Lincoln’s election and inauguration, Lucas offers Hatch the inside scoop.
“My opportunities of knowing what is going on, and also the public feeling, is quite as good, and I think better, than any ten senators or representatives. . . . They are standing in the midst of a revolution with folded arms, upon a baseless punctilio, when the very ground beneath them is crumbling away. They talk learnedly about the unconstitutionality of secession &c &c when he sees the secession of state after state and the withdrawal of members. They talk about coercion . . . How is it possible for one half the Union to coerce the other? Then it is plain that the thing is ridiculous. . . . Revolution rules the hour and is daily gathering strength.” Lucas holds up Maryland governor Thomas Hicks, a lukewarm Unionist trying to straddle the line, as a “model for the proper course of action.”
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(civil war.)
Military pass issued in Union-held Virginia for “Mr. Watt’s Negro man Henry.”
Norfolk, VA, 11 June 1862
Partly-printed Document Signed by Captain Christian T. Christiansen as Provost Marshal, 3 x 7½ inches; folds, repaired closed tear, moderate wear and foxing.
“Guards will pass Mr. Watt’s Negro man Henry to Portsmouth and return without molestation or interruption until revoked.” This pass was issued a month after the Union occupation of Norfolk, and before the preliminary announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation. Apparently local residents who were deemed sufficiently loyal were at this point still permitted to retain possession of their enslaved people.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(civil war.) erskine m. camp.
Register of travel requisitions and vendor licenses from the Soldiers’ Rest in Washington.
Washington, 1862-1864
70 (of 72) manuscript register pages 1862-1864, plus [8] pages of post-war military memoranda through 1872. 4to, disbound but with detached rear board present; apparently used at some point as a scrapbook but restored to original state with some staining and warping of leaves, lacking pages 43-44 and its entries.
Erskine Mason Camp (1830-1876) had been a captain in the 35th New York Infantry. In late 1862 he was detailed to administer the sprawling Soldiers’ Rest facility in Washington as Aide-de-Camp and Acting Assistant Quartermaster, where he remained through the end of the war.
This notebook features a 63-page list of transportation requisitions for individual soldiers transported from Soldiers’ Rest from 18 December 1862 to 22 May 1863. More than 500 soldiers are named, along with their regiment and destination, sometimes with the name of the authorizing officer. Some are sent toward the front, while others are sent to their home towns for recruiting, leave or recuperation. Harper’s Ferry and Fortress Monroe were popular destinations. Sometimes larger groups of deserters or paroled prisoners passed through. For example, on Christmas 1862, 28 paroled prisoners and 3 guards were sent to Annapolis, MD.
Following this is a quite evocative 7-page list of licenses granted to vendors operating in the camp from March to September 1864. They include salesmen of books, stationery, watches, songs, milk, pens, ointments, ice cream, soda water, oysters, ivory ornaments, stencil plates, pictures of Soldiers’ Rest, and corps badges; as well as services including several bootblacks, a man offering shaves, and a rat exterminator. Oddly enough, W.H. Bell seems to be the only one selling photographs.
WITH–family papers and ephemera, 48 items, including a 2½-inch oval photograph (of Captain Camp?) in officer’s uniform, a larger and photograph (of his widow?); an obituary of brother Elisha E. Camp; a photograph of the minister who married his brother in Washington, 1862; 3 small 1866 broadside obituaries of father Elisha Camp (a veteran of the War of 1812) of Sacket’s Harbor, NY; several printed poems including “The Return of the Standards, to His Excellency John A. Andrew, Who suggested the first provision of two thousand soldiers’ overcoats in the winter of 1861, by which measure, so much ridiculed in pro-slavery journals, our militia were able to reach Washington earlier than all others”; 32 newspaper clippings mainly relating to western military service circa 1872; and more.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(civil war.) ulric dahlgren.
Contemporary photographs of his orders to assassinate Jefferson Davis.
No place, [March] 1864
Pair of photographs, 10 x 7¾ inches, of a manuscript on “Headquarters Third Division” letterhead; mailing folds, some fading, minimal wear; manuscript Confederate photographer credits in upper margin, recipient’s docketing on verso.
Union cavalry colonel Ulric Dahlgren (1842-1864) and General Judson Kilpatrick launched a daring raid deep into Confederate territory on 28 February 1864, in an attempt to enter Richmond. On 3 March, Dahlgren was killed and most of his small command captured. Found on his body were his orders to burn mills and boats en route to Richmond, and release Union prisoners held there: “The prisoners loose and over the river, the bridges will be secured and the city destroyed . . . & Jeff. Davis & cabinet killed. . . . Everything on the canal & elsewhere of service to the Rebels must be destroyed.” Adding to the historical resonance, another doomed cavalry leader is mentioned in the closing sentence: “As Gen. Custer may follow me, be careful not to give a false alarm.”
This captured letter and other documents quickly made its way up the Confederate chain of command, were circulated widely in the North and overseas, and remain one of the unsettled controversies of the war. Was this an authentic order or a forgery created for propaganda purposes? If authentic, how far up the Union chain of command did it go–was it a wild initiative of Dahlgren and Kilpatrick, or was Secretary of War Stanton involved, or did knowledge extend all the way to Lincoln? And what became of the Confederate file containing the original letter? It is often assumed that Stanton quietly destroyed the file shortly after the war, although no evidence exists.
While the letter was originally spread in transcript form, Union skepticism led Confederates to have photographic copies made for distribution. On 5 February 1864, Richard S. Sanxay and Adolph Gomert of Richmond, VA had received Confederate patent #227 for a “Photographic Process for Duplicating Maps.” Working together at the Confederate Photographic Engineer Bureau, they produced numerous maps for battlefield use. By 23 March 1864, the Richmond Sentinel was announcing plans to photograph Dahlgren’s plans and distribute them in Europe. On 1 April 1864, Robert E. Lee wrote to Union General Meade about the Dahlgren Affair, hoping to determine whether the plan to assassinate Davis had official sanction: “To enable you to understand the subject fully I have the honor to inclose photographic copies of the papers referred to, one of which is an address to his officers and men, bearing the official signature of Colonel Dahlgren, and the other, not signed, contains more detailed explanations of the purpose of the expedition and more specific instructions as to its execution.” Sanxay and Gomert billed the Confederate Engineer Service for making more than 200 copies of “Dahlgren’s letter” between 16 April and 1 June. The present copy is headed in manuscript “Photographed in office Top[ographical] Dep’t D.N.V. [Department of Northern Virginia], Capt. H.H. Campbell, P. Engrs. in charge, Sanxay & Gomert’s Patent.” On verso, it is docketed “Photographic copy of instructions &c from originals found upon the person of Col. U Dahlgren U.S.A.”
The alleged Union plot to assassinate Jefferson Davis has often been credited as a major factor in the radicalization of Confederate-leaning actor John Wilkes Booth. These photographs were the means by which that news was disseminated–and thus can be linked to the Lincoln assassination. The photographed letter and its importance are discussed extensively in Ron Field, “Silent Witness: The Civil War through Photography and its Photographers,” pages 371-6, 458. See also the recent first biography of Dahlgren, Eric Wittenberg’s “Like a Meteor Blazing Brightly,” pages 200-201, 213, 242-7, which argues for the authenticity of the orders, and traces only two surviving photographs: at the National Archives and the Virginia Historical Society.
This may appear at first glance to be a later photostat, but it is an important artifact from 1864, with contemporary inscriptions. We trace no other copies of the famed Dahlgren letter at auction.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(civil war–arkansas.)
War-date calling card printed for General Herron of the Army of the Frontier.
No place, 1 January 1863
Calling card, 2¼ x 3½ inches, printed in red and black on coated stock; minor toning.
This calling card was produced for the field staff of Francis J. Herron (1837-1902), one of the most distinguished Union generals in the Army of the Frontier. He began the war as a captain in an Iowa regiment, and quickly ascended through the officer ranks. He was awarded a Medal of Honor and a promotion to Brigadier General for his work at the Battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas. As commander of two brigades, he soon distinguished himself in three Arkansas battles, the small Battle at McGuire’s Store, the Battle of Pea Ridge, and the 28 December 1862 Battle of Van Buren. Three days after Van Buren, on New Year’s Day, he had these cards printed: “Maguire’s! Prairie Grove! Van Buren! Compliments of Brig. Gen. F.J. Herron and Staff,” naming six of his staff officers.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(civil war–art.) “c.f.l.” [cherbury f. lothrop?]
The 16th Maine Volunteers, First Day at the Battle of Gettysburg.
No place, circa 1900?
Oil painting, 26 x 40 inches, on stretchers, signed “C.F.L.” at lower left, with later typed caption label and other markings on verso; relined, a bit of light tasteful conservation.
On the first morning of the Battle of Gettysburg, 1 July 1863, the Union Army’s 1st Corps was buckling under the Confederate onslaught northwest of the town center. As they fell back to Cemetery Ridge, the 16th Maine Infantry was given an impossible task: hold their position at any cost, to slow down the Confederate advance and guard the Union retreat. They were soon surrounded and overwhelmed. Shortly before they were captured, the color guard tore up the blue and gold regimental flag, distributing pieces among the troops so the Confederates could not enjoy it as a trophy.
This view shows the 16th Maine shortly before they were overwhelmed. They are gathered in a tight semi-circle reminiscent of Custer’s Last Stand, with saber-wielding officers issuing commands from within the circle, and dead and wounded comrades on all sides. In the foreground, a Union artilleryman and his horse lie dead beside a cannon. The much larger Confederate force, charging from the left, has suffered losses as well. Several other Confederate units can be seen far in the background, advancing without resistance. The “16th Maine Vols.” battle flag and the Stars and Stripes are still waving proudly at the front of the Union line.
The painting is signed only “C.F.L.” It does not seem to be copied from any other view, nor do any other depictions of the battle seem to be copied from it. While it could not have been sketched from life, it seems likely to have sprung from the memories of a 16th Maine participant. The only member of the regiment in 1863 whose initials match C.F.L. was Cherbury Fitzalan Lothrop (1838-1936), a farmer from Chesterville, ME who enlisted as a sergeant and mustered out as a 1st Lieutenant. He was taken prisoner at Gettysburg. After the war he ran a country store in Chesterville through 1890, was active in veteran affairs and his church choir, was a Baptist minister, and taught at the Maine Central Institute. He retired to his daughter’s home in Everett, MA in the early 20th century. At Gettysburg, Lothrop was a first sergeant. A first sergeant is a focal point of the composition, holding his rifle with its butt to the ground just within the circle behind the battle flag, and coolly surveying the fighting.
The landscape is similar to the actual site of the 16th Maine’s last stand. Their monument stands today on Doubleday Avenue in Gettysburg, near the present Doubleday Inn. Looking west from the road are rolling hills in the mid-ground, framed against larger hills in the background. The hills are not a perfect match, but some areas are now forested which may obscure the actual view. The artist may have painted the scene from memory, or visited the battlefield later in life to make sketches.
Provenance: this painting was owned circa 1978 by the Argosy Book Store, whose proprietor Ruth Shevin made a photograph still held in the reference files at the Winterthur Library in Delaware. Winterthur independently made the same attribution of Cherbury Lothrop as the likely artist. The painting was apparently sold to the consignor’s mother between 1978 and her passing in 1981.
Estimate
$15,000 – $25,000
(civil war–art.) john richard.
Sketchbook kept by a well-known soldier/artist during the last months of the war.
Various places, 1865
55 ink and wash drawings (15 of them colored) on 30 leaves. Oblong 4to, 6½ x 11 inches, original cloth-backed marbled paper boards, worn, with label reading “John Richard 1865” and color vignette of a steamship on front board; moderate wear, foxing, and dampstaining to contents.
This sketchbook was the work of Private John Richard (1831-1889) during the closing months of the war. While recovering from wounds suffered at Antietam, he apparently had some freedom to travel; the volume includes views of Washington, Alexandria, Baltimore, Annapolis, Hampton Roads, Appomattox, and Mount Vernon. The massive Union base at City Point, VA (a major supply hub, and site of Depot Field Hospital) appears frequently. Numerous naval steamships are depicted (one with a cargo of rebel prisoners on deck), as well as forts, hospitals, and headquarters. A group of Black soldiers roll barrels in front of the U.S. Government Bakery. In another, a family of 4 freedmen is seen outside a large cabin. Unusual subjects include an attractive brightly colored view of the United States Capitol, and John Wilkes Booth (taken from a popular portrait). Two stylized views of soldier gravestones, one Confederate and one Union, bring gravity to the proceedings.
Richard, also known as Rychard or Richards, emigrated from Switzerland to the United States in 1854. The 1860 census found him in the town of Webster, NY near Rochester, where he worked as a day laborer. A few months after his enlistment in the 59th New York Infantry, he was seriously wounded at Antietam in September 1862 and was sent to a Union hospital in Chestnut Hill, PA. There he first became known for his art, sketching numerous scenes of Germantown. He was transferred in February 1864 to the Veteran Reserve Corps, 135th Company, 2nd Battalion.
After the war, Richard settled in Philadelphia; some of his 1863 Germantown sketches were engraved for sale in the 1880s, and then posthumously published as “Quaint Old Germantown” in 1913. At some point shortly after the war, he painted a large oil on canvas view of the Battle of Fredericksburg, which ended up in the Nelson & Happy Rockefeller collection. See Lisabeth M. Holloway, “John Richards (1831-1889) and his Sketchbook,” in the Germantown Crier, 1981.
Estimate
$15,000 – $25,000
(civil war–colored troops.) david hunter.
Order from the Department of the South, drafting “all negroes in private service.”
Hilton Head, SC, 19 March 1863
General Orders No. 24. One page, 7¾ x 4¾ inches, signed in type by Hunter and adjutant Charles G. Halpine, on lined paper, plus integral blank; minor foxing.
Major General David Hunter (1802-1886) was best known for his advocacy of the United States Colored Troops, and for his May 1862 General Orders No. 11, which briefly abolished slavery in Georgia, South Carolina and Florida before President Lincoln rescinded it.
Offered here is a lesser-known but important order that, essentially, all freedmen were eligible to be drafted into military service. It forbade plantation superintendents in the Department of the South from “harboring, secreting, or keeping in their employ able-bodied male negroes liable to the draft,” and ordered that “all negroes in private service . . . will be immediately reported” for military service. Those already employed by the Army’s Engineer Department, and those certified for disability, were exempted. It also arranges a system for redress of “negroes . . . defrauded of their just earnings, by the avarice of masters who take advantage of their ignorance.” None traced at auction.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(civil war–colored troops.)
Report on the Battle of Fort Wagner in the New-York Tribune.
New York, 28 July 1863
8 pages, 20½ x 15¾ inches, on 2 folding sheets; stitch holes, folds, minimal wear; subscriber name stamped in outer margin.
The front-page article is headlined “The Colored Troops in Charleston Harbor: Their Bravery Under Fire at Fort Wagner–Scenes in the Hospitals.” It reads in part: “Fresh honors crown the colored troops. So fully had their character for bravery and reliance been established, that in the recent assault upon Fort Wagner the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts were allowed to lead our veteran troops.” Several soldiers are interviewed at the hospital after the battle.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(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. Cobb then became a general in the Confederate Army, and remained in the field until after Appomattox.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
(civil war–confederate.)
Charleston Mercury Extra . . . The Union is Dissolved!
Charleston, SC, 20 December 1860
Letterpress broadside, 23¼ x 12¾ inches; 1½-inch repaired closed tear in upper margin, minimal wear at folds, toning, a bit of light offsetting.
The first Confederate imprint.
The first printing of the first act of secession, printed just fifteen minutes after the final vote, essentially announcing the birth of the Confederacy and beginning of the Civil War. The printers were well aware of the significance of the news, emphasizing THE UNION IS DISSOLVED in large block letters.
This broadside includes the full text of “An Ordinance to Dissolve the Union between the State of South Carolina and other States,” which concludes that “the union now subsisting between South Carolina and the other States, under the name of the United States of America, is hereby dissolved.”
“Immediately on the declaration of the vote the door-keeper was apprised. He gave the word to the policeman nearest him. It was passed from mouth to mouth until it reached the sentinel at the tall iron gate at the entrance, and by him was proclaimed to the impatient crowd. Cheer after cheer rent the air. In less than fifteen minutes the Charleston Mercury had issued an extra giving the text of the ordinance, and the news that it had been unanimously adopted”–Rhodes, History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850, page III:198. Harwell, Cornerstones of Confederate Collecting, page 6; Ray O. Hummel, Southeastern Broadsides, 2434; Sabin 87439; Streeter sale II:1271.
Estimate
$25,000 – $35,000
(civil war–confederate.) charles b. tebbs jr.
Letter dismissing the Virginia Secession Convention as “demagogues & imbeciles.”
Warrenton, VA, 23 January 1861
Autograph Letter Signed (retained draft) to “Charles” [Charles Burgess Ball]. 2 pages, 9¾ x 7¾ inches; folds, several manuscript corrections.
This letter was drafted by soon-to-be Confederate colonel Charles B. Tebbs Jr. to longtime Virginia House of Delegates member Charles Burgess Ball (1822-1883). Just a couple of weeks before Virginia’s Secession Convention, Tebbs writes “I wish you could be in the Convention. The present disastrous condition of things has arisen from exactly such conduct as yours. Our halls of legislation, state & national, north & south, contain many, indeed are full of demagogues & imbeciles, & why? Because good & true & competent men, disgusted, have given up to them, shrunk from the conflict with such creatures. . . . Va has nothing to do, but decide between cotton & Yankees.”
WITH–3 political letters from Charles Burgess Ball to Tebbs, discussing Virginia politics, Kansas, the filibuster leader General William Walker, and Edward Everett’s famous series of lectures on George Washington. Richmond, VA, 1857-1858.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(civil war–confederate.)
Muster roll of Virginia’s Loudoun Guards from very early in the war.
No place, 27 April 1861
Manuscript document signed by a militia adjutant. 2 pages, 12½ x 7¾ inches, plus integral leaf with docket and notes; minor dampstaining and wear, docket leaf missing a corner.
The Loudoun Guards were a militia company in northern Virginia commanded by Charles B. Tebbs. This list of their members was drawn up just two weeks after Fort Sumter kicked off the Civil War. It asserts that these men have been “mustered into the service of the state,” and is signed and certified by the adjutant of the militia. The company was soon made part of the 8th Virginia Infantry in the Confederate Army, and would suffer tremendous casualties at Gaines Mill and Gettysburg.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(civil war–confederate.)
Confederate postmaster’s appointment notification letter from early in the war.
Richmond, VA, 17 October 1861
Partly printed Document Signed by B.N. Clements as chief of the appointments bureau, completed for Josephus Grabel as postmaster of Beech Spring, VA.
This letter appoints a new Confederate postmaster and authorizes him to “take charge of the public property belonging to the Post Office, aforesaid, such as desks, cases, boxes, tables . . . and stationery.” The printed form is datelined “Montgomery, Ala.” but corrected in manuscript to “Richmond, Va.” Most surviving examples of this form (“No. 6”) have the dateline blank, and are completed in Richmond. A commission certificate signed by the Postmaster General would have been sent later.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(civil war–confederate.) john s. mcnulty.
Letters from a civilian saddler for the Confederate cavalry in the Shenandoah Valley.
Western Virginia, May to December 1862
7 Autograph Letters Signed as “John S.” to his future wife Mollie McClung, staying with her brother in Rome, GA; mailing folds, condition generally very strong. With 4 original mailing envelopes, none with stamps but one bearing a Staunton, VA postmark. With typed transcripts.
John Stevenson McNulty (1832-1915), an Irish-American saddler and postmaster from Monterey in Highland County, VA, in a remote mountainous region along the new border with West Virginia. He had a higher allegiance than to the Confederacy: he hoped to marry Mollie McClung. During the period of these letters, he avoided enlisting in the army, preferring civilian work in the quartermaster department so he could make frequent visits home.
Most of these letters were written from the major Confederate supply base at Staunton, VA, about 45 miles to the east of his home town, where he was paid $10 per day to make harnesses for the Confederate artillery in General Edward Johnson’s brigade. He describes life in the Confederacy’s border region. Molly’s father was arrested but freed after he swore an oath to the Confederacy; a friend reported that in Highland there were “no Yankees anywhere in the county.” He frequently reports on military actions in the Shenandoah region, particularly regarding Stonewall Jackson: Jackson’s victory at the 25 May 1862 Battle of Winchester, and the Union cavalry’s pursuit of Jackson in early June. As Jackson deployed to the Northern Virginia campaign, McNulty wrote that “the cars have been detained moveing Old Stonewall’s forces from Richmond to Gordonsville” (19 July). On the day of the Battle of Cedar Mountain, McNulty wrote: “Old Stonewall has had another fight near Gordonsville” (9 August). He passes on news of the Confederate victory at Fredericksburg on 18 December 1862, boasting that the Yankees “have been sorely whipped” but bemoaning “the suffering of our homeless citizens in and around Fredericksburg.”
McNulty reports on visits to Staunton’s military hospital in his 3 June letter: “Oh! It is an awful pace. There is about one thousand sick & wounded & a great many dieing. In the dead room, more than once the rats have eaten out the eyes of the poor dead soldiers.” On 19 July he reports on a nervous visit to Highland, where he ran into “that celebrated alarmist Jim Whitelaw, comeing at a gallop, with a dispatch for the cavalry at McDowell, & he told us that the Yankees were coming & for God sale to go back or we would be taken.” McNulty ignored the advice, and the Yankees never came. On the same date, he hopes to be wed after the war: “It is uncertain when peace will be made. Perhaps not during the administration of Old Lincoln.” On 9 August he reports that two Union companies from West Virginia (“Union traitors from the N.W. part of this state”) have raided Highland County, burned one building, and took some local men captive: “They came very near getting the deputy sheriff of this county (John Armstrong) who was at Mrs. B’s in bed. He ran out the back door & the Yanks called to him to halt & then fired on him, but he kept on running until he got to the bushes & made his escape without being hurt. . . . Most of the people out here are very much discouraged. Some think that the South will be overrun. They have begun to despair, and are already whipped.”
Later in the war. McNulty became a lieutenant in the Confederate ordnance department, and married Mollie in 1865. He had a long career as a public servant in Highland County.
WITH–a letter to Mollie from her brother John H. McClung in Rome, GA, 20 January 1863, passing on wild theories: “The Yankees in forming this new state of West Virginia . . . are determined to exterminate all the population adverse to them. . . . Their plan is to steal all the Negroes, horses, cattle and imprison the whites and in many instances burn the houses. . . . If the Yankees ever get into your county again, they will make a clean sweep of Negroes and stock.”
AND–a manuscript transcript of the lyrics to two Confederate marching songs by Harry McCarthy in an unknown hand, “Bonnie Blue Flag” and “The Volunteer.”
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(civil war–confederate.) robert e. lee.
Proclamation “To the People of Maryland.”
Near Frederick, MD, 8 September 1862
Field-printed document, 7¼ x 10 inches, on one sheet; dampstaining, 3½-inch separation at one fold, worn on top edge and at intersection of folds, pencil inscription on verso, later transcription of this inscription pasted to the lower margin on a slip of paper.
General Lee issued this order early in his Maryland campaign, four days after he moved his Army of Northern Virginia into Maryland. The Confederates hoped that Maryland residents would greet them as liberators, so Lee issued this proclamation to assure civilians of his noble intentions:
“To the People of Maryland: It is right that you should know the purpose that has brought the Army under my command within the limits of your State. . . . The People of the Confederate States have long watched with the deepest sympathy the wrongs and outrages that have been inflicted upon the citizens of a Commonwealth, allied to the States of the South by the strongest social, political and commercial ties. They have seen with profound indignation their sister State deprived of every right, and reduced to the condition of a conquered Province. . . . Believing that the People of Maryland possessed a spirit too lofty to submit to such a government, the people of the South have long wished to aid you in throwing off this foreign yoke. . . . In obedience to this wish, our Army has come among you, and is prepared to assist you with the power of its arms in regaining the rights of which you have been despoiled. . . . Marylanders shall once more enjoy their ancient freedom of thought and speech. We know no enemies among you, and will protect all of every opinion. It is for you to decide your destiny, freely and without constraint. This army will respect your choice whatever it may be, and while the Southern people will rejoice to welcome you to your natural position among them, they will only welcome you when you come of your own free will.”
President Jefferson Davis had drafted his own version of a proclamation to greet the liberated Marylanders, which placed more emphasis on the Confederacy’s diplomatic position, but it did not reach Lee in time. Regardless, Lee’s army was generally greeted with coldness or hostility, and after Antietam they soon retreated back across the Potomac.
An early pencil note on verso explains that this proclamation was “presented to D.J. Winter by Genl. Lee at the old Fair Grounds on the Williamsport-Pike, Saturday before the Antiedam Battle.” Daniel J. Winter (1842-1913) was the son of a prominent farmer in Smithsburg, MD. Lee’s army never reached as far as Smithsburg during that campaign, but did pass through Williamsport, MD to the west. According to the note, Winter would have received the proclamation on Saturday, 13 September, as the Battle of Antietam took place on Wednesday, 17 September.
Crandall 670; Parrish & Willingham 1237 (second printing with salutation corrected from “Marland”). No other examples of this important message have appeared at auction since 2008.
Estimate
$6,000 – $9,000
(civil war–confederate.)
Pass issued to a wagoneer by order of Stonewall Jackson on the eve of Antietam.
Martinsburg, WV, 16 September 1862
Partly printed Document Signed by CSA Provost Marshal R.T. Colston. One page, 4¾ x 5 inches, on vertically lined blue paper; folds, minor foxing, edges uneven as issued.
This pass was printed in the field during the early part of the Maryland Campaign. On 11 September 1862, Major General Jackson took temporary possession of Martinsburg, WV, where this form was printed on a scrap of blue lined “necessity paper.” On 15 September, Jackson completed his capture of Harpers Ferry, WV. On 16 September, as his main forces rushed east to join Lee at Antietam, this pass was issued: “Office of the Provost Marshal . . . . The Guards and Pickets will pass E. & J. White & wagon on Winchester Road. By order of Maj. Gen. Jackson, Capt. R.T. Colston, Provost Marshal.” The next day, Jackson and his troops took the field in the bloodiest day of fighting in American history.
Confederate field passes are scarce; we have traced no other examples of this form. Published in Muller, War Papers of the Confederacy, page 5.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(civil war–confederate.) e.w. drummond.
Diary of a Maine transplant to Savannah, captured at Fort Pulaski and imprisoned in New York.
Various places, 27 January to 13 September 1862
164 pages (160 of them manuscript diary pages). Folio, 13 x 8 inches, original ½ sheep over marbled boards, worn with front board nearly detached; several leaves torn from rear.
Edward William Drummond (1838-1876) was born and raised in Winslow, Maine. In 1859 he moved to Savannah, GA, where he worked as a bookkeeper and soon married a local girl. Secession soon presented him with a difficult decision. He sided with his wife’s family and his adopted city, and joined the Chatham Artillery company as a sergeant in the Confederate service in August 1861. The company was stationed at the imposing Fort Pulaski, which guarded Savannah. The fort was an early target for a Federal offensive.
By the time this diary begins, Union artillery had nearly encircled Fort Pulaski, preparing to starve it into submission. Supply vessels were still managing to sneak through under heavy artillery fire. Drummond noted on 31 January: “I have been at work all day making a store room. We now have about one year’s full rations for the garrison.” Their telegraph cable was cut on 12 February, and the last supply steamer made it through the bombardment two days later. On 17 February he wrote “Here we are, cut off and likely to stay so.” Four days later he noted “Tomorrow our Congress meets to sign the declaration of our independence, and the foundation of a permanent government.” From this point onward, contact with the outside world was limited to an occasional boat sneaking through with mail, and of course constant observation of Savannah and nearby troops. 15 March was an exciting day: “We have had quite an advent today for us. Two White men and three Negroes came over through a creek from Wilmington Island, bringing with them four beeves, which are quite acceptable.” The next day, “our beef friends probably got back safe as they displayed the given signal from Wilmington Island.” On 18 March he noted proudly “Our old Merrimack or Virginia as she is now called has been doing great damage among the Federal Navy, which we trust is but a beginning.”
On 10 April, the Union troops requested the fort’s surrender, which was refused. In the ensuing bombardment, “we had two men injured. One lost an arm, the other a leg, together with other bodily injuries.” The next day Drummond offered regular updates. “8 o’clock, fire getting hotter. Our wall a perfect honey comb. . . . 1½ o’clock, three casemates breached and shot pouring through and pepering our magazine, which cannot stand it long. . . . 2 o’clock, we surrendered. The 7 Connecticut and a Rhode Island regiment came over to occupy under Col. Terry.” The fort’s defenders were made prisoners of war, and on 22 April Drummond arrived at his new home, the prisoner camp at Governors Island in New York Harbor.
Drummond, who as a clerk sergeant was placed with the officers, gave Governor’s Island good reviews. The prisoners were allowed to move freely about the island, and were permitted some communication with civilians in the city: “We could not have chosen a better place for imprisonment if we had made our own selection” (24 April). The prisoners had brought their enslaved servants with them. On 4 May, and order came for “all our Negro boys to be sent to New York and turned loose in the city. We all feel that it is hard and unmerciful. . . . They know no one, and will fare hard, poor fellows. . . . Unaccustomed to such treatment they had almost rather starve.” On 28 May Drummond describes the prison newspaper, “Dixie Discourses,” and two days later “we had our usual game of ball this morning. They are becoming quite exciting. All are improving in the science of the game and the sides are standing on equal terms.” Hopes of an exchange were dashed on 19 June as Drummond and the officers were transferred to the prison at Johnson’s Island in Lake Erie, off the coast of Ohio. On 21 June he made a crude sketch of the barrack arrangements. Baseball was resumed by 18 July. On 8 August a prisoner from Arkansas was shot by a guard for no apparent reason. On 10 August the guards pasted up broadsides offering freedom to prisoners who took the oath of allegiance, which was accepted by only one or two men: “The Yankees seem surprised that their flaming announcement is not more fully appreciated.” Drummond was exchanged on 31 August and set off for the South. The young man from Maine wrote on 9 September: “Ho for Dixie. We shall soon be among our people.” The diary comes to a close on 13 September as his steamer passed through Arkansas. The historical record shows that Drummond rejoined the 1st Georgia Infantry, served as a defender of Fort Wagner in South Carolina, was wounded at the Battle of Dalton, but survived the war and returned to Savannah.
This exceptional diary was published in its entirety in “A Confederate Yankee: The Journal of Edward William Drummond, a Confederate Soldier from Maine,” edited by Roger S. Durham (Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 2004). Provenance: by descent to Edward William Drummond’s great-granddaughter as described in the “Confederate Yankee” acknowledgements in 2004; thence into the trade.
WITH–a Bible printed by the American Bible Society in 1861, inscribed on the front free endpaper “E.W. Drummond, presented to him on the 27th day of April 1862, his first Sabbath on Governor’s Island as a prisoner of war.”
Carte-de-visite photograph of Drummond, clipped at bottom edge, slightly retouched, with backmark of D.J. Ryan of Savannah, GA, circa 1859-1860 (published in “A Confederate Yankee,” page xxvi).
An early transcript of an 1864 Savannah newspaper article on wounds suffered by Drummond in battle (transcribed in “Confederate Yankee,” page 152).
A packet of 11 newspaper clippings and pamphlets on Fort Pulaski and related topics, 1913-1961. One of the pamphlets is annotated “I was quite a curio to the crowd of visitors when they learned I was the son of one of Pulaski’s defenders.”
2 related letters to Drummond descendants, 1974 and 2000, and a copy of “Confederate Yankee” warmly inscribed by the editor to the then-owner of the diary.
Estimate
$4,000 – $6,000
(civil war–confederate.)
Reminiscences of Confederate soldier’s wife Mary Drummond, with related family papers.
[Savannah, GA], circa 1868
Autograph Manuscript Signed, 13 pages, 9 x 5½ inches, on unbound sheets; light staining to cover page, minor wear. With two typed transcripts, one prepared in 1910 from the 1868 manuscript, and the other prepared more recently.
Mary Ann Dixon (1838-1921) was born and raised in Savannah, GA, and in 1860 married Edward W. Drummond who had recently relocated to Savannah from Maine (see the preceding lot). He served in a Georgia regiment during the Civil War, including a stint in Union prison, and then died in a yellow fever epidemic in 1876, along with three of their four children.
Offered here is Mary’s memoir of the Civil War from a Confederate wife’s perspective. It was written at the request of her local Daughters of the Confederacy chapter. It begins with the call to arms, and her husband’s service at besieged Fort Pulaski: “After the Harbor was blocked, a letter was of rare occurence, & oh the sad hours that were spent not knowing how soon the enemy might make an attack upon the fort.” In Savannah, the residents would become excited when “occasionally a vesel would run the blockade & it would be hailed with delight. . . . We would make over odd dresses, turn them, add pieces to the skirts, and by trimming, make a new one.” She describes the arrival of Union occupation troops in Savannah at length: “We were up very late the night before, burning letters and all papers of importance as we did not know what to expect. . . . My little 3-year-old son went to the window and exclaimed ‘Oh Mamma, look at the soldiers.’” She offered a Union sentinel some coffee and breakfast, and he pledged to protect her home. This preserved her family’s livestock, and a buggy which she was later able to sell for $175. She recounts the order for all families of officers to be sent across the lines; she was permitted to stay until her son recovered from an illness. On her departure, she was ordered not to bring with her any of her husband’s clothing: “I said, ‘That is very hard, my husband bought & paid for his clothing.’ He laughed & said ‘You are unfortunate in having a husband in the Rebel Army.’” She then went as a refugee to Augusta, GA, where she stayed as a guest of a family friend until her return to Savannah. At the end of the war, she returned to Savannah by a cotton steamer, sleeping in a tent on the deck: “We had to begin life over again, as everything was lost.”
Parts of this memoir were published, along with her husband’s war diary, in “A Confederate Yankee: The Journal of Edward William Drummond, a Confederate Soldier from Maine,” edited by Roger S. Durham (Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 2004). Provenance: by descent to Mary Ann Drummond’s great-granddaughter as described in the “Confederate Yankee” acknowledgements in 2004; thence into the trade.
WITH–“In Memoriam, Edward W. Drummond.” Black-bordered memorial broadside, 20 x 13½ inches, printed on silk; folds, backed with linen, minor wear slightly affecting text. An extended tribute to Mary’s husband Edward W. Drummond and young children Ina, Edward and Mary, who all perished during a yellow fever outbreak in August-September 1876. None traced in OCLC.
Watercolor portrait (possibly a hand-colored photograph) of an unnamed infant girl, 9 x 7½ inches, laid down on paper in a period oval gilt frame without glass, signed by Dillon of 1227 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington. Luke C. Dillon was a photographer active at that address from about 1878 to 1883.
Photograph album with 9 tintypes and 13 cartes-de-visite inserted, most identified in pencil, including Mary, her husband Edward, their children, and several members of the extended Drummond family of Maine; several of these are reproduced in “Confederate Yankee.”
Loose photographs (46 cartes-de-visite and 12 tintypes of a similar or smaller size), most unidentified.
Autograph book bearing inscriptions from friends and family mostly in Maine and Georgia, plus a few pages of manuscript verse, about 30 manuscript pages, 1885-1902.
Letter from William E. Flynn to Edward W. Drummond proposing a business partnership, Savannah, GA, 1 September 1868.
Carbon typescript copy of the “Private Journal of E.W. Drummond” (the same one later published in 2004 and offered in the lot above).
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(civil war–confederate.) nancy white.
Letter by one of General Wild’s infamous female hostages.
Norfolk, VA, 14 January [1864]
Autograph Letter Signed as “Nannie White” to Brigadier General Edward A. Wild. One page, 8 x 5 inches, plus integral blank; minimal wear.
Among Confederate circles, General Edward A. Wild (1825-1891) was one of the most notorious Union generals. In April 1863 he became one of the first and most enthusiastic leaders of the United States Colored Troops as commander of “Wild’s African Brigade,” with headquarters in Norfolk, VA. On several occasions, his brigade took Confederate women as hostages. One of them was Miss Nancy “Nannie” White of Knott’s Island, NC, aged 23, who was captured on 21 December 1863 and sent back to the brigade headquarters in nearby Norfolk, VA. This may have been done in retaliation for her family’s aid to escaped Confederate prisoners. She was held in the home of one of Wild’s officers until released on 14 January 1864, when she wrote this letter exonerating General Wild from blame.
“I respectfully relate that during the time that I have been a prisoner under you and confined in Capt. Croft’s quarters, I have been treated very kindly, indeed more than I could expect, and have had everything done that could conduce to my comfort, and shall ever feel grateful to you for your lenientcy, and to Capt. Croft and family for the many kindnesses that I have received during my imprisonment.”
Of course, a letter written by a hostage probably should not be taken literally, particularly if their release depends upon it. See the 2003 book by Frances H. Casstevens, “Edward A. Wild and the African Brigade in the Civil War,” pages 127-141; this letter is published on page 140, and was cited as belonging to a private collection (footnote 68 on page 292).
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(civil war–confederate.)
The Life and Death of Jeff. Davis, being an Awful Warning to all Traitors . . . in Five Expressive Tableaux.
Philadelphia: C.J. Price, circa 1865?
3 wood engravings intended to be manipulated into 5 illustrations. 6 pages on one sheet, 6 x 9 inches, with the outer leaves cut into two flaps each; moderate wear including 1-inch closed tear.
This metamorphic toy pamphlet features illustrations by T.W. Roane which show the Confederate president in 5 poses: “1. Before he becomes a Traitor. 2. He commences his Secession career, or in other words, sits deliberately down on his own coffin. 3. He finds it unpleasant. 4. He wishes to be left alone. 5. He is let alone.” In this final configuration he is hooded and hanging from a gallows.
The American Antiquarian Society hypothesizes that this was published after the arrest of Davis in May 1865. One in OCLC, at the American Antiquarian Society, and none traced at auction.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(civil war–confederate.)
The Last Ditch of the Chivalry, or a President in Petticoats.
New York: Currier & Ives, 1865
Lithograph, 13½ x 18 inches; minor edge wear, light mat toning, ½-inch repaired tear.
As Jefferson Davis flees in his wife’s cloak with a sack of gold under his arm, he is chased by laughing Union soldiers: “It’s no use trying that shift, Jeff, we see your boots!” Davis protests: “Let me alone, you blood thirsty villains. I thought your government more magnanimous than to hunt down women and children!” Peters 1654.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(civil war–confederate.)
Unrecorded Jefferson Davis caricature carte-de-visite, “The Last Ditch.”
[San Francisco, CA?], circa May 1865
Albumen photograph, 2 x 3½ inches, on original plain card mount; minimal wear.
A carte-de-visite of a caricature by popular French-American artist Edward Jump (circa 1831-1883), then a resident of San Francisco. It satirizes the famous episode of Jefferson Davis attempting to escape capture while wearing his wife’s cloak. Here she ties his bonnet, saying “Hold still Jeffy, ‘till I get you fixed. Don’t get so nervous.” While looking out at the pursuing Union troops, he replies “Yes, but it’s the fix, wife, that I’m already in! That’s what’s the matter.” In a second panel, Davis has been captured by laughing Union soldiers as he snarls “I didn’t know that you would hunt down women.” His wife protests in the background “I warn you not to provoke the President, he might hurt you.” An African-American carriage driver proclaims “Golly, Mss’ Davis, you’s in th’ last ditch this time.” The original drawing was signed “EJump.”
We trace no other examples of this caricature, either in the original, in print, or in photograph.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(civil war–confederate.)
Oath of loyalty to the United States sworn by a released Confederate veteran.
No place, 15 June 1865
Partly printed Document Signed by released prisoner J.W. Gillett and signed twice by William W. Bamberger as colonel of the 5th Maryland Infantry. One page, 4¾ x 8 inches, with docketing on verso; folds, moderate foxing. With original stamped but uncancelled envelope addressed to Gillett, care of his regiment in the Army of Northern Virginia.
After the surrender, Confederate soldiers were required to swear an oath of allegiance to the United States to gain their release, promising to “protect and defend the Constitution and Government of the United States against all enemies” and “perform all the duties which may be required of me by the laws of the United States.” This oath was taken by John Widley Gillett, a “released prisoner of war” from Bath, VA who had served in the 52nd Virginia Infantry. It was signed by the colonel of the 5th Maryland Infantry, who had twice crossed out “Capt & Supt, Prison” from his credentials. On verso, the colonel had ordered “the Q.M. Dept. will furnish transportation to Bath Co., Va.”
Estimate
$500 – $750
(civil war–history.) abner doubleday.
His personal copy, marked with revisions, of his book “Chancellorsville and Gettysburg,”
New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1882 with revisions circa 1892
issued as Volume VI in the “Campaigns of the Civil War” series. Numerous maps and plans. xi, [5], 243, [4] pages including publisher’s ads at end. Large 12mo, publisher’s gilt cloth, moderate wear; front hinge split, other minor wear, marked up with revisions (mostly in red ink) on 20 pages with other additions; inscribed on flyleaf “Maj. Genl. Abner Doubleday, E.H. Ross” (not in Doubleday’s hand) and signed by his wife “Mrs. Abner Doubleday, Mendham, Morris Co., N.J.” on front free endpaper.
First edition, marked up with his revisions for a later edition. Abner Doubleday (1819-1893) was a Union Major General who should be best remembered for commanding the I Corps on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, blunting the onslaught of a much larger Confederate force until the Union Army could regroup. He is actually remembered more for something completely fictional (his alleged invention of baseball), but he was an important general.
The revisions found in this book, clearly in his hand, did not appear in the 1885 reissue of the book, but most of them did appear in the 1892 and 1912 editions. The revisions appear on pages 49, 54, 57, 61, 101, 103, 129, 184, 195, 196, 210, 213, 215, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 229, and 232. For example, Doubleday added a footnote to page 49, softening his assessment of General Joseph W. Revere’s performance at Chancellorsville. On page 61, a footnote was added praising the heroism of the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry at the same battle. On page 196, Doubleday added a footnote with an anecdote about the heroism of an artillery lieutenant named Woodruff. Two minor revisions (on pages 50 and 213), the only ones in black ink, did not make the 1892 edition. A manuscript footnote at the base of page 103, regarding the narrow escape of Rhode Island cavalry colonel George N. Bliss at Gettysburg, also did not make the later edition. In addition to the revisions, a clipped 1886 newspaper article by Doubleday is laid down to the rear flyleaf, and a pencil battle plan on graph paper titled “Position of I Division II Corps, May 2d 1863,” 3¼ x 5¼ inches, is laid down to the rear free endpaper. This plan is not reproduced in the 1892 edition.
WITH–other papers tracing to Doubleday’s wife Mary Hewitt Doubleday (1823-1907):
Abner Doubleday. “Reminiscences of Fort Sumter and Moultrie in 1860-‘61.” 184, 8 pages. 8vo, publisher’s gilt pictorial cloth, worn; occasional pencil marks in margins; inscribed on front flyleaf “Mrs. Abner Doubleday.” New York: Harper & Brothers, 1876.
John S. McCalmont. Autograph Letter Signed to Mrs. Doubleday. Discusses her request for extra copies of a pamphlet, presumably a memorial tribute to Abner Doubleday in a West Point alumni publication. “I had not sufficient ability and experience in such compositions to do justice to the various merits of your dear husband.” McCalmont was a West Point graduate who had served as a colonel in the Civil War. Washington, 29 September 1893.
Mary [Doubleday?] Autograph Letter Signed to cousin Emmie. Discusses a program for the dedication of an Abner Doubleday memorial tablet at West Point: “Be sure and read the commander’s speech and Col. Mills’ reply.” Abraham G. Mills, an old friend of Doubleday’s and the organizer of this West Point memorial event, would soon lead the 1905 commission to determine the origins of baseball which erroneously immortalized Doubleday as the sport’s inventor. Morristown, NJ, 2 December 1900.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(civil war–illinois.)
Scrapbook kept by Abraham Jonas, an early Jewish settler of Quincy, IL who had sons fighting on both sides.
Various places, 1860-1863
Clippings, manuscripts, and ephemera, mounted to 63 scrapbook leaves. 4to, original ½ calf over marbled boards, worn, lacking most of backstrip, front board nearly detached; first leaf detached, minor wear to leaf edges, an occasional item excised.
This album was apparently compiled by Abraham Jonas (1804-1864), who was the first Jewish resident of Quincy, IL, served in the Illinois legislature, and became a good friend and supporter of Abraham Lincoln. Jonas arranged the Lincoln-Douglas debate in Quincy in 1858, and publicly supported his dark-horse nomination for the presidency. Six of Jonas’s sons served in the Civil War–four with the Confederacy and two with the Union. His son Edward L. Jonas (1844-1918) was a lieutenant in the 50th Illinois Infantry. This scrapbook contains many highlights.
3 original telegrams. In two of them, Illinois Secretary of State Ozias M. Hatch informs Abraham Jonas of war and political developments, including a 17 February 1862 telegram reporting on the Union victory at Fort Donelson. A third telegram dated 21 October 1862 from Brigadier General Benjamin M. Prentiss reports from Chicago that “Edward [Jonas] & other Quincy boys are with me here in a.m.”
A small crudely drawn pencil sketch on coated stock, 2 x 3 inches, titled “Rebel Prison, Selma, Alabama, by a Shiloh Prisoner.” Several prisoners can be seen in the windows, while a guard patrols in front. The structure does not bear a close resemblance to other known images of Selma’s Cahaba Prison, a.k.a. “Castle Morgan.”
Manuscript map of the Tallahatchie and Yazoo Rivers, showing the 11-13 March 1863 clash at Fort Pemberton a.k.a. Fort Greenwood near Greenwood, MS, which ended the Yazoo Pass expedition as part of the effort to take Vicksburg. It shows terrain features, the location of several Confederate vessels (some of them noted as sunk), batteries, and the site of camps just north of Greenwood.
3 field-printed orders relating to Lieutenant Edward Jonas. They include two duplicates of General Order 4 issued from the Headquarters of the District of East Arkansas in Helena, 16 February 1863, by the order of General Prentiss, and signed in type by Jonas as adjutant, requiring sutlers to have a license for the sale of intoxicating liquor to soldiers. The other is General Orders No. 158 issued from the Headquarters of the 16th Army Corps in Memphis, TN, appointing Jonas as acting aide-de-camp to Major General Hurlbut.
The clippings begin in 1860, with discussion of secession and the presidential election examined from both sides. Most of the clippings are uncited, but one is from the New Orleans Daily Delta. The western theater of war is a special focus, as might be expected. One article on the Battle of Wilson’s Creek is annotated: “Battle near Springfield, Mo.” Some of the clippings relate directly to the children of Abraham Jonas. A clipping of an anonymous 1860 satirical campaign song is noted in pencil “S A Jonas.” Abraham’s son Sidney Alroy Jonas (1838-1915) went on to serve as a major in the Confederate army for a Mississippi regiment. A published letter from Edward Jonas to his parents dated 1 April 1862 reports on his regiment’s movements in an unknown newspaper. The last date noted among the clippings is 30 March 1864; Abraham Jonas died two months later on 8 June.
In the rear of the volume are 8 engraved portraits of prewar political figures by Buttre, plus one incongruous view from the Jonas family’s hometown: a lithograph of the Unitarian Church of Quincy.
Estimate
$6,000 – $9,000
(civil war–indiana.)
Large archive of Lt. Palmer Judkins of the 60th Indiana Volunteers, at Vicksburg and beyond.
Various places, bulk 1862-1865
Approximately 500 items in one box (0.7 linear feet) plus one sleeve, including: 133 wardate Autograph Letters Signed to his mother and other family members, some of them originally written faintly in pencil and over-witten in ink at an early date; manuscript diary kept intermittently on [12], 39 loose folio pages and sent home as letters covering 2-3 February 1861, 6-21 May 1862 at Camp Morton, IN; and 9 February to 12 April 1863 at Siege of Vicksburg; 7 company muster rolls, 1862-1863; approximately 300 regimental papers dated 1864-1865 including forage requisitions, returns of ordnance, clothing lists, and more; a 1901 photograph of Judkins, 6½ x 4½ inches on original mount; and a 1902 oil portrait of Judkins mounted on stretchers, signed by C.T. Webber.
An unusually large and varied Civil War archive, including personal letters, diary entries, regimental papers, ephemera, and a large oil portrait. Charles Palmer Judkins (1842-1900) came from a Quaker family in Cincinnati, OH, and enlisted in the 60th Indiana Infantry in February 1862. In August 1862 he became a quartermaster sergeant, in November a sergeant major, and then in January 1864 a lieutenant and regimental quartermaster. After the war, he was a physician in Cincinnati.
The earliest letters are written from Camp Morton in Indianapolis, where the regiment guarded Confederate prisoners. On 8 March 1862 he describes some of the Confederates who were detailed to work in the regimental offices, one “a lawyer in Frankford Kentuckey and owns half a plantation and Negroes in Georgia, the other is the Flying Dutchman, a celebrated boxer; besides them we have a cook, one who used to be a servant to one rebel officer. He is a very good and quiet man, and I don’t think he will poison us. . . . The poor prisoners are dying off very fast, 13 one day, 14 next and so on. It is a great deal harder on the Mississipians than any other.” The regiment spent the last half of 1862 in Kentucky.
The regiment’s heaviest action was in the Vicksburg Campaign. Judkins did not seem to understand General Sherman’s concept of “total war”: “We are now on the road to Vicksburg, Miss. . . . We stopped last night at Gaster’s Landing. . . . The men destroyed everything by fire except one house. There was a fine dwelling house here unoccupied, which has several small Negro houses around it. One of these took fire and was put out by Mr. Carter our chaplain and myself. . . . I do think that Gen. Sherman is very much to blame for not putting a stop to such acts of incendiary, for it can do no good, and only aggravate the enemy more” (21 and 24 December 1862). He had his first taste of heavy combat at the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou. “I have just returned from an expedition against Vickburgh. . . . five o’clock in the morning when all at once the heavy guns on our left about two miles off opened fire, and if thee ever saw a person get up quick, I did. I thought all the thunder clouds in the heavens had opened on us. . . . The expedition was a failour. . . . We passed an anxious night, all of the regiments gone off the field and ours left to cover the retreat, keep up the camp fires, and make the enemy believe that all the troops were there still” (27 December 1862).
Next came the Battle of Arkansas Post: “The fort we had to take was almost impreginable, in fact if it had not a been for the gunboats they never could have captured it” (14 January 1863). A small diagram of the fort and battlefield is enclosed, showing the location of the gunboats and rifle pits.
Judkins spent months at the Siege of Vicksburg, described in his diary on 25 and 26 February 1863: “There was heavy firing all of last night. . . . It was caused by a raft that was sent down by some of our generals, fitted up like a gunboat, with a big log for a gun. She passed the batteries safely with only one hole through her. . . . The men complain a good deal of the way they were treated by the general, forcing them to march 20 miles a day through mud 20 inches deep, and threatening to shoot them if they lagged behind.” An undated letter fragment from early in the siege features a nicely done pencil map of the area, with his note: “The enemy occupy all of the country on the Vicksburgh side of the river, and we the other. How we are to get at eachother seem still to be a hidden matter, for it is certain death for either to attempt to cross the Mississippi.”
Judkins added more in a 5 June 1863 letter: “The enemy sleeps during the hottest part of the day, and comes out of their holes in the mornings and evenings when our men amuse themselves by firing at them. . . . We heard today from Youngs Point the same force of Rebels that attacked us at Perkins Plantation came up and attacked the troops there. There were some Negro troops at the point, some of which were taken prisoners, whom the Rebels put to death. The other Negroes found it out, and went in again and cleaned the Rebels out. . . . I have just been up our rifle pits looking at gunboats shelling the city. It is quite a novel sight. You can hear our pickets talking to the rebels, asking them if they have plenty of food and so forth.” A small drawing of the rifle pits, batteries, and surrounding hills is enclosed.
Judkins came from a Quaker background. Although that did not stop him from enlisting in the army, he did sometimes call the months by their numbers rather than their pagan names, and favored “thee” over “you”–at least in these family letters. His mother considered visiting his camp at one point, and he responded: “Don’t think I would be ashamed of thy plain bonnett anywhere, and most especially here where I am known to be a Friend” (8 March 1862). His family seemed to have mixed emotions about his enlistment. On 3 March 1863 he wrote in his diary “I am glad to find my mother holds the opinion she does in regard to deserting. It relieves my mind of a good deal of anxiety, for I don’t know what I might have done if she had so counseled me.”
Among the ephemera in the collection, most interesting is an undated printed sheet titled “Rules for Camp Morton.” The camp allowed the prisoners to choose their own officers, who were responsible for “policing for health and comfort, the construction of new sinks when necessary, and the daily throwing in of lime and mould to prevent bad odors.” None are traced in OCLC or at auction.
Among the very few post-war items in the collection is a large 1902 oil portrait of Judkins painted by prominent Cincinnati artist Charles T. Webber (1825-1911), best known for his 1893 World’s Fair painting which dramatized the Underground Railroad.
A massive archive which should be of interest to anyone studying the Siege of Vicksburg, Indiana in the Civil War, or Quakers in the military.
Estimate
$4,000 – $6,000
(civil war–indiana.)
Photograph of blind Civil War veteran Charles Springer Myers with his son.
No place, 1868
Albumen photograph, 3¾ x 2 inches, on original plain mount, with pencil caption on verso “1868, Charles Springer Myers and son Charles William Myers”; minor foxing, bottom ¼ inch separated from the remainder by a clean incision.
Charles Springer Myers (1834-1920) of Gosport, IN is shown with his son Charles William Myers (1860-1911), who likely served as his eyes. He had been a married blacksmith with three children before enlisting in the 21st Indiana Infantry, and was severely wounded at Port Hudson in 1863, filing for an invalid pension within months. In the 1880 census for Gosport, Indiana he is listed as a blind broom-maker, and is also listed in the 1910 census as blind. His 1920 death certificate lists him as a blacksmith; he died in Gosport.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(civil war–kentucky.)
Broadside proclaiming martial law in Covington in response to Morgan’s Raid.
Covington, KY, 18 July 1862
Letterpress broadside, 9½ x 7 inches, signed in type by Union General Jeremiah T. Boyle (military governor of Kentucky) and his provost marshal James L. Foley; minor wear at folds, minor foxing, tightly trimmed, mounted to a scrapbook leaf with 1907 newspaper clippings on verso.
The Confederate cavalry general John Hunt Morgan launched his first raid across Kentucky on 4 July 1862, raising alarm across the state. This broadside was issued by the Union military governor of Kentucky in Covington, just across the river from Cincinnati. It orders that all able-bodied citizens of the county report for militia duty by 10 p.m.: “Such as have arms and ammunition will bring them. . . . Those who are willing to fight against the traitors who are threatening your city will be organized into Companies and Battalions. . . . All refusing to bear arms in such defense will be disarmed. . . . All persons not armed are forbidden to appear in the streets of the City, until otherwise ordered, under the penalty of being shot down.” On this occasion, Morgan returned south well before reaching Covington; his 1863 raid skirted north of Covington across Ohio.
The text of this proclamation was published in the New York Times of 21 July 1862, but we trace no other examples of this broadside in OCLC or at auction.
WITH–a letter from Provost Marshal James L. Foley to John W. Finnell of the Kentucky legislature, insisting that he has always refused pay for his services. Covington, 27 August 1862.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
(civil war–maine.)
Broadside poem titled “Roll of Company F, 10th Maine Volunteers, at Relay, Md.”
No place, circa late 1861
Letterpress broadside, 18 x 8 inches; moderate wear, small mount remnants on verso.
The 10th Maine Infantry was mustered in October 1861, and then spent most of November on guard duty at the Relay House in Relay, MD, an important Union transportation hub. This song was written to memorialize the regiment’s Company F, known before the war as the Lewiston Light Infantry. The regiment had no martial accomplishments by this date, but every single soldier in the company is given a line or two in verse. Most of them make puns on the soldier’s name or reference their height, age, or occupation as recorded on the company’s muster roll. “Charles Burr is a boy of eighteen years / And Amaziah Grant / The oldest man now in our mess / Doth still for glory pant.” This is probably not the only poem to name every man in a company–but we can’t recall ever seeing another.
Life soon became less peaceful for the 10th Maine, which suffered heavy losses at Antietam, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. We can find no other mention of this poem–in OCLC, at auction, or even in Gould’s 1871 regimental history.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(civil war–maryland.)
Secessionist recruitment broadside issued in the wake of the Baltimore Riot to the “People of Baltimore!”
Baltimore, MD, [21] April 1861
Letterpress broadside, 17¾ x 12¾ inches, with small wood engraving of Liberty, and contemporary pencil notes in margins; conservation including worn edges and a few letters restored, separations at folds repaired.
Baltimore was rocked by rioting on 19 April 1861, when federal regiments were mobbed by protesters. 4 soldiers and 12 civilians died that day. In response, this broadside takes the side of the rioters, declaring the secession of Maryland to be a settled issue and urging the city’s rebels to report for enlistment. In part:
“The hour for action has arrived–Let not the precious time be wasted for useless talk. . . . The bloody scenes of Friday, and the commotion of the last two days and nights, shew how necessary it is to be prepared. Our people are now a unit, all manner of differences are merged in the deep affection felt for good Old Maryland. The covenant has been sealed in blood. . . . We are in the midst of Revolution. . . . The glorious flag of the Union is a memory of the past. The only flags which now float over our city are the flags of the South and the banner borne by the Maryland Line.” It notes that George Washington once swore his loyalty to the British flag, but then devoted his life to freedom from it.
Regarding the federal troops surging into Baltimore, “it is pretended that these troops are the troops of the United States, and have been legally called forth. This the people of Maryland and the constituted authorities of Baltimore deny–with one voice the armed action of the people and the military is approved. . . . Let it not be supposed that the Revolution, because it burst forth in a day, will die out in an hour. Not so, the bloody deeds of Friday last are written in lurid characters upon the Southern sky.” Thousands of secessionist militiamen are said to be streaming into Baltimore to resist the federal troops: “These noble men should not be subjected to inconvenience for the want of shelter and provisions for themselves and their horses. Persons properly appointed should receive them and provide for all their wants.”
In conclusion, “it is suggested that all Citizens who are willing to be of Service . . . meet at 8 o’clock to-morrow morning, to enrol their names and report for duty. . . . Jone’s Falls will meet at the junction of Broadway and Baltimore Streets; those West of the Falls in Monument Square–Books for Enrolment will be Opened in each place. Remember, there are no Sabbaths in revolutionary times–‘the better day, the better deed.’”
A pencil note, apparently written at the time by the author, explains the distribution: “Published on the 21st of April 1861 (Sunday), and given to the citizens of Balto. on that morning at the corner of Balto. and South Sts.” None traced in OCLC or at auction, nor do we find the text in period newspapers or elsewhere.
Estimate
$8,000 – $12,000
(civil war–maryland.)
The Lexington of 1861.
New York: Currier & Ives, 1861
Hand-colored lithograph, 9 x 13 inches; toning, wear to top margin touching border.
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. The title, “Lexington of 1861,” suggests that this was the true beginning of the fighting in Civil War. The remainder of the caption reads “The Massachusetts Volunteers fighting their way through the Streets of Baltimore, on their march to the defence of the National Capitol, April 19th, 1861. Hurrah for the Glorious 6th.” None traced at auction since 2001.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(civil war–maryland.) nathaniel p. banks.
To Persons Having Claims against the United States for Damages Done to their Property
Baltimore, MD: Bull & Tuttle, 3 July 1861
by Soldiers of the United States Army. Letterpress broadside, 14 x 9¾ inches to sight, signed in type by General Banks and his adjutants Robert Williams and George W. Hazzard; folds, offsetting. Not examined out of modern UV-protected frame.
With the Union army just barely clinging to order in the border state of Maryland, General Banks made this attempt to offer justice to those whose property was damaged by the occupying troops. A board was set up at Fort McHenry to adjudicate claims, which needed to be backed up by affidavits and proof of ownership. None traced at auction or in OCLC.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(civil war–maryland.)
Recruiting broadside for the Maryland Home Brigade.
No place, 27 July 1861
Letterpress broadside, 14½ x 5½ inches; minor wear, toning; uncut.
This broadside begins with an order from Secretary of War Simon Cameron for the organization of four new regiments of “loyal citizens resident on both sides of the Potomac” into a Home Brigade “for the protection of the Canal, and of the property and persons of loyal citizens of the neighborhood.” This is followed by the details from Congressman Francis Thomas, including company organization and compensation. Three regiments were formed, with the 1st Regiment, Potomac Home Brigade serving at Gettysburg as the largest regiment in the Army of the Potomac. None traced in OCLC or at auction.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
(civil war–maryland.)
Union soldier’s letter with map of the Potomac on verso.
Camp Seneca Mills, MD, 29 September 1861
Autograph Letter Signed as “Alfred” [Attwood?] to parents and sisters. One page, 9¾ x 7¾ inches, plus manuscript map on verso; full horizontal separation at fold, failed cello tape repair with staining. With typed transcript of the letter.
This soldier, writing home to his parents from garrison duty in rural Maryland, added a full-page map on the verso of his letter, sketching the Potomac River from Harpers Ferry to Washington. The Maryland side includes several towns and forts, including Camp Seneca Mills near Darnestown, with the encampment of the “34th Reg’t” noted as part of General Banks’s division. Other features on the map are the Great and Little Falls of the Potomac, the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, Sugarloaf Mountain, and Virginia’s Alexandria & Loudoun Railroad.
The 34th New York Infantry, presumably our soldier’s regiment, was stationed at Seneca Mills, MD in September 1861. The only Alfred we find on the regiment’s rolls is 1st Lieutenant Alfred T. Attwood (1832-1924) of Moravia, NY–a town mentioned in this letter.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(civil war–maryland.) thomas h. ruger.
Broadside establishing Union military law in fortified Frederick, Maryland.
Frederick, MD: Schley, Haller & Co., 16 December 1861
Letterpress broadside, 14½ x 11 inches, signed in type by Ruger as colonel and provost marshal at the “Head-Quarters, City Guard”; folds, minor tape repairs, 2 small cello tape stains.
Frederick, MD, not far east of Harper’s Ferry, was never far from the front lines, and generally had a strong Union garrison. This broadside sets forth the rules under military occupation, mostly but not entirely for the regulation of the troops. Soldiers are to be arrested if found in town after sundown or without a pass, and are not permitted to gather in saloons or bring liquor into camp. As for civilians, “all persons are forbidden to drive or ride in the streets in a fast or reckless manner,” and saloon-keepers who get soldiers drunk “will be considered as keepers of disorderly houses and treated accordingly.” No other examples traced at auction, in OCLC, or elsewhere.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(civil war–maryland.)
Record books of the 2nd Maryland Infantry, Company F, including morning reports and clothing accounts.
Various places, September 1861 to December 1864
3 volumes. Folio, about 14 x 11 inches, original sheep with gilt cover labels, worn and partly disbound; moderate dampstaining.
The Second Maryland Infantry (Union) was recruited in the summer of 1861, and suffered terrible losses at both the Second Battle of Bull Run and Antietam in mid-1862 which greatly reduced its ranks. The remnants of the regiment were also at Fredericksburg and the Siege of Knoxville, where many were captured and sent to Andersonville Prison. These three company record books include:
“Company Morning Reports.” [87] manuscript pages. Daily counts of soldiers present for duty, day-by-day company location, and daily remarks including notes on individual soldiers killed, wounded or off to the hospital. The entries at the end of August 1862 list several soldiers missing or wounded at Bull Run. On 17 September 1862, the day of Antietam, Captain Malcolm Wilson and Private John Fraser are listed as killed in action. September 1861 to January 1864.
“Company Orders.” [3] manuscript pages of orders from September to December 1861, including “Corporal Lecompte and Private Charles T. Ford will not receive their ration of meat for 3 days, on account of having thrown theirs away today” (4 October 1861). Followed by [58] manuscript pages of clothing accounts and receipts for individual soldiers, March 1863 to January 1864. Laid in is a 2-page list of the company’s officers and non-commissioned officers with notes through June 1863.
“Company Clothing.” [96], 57 manuscript pages. Running accounts with individual soldiers. September 1861-December 1864.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(civil war–maryland.) horace resley.
To the Voters of Allegany County.
Allegany County, MD, 31 October 1863
Letterpress broadside, 19 x 7½ inches to sight; possibly laid down, not examined out of modern frame.
Horace Resley (1815-1902) was running as a Union candidate for re-election as clerk of the Circuit Court of Allegany County, out on the Maryland panhandle between Pennsylvania and West Virginia. This being Maryland during the Civil War, the election came down to whether Resley was a “Union man”–and what being a “Union man” meant–and whether being a “Union man” was even a good thing. He had been accused by his opponent in a recent circular of being disloyal, and here rebuts those charges at length, demonstrating his full support of the Union cause going back to February 1861, including his correspondence with General Rosecrans to help arm the local militia. Resley won the election. No other examples of this broadside have been traced.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(civil war–maryland.)
Order to secure loyalty oaths and punish secessionists in Frederick, Maryland.
Frederick, MD: Schley, Keefer & Co., 18 July 1864
Letterpress broadside, 17¼ x 13½ inches; folds, 2 short tape repairs, light toning.
This broadside consists of two related orders. In the first, Assistant Adjutant General Phillip George Bier responds to reports that Frederick citizens had aided Jubal Early’s recent Confederate cavalry raid into Maryland, even “pointing out to the Rebels . . . the property of Union citizens.” Bier orders that all of these disloyal citizens be arrested and sent to military prison in West Virginia, sending ““their families beyond our lines South.” He adds that “You will seize their Houses to be used for Hospitals, Government Offices, and Store Houses” and “their furniture you will have sold at Public Auction.”
The second order is from Union General David Hunter, newly returned from his own marauding Lynchburg Campaign in western Virginia. Hunter orders that every male citizen of Frederick be given a week to swear an oath of allegiance to the Union: “All persons thus failing will be regarded as Secessionists, and treated as directed in the above order.”
Both orders were relayed to John J. Yellott, major and commanding officer of the 1st Regiment of the Potomac Home Brigade, who issued this broadside. None traced in OCLC or at auction.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(civil war–maryland.)
Broadside for a court martial of an officer in Smith’s Independent Cavalry.
No place, circa July 1864
Letterpress broadside titled “Charges and Specifications Preferred against Joseph T. Fearing, First Lieutenant of Smith’s Independent Cavalry Company of Maryland Volunteers,” 20 x 12¼ inches, on thin paper, with integral blank leaf; folds, two closed tears, minor foxing.
Joseph Torksey Fearing (1842-1895) served in an unusual company of Maryland cavalry which was not attached to any regiment. They spent almost all of their three years of service on Maryland and Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Fearing was promoted from sergeant to lieutenant in September 1863, and spent much of the next several months as acting commander of the company while Captain G.W.P. Smith was away on other duties. Captain Smith, upon his return, tried Fearing under this court martial, with a sweeping array of 11 charges, some with several specifications, ranging from refusing to acknowledge Captain Smith; holding a vulgar conversation with a woman in Newton, MD; falsely accusing Captain Smith of appropriating captured goods; cutting down a widow’s oak tree to extract honey from a hive; stealing geese; and much much much more.
None of the charges stuck. As detailed in Toomey and Earp’s “Marylanders in Blue” (pages 158-159), Captain Smith was then himself court-martialed for “preferring frivolous charges against Lieutenant J.T. Fearing . . . by reason of personal animosity.” Smith and Fearing remained with this turbulent company until mustered out on 30 June 1865. No other examples of this court martial broadside have been traced.
WITH–5 ordnance and quartermaster documents from Smith’s Independent Cavalry, 1864-1866.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(civil war–maryland.)
Soldier’s Memorial, Company I, First Regiment, Maryland Veteran Volunteer Infantry.
New York: Sarony, Major & Knapp, 1865
Chromolithograph with overprinting, 21¾ x 17 inches; toning, minor dampstaining, 2-inch closed tear and small chip on top edge.
Most of these soldiers were veterans of the 1st Maryland Infantry who had re-enlisted in February 1864. The company roll includes soldiers from that date onward who were killed, wounded, captured, deserted, or promoted, and is supplemented with a list of engagements that stretches back to 1862. It is printed on a handsome patriotic chromolithograph blank.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(civil war–maryland.)
“Easel Monument” memorial broadside to two fallen soldiers from the Stephy family.
Bridgeport, CT: J.W. Carnahan, 1891
Lithograph, 31 x 22¼ inches, completed in manuscript; minor staining, slightly warped.
Depicts a colossal imaginary monument covered with patriotic vignettes, set in an urban park with several admirers. The blank area is inscribed in the memory of William H. Stephy, 1st Maryland Potomac Home Brigade regiment, who was captured in 1863 and presumed dead; and his brother John David Stephy of the 7th Maryland Infantry, who died at the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864. It is captioned in manuscript “this picture of the Easel Monument was dedicated . . . by their sister Rebecca Bell, March 15 1896.” The lithography credits read “Designed by the Monumental Bronze Co., Bridgeport, Conn. Copyrighted A.D. 1891 by J.W. Carnahan.”
Estimate
$400 – $600
(civil war–maryland.) c.e. goldsborough.
The unpublished reminiscences of a Civil War surgeon.
No place, circa 1900-1913
102 pages, most about 12½ x 8 inches: 25 pages of typescript, 49 pages of manuscript, and 28 pages of annotated newspaper clippings, irregularly paginated and apparently incomplete; generally minor wear.
As a young physician, Charles Edward Goldsborough (1834-1913) settled near Gettysburg, PA. During the Civil War he served as a surgeon in the 5th Maryland Infantry. He worked out of a hospital in Frederick, MD, and the September 1862 capture of the city by the Confederates is told with high drama. Goldsborough spent a stint confined at Libby Prison (not well described here), and was exchanged in time to attend the consecration of Gettysburg in November 1863, which is discussed for three pages in his memoir: “This seems strange and almost remarkable, but the great throng was there more to see Mr. Lincoln than to hear what he had to say.” He recalls that “the day was an ideal Indian Summer day, with just enough crisp in the air to make fall clothing comfortable.”
The reminiscences begin with 23 complete pages of typescript covering the period 1856 to September 1862, followed by 23 pages of quite irregularly paginated manuscript which appear to be incomplete, and concluding with 26 pages of somewhat continuously numbered manuscript pages starting in November 1863 and concluding in 1865 with “The End.” Also included is a typescript transcript of a program for the “Libby Prison Minstrels” from 24 December 1863.
Also included in the lot are Goldsborough’s pre-war reminiscences, as published in an unidentified newspaper circa the 1890s under the running title “Adventures of a Runaway Boy.” This covers his travel adventures from 1851 to 1854, including the Lopez expedition to liberate Cuba, a trip down the Mississippi, a trip across the Great Plains by wagon, a meeting with Kit Carson, encounters with the Mormons in Salt Lake City, mining in California, a clipper ship to Peru, and other interludes. These clippings are mounted on 26 long sheets of paper (about 25 x 8 inches, folded over), and lightly edited with an eye toward republication in book form.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(civil war–massachusetts.) alfred ordway, artist.
Commissary Department, Encampment of the Mass. 6th Regiment . . . at the Relay House.
Boston: J.H. Bufford, 1861
Lithograph, 10½ x 13½ inches; slightly cropped with the loss of perhaps an eighth of an inch of the image on both sides, light toning.
The 6th Massachusetts, a 90-day militia unit, suffered perhaps the first fatalities of the war during the Baltimore riots of April 1861. This charming camp scene shows the regiment on garrison duty at the Relay House transport hub near Baltimore. 2 institutional copies traced; the copy at the Library of Congress was deposited on 20 July 1861.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(civil war–massachusetts.)
Pair of items from the 38th Massachusetts: a pencil sketch, and a field-printed Christmas menu.
[Louisiana], 1863
Two items in one folder, as described.
The 38th Massachusetts Infantry spent most of 1863 in Louisiana, at the Siege of Port Hudson and then wintering at Baton Rouge in advance of the Red River Campaign. This lot includes:
Pencil sketch, 3¼ x 4¾ inches, mounted on a bit of scrapbook leaf, captioned “Head Qrs, Field and Staff, 38th Mass. Vols. near Port Hudson, La., March 14th 1863, drawn by one of the staff.” Depicts a crude log structure.
Charming field-printed Christmas menu for the regiment’s “Field and Staff Mess,” illustrated with small cuts of game animals, with the “Bill of Fare” including oxtail soup, roast turkey, roast goose, plum pudding, whiskey, brandy, and cigars. One page, 9¾ x 7¾ inches; folds. [Baton Rouge, LA], 25 December 1863.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(civil war–missouri.) j. tilden moulton.
Two civilian letters on the violence of war-era Missouri, and three written as a soldier.
Various places, 1861-1862
5 Autograph Letters Signed “Tilden” to his sister Caroline Moulton. Each 3 or 4 pages, most 4to-sized; mailing folds, minimal wear.
Jotham Tilden Moulton III (1836-1909) was a Maine native who relocated with his parents to Chicago in adolescence. His father was a lawyer, edited the Chicago Tribune, and was said to be a personal friend of Abraham Lincoln. Young Moulton, judging by these letters, was at the outset of the Civil War a lukewarm Unionist at best.
Moulton was a civilian when he wrote the first two letters offered here. In 1861 he sought a position as a school teacher, and removed to Farmington, Missouri, south of St. Louis, which like much of the state was in a state of simmering violence between secessionists and Unionists. As a northerner who tried to remain outside of politics, he came under suspicion from both sides. On 5 August 1861 he wrote: “The people here were almost unanimous for the Union a few months ago, but now they are almost unanimous for the Southern Confederacy. . . . One evening, a party of men, wishing to get a free dram, stopped and represented themselves as Federal soldiers. The Englishman treated them, and lent his horse to one who was on foot. They thanked him warmly, gave three rousing cheers for Jeff Davis, and rode off.” Tilden added “I certainly shall not violate my oath, though my sympathies are all Southern.”
Later that month on 31 August, he wrote again from the “Independent Republic of Missouri”: “Horse stealing is so common as hardly to be thought a crime. The practise of wearing arms is almost universal. I slept one night in a house where three or four secessionists locked the doors and lay down with pistols under their pillows and guns leaning against their beds.” He became increasingly leery of the extremism of the secessionists: “An Englishman undertook to get up a home guard in this vicinity. The citizens pulled down his flag and tore it to pieces. A few days afterwards he was taken out of his house and shot.” One of the killers was a former student of Moulton’s: “He speaks with perfect coolness of putting prisoners to death in cold blood.”
Moulton soon felt compelled to choose a side, and enlisted in September 1861 with the 33rd Illinois Infantry, which had so many educators it was informally known as the Teachers’ Regiment. He was not much of an asset to the Union cause, however. The three soldier letters in this lot, dated January through November 1862, were all written from various hospitals. On 26 October he wrote: “A year’s service has abated my ardor, as well as shattered my constitution.”
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(civil war–music.)
Group of Civil War sheet music.
Various places, 1862-1864
3 items, each about 13 x 10 inches; disbound or unbound.
Sep Winner. “Maryland, My Maryland, Union Words Adapted.” Philadelphia, [1862].
James A. Scott and Max J. Coble. “The Heroes of Gettysburg; or, A Dirge for the Brave . . . as Sung by . . . Glee Club of Company C, Cole’s Cavalry.” Cole’s Cavalry was more officially known as the 1st Maryland Cavalry Battalion, Potomac Home Brigade. Philadelphia, 1864.
J.E. Parker Doyle and J. Henry Whittemore. “The Old Flag Will Triumph Yet: A Song in Memory of the Gallant Col. T.F. Brodhead of the 1st Michigan Cavalry.” Begins with an excerpt from Brodhead’s battlefield deathbed letter. Detroit, MI, [1863].
Estimate
$300 – $400
(civil war–navy.)
A Sketch of the History . . . of the Famous Confederate Ram Merrimac . . . Canes Manufactured
Norfolk, VA, circa April 1876
from the Live Oak Timber. 4 printed pages, 11 x 8½ inches, on 2 detached sheets; folds, worn, dampstained, small cello tape stain, but complete with all text.
A promotional brochure for “Canes Manufactured from the Live Oak Timber of this Celebrated Iron Clad Ram.” This was a partnership of merchant and timber agents W.P. Tilley & Co. and the diver Captain William West, both of Norfolk. They secured a trademark for their canes on 11 April 1876 and swore to the authenticity of the canes on 17 April, obtaining three local character references on the same day. The interior pages offer the history of the legendary naval vessel, which began as the USS Merrimack, was salvaged and transformed into an ironclad as the CSS Virginia, and then was destroyed in the James River to avoid capture in May 1862. As described here, “Captain West, the diver, took hold of remains of the wreck, and during the present year has managed to bring up several of this vessel’s original oak timbers, which has been manufactured into walking canes.” Tilley’s canes are, unfortunately, not described or illustrated. This was not the first or only effort to salvage timber from the wreck; another Merrimac cane had been presented to Jefferson Davis in 1867. See Robert A. Jones, “Aftermath of an Ironclad,” Civil War Times, October 1972. One copy in OCLC, at the Library of Virginia, and none traced at auction.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(civil war–new york.)
Scrapbook of the famed 69th New York Infantry–the famed “Fighting Irish.”
Various places, 1855-1863, but most manuscripts dated 1861
27 manuscripts, 7 pieces of printed ephemera, and numerous newspaper clippings, mounted on 29 scrapbook leaves. Folio, 15 x 10½ inches, original ½ calf, worn with front board detached; a few leaves loose, some manuscripts worn before mounting, adhesive staining, many clippings getting ragged.
The 69th New York Infantry, also known as the “Fighting Irish,” was one of the war’s most celebrated regiments. They guarded the Union retreat at the First Battle of Bull Run, suffering heavy losses. This scrapbook was kept by Lieutenant William M. Giles (born circa 1829), a New York druggist, who commanded Company B at Bull Run during his initial 90-day enlistment; he was later in 1863 appointed as a medical storekeeper for the Army. This scrapbook, while not artistically compiled, is rich in primary source material for the 69th during the first months of the war, including these highlights:
A trimmed songsheet, “Battle of Bull-Run, Dedicated to the 69th Regiment, N.Y.S.M.”
A cargo list of what appear to be 48 enslaved people being shipped from Baltimore to New Orleans, with ages and heights given for each, but the ship and date not named. This and two other documents are captioned: “These papers were picked up in a pocket book on the battlefield of Manassas or Bull Run on July 21st 1861, William M. Giles.”
5 manuscript orders issued by the regiment’s famed Colonel Michael Corcoran in July 1861, as written out by adjutant John McKeon. They include a 3 July order on the celebration of Independence Day (“Capt. T.F. Meagher will read the Declaration of American Independence”); copy of a 7 July letter to General Sherman regarding their enlistment term; a copy of Sherman’s 11 July order requiring “troops to be in light marching order” and prepared to leave their knapsacks (ten days before Bull Run); a 13 July parade order; and the 13 July formation of a court martial.
Manuscript “charges profered against Serg’t Patrick Boyle for drunkness and abusive language” against Col. Corcoran. Dated Fort Corcoran, 29 June 1861.
2 copies of a printed general order issued by Giles as commander of Company B, regarding a parade at the regimental armory, 14 October 1861.
Another printed order featuring the elaborate regimental seal (“Gentle when stroked, fierce when provoked”), dated New York, 9 October 1861.
Muster-out oath taken by Giles upon the expiration of his 90 days of service, 16 August 1861.
Oath taken by Giles as militia surgeon, August 1855.
Running account of spirits consumed by Lt. Giles, including whiskey, beer, ales, claret, champagne and a “dinner for 4 friends,” perhaps prepared by a local innkeeper, 7-26 June 1861.
4 manuscript receipts issued for work on Fort Corcoran in Washington, August 1861.
List signed by 46 men with their addresses, headed “We the undersigned agree to become members of Co. B 69th Regt. N.Y.S.M. and to equip ourselves according to law.” Undated.
Letter to “my dearest husband”; the final page with signature is pasted down, but is presumably from Mrs. Giles. Expresses joy at his imminent muster out, although she had heard “how anxious Corcoran was to have the reg’t remain.” New York, 14 July 1861.
A pair of passes issued to Giles as medical storekeeper, August 1863.
A piece of North Carolina scrip issued for 5 cents on 1 October 1861, captioned “Given by Daniel Shorter, Co. B, 69th Regt., taken prisoner at Manassas July 21st 1861, arrived at New York June 4 1862.”
A pair of Confederate banknotes (Confederate Packing House, 25 cents, defective, Jacksonville, FL, 1862; and Confederate fifty-cent note issued 17 February 1864).
Copious newspaper clippings, many relating to the Irish Brigade, including several engravings.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(civil war–new york.)
Notice for a “War Meeting . . . to organize and fill up the Corcoran Brigade.”
New York, 25 August 1862
Letterpress handbill, 8¾ x 7¾ inches, on partly lined paper; tape repair along horizontal fold, moderate wear, bottom blank area unevenly trimmed.
This meeting was called to fire up New York City’s flagging patriotism, at approximately the halfway point between the wild enthusiasm of April 1861 and the anti-war Draft Riots of July 1863. This broadside urges “all the zeal, all the power, and all the loyal feeling of its citizens, native and adopted,” including the recruitment of new soldiers “to fill up the veteran regiments of New-York volunteers” and form new regiments, notably the predominantly Irish-American Corcoran’s Brigade being formed by Col. Michael Corcoran of the legendary 69th New York. The notice concludes with a call to “give your means, your strong arms, and your resolute hearts to put down rebellion, and to uphold the flag of the Union.” The meeting is discussed in George Winston Smith’s article “The National War Committee of the Citizens of New York,” in New York History, October 1947.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(civil war–new york.)
Don’t Unchain the Tiger!
New York: Sinclair Tousey, 24 July 1863
Letterpress broadside, 18 x 12 inches; folds, uneven toning, tack holes, minor wear.
Issued two weeks after the New York draft riots, this broadside urges restraint, repeating its title refrain six times. “Workingmen! When any man asks you to break the law, and tries to stir up your passions, while he skulks out of sight, you may set him down as your worst enemy. Spurn him as you would a viper. The patriotic Workingmen of the North cannot afford to spend time killing each other. Be wise, and above all things, Don’t Unchain the Tiger!” The broadside is signed by “A Democratic Workingman” to appeal to the generally Lincoln-hating rioters and their sympathizers, but it was issued by Republican publisher Sinclair Tousey. This is probably the first of two known editions, presumably coming before the undated version issued by the “N.Y. Workingmen’s Democratic Republican Association.” Streeter sale, II:1284. Provenance: collection of the noted collector and bibliographer Col. Richard Gimbel.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
(civil war–new york.) nicholas ecker.
Long run of letters by a 44-year-old private from Montgomery County.
Various places, 1863-1865
28 Autograph Letters Signed to his daughter Catherine M. Ecker of St. Johnsville, NY.; condition mostly strong, most with original postmarked envelopes.
Nicholas Ecker or Eacker (1819-1905) was a farmer from St. Johnsville in Montgomery County, NY who descended from the hard-pressed Palatine German settlers of the Mohawk Valley. He enlisted as an older soldier in the 153rd New York Infantry in August 1862. He was apparently only semi-literate; his 13 August 1863 letter notes: “The name of the person who writes my letters, his name is Martin V.B. Ashley, a sergeant in our company.” Several letters were written while stationed as a guard at Forest Hall Prison in Georgetown, DC. On 10 September 1863 he wrote: “Night before last there was about 240 prisoners brought here, so we have about 400 of them here now.” On 6 October 1863 he visited the Patent Office and saw military relics of George Washington and Andrew Jackson. On 21 December 1863 he planned to visit Congress in session: “I like to hear these great men talk what they are a going to do. I was their last week and I enjoyed it very much.” His 13 January [1864?] letter discusses “rebel prisenors”: “Thier is a great many of them here yet. They keep a comeing in every day and when the prison gets full they send them to Point Lookout, and keep them thier untill they get exchanged or die.”
Two letters were written in early 1864 when the regiment was in Louisiana on the Red River Campaign. On 26 June, while camped in Morganzia on the banks of the Mississippi, “one of the boys . . . was drowned last night while in swimming. They tried to get him out but the current was so swift that they could not, and they have not found him yet.” They returned north in July 1864, and Ecker was wounded at the Third Battle of Winchester, 19 September 1864. An undated note from a comrade testified (probably for a disability claim): “Nicholas Ecker was wounded in the neck by what was supposed to be a piece of the lock of a gun at the Battle of Winchester.” On 11 October he assures his daughter it is only “a small flesh wound . . . it was a terrible battle and our boys fought nobly, driving the Rebels from every position they occupied.” After the end of hostilities, the regiment remained for the occupation of Georgia. Ecker was in Savannah for Independence Day and reported that “the niggars had a parade through the streets.”
After the war, Ecker was a farmer at Hannibal, further north in New York.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(civil war–new york.) john w. barrett.
Observant diary of an older soldier discussing freedmen and raids behind enemy lines.
Various places, January to December 1865
[373] manuscript diary pages in a page-a-day diary, plus 20 memoranda leaves. 16mo, disbound, with detached front wrapper present; dampstaining to first few leaves, 4 leaves tipped in to describe his 1 June visit to Richmond, writing legible but sometimes small and faint for the first few weeks.
John W. Barrett (1823-1900?) of Fulton County, NY enlisted in the 184th New York Infantry late in the war. He spent the first three months of this diary at the Siege of Petersburg. His diary entries are substantially longer and more observant than the average. On 14 January he heard that “about 300 Johnnys are out in the country gobbling up all the darkeys and everything else. In the morning there is a raid going out. . . . I have been detailed for the raid.” The next day he went out under Major Ferguson and ventured 11 miles into Rebel territory: “A woman came out on the stoop and said that she had never seen a troop of northern soldiers before. . . . A Negro went out as a guide. We brought in his family. One of the officers got off his horse and had it harnessed onto a cart and brought in a number of Negro women and children.” On 24 January, “heavy firing all of last night and today in the direction of Dutch Gap. The Rebel rams endeavored to come down the river but were attacked by the land batteries. Two of the rams were sunk, the other one ran aground. A troop of cavalry came around this place to intercept the crew if they endeavored to escape from the ram.” On 26 March, General Sheridan passed through his camp, and was observed to be “rather below medium height, rather fleshy. He stopped with the Col. about half an hour.” On 2 April, the day of the Union breakthrough, “heavy firing all night. The horizon was constantly lit up by the constant discharge of musketry and artilery. . . . The cannonading has been so heavy as to jar the ground and windows.” The next evening, “there has been three explosions, one in the direction of Petersburgh, the other two in the direction of Richmond. They were so heavy that the vibration of the earth was like an earthquake. . . . All of the afternoon there has been extensive columns of smoke rising in the direction of Richmond.”
Barrett had a deep interest in the Black soldiers and locals he encountered. On 4 January, “I went into an aged Negro’s house . Saw some books laying on the stand. Took one up & asked him if he could read. He stated that he could but not much. One of the books was the P.E. Prayer Book printed in the year 1717. The other was Watts’ Psalms and Hymns.” On 16 January, “there was a wedding in the Negro camp. The bride is a first rate good looking wench. They were married in the open field on the banks of the river. Hope their jorney through life will be a prosperous one.” On 4 February, in response to a Rebel raid, “the Major in command of some 25 or 30 darkies cav. went after, they followed them 12 miles, came up with them, had a hand to hand fight with some of them, they say killed the Reb scout by striking him.” On 18 March, “a Negro came in direct from Richmond. He stated that he was sold in R a few days ago for 3500 dollars in CA money, but the same night he was sold, he made his escape.”
In the closing days of the war, Lee’s surrender and Lincoln’s assassination were of course noted with interest. While waiting for his discharge, Barrett made a visit to occupied Richmond on 1 June, described in an epic 9-page entry. On 12 June, “four or five colored regiments left for Norfolk. The 54 Mass, one of the oldest collored regs, was included in the number.” Barrett mustered out on 29 June and arrived home on the 4th of July. The rest of the diary covers his quiet life in rural New York.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(civil war–new york.)
Letters to a Cayuga County woman on Lincoln, Douglas Hospital and more.
Various places, 1850-1870 and undated
11 letters, various sizes; condition generally strong, most with original envelopes.
These letters are addressed to Mariette J. Remington (1836-1908) of Ira and Weedsport, NY, west of Syracuse. She was the daughter of an iron foundry worker, and married farmer Frank W. Putnam in 1861. Some of the letters have interesting Civil War content. Her cousin L.B. Sprague of the 138th New York Infantry wrote in December 1862 while a patient at Douglas Hospital in Washington, the Union’s most elegant hospital, located in the fashionable Minnesota Row townhouse once owned by Stephen Douglas. A cousin named Annie wrote from Medina, NY in April 1865 to describe the local memorial arrangements for President Lincoln in church, with “a photograph of Lincoln draped with crepe and a large crepe bow . . . It looked so mournful I could hardly help weeping.”
In 1866, a sister-in-law named Bess wrote from her new home in frontier Gillford, MN: “Here I am in our own little cabin. We have been keeping house one week. . . . I have never worked so hard in my life as I did this summer, but it’s for ourselves.”
Estimate
$400 – $600
(civil war–ohio.)
An 11th Ohio sergeant’s notebook and diary from Chickamauga and beyond.
Various places, September 1863 to March 1864
[16] manuscript diary pages and [30] pages of manuscript rolls and memoranda. 12mo, contemporary stiff wrappers, quite worn; several leaves detached, first two diary leaves defective and partly illegible.
The 11th Ohio Infantry played a significant role in the September 1863 Battle of Chickamauga, as one of five regiments in John Basil Turchin’s brigade which led a key charge. They are frequently discussed in Turchin’s 1888 history of the battle. This partly printed “Sergeant’s Roll Book” includes company rolls for Company A from September 1863 through March 1864. The 6-page roll for September 1863 includes 6 men marked “Wounded at Chicamauga,” some with explanations: Private Borer was “shot in face,” Privates Haines and Sherman were “shot in leg,” and Private Leslie was “shot both arms.” The October roll also contains painful notations: Private William Carnes was “wounded in breast on scout at Rocky Face, decd” and Private William Hodge was “wounded in thy, died in hosp’l.”
In the rear of the volume are 15 pages of diary entries. Perhaps the most interesting was written on 20 September 1863 regarding the Battle of Chickamauga, although it is almost completely illegible. It reads in part: “Engaged the enemy, making several charges. Privates Haines, Borer, LaRue, Pilate wounded. Martin [???] were surrounded and charged our way through. [???] 13 miles to within 5 miles.”
The volume is not signed, but as it was kept in a “Sergeant’s Roll Book” and is partly filled with a sergeant’s rolls kept for Company A of the 11th Ohio, the author was likely one of their sergeants. Sergeant John Beam Steward (1837-1916) of Dayton, OH was the only one to appear consistently throughout the span of this volume (Sergeant Elsbury Covault was also on the rolls,. but as the spelling of his name changes frequently he was not likely the author).
Estimate
$400 – $600
(civil war–ohio.) charles a. dean.
Extensive letters from a discharged veteran in Cincinnati during and after the war.
Cincinnati and elsewhere, 1864-1871, 1918
Approximately 175 letters to his friend Everett Walker of Shrewsbury, MA dated 1864-1871, plus one final letter from 1918; condition generally strong; with about 50 postal covers, most with original stamps and postmarks.
Charles Augustus Dean (1844-1921) was an 8th Vermont Infantry Civil War veteran from Shrewsbury, MA who moved in 1864 to Cincinnati, where he worked as a factory hand and traveling salesman for the paper bag manufacturers Nixon, Chatfield & Woods. These letters were written to a hometown friend, and offer a good taste of Cincinnati life and politics during and after the last months of the Civil War. On 25 September 1864 he wrote “There was a great McClellan meeting here last Monday eve and last night a Lincoln meeting, great fireworks and processions at both. I went to the one last night.” On 6 November 1864 after the Battle of Cedar Creek, he reports on their late regiment’s hardships: “Our reg’t, the 8th Vermont, was badly cut up in the late fights, 165 lost, Reed lost his leg. . . . I hope that Old Abe will call for 500,000 more men as soon as he is re-elected and end the war immediately.” On 11 November he reported on the election: “Old Abe is all right now, and some say 4 yrs more of war.” On 11 December he describes a bet whether Grant takes Richmond before New Years. On 26 February 1865 he wrote “One of the principal newspaper offices was burned out this morning, the Cin. Enquirer, a Copperhead sheet, and a great many were verry glad of it. It was but just across the street from my room here on Walnut and it made me arise verry early, I tell you, for Sunday.”
The post-war letters sometimes discuss the local political climate. On 25 May 1868 he wrote that in “this rebel town . . . I am mum on my political standing and say very little to my customers here about negro suffrage and the impeachment.” His 1 May 1870 letter notes “you ought to see the style of colored Fifteenth Amendment which just passed. How much we like them now they can vote. I propose to give them something so as to be elected to furnish paper to their public printing. Republicans & Democrats are soft shoeing them for votes.”
As a commercial traveler, Dean often described other cities near Cincinnati. On 18 April 1869 he describes a visit to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, and encloses “a small sample of gypsum which I procured from a point nine miles from the mouth of the cave.” On 11 August 1869, he describes a visit to Niagara Falls at length. Dean later returned to Massachusetts and became a successful bag manufacturer on his own account.
WITH–a folder regarding Walker’s work with the New England Milk Producers Union, 1884-1889.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(civil war–ohio.) john hering.
Diary of an officer in a 100-day unit who fought at the Battle of New Creek Station.
Various places, 9 May to 7 August 1864
[31] manuscript diary pages, plus [10] pages of memoranda. 16mo, original limp calf, minor wear; minimal dampstaining.
John Jacob Hering (1842-1864) was the son of an affluent farmer in Beavercreek, Greene County, near Dayton in southwestern Ohio. In May 1864, he was commissioned a lieutenant in the 154th Ohio Infantry, a 100-day regiment which spent much of its term in and around New Creek, WV, guarding an important supply depot from Confederate raiders.
Hering did not see much action until the final days of his service, in a 4 August action sometimes called the Battle of New Creek Station, although it is not on most official lists of battles. On 2 August he noted “rumors about the Rebs coming into camp,” and the next day the cavalry “report the enemy within 9 miles, 2,000 strong.” He also noted that “15 negroes came into camp, mounted.” On the day of the battle, he reported “loss of reg’t, 9 miss’g, 4 wounded. . . . Fight commenced at 2, continued until 9 o’clock p.m. Co. A relieved Co. A of 11th [West] Va. in evening, remained on line all night. Baldwin wounded.” On 5 August his company led the pursuit: “154th with 2 pieces of artillery followed the Rebs 3 miles, Co. A in the advance skirmishing.” With their fighting done, on the 6th “boys went out on the battle ground in search of trophies.” The regiment mustered out soon after. Lieutenant Hering had contracted typhoid during his last days of service, and died from it that October. See Robinson, History of Greene County, page 853.
WITH—a worn and incomplete pocket Bible, lacking several leaves including the title page, inscribed John Hering on front pastedown, AND 5 company orders and memoranda laid in to the diary.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(civil war-pennsylvania.) james queen, artist and lithographer.
Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon of Philadelphia.
Philadelphia: T. Sinclair, 1861
Hand-colored lithograph, 26 x 33¾ inches; large margins, moderate edge wear, moderate foxing in upper margin.
Cheering crowds and a marching band greet a regiment in formation, stopping for some nourishment on their way to the front. “Employed nearly a bird’s-eye perspective to suggest the impressive numbers of Union soldiers who were welcomed and fed at Philadelphia’s Refreshment Saloon in the spring of 1861. . . . The slant-roofed building just behind the train station is the Refreshment Saloon itself, which offered both food and drink”–Neely & Holzer, Union Image, page 98 and plate 6.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(civil war–pennsylvania.)
Photographs of the officers of the 104th Pennsylvania Infantry.
Various places, circa 1861-1862
11 albumen photographs, most about 3½ x 2 inches and mounted to clipped album leaves with contemporary or later captioning, one 7 x 5 inches and unmounted; minor wear.
Most of these photographs are of the officers of the 104th Pennsylvania Infantry, which served from 1861 through 1865 in the Peninsula Campaign, in South Carolina, at the fall of Petersburg and elsewhere. Most are the size of cartes-de-visite but were mounted directly into an album rather than on cards, possibly by commander Colonel William Watts Hart Davis (1820-1910). They have been neatly clipped from the album. Included are portraits of the regiment’s Colonel Davis; Lieutenant Colonel Thompson Hart; Major John M. Gries, who was mortally wounded at Seven Pines while attempting to rescue the regimental colors; his brother Chaplain William R. Gries; Captain E.L. Rogers, who commanded the regiment at Seven Pines after all of the regimental officers were wounded; and Lieutenant John K. McCoy, mounted with his clipped signature as Assistant Adjutant General. Also included are, from other regiments, William M. Burger of the 1st New York Engineers; Captain George F. Towle of the 4th New Hampshire Infantry (mounted with a clipped signature); Lieutenant Fred A. Sawyer of the 47th New York Infantry (signed and mounted on verso of Lt. Col. Hart); and General John Wool. Last is an unmounted 7 x 5-inch albumen photograph of a grand montage of the 104th Pennsylvania depicting in miniature three encampments and all of the regimental and company officers from early in the war.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(civil war–pennsylvania.) james queen, artist.
In Memory of Volunteers “in Defence of the Union” who have Died at the Hospital
Philadelphia, circa early 1863
of the Union Volunteer Refreshment Committee. Watercolor on paper, 25½ x 19¾ inches, on original paper mount, 29 x 24 inches; minimal wear to art, considerable edge wear to mount including partial loss of bottom border.
This original piece of memorial art imagines a massive monument naming those soldiers who died at Philadelphia’s military hospital. In the foreground, two allegorical figures mourn and record their valorous deeds. In the background can be seen a flag, a marching regiment, and a naval vessel. The list contains 16 names representing a variety of regiments extending from Maine to Michigan, with dates of death from November 1861 to 2 January 1863. A column was reserved for additional names to be inscribed later. One officer is listed, Captain John Carr of the 77th New York Infantry. The second to die at the hospital was Sarah Cullen, daughter of James Cullen of the 81st New York Infantry, who may have been a hospital attendant, or perhaps just fell ill while visiting her father.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(civil war–pennsylvania.) thomas p. kinsey.
Two letters written in proximity to the Battle of Antietam, and other family papers.
Various places, 1839-1872
5 manuscript letters by various parties, all 8vo, minor wear; and memorandum book, [80] pages, oblong 12mo, numerous leaves excised.
Thomas Pomp Kinsey (1822-1887) was at the age of 40 called up for emergency service in the 11th Regiment of Pennsylvania Militia in response to the Confederate Maryland Campaign of September 1862. In his first week, he was sent nearly to the front lines for the bloodiest day in American history. On the day of the battle of Antietam, he wrote: “A battle has been going on within 6 miles of us. The cannonading was very distinct. The Rebels attempted to cross the Potomac 9 miles below Hagerstown. . . . If we don’t have a hand in the fight, we shall at least get to see some prisoners.” Four days later, he wrote with an update: “We were drawn up in line of battle in the morning after being supplied with 45 rounds of ball cartridges. . . . McClellan was shelling Jackson’s force at this time, and the flash of the gun could be plainly seen from where we were. About half of F. Bickley’s Co. left their position, but I am proud to say that there was but 4 of our Co. skedaddled.” Thomas was apparently a practicing Quaker, a pacifist faith. His wife wrote on 21 September: “William and the rest of the Friends think you have done rong by going, but as long as you think you have done wright it don’t matter what thay think.”
Also included is a letter from brother George Washington Kinsey (1834-1917) of the 26th New Jersey Infantry, in camp at Hagerstown, MD, 29 October 1862; and an 1872 letter from Thomas’s son Irvin Kinsey to his brother Harry describing gun practices in Texas: “I have had no time to hunt alligators or deer. The only use I have known people to put them to in Austin is to shoot one another, and that is something I don’t care about doing.”
Also included in this lot is a peculiar memorandum book kept circa 1839-1840 by Thomas P. Kinsey as a young man, consisting partly of instructions for magic tricks and circus acts: “To make a room seem all on fire”; “To make an air balloon”; “Thunder powder”; “To render hedious the faces of all present.” Some of these are copied from Harry Dean’s magic classic, “The Whole Art of Legerdemain.” These are followed by less exotic recipes and instructions, such as “To enamel picture glasses with gold” and “Method of cutting glass without cracking.” A few pages are devoted to his “account of where my money went the 2d year at Butz & Miller’s Foundry,” and many pages are illustrated with mechanical drawings, cartoons, and doodles, including a circus scene titled “Elephant Menagree.”
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(civil war–photography.) alexander gardner.
Completely Silenced! Dead Confederate Artillery Men . . . After the Battle of Antietam.
[Antietam, MD, September 1862]
Albumen photograph, 3 x 4½ inches, on printed mount with original “Brady’s Album Gallery” caption label on verso, with additional “Sample Card” label on recto and 1892 manuscript caption on verso; toning, staining.
This photograph was taken shortly after the 17 September 1862 Battle of Antietam. According to the inscription, by 1 October it was already offered for sale in a Washington photo gallery. The original print run had apparently sold out very quickly, so this numbered sample card was sold–presumably at a discount. An interesting insight into the marketing and distribution of the Brady Gallery’s work.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(civil war–prints.)
The Little Zouave: “Up Boys and at Them.”
New York: Currier & Ives, 1861
Hand-colored lithograph, 14½ x 9¾ inches; minimal war.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(civil war–prints.)
The Outbreak of the Rebellion in the United States 1861.
New York: Kimmel & Forster, 1865
Lithograph, 20 x 27½ inches; worn at edges, several closed tears with early tape repairs and offsetting, slightly cropped with loss of imprint line, light dampstaining.
To the left, President Buchanan naps at his desk while corrupt Secretary of War John Floyd scoops coins into a sack, and Jefferson Davis leads an unruly army while Justice looks on sternly. To the right, Lincoln addresses an adoring crowd, with General Winfield Scott at his side. Lincoln Image, page 85; Reilly 1865-21.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(civil war–prisons.)
Correspondence copy book for the Union prison at Fort Mifflin.
Fort Mifflin, PA, January 1864 to July 1865
[33] manuscript pages of correspondence notes. Folio, 15¼ x 10 inches, original calf, worn, with earlier gilt title “Company Orders” on rear board; contents worn with numerous leaves excised.
This volume was used to record official correspondence, incoming and outgoing, relating to the Union prison at Fort Mifflin, located south of Philadelphia on the outskirts of the present airport. The prison housed captured Confederates, Union deserters and other offenders, and civilians. Much of the correspondence relates to individual prisoners. A 7 January 1864 note describes two German-American draft dodgers. The next day expressed confusion regarding the arrival of a W.H. Power who was sent without irons and no paperwork. On 2 February 1864, the character of a Union soldier named Silas Mansfield is defended; he had been detailed as a provost guard back in 1862 but had been unfairly named as a deserter in his company rolls. On 11 February 1864 is recorded a dispute over sending Union and Rebel prisoners together to clean out a moat. On 19 February 1864, a Confederate named William Bowman who had deserted at Chambersburg during the Gettysburg campaign is recommended for release “in consequence of his good conduct while here.”
This volume was kept from January to May 1864 by Captain Cyrus S. Haldeman as Assistant Adjutant General under Major General George Cadwalader, military commander of Philadelphia. He often recorded messages from the Fort Mifflin post commander, Captain J.O. Fennie. After going unused for several months, the volume was taken over from November 1864 to July 1865 by Lieutenant Frank H. Wentz, who served as the post’s adjutant, assistant quartermaster, and commissary of subsistence. These 1865 entries are less substantial. In the rear of the volume are 4 pages of personal ledger accounts kept by Wentz, 1870-1871.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
(civil war–rhode island.)
Militia recruitment broadside titled “General Orders No. 8.”
Providence, RI, 7 April 1863
Illustrated letterpress broadside, 23¼ x 18½ inches, signed in type by Governor William C. Cozzens and Adjutant General Edward C. Mauran; minor wear at folds, foxing, moderate dampstaining, 3½-inch closed tear.
Orders the military registration of all eligible men aged between 18 and 45, and their formation into five brigades, “to place the State in a condition to make a voluntary response to all future calls of the President of the United States upon her patriotism, by encouraging the liberal diffusion of military knowledge, and . . . the martial spirit of our people.” Features a patriotic emblem and two examples of the state seal. One other example in OCLC, at the Library Company of Philadelphia.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(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.
Estimate
$200 – $300
(civil war–secret service.) louis p. stone.
A Secret Service member recounts his exploits in detail.
Cincinnati, OH, 3 May 1863
Autograph Letter Signed as “L.P. Stone” to a Colonel Tracy. 3 pages, 9¾ x 7½ inches, on one folding sheet, with return address on final blank; folds, minimal wear.
“I am a member of the Secret Service, first served under Gen. Rosecrans in southwestern Va. I was taken prisoner by Gen. Floid [John B. Floyd] on the 15th Oct. 1861, one hundred miles within the enemie’s lines while on a secret expedition for Gen. Rosecrans. Escaped from Richmond 22nd Feb. 1862 . . . Overtook the army at Mt. Jackson [VA] on the evening of the 4th of June. Capt. Hopper ordered me to make myself generally useful as scout until the chase was on for [Stonewall] Jackson and then report to him for special service. From that time I was advance scout until the battle of Cross Keys, was the first to discover the position of the enemy that morning, and reported the same to Gen. Milroy. . . . I was captured by a band of guerillas. I was sent to Lynchburg, where I met S.J. Callahan of the Jesse Scouts. From that time we were together until we escaped from Richmond by changing our names and getting off as regular soldiers.” The Jesse Scouts were Union soldiers who assumed the identity and documents of captured Confederates and went under deep cover.
Louis P. Stone (1843-1903), a Cincinnati druggist, went on to own a hotel in Deadwood, SD. His career in the Secret Service is discussed in Fishel, “The Secret War for the Union,” pages 179-180. This letter was written as part of his extended effort to be paid for his services: “It is poor encouragement for me to risk my life as I have done, and get nothing for it.” Letters describing life in the Secret Service are rarely seen because, well . . . it was secret.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(civil war–secret service.) lafayette c. baker.
To Arms! To Arms! 100 Dollars Bounty!
[Washington, DC, circa June 1863]
Letterpress broadside, 9½ x 7¾ inches, with engraved illustration of a cavalry soldier on horseback; folds, apparently detached from another sheet on left edge, mount remnants on verso.
A recruiting broadside for what became the 1st District of Columbia Cavalry or “Baker’s Rangers,” a shadowy unit which hunted down deserters and Confederate subversives in the capital region. Prospective members were recruited for “special duty, to act in conjunction with the present National Detective Police in the execution of such Special Orders as may from time to time be issued by the Colonel commanding.” The “peculiar service for which this Battalion is organized” required that the applicants be “sober, honest, intelligent, able bodied young men” and expert horsemen. Members were to be provided with “the best and fleetest horses” and Henry repeating rifles. In other words, this was not your great-grandfather’s regiment. No other copies traced in OCLC or elsewhere.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(civil war–texas.) j. bankhead magruder.
Group of 5 manuscript “Special Orders” for the District of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.
Houston, TX, October-November 1863 and undated
Most about 5 x 7 inches and one a bit larger, all on printed “Head Quarters, Bureau of State Troops” letterhead on lined blue paper, each issued “By command of Maj. Gen. J. Bankhead Magruder” and signed by an adjutant (either J.D. McAdoo or E.W. Cave), all relating to a Major Sublett; foxing, folds, minor wear.
Special Orders No. 73, 11 October 1863. “Major F.B. Sublett, 3rd Batt’n, will detail ten men . . . and act as guard to the Negroes engaged in fortifying at Sabinetown.”
Special Orders No. 76, 14 October 1863. “Major Sublett, com’d’g state troops at Nacogdoches, will detail ten (10) men . . . to act as guard of Negroes working on fortifications at Burr’s Ferry.”
Special Orders, 29 October 1863. “The order for the infantry of the 2nd Regiment to march to Millican is countermanded.”
Special Orders No. 123, 12 November 1863. “Major Sublett . . . will immediately forward a statement of the troops at that post.”
Special Orders, undated. “the 2nd Regiment . . . will immediately . . . take up the line of march from Nacogdoches to Navasota, Grimes County. The ranking officer at Nacogdoches will command the regiment. . . . Major Sublett is relieved from command of the post at Nacogdoches.”
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(civil war–texas.) mary j. hamilton.
A Texas Unionist’s wife asks permission to join him in New Orleans.
Austin, TX, 31 March and 5 April 1864
Autograph Letter Signed to Pendleton Murrah. One page, 9¾ x 7½ inches, docketed and signed by Murrah on verso; folds, lacking integral blank.
When the Civil War began, Alexander Jackson Hamilton (1815-1875) of Austin was representing Texas in Congress. He was a vocal Unionist, and fled Texas in July 1862. Lincoln appointed him “Military Governor of Texas” with the rank of Brigadier General; he spent the war in New Orleans. Meanwhile, his wife and children were still in Texas.
This letter was addressed by his wife Mary Jane Bowen Hamilton (1828-1916) to the Confederate governor of Texas, Pendleton Murrah: “My husband Gen’l A.J. Hamilton . . . expresses a very strong desire for his family to join him, and wishes us to go by the way of Matagorda Bay.” She requests “the necessary papers to insure our safe transit to that point” and “a sufficient escort to protect us from insults or interference on the route.” She planned to bring her 3 daughters and a 15-year-old son.
On verso, Governor Murrah refers the request to General John B. Magruder as commander of the District of Texas, requesting that it be granted if deemed “consistent with the interest of the service and the country.”
Hamilton was later named governor of Texas in the first months of Reconstruction. “Whatever measure of success the governor enjoyed was due in part to the capable assistance of his wife. Her gentle spirit and quick wit soothed tensions at the mansion on more than one occasion”–McQueary, “Dining at the Governor’s Mansion,” page 45.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(civil war–texas.)
Contract for a Texas railroad to serve the Confederacy, signed by a general.
Houston, TX, 1 May 1864
Document Signed by Captain John C. Ransom for the Confederate Army and A. Sessums for the railroad, and additionally signed “approved by command of Maj. Gen’l Magruder” by Brigadier General James E. Slaughter. 2 pages, 17 x 10¾ inches, on one folding sheet, plus docketing on final page; folds, minimal wear.
This contract arranged for regularly scheduled military service on the Houston Tap and Brazoria Railroad between Houston and the town of Columbia about 40 miles to the south, with three 12-car trains per week in each direction, with extra charges for night trains. The railroad was also permitted to carry passengers and freight on the line “when it does not conflict with gov’t business.”
Estimate
$600 – $900
(civil war–texas.) benjamin s. roberts.
A Union general complains to his Confederate counterpart about his abuse of flags of truce.
Pass Caballo, Matagorda Island, TX, 16 May 1864
Autograph Letter Signed as “B.D. Roberts, Brig’r Gen’l Vols., Commanding,” to Confederate Major General John B. Magruder. One page, 9¾ x 7¾ inches, with later pencil docketing on verso; lacking integral blank, early repair to 5-inch closed tear.
The possession of the coastal Fort Esperanza at Matagorda, TX changed hands several times over the course of the war. This letter was written by the Union commander of the fort to the Confederate commander of the Department of Texas, John B. Magruder. Both men were graduates of West Point (Magruder in 1830, Roberts in 1835), so Roberts called upon their shared professional military culture: “The frequent abuse of the privileges of flags of truce by you and subordinates under your command calls for correction. . . . Due to the humanities of war and the inviolable purity of flags of truce, as a means of aiding such humanities . . . I shall no longer respect any boat or party approaching my military lines, not fully and plainly justified by prescription, custom and the law regulating this subject. All flags of truce expecting to be respected by me hereafter must bear letters authenticating them from authorized commanders, their business must be clearly stated, must be strictly of military nature, and justified by the emergencies of war.”
Estimate
$500 – $750
(civil war–texas.)
A wounded Confederate’s request for light duty, bounced up for the signatures of two Major Generals.
Various places, 26 March to 13 May 1865
Autograph Letter Signed by Captain J.H. Rambo to Colonel S.S. Anderson, and additionally signed by numerous other officers on verso including Generals John H. Forney and John B. Magruder. 2 pages, 10½ x 8 inches, with additional 8 x 3¼-inch slip tipped to verso; folds, minor wear.
Captain J.H. Rambo of the 22nd Texas Infantry writes to a colonel that Private H.A. Nichols was wounded in the Battle of Pleasant Hill in April 1864, and requesting that he “be detailed in the harness shop at Tyer Texas.” A note by three surgeons from the Medical Examination board attests that Private Nichols had a “gunshot wound in the right thigh partially severing the external hamstring” and recommending “post duty of some kind requiring but little locomotion.” On verso are about a dozen docketing notes signed by a dizzying array of officers as the simple request worked its way up the chain of command. Major General John H. Forney signed in Crockett, TX on 28 March 1865, and the commander of the Department of Texas, John B. Magruder, over his department’s 29 April inked stamp. Finally the request started to trickle back down to the head of the harness shop, who brought up a simple point on 12 May: “If he is not a harness maker, I do not want him; if he is, his services are needed.” The Department of Texas surrendered three weeks later.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(civil war–texas.)
Discharge certificate for a Texas soldier in the Arizona Brigade in the chaotic last days of the war.
Houston, TX, 24 May 1865
Partly printed document, 10¼ x 8¼ inches; folds, minor wear and foxing.
This partly printed “Confederate States of America Soldier’s Discharge” certificate was issued to a soldier in Texas more than a month after Appomattox. Printed by E.L. Cushing & Co. of Houston with a decorative border and a woodcut of a cannon, its appearance suggests an orderly demobilization of the Confederate forces which was very far from the truth. One hint of the chaos is a single overprinted line which must have been added for the final dispersal of troops: “Having remained true to his colors to the last.” It is printed a few degrees off line, and partly covers another line of text.
The discharged soldier, Private Joseph Woods Bradford (1821-1894), had been a Galveston justice of the peace before serving three years with the 4th Texas Cavalry, part of the colorful Arizona Brigade. His regiment was largely disbanded by the time this discharge was issued. A portion of them had taken to freestyle marauding in northern Texas, and some of the remaining Confederate units were actually tasked with hunting them down. The discharge is signed “By order of Maj Gen Magruder” in an unknown hand. John B. Magruder, Confederate commander of the District of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, would formally surrender what remained of his army on 2 June.
We have traced no other examples of this certificate at auction, although the dealer Eberstadt offered one in his 1963 catalog. We find a variant printing on WikiTree with a portrait of Jeff Davis instead of the cannon.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(civil war–veterans.)
Read! Committees, Soldiers’ & Sailors’ Republican National Convention.
[Philadelphia, 2 October 1868]
Letterpress broadside, 24 x 19 inches; moderate wear with minimal loss of text, minor soiling.
Lists the committee assignments for a veterans’ political convention held in Philadelphia. Among the many officers listed are the co-chairs of the executive committee, Major General Henry A. Barnum and Norton P. Chipman, the prosecutor of Andersonville war criminals. No other examples traced.
Estimate
$200 – $300
(civil war–wisconsin.) [holden r. smith?]
Diaries of a 1st Wisconsin Cavalry sergeant through Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign.
Various places, 1 January 1863 to 2 November 1864
[104, 82] manuscript diary pages in 2 diary volumes, plus [40, 55] pages in 2 volumes of memoranda. 4 volumes total. 12mo, unmatched contemporary calf wrappers, worn; first diary dampstained and intermittently rough going, second one with a few pages smudged but generally clean and legible, memoranda volumes quite worn.
The first diary begins with service in Missouri, leaving for Kentucky on 31 May 1863 and soon arriving in Tennessee for the Chickamauga and Chattanooga campaigns. The second diary begins in Tennessee in January 1864. The regiment was engaged in frequent skirmishing, driving in enemy pickets, and foraging. At the Battle of Dandridge on 17 January, “the enemy advanced again the afternoon. After a severe contest we succeeded in holding our ground, but with considerable loss.” In the 27 January Battle of Fair Garden, “companies E F & I charged two regts of Rebs and drove them several miles. Myself & ten men captured two ambulances and two prisoners & two mules.” Shortly after the arrival of a fresh batch of enlistees at Cleaveland, TN, on 2 April, “14 of Co. H men were taken prisoners. 12 of them were recruits and were out on their first day’s duty.”
For the spring of 1864, the regiment joined in Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign. At the Battle of Rocky Face Ridge in Georgia, 7 May, “8th Iowa charged on a Reb battery at Varnell & were repulsed. This reg’t then charged into the town and took possession, and camped there for the night.” The next week at Resaca, 14 May, “Co. F thrown out as pickets. Canonading and musketry was heard nearly all day . . . succeeded in turning the enemy’s right flank.” A daring raid is described on 26 May: “Five companys of this regt charged about 2 miles into the Reb lines, captured 48 prisoners. Fell back with small loss. Sergt. Inman wounded, lost several horses.” He describes his role in McCook’s raid behind the lines southeast of Atlanta from 27 to 30 July: “Marched nearly all night, not allowed to build fires. . . . Several shots were fired at us which we did not return. . . . Skirmished with the enemy for several miles, charged on them several times. At last charged into the heads of two brigades. Lost Maj. Payne, Lieut Warren and several others.” After most of the raiders had returned safely, on 6 August “several men came in this morning dismounted who had travelled through the woods several days.” On 3 September he happily reported “news of our troops taking possession of Atlanta.”
The memoranda volumes include various scrawled pay and clothing lists for the author’s company, as well as a “sick report.” One includes three pages of quite accomplished pencil drawings, including portraits of Private Herkimer Fuller and Major Thomas Mars, two unidentified portraits, some architectural details, and most lovingly, “the stove of Squad 5, Company F, 1st Regt.,” with soldiers’ boots warming nearby.
This diary’s author and his regiment are not named, but his movements match the regimental history of the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry perfectly, and Colonel Oscar LaGrange is mentioned frequently. Most of the dozens of named enlisted men are from the regiment’s Company F. Holden Roswell Smith (1836-1906) of that company was a New York native who settled in Wisconsin shortly before the war. On 23 March 1864 he notes sending money to his father Sheldon Newton Smith, who is also mentioned on 31 March 1863; on 17 July 1864 he notes his promotion from corporal to quartermaster sergeant. A few pages of postwar memoranda include “threshing acct of Smith & Porter” including S.N. Smith. Sergeant Smith was very likely the author of all four volumes.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(civil war–wisconsin.) charles j. lind.
Extensive memoir of his service in the famed Iron Brigade of the West.
Hillsboro, WI, February 1898
Autograph Manuscript Signed, [55] pages plus 2 additional pages of 1903 postscript by H.W. Rood. 4to, original printed notebook wrappers, detached from text block, with later taped note: “Valuable, Important, a personal diary of Chas. J. Lind”; minor wear to contents.
Charles John Lind (1842-1905) was a German immigrant from Bad Ax County (now Vernon County), WI. He wrote this lively memoir of his Civil War experiences in 1898, starting with his enlistment in the 6th Wisconsin Infantry in early May 1861. The regiment was part of the legendary Iron Brigade of the West which earned its nickname at the Second Battle of Bull Run, and suffered the highest casualty rate of any Union brigade in the war. That battle is recounted in detail here, as well as South Mountain and Antietam, where Lind was badly wounded in his left eye. His long recovery is described, as well as his return to the service for the closing months of the war with the 47th Wisconsin Infantry. He wrote this narrative for inclusion in a Wisconsin war memorial in Madison, asking that it be returned to his home in Hillsboro, WI after it was transcribed.
Appended to Lind’s narrative is a two-page note by H.W. Rood, the Custodian of Memorial Hall, explaining in 1903 that it had been transcribed: “I think it a most excellent story and am glad to put it where it may be kept . . . long after every old soldier of the Civil War is called into the Camp beyond the River.” He suggests that survivors of “the old veteran should keep this book as a precious treasure–never part with it. . . . They should now and then read the story till they are filled with the spirit of it, and know it by heart.” This engaging narrative of service in an important unit has apparently not been published.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(colonial wars.)
Issue of the Boston Weekly News-Letter with news of fighting on the Georgia-Florida coast.
Boston: J. Draper, 31 January 1740
2 pages, 13½ x 8½ inches; folds, minor wear and dampstaining, uncut; early subscriber’s name in upper margin.
Includes a long report from Frederica, GA on an early series of skirmishes in what became known as the War of Jenkins’ Ear. It starts with a 13 November 1739 Spanish attack on two English settlers on Amelia Island (just north of today’s Jacksonville, FL), in which the Spanish “cut off and carried away the two Highland Men’s Heads, and cut and mangled their Bodies in a most barbarous Manner.” The British sent reinforcements to Amelia from Cumberland Island (just over the line into today’s Georgia). On the 17th, General Oglethorpe led four rowboats south from Frederica, GA to confront the Spanish, chasing them about for 16 miles across Amelia Island, but the Spanish managed to escape. The final rumor was of a large body of Spanish troops massed at the St. John’s River in Florida.
We find no pre-1750 issues of the Boston Weekly News-Letter at auction since 1974.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(constitution.)
U.S. Constitution, Centennial Souvenir.
Philadelphia: W.D. Jenkins, 17 September 1887
Illustrated broadside, 19½ x 14¾ inches, on thin paper with red stripes; folds, minimal wear.
An attractive presentation, illustrated with engravings of Presidents Washington and Cleveland, the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and the flag. 5 small advertisements for Philadelphia businesses appear in the lower right. Its publication was announced in the Philadelphia Inquirer of 13 September 1887, which described it as a “very pretty centennial souvenir.”
Broadside printings of the Constitution are seen much less frequently than the Declaration of Independence, and this one is a particularly remarkable survival given the thin paper on which it was printed. This copy was well preserved by being folded into a Bible until this year. None traced in OCLC or at auction, although a similar 4th of July 1888 broadside program is recorded, “Published by Wm. D. Jenkins, 211 Spruce Street.”
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(crime.)
The Trial of Cyrus B. Dean for the Murder of Jonathan Ormsby and Asa Marsh.
Burlington, VT: Samuel Mills, 1808
48 pages. 8vo, disbound; moderate foxing and dampstaining, lacking a bit of the title page corner; uncut.
Dean was engaged in smuggling goods up Lake Champlain into Canada on his ship Black Snake. “The victims were two revenue agents who tried to intercept smugglers taking potash into Canada. They were shot with a gun nine feet, four inches long. Dean was sentenced to hang”–McDade, Annals of Murder 246. McCorison, Vermont Imprints 983; Sabin 19019; Shaw & Shoemaker 16344.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(crime.)
Group of pamphlets and ephemera regarding the murder trial of the nefarious Rev. Ephraim Avery.
Rhode Island and Massachusetts, 1833-1834
7 items, various sizes and conditions.
In December 1832, a young factory worker named Sarah Maria Cornell from Fall River, MA was discovered hung in a barn in nearby Tiverton, RI. She was found to be several months pregnant, and had confided that the father was a married Methodist minister, Ephraim Kingsbury Avery. Among her personal papers, investigators found a note: “If I should be missing, enquire of the Rev. Mr. Avery of Bristol, he will know where I am.” Avery was widely believed to be guilty of killing Cornell, but was acquitted in June 1833 in one of the most widely reported murder trials before Lizzie Borden. This lot includes:
Thomas F. Norris. “To the Public.” 2 printed pages plus integral blank, 9¾ x 7¾ inches; circular letter defending Avery before his final trial. Not in OCLC or McDade, none traced at auction. East Cambridge, MA, February 1833.
“The Death of Sarah Cornell.” Broadside ballad, 10¾ x 8 inches; moderate foxing, horizontal fold; uncut. No place, circa 1833.
Caroline Corson. Autograph Letter Signed to her father R.D. Corson, 4 pages on one folding sheet with inked Newport postmark, discussing the case: “If Grandpapa has not read Avery’s trial yet, we can get it here for him. The populace are still enraged against him. . . . He is hanging in effigy on liberty tree in the public road from Boston, as it enters the town. . . . Avery was swung up high as Haman, on a regular gallows with green spectacles on, a letter in one hand directed to S.M. Cornell. . . . They say the jury have been burnt in effigy. Even the school children have Avery hanging on a tiny gallows.” Newport, RI, 10 July [1833].
Benjamin F. Hallett. “The Arguments of Counsel in the Close of the Trial of the Rev. Ephraim K. Avery.” 94, [4], 195-207 pages as issued. 8vo, later ½ morocco; moderate dampstaining. McDade 33. Boston, June 1833. Bound with “A Vindication of the Result of the Trial of Rev. Ephraim K. Avery.” Folding map, 74 pages. McDade 53. Boston, 1834.
Benjamin F. Hallett. “Trial of Rev. Mr. Avery: A Full Report of the Trial.” 191 pages. 8vo, stitched; moderate dampstaining; uncut. Boston, May 1833. In a modern cloth folding case WITH–the supplement, “Avery’s Trial, Supplementary Edition.” 40 pages, uncut. McDade 52.
“The Correct, Full and Impartial Report of the Trial of Rev. Ephraim K. Avery.” Frontispiece portrait (laid down to inner wrapper). 178 pages. 12mo, original wrappers; worn, corners trimmed. In modern cloth folding case. McDade 36. Providence, RI, [1833].
[Catherine R. Williams.] “Fall River, an Authentic Narrative.” Frontispiece plate. 198 pages. 12mo, contemporary cloth-backed boards, recased; “A detailed telling of the story with all the letters, by a then popular author”–McDade 40. Boston, 1833.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(crime.)
1000 Dollars Reward!! . . . of the Person or Persons, Who . . . Did Shoot and Murder Burrill Arnold.
Warwick, RI, 28 May 1859
Letterpress broadside, 11 x 12¼ inches, signed in type by C.R. Hill as Warwick Council Clerk, with docketing on verso; light toning and offsetting, minimal wear at folds, laid down on archival paper.
Burrill Arnold (1811-1859) was a general store owner in the small village of Centerville (now in West Warwick, RI). While standing by the window of his store, talking with a customer, an unknown assailant shot him in the back. His temperance activism, which contributed to the arrest of local rumsellers, was thought to be the motive. Two suspects were arrested, but were acquitted the following year. See the New York Daily Herald, 8 June 1859; Fall River Daily News, 19 March 1860; and New England Farmer, 31 March 1860. No other examples traced in OCLC or at auction.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(crime.) pinkerton’s national detective agency.
American Bankers Association, Book of Photographs.
No place, [1895], with additions through 1898
26 bound text leaves, interspersed with 15 bound photographic plates, 49 leaves of neatly mounted scrapbook additions as intended, and 47 blank leaves, with 3 circular instruction letters laid in. Oblong folio, 10¾ x 12 inches, contemporary ½ morocco, rebacked, moderate wear; the final page of text crudely laid down to the front pastedown, a bit of the title page text clipped out, otherwise minor wear.
A gallery of criminals created by the Pinkerton agency for the use of banks across the country. The 300 mug shots are coded as forgers, sneak thieves, burglars, or bank swindlers, and each is paired with a detailed description including occupation, alias, identifying scars and tattoos, and date of arrest. Finally, a series of 101 “General Information” bulletins provide more detailed descriptions of mostly forgery and swindling cases, often with facsimile handwriting samples. At least four women are depicted and described, all of them working as “stalls for sneaks.”
The volume was issued with 180 mugshots and descriptions as a partially blank book, with later supplements and bulletins intended to be cut out and pasted into designated sections. A collation is available upon request. 3 recorded in OCLC, and not traced at auction since 2008.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(declaration of independence.) john binns, engraver.
Declaration of Independence.
Engraving, 35½ x 26 inches; dampstaining on bottom 5 inches, early repairs to several closed tears, lacking 2 inches of lower right corner (filled), with slight loss to Adams signature, spot-mounted at corners to modern board.
Issued four years before the famous Stone facsimile was the Binns Declaration, in which the text is rendered calligraphically, the signatures are presented in facsimile but rearranged to fit the oval, and the ornamental border (engraved by George Bridport) shows portraits of Hancock, Washington, and Jefferson along with the seals of the original states. A statement of authenticity by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams bears his own facsimile signature. Binns was the first to announce a facsimile project, though he was beaten to the press by rival Benjamin Owen Tyler. Bidwell, American History in Image and Text 5. Provenance: Superior Stamp & Coin sale, 24 June 1995, lot 198, to Milton R. Slater; Swann sale to the consignor, 25 November 2014, lot 104.
Estimate
$4,000 – $6,000
(declaration of independence.) j.h. bufford, lith.
Declaration of Independence . . . Executed Entirely with a Pen by Gilman R. Russell.
Manchester, NH: William H. Fisk, 1856
Lithograph, 28 x 22 inches; light dampstaining and minor wear.
The text surrounds a portrait of Washington, and is in turn framed by a decorative border topped by an eagle. Bidwell 28.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(declaration of independence.) duval after r. morris swander.
The Declaration of Independence . . . Allegorical Portrait of Washington.
Philadelphia: Art Publishing Association, Swander, Bishop & Co., 1865
Engraved broadside, 23¾ x 19 inches; mat toning, verso shows mount remnants and faint staining.
The text of the Declaration is calligraphically arranged to evoke Stuart’s portrait of Washington, with the signatures surrounding the head. A small inset engraving of Trumbull’s depiction of the signing is at top. Bidwell 32, first state with uncorrected dedication to “the Christian Commisson’s of the United States.” We trace no others sold at auction.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(declaration of independence.) william h. pratt, artist.
Declaration of Independence.
Davenport, IA: Augustus Hageboeck, 1865
Lithograph, 28¼ x 21¾ inches; worn at edges with closed tears, expertly conserved.
The words of the Declaration are arranged calligraphically to form a portrait of George Washington, with the state seals arranged outside, through Nevada (established 1864). Bidwell 33.
Estimate
$2,500 – $3,500
(declaration of independence.) w.r. knapp, photographer.
An untraced reproduction of the manuscript Declaration and Trumbull painting.
New York: American Photo-Lithographic Co., 1868
Lithograph, 22 x 32 inches, on original light board, with 13¼ x 20-inch albumen photograph laid down as issued, captioned above “Declaration of Independence. July 4th, 1776”; moderate wear including a few light abrasions to image, a few small chips at edges not affecting text, moderate dampstaining on bottom edge.
The central image is a photograph of the Asher Durand engraving of John Trumbull’s painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Below are facsimile signatures of the signers, with an adaptation of the engraving’s key. On either side is a reproduction of Jefferson’s original manuscript text. We have traced no other examples of this presentation at auction or in OCLC, and it is not recorded in Bidwell.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(district of columbia.)
Cabinet card of bookbinder George Maier with his son and apprentice.
[Washington, DC], circa 1882-1890
Albumen photograph, 5½ x 4 inches, on original plain mount; 1½-inch closed tear with tape repair to lower corner, scarcely affecting image.
George Maier (born 1827) was listed at this 428 10th Street NW address in the Washington directories from 1884 to 1890. In the 1880 census, he was still listed as an employee of another binder, and in the 1891 directory the address had changed to 421 10th Street. His son George Maier Jr. (born 1868 in Washington) is listed as a bookbinder in the directories as well. They stand in their aprons in the door of their bindery. A broadside advertising excursions to the ocean resort at Cape May, NJ can be seen in their window.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(early american imprint.) robert dodsley, editor.
Select Fables of Aesop and other Fabulists.
Philadelphia: Robert Bell, 1777
15 [of 16] plates by Norman. 366 [of 371] pages. 8vo, contemporary calf, worn, boards detached; contents worn, lacking half-title, frontispiece plate, free endpapers, leaf Kk2 and 3 final leaves, first 3 leaves detached and quite worn, several plates crudely colored; numerous early inscriptions including owners’ signatures on pastedowns and elsewhere.
One of 3 printings of Aesop’s Fable in Philadelphia in 1777 (priority undetermined). This edition has a long introductory “Essay on Fable,” and concludes with an extended “New Life of Aesop” and “Six Oriental Stories, Entertaining and Instructive.” No other examples of any of these Aesop editions traced at auction since 1914. Evans 15232; Welch 19.1.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(early american imprints.)
Group of 5 pamphlets published in 5 different towns.
Various places, 1723-1777
All 8vo, all disbound except as noted.
Benjamin Lord. “True Christianity Explained & Enforced.” [2], vi, 88 pages; worn with defects to title, leaf C1, and final leaf; early ownership inscription, early inked stamp of American Antiquarian Society. New London, CT: T. Green, 1727.
Thomas Foxcroft. “Like Precious Faith Obtained . . . A Sermon Preached.” [2], 36 pages; lacking half-title, minor dampstaining and foxing. Boston: Green & Russell, 1756.
[Edmund March].”Fair Play! or, A Needful Word to Temper the Tract Entitled ‘A Summer Morning’s Conversation.’” 35 pages, lacking the 7-page appendix letter; gift inscription from the anonymous author on title page. Portsmouth, NH: Daniel Fowle, 1758.
Theophilus Hall. “[The Most] Important Question Considered and Answered.” 56 pages; cropped with loss of two words from title, foxing. New Haven, CT: J. Parker, 1761.
John Devotion. “The Duty and Interest of a People to Sanctify the Lord of Hosts: A Sermon.” 38 [of 39] pages; with half-title but lacking final leaf with close of his poem “Independence, an anthem . . . composed for this occasion,” moderate foxing and wear; stitched and uncut; early owner’s inscriptions on half-title and title page. Hartford, CT: Ebenezer Watson, 1777.
Evans 2895, 7666, 8166, 8872, 15285. No other examples of any of these have been traced at auction since a copy of the Devotion sermon appeared at Swann, 15 September 1955, lot 71.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(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
$200 – $300
(flags.) dennison manufacturing company.
Advertisement for flags sold by S.S. Thorp & Co.
New York: S.S. Thorp & Co., circa 1891-1896
Color wood engraving in blue and red, 12 x 16¾ inches to sight, with overprinting in black; folds, minor foxing; not examined out of modern mat.
The Dennison Manufacturing Company printed this flag for use by retailers; the overprinting is a price list for flags and flagpoles offered by a New York dealer. Thorp’s flags ranged from 3 to 40 feet in length. The 44 stars suggest a printing date between the admissions of Wyoming and Utah to the Union.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(florida.)
Histoire de la Conqueste de la Floride, par les Espagnols, sous Ferdinand de Soto.
Paris: Denys Thierry, 1685
[24], 300 pages. 12mo, contemporary calf, minor wear; minimal wear to contents; modern French collector’s bookplate on front pastedown, manuscript label on rear pastedown.
First French edition of the extremely scarce Relaçam Verdadeira by the anonymous “Gentleman of Elvas,” first published in 1557, and here translated by Samuel de Broë of Citry. The 1686 first English edition, “A Relation of the Invasion and Conquest of Florida,” was based on this 1685 French edition.
Clark called the Elvas narrative “the most valuable document on the sixteenth-century history of the South. . . . It gives the first insight into the location of Indian tribes in the south, and into the customs and religious practices of the Southern Indians” (Old South 1:8). European Americana 685/90; Medina BHA 502n; Palau 256843n; Sabin 24864.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(florida.)
The Constitution of the Navy Club at Key West.
Key West, FL, 1865
7 printed pages. 12mo, original printed wrappers, disbound, minor wear; minimal wear to contents.
The Navy Club of Key West was founded in 1863 by Union naval officers from the East Gulf Blockading Squadron who “discovered the necessity of suitable Reading and Refreshment Rooms for their accommodation on shore.” This pamphlet includes lists of club officers and 78 members, in addition to the constitution. Prominent names among the members include Commander George M. Bache, Commander Napoleon Collins, Captain Richard Meade, and honorary members General John Newton and Rear Admiral Theodorus Bailey. The club made its most enduring mark on Key West in 1866 with the erection of an imposing Union war monument across from the present Key West Museum. No other examples traced at auction, in OCLC, or elsewhere.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(florida.) albion m. windhorst, photographer.
View of the military base at Mullet Key, now the site of Fort De Soto Park in Tampa.
Tampa, FL, 1898
Albumen photograph, 6¼ x 8¼ inches, on photographer’s mount with his embossed stamp, captioned in pencil on verso “1898, Officer’s Quarters, Mulletkey, Florida, during Spanish American War”; foxing, minor wear.
Mullet Key, a small chain of islands south of St. Petersburg, was used as a Union fort during the Civil War, and in 1889 began serving as a quarantine station to isolate travelers on their arrival to Florida. Construction on Fort de Soto on Mullet Key began in 1898 to help protect Tampa Bay during the Spanish-American War. The site was abandoned in 1937 and rededicated as Fort De Soto Park in 1963. This image of the station’s officer quarters was shot by Tampa photographer Albion Morgner Windhorst (1881-1952). It shows a lone cannon pointing seaward as two soldiers patrol the porch. Early images from this fort appear to be scarce.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(food & drink.) oliver cromwell rood.
Daybook of a Vermont distillery selling copious amounts of gin.
Waterbury, VT, 1809-44
295 manuscript pages. Tall folio, 15 x 6 inches, original calf, moderate wear; minor dampstaining.
This daybook records the retail liquor sales from a distillery operated by Oliver Cromwell Rood (circa 1778-1845?) in the Colbyville neighborhood of Waterbury, VT. He sometimes made dozens of sales in a day, mostly of gin (selling for between $1.00 and $1.25 per gallon), and to a lesser extent whiskey and “high wines.” Rood also ran a grist mill and was involved in other ventures, but those must have been recorded in other volumes–this daybook records little other than liquor sales until about 1815, comprising more than 200 pages of densely written entries, each one naming the purchaser and the quantity. The entries after 1815 are much sparser and reflect other kinds of business, but are in the same hand and the customers still appear to hail from Waterbury.
Rood’s heavy involvement in the liquor trade is alluded to rather disapprovingly in the 1882 Vermont Historical Gazetteer: “Mr. Rood had a rather varied fortune in life, and one habit, almost universally prevalent in his day, he lived to overcome, much to the comfort of his later years. . . . O. C. Rood put up here a potato whisky distillery, and ran it as long as self interest or a true sense of moral propriety, in his judgment rendered it advisable” (pages 833, 912).
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(food & drink.) lucy emerson.
The New-England Cookery.
Montpelier, VT, 1808
81, [3] pages. 12mo, contemporary ¼ calf, worn with some loss to boards; lacking front free endpaper, lacking pages 61-62 but a duplicate of pages 57-58 bound in its place, moderate dampstaining, a few leaves coming disbound, a few early pencil doodles; early owner’s signature on rear free endpaper.
First and only edition, based on Amelia Simmons’s American Cookery. Intended “not so much for the Lady of fashion, and fortune, as for those in the more humble walks of life, who by the loss of parents, or other unfortunate circumstances, are reduced to indigence.” Includes recipes for wine and beer. Cagle 235; Lowenstein 48; McCorison, Vermont 988. Provenance: signature of Matilda Butterworth (born 1796) of Wrentham, MA; went west with the family of her nephew Edgar Ray Butterworth (1847-1921), who settled in Seattle in 1892 and became a noteworthy funeral director; consigned by a descendant.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(benjamin franklin.) edward savage, engraver; after martin.
Benjamin Franklin L.L.D., F.R.S.
Boston: Abel Bowen, circa 1793
Mezzotint, 21 x 17 inches; 1½-inch filled chip on top edge extending ¼ inch into image, 11-inch closed tear and other shorter tears through image, partial horizontal fold in lower part of image, other minor wear and repairs, uneven toning, laid down on board.
A bust of Sir Isaac Newton looks down on Franklin as he reads a manuscript.
The plate was engraved by the American artist Edward Savage in 1793 while he resided in London, where it was first printed. Stauffer 2745 lists Abel Bowen of Boston as publisher of the first American printing, but names McKinzie as the printer. Here P.A. O’Neill is named as the printer, a variant unrecorded in Stauffer. Its priority is unknown. Shadwell 83.
Both variants of the Bowen Boston printing are quite scarce, with none recorded in OCLC. One of the McKenzie printings is held by Historic Deerfield, and one of these O’Neill printings is at the Worcester Art Museum. We trace none sold at auction since 1910, although Goodspeed offered one in 1916 for $50, and Rosenbach offered one for $275 in 1948.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(benjamin franklin.) pierre-michel alix, after carle van loo.
Francklin.
Paris: Drouhin, [1795]
Color aquatint, 14¼ x 9 inches; 2 pin holes on the border, trimmed close to plate mark.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
Alexander hamilton.
Observations on Certain Documents . . . in which the Charge of Speculation against Alexander Hamilton . . .
Philadelphia: Printed for John Fenno, by John Bioren, 1797
is Fully Refuted, Written by Himself. 37, lviii pages. 8vo, later ½ morocco, moderate wear, with spine title “Observations of A. Hamilton–1797”; moderate foxing, extra-illustrated with an engraved portrait and other matter; bookplate and later owners’ inscriptions on flyleaf.
First edition. This pamphlet was Hamilton’s awkward attempt to clear his name during America’s first major political sex scandal. Hamilton was married and serving as Secretary of the Treasury in 1791 when he began a year-long affair with a young married woman named Maria Reynolds. Her husband James soon found out, but rather than challenge Hamilton to a duel, he demanded regular blackmail payments instead. In November 1792, James Reynolds was caught in a different scam (embezzling the pension payments of Revolutionary veterans), and attempted to blackmail Hamilton into protecting him. Hamilton came clean privately to John Adams and James Monroe, and they decided to ignore the sordid affair. However, Hamilton’s enemy Thomas Jefferson started to leak the story of the affair in 1797. At this point Hamilton realized that the only way to protect his professional reputation would be to lay it out for public consumption. This pamphlet includes his correspondence with James and Maria Reynolds, as well later correspondence with Adams and Monroe. It demonstrated that Hamilton was innocent of corruption–but also a cheating scoundrel.
As one might imagine, Mrs. Hamilton was not a big fan of this “Reynolds Pamphlet”; the family soon bought up as many copies as they could find and destroyed them. It did not appear in the official 1810 Works of Hamilton–but a second edition was brought out in 1800 by his enemies (see below). The Reynolds affair features prominently in the musical “Hamilton.”
This copy was bound and extra-illustrated in 1870 by noted Philadelphia collector Ferdinand J. Dreer, and was signed by a later owner in 1926. Bound in with the pamphlet are: a printed letter from Schuyler Hamilton to photographer John O’Neil relating to an early portrait of Hamilton, 1874 (not traced elsewhere); an engraved portrait of Hamilton by Prudhomme after Robertson taken from the 1835 National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans; a newspaper clipping of Hamilton’s related letter to the editor of the Philadelphia Gazette, 8 July 1797; and a longer related newspaper clipping mounted on 4 pages dated 19 September 1887.
Evans 32222; Ford, Hamiltoniana 64; Howes H120; Reese, Federal Hundred; Sabin 29969.
Estimate
$12,000 – $18,000
(hawaii.)
Papers of Charles Dana, who launched Hawaii’s first bank in 1854.
Various places, 1849-1874
67 items in 4 folders, condition varies but generally strong.
Charles Dana (1824-1906) graduated from the University of Vermont and was a merchant in New York, St. Louis, San Francisco, and served as an officer of several companies including the North American Steamship Company. He was in Hawaii from 1854 to 1856, where as an agent of Page, Bacon & Co., he helped to establish the kingdom’s first bank. His son Charles Anderson Dana became a noted philanthropist. This collection includes several noteworthy documents relating to Hawaii:
A 8-page manuscript draft of Page, Bacon & Co.’s original petition to the “Houses of Nobles and Representatives of the Hawaiian Islands” to establish the first bank: “To promote the interests and prosperity of said Kingdom and especially to advance its commercial interests (the great source of wealth to any people), a bank of issue, discount and deposit is greatly needed at Honolulu.” The preamble is followed by 11 sections, some of them marked “expunged.” Charles Dana is mentioned as a bank representative in Section 6. The draft is unsigned and undated, but likely dates to mid-1854; the bank was running ads in the Honolulu Polynesian by 14 October 1854.
A 2 July 1857 Honolulu letter from Dana’s business partner Asher B. Bates reports on the Hawaiian scandal of the decade, when a young merchant named Marcus Monsarrat was caught in bed with Victoria Kamamalu, sister of Kamehameha IV. The letter reports: “Monserrat & Victoria were found together in her room by the King and Lot, & Lot presented a pistol to his breast & gave him the ultimatum: death or perpetual banishment. Monserrat said he deserved to die, but he preferred his life in another land & took a sudden departure. . . . Monserrat it seems has meddled with other people’s potato vines before, but has always been able to hush it up. He is now charged publickly with having prostituted two wives of other white men in town–they were native women.” He adds a complaint about “whore house dances at our hotels.”
Two letters from Senator Solomon Foot of Vermont discuss efforts to appoint Dana as American Commissioner at Hawaii under the new Lincoln administration. On 3 December 1860, Foot asks whether Dana would want the job, as he had “passed several years there and maintained the most intimate relations with the members of that government and understand something of their language.” On 31 March 1861, Foot expresses disgust that Dana was not awarded the position: “I have been chagrined, mortified, mad at our loss of the Hawaiian mission, & mostly for the reason that a poor drunken vagabond has the plum. . . . I saw Seward yesterday on the subject of assisting you to another plum, but he said no further consular appointments would be made for some time to come.”
3 pages of incomplete notes from a lecture on Hawaii, apparently in Dana’s hand. He describes his attendance at a traditional Hawaiian luau given by Prince Lot Kamehameha (later King Kamehameha V), with meats and vegetables wrapped in leaves and cooked in a pit with coals, “some native dances performed in the old fashion by very pretty girls” and music “produced by beating tom toms.” In attendance was Captain Theodorus Bailey of the USS St. Mary’s, placing the luau circa late 1854. His historical musings include a long denunciation of Captain Cook’s impact on the island: “The people were not taught Christianity, but licentiousness & lust. . . . Women were enticed and decoyed on board his ships by scores & hundreds & there was planted the seed of that foul disease which has like a leprosy tainted the blood of these people and consigned their disfigured and disgusting corpses to untimely graves by thousands.” He also gives a share of criticism to the Catholics: “With force and arms, ships of war, the braying of trumpets and roar of cannon was this repugnant religion forced upon an unwilling people.” The notes are undated, but Dana made similar comments at a Missionary Society meeting in New York, as reported in the Pacific Commercial Advertiser of 14 July 1859.
In addition to the Hawaiian material, this lot contains:
23 business letters to and from Dana, 1854-1872, most relating to his role as Vice President of the North American Steamship Company. Notable are 9 letters from the company’s president William Henry Webb (a notable shipping magnate and later the founder of the Webb Institute of Naval Architecture), 1867-1869. The letters discuss the planning of steamer routes, and some of the ships which Webb designed such as the USS Dunderberg.
21 family and personal letters, 1849-1860 and undated. Most notably, a 10 September 1860 letter from his brother in San Francisco states “The election of Lincoln is a foregone conclusion, tho it is best not to be too certain until the election is over.” On 21 November 1860, his father A.G. Dana wrote a long denunciation of the secessionists, and added “I am more & more convinced of the wisdom of selecting Lincoln instead of Seward for our leader, and I am proud & gratified to believe that 7 votes were given for him by myself, my sons & son-in-law!”
A folder of 18 ephemera and documents, including a small broadside for a lecture by Dana on “Naples and its Surroundings” in Stockton, CA, 8 May [1851 or 1856?]; 6 family cartes-de-visite; a calling card reading “Secretary of State,” Dana’s circular letter to the bondholders of Des Moines Valley Railroad in 1874; and 7 checks and bonds from California banks, 1851-1864.
Estimate
$5,000 – $7,500
(hawaii.)
Group of 3 early Hawaiian newspapers.
Honolulu, 1835-1845
Various sizes; water damage, wear, and mildew.
“Ke Kumu Hawaii.” 8 pages, 11 x 9½ inches. An early issue of the first newspaper printed in Honolulu, edited by missionary Reuben Tinker. It was launched as a bi-monthly in November 1834, and this is issue 16. Features 4 small woodcut illustrations. The contents are entirely in Hawaiian; they include two Biblical passages, a hymn, and a half-column of local shipping news. A later missionary report on the newspaper stated that “The Hawaiians . . . have no other medium of communicating their thoughts to the public, and if they are ever to become a reading & a thinking people they must have a channel through which their thoughts may circulate” (quoted in Forbes). Forbes 903. Honolulu: Mission Press, 5 August 1835.
“Ka Elele.” Issues 3 and 4 of Volume I. Pages [17]-24 and [25]-32, 9¾ x 6 inches; unopened. Edited by the Rev. Richard Armstrong. “The primary objective of this paper was to inform native audiences of the workings of the government”–Forbes 1555 (who was apparently unaware of this misdated issue #3). Honolulu: The Hawaiian Messenger, 6 May 1844 [1845] and 20 May 1845.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(illinois.)
Letter describing a circular wolf hunt on the prairie, undertaken jointly by white settlers and American Indians.
Ottawa, IL, 17 March 1857
Autograph Letter Signed (name illegble) to Hannah Elizabeth Bowell (1837-1916) of Jefferson, PA. 4 pages, 9¾ x 7¾ inches, on one folding sheet; minimal wear. With original stamped envelope bearing an Ottawa, IL postmark.
“I went to Grundy County on the 15th of Jan’y to participate in a little western life in the way of witnessing a grand circular wolf hunt. I . . . camped out in an old log house out on the prairie, and . . . we came to where they circled into, and you better believe it was the prettiest sight you ever saw. We circled in until the circle was about two miles wide with about 11 hundred horsemen with the Stars & Stripes in the center, with some fifteen or twenty Indians in the center to shoot the game with their bows & arrows. . . . After we got the ring formed, the gun was fired as the signal for the Indians to commence their sport while we look on, and anything that was to be captured dead or alive. Well, there was a wolf broke through our side of the ring. Well, I had as good a horse, I thought, as any person else, or could run as fast as any of them. I took after it with the intention of overtaking it if possible. . . . My horse jumped into a hole on the prairies and my horse fell on my foot & sprained it so bad that I thought it was broken.”
Estimate
$600 – $900
(iran-contra.) claude chauffard.
Letter from a French mercenary arrested in Costa Rica for aiding the Nicaraguan Contra rebels.
San José, Nicaragua, 15 July 1986
Autograph Letter, signed only as “Nasty Reb-Frog,” addressed to “Dear sir.” 4 pages, 11 x 8½ inches; mailing folds, small tape repair. With original envelope addressed to a business in East Wareham, MA, and other related papers.
The Iran-Contra Affair was perhaps the biggest political scandal of the 1980s. The Reagan administration wanted to offer support to the Contras, a Nicaraguan rebel group, but were forbidden from sending funds by an act of Congress. Members of the administration instead set up an elaborate secret operation, selling weapons to Iran (itself the subject of an arms embargo) and using the funds to pay international soldiers of fortune to train the Contra rebels. This being the 1980s, cocaine smuggling also played a prominent role. The scheme started to unravel in 1986 as reports leaked to the press.
One of the many Iran-Contra exposés was a 31 May 1987 Los Angeles Times Magazine article by Michael Fessier, “An American Contra,” which described the five mercenaries hired to run a Contra training base in Costa Rica. One of them was “a big, angry, black-bearded Frenchman, an ex-paratrooper named Claude (Frenchy) Chauffard who hated communists and wore a ‘Kill Em All and Let God Sort It Out Later’ T-shirt.” After leading a cross-border raid on a Nicaraguan military base, the five mercenaries were arrested in April 1985 and charged with violating Costa Rican neutrality. Their shadowy American sponsors disappeared, and the angry, confused mercenaries went to trial. As Fessier described it, “Chauffard, whose size, temper and unintelligibility had prompted local journalists to nickname him ‘The Monster Idiot,’ lunged at [fellow defendant] Glibbery when the sentence was read. ‘You communist pig!’ he screamed, lifting a small Costa Rican to whom he was cuffed, swinging him like a puppy on a rope.” He was sentenced to five years in prison in October 1986.
Offered here is a long and characteristically angry letter written by Chauffard to an American contact while awaiting trial. It names many of the key players in the scandal. He starts with his fellow mercenary and defendant, “the dirty dog Peter Glibbery. . . . This young fucker had just begun to get involved with some unamericans, you know the identity, but let’s remain you their respective fucking names: [Senator John] Kerry from Mass., who, for sure, is acting in the name of [Ted] Kennedy for ‘88 elections. . . . The whole game has been set up in view to trap a guy so named Oliver North who is working as the right hand of Admiral Pointdexter. The Democrats might, I say, might have more or less some suspicion about the role played by G.B. [Vice President George Bush?] and Marlboro cow-boy [Reagan?] into a possible campaign . . . operated down in C.A. [Central America] on the both borders of Nicaragua. . . . We were used as scapegoats to cover up something, and even perhaps one another stuff even bigger which perhaps was canceled at the latest minute; something concerning the U.S. Embassy and its ambassador in Costa Rica. . . . Send me down here a nice letter . . . explaining Mr. Asshole [Glibbery?] that he was put back in prison to protect him first against himself, second against the commies and the Democrats. . . . He is just a young motherboy who got trapped in something too tough for him, so he lost his mind.” He adds that “two journalists from the States have been trying to see me, but until now I managed to avoid em. They are respectively Steve Kurkjian and Bob Healy [of the Boston Globe]. They left the accompanying message on my cot.” He signed simply “Huge kisses, Nasty Reb-Frog.” Also included are:
The referenced note addressed to Claude Chauffard by journalist Bob Healey, asking to give him a call.
“Destruction of the Contras’ Costa Rican Front.” An unsigned, undated, and unpublished 11-page photocopy of a dot-matrix printout, written in support of the Costa Rica Contra operation.
A subpoena issued to James Keyes of Wareham, MA for a Congressional hearing, 8 September 1988.
“Affidavit of Daniel P. Sheehan.” A critical report on the Iran-Contra affair issued by the Christic Institute in 1987; and other published reference material.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(japanese-americans.)
Archive of trailblazing New York lawyer George Yamaoka.
Various places, 1930-1981
Approximately 145 items in 2 boxes; condition generally strong.
George Yamaoka (1903-1981) was born in Seattle, WA to Japanese parents. After graduating from the University of Washington and Georgetown Law School, in 1931 he became the first Japanese-American admitted to practice law in New York. In 1946, when war crimes trials began against Japanese war leaders, Yamaoka was appointed as counsel general for the defense, helping the defendants navigate the American military justice system and receive fair trials. He then built a prosperous New York law practice, often serving American businesses in the Japanese market.
This archive of Yamaoka’s personal papers includes:
Carbon copy of the press release announcing the executions of 7 Japanese war criminals including Hideki Tojo, 23 December 1948.
Two copies of Yamaoka’s birth certificate, one of them stamped for his 1946 passport application.
Packet of 63 photographs from the International Military Tribunal in Japan, many by the U.S. Army Signal Corps, including most notably a group photograph of the International Military Tribunal defense attorneys, signed by 15 of them including Yamaoka; and a group photograph of the 11 judges of the International Military Tribunal while hearing evidence, signed by most of the judges, circa 1948.
Packet of 15 photographs of the London Naval Conference, which Yamaoka attended as an aide to the Japanese consul, 1930.
39 miscellaneous photographs, including three formal portraits of Yamaoka, snapshots of Bank of Tokyo events, and snapshots from his funeral.
A thick folder on Yamaoka’s genealogy, more interesting than most genealogical notes. When he came to prominence in the 1946 trials, it was learned that his father had come from a very prominent Japanese family but secretly emigrated to the United States under an assumed name.
Scrapbook from Emperor Hirohito’s visit to New York, 1975.
Set of 4 autograph albums from an event in honor of Yamaoka (one entry is signed “to my friend George Yamaoka”), undated.
Photo album from a 1949 trip to Morocco.
Program from a visit to New York by Prince Akihito, 1960.
Also included are 5 framed items:
Bar certificate issued to Yamaoka by the state of New York, 22 December 1931.
Photograph of the concert pianist Manfred Malkin, inscribed to his pupil, Yamaoka’s daughter, 1953.
Photograph of the Emperor Hirohito’s visit to New York, with Yamaoka (“Bon Papa”) in foreground, 1975.
Group photograph of the founding directors of the New York-based Bank of Tokyo Trust Company including Yamaoka, signed by each in mat, circa 1955.
Calligraphic memorial resolution by the same company issued upon Yamaoka’s death in 1981.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(judaica.) isaac leeser, translator.
The Twenty-Four Books of the Holy Scriptures, Carefully Translated
Philadelphia: [Isaac Leeser], 5614 [1853–54]
. . . after the Best Jewish Authorities. iv, 1011 pages plus two blank leaves. 4to, original elaborate gilt morocco presentation binding, tastefully rebacked with most of the original backstrip laid down, minor wear and staining; two interior leaves supplied from another copy, staining and long repaired tear to title page, otherwise just moderate foxing and minimal marginal dampstaining to the early leaves; inked library stamps on title page and rear flyleaf, both discretely covered.
First edition. This is the first complete translation of the full Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) by a Jewish translator into English, building upon Leeser’s 1845 translation of the five books of the Torah. Previous editions published by Jews in England had simply utilized the King James translation. Leeser’s preface explains that this massive undertaking sprung from “a desire entertained for more than a quarter of a century, since the day he quitted school in his native land to come to this country, to present to his fellow-Israelites an English version, made by one of themselves, of the Holy Word of God.” Readers would now “have an opportunity to study a version of the Bible which has not been made by the authority of churches in which they have no confidence.”
Provenance: the front board bears a gilt-stamped presentation, “David C. Labatt to Henry J. Labatt, June 1st 1854, Hoc in signo semper fidelis.” The Latin text translates to “With this sign, always faithful.” David Cohen Labatt (1828-1893) was raised in New Orleans, son of Abraham Cohen Labatt, a seminal figure in the history of Reform Judaism in America. David was an attorney, and later served as a captain in a Louisiana regiment in the Civil War. He presented his book to his 22-year-old younger brother Henry Jacob Labatt (1832-1899), who had attended the University of Louisiana, received a law degree from Yale, and then moved west to Gold Rush San Francisco with their father. Young Henry was already on his way to becoming one of the leading experts in Californian law, and would soon launch the first Jewish newspaper in the American West, Voice of Israel. In 1842, the same year he received this gift, he was named the secretary of Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco. Henry spent much of the Civil War in Nevada, and then settled in Texas in the late 1860s. During the horrific 1900 Galveston hurricane, Henry and most of his family were killed in the flooding. We presume this volume had already left the family by 1900, and may well have remained behind in California when Henry moved to Nevada circa 1862. On the Labatts, see two articles in the journal Western States Jewish History: William Kramer, “Henry J. Labatt, Pioneer Lawyer of California and Texas,” XXVIII:3 (April 1996); and Norton Stern, “Henry J. Labatt, Influential Jewish Attorney,” XLI:1 (Fall 2008)–copies of both publications are included. The volume was later part of a California research library, and was properly deaccessioned to the consignor.
Goldman 12 (“first English translation of the complete Bible by a Jew”); Hills 1540; Singerman 1271; Wright, page 124.
Estimate
$10,000 – $15,000
(judaica). moses lopez.
A Lunar Calendar, of the Festivals, and other Days in the Year, Observed by the Israelites.
[130 of 132] pages. Small 8vo, contemporary calf, worn, rebacked; front free endpaper detached, lacking leaves G2-3, final leaf apparently supplied from another copy; Cohen family inscriptions on rear free endpaper and elsewhere. In modern cloth folding case.
Only the second book published for a Jewish audience in America–and the first Jewish calendar. It also includes the calculations to determine “the Hour to commence the Sabbath, in the City of New-York. . . . It may, with a small variation, answer well for all the Northern States of America.” The author Moses Lopez (1739-1830) was a member of the important Jewish community at Newport, RI, the nephew of wealthy merchant Aaron Lopez. The community went into rapid decline after the American Revolution, and Moses was said to be the last Jewish resident until he ultimately departed for New York in 1822. Goldman, page II:1166 (discussing the present copy in his “Manuscripts” appendix, with 4 illustrations); Rosenbach 135; Singerman 0163.
Provenance: inscribed by original owner Jacob I. Cohen (1744-1829) in 5566 (1806 CE) on leaves B1-2; gift from Jacob I. Cohen (1744-1829) to his nephew Jacob I. Cohen Jr. (1789-1869) in 1808, per inscription on the final blank. The nephew was one of the leaders in the fight to secure passage in 1825 of the “Jew Bill,” which allowed Jews to hold public office in Maryland; he then gained election to the Baltimore City Council the following year. He brought his large Jewish book collection to his new home at 415 North Charles Street, where the collection and various family members remained for very close to a hundred years. This book was sold at the auction of his niece Bertha Cohen (1838-1929) as detailed in the catalog “Antique Furnishings of the Cohen House,” Baltimore, 13 November 1929, lot 380 (Cohen sale noted in pencil on final blank).
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(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
$700 – $1,000
(labor.)
Justicia para los Campesinos! TFWU, Marchamos por la Igualdad!
Chicago: TFWU Support Committee, 1979
Linoleum-cut poster, 26 x 18 inches, in red and green on yellow paper; minor wear including tack holes in corners and a light horizontal fold near the bottom.
The Texas Farm Workers Union was formed in 1975 as a splinter group after conflicts with the California-based United Farm Workers. In February and March 1979, they marched from the Texas Panhandle town of Muleshoe to the state capitol in Austin, demanding collective bargaining rights and workman’s compensation claims for farm workers. This poster features artwork of two farm workers by radical artist Carlos A. Cortéz. None traced at auction.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(labor.)
Group of 4 United Farm Workers posters.
Various places, circa 1977-1979
Each about 22 x 17 inches; condition as noted.
Estrada, artist. “Capital and Labor Together Produce the Fruit of the Land . . . from Eulogy for Rufino Contreras.” 32 x 22 inches, signed in pencil “Estrada ‘79.” The quotation is excerpted from Cesar Chavez’s eulogy for the UFW martyr given 4 days after his 10 February 1979 shooting death on the picket line. No other examples traced. No place, 1979.
Kathy Garcia[?], artist. “Una Sola Union: Vote UFW.” 22 x 17 inches; minimal wear. Depicts two workers waving the UFW banner. 3 institutional examples traced. Keene, CA: El Taller Grafico, circa 1977.
Jerry Cleveland, photographer. “¡Viva La Causa!” 22 x 17½ inches; light browning, mount remnants on verso. Features a quote by Pablo Neruda and a photograph of a boy holding the UFW banner. No other examples traced. No place: “Striking Farm Workers,” circa 1977?
“Viva la Revolucion: Emiliano Zapata.” 23 x 17½ inches; formerly rolled. Features a portrait of Zapata. Keene, CA: El Taller Grafico, circa 1977?
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(law.)
The Charter Granted by their Majesties King William and Queen Mary, to . . . Massachusetts-Bay in New-England
Boston: B. Green, 1726-34
bound with Acts and Laws of His Majesty’s Province of the Massachusetts-Bay as issued, and supplements. [1], 14, [17], [2], 525 pages. Folio, contemporary calf, tastefully rebacked with corners restored; closed tears on 4 leaves, moderate dampstaining, early manuscript additions to Table of Contents leaves; signature of Governor’s Council member Joseph Lemmon of Charlestown on title page.
Includes the charter (bound first), the full 1726 laws in 347 pages, and 22 separately-printed supplements all of the session laws printed through 6 July 1734. Charlemagne Tower 215-237; Evans 2762, 2900-2, 3054-7, 3182, 3306-7, 3440-2, 3564-5, 3679-82, 3790-2.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(law.)
Group of early printings of state and colonial laws.
Various places, 1750-1821
6 titles in 7 volumes, various sizes, bindings, and conditions.
Vallette. “The Deputy Commissary’s Guide within the Province of Maryland.” Lacks engraved table. Annapolis: Ann Catharine Green & Son, 1774.
“Laws of the State of Maine.” 2 volumes. Brunswick, 1821 (the year after statehood).
“The Laws Of The State Of New Hampshire.” Portsmouth, 1797.
“The Public Laws of the State of Rhode-Island.” Providence, 1798.
“The Charter Granted by His Majesty to . . . Connecticut / Acts and Laws of His Majesty’s English Colony of Connecticut.” The charter and the second title page quite worn, silked at an early date. Evans 6479, 6480, 6653. New London, 1750-1.
“Acts and Laws of the State of Connecticut.” New London, 1784-85.
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
(law.)
Group of 5 early American printings of books on law.
Various places, 1788-1811
Various sizes, bindings and conditions.
Spencer. “The New Vade Mecum; or Young Clerk’s Magazine.” Evans 27728. Lansingburgh, NY, 1794.
“The New American Clerk’s Magazine.” Rebacked with portion of original backstrip laid down, front board detached, lacking front free endpaper; includes a sample “bill of sale of a negro slave,” page 111. Hagerstown, MD, 1806.
Colvin. “A Magistrate’s Guide and Citizen’s Counsellor” [digest of Maryland laws]. Frederick, MD, 1805.
Parker. “Conductor Generalis; or, The Office, Duty and Authority of Justices of the Peace.” New York, 1788.
“Constitutions of the United States.” Gettysburg, PA, 1811.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(abraham lincoln.)
Wide-Awake Head Quarters . . . General Order No. 4.
New York, 1 October 1860
2 printed pages, 9¼ x 7¼ inches, plus printed map on integral leaf, signed in type by William Martin Gillespie as adjutant; horizontal fold, minor staining and wear.
This printed circular letter describes the plans for a 3 October full parade of the Wide-Awakes, the paramilitary Lincoln supporters, from New York City and beyond. Four parade marshals are named, and the home territories of each Wide-Awake group are described, including Hartford, New Haven, northern New England, Philadelphia, Jersey City, upstate New York, Brooklyn, Long Island, and Manhattan’s various wards. A few Lincoln supporters from the southern border states even made the trip from Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri. Among the rules for the march: “No derisive caricature, transparency or device calculated to give offence, will be permitted in the pageant, and no person not in uniform will be allowed in the ranks. Ribald expressions or demonstrations are unworthy the notice of the Wide-Awakes.”
The map on the rear page shows the procession for the “Grand Wide-Awake Demonstration” originating at Manhattan’s Madison Square Park, with the 16 subdivisions joining the march down 5th Avenue between 23rd and 15th Streets, and then proceeding downtown on Broadway. The present site of Swann Galleries is in the upper right corner of the map.
While one copy of the Wide-Awake Head Quarters General Order No. 3 has been traced at auction (Swann, 8 April 2014, lot 160), we have traced no other surviving copies of the present piece.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(abraham lincoln.)
Chautauqua Democrat Extra assassination broadside.
Chautauqua, NY, 15 April 1865
Letterpress broadside, 16 x 8½ inches, with headline “Reported Death of Abm. Lincoln, Attack on Secretary Seward”; folds, foxing, moderate edge wear.
“2d edition,” with “particulars of the President’s assassination, as received at 9 10 this morning.” The report was received at Jamestown, NY a few miles away, and credit is given to an Atlantic & Great Western railway employee who presumably delivered the news by train: “We are indebted to Arthur, A. & G.W.R. for the above particulars.” Brown University holds an example of the first edition, which is identical in text and typesetting except for the first line. The Library of Congress also holds a copy of this second edition; none traced at auction.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(abraham lincoln.)
Group of 11 military general orders announcing Lincoln’s death and funeral.
Various places, 15 to 21 April 1865
Printed orders, each about 7 x 5 inches, each one or two pages; generally minor wear except as noted.
Department of the East, General Orders No. 29. In reaction to the first news of the assassination, announces the death of Lincoln, with guns to be fired every half hour and flags kept at half staff. Signed by Charles O. Joline as aide-de-camp to General Peck. New York, 15 April.
War Department, General Orders No. 66, by order of Secretary Stanton and General Grant. Announces the death of Lincoln and mandates the Army’s mourning protocols. Washington, 16 April. With a second printing of the same.
War Department, General Orders No. 67, by order of General Grant. Announces that Andrew Johnson has taken the oath of office. Washington, 16 April.
War Department, General Orders No. 69, by order of Secretary Stanton. Orders the closure of the War Department for the day. Washington, 17 April.
Quartermaster General, General Orders No. 20 (corrected to 21), by order of General Meigs. Specifies the participation of the Quartermaster Department in the funeral procession. Washington, 18 April.
United Train of Artillery, order by command of Josiah Whitaker. Black-bordered order for this militia unit to appear in a funeral procession “with white gloves.” Providence, RI, 18 April.
Department of the Northwest, General Orders No. 14, by order of General Curtis. Orders participation in funeral ceremonies. Milwaukee, WI, 18 April.
Department of the East, General Orders No. 30, by order of General Peck and signed by aide-de-camp E.W. Hooper. Orders the firing of a funeral salute. New York, 18 April.
War Department, General Orders No. 72, by order of Secretary Stanton. Details a Guard of Honor to accompany Lincoln to Illinois. Worn and stained on left edge. Washington, 20 April.
Department of the East, General Orders No. 30, by order of General Dix and signed by an aide-de-camp. Arrangements for the passage of the funeral train through New York. New York, 21 April.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(abraham lincoln.)
Group of 3 orders to a Pennsylvania officer from the time of the Lincoln procession in Philadelphia.
Philadelphia, 21 to 23 April 1865
2 printed and one manuscript order, various sizes; folds, minimal wear.
John Emery Parsons (1837-1914) served as a captain in Pennsylvania’s 149th and 187th Infantry regiments, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in January 1865, serving in the brigade’s field staff. Offered here are three orders issued shortly after Lincoln’s assassination:
Headquarters, District of Philadelphia, General Orders No. 5, by order of General Ferry. Printed order assigning units commanded by six officers “comprising the Escort at the Obsequies of the late President,” including Parsons as commander of the 187th Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, 21 April 1865.
187th Pennsylvania, General Orders No. 11, issued by Parsons. Printed order issued the same day as the above, pledging to have “no soldier occupying a position in this command who is unworthy or incompetent.” Philadelphia, 21 April 1865.
Headquarters, Rendezvous for Drafted Men, Special Orders No. 73, issued by General Cummings. Manuscript order detailing the 187th Pennsylvania”for duty as an escort to the remains of the late President from Independence Hall to the Kensington Rail Road Depot.” Philadelphia, 23 April 1865.
WITH–7 other documents relating to his military career, including two orders dated 1864; an undated summary of money in the 187th Regimental Fund; a testimonial recommending the reinstatement of two captains from the 187th dated 25 March 1865; and 3 postwar letters, 1870-1898.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(abraham lincoln.)
Order posting postal clerks to guard the Postmaster General’s house shortly after the assassination.
[Washington], 22 April 1865
One manuscript page, 8 x 5 inches, plus integral blank with docketing, on Post Office Department letterhead, signed by George W. McLellan as 2nd Assistant Postmaster;
In the wake of the assassination plot, which had targeted the Vice President and Secretary of State as well as the President, the other cabinet members were probably a bit spooked. This official Post Office Department order provides for a detail of 7 men in a “detail for guard duty at the residence of the Postmaster General . . . to be in charge of Mr. Meigs.” The docketing explains that this was a “detail of clerks of P.O. Dept as guard for P.M. General Dennison’s house . . . Such a guard or a military one was posted at each one of the Sec’s house after the assassination.”
The guard was successful; Postmaster William Dennison survived until leaving office the following year.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(abraham lincoln.)
Mourning card titled “In Memory of Abraham Lincoln . . . Requiescat in Pace!”
No place, [1865]
Card with embossed relief image of tombstone, 4¾ x 3¼ inches; minimal wear; stamped in ink on verso “from the collection of B.F. Stein.”
Features the famed quotation from Lincoln’s second inaugural address, “With malice toward none, with charity for all.”
Estimate
$500 – $750
(abraham lincoln.)
Dirge, “Unveil thy Bosom, Faithful Tomb” as Sung at the Funeral Ceremonies of the Late President . . . at Springfield.
St. Louis, MO: F. Kluender, 4 May 1865
Letterpress broadside, 10½ x 5½ inches; partial separations at folds, foxing, moderate wear.
The Handel composition sung at Lincoln’s Springfield funeral service. 2 in OCLC (Lincoln Presidential Library and Kansas State Historical Society), and none found at auction.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(abraham lincoln.) thomas h. nelson.
An American envoy’s letter explaining the reaction to the assassination in Chile.
Santiago de Chile, 1 June 1865
Autograph Letter Signed to “my dear Jones.” 3 pages, 10½ x 8¼ inches, on one folding sheet; folds, minimal wear.
Transcontinental telegraph lines had not yet reached Chile, so word of the assassination did not reach American envoy Thomas Henry Nelson for several weeks. He was in Valparaiso when a steamer arrived in port bearing the news. Here he explains the scene to a friend: “We are all overwhelmed with grief. I can scarcely yet grasp or realize it. It comes to me with all the force of a personal loss. . . . The whole city is clad in mourning. . . . Strong men wandered about the streets weeping like children, and foreigners, unable even to speak our language, manifested a grief almost as deep as our own. . . . Several, overcome by their emotion, sat down upon the ground and wept like children. . . . The name and fame of Lincoln belong not alone to us, but to mankind, and will grow brighter and greater with the coming centuries.”
Estimate
$500 – $750
(abraham lincoln.)
Collection of autographs by some of those select few who were at Lincoln’s deathbed.
Various places, 1864-1900
32 items in one binder; condition varies.
This collection includes the autographs of 16 men who are known to have visited Lincoln in his dying hours. They include son Robert Todd Lincoln (on an 1882 commission, accompanied by two cartes-de-visite); cabinet members William Dennison, Hugh McCullough, Edwin Stanton, and Gideon Welles; politicians Schuyler Colfax, Charles A. Dana, Benjamin B. French, William T. Otto, Charles Sumner, and John F. Farnsworth; medical personnel Joseph K. Barnes and Charles H. Crane; and military personnel Colonel Louis Pelouze, Corporal James Tanner (2), and General Thomas M. Vincent. A commission issued to Brigadier General Henry Frink bears the stamped signatures of Vice President Andrew Johnson and Edwin Stanton, who both attended; it is accompanied by 4 related Frink military documents. The Dennison signature is on a commission to Cornelius White, and is accompanied by 2 related White documents. The French signature is on an interesting petition recommending a new Justice of the Peace for the District of Columbia, signed on 27 June 1864 by 15 supporters including Senators William Sprague, Henry S. Lane, Solomon Foot, and Lyman Trumbull (who were not deathbed attendees). Also present only in printed or stamped signatures are attendees John Hay, Maunsell Field, General Montgomery Meigs, and Colonel George V. Rutherford.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(abraham lincoln.) albert e.h. johnson.
Letter regarding “the papers found upon the person of President Lincoln.”
Washington, 14 July 1866
Autograph Letter Signed as confidential secretary of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, to Edward McPherson. One page, 8 x 4¾ inches, plus integral blank, on War Department letterhead; minimal wear. With original mailing envelope without postal markings.
The fate of the small bundle of papers found upon Lincoln’s body has been a subject of some intrigue. Edward McPherson (1830-1895), the longtime clerk of the House of Representatives, tried to unravel it. According to the Library of Congress, Justice David Davis wrote to McPherson on 22 June 1866, “stating that the papers found on President Lincoln’s person were sealed by Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. Later the papers were opened in Justice Davis’ presence.”
In the present letter, written 3 weeks later, Stanton’s loyal personal secretary wrote to McPherson: “The papers found upon the person of President Lincoln, and which you were hunting for recently, have turned up. Please call and see the Secretary about them today if possible.”
WITH–a carte-de-visite photograph of McPherson by Brady, signed by McPherson in the image.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(abraham lincoln.) ambrose e. burnside.
Endorsement letter for Marshall’s famed portrait of Lincoln.
Providence, RI, 13 November 1866
Autograph Letter Signed “A.E. Burnside” as Governor of Rhode Island to the publishers Ticknor and Fields. 2 pages, 9¾ x 7¾ inches, on one folding sheet; separations at folds with tape repairs and light staining to second leaf.
William E. Marshall’s 1866 engraving was perhaps the most popular depiction of the late president. The publishers sought endorsements from those close to Lincoln. Major General Ambrose Burnside, whose acquaintance with Lincoln extended before the war, was glad to oblige. In full:
“The engraving of Mr. Lincoln by Mr. Marshall has been received. I have never seen an engraving of anyone with whom I was acquainted that would compare with it. It was my happiness to have seen a great deal of Mr. Lincoln, and to me it is quite evident that the artist has caught the expression his face always wore when his mind was occupied with important affairs. As a work of art, the engraving will certainly commend itself to all skilled judges of such work.”
Estimate
$400 – $600
(abraham lincoln.) s. klaber & co.; after volk.
Bronze bust of Lincoln.
[New York], circa 1914
Bronze, 17 x 9 x 10 inches, with relief caption on pedestal verso “Abraham Lincoln modelled from life by Leonard W. Volk, Chicago, 1869, Replica,” with small foundry mark of S. Klaber & Co. above; a bit of light verdigris, offered without base.
Leonard Wells Volk (1828-1895) produced his famous life mask of Lincoln in 1860. The sculptor’s son Douglas Volk later contracted with the New York foundry S. Klaber & Co. to produce copies of his Lincoln bust. The firm produced a small pamphlet to advertise the work, which was reported widely in newspapers across the country in early February 1914. One of the busts was donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1914. See Hoffmann, “’The Animal Himself’: Tracing the Volk Lincoln Sculptures. Part II: Replicas of Volk’s Original Casts,” Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association 42:1 (2021).
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(magic.)
Going Fine Since 1889: Ellen E. Armstrong, Magician and Cartoonist Extraordinary.
No place, circa 1940
Poster, 28 x 22 inches, in red, black and green on stiff cardboard; minimal wear.
Ellen E. Armstrong (1914-1979) is generally regarded as the only African-American woman on the touring magician circuit in the mid-twentieth century. She was born in South Carolina, the daughter of a magician named J. Hartford Armstrong, and toured with him for years from Florida to Pennsylvania. After her father’s death in 1939, she continued to tour on her own until about 1970. The “1889” in the title presumably refers to when her father began touring.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(maritime.)
Collection of material on the transatlantic telegraph cable and the SS Great Eastern.
Various places, circa 1858-1860 and undated
6 items in one box and one sleeve; condition as described.
Pair of stock certificates for the Eastern Steam Navigation Company, 6½ x 8¾ inches; embossed seal, minor foxing. London, 22 February 1858. With provenance letters dated 1966.
Segment of the first transatlantic cable, 4 inches long and just under ¾ inches round, banded at each end, with metal presentation label: “Atlantic Telegraph Cable, Guaranteed by Tiffany & Co., Broadway, New York”; light surface rust. Tiffany and other entrepreneurs bought up miles of unused or salvaged cable for sale as souvenirs. New York, [1858]. In a presentation box from the American Cable & Radio Corporation for sale at the 1939 World’s Fair.
Early copy print photograph, 5¾ x 7½ inches; chipped on top edge, laid down on later board with pencil caption and later inked collector’s name on verso. “Great Eastern SS crew that laid the cable between England & America. 2nd man from left, 2nd row is grandfather Newton. Gladys.” No other examples of this image traced. No place, image circa 1866.
“The Great Eastern Leaving Southampton Water for New York on her First Voyage,” double-page engraving from an issue of the Illustrated London News, 15¾ x 21¾ inches, 23 June 1860.
“The Great Eastern Steamship Coming up the Narrows into the Harbor of New York,” double-page engraving from an issue of Harper’s Weekly, 16 x 21¾ inches, 7 July 1860.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(maryland.)
Rare printing of the Pennsylvania Dutch “Spiritual Labyrinth” broadside, accompanied by manuscript recipes and spells.
Boonsboro, MD: Josiah Knodle, 11 November 1843
Illustrated broadside, 18¼ x 12½ inches; short separations at folds, other minor wear.
The Boonsboro area of western Maryland was the destination of many Pennsylvania Dutch emigrants seeking new pastures in the early 19th century. This broadside is an English translation of the “Geistlicher Irrgarten,” a Pennsylvania Dutch staple which traces the Christian spiritual journey in a graphic maze format: “By the windings of the reading is represented the various cares and perplexities of life.” We trace no other examples of this Boonsboro printing of the Spiritual Labyrinth, with its elaborate decorative border.
A distinctive element of Pennsylvania Dutch culture is its folk magic tradition, also known as “pow-wow” or “braucherei.” Among the handful of other works published by Josiah Knodle was an 1845 conjuring book by Michael Zittle, the “Wizard of Zittletown,” titled “A Friend in Need; Or, Secret Science” (not offered here). Accompanying this broadside, and sharing its Boonsboro-area provenance, are 9 manuscript spells and recipes on slips of paper. Two of them are on the verso of waste paper dated 1848 and 1862, placing them in the same era as the Spiritual Labyrinth. Several describe spells for use in folk remedies. A “cure for a burn”: “Take the middle finger and make it wet with spit, then go round the burn 3 times wile you say these words: ‘Youst dar londs mon is got for dar colt an for dar hais bront’, then blow over the burn 3 times, repeat 3 times.”
Most of the slips are recipes for dyes and folk medicines. One other slip has a pow-wow aspect, though. It directs us to “repeat the four lines 3 times”: “Der Rothlaufen und der drach / Flogen mit einander eaber den bach / Das rothlaufen vergant / Und der drach varshwand.” This slip does not explain what will happen if you follow these directions. Swann Galleries will bear no responsibility for any occult forces unleashed by the utterance of these lines.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(massachusetts.)
The Tears of Son Dropt upon the Grave of his Honoured Mother, Mrs. Deborah Searle of Dorchester.
No place, early 18th century
Manuscript poem, 15 x 9¾ inches, approximately 114 lines in two columns; worn with separations at folds, repaired with early stitching and later tape on verso.
Deborah Salter (1640-1719) and her husband Robert Searles (1636-1717) married in England and settled in Dorchester, MA by 1662. This seemingly unrecorded and unpublished pious tribute to her character and celebration of her life includes verses regarding her reasons for leaving the land of her birth. It begins, “Great Conqueror! What must thy Icy hand Subject each age and sex at thy command?” In the second stanza, “In Europe’s garden born brought up with care; by godly parents whose ancesters there; a plentiful estate did long retain, until the most unhappy Charles’s reign; who did his subjects ancient rights invade; and was a victim to their fury made; then wealth living lost, peace from the nature gone; and Charles the Second mounted on the throne; she being married loved not to stay; in Europe but came with her mate away; took ship upon renowned England’s shore; crossed the Atlantick (never cross’d before.)”
Her death is variously recorded as 1712, 1713, 1714, or 1717, but this poem states that she died on 2 March 1718/9 in her 80th year. It is signed twice in a different hand by Jabez Searle, possibly her son who died in 1724. It is also signed “G. Searle,” another relative who apparently served as the scribe.
Estimate
$200 – $300
(massachusetts.) samuel hill, engraver.
Membership certificate in the Massachusetts Mechanic Association.
Boston, 20 March 1800
Engraved certificate, 12 x 10 inches, completed in manuscript for housewright Noah Doggett Jr. of Boston and signed by 3 officers, with affixed wax seal; moderate edge wear, 1-inch closed tear.
A very early certificate for the venerable society which was founded in 1795 with Paul Revere as president, and remains active today as the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association. This certificate was designed by Samuel Gore, drawn by G. Graham, and engraved by Samuel Hill. An extensive June 1801 “key” to the imagery can be found in “Annals of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association,” page 71, which points out the balance between the tools of commerce and of trade at the top, justifying the association’s motto “Be Just and Fear Not.” Patriotic motifs include a large eagle, a flag, and a monument to Washington with an equestrian statue just being mounted. The portrait on the wax seal represents Archimedes.
Among the officers signing this certificate are Boston Tea Party veteran Jonathan Hunnewell (1759-1842) as president and publisher Benjamin Russell (1761-1845) as vice president.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(massachusetts.)
Register of sermons, baptisms and deaths at the Dorchester South Meeting House.
Dorchester, MA, 1810-1816
[66] manuscript pages. Folio, 11¾ x 7¼ inches, original wrappers; a few leaves trimmed or excised, minor staining.
The Dorchester South Meeting House, also known as the Second Congregational Church of Dorchester, was founded in 1804. It became a Nazarene Methodist church in the 1990s. This volume records on 59 pages a summary of sermons at the church from 1810 to 1816, listing the minister and the principal texts. The Rev. John Codman was the principal minister, but guest ministers were common. A few of the volumes from the period of the War of 1812 seem to address contemporary concerns, such as on 23 July 1812 shortly after fighting began: “Fast Day, Mr. Codman, James 4-1. From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members.” In the rear of the volume are recorded 7 pages of baptisms and deaths for the same period.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(massachusetts.)
By-laws and minute book of the Georgetown Village Band.
Georgetown, MA, 1849-1850
23 manuscript pages, signed “a true record, Augustus M. Spofford, clerk.” 8vo, original calf wrappers, minor wear; pages after conclusion of the minutes have been excised, text block coming detached.
This club was founded in northeast Massachusetts by 10 musicians, and soon expanded to 15. They agreed that “no spectators shall be admitted at any meeting of the Band for rehearsal” and that “all unnecessary noise, tuning of instruments &c shall be considered out of order.” At rehearsals, band members often brought original compositions which would be named in their honor, such as “Thompson’s Quickstep” and “Tenney’s Quickstep.” They ruled that “no change of instruments shall be made by any member without the consent of the band.” At one meeting they voted that “George Harnden have liberty to exchange the Drum for the Trumpet, and that Mr. A.B. Noyes be requested to play the Bass Drum.” Snare drum, cymbals and fife are also mentioned at various points. One member, David B. Tenney, was paid 50 cents per piece to write out arrangements for each instrument. The band’s first public concert was scheduled on 24 January 1850 with 4 vocal and 9 instrumental pieces, and that same day they agreed to play at a Temperance Levee in nearby North Andover. A gig at the Universalist Church brought in $20.31, and more bookings followed, as well as oyster suppers in their honor. Things seemed to be going well, but then the band voted to cancel two bookings, went silent for two weeks, and on 25 March 1850 voted “to sell the property of the band at auction this evening” and “the President of the Band act as auctioneer.” The money was divided among the members and the band was summarily dissolved, just five months after it was launched.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(massachusetts.) [g. dubois, artist and lithographer.]
View of an encampment of the Independent Boston Fusiliers.
[Boston: B.W. Thayer], circa 1852
Chromolithograph, 21 x 26¼ inches, with original printed caption and credits excised, replaced by a 3-inch strip with manuscript presentation caption, and manuscript title caption in upper margin; toning, minor dampstaining on bottom edge, minor edge chipping, 4-inch closed tear and other short tears.
A view of an elite Boston militia unit relaxing during a muster in the countryside. The manuscript captioning reads in the upper margin “Independent Boston Fusiliers, Instituted 1787,” with their formal unit designation. The presentation in the lower margin reads “Presented to the Officers and Members of the Fitchburg Fusiliers . . . as a testimonial of our appreciation of the many favors . . . at their annual ball.” Eight unit members are named below, and N.D. Gould is credited as calligrapher, Boston, 25 December 1852.
Other extant copies of this print are captioned simply “Independent Boston Fusiliers” in the lower margin, and are inscribed as gifts to new members of the unit between 1852 and 1857.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(massachusetts.)
Satirical broadside for a Fourth of July parade in Springfield.
Springfield, MA, 4 July 1866
Letterpress broadside, 15¾ x 9½ inches; repaired separations at folds, moderate foxing.
New England towns had a long tradition of comical “Ancients and Horribles” parades on Independence Day. In the late 19th century, these were sometimes promoted with satirical broadsides. We’ve offered a couple of these in recent years which met with some interest (4 February 2016, lot 213; and 27 April 2017, lot 118), so here is another from this unusual tradition, although most of the humor is well beyond our comprehension.
This broadside is headed “H’All ‘Ale!” and announces that “the Ancient and Dyspeptic Order of H.D. & P.H. will celebrate their 3,796,541th anniversary by a grand circumambulation. . . . The day will open of its own accord, like a stale clam.” The elaborate order of march includes “the Springfield Aqueduct Company squeezing rotten lemons for the Home for the Friendless,” and “Doctor G.W. Crazy, ears buttoned over his head with vegetable ivory buttons, holding in his hand a small vial of sugar pills.” The orator of the day was the noted itinerant eccentric “Daniel Pratt Jr., the Great American Traveler, on a shutter, drawn by eleven lame grasshoppers.” The program closes with an allusion to the battles of President Andrew Johnson with radical congressional leader Thaddeus Stevens: “The above will take place strictly according to programme, unless vetoed by Andy. . . . If vetoed by Andy, special authority to proceed will be granted by Thad.” None traced in OCLC or at auction.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(massachusetts.)
Long run of letters from a hard-pressed Cape Cod codfishing captain to his ship’s owners.
East Harwich, MA and elsewhere, 1878-1886
30 Autograph Letters Signed from Captain E.L. Jerauld to brothers Edward F. and Charles W. Potter of Dartmouth, MA; most about 8 x 5 inches, generally minor wear.
Ensign Lewis Jerauld (1834-1917) was a fishing boat captain in East Harwich, MA, at the elbow of Cape Cod. His correspondents were brothers Edward Freeman Potter (1839-1914) and Charles William Potter (1848-circa 1899), who owned several fishing and whaling vessels out of Dartmouth, MA. In these letters, Jerauld solicits the command of the codfishing schooner Racine and then reports on his activities to the owners over a period of several years. He describes the advantages and costs of hand-line fishing using clams as bait on 3 February and 24 March 1879. His first report from out of port was 2 June 1879 from remote Sable Island, a hundred miles south of Nova Scotia. While back in port, he checked in on Potter’s tenants and cranberry bogs: “On one lot I found only 3 berries, the vineworm having spoiled the vines; the other lot is very lightly fruited, it being overgrown with grass and rushes” (23 September 1879). 5 June 1881 found him at Bank Quereau off Maine, contending with gales, scarcity, and a sea “covered with French vessels.” The next year he went out again “carrying 10 boats and 11 hands,” hoping to receive a new seine net which “will run three years without much expense except a little tar to preserve the twine.” On 22 February 1882 he expressed disappointment at the lack of proceeds from sale of fish: “My crew (or sharesmen) are dissatisfied and have obtained legal advice . . . and will hold you responsible for their part of loss. . . . My crew are all of them poor men and need what money they have made for family use.” On 19 February 1883 he requests gear: “Get No. 13, Job Johnson’s hook. Such hooks as I had last season I won’t have. They were manufactured in Connecticut and good for nothing.” After another poor payout, Jerauld wrote on 5 March 1885: “How about us poor fishermen that have been down to the Banks and eat fogg, endured the hardships of a fisherman life, spent our time & the result of which is worse than nothing.” He concludes with a full-page sketch of the ship’s seine net. In the final April 1886 letter, facing increasing difficulty in wresting profit from the cod fishery, Jerauld has arranged to sell Potter’s boat and seine for $125.
WITH–3 letters to Edward Potter from other ship captains, George E. Gould and Thomas Kendrick, 1875-1882.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(medicine.) calvin cutter.
The Female Guide, Containing Facts and information upon the Effects of Masturbation . . . &c, &c.
West Brookfield, MA, 1844
20 engraved illustrations. 72 pages. 12mo, publisher’s cloth-backed printed boards, minor wear, hinges split; foxing, two leaves detached.
“Masturbation does more than any other cause, perhaps than all other causes combined, to people our lunatic asylums. . . . Consumptions, spinal distortions, weak and painful eyes, weak stomachs, nervous headaches, and a host of other diseases . . . insanity, idiotism, show its devastating effects” (page 31). 3 copies in OCLC; no other examples traced at auction.
Estimate
$250 – $350
(medicine.)
Broadside for Andrews’ Rheumatic Liniment.
Pawtucket, RI: R.W. Potter, circa 1846-48
Letterpress broadside with ornamental border, 19 x 13¼ inches; folds and light wrinkling, moderate wear and foxing mainly along left margin.
A large and early patent medicine broadside for a miracle liniment which “has never failed to cure, when properly applied; and being an extract, purely from the vegetable kingdom, there is no danger in its use.” It was primarily intended for rheumatism, but also recommended for coughs, colds, chilblains, sprains, and cuts, among other ailments. Directions for use are included, along with two testimonial letters, and a long list of satisfied customers. David Andrews of Providence, RI was the manufacturer, and Grosvenor & Chase of the same city its sole authorized agents. The liniment was advertised in various New England newspapers from 1846 to 1848, but we trace no other examples of this broadside.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(mexican war.) henry d. page.
A dramatic first-hand account of an American soldier’s capture, near-execution, and escape.
National Palace, Mexico City, 25 October 1847
Autograph Letter Signed to B.B. Clark of Franklin, NH. 4 pages, 10½ x 8¾ inches, on one folding sheet; partial separations at folds, first page cross-written. With separate worn postal cover sheet bearing inked “Vera Cruz, Mexo Nov 5” and “X” inked stamps.
An exceptional battle and imprisonment letter. Not many people in any circumstances survive to write this line: “They began to rig a gallows to hang us.”
Henry D. Page (1821-1891) of Franklin, NH, a clerk in the army’s pay department, writes to a friend back home with a harrowing war story. He found himself in Puebla far from the front lines on 12 August, waiting to join a reserve unit, when “a party of Mexican lancers come about the town and stole about 50 mules. . . . We thought we would go out and drive them off and retake the mules. On arriving at the yard, we found a party of about 40 Mexicans. . . . Our party consisted on 35 men all told, made up of clearks of the different departments, some teamsters, some waggon masters. We all volunteered for to go. . . . Thay then retreated. We followed them as fast as posible, killing about one every rod. We followed round a hill when we came in contact with about 400 mounted men. . . . We were surounded and cut up in a most shocking manner. Out of 35 men, but 6 war left alive. 3 of them made their escape by running through the woods. . . . Myself and 2 more war taken prisoners and taken to the Mexican camp.” Page was stripped of his money, watch, hat, and “evry thing but my panterloons and shirt. . . . About 3 o’clock they began to rig a gallows to hang us.” When one of his comrades made an attempt to escape, his own guards became distracted. “I thought I mite as well be shot as hung, so I started to run and made for some long grass that was close by. . . . I looked and saw 2 men looking for me. I could not move for fear of being seen. . . . They come within about a rod of me. . . . I herd a gun go off and I supose the man that tried to run away was shot, but it was the means of saving my life.”
Page somehow made his way back to Puebla and helped bury 20 of the dead men from his impromptu unit. Then he was rushed out to join the final campaign on Mexico City. He arrived in time for the Battles of Contreras and Churubusco, but was too worn out from his exertions to fight, so he was assigned to hospital duty: “I was helping the doctors dress the wounds of the wounded, and we had a bisey time of it, I tell you. I help Doctor Head cut off 123 lages and 94 armes in them 2 days. . . . It was a most horrible site. . . . Harder battles I supose was never fot in any country. . . . On the morning of the 20, Gen’l Scott formed his army in line of battle and told them that the thing must be don sooner or later, and it mite as well do it at once. . . . It would do you good to see the Mexicans fall in the street, we would fill our cannon full of grape shot and fire and bring about 20 every time. Our army don well, beginning with the 19th of August and ending the 14th of Sept., this army has gallantly fought its way through the fields and forts of Contreras, San Antonia, Churubusco, Molino del Rey, Chapultepec, and the gates of San Cosme and Tacubaya into the capital of Mexico.”
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(mexican war.)
Statement on the Siege of Fort Texas, with later rosters and receipts of the Texas Rangers.
Various places, 1846-1848
8 manuscript items; minor wear and dampstaining.
Featured in this lot is a manuscript account of equipment loss at the Siege of Fort Texas, which launched the war: “During the Siege of Fort Brown, a great many wall tents, wall tent fliers, and common tents were cut up by order of the Commanding Officer for the purpose of making sandbags for the defences.” Signed by Charles Hanson, First Lieutenant of the 7th U.S. Infantry, Matamoros, TX, 11 June 1846; he died the next year at the battle of Contreras. Appended is a similar note by master mechanic John Flynn regarding tents “left in our use & charge by said Catlett when sent on duty by Gen’l Taylor.” Also included are:
Receipt for forage bags, signed by William G. Jett, acting commander of Connor’s Company of Smith’s Battalion in the Texas Rangers. Camargo, Mexico, 29 May 1847.
Pair of receipts for forage, signed by W.K. Baylor, lieutenant commanding a detachment of Texas Rangers, Merin and Monterey, Mexico, 1 June 1848.
Group of 4 returns for Company C of the Texas Volunteer Cavalry Battalion, all signed by Captain George William Adams, Parras, Mexico, March-May 1848.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(mexican war.)
Volume of the New York Weekly Herald with extensive illustrated coverage of the war.
New York, 17 October 1846 to 21 October 1848
103 (of 106) weekly issues, each 8 pages, bound in one volume. Folio, 21¾ x 15½ inches, contemporary ½ calf, moderate wear, rebacked with original labels laid down; nearly a complete run lacking only 3 scattered issues, some issues with folds, minor dampstaining and occasional wear, generally strong condition for a bound newspaper of this period; early owner’s name “A. McKee” on spine label.
Many issues feature a large “above the fold” engraving on the first page, often a battle map or view from the front lines. Highlights include views of Monterey, CA (16 January 1847); “the Halls of the Montezumas” (29 May 1847), “the Town of Yerba Buena, or San Francisco, California” (17 July 1847), and marines advancing on the Castle of Chapultepec (25 December 1847). Other illustrations are often found within, such as a portrait of General Zachary Taylor (16 October 1846).
In other news, the 12 December 1846 issue shows the wreckage of the Long Island passenger steamer Atlantic; the 9 January 1847 issue features an engraved view of the New York Society Library’s new building; and 27 February 1847 features a funeral in famine-ridden Ireland.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(mexican war.) winfield scott.
General Orders on the court martial and executions of the San Patricios who had defected to Mexico.
Tacubaya, Mexico, 8-10 September 1847
3 items, total of 7 pages on 5 disbound leaves, each 7½ x 4¾ inches, all issued “by command of Major General Scott” and all but one signed by his aide-de-camp and son-in-law Henry Lee Scott (1814-1886); minor wear, later page numbers added in ink, 3 holes punched in inner margin of first order.
During the Mexican War, a substantial number of American troops deserted and fought for Mexico. Most of them were recent immigrants and/or Irish Catholics who were disillusioned by American xenophobia, and sympathetic to Mexico and its established Catholic Church. Reorganized as the Saint Patrick’s Battalion or Batallón de San Patricio, they became one of the hardest-fighting units in the Mexican Army. Most were killed or captured at the 20 August 1847 Battle of Churubusco, with the prisoners swiftly court-martialed.
Offered here are three General Orders (281, 282, and 283) setting forth the result of the two Court Martial sessions, all issued by General Winfield Scott from the Headquarters of the Army. 65 prisoners are named, along with their original regiments. The majority of the names are clearly Irish, with numerous German names interspersed as well. The first order, dated 8 September, commands that the bulk of the prisoners “be hanged by the neck until he is dead.” Extenuating circumstances are given for several, including one “out of consideration for a son, a private in the same company, who has remained faithful to his colors.” Three of the prisoners had deserted before the formal declaration of war, and thus could not legally be executed. Instead, they were given “fifty lashes with a rawhide whip, well laid on the bare back of each, and . . . each be branded on a cheek with the letter D, kept a close prisoner as long as this army remains in Mexico, and then be drummed out of service.” One of these three, John Patrick Riley (1817-1850) (here spelled Reilly) had been the commander of one company of the San Patricios. Order No. 283, dated 10 September, lists additional soldiers designated for hanging, with an appended note in type: “Executed September 13, 1847, at Miscoac.” This was the date of the Battle of Chapultepec, at which the prisoners were famously hung in view of the battlefield so their last moments would be in witness of a Mexican defeat.
The execution of 50 soldiers over four days was the largest mass execution event in the history of the United States. The San Patricios and particularly John Riley are still regarded as heroes in Mexico.
With–a similar General Order no. 47 pardoning one “Luz Bega, a Mexican, charged with enticing soldiers to desert the American Standard” due to faulty evidence but urging that “the first clear case of conviction shall certainly be followed by the punishment of death according to the well known laws of War in such cases.” Signed by Henry Lee Scott “by command of Major General Scott.” Mexico, 7 February 1848.
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
(mormons.) john taylor.
An Answer to Some False Statements and Misrepresentations Made by the Rev. Robert Heys.
Douglas, Isle of Man: Penrice and Wallace, Museum, 1840
11 pages. 12mo, modern ½ morocco by Bennett of New York; minimal wear to contents; small pencil sale inscription by Charles Heartman dated 1932 on final blank.
The LDS apostle John Taylor (1808-1887) visited the Isle of Man on a mission with his wife, who had been raised there. His lectures there brought him into conflict with the local clergy, and this pamphlet was his response to one hostile Methodist minister. He addresses the Solomon Spaulding allegations and more, and notes “Mr. Heys seems to forget the time when Methodist ministers were belied and slandered, as we are now belied and slandered by him.” Crawley 87; Flake 8810. None others traced at auction since 1957.
Estimate
$7,000 – $10,000
(mormons.) [robert p. crawford.]
[An Index, or Reference, to the Second and Third Editions of the Book of Mormon.]
[Philadelphia: Brown, Bicking, and Guibert, 1842]
[3]-21 pages. 12mo, disbound; lacking title page, moderate foxing and dampstaining; pencil inscription on final blank: “Garrett L. Grosbeck’s book, Nauvoo, Ill., 1846.”
A separately published index for the 1837 Kirtland and 1840 Nauvoo Book of Mormon, prepared “for the convenience and satisfaction of the elders and members of the church . . . together with my own desire for a work of this kind.” Crawley 158; Flake 2578. None traced at auction since the 1968 Streeter sale, IV:2276.
Estimate
$7,000 – $10,000
(mormons.)
Summons issued to Joseph Smith and others to appear as witnesses in an Illinois court case.
Carthage, IL, 21 September 1843, docketed 5 October
Partly printed document, 6 x 7½ inches, signed on recto by Jacob B. Backenstos as county clerk and on recto by his brother William Backenstos as sheriff, with embossed court stamp; fold, minimal wear. In custom ¼ morocco folding case with gilt label on board.
This summons was served to Joseph Smith in Nauvoo less than a year before his death, as part of a debt suit by William Niswanger against Lyman Wight and Hamilton Jett. It was issued on 21 September, and was served to Smith and three others on 2 October, then filed by the sheriff on 5 October. The appearance was set for the Hancock County Circuit Court in Carthage on 17 October.
Summoned along with Smith was Stephen Markman [Markham] (1800-1878), then a colonel in the Nauvoo Legion and an LDS Elder; he was later a settler of Spanish Fork, UT. One of the defendants in the case, Lyman Wight (1796-1858), was an aide-de-camp in the Nauvoo Legion and member of the Nauvoo City Council.
The document is recorded and illustrated in the digital Joseph Smith Papers project, with its location noted as “private possession.”
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(mormons.) joseph smith, jr.
The Voice of Truth.
Nauvoo, IL: John Taylor, 1844 [1845]
Woodcut portrait of Smith on page 51. 64 pages. 8vo, disbound, lacking wrappers; foxing, moderate wear; uncut.
A compilation of Smith’s political writings, edited by W.W. Phelps. It may have been intended for use in Smith’s 1844 presidential campaign, but printing was interrupted by his murder, and was not completed until August 1845 as a memorial volume.
Most of the contents are listed on the title page: “Containing General Joseph Smith’s Correspondence with Gen. James Arlington Bennett; Appeal to the Green Mountain Boys; Correspondence with John C. Calhoun, Esq.; Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States; Pacific Innuendo, and Gov. Ford’s Letter; A Friendly Hint to Missouri, and a Few Words of Consolation for the Globe; also Correspondence with the Hon. Henry Clay.” Not listed is an appendix, “Joseph Smith’s Last Sermon, Delivered at the April Conference, 1844” (pages 59-64), his important funeral oration for King Follett, which was probably added after the title page had been printed. It is the only reference here to Smith in the past tense.
Byrd 899; Crawley 271; Crawley-Flake, Mormon Fifty 27; Flake 8000; Graff 3858; Howes S629 (“b”); Sabin 83288. Only one other traced at auction, in 2018.
Estimate
$10,000 – $15,000
(mormons.)
Reply of Joseph Smith to the Letter of J. A. B— of A—n House, New York.
Liverpool: R. Hedlock and T. Ward, [1844]
24 pages. 12mo, disbound; minor wear and soiling.
First separate edition. James Arlington Bennett was baptized by Brigham Young in August 1843, was soon named as Inspector-General of the Nauvoo Legion, and two months later sought to run for governor of Illinois with Joseph Smith’s endorsement. Smith’s reply was scathing–he refused to “pettify myself into a clown to act the farce of political demagoguery.” Smith closed with a postscript that clearly intended to shut the door on Bennett’s ambitions: “The court martial will attend to your case in the Nauvoo Legion.”
The letter was printed in Times & Seasons and the Nauvoo Neighbor late in 1843, but this was the only separate printing. Crawley 198 (states that based on the style, the letter was “obviously written by W.W. Phelps” on Smith’s behalf); Flake 7994. Only one other example traced at auction (Parke-Bernet sale, 7 February 1968, lot 99, and sold again at Swann, 17 November 2016, lot 233).
Estimate
$5,000 – $7,500
(mormons.) jedediah morgan grant.
The Truth for the Mormons . . . Read it Through
[New York, 1852]
(wrapper title), also known by the caption title “Three Letters To The New York Herald.” 64 pages. 8vo, original printed wrappers, moderate chipping; minimal wear to contents.
Authored by the first mayor of Salt Lake City to defuse the charges of polygamy in Utah. “A series of letters explaining Mormon doctrine and telling of the crimes committed against them”–Flake 3684. Graff 1615; Sabin 28305. None traced in wrappers since the 1968 Streeter sale, IV:2293.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(mormons.) cynthia a. rogers.
Letter by a young second wife in a frontier settlement in Arizona.
[Utahville, AZ], 30 September 1881
Autograph Letter Signed “C.A. Rogers” to “Brother Howlett.” 3 pages, 8 x 5 inches, on one folding sheet; folds, minimal dampstaining.
“The Indians killed the man, destroyed the goods & took the team.”
This letter was written by Cynthia Ann Eldredge Rogers (1847-1930), who was born into the large Mormon community in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, and came to Utah as a girl. In 1863 she married the much older Ross Ransom Rogers (1821-1897) as his second wife. His first wife died in 1871. In 1877, Brigham Young directed the establishment of Utahville or Jonesville in Arizona Territory, and the Rogers family became part of the original settlement (it was soon renamed Lehi, and was later absorbed into the city of Mesa near Phoenix). There Cynthia raised a large combined family–the 1880 census lists 11 children at home from both mothers, with 5 more to be born to her through 1890. Despite the gloomy tone of this letter, she spent the rest of her life in Arizona.
The letter offers updates on five of the family’s children, most of them the adult children of her husband’s first wife. She describes ongoing conflicts in the decades-long Apache Wars. The Battle of Fort Apache had taken place just 29 days earlier: “The Indians have broke out in the eastern part of this territory & New Mexico. They have killed some citizens & some soldiers. The last word we got, they had got them quelled. . . . George is in New Mexico herding Indians. Charley lent his team to a man to haul some goods. The Indians killed the man, destroyed the goods & took the team.”
Rugged frontier conditions are suggested in several passages: “The Salt & Gila Rivers have been booming high. They are down now. The result is there is large amounts of freight at Maricopa for all parts of the teritory & everybody is going to make their fortune freighting. Ross has just gone to Tempe with a load of barley.” She notes that “Mrs. Biggs is in Phoenix plying her trade as a nurse” and hints at scurrilous gossip surrounding her stepdaughter Theodocia: “Docia is living with Mrs. Collins 12 miles from Joseph place. There is great tales round here about her, but they originated with the Jones crowd. Of course, misery loves company.”
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(music.)
Group of illustrated military sheet music.
Various places, 1836-1866
11 pieces of illustrated sheet music plus 3 illustrated sheet music covers, all disbound, each about 13 x 10 inches or slightly larger; variously worn.
J. Watson. “My Love is a Soldier . . . Dedicated to the Light Guard of New York.” New York, 1836.
John Holloway. “The Blue’s Quick Step, as performed by the Boston Brass Band.” Bound with two other pieces, both unillustrated: A. Holland, “Hook and Ladder Quick Step”; and “The Wrecker’s Daughter, a Quick Step.” Boston, [1836]
John Holloway. “Bigelow’s Quick Step.” Boston, 1839.
“Camp-Sargent Quick Step, Performed at the Encampment of the Boston Light Infantry.” Worn and stained. Boston, 1840.
William C. Glynn. “Military Quick Step, a Favorite Air of Gambati.” Boston, 1844.
Charles Hess. “La Fayette Fusiliers Quick Step.” New York, 1848.
James M. Hubbard. “Gen’l King’s Quick Step.” Cover only. New York, 1848.
I.T. Stoddard. “Clark’s Quick Step.” Baltimore, MD, [1850].
C. Hiffert. “Reception Polka,” with illustration of a parade for Hungarian freedom fighter Louis Kossuth led by a military escort. New York, 1852.
Aug. Waldauer. “St. Louis National Guards March.” Hand-colored cover, with long closed tear. St. Louis, MO, 1854.
Henry C. Work. “Grafted into the Army.” Chicago, 1862.
“Col. Perry’s March., as Played by the Band of the 48th N.Y.S.V.” Cover only. New York, 1862.
John R. Sweeney. “Col. Hyatt’s Military Polka.” Cover only. Philadelphia, [1864.]
H.N. Hempsted. “Four Popular Marches and Quicksteps.” Quite worn; contains only the Milwaukee Light Guard Quickstep. Milwaukee, WI, 1866.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(music.)
Albums chronicling the life of drummer Billy Gussak.
Various places, bulk 1922-1982
Hundreds of photographs and other ephemera mounted loosely in 9 quarto albums; condition varies, with many photographs detached.
William Samuel “Billy” Gussak (1906-1992) was a rock and jazz drummer, best known for his session work on Bill Haley’s 1954 hit “Rock Around the Clock.” Two of these albums are largely devoted to his musical career, with Gussak’s captions and notations. They begin with a 1922 shot of his first band, the Big Time Novelty Band (he notes “it was a novelty if we got paid”). A 1925 shot shows him in uniform with a baseball team in Tannersville, NY. Several shots place him in Havana, and he also played with bands on steamship cruises, often in ridiculous costumes as part of masquerade nights. The albums show Gussak on the road as late as 1968, when he is seen with José Ferrer in a production of “Man of La Mancha.” Gussak was also an inventor; two of his percussion patents dated 1966 and 1971 are included, and one photo shows him with his “1st invention, the Guzzake, 1938.” Several snapshots show Gussak demonstrating his percussion devices.
Also included are family albums with photographs extending from the 1890s through 1982, some showing his parents before their emigration from Russia, through his childhood in Brooklyn, and his later life in Deal, NJ.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(navy.)
Pair of large early photographs of the United States Naval Academy.
[Annapolis, MD], circa 1860-1862
2 salted paper prints, each 10 x 13¼ inches, on original plain coated paper mounts with blind stamps of photographers Fischer & Bros of Baltimore in lower margins; moderate foxing and wear.
The photographers were brothers Arthur J. Fischer and William Fischer of Baltimore; other known photographs in this format are dated 1860. One photograph depicts the 14-piece United States Naval Academy Band (with instruments and mascot) posed on the academy lawn. The other is captioned in pencil on verso “Battery & Battalion,” and show several dozen cadets in formation in front of the academy’s training battery.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(navy.)
Papers of Lieutenant James C. Williamson, regarding service in China in the Second Opium War and more.
Various places, 1832-1860
81 items (0.2 linear feet), mostly official orders signed by Secretaries of the Navy or naval officers; condition generally strong, a few with moderate dampstaining or wear.
“Have lookouts stationed about the ship to look out for fire rafts & boats.”
James Cara Williamson (1813-1871) of Jersey City, NJ enlisted in the Navy as a midshipman in 1832, and worked his way up through the ranks, reaching the rank of Captain in 1862. These orders span the first 28 years of his career.
An 11 October 1836 message from the New York Navy Yard orders him to “report to Capt. [Matthew Calbraith] Perry & Professor Ward for the purpose of attending the Naval School at this yard.” As a lieutenant in the Mexican War, on 14 January 1848 he was ordered to “proceed without delay to Vera Cruz via New Orleans and report to Commo. Perry for duty in the Home Squadron.” Two documents were drafted by the officers of the USS St. Louis in the harbor at Montevideo, Uruguay in 1850: one memorializing two officers who had just died of yellow fever, and the other forming an officer’s social club, signed by 7 officers.
Williamson was in the East India Squadron during the Second Opium War. Included in this lot is an order from the first day of the Battle of the Pearl River Forts, 16 November 1856, from Commodore James Armstrong, appointing Williamson as temporary commander of the flagship USS San Jacinto: “You will have a supply of muskets and pistols kept loaded and in readiness for immediate use, and will have lookouts stationed about the ship to look out for fire rafts & boats.” Ten days later, after the Americans had captured three Chinese forts, Armstrong ordered him “to proceed on the next trip of the steamer Cum Fa to the barrier forts and will on your arrival there report yourself to Commanders Foote and Bell for duty.” On 13 January 1857, Williamson protested that he had not been given command of his rightful battery of artillery when “a warlike demonstration has been made on the Chinese by this squadron.”
The lot includes Letters Signed by ten Secretaries of the Navy: Mahlon Dickerson (10), James Kirke Paulding (4), Abel Upshur (2), David Henshaw (4), John Y. Mason (9), George Bancroft, later a noted historian (1), William B. Preston (1), John P. Kennedy (1), James C. Dobbin (3), and Isaac Toucey (1).
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(new hampshire.) oliver holmes.
Diary of an exasperated Francestown schoolteacher.
Various places, 17 March 1798 to 12 April 1799
[29] manuscript diary pages, plus [6] pages of family register entries in the rear extending through 1821. 4to, 7¼ x 5¾ inches, disbound, laid into a contemporary stiff paper wrapper signed by the author; minimal wear to contents.
Oliver Holmes the 3rd (1777-1833) spent most of his life in Francestown, NH. He was not a close relation of the later poet or judge of the same name. At the time of this diary, he was an unmarried young man, working intermittently as a school teacher, farm laborer, sign painter, and runner of errands. The diary begins with a long and colorful account of an 8-day horseback journey to Boston and back through a heavy snowstorm. In Roxbury, MA he was compelled to share a bed with “a small lad . . . troubled with dreams or haveing drank too much liquor,” and in Sharon, MA he delayed his departure to watch the drawing of a lottery.
Holmes resumed teaching at his local school on 7 January 1799, which inspired an interesting 3-page description of his frustrations: “Began the tiresome business of school teaching once more, for the paltry sum of ten dollars. . . . Repetitions must be made use of, repeated and forlorn. Repetitions loaded with threats and perplexities. Some will whisper & laugh, some pull hair and if you correct them, some shew their good breeding that they have been accustomed to at home.”
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
New York
(new york.)
Family papers of Judge Anthony J. Blanchard of Salem, New York.
Various places, bulk 1798-1853
72 items, generally minor to moderate wear, in one box.
Papers of attorney and judge Anthony J. Blanchard (1768-1853) of Salem in Washington County, NY, northeast of Albany. Includes:
An 11-page manuscript titled “Rules of the Supreme Court,” summarizing 23 procedural precedents in the New York Supreme Court from 1699 to 1772.
Untitled manuscript draft of a patriotic oration circa 1826, apparently in Blanchard’s hand, reflecting on the “Patriots of 76” and how “50 yrs have passed into the grave of time since our country emerged from the dark grave of servitude.”
14 family, political, and business letters, 1798-1847. Most notably, future governor and senator John Adams Dix wrote on 18 May 1837 to offer humorous comments on Blanchard’s dog collar; and controversial future general and congressman Daniel Sickles wrote on 6 June 1846 transmitting a copy of a will (will not present).
5 commissions issued to Blanchard, 1787-1812.
38 deeds and other property records.
8 other miscellaneous manuscripts.
5 pieces of printed ephemera, 1798-1846, most notably a bound run of the New-York Weekly Museum, New York, not collated but largely complete, 9 January 1808 to 3 February 1810.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(new york.)
Group of 6 early broadsides and newspapers from rural Salem, New York, some unrecorded.
Salem, NY, 1803-1818 and undated
Various sizes, generally uncut with moderate wear.
These ephemeral publications were issued from Salem, NY, a small town in Washington County northeast of Albany. They were found among the papers of attorney and judge Anthony J. Blanchard (1768-1853) of Salem. Includes:
“Not Mark Anthony’s Address.” Letterpress broadside, 8¼ x 6¾ inches. A politician responds to insults published in the Washington Register; not recorded in OCLC or Shaw & Shoemaker. Salem, NY, 19 April 1804.
“To the Independent Freeholders and Inhabitants of the Town of Salem.” Letterpress broadside, 11¼ x 9½ inches, signed in type “The Voice of Hundreds.” Decries corruption in the ruling New York party as evinced in a recent town meeting; not recorded in OCLC or Shaw & Shoemaker. [Salem, NY], early 19th century.
Issue of the Northern Centinel, a Salem newspaper, dated 19 April 1803 (no holdings of this date recorded in Chronicling America website).
Two issues of the Northern Post, a Salem newspaper, dated 10 November 1808 and 9 July 1818.
Issue of the Washington Register, a Salem newspaper, dated 22 April 1813 (no holdings of this date recorded in Chronicling America website). One small advertisement clipped out; features a death notice for Maria Blanchard, wife of Anthony, on the front page.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(new york.)
Lord’s Prayer memorial broadside in honor of a New York boy.
New York: D. Longworth, Shakspeare Gallery, 24 December 1812 [manuscript completion]
Hand-colored engraving, 18¼ x 14 inches, completed in manuscript with Alexander Pope’s “Universal Prayer” and the name of the deceased; foxing, closed tear along top platemark, 2½-inch closed tear off bottom edge, laid down on modern board.
The inscription in the bottom frame reads “David Johnson, aged 10 years, New York, December 24th 1812.” We have traced no other examples of this memorial broadside.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(new york.) asa lee davison.
Pair of Independence Day orations not recorded in any library.
Various places, 1816 and 1823
Each 8vo, foxed with moderate wear; uncut.
Asa Lee Davison (1792-1853) was a physician in Cuba, NY (Allegany County); he later became a pioneer settler of Groveland, IL, edited a newspaper in Canton, IL, and corresponded with Abraham Lincoln. Neither of these pamphlets–or any other works by Davison–are listed in OCLC.
“An Oration, Delivered at Alfred, (N.Y.) on the 4th of July, 1816, in Commemoration of the Independence of the United States.” 12 pages, stitched; long repaired tear to title page. Auburn, NY: Skinner & Crosby, 1816. Shaw & Shoemaker 47794 (listing it with an 1819 publication date, probably in error, and tracing just a single copy at the Cayuga County Historical Society).
“Extracts of an Oration, Delivered at Friendship, Allegany Co. N.Y., July 4, 1823.” 8 pages, bound with a straight pin; moderate dampstaining. Bath, NY: Smeads, 1823. Not in Shaw & Shoemaker.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(new york.) cadwallader d. colden.
Memoir . . . of the Completion of the New York Canals,
New York, 1825-26
bound with the 1826 appendix as issued. 5 maps, 39 (of 40) plates, 8 leaves of facsimiles. v, [3], 408, [2] pages. 4to, 1843 gilt red morocco presentation binding, worn, front board detached along with 3 leaves; large folding frontispiece view torn and nearly detached, lacking the panoramic view of the fleet facing page 187; all edges gilt; gift inscription on front flyleaf, with recipient’s name in gilt on front board.
This volume was issued to commemorate the opening of the Erie Canal. At the grand celebration, a bottle of water from Lake Erie was poured into the Atlantic. The illustrations include numerous lithographs of the excavation, views of the parade and insignia of the participant groups, and portraits of the speakers. Among the facsimile letters are responses to the committee from John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, just weeks before their deaths. Howes C562 (“aa”); Sabin 14279. Provenance: gift from the New York printer George Fash Nesbitt to Mrs. George A. Curtis, 1843.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(new york.) thomas t. doughty, artist.
United States Military Academy, West Point from Fort Clinton.
Philadelphia: A.R. Poole & T. Doughty, [1826]
Hand-colored aquatint, 9½ x 12½ inches; skillfully repaired 2-inch tear in upper margin, light toning, mount remnants on verso.
An apparently untraced view by the Hudson River School artist Thomas T. Doughty (1793-1856). A distant view of the academy from the south, it shows two cadets and a dog in the foreground. It is undated, but was advertised as “just published” by the publisher along with two other West Point views in the 30 March 1826 issue of the National Gazette of Philadelphia. No other examples traced at auction or in OCLC.
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
(new york city.)
First Report of the Bank for Savings in the City of New York.
New York, 1820
13 pages. 8vo, stitched; foxing, moderate dampstaining; uncut.
The Bank for Savings in the City of New-York was established in 1819 as New York’s first savings bank, advertised as a “bank for the poor.” It remained in operation through 1991. This report sets forth the bank’s aspirations to care for the finances of tavern-keepers, seamen, clergymen, and other New Yorkers of modest means. It is signed in type by bank president William Bayard Jr., a close associate of Alexander Hamilton. None traced at auction since 1921, when Anderson Galleries described it as “extremely rare.” Shaw & Shoemaker 216.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(new york city.)
Statue of Liberty, American Committee Model.
[New York, 1885]
Bronzed statue, with the detachable pedestal nickel-silvered, together 11 3/4 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
$2,500 – $3,500
(new york city)
Album of diorama preparation photos for the American Museum of Natural History and elsewhere.
Various places, circa 1928-1936
61 photographs, various sizes but mostly around 5 x 7 inches, plus 2 clippings and 5 natural history prints, mostly inserted into corners on scrapbook leaves. Oblong 4to, 10 x 13 inches, original string-bound boards, minor wear; minimal wear to contents.
Many New Yorkers have fond memories of childhood visits to the American Museum of Natural History, and particularly the timeless lifelike dioramas in the Hall of African Mammals, which were created in the 1930s. Many or most of the photographs in this volume show the development of these dioramas, from modeling through completion. Several photographs show exhibit preparators at work on the dioramas.
At least 6 photos have captions on verso which place them at the American Museum of Natural History–and the compiler as one of the artists. For example, the okapi exhibit is captioned “Did some of the modelling and all the accessory work and background (this is a sketch model). American Museum of Natural History between 1928-31. Okapi (figures about 5 in high).” One photograph is captioned “assistant to Robert Rockwell on five of these buffalo,” and another reads “Assistant to Louis Jonas on water hole group and Asiatic elephants.” Robert Rockwell and Louis Paul Jonas were both longtime Museum of Natural History exhibit makers, and are both members of the Taxidermy Hall of Fame. Many of the photos, including those identified as Natural History Museum images, are stamped by photographer Meredith D. Burch (1905-1932), a Museum of Natural History staffer who was involved in exhibit preparation and taxidermy.
At least a few photographs are from other museum projects, or were included as reference material. At the beginning of the volume are 4 mostly industrial dioramas for a Texas Works Projects Administration project from 1936, one of them showing the Hoover Dam. One mine diorama is inscribed “Did the mules and most of mine interior, Dept. of Interior, Texas Centennial.” Later in the volume, one naval diorama scene is stamped on front and back by C.R. Porteus of the Public Museum in Milwaukee, WI. Two 1936 newspaper clippings describe other diorama projects in Washington.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(new york city–brooklyn.)
Invitation to opening ceremonies of the Brooklyn Bridge.
Engraved card, 5½ x 9 inches, with illustrations of the bridge as well as the seals of New York City and Brooklyn, completed in manuscript for James H. Donaldson, Esq.; toned, mat toning and pencil mat lines, tack hole in left margin.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(new york city–brooklyn.) john dunlap wells.
Diaries of a distinguished Presbyterian pastor, with a letter from Theodore Roosevelt.
Various places, 1842 and 1889-1902
261, 323, 207 manuscript diary pages, plus extensive logs of sermons and a necrology at the rear of each volume. Large thick 4to, original ½ calf, rebacked and worn; only minor wear to contents; many dozens of letters and pieces of ephemera laid in or tipped in.
John Dunlap Wells (1815-1903) graduated from New York’s Union College and the Princeton Theological Seminary, and spent most of his life as pastor of South Third Street Presbyterian Church in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. By the time of these diaries, his son Newell Woolsey Welles supported him there as junior pastor. He was active in missionary causes, including the New York State Colonization Society which (at this point) raised funds for Liberia. On 9 January 1890, a church he had recently helped dedicate collapsed, “crushing a two-story wooden house in which were seven persons. A young girl about 16 years old, a member of that church, and her brother 14 yrs old in the Sunday School were killed, and all were wounded.” He sometimes discusses the rougher-edged Brooklynites who fell under his pastoral care, such as unmarried pregnant women who needed to be wed in a hurry; on 16 September 1894 “attended the funeral of Mr. Roe who said just before his death ‘I am a good man, I have never done any wrong,’ and yet he was a policy man & his place had been raided by the police. I made no allusion to him but tried to comfort the sorrowing.” On the other end of the spectrum, he pays a visit to the home of famed anti-vice crusader Anthony Comstock in Summit, NJ on 25 January 1896. Wells celebrated fifty years at South Third in January 1900.
The Reverend’s daughter Louisa Wells married a Brooklyn sugar magnate, James Howell Post, and the Reverend spent most of each summer at their estate in Brookhaven, Long Island. There he indulged in suburban delights such as lawn care, built a 30-foot observatory in July 1890, and frequently preached at local churches. On 18 August 1895 he officiated at a funeral at the nearby Poospatuck Reservation of the Unkechaugi band: “I went with Mr. Bisbie to the Indian & Negro settlement near Mastic to attend a funeral. We found on reaching the place that it was the funeral of a Negro man, a husband & father who was drowned while returning with a companion (both drunk) from a gathering of some kind where he had played the violin. . . . The father & brother of the drowned man had been drinking heavily & a cousin fell asleep as soon as he sat down, and though I shook him, he could not be roused.”
The Rev. Wells was a cousin of the Roosevelt family, particularly New York politician Clinton Roosevelt (1804-1898), who was a second cousin to Theodore Roosevelt. The relationship of Wells to Theodore Roosevelt is unclear, but tipped into the diary is a 17 November 1898 Theodore Roosevelt Letter Signed on letterhead of the Republican State Committee: “Hearty thanks. Your letter has been a genuine pleasure to me.” Also included is a lone letter written by John Dunlap Wells to his cousin Minerva Dunlap from the Princeton Seminary, 11 January 1842. Provenance: found among the papers of great-granddaughter Dorothy Post Jones Hubert.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(new york city–brooklyn.)
Group of printed power-plant specification books for the Brooklyn Heights Railroad Co. and related works.
New York, 1900-1922
7 volumes. 8vo, various contemporary bindings, worn, the two later volumes in publisher’s cloth with only minor wear; generally minor wear to contents.
These works were all written by Thomas Edward Murray (1860-1929), a nationally important inventor and engineer in the generation following Thomas Edison; he designed numerous power plants in the New York area. This lot includes:
“Report on the Power Station Possibilities of the Kent Avenue Property of the Brooklyn Heights Railroad Company.” 12 plates plus 22 pages, April 1903.
Another copy of the same, bound with: “Estimates of Cost, Proposed New Kent Avenue Power Station, Brooklyn Heights Railroad Co.” [67] full-page plans, 16, [1] pages, 1905.
“Specifications for the Williamsburg Power House of the Transit Development Company.” Numerous illustrations, 277, [14] pages, June 1905.
Another copy of the same, with moderate wear.
Bound volume of 11 sets of specifications for power stations built for the Brooklyn Heights Railroad Company and other firms. No illustrations, paginated separately but also with ink-stamped page numbers through 253, 1900-1902.
“Electric Power Plants: A Description of a Number of Power Stations.” Numerous illustrations, 337 pages, 1910.
“Power Stations.” Numerous illustrations, 178 pages, 1922.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(new york–long island.)
Stud book for a horse owned by the Proprietor of Gardiner’s Island.
[East Hampton, NY?], 1839-1841
[8] manuscript pages. Oblong 8vo, original plain wrappers, inscribed “Horse book 1839, Abraham B. Dayton,” moderate wear; minor foxing to contents.
This volume documents the work of a stud horse named Traveler owned by a member of the famed Gardiner family of New York. Traveler’s owner John Griswold Gardiner (1812-1861) was the Ninth Proprietor of Gardiner’s Island, a small island off the eastern tip of Long Island which has been in possession of the Gardiner family from 1639 through today.
These records were kept by Abraham Baker Dayton (1820-1898), who in later years worked as a carpenter in East Hampton, NY. He began keeping the horse on 30 April 1839, charging “2 dollars a leap, 4 dollars the season, 6 dollars to warrant.” Traveler saw 31 mares through 11 June before he “went on the island” (presumably Gardiner’s Island) for the season. The owners of each mare are named, along with the coloration of the mare, and amount paid. Against this are small costs deducted by Baker for a halter, shoeing and other expenses. Traveler returned to Dayton’s care for the spring of 1840, with an additional option of 8 dollars for a guaranteed living colt. He saw 57 mares before he once again “went on the island.” On the final page, in February 1841 John G. Gardiner (the Proprietor) signs for $23 paid for the season by Jeremiah Dayton (1783-1867), Abraham’s father.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(new york–long island.)
Extensive family papers of Dorothy Post Jones, descendant of a distinguished Brookhaven family.
Various places, bulk circa 1936-1982
Several hundred items (4 linear feet) in 4 boxes; condition generally strong.
Dorothy Post Hubert (1918-2021) was the granddaughter of sugar magnate James Howell Post (1859-1938) and was raised in Brookhaven in eastern Long Island, graduating from Vassar in 1939. In 1941, she married a Presbyterian minister, Curtis Knowles Jones (1911-1989), and they lived in Charleston, WV; New Kensington, PA; Brookville, PA; and Daretown, NJ though 1976, when they retired to Brookhaven. She served on the board of the Post-Morrow Foundation, a local conservation fund founded by her aunt.
This collection includes 17 diaries kept by Dorothy Jones from 1944 to 1982. The 5 yearly diaries from 1944 to 1948 are most extensive, in large octavo volumes with detailed entries kept in Charlestown, WV. She often comments on news events (such as “two attacks on Jap cities with ‘atomic’ bombs with unbelievable force” on 9 August 1945) and food shortages in the local markets during and after the war. In an entry from 1 April 1946, a friend tells an anecdote from Denmark during the German occupation: “The guards distributed the crown jewels among a party of tourists who were viewing them, with instructions to return them in a week. All got back safely.” The polio epidemic is frequently noted. Some of the later diaries cover travel, including a long Asian trip in 1980.
Also included are boxes of her personal correspondence from 1928 onward, with 4 thick packets of letters written home from Vassar, 1935-1939. Among the extensive genealogical notes are several folders devoted to her father Philip Arthur Hubert (1881-1969) of Bellport, NY and his family, including notes on (and copies of correspondence and diaries of) great-grandfather Philip G. Hubert (1830-1922), a noted New York architect and critic; and typescript short stories and essays by grandfather Philip G. Hubert Jr. (1852-1925). An original 1923 personal letter to “Brother Hubert” from music critic Henry T. Finck is included. The older tradition of manuscript newspapers is carried on with a typescript of a Hubert family production called “The Barnstead News” from Summit, NJ, August 1944. A group of 8 mounted early 20th-century snapshots apparently shows mother Helen Marion Post Hubert (1890-1973) (illustrated).
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
(politics.)
“Constitution of the New York State Council” issued by a state chapter of the secretive Know Nothing Party.
Albany, NY: “Printed for the Order,” 1855
20 pages. 24mo, original plain wrappers, minor wear; inked revisions on pages 4 and 5; inscriptions and inked stamp of original owner Theodore Bourne on front wrapper and title page. In the original owner’s envelope inscribed “This is very rare . . . . Keep this safe.”
This slender pamphlet begins with a virulently nativist “Bill of Rights”: “Whereas the civil and religious education, and consequent sentiments, of the Roman Catholic foreigners who are imported into this country, are directly and radically at variance with our institutions, and always at war with the cause of freedom, and whereas the mass of such foreign population . . . cannot appreciate the worth of American institutions . . . for the purpose of counteracting, in a lawful manner, the direful effects of foreign influence upon the institutions of our country. . . . Whatever shall be done, shall be kept a profound secret from those that have not been initiated as members thereof.” The constitution limits membership to “a citizen of the United States of America, born of protestant parents, himself as Protestant, and not married to a Roman Catholic wife.” The presidents of the subsidiary county and town councils are given the authority to “select the passwords to be used by the members thereof.” The final page is signed in type by secretary B.F. Romaine–the only name to appear in the volume.
Provenance: found among the papers of Theodore Bourne of Bloomfield, NJ, along with three anti-Catholic tracts (see lot 231). One traced in OCLC (New York Public Library) and none traced at auction.
With–a pamphlet printing of “The Constitution of the United States” in the same 24mo format. 32 pages, worn wrappers. Issued by New York patent medicine manufacturer John R. Surbrug, 1861. In a similar envelope inscribed by Theodore Bourne.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(presidents–1800 campaign.) uriah tracy.
An important letter on the contentious 1800 election.
Washington, 30 December 1800
Autograph Letter Signed as a United States Senator for Connecticut, to recently resigned Secretary of War James McHenry. 2 manuscript pages on one sheet, 12¾ x 7¾ inches; disbound along left edge, 1-inch repaired tear on top edge, separations just starting along folds.
This letter traces the latest developments in the complex and contentious presidential election of 1800, which made Bush v. Gore look like a Sunday picnic. Uriah Tracy (1755-1807) and his correspondent McHenry were both Federalists opposed to the candidacy of Thomas Jefferson in the 1800 election. McHenry had served in the cabinet of Jefferson’s rival Adams, although he had been forced to resign after undermining the president. By the time Tracy sent this update, the two Democratic-Republican candidates Jefferson and Burr had finished dead even in the Electoral College ahead of the Federalist Adams, throwing the election into the hands of the House of Representatives, who were to tally one vote per state. Tracy, whose party had already lost the contest, took what pleasure he could in seeing the Jefferson supporters in a state of confusion: “It is now officially ascertained that Jefferson & Burr have each 73 votes for Prest. & Vice Prest., and that the Democrats are in a sweat, is also ascertained, but not officially, unless you consider my assertion as official. They are in the most violent state of apprehension, for fear Burr will be chosen, or at any rate that Jefferson will not. . . . It is really pleasant to see the Democrats in such a rage for having acted with good faith, they swear they will never do it again, & mutually criminate each other for having done so now.” He expected Burr to emerge victorious: “Burr is a cunning man. If he cannot outwit all the Jeffersonians I do not know the man.” Speaking for his own Federalist party, Tracy seemed to embrace Burr with a shudder over their old enemy Jefferson: “The Federalists say, they like not either of the Candidates, but as the anti’s have brought them forward, they will take the least of two evils.”
This letter is a well-known inside source on one of the most important elections in American history. It was published in 1907 in The Life and Correspondence of James McHenry, 483-4, and has been quoted in many histories since. A full transcript is provided. Provenance: Swann sale, 26 September 1996, lot 217 to Milton R. Slater; Swann sale to the consignor, 25 November 2014, lot 245.
Estimate
$4,000 – $6,000
(presidents.)
A Catalogue of the Second Exhibition of Paintings, in the Athenaeum Gallery
Boston: William W. Clapp, 1 May 1828
(wrapper title). [8] pages. 4to, original printed wrappers, worn, inked date stamp, long tape repair; crudely cropped with loss of a line of text on at least two pages.
This second and far more important edition adds, on the final page, a partial inventory of Thomas Jefferson’s painting collection. It is headed “The following are part of the Collection formed by the late President Jefferson, and with the exception of 313 and 314, are for sale.” Not a bad collection, either: “General Washington (an original), painted 1784, Wright”; a portrait of Lafayette; Trumbull’s original sketch of the surrender of Cornwallis; Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of Jefferson himself; and works by Van Dyke, Benjamin West, and more. Shaw & Shoemaker 32427. None traced at auction since 1897.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(presidents–1844 campaign.)
Protection to American Industry: Candidates for President and Vice-President.
Lithograph, 14 x 10 inches, with a bit of hand-coloring; tightly trimmed to margins, moderate soiling, horizontal fold.
This campaign print by Kellogg was probably inspired by the similar “Grand National Banners” which Currier issued for both parties every four years. It features jugate portraits of the Whig ticket of Henry Clay and Theodore Frelinghuysen, which went on to lose the election to the comparatively unknown James Polk. At top is an eagle above six crossed flags (the cantons lightly tinted blue), while below are a farm couple sitting atop a literal cornucopia of trade goods, all surrounded by a theater curtain with highlights in red and yellow. The print was published and distributed jointly by Kelloggs & Thayer in New York; E.B. & E.C. Kellogg in Hartford, CT; and Dwight Needham in Buffalo, NY. We find none in OCLC.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(presidents.)
Vote Against Schlosser! Vote Against Yale! . . . Vote for Roosevelt for the Senate.
No place, [1910]
Letterpress broadside, 16½ x 10¾ inches; horizontal fold, moderate wear and toning, paper clip stain, mount remnant along top edge, unrelated pencil plat map on verso.
A poster from FDR’s first political campaign in 1910. He was an unknown 28-year-old Wall Street lawyer when asked to run for a New York State Senate seat on the strength of his distant cousin Theodore Roosevelt’s name. He won the seat after a strong anti-corruption campaign. This broadside implores that “Putnam County needs a clean sweep and New Men at Old Albany. . . . Progressive men are wanted to clean conditions in Legislature.”
Estimate
$500 – $750
(presidents.)
Wedding book of Earl Miller (Eleanor Roosevelt’s bodyguard and alleged lover), signed by the Roosevelts as guests.
Hyde Park, NY, 8 September 1932
[20] printed pages in gilt, red, green, and black. 8vo, 7 x 5¼ inches, original gilt cloth, minimal wear; completed in manuscript for the bride and groom, including 5 pages with the signatures of 47 guests. In custom cloth slipcase with bookplate of the Roosevelt Collection of Donald Scott Carmichael.
Earl R. Miller (1897-1973) was a New York State Trooper who served as Eleanor Roosevelt’s bodyguard from 1928 to 1932, while she was the First Lady of New York. The two were undeniably close friends; we will probably never know whether the persistent rumors of a romantic relationship were accurate. Eleanor’s shadow loomed over all three of Miller’s failed marriages. He initially married to quiet the rumors: “That’s why I got married in 1932 with plenty of publicity. I got married with someone I wasn’t in love with. Same with the second marriage. But I was never successful in killing the gossip.” During the divorce proceedings for his third marriage in 1947, his wife threatened to share incriminating correspondence between Earl and Eleanor.
Offered here is the wedding book kept as a memento of Earl’s first wedding, to Ruth T. Bellinger, shortly before Franklin Roosevelt was first elected to the presidency. The witnesses were Eleanor’s daughter Anna Roosevelt Dall and her son Elliott Roosevelt. Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt were the first to sign the guest book, before the families of the bride and groom. Other noteworthy guests included Franklin’s mother Sara Delano Roosevelt; Franklin’s sister-in-law Elizabeth Riley Roosevelt; Franklin’s longtime personal secretaries Grace Tully and Marguerite “Missy” LeHand (who had her own rumors to contend with); Franklin’s close associate Samuel Rosenman, who coined the term “New Deal”; John Boettiger, a reporter who would soon wed the Roosevelts’ daughter Anna; Franklin’s bodyguard Gus Gennerich; Eleanor’s private secretary Malvina Scheider; The Roosevelts’ younger sons Franklin Jr. and John; Eleanor’s close friends Marion Dickerman and Nancy Cook; and Roosevelt biographer Ernest Lindley.
Estimate
$6,000 – $9,000
(presidents–1932 campaign.)
Certification of Roosevelt’s victory over Hoover, signed by the four tellers of the Electoral College.
[Washington], [7 February 1933]
Printed broadside, 27½ x 11½ inches, with one name changed by inked stamp, signed in manuscript by Senators Otis F. Glenn and William H. King and Representatives Lamar Jeffers and Charles L. Gifford; folds, minimal wear, no docketing on verso.
The formal count of the electoral college votes from the 1932 presidential election took place in the House chamber on the afternoon of 7 February 1933. Multiple copies of this pre-printed form were apparently signed for distribution to various figures. It lists the votes for each candidate by state and summarizes the tallies in favor of Franklin D. Roosevelt and John N. Garner as president and vice president as delivered to the President of the Senate, concluding that “this announcement . . . shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the persons elected President and Vice President . . . and shall be entered, together with a list of the votes, on the Journals of the Senate and House of Representatives.” These normally routine words are intoned on the floor of Congress every four years, most recently by Vice President Pence very early on the morning of 7 January 2021.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(presidents–1944 campaign.)
It’s Time to Change: FDR Deserts Negro; Embraces Truman.
New York: Republican National Committee, October or November 1944
4 pages, 16½ x 11¼ inches, on one folding newsprint sheet; minor wear and toning.
This pro-Dewey campaign piece hoped to peel off some of Roosevelt’s Black supporters, using Roosevelt’s running mate Harry Truman as a wedge issue. Truman is portrayed as a segregationist with the support of the likes of Theodore Bilbo. Roosevelt is attacked for his “sordid record of racial injustice,” particularly the treatment of soldiers in the World War, while the Republican challenger Thomas Dewey hoped to “blaze a new trail of justice and integration.” It is illustrated with numerous photographs and 3 topical cartoons by popular illustrator Clare Barnes Jr. We trace no other examples in OCLC, at auction, or elsewhere.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(railroads.)
Report of the Engineers, on the Reconnoissance and Surveys, made in Reference to the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road.
Baltimore, MD: William Wooddy, 1828
188, [1] pages. 8vo, later cloth; minor foxing; early gift inscription on title page, 1912 bookplate on front pastedown, inked number stamp on page 3.
This volume has impressive engineering provenance. The original gift inscription is from William Howard, chief of the railroad’s original survey team, to Colonel [Sylvanus] Thayer of the Army Corps of Engineers, a seminal figure in the early history of West Point. In 1912, the book was owned by William Barclay Parsons, pioneering chief engineer of the New York subway system. Rink, Technical Americana 5870.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(railroads.)
American Car and Foundry Co., Catalog C.
St. Louis, MO, [1903]
149 pages. Oblong folio, 11 x 14½ inches, publisher’s gilt cloth, minor wear, early “B1” label on front board; 2 leaves with folds, otherwise minimal wear to contents.
The company was a major producer of railroad cars. Consists largely of illustrations, including aerial views of the company’s many factories in Detroit, Buffalo, and elsewhere by noted view painter Richard W. Rummell, and illustrations of dozens of car models (passenger and freight) with detailed descriptions. Two pages are devoted to the company’s shipyard and architectural woodwork shop in Delaware. At the rear are railroad cars produced for export, with descriptions in English, French and Spanish.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(reconstruction.)
Black Republican and Office-Holder’s Journal.
New York: “Pluto Jumbo,” August 1865
4 lithographed pages, 11¼ x 9¼ inches, on one folding sheet; foxing, short separations at folds and slight edge wear, one tape repair, horizontal fold.
A crudely printed satirical newspaper, written in minstrel-show dialect and purporting to be edited by one Pluto Jumbo. It displays a deep resentment of the Republican Party and the new engagement of freed African Americans in the political and legal system. Its masthead states that it was printed in New York, and its obsession with New York war supporters Henry Ward Beecher, Horace Greeley and James Gordon Bennett suggests that it actually was a New York Copperhead production. Typical items include a proposed law “agin marriage between two pussons of de same color” and a poorly executed portrait of “Caesar Guss, the Presidential Candidate.” At least 3 other issues were produced (numbered #2 through #4), all dated August and September 1865. This was apparently the first issue. The Boston Courier ran a mocking blurb about the Black Republican in August 1865, treating it as an actual newspaper. That squib was republished in at least 11 newspapers over the next year, reaching as far as England and California. No examples of any issue have been traced at auction since 1923.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(reconstruction.)
Composite photograph titled “Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1867 and 68.”
No place, 1868
Albumen photograph, 10¼ x 14¼ inches, captioned faintly in the negative, on later plain stiff paper mount; worn with several closed tears and loss of ¾ inches of lower left corner, mount less worn but with puncture below image.
With Louisiana under Federal control and Reconstruction in full swing, a new state constitution was ratified in March 1868 which created voting rights for freedmen and integrated public schools. It remained in place until the end of Reconstruction, when it was superseded by a “home rule” constitution in 1879 which restricted the voting rights of freedmen.
This composite shows 95 of the 98 men who drafted Louisiana’s new constitution in 1867. Fully half of the delegates were African-American. Most prominent among the delegates would prove to be Pinckney B.S. Pinchback (1837-1921), who had served as a captain in the Civil War and in 1872 would become Louisiana’s acting governor–the first Black governor in the nation’s history. He is seen on the far right, four rows from the top, in a portrait which is not widely known and may be his earliest surviving image.
We trace no other examples of this photograph, although an engraving from the portraits of the Black delegates only was published as part of the pamphlet “Extract from the Reconstructed Constitution of the state of Louisiana.”
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
(religion.)
Awful Disclosure! Murderers Exposed; Downfall of Popery; Death-Bed Confession . . . of the Right Rev. Bishop McMurray.
Buffalo, NY: Rev. E. Mosher, 1845.
32 pages. 8vo, original plain wrappers; light folds, marked up lightly in pencil, apparently for an unpublished second edition; uncut.
An exposé of a Montreal bishop. Severance, Early Buffalo Imprints, page 593. 2 copies in OCLC, and none traced at auction.
With–two other anti-Catholic tracts:
“Brompton Revelations: An Exposure of the Mysteries and Iniquities as Daily Practised in Foreign and English Convent Prisons.” Illustrated. 16 pages. 8vo, self-wrappers; first and final leaves detached. 2 in OCLC, and none traced at auction. London: Elliot, [1865].
“[Nunneries in France: Comprising a Series of Letters between a Nun, a Novice, and their Friends]; in which are Unfolded the True Character and Corrupt Practices of Roman Priests. . . . Introductory Preface by an American Clergyman.” Frontispiece plate. 52 pages. 8vo, original illustrated wrappers, defective; lacking 2 leaves. New York: Wright, Goodhue & Co., [1845].
See also the Know Nothing constitution found among the same papers, lot 219.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(rhode island.)
Celebration of the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Founding of Brown University,
Providence: Sidney S. Rider, 1865 (with insertions dated 1743-1883)
extra-illustrated copy. [6], 178 pages interleaved with 62 printed, manuscript and photographic items. 4to, later ½ calf, minor wear; library markings including embossed stamps on title page and elsewhere.
This volume is lavishly extra-illustrated with 19 Autograph Letters Signed, 9 clipped signatures, 2 other manuscripts, 15 engravings (including views and portraits), 14 photographs, and 4 pieces of printed ephemera.
The most important insertion is the broadside program for the university’s first commencement ceremony held on 7 September 1769, the only one at its original location in Warren, RI when it was still known as Rhode Island College. Titled “Benevolentissimo ac eximia virtute, doctrinaque utilissima prædito, viro, Stephano Hopkins,” it lists the seven members of the college’s first graduating class including future Continental Army general James Mitchell Varnum. It is trimmed and has short separations at its folds. Only 3 copies are traced in OCLC, and none at auction.
The most important manuscript insertion is a fragment of a letter signed twice each by Rhode Island’s delegation to Continental Congress, Stephen Hopkins and Samuel Ward. Only the second leaf is present. It begins with a denunciation of an unknown Rhode Islander who has “the good of his country so little at heart as to not only decline entering into her service, but to violate her most sacred resolutions and endeavor to fix a stigma on the colony which gave him birth & hath always afforded him protection.” This unnamed scoundrel would appear to be a supporter of the slave trade, as they add that “Mr. Ward’s sentiments & conduct relative to the slave trade are so universally known that it is unnecessary to say anything on that head.” They go on to discuss a Congressional resolution on the price of West India goods, and discuss defenses for the coming war campaign: “Our enemies will make their greatest possible efforts against us early in the spring. We have therefore no time to loose, but ought to improve every moment in making all possible preparations for the defence of the colonies in general, and for our own immediate defence in particular.” They close with a postscript regarding their Congressional salaries. The letter has two full separations at the folds, and 6 other early paper repairs to the other folds. The famously shaky signature of Stephen Hopkins is desirable because he also signed the Declaration of Independence. The fragment is undated, but would seem to date from the first three months of 1776 (Ward died on 26 March 1776).
Another dramatic manuscript is a letter by Judge Daniel Jenckes (1701-1774) to his brother-in-law Cornelius Esten (1699-1776) regarding the death of Esten’s son at sea near Pernambuco: “I heard of the sloop being to sword, and Cap. Easton dead, died soon after he came out. . . . Cap. Charles Holden of Warwick who sailed about the same time your son did for Serronam [Surinam?] fell to sword and a littel to windword of Berbishus . . . your son died a few days after he left Providence. . . . I greatly lament the death of my cousin who I thought would have made a likely man had he a lived to riper years.” Providence, 20 March 1754.
Among the other manuscripts are letters by Judge David Howell, Senator Asher Robbins, the school’s namesake Nicholas Brown Jr., Congressman Horace Binney, George William Curtis, Senator Henry Bowen Anthony, and two from Senator John Brown Francis.
Provenance: the compiler was apparently Horatio Gates Jones Jr. (1822-1893), a Philadelphia politician, who received an honorary degree from Brown in 1863; his father graduated from Brown in 1812. The volume was later the property of the Crozer Theological Seminary, and then deaccessioned.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
(rhode island.)
Group of 3 illustrated membership certificates, including the first engraved view of Providence.
Various places, circa 1798-1864
Various sizes and conditions.
Membership certificate for the Providence Marine Society, 12½ x 15½ inches, with worn paper seal; moderate dampstaining and wear. It features 5 etched vignettes by William Hamlin after Thomas Young. Hamlin was Rhode Island’s first engraver, and this certificate features the first printed view of Providence. It was engraved circa 1798, and remained in use for decades–as seen in this example, completed for Samuel Gladding on 4 July 1864.
Membership certificate for the Providence Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers, 14 x 18¾ inches, with paper seal; moderate wear including a 2½-inch closed tear and smaller chips and tears. Engraved by Annin & Smith with a detailed view of the industrial Providence waterfront, and completed for John Sanders Jr. in 1828.
Membership certificate for the Rhode Island Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Industry, 9¼ x 11¼ inches; short separations at folds and a short tape repair, other wear and light foxing. Features an engraved view of an agricultural scene by Horton of Providence, and completed for Joseph Harris of Cranston, RI in 1829.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(rhode island.) j.h. daniels, lithographer; after e. ackermann.
Street view of Scholfield’s Commercial College.
Boston, circa 1864-1866
Tinted lithograph, 18½ x 22½ inches to sight; wear including closed tears, irregular filled area to the center-right, light staining. Not examined out of frame.
A view of a business school offering instruction in writing, book-keeping, commercial law, surveying, engineering, mechanical drawing and more. The fellow tenants of their building in Providence are also shown in detail, as well as a busy sidewalk full of pedestrians. The school began running regular newspaper advertisements from this address with similar text in 1864; they moved to a new address in September 1866.
Estimate
$250 – $350
(rhode island.)
Set of Rhode Island Historical Tracts, including the coveted “Bills of Credit or Money of Rhode Island.”
Providence: Sidney Rider, 1877-1896
25 volumes. 4to, original printed wrappers, moderate wear; minimal wear to contents; uncut.
Historian Sidney Rider published and edited this series, which includes both historical essays and transcriptions of unpublished historical documents. The edition was limited to 250 copies of each issue. Tract #8 is sought as a reference work by paper-money collectors: Elisha Potter and Sidney Rider’s “Some Account of Bills of Credit or Money of Rhode Island.” It is profusely illustrated with plates, and as issued includes an original 1780 banknote matted in (facing page 110).
Other interesting subjects include “Visits of the Northmen to Rhode Island” (2), William Rogers’ 1779 “Journal of a Brigade Chaplain in the Expedition against the Six Nations (7), Rider’s “Historical Inquiry Concerning the Attempt to Raise a Regiment of Slaves in Rhode Island” (10), a lost tract by Roger Williams (14), and more.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(rhode island.) sidney rider, editor.
Nearly complete set of the quirky literary-historical biweekly magazine Book Notes.
Providence, RI, 1883-1916
860 (of 870) unbound issues, complete except for 10 issues from 1902 and 1903, each 4 pages (8½ x 5½ inches) or more, plus the collective title and index for each year; most with mailing folds, some with punch holes from previous binding, generally minor to minimal wear.
The long-running literary magazine Book Notes was the achievement of Rhode Island historian and bookseller Sidney S. Rider (1833-1917). Issued on alternate Saturdays and occasionally more frequently, it consisted mostly of reviews and news regarding contemporary books, and became increasingly interspersed with Rider’s short essays on Rhode Island history, rare books, local politics, and other topics which caught his fancy.
WITH–a 66-page typescript cumulative name and subject index to the whole series, compiled by the consignor.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(rhode island.)
Group of 20 pieces of Rhode Island-related sheet music, most of it illustrated.
Various places, circa 1831-1936
Generally about 13 x 10 inches each, unbound or disbound; various conditions.
Henry S. Cartee. “The Narragansett Quick Step . . . Performed by the Providence Brass Band,” with lithograph of a Narragansett Indian; cropped. Boston, [1838?].
Oliver J. Shaw. “Metacom’s Grand March,” with lithograph of King Philip at Mount Hope. [Providence], 1840.
F. Kielblock. “Stone Bridge Schottische,” with lithograph of the Stone Bridge House in Tiverton, RI. Boston, circa 1850.
Charles E. Bennett. “Warren Artillery’s Quick Step,” with lithograph of the armory in Warren, RI. [Boston], 1846.
Sidney Lambert. “Rescue Polka Mazurka, Respectfully Dedicated to the Heroine of New Port Lime Rock, Miss Ida Lewis,” with lithograph of the famed Newport lighthouse keeper. Providence, 1869.
James I. Graham. “General Burnside’s Grand March,” unillustrated; worn. Newport, RI, 1861.
Oliver Shaw. “Gov. Arnold’s March,” unillustrated. Providence, circa 1831.
Charles E. Bennett. “Rhode Island Quick Step,” with lithograph of state seal. Boston, 1843.
Bishop. “Sounds from the Old Stone Mill,” with tinted lithograph of the Newport landmark. Boston, 1857.
Eugene Batchelder and Winnie Harland. “Fair Newport,” unillustrated. Boston, 1867.
Louis E. Gould. “Good Old Kingston Fair,” unillustrated. Not in OCLC. Peace Dale, RI, circa 1905.
9 later Rhode Island pieces, 1905-1936.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(rhode island.)
Group of 3 Rhode Island disaster songsheets.
Various places, 1872-1898
3 broadsides; condition as described.
W.C. Atwood. “Song of the Steamer Metis, Sunk on her Passage from New York to Providence.” Illustrated broadside, 12 x 5 inches; folds, moderate wear. Composed by a patent medicine manufacturer; one in OCLC (at Brown University). Providence, RI, circa 1872.
George D. Chester of Niantic, RI. “The Railroad Accident at Richmond Switch, R.I.” Letterpress broadside, 14¼ x 6 inches; folds, minor wear. One in OCLC (at Middle Tennessee State University) No place, circa 1873.
James Mallon, “Starboard Watch, East Providence.” “The Loss of the Battleship Maine.” Letterpress broadside, 14 x 5 inches; folds, wear on bottom edge, dampstaining. None in OCLC. No place, circa 1898.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(rhode island.)
Group of 10 broadsides, including carrier addresses and more.
Providence and Newport, RI, 1834-1896
Various sizes and condition as described.
John Brown Francis, et al. State Prison Report. Letterpress broadside, 15¼ x 10¾ inches, with decorative border; moderate soiling, short separations at folds; untrimmed. [Providence, RI?], January 1834. 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).
Thomas Man. Third Circular . . . Perry’s Pupil. Illustrated broadside, 18¾ x 11½ inches; foxing, worn at edges. [Providence, RI], 1848. 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.
Group of 8 Rhode Island carrier addresses. 5 broadsides ranging up to 24 inches in height, plus 3 pamphlets; various conditions as noted. Providence, RI, 1863-1892; and Newport, RI, 1893-1896.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(rhode island.)
Group of 23 textile labels from Rhode Island mills.
Various places, undated but circa 1870-1920
21 unmounted labels, various sizes up to 7 x 9 inches, plus 2 mounted on a strip of linen; condition generally strong.
Includes labels by A.&W. Sprague of Arctic, RI; Oriental Print Works of Apponaug, RI; Crompton Print Works; Steam Cotton Manufacturing Co. or Providence; Allen’s Print Works of Providence (2); Philip Allen & Sons; Providence Dyeing, Bleaching, & Calendaring Company; Smithfield Manufacturing Company; S.H. Greene & Sons / Clyde Works, Riverpoint, RI; Mount Hope / Peace Dale Manufacturing Company; Pure Alpaca / Extra Finish; and 9 from B.B. & R. Knight / Fruit of the Loom. Mounted on a 36 x 13-inch strip of linen stamped for the Hope Company / Lonsdale Company are two Hope Company labels. Most of the labels are attractively illustrated and many are printed in color.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(science & engineering.)
Notebooks kept by analytical chemist Thomas Hall Garrett during the Civil War and beyond.
[Philadelphia], 1861-1869
10 manuscript volumes, each about 24 to 36 pages. Each 4to, original printed wrappers, minor wear; not continuously dated.
Thomas Hall Garrett (1830-1905) graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, and then became a partner in a prominent Philadelphia analytical chemistry lab with a better-known chemist, James Curtis Booth. Clients brought in samples–coal, textiles, fertilizer, brass, vinegar, paint, guano, petroleum, etc.–and Garrett reported on the chemical composition. Various kinds of ore made up a substantial part of the business, particularly gold, silver, lead (galena) and iron. These notebooks list the client name, substance, date, and detailed notes on Garrett’s findings. An extensive analysis of the water supply of Wilmington, DE was undertaken in November 1863.
The first three volumes were compiled during the Civil War, and the firm did occasional work for the Union Army’s Frankford Arsenal in Philadelphia. On 2 November 1863, its commandant Major Theodore Laidley brought in a gunpowder sample, which was determined to contain 0.01% sodium chloride (salt) by Garrett’s partner Booth, who initialed the entry. Similarly, more gunpowder samples were brought in on 1 February and 10 March 1865, also handled by Booth. These were delivered by Laidley’s successor Captain Stephen Vincent Benét (grandfather of the noted author of the same name), who also brought in batches of saltpeter on 20 March and 23 May 1865.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(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.
Estimate
$100 – $150
(slavery & abolition.)
Life and Opinions of Julius Melbourn.
Syracuse, NY, 1847
Frontispiece portrait of Thomas Jefferson. 239 pages. 8vo, publisher’s cloth, minor staining and wear; moderate foxing, faint dampstaining; early owners’ signatures on front free endpaper, title page, and page 74.
This purports to be the memoir of a formerly enslaved man from North Carolina who escapes to a new life in England. It features a dinner with Thomas Jefferson at Monticello, and other celebrity encounters. It is generally believed to be a work of fiction. See the review in the Liberator of 26 November 1847, and the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography. Sabin and some other sources credit the authorship to former congressman Jabez Delano Hammond. Blockson 9645; Howes M487; Sabin 30097.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(slavery & abolition.) martin m. lawrence, photographer.
Portrait of John Brown.
New York, circa 1858
Salted paper photograph, 7¼ x 5¼ inches oval, on original plain mount with photographer’s embossed stamp; light spotting in image, minor wear to mount.
This is believed to be the first commercially available photograph of John Brown, preceded only by ambrotypes and daguerreotypes. It was reproduced shortly after his arrest in the 19 November 1859 issue of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated, which stated that it was “from a photograph taken one year ago by Martin M. Lawrence.” The blind stamp on this example is credited to “Lawrence’s Photographs.”
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(slavery & abolition.)
“The Contrabands at Washington,” a long account of the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation,
Montpelier, VT, 12 January 1863
in an issue of Walton’s Daily Journal. 4 pages, 18¼ x 11½ inches, on one folding sheet; minor wear including a 3-inch closed tear, light paper clip stain.
A richly detailed description of the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation to a group of freedmen in Washington at noon on New Year’s Day, 1863. Numerous attendees are named, described, and quoted, and many of the hymns are named. This report may have been written expressly for Walton’s Daily Journal, a rather obscure Vermont newspaper. We do not find it published in other newspapers or in book form, but it seems well worthy of further notice.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(sports–baseball.)
Photographs, ephemera, and equipment from the Anglo-American Baseball Association.
London, 1927-1929 and undated
12 items: 8 photographs, a program, a bat, and 2 gloves; various conditions.
As part of the long effort to spread baseball throughout the globe, the Anglo-American Baseball Association was founded in 1918 by expatriates hoping to develop an English audience for the American national game. Games were played at the Stamford Bridge Grounds in the western part of London, which was (and is) the home of the venerable Chelsea Football Club. Many of the players were drawn from the crews of visiting American steamships and naval vessels. 19th-century American baseball star Arlie Latham was one of the founders of the league and served as the primary umpire.
This collection belonged to Irving Hedley “Eddie” Jones (1899-1980) of Califon, NJ, a 3rd Engineer on the S.S. Leviathan and third baseman for the New York Leviathans. It includes:
Program-scorecard for a 4 August 1929 match between the New York Leviathans and the London Americans. 24 pages, octavo; minor wear and a bit of rust at the staples. Includes a rudimentary introduction to the rules and strategies of baseball, a short notice of an impending visit by Ty Cobb, a scorecard listing all players and their home states (plus Umpire Latham), the year’s schedule, and a stadium map on the rear wrapper.
8 photographs (6 period prints and 2 later copy prints), various sizes. Most are team or group photographs of the Leviathan / United States Lines team in uniform; most have extensive captioning on verso. One shows Jones standing alone in front of a primitive scoreboard in July 1927, while a copy print shows a batter swinging during a game in progress. Many of the players are identified in the captions; one explains that “this team mostly Engine Room personnel” and another identifies the players by their shipboard roles rather than their playing positions. Another dated July 1927 names all of the players, adding “We won 18-9.”
Baseball bat, Spalding Frankie Frisch model, 34 inches long, handle wrapped with tape, with worn red, white and blue stripes on the barrel to match the stacks of the Leviathan; and two worn baseball gloves, with early tags identifying them as property of I.H. Jones of the S.S. Leviathan, 1927-1931.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(sports–golf.)
Pair of works on the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.
Various places, 1923 and 1966
Two 4to volumes, as described.
Samuel L. Parrish. “Some Facts, Reflections, and Personal Reminiscences Connected with the . . . Game of Golf . . . 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. No place, [1923]. The author Samuel Longstreth Parrish (1849-1932) founded Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, NY, the oldest incorporated golf club in America. 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.
Ross Goodner. “The 75 Year History of Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.” 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. 4 in OCLC. Southampton, NY: Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, 1966.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(sports–horse racing.)
Stud broadside for “The Thorough-Bred Trotting Stallion Dick Thunderbolt!”
No place, circa late 1860s?
Illustrated broadside, 27¼ x 21¼ inches to sight, printed in red and black; moderate foxing and wrinkling. Not examined out of frame.
This stallion is offered “to stand for Mares the ensuing Season, at the Cherry Hill Farm, near Manton, in Johnston, R.I.” for “$10 a leap, $15 the season, $25 to insure.” He is described in loving detail, including two generations of pedigree. We are assured: “His speed I will challenge any and all standing Stallions of his age to beat. He is pronounced by those who see him, to be the best Stallion of his age, for style, activity and intelligence.” Another trotting stallion, General Allen, is also offered. The date is not given, but Dick was foaled in May 1861. The broadside was issued by Dick’s owner, George W. White (1826-1898), who also offers his services in “curing Horses of all Bad Tricks, and instruct them to perform Feats which are witnessed with admiration.” For those interested in doing further research, a search for Dick Thunderbolt on Google yields no relevant results, but leads to a colorful variety of irrelevant ones. No examples traced on OCLC or at auction.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(tennessee.)
Family papers of Thomas C. Ryall, a farmer in Shelbyville.
Various places, 1819-1892, bulk 1838-1867
Approximately 125 letters plus 9 other documents (0.4 linear feet), most with minimal wear.
Thomas Coleman Ryall (1809-1897) and his wife Elizabeth Scudder Ryall (1819-1857) had roots in Freehold, NJ but became farmers in Shelbyville, TN. This family archive contains numerous letters from friends and family in both places, reflecting sectional tensions before and during the Civil War.
Slavery and the Civil War are not the primary topics of these letters, but could hardly be ignored. Brother Daniel Bailey Ryall of Freehold, NJ discusses the difficulty of using enslaved people as collateral for loans in a 4 November 1858 letter: “As to borrowing money here, dear brother, on Negro property at the south on reasonable terms, here it is out of the question. They like security that has no legs & can’t at all events run away.” In the Civil War, although Shelbyville was known as a Union town, son Walter Ryall served on the Confederate side. An 11 July 1864 letter seeks his release: “I have applied to Gov’r [Andrew] Johnson for his release & hope he will use his influence in Watty’s favor.” An 8 January 1864 letter to Shelbyville arrived in a censored envelope marked “Examined, A.N. Dell, Capt. & Provo. Mar.”
Some of the letters discuss Whig and Democratic politics, including one from noted Mississippi politician and orator Seargent Smith Prentiss, agreeing to speak at a Whig convention in Nashville. Vicksburg, MS, 25 July 1844; and from Congressman Joseph Reed Ingersoll of Pennsylvania, attacking presidential candidate “Mr. Polk’s pretensions as a protectionist,” Philadelphia, 10 August 1844.
The archive also contains good travel letters. Elizabeth’s brother James Lockhart Scudder describes a visit to Lexington, KY at length, including plans for the funeral of Andrew Jackson, on 19 September 1845. Son Thomas Jr. writes from Meriden, MS on 16 September 1867, describing how he ran out of money and was arrested by the ticket agent on spurious charges of theft.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(travel.) [zadok cramer.]
The Navigator; Containing Directions for Navigating the Monongahela, Alleghany, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers.
Pittsburgh, 1814
28 woodcut maps paginated with text. 360 pages. 12mo, contemporary ½ calf, worn, crudely rejointed, tight; minor wear to contents; early signatures on page x and rear pastedown. In ¼ calf folding case.
8th and largest edition. “Most widely used guide to western waters in the early period”–Howes C855. Most of the maps are river sections, numbered 1 to 13 and I to XIII; also includes a map of Pittsburgh, a long description of the young city (pages 49-72), and a detail of the “Falls of Ohio.” Appended in this edition for the first time is an expanded “Abridgement of Lewis and Clark’s Expedition,” pages 343-349. Erickson, Literature of Lewis and Clark, page 105; Sabin 17386.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(travel.) timothy dwight.
Travels in New-England and New-York.
New Haven, CT, 1821-22
3 folding maps, errata slip. 4 volumes. 8vo, original paper-backed boards and spine labels, minor wear; offsetting from maps, moderate foxing; uncut.
First edition. A nice set in original condition. Howes D612 (“aa”), Sabin 21559.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(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
$400 – $600
253A
(vermont.)
Photograph albums of textile machinery made by the Parks & Woolson Machine Company.
Springfield, VT, circa 1920s-1950s
Approximately 350 silver-print photographs, each about 7½ x 9½ inches, many mounted back to back on stubs, bound in 4 albums. Oblong 4to, original leatherette 3-ring binders, moderate wear, with worn printed labels on backstrips; some with cello tape mounting, some with typed captions laid down, a bit musty.
Parks and Woolson, manufacturers of woolen cloth finishing machinery, was established in 1829, drawing water power from the Black River. Upon its closing in 2003, it was the oldest machine shop in Springfield, VT. The archive documents the company’s production from the 1920s through the 1950s, including images of their products installed in factories across New England: the Broad Brook Company of East Windsor, CT; Cranston Print Works in Rhode Island; Vassalboro Mills in Maine; Trenton Dyeing and Finishing in Canada; and many others. Some images show workers positioned nearby, and many show textiles emerging or positioned within the apparatus. An appealing group for those who recall New England’s once-thriving textile mills.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(war of 1812.)
Volume of the Providence Gazette and Country Journal, covering the early months of the war.
Providence, RI, 4 January to 26 December 1812
47 (of 52) weekly issues. Folio, 21½ x 15 inches, stitched; 4 January missing first leaf, 15 issues incomplete, most with folds, moderate wear and foxing; uncut; name of subscriber written above mastheads. In ½-cloth folding case with marbled boards.
Like many New Englanders, this paper assumed a skeptical antiwar stance. Highlights include the Embargo Act (11 April, slightly defective), the declaration of war (27 June), General Hull’s proclamation to the people of Canada (8 August), the victory of the USS Constitution over HMS Guerriere, and the American surrender of Detroit (5 September), and the Battle of Queenston (24 October).
Estimate
$600 – $900
(george washington.)
Textile titled “The Resignation of Pres’t Washington.”
Anderston, Scotland: W. Gillespie & Co., circa 1800
Engraving on linen, 18¼ x 21 inches to sight; minor wear including 6 small areas of loss, light folds, minimal foxing; early owner’s initials “R M” stitched into upper left corner, circa 1960 tag of Carriage House Antiques of Jamaica, NY on frame verso. Not examined out of frame.
This textile commemorates Washington’s decision to retire from public office. His decision to decline a third term as president set a long and venerable precedent, and set the tone that the presidency was not a lifetime appointment. His famous Farewell Address first appeared in a 19 September 1796 newspaper, and is still read aloud in the Senate on Washington’s Birthday each year.
A full-length portrait of Washington in military uniform is surrounded by seven numbered text panels. The first three offer a short and laudatory biography: “His late manly & noble resignation . . . will impress his parting & paternal instructions indelibly upon the hearts of his Countrymen.” The four side panels contain extensive quotations from the Farewell Address.
This handkerchief was apparently produced shortly after the Farewell Address, and as Washington is spoken of in the present tense, it was probably produced before his 1799 death. It was manufactured by a Scottish firm.
Herbert Collins estimates the date at 1796-1800, and traces just one copy at the Smithsonian. Linda Eaton’s 2014 catalog for Winterthur estimates the date at 1800-1820. We trace none at auction, and only those two in institutions. Collins, Threads of History 13; Eaton, “Printed Textiles: British and American Cottons and Linens 1700-1850” C341 (“One of a number of handkerchiefs printed by the Gillespie firm for the American market”).
Estimate
$5,000 – $7,500
George washington.
Washington’s Farewell Address.
New York: J.C. Buttre, 1856
Engraving, 18 x 13 inches; foxing, laid down on board.
Features a small portrait of Washington, the text of his 1796 farewell address with an engraved signature, and 7 vignettes from his life. The border was engraved by William Momberger, and the lettering was by William Kemble. Hart 584. 4 in OCLC and no other examples traced at auction.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(george washington.) [john j. barralet, artist and engraver.]
[Commemoration of Washington.]
No place, circa 1802-1820
Engraving, 23 x 16½ inches to sight; substantial surface loss in upper part of print, 3 small punctures, laid down on linen and mounted on stretchers. Not examined out of elaborate period frame; state undetermined.
This literally uplifting image was first published in 1802. Washington is raised from his tomb by two figures described in the advertisement as “Immortality” and “the spiritual and temporal Genius.” The weeping allegorical figure of America mourns at his feet, bearing a liberty pole and trampling a serpent, with a mourning Indian beside her. The emblems of the Society of the Cincinnati and the Freemasons hang on ribbons from the tomb. This print was often known as “The Apotheosis of Washington,” but never actually bore that caption. Hart 675; Wick 101.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(george washington.)
Odes to be Sung at the Celebration of Washington’s Birth-Day, by the Washington Benevolent Society
No place, 1816
of the County of Hampden, at Westfield. Letterpress broadside, 11¾ x 7½ inches; some separations at folds, worn without loss of text.
Contains two untitled, uncredited, but apparently original poems in honor of the late president. “Ode I” begins “When the Almighty’s behest / In these climes of the west / Bade empire be / From the treasures of Heav’n / Was our Washington giv’n / And tyrant pow’r was driven / By liberty.” “Ode II” begins “While free-born millions swell the song / To hail this joyful day.” The second ode was apparently composed by the Rev. Charles Jenkins; it was later published as the closing words of a memorial sketch of Jenkins published in 1833 by D.C. Colesworthy, who asserted that it was “written for the anniversary of Washington’s birth-day, and sung on the occasion.”
No other examples traced in OCLC or at auction. Brown University holds a similar broadside for the organization’s 1813 celebration in Springfield, MA, with different odes.
Estimate
$250 – $350
(george washington.) william f. turner.
Letter to the president’s great-grand-nephew, discussing his sale of Mount Vernon.
Ripon Lodge [Rippon, WV], 16 August 1858
Autograph Letter Signed to “Gus” (John Augustine Washington). 3 pages, 9¾ x 7¾ inches, on one folding sheet, with docketing on final blank; folds, minimal wear.
John Augustine Washington (1821-1861) was the great-grand-nephew of President George Washington, and the last Washington family owner of the Mount Vernon Estate. Here, a neighbor of his mother’s estate in Blakeley, WV reacts to the news that Washington was selling Mount Vernon to the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association for $200,000.
“My brother mentioned that you would soon be in receipt of funds from the sale of Mount Vernon, which you remarked to him you would like to invest in real estate.” Turner then invites Washington to join him in investing the proceeds in the Chicago Land Company, payable in installments in 1859, 1860, 1861, and 1862.
Washington did indeed invest his Mount Vernon proceeds in real estate, but it was by purchasing the Waveland estate in Marshall, VA. He was not able to enjoy it for long–he soon became a lieutenant colonel in the Confederate Army, and was killed by a sharpshooter in September 1861.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(gideon welles.)
Extensive archive of personal and family papers of Lincoln’s Secretary of the Navy.
Various places, 1791-1914, bulk circa 1836-1877
More than 1,000 items in 6 boxes (2.5 linear feet), including approximately 153 Autograph Letters Signed by Gideon Welles, 1823-1877; approximately 238 letters to Gideon Welles, most from close family members, circa 1822-1872; 4 manuscript diaries by Welles covering parts of 1836, 1844, 1852, and 1855; and additional family manuscripts, photographs and printed ephemera. Condition is generally strong; a faint tobacco scent can be noted, and less than 5% of the collection suffered moderate damage from an 1897 fire in the family’s Hartford home, but the great bulk of papers are unaffected.
Gideon Welles (1802-1878) was chosen by President Lincoln as his Secretary of the Navy in 1861, and remained in office through the end of Andrew Johnson’s term in 1869. Under his leadership, the Union Navy blockaded Southern ports, proceeded up the Mississippi River, and played a major role in crushing the Confederacy.
Welles was born and raised in Glastonbury, Connecticut, where he spent most of his life. He was an early graduate of what became Norwich University in Vermont, and returned to Connecticut to practice law, edit a newspaper, and serve in the state legislature. His highest-profile position before the Civil War was as Chief of the Bureau of Provisions and Clothing for the Navy during the period of the Mexican-American War. He opposed slavery and became an early member of the new Republican Party in 1854.
This large and substantial archive contains the personal correspondence, diaries, and manuscripts of Gideon Welles, as well as family correspondence, printed ephemera, and photographs. At the heart of the collection are 153 of his Autograph Letters Signed, almost all of them to his son Thomas Glastonbury Welles (1846-1892), with most of them written during the war years. At the outset of the war, Thomas was 14 years old. Shortly before Fort Sumter, Gideon urges Thomas: “The man who will not stand by his country in the hour of peril will not deserve respect” (7 April 1861). He worked to discourage Thomas from prematurely joining the Navy: “No man can be a ship master, or anything but a working drudge of a sailor–the lowest class–without an education” (9 February 1862). While Gideon mentioned the ominous Confederate incursion into Maryland to Thomas, he went into more detail in a 7 September 1862 partial letter to his wife Mary Jane: “We have information that the Rebels had crossed the Upper Potomac in considerable force. . . . They are on this side full sixty five thousand strong, nearly one half their force having reached Frederick. . . . Not less than two hundred regiments passed our door last night between 10 and 1 o’clock. The street was a mass of living men, moving rapidly forward all that time.”
When Thomas joined the Naval Academy and was posted on the famed USS Constitution for training, Gideon wrote “There have been many good and brave and true hearts on her deck. May you be as worthy” (1 October 1862). As the war progressed and Thomas matured, Gideon shared more insights into military matters. Shortly after the USS Monitor was lost in a storm, he wrote “The loss of the Monitor gave us pain, for she had won herself a name and character that endeared her more to us than a more costly vessel.” In reaction to General McClellan’s presidential campaign against Lincoln, Welles dismissed his military accomplishments: “He accomplished very little, and seemed indisposed to take advantage of success. . . . He thought more of himself than the country, and tried to have them engage for him rather than the war” (18 August 1864).” Thomas left the Naval Academy to join the Army as a young officer. Welles expressed concern about his new commander Godfrey Weitzel: “He has a fair reputation as an officer, but I have an impression that he sometimes drank more whiskey than he should” (10 October 1864).
Welles wrote several letters to Thomas during the dramatic conclusion of the war. On 14 April, the Secretary was (like most of the north) in a state of relief: “Last evening all Washington was in a blaze of illumination, fire-works and displays commemorative of the great victory. The truth is we have been doing little else than rejoicing for the last ten days.” By 18 April, the mood had changed: “Nothing since the death of Washington has ever cast so great a gloom over the whole country. That one so gentle, and so kind, whose feelings would permit him to harm no human being, should have been so assaulted and slain is among the most appalling acts ever recorded.” On 20 April he offered a fuller tribute: “His gentle virtues and noble qualities will grow brighter with time, and the world will better appreciate him in the future than while he was among us. Few such men have ever lived. No finer or better man ever stood at the head of a nation. I knew him well and was honored by his friendship, and it will be one of the treasured memories of my life.” On 25 April, he reported on his wife Mary Jane Hale Welles (1817-1886), one of the First Lady’s closest friends: “Your mother spends a portion of every day with Mrs. Lincoln, who has not recovered from the terrible shock which prostrated her.”
Gideon’s 29 postwar letters to Thomas are also interesting, particularly for his perspective on President Andrew Johnson. Welles was one of Johnson’s few loyal supporters in Washington. During the impeachment proceedings, he raged “If the Radicals by fraud or force or both shall attempt to continue in power against the popular sentiment, strife and desolation will follow. . . . I detest them almost as much as the secessionists” (3 May 1868). Upon Johnson’s death, he reflected on 5 August 1875: “Johnson was an honest man, and a true constitutionalist, with fearless moral & physical courage.”
The collection also contains approximately 238 letters received by Welles, the majority of them from family members. As a young aide-de-camp on the day after the Battle of the Crater, Thomas wrote a great war letter in its own right: “We proceeded at 3 a.m. to the trenches to await the explosion of Burnside’s mine. . . . It arose some one or two hundred feet, sending up earth, stones and a whole regiment or more of rebels. . . . The darkies made a very good charge, but it soon became too heavy for them. . . . I was in front of the support and running with all my might towards what appeared almost certain death. It was impossible to retreat. . . . A shell struck within twenty feet of us, killing a captain and wounding several more. . . . A sudden sort of spasm succeeded by a loud explosion and finishing with a ringing in my ears, and a thought that I had been hit in the back of my head succeeded, and for ten or fifteen seconds I was perfectly insensible” (1 August 1864). Thomas also wrote several letters in the wake of the Lincoln assassination, urging his father to exercise caution: “Have a sentry from Marine Guard at your door, and be careful who you see” (16 April 1865). A few of the letters are from official correspondents, including 3 from General Edward O.C. Ord re Thomas G. Welles joining his staff, 1864-1865; Robert Todd Lincoln, 1869; Horace Binney Sergeant, 1872 (requesting “the official facts of the expedition under Admiral Farragut against New Orleans and Mobile”); Edward Everett (as “E.E.”), 1862, and Rear Admiral David D. Porter, 1864. Two anonymous letters from 1863 (24 February and 6 June) discuss Confederate blockade runners.
The collection includes four pre-war diaries by Welles, dated 1836, 1844, 1852, and 1855, all rich in political talk. The 1844 diary only covers two weeks in April, but is perhaps the most interesting. John Milton Niles (1787-1856), a political mentor and friend of Welles, had been elected to the United States Senate in 1842, but before he could take office, the death of his wife triggered a nervous breakdown, and he was committed to an asylum. By April 1844, Niles had been released, and Welles accompanied him as moral support on the terrifying journey to Washington to assume his place in the Senate. On 11 April, Niles made his first appearance in Congress: “Mr. Buchanan, he thought, & not without reason, treated him coldly. . . . Niles had hoped for a warm & friendly greeting from B and expected that he if anyone would earnestly & cordially welcome him into the Senate.” Two days later, “one of the reporters enquired of Bigelow so loud as to have him hear, whether he was still crazy.” On 14 April, “he told me of the delusions he had experienced, and seems not yet willing fully to admit they were delusions.” This diary is a fascinating look at the perceptions of mental health struggles in the halls of power. The 1852 and 1855 diaries are steeped in local Connecticut politics and real estate deals, including repeated clashes with Hartford’s most famous arms manufacturer: “Some talk with sundry persons respecting Sam Colt, who is either playing a game or is exceedingly stupid” (11 March 1852). In 1855, he expressed disgust at the emergence of the Know-Nothing Party in Connecticut: “The order of Know-Nothings held a state convention & nominated a ticket. Met Ezra Clark Jr. in Paine’s office, asked him if he belonged to the order of KN, said he did not. Put the question three times in different forms. He unqualifiedly denied that he was. Yet was the evening before made their candidate for Congress” (22 February).
A box of manuscripts by and about Welles contains some treasures. An undated political essay includes a long denunciation of President Grant: “It was a matter of amazement to me that a person who had his opportunities was so unfamiliar with the practical workings of our political system. . . . He is, beyond the ordinary run of men, deficient in civil administrative capacity and intelligence”; Admiral Foote said “he preferred Grant [above other generals] notwithstanding his insignificant personal appearance, provided he would let whiskey alone.” Juvenile manuscripts go back to 1817 and probably earlier; a certificate of merit he received is from circa 1809. A 24-page biography of Welles in calligraphic hand with carte-de-visite portrait of Welles is dated September 1862; his quite worn commission on vellum as chief of the Bureau of Provisions is signed by President James Polk, 1846.
Gideon’s wife Mary Jane Hale Welles is represented by her personal manuscript recipe book dated 1869, rendered more interesting by notations on her famous friends. Corn starch pudding and charlotte russe are noted “From Mrs. Lincoln”; corn fritters are marked “Pres L’s favorite, Mrs. Lincoln’s receipt, Mrs. Lincoln’s, good”; at end, corn soup is marked “Pres. Johnson’s” and potato soup just below is marked “Pres. Johnson’s favorite.” Also included is a manuscript invitation from Mr. Lincoln at the Executive Mansion (not in Lincoln’s hand). Among the letters received by son Edgar Thaddeus Welles are 3 from Admiral David G. Farragut, who wrote on 28 September 1863 from Hastings, NY: “At Sabine Pass, the soldiers no doubt overruled the officers of the navy to violate their instructions. When the soldiers were sent down to Galveston by Gen’l Banks, I instructed them to land upon Pelican Island where the gunboats could protect them, instead of which Bingham & the soldiers determined to land on the wharf at Galveston, where they were all captured.” Edgar’s scrapbook of newspaper clippings on his father’s cabinet career is also included. Other papers of family members include Yale essays and correspondence of father-in-law Elias White Hale dating back to 1792. Son Edgar was an autograph collector. A folder of 28 letters, clipped signatures, and autograph book entries includes William Seward and many other prominent politicians of the 1850s and 1860s. An album of mostly clipped signatures includes Presidents Madison, Polk, Pierce, Buchanan, Johnson, and Grant among many others, and another album contains signatures of most of the senators in the 25th Congress including Franklin Pierce, Daniel Webster, James Buchanan, John C. Calhoun, and Henry Clay, as well as President Martin Van Buren and 5 cabinet members. The collection also includes 62 checks bearing the signature of Welles, as well as 10 envelopes bearing his franking signature. One prized heirloom was the appointment of son Thomas Welles as Navy midshipman in November 1862, signed by his father as Secretary of the Navy.
Graphic material includes a miniature watercolor portrait of Welles, 4 x 2½ inches oval; approximately 95 photographs depicting mostly family members and Civil War-era celebrities (most in carte-de-visite or cabinet-card formats); and an untitled and unsigned pencil sketch of an ironclad ship. Printed material includes an 1831 Bible signed by Gideon Welles on flyleaf; a worn memorial pamphlet “State Council of Pennsylvania, O. of U.A.M., In Memoriam Abraham Lincoln,” gilt-stamped on front cover for “Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy”; and a broadside seating chart for Delmonico’s, “Dinner to the President of the United States in Honor of his Visit to the City of New York, August 29th, 1866.” A pair of leather portfolios, one gilt-stamped “Gideon Welles,” the other “Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy,” are included. For those anxious to know more about the shape of Welles’s skull, see L.N. Fowler’s “Synopsis of Phrenology” pamphlet annotated with a full report dated 1845. The family saved large quantities of invitations, calling cards, and similar ephemera, perhaps 200 items, from the 1820s-1870s. Many are inserted into a large black album. Highlights include a Civil War pass issued to “Gideon Welles and Friends” dated 6 May 1864; a ticket for the 1865 Grand Review of Troops issued by General Augur; a ticket to “Mr. Bancroft’s Eulogy” on Lincoln in Congress, 1866; an engraved undated invitation from “The President” to Welles (possibly Buchanan as no wife is noted); an engraved invitation from Andrew Johnson to Gideon and Mrs. Welles, 8 February 1868; a pair of Mrs. Andrew Johnson calling cards; a pair of William Seward engraved invitations; and a ticket to a “Citizen’s Reception to his Excellency President Johnson.”
A more detailed inventory of this nationally significant archive is available upon request. Provenance: from the collection of Thomas Welles Brainard, great-great-grandson of Gideon Welles.
Estimate
$60,000 – $90,000
Papers of Gideon Welles
(gideon welles.)
Engraved invitation to a White House dinner with “The President & Mrs. Lincoln.”
[Washington], 8 February [1865]
Printed card, engraved by Philp & Solomons, 3¾ x 5½ inches, completed in manuscript for “Mrs. Welles . . . Wednesday Feb. 8th at 7” in an unknown hand; light mat toning, mounting tape on verso.
The Washington Evening Star of 9 February 1865 describes this White House event, which went from about 7 to 10 in the evening: “The dinner, which was a magnificent one, was furnished by a celebrated French cook, and the Marine Band enlivened the occasion with excellent music.” The published guest list did not include the recipient of this invitation, Mary Jane Hales Welles, who was a close friend of Mary Todd Lincoln and doubtless attended other dinners at the White House–but she was apparently forced to turn down this invitation with regret. The newspaper reported that the same evening, “Secretary Welles . . . gave his second evening reception. . . . The spacious parlours were thronged at an early hour.” Both Admiral Farragut and Postmaster General William Dennison managed to attend both dinners, probably sneaking out awkwardly from the Welles event before its conclusion.
Provenance: from the collection of Thomas Welles Brainard, great-great-grandson of Lincoln’s Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(gideon welles.)
Pass for President Lincoln’s White House funeral.
[Washington], 19 April 1865
Engraved black-bordered invitation on card, 3¼ x 5 inches, specifying the East Wing; minimal foxing.
Attendance at Lincoln’s White House funeral service was limited due to space considerations. The Washington Evening Star described it as “the most solemn day in the history of Washington” and detailed the arrangements:
“During the forenoon various bodies had met at the Treasury Department, separate rooms having been assigned to them, and to these Assistant Secretary Harrington, who had charge of the arrangements, delivered tickets of admission to the Executive Mansion. They included the Assistant Secretaries . . . Senators and Representatives in Congress, Governors of the several states, the Judiciary, and others of prominence. None could enter the mansion without tickets, room having been provided for 600 persons only up on the raised platform steps on the east, north, and south side of the room. The corpse lay about the center, space being reserved all around the catafalque, with chairs for the occupation of the family of the deceased. At eleven o’clock the invited personages began to arrive. . . . At noon the President of the United States entered in company with his Cabinet. . . . Behind Mr. Hamlin were Chief Justice Chase, and Secretaries Welles, Dennison, Speed, and Usher.” Immediately after the services, the coffin was taken on a funeral procession down Pennsylvania Avenue.
Provenance: from the collection of Thomas Welles Brainard, great-great-grandson of Lincoln’s Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles.
Estimate
$4,000 – $6,000
(gideon welles.) frederick halpin, engraver; after carpenter.
Engraved portrait of Lincoln, inscribed by the artist to Gideon Welles.
New York: F.B. Carpenter, 1866
Engraving, 19¼ x 14¼ inches, with facsimile signature “Abraham Lincoln”; unevenly toned, 3 short tears and chips in right margin, laid down on linen in early 20th century; inscribed faintly in pencil in lower margin “Hon. Gideon Welles, with the regards of F.B. Carpenter,” with name of Welles’ daughter-in-law inscribed in pencil on verso. In period frame.
This engraving was done after an original 1864 White House life study by Francis Bicknell Carpenter (1830-1900). Mary Lincoln endorsed it as “the most perfect likeness of my beloved husband that I have ever seen,” adding poignantly “The resemblance is so accurate in Mr. Halpin’s engraving that it will require far more calmness than I can now command to have it placed continuously before me.”
According to family lore, the frame is said to be made from wood taken from the USS Hartford, Admiral Farragut’s famous Civil War flagship, although we find no additional documentation. Provenance: from the collection of Thomas Welles Brainard, the great-great-grandson of Gideon Welles.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(gideon welles.)
Ticket to the impeachment of Andrew Johnson.
Washington, DC, 15 April 1868
3 x 4¾ inches (including attached stub #340), printed in red on salmon card stock; minimal wear; inscribed on verso in an unidentified contemporary hand “Three years ago today, Andrew Johnson took the oath and entered on the duties of President.” In a printed envelope reading “Hon. Gideon Welles.”
Gideon Welles had served as President Lincoln’s Secretary of the Navy, and remained in the cabinet as one of Johnson’s few loyal supporters. Johnson’s defense made its presentation from 9 to 20 April; Welles testified on 18 April and possibly on other days.
Provenance: from the collection of Thomas Welles Brainard, great-great-grandson of Lincoln’s Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(gideon welles.)
Cane said to be made for Abraham Lincoln from the wood of Fort Sumter.
No place, circa 1865?
Elaborately carved wooden cane, 35½ inches in length including modern imitation ivory knob added to replace the damaged original.
This cane is reputed by family history to have been made from wood taken from Fort Sumter for President Abraham Lincoln, and then presented after his death to his Secretary of the Navy and personal friend, Gideon Welles. The cane bears no inscriptions and the story is probably impossible to prove, but we have not managed to disprove it, either.
The Union Army regained possession of Fort Sumter on 22 February 1865, which would allow for less than two months for a cane to be made and presented to Lincoln before his death. In at least three letters to her close friend Mary Jane Hale Welles from July through December 1865, Mary Todd Lincoln stated her intentions to give Gideon Welles a cane from Lincoln’s collection: “I intend sending Mr Welles one of the best canes, and it is quite embarrassing that I have so long delayed doing this.” (see “Mary Todd Lincoln: Her Life and Letters,” pages 257, 277, 317). The cane was photographed in a 1975 article on the consignor’s family papers, with the note “Brainard also owns a cane, which Lincoln, who owned many of them, gave to Welles. It is reputed carved from wood taken from Fort Sumter” (“Gideon Welles had an Eye for History,” in Hartford Sunday Times Magazine, 30 March 1975). Provenance: from the collection of Thomas Welles Brainard, great-great-grandson of Lincoln’s Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(gideon welles.)
3-piece silver tea service owned by the Gideon Welles family.
[Providence, RI, circa 1860s]
Teapot, 9¾ inches tall including hinged lid; cream pitcher, 7 inches tall including hinged lid; and sugar bowl, 8¾ inches tall including separate lid; each with Gorham hallmarks under base including a lion, an anchor, and a gothic “G” over the pattern number “30.” The teapot’s hallmarks are slightly different than the other two pieces, including a left-facing rather than right-facing lion.
Three pieces from Gorham Silver’s renowned #30 design tea set, produced from 1857 onward. Mary Todd Lincoln received a deluxe 8-piece set of this design during her years in the White House, now held at the Smithsonian. They note that “it is likely the service was presented to the first lady as a gift from the citizens of New York.”
These pieces have descended in the family of Gideon Welles, Lincoln’s Secretary of the Navy. Mrs. Mary Jane Welles (1817-1886) was one of Mary Todd Lincoln’s closest friends in Washington. According to family tradition, these pieces were ordered in conjunction with the Lincoln set together from Gorham.
Provenance: from the collection of Thomas Welles Brainard, great-great-grandson of Lincoln’s Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(gideon welles.)
Lincoln Club of Louisiana memorial resolution.
New Orleans, LA, 22 April 1865
One printed page, 9 x 7¼ inches, on elaborate stamped lace-patterned paper, with integral blank; mailing folds, minimal foxing and wear.
None traced at auction since 1906; not in Monaghan and none in OCLC.
Provenance: from the collection of Thomas Welles Brainard, great-great-grandson of Lincoln’s Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles.
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
The West
(west.)
Go Ahead! Davy Crockett’s 1837 Almanack of Wild Sports in the West.
Nashville, TN: heirs of Col. Crockett, [1836]
Numerous illustrations. 46, [2] pages. 8vo, original illustrated wrappers, crude early stitching; corners rounded, moderate wear including 1½-inch tear on title page, foxing and toning, 2 leaves in tasteful facsimile (pages 23/24 and 35/36).
The third annual Crockett almanac, and the first issued after his March 1836 death at the Alamo. It concludes with a description of the “Battle of San Antonio de Bexar, Heroism and Death of Col. Crockett,” illustrated with two full-page wood engravings. Drake 13413; Reese, Celebration of My Country 177.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(west.) samuel parker.
Journal of an Exploring Tour Beyond the Rocky Mountains.
Ithaca, NY, 1842
Folding map, plate. 408 pages. 12mo, publisher’s cloth; lacking front flyleaf, moderate foxing; early signature and later embossed library stamp on title page, library bookplate and deaccession stamp on front pastedown.
Third edition. Graff 3193; Howes P89; Sabin 58729.
Estimate
$250 – $350
(west.) francis parkman.
The California and Oregon Trail.
New York, 1849
448 pages. 12mo, variant dark brown publisher’s cloth, worn and stained but tastefully restored, rebacked and recased with original backstrip laid down; marginal dampstaining in final third of the book; signature of early owner A. White Jr. of Boston on front free endpaper.
First edition. A variant issued without the frontispiece, additional title page, or final ad leaves, possibly the binding described by Howes P97: “This freak variant was probably one of the 6 special copies sent by the publisher to Parkman.” Wagner-Camp 170:1a-3 mentions this dark brown variant binding as well. BAL 15446 also notes this “experimental binding,” but describes the cloth as black.
Estimate
$200 – $300
(west.) william h. emory.
Report on the United States and Mexican Boundary Survey.
Washington, 1857, 1859
5 folding maps and plans (one hand-colored), 37 hand-colored lithographic plates (laid down on modern stubs), 288 other plates, numerous text illustrations. xvi, 258, viii, 174; 270, 78; [2], 62, 32, [1], 35, 85, ii pages. 2 volumes in 3. 4to, modern cloth; intermittent offsetting and minor foxing, a few paper clip marks, one extraneous leaf bound in to second volume, a few leaves worn with tape repairs. 34th Congress, 1st Session, Senate Ex. Doc 108.
First edition of the cornerstone government report on the southwest, with the often absent two-part Volume II. This set includes three plates not recorded in Wagner-Camp and not found in all copies: a colorful “Map Illustrating the General Geological Features of the Country West of the Mississippi River” (facing page I:258); “View of Monument Mountain” facing page I:96; and “View Along the Gila (Cereus Giganteus)” facing the last text leaf in the second volume.
The first half of Volume I is devoted to a general description of the border region, with the remainder devoted to geodetic, geological and paleontological reports. Volume II addresses botany in the first part, and zoology in the separately bound second part. Howes E146; Wagner-Camp 291; Wheat, Transmississippi West III, 822 and pages 242-4.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(west.) r.e. fullerton.
An American Italy for Invalids: A Dissertation . . . of a Journey on the Plains, in the Rocky Mountains and Mexico,
Chicago: H.D. Chapin & Co., June 1872
for the Cure of All Chronic Diseases. 64 pages. 8vo, original printed front wrapper, worn, lacking rear wrapper, rebacked with tape, partly disbound; moderate dampstaining from top edge; perforated Northwestern University library stamp and other library markings on second leaf.
Promises that an extended tour in the west and Mexico will cure tuberculosis and other ailments. The author offers to lead health tours by rail from Omaha through the mountain parks of Wyoming and Colorado, down to New Mexico and Mexico, and the back. Numerous case studies and testimonials are provided. Only 2 copies have been traced, at the National Library of Medicine and at Yale, both lacking the wrapper which states the publication date. None traced at auction, and not in Graff, Howes, or Sabin.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(west.)
Act of Incorporation of Wells, Fargo & Company
[Denver, CO?], 23 April 1879
(wrapper title). 8 pages. 8vo, original gilt cloth wrappers, heavy vertical fold with tape reinforcement inside front and rear wrappers, contemporary note taped to rear wrapper; contents include 2 gilt paper seals of the State of Colorado and manuscript signatures and dates of Norman H. Meldrum as Secretary of State. Laid in is a related manuscript list of the Wells, Fargo board of directors and officers, certified by the company on 5 May 1879.
Includes the full “An Act to Incorporate the Holladay Overland Mail and Express Company” passed by the Colorado legislature in 1866, and the 1872 act changing the name to Wells, Fargo and Company, both with certifications from the Colorado Secretary of State. This was prepared for filing in local jurisdictions where Wells, Fargo did business, as noted on the 2 May 1879 note on the rear wrapper. 2 similar copies traced in OCLC, down to the Colorado seals and signatures. No other examples traced at auction since at least 1961.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(west.) george g. street.
Che! Wah! Wah! or, The Modern Montezumas in Mexico.
Rochester, NY: E. R. Andrews, 1883
Folding map, frontispiece plate in blue and black, one additional plate after page 92, 33 mounted albumen photos, and text illustrations. 115 pages. Tall 8vo, publisher’s green gilt cloth pictorial, minor wear, rebacked with most of original backstrip laid down; moderate wear and minor dampstaining to contents, photo leaves a bit warped as usual.
The privately published narrative of an excursion on the Denver & Rio Grande Railway from Chicago to Colorado, New Mexico, El Paso, TX, and Chihuahua, Mexico. It is illustrated with 33 photographs by R.D. Cleveland, one of the tour participants. A list of the 64 participants is given (mostly cashiers, freight agents and other clerical types from a variety of rail lines), as well as the 15 staff including the cooks and waiters. Adams, Rampaging Herd 2187; Palau 322926.
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
(west.) hal reid.
Custer’s Last Fight: A New Historical Melodrama
No place, circa 1906
(caption title), with wrapper title “Gen. Custer’s Last Fight.” 4 photographic illustrations. 14, [2] pages. 4to (12 x 9¼ inches), original illustrated wrappers printed in red and blue; minor wear and dampstaining.
The program for a touring re-enactment of Custer’s Last Stand staged by Montgomery Irving and “the largest Dramatic Company on the Road.” Includes several pages of narrative and related articles; music for a song titled “Sleep, My Papoose, Sleep”; lyrics to several other songs; and a cast list for the “band of full blooded Indians, Cowboys, Scouts and Soldiers, horses, dogs and wolves.” OCLC records 2 copies; none traced at auction.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(west.)
Group of Western art and reference books, including two Harold McCracken limited editions.
Various places, 1957-1987
12 volumes, various conditions but most folio; condition generally very strong.
Harold McCracken. “The Frederic Remington Book: A Pictorial History of the West.” #190 of 500, signed by the author; in original slipcase. Garden City, NY, 1966.
Harold McCracken. “The Frank Tenney Johnson Book: A Master Painter of the Old West.” #154 of 350, signed by the author; in original slipcase; with related letter signed by McCracken dated 16 November 1973. Garden City, NY, 1974.
Harold G. Davidson. “Edward Borein, Cowboy Artist.” In moderately worn dust jacket. Garden City, NY, 1974.
Forrest Fenn. “The Beat of the Drum and the Whoop of the Dance: A Study of the Life and Work of Joseph Henry Sharp.” Signed by the author; in dust jacket. [Santa Fe, NM, 1983].
William Gardner Bell. “Will James: The Life and Works of a Lone Cowboy.” Flagstaff, AZ, [1987].
Alexander Phimister Proctor. “Sculptor in Buckskin: An Autobiography.” In original slipcase. Norman, OK, [1971].
Richard A. Bourne Auctions. “Public Auction: The Karl F. Moldenhauer Collection of Remington Arms.” In illustrated slipcase. Hyannis, MA, 29 October 1980.
Julie Schimmel. “The Art and Life of W. Herbert Dunton.” Austin, TX, 1984.
Jay Monaghan, editor. “The Book of the American West.” In dust jacket. New York, [1963].
Harry E. Maule, editor. “The Fall Roundup, by Members of the Western Writers of America.” New York, [1955].
George Madis. “The Winchester Era.” One of 1000; signed by the author. Brownsboro, TX, 1984.
Austin Russell. “C.M.R.: Charles M. Russell, Cowboy Artist.” In dust jacket; signed and inscribed by the author to Harold McCracken, with initialed note and annotations by McCracken. New York, [1957].
Estimate
$400 – $600
(west–colorado.)
Property of the Consolidated Silver Mining Company, Reese River and Union Districts, Nevada.
Boston, 1865
14 pages plus final blank. 8vo, formerly stitched; light vertical fold throughout, minor foxing, related pencil notes on final blank; faint embossed library stamp and other library markings on title page.
A prospectus for potential investors describing 32 mining ledges. One in OCLC (at Yale), and none traced at auction.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(west–colorado.)
First Annual Report of the Board of Directors of the Denver and Rio Grande Railway.
Philadelphia, 1873
3 (of 4) folding maps and profiles. 84 pages. 8vo, later ¼ morocco; dampstaining and minor wear in bottom margin, tasteful repairs to frontispiece map.
The initial report of the railroad which would ultimately connect Denver with Mexico City. Some of its narrow-gauge mountain lines remain in use as scenic heritage railways today. This report contains a long appendix by company president William J. Palmer offering a detailed justification of the railway’s signature narrow gauge tracks (pages 43-60).
The important frontispiece map is titled “Map of the Denver and Rio Grande Railway and Connections” by Albert von Motz of Colorado Springs, 24 x 14 inches; minor wear, archival Japanese paper repairs to folds, minimal loss. It shows the company’s extensive lines in Colorado and New Mexico, as well as roads, mining regions, and topography.
The second map, also by von Motz, is titled “Map Showing the Property of the Central Colorado Improvement Company,” 8¼ x 13½ inches, with minimal wear. On another folding sheet are two elevation profiles of the railroad, 8¾ x 33 inches, with just a bit of wear in the fore-edge margin. Not included is the rare “Map of the Mexico National Railway, Including Its Proposed Extensions and Connections.”
Henkle, Colorado 987 (with 3 maps, as here); Modelski, Railroad Maps of the United States 398. We trace just two other copies of this report at auction: one complete in 2006; and one lacking two of the maps.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(west–colorado.) michael beshoar.
All About Trinidad and Las Animas County, Colorado: Their History, Industries, Resources, Etc.
Denver, CO: Times Steam Printing House, 1882
118 pages. Small 8vo, original printed wrappers, minor wear and staining; minimal dampstaining and wear to contents.
The author was a physician who settled in Trinidad in 1867 not long after its founding, and quickly became a civic leader. This guidebook contains sections on history, mineral resources, manufacturing, livestock, and most of the county’s towns. The section on officials lists Trinidad city marshals through 1881; Bartholemew “Bat” Masterson was appointed to that post in April 1882. None traced at auction; not in Graff, Howes, or Henkle’s Colorado.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(west–colorado.) [william henry jackson, photographer.]
Album of views of southwestern Colorado.
Colorado, circa 1880s
16 albumen photographs mounted on 12 cards joined accordion style. Oblong 8vo, original gilt cloth, moderate wear, front board discolored, titled simply “Colorado”; minor foxing and wear to contents.
A set of views of southwestern Colorado, mostly from Durango to Silverton along the Animas River and what is now the San Juan National Forest. They are not credited, but many or most of the images can be found among the William Henry Jackson collection at Denver Public Library. Photographs include 8 full-page 4 x 6¼-inch images: “3214 Durango Colo.”; “3260 Canon of the Rio Las Animas”; “–25. Needle Mountain from Animas Canon”; “3257 Elk Park, Animas Canon”; “1601 Toltec Gorge”; “3265 Silverton”; “3256 Silverton”; and “3243 Bakers Park.” These are followed by 8 smaller images, 3½ x 2¾ inches, mounted 2 per page: “3131 Cunningham Gulch, Bakers Park”; “3132 A Mountain Trail”; “3152 Silverton from the Cascade”; “3153 Needle Mountains from Baker Park”; “3154 Cascade below Silverton”; “3155 Cascade below Silverton”: “3156 Cascade Near Elk Park, Animas”; and “3158 Deer Park Cascade Animas Canon.”
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(west–kansas.)
Letters and map from early Nemaha County.
Various places, 1861-1868 and undated
Printed map, 27½ x 19½ inches; toning, partial separations at folds, other minor wear. with 11 related letters to the Sage family dated 1861-1868; various sizes, generally minor wear.
These letters were written to Jeffrey Sage (1791-1876) and his son William N. Sage (born 1828) of Broome County, NY and Virginia, who had invested in land in Nemaha County in northeastern Kansas, apparently in the now-defunct village of Albany just north of Sabetha. These letters from their agents and friends in Kansas offer some interesting details on frontier conditions there during the Civil War era. John L. Graham writes on 6 January 1861: “Miller is out on the Republican Fork of the Kansas River, hunting and trapping. . . . There are three houses in Albany and a steam sawmill in prospect, no school house and no school, no store. There are nine houses in Sabetha, no school house, but they have a school in the log house on the corner and have 30 schollars. There is a good blacksmith there, and he has a pleanty of work. He has two marriageable daughters and Bill Graham waited on one of them to meeting down to Albany yesterday.” Edwin Miller wrote from Missouri on 19 August 1865: “I have not lived in Kan. since the war commenced. I was in the service 2 yrs, was lieut. in the Kans. 7th Cavalry. . . . Albany has got the P.O. away from Sabatha since I left. There is no store in Sabetha, 2 in Albany.” He lists the residents of Albany. J.C. Hebbard, a resident of Seneca since 1860, sent his report on 14 February 1866, describing the businesses in Seneca and Albany, and anticipating “quite a large emigration to Kansas this year.” Hebbard’s gilt-accented letterhead from 1868 has a long promotional message regarding Nemaha County printed on verso, and his 15 August 1868 letter boasts of Albany’s “two stores and a very fine school building.”
Also included is a “Township Map of Nemaha County” by J.W. Tuller, which shows a proposed railroad (completed in 1866), settlements, school buildings, saw and grist mills, and the famed Overland Trail (here marked as “Great Overland Route to California”). A small square just north of Albany is marked in red ink, likely the land owned by the Sage family. We trace no other examples of this map in OCLC or on line. Hartford, CT: Bingham & Dodd, lithographers, circa 1861-1866.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(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
$700 – $1,000
(west–montana.) robert e. strahorn.
The Resources of Montana Territory and Attractions of Yellowstone National Park.
Helena, MT, 1879
Map on verso of front wrapper, small rail map on rear wrapper, several full-page engravings. 77, [3] pages including ads. 8vo, original printed wrappers, minor wear; a few light corner creases to contents, otherwise minimal wear.
First edition of a comprehensive tourism and emigration guide published for the Montana legislature. Adams, Rampaging Herd 2184; Howes S1057 (“aa”); McMurtrie Montana 162 (hypothesizes it was actually printed in Omaha, NE); Streeter IV:2252.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(west–montana.) laton a. huffman, photographer.
The Bow Gun Boys at Dinner.
Miles City, MT, circa 1902
Hand-colored silver print, 13¼ x 21½, signed and captioned in ink, additionally captioned in the negative with catalog number 182; moderate edge wear with a few small chips and scuffs, creased along right edge about ½ inch in, reinforced along some edges on verso.
Nine cowboys gather at a mess tent on the plains. Bow-Gun Ranch was outside of Terry, Montana, not far north of Miles City. This and the next photograph apparently date from the period described in Huffman’s July 1907 article for Scribner’s Magazine, “The Last Busting at the Bow-Gun.” There he described the ranch as “one of the old-time cow camps of the north country, built nearly twenty-five years back, and now sadly fallen into dilapidation and decay.”
Estimate
$500 – $750
(west–montana.) laton a. huffman, photographer.
Branding Fire, Big Dry.
Miles City, MT, 1902
Hand-colored silver print, 14½ x 19½, signed and captioned in ink; minor edge wear, 3-inch light scrape crossing the cowboy at upper left, partly reinforced with tape on edges verso.
This and the previous photograph apparently date from the period described in Huffman’s July 1907 article for Scribner’s Magazine, “The Last Busting at the Bow-Gun.”
Estimate
$500 – $750
(west–nebraska.) henry pierce.
A Nebraska frontier farmer describes the Indians “killing and burning everything.”
Beatrice, NE, 1864-1866 and undated
Group of 6 Autograph Letters Signed to younger sister Susan of Saybrook, OH. Each 7¾ x 5 inches, 3 or 4 pages on one folding sheet; folds, minor soiling, paper clip stains.
Henry John Pierce (1833-1883) was raised in Saybrook, OH and went west as a single man to the newly settled frontier village of Beatrice, Gage County, Nebraska by 1860. His letters describe continued violent conflicts with American Indians.
On 9 October 1864 he wrote to his sister Susan Elizabeth Pierce (1847-1932) that he “was intending to go on the Plains again the first of this month, but the Indians have made it rather of a hazardous undertaking, danger of loseing my scalp lock. This country witnessed one of the largest stampedes on record, Bull Run excepted. Everyone in this vicinity and west for 30 miles flocked into Beatrice, bringing their stock and such other plunder as they could hastily gather together. . . . A horseman came in post hast saying that the Indians were within 10 miles of us, killing and burning everything. . . . The most resolute stuck to the town. We made a barricade of wagons and got inside of the circle and waited, but no Indians came to us.. . . . 7 or 8 of my friends have been killed and their widows left to the charity of a cold world.”
Pierce describes further Indian trouble on 15 January 1865: “Since New Years they have taken possession of the country west of us again, captured several coaches, attacked the town of Julesburg and other points. They took one coach and eleven passengers, 75,000 dollars in specie. Another coach on the overland mail was lost, one of the lead horses came in to the station with the harness on, all that escaped of that one.”
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(west–nevada.)
Silver Mines of Virginia and Austin, Nevada.
Boston: Wright & Potter, 1865
19 pages. 8vo, original printed wrappers, partly split along backstrip, minor wear; light vertical fold to contents. In custom folding cloth case.
A compilation of reports on Nevada’s silver mines from reputable sources including the geologist Benjamin Silliman Jr. It offers advice on choosing a productive mine to invest in, and concludes “Every dollar you invest in good, tested, honest mines, will yield you a golden harvest every month.” Sabin 81126. None traced at auction; Eberstadt offered a copy in 1963.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(west–nevada.) h.l. williamson.
Broadside poem on Nevada military life titled “A Trip to Pandemonium.”
Elko, NV: Elko Independent, [1872]
Letterpress broadside, 9¼ x 7 inches; apparently removed from a scrapbook, mount remnants on verso, top and bottom edges unevenly trimmed.
An epic poem framed as a dialogue with the devil, filled with humorous references to United States Army officers stationed at Camp Halleck in Nevada, including camp commander Colonel James Biddle and many others. The Shoshone Indians and “that land where the Mormons go” are also discussed. It can be easily dated by the stanza on the coming Grant-Greeley presidential contest. It concludes with an admonition: “When you go to Elko, in your new suit of blue / Keep away from the whiskey–‘tis the best you can do.” No other copies traced in OCLC or at auction. Provenance: from the papers of career Army officer Erskine M. Camp (see lot 51), who is mentioned in passing in this poem as “valiant and gay.”
Estimate
$500 – $750
(west–new mexico.) edmund g. ross.
Archive of “Special Message” broadside slips issued as governor of New Mexico Territory.
Santa Fe, NM, 11 January to 28 February 1889
16 slips, various sizes ranging from about 6 x 3 inches to 12 x 6 inches; minimal wear and light toning, most with two pinholes in upper margin.
Edmund Gibson Ross (1826-1907) served as territorial governor of New Mexico from 1885 to 1889. He had earlier gained fame as a Senator from Kansas, when as a Republican he broke from his party and cast the deciding vote against convicting President Andrew Johnson in the 1868 impeachment trial. For this, Ross would be featured in John F. Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage. As New Mexico governor, Ross was a reformer who advocated for public schools, a university, and an asylum. He was usually on the losing end in a perpetual battle with the territorial legislature and its “Santa Fe Ring.” Most of the legislation passed in his final year was accomplished either without his approval, or over his veto. See Howard R. Lamar, “Edmund G. Ross as Governor of New Mexico Territory: A Reappraisal,” New Mexico Historical Review 36:3 (July 1961).
Offered here are 16 of his “Special Messages” to the 28th Legislative Assembly issued over a two-month period toward the end of his term. In them, he advocates futilely for his chosen causes, and explains the reasoning behind his vetoes at length. Topics include a proposed port on the Gulf of Mexico; “An act to prevent the overstocking of cattle ranges”; an act “prohibiting alien investments in real estates in the territories” (decades before the Roswell Incident); irrigation; and much more.
Yale University holds a similar set of these Special Messages, but we trace no others in OCLC or at auction. A detailed list is available upon request.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(west–new mexico.)
Brand Book of the Territory of New Mexico.
Santa Fe, NM: New Mexican Printing Co., 1900
[2], 356 pages. Tall 8vo, publisher’s pebbled gilt cloth wrappers, backstrip ends a bit chipped, otherwise minimal wear; title page partly detached, lacking rear flyleaf, other minor wear to contents, section on Grant County heavily annotated with “Grant County N.M.” inscribed on fore-edge; signed on flyleaf.
The first comprehensive New Mexico brand book, issued by the Cattle Sanitary Board in East Las Vegas, NM on 1 July 1900. It covers “cattle, horses, mules and asses” and contains thousands of illustrated entries. This copy was presented to official Burrage Y. McKeys of Deming (then part of Grant County) in southwestern New Mexico.
Not seen by Adams for Rampaging Herd, although the book’s three later supplements are listed (1667-1669). One in OCLC (at the Huntington Library) and no other examples traced at auction.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(west–texas.) gabriel durán.
“Carta y plan” denouncing the future Texan patriot Lorenzo de Zavala.
Mexico: Tomás Uribe y Alcalde, 1833
2 printed pages, 12 x 8¼ inches; horizontal fold, minor soiling and wear. In custom ¼ gilt morocco folding case.
Lorenzo de Zavala (1788-1836) was a prominent liberal Mexican politician; he had helped draft the Constitution of 1824, and served as president of Congress, and Secretary of Finance. In 1829 he began investing in Texan lands, which began his close involvement in Texas.
When this document was issued, Zavala was serving as Governor of the State of Mexico. In this open letter to Mexican president Santa Anna dated 1 June 1833 in Tlalpan, General Gabriel Durán makes a vehement attack on Zavala’s patriotism and character, urging Santa Anna to cut ties with Zavala completely. Translated, in part: “An audacious and insolent faction . . . took by assault the sovereign executive powers enabling Lorenzo Zavala, a famous criminal, despised in general by the nation.” In order to “sustain the sovereignty of the nation in spite of the violent jolt and ill-fated attacks of the anarchy,” Duran offers Santa Anna the military support needed to halt “a schism and the violation of our sacred religion, and the restlessness of proprietors of being despoiled of their properties will be forever dissipated.” He offers an 8-point plan to “annul the elections where de Zavala was triumphant.”
Durán’s message was not at first heeded by Santa Anna, who appointed Zavala as Minister to France in October 1833. However, in reaction to Santa Anna’s dictatorial actions, Zavala resigned his position in 1834, never returned to Mexico, and settled in Texas in 1835 when it was on the cusp of revolution. He helped draft the Texan constitution, and served as the Republic’s first vice president.
Sutro Collection Pamphlets, page 690. One in OCLC (British Library), not in Palau, and none traced at auction.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(west–texas.) agustín viesca.
Decree restricting the militia of Coahuila y Tejas shortly before the revolution.
Monclova, 20 May 1835
Letterpress broadside, 12½ x 9 inches, signed in type as governor of Coahuila y Tejas, with manuscript notes, and additionally by Angel Navarro, directing to the chief at Goliad, TX; horizontal fold, ink burns to manuscript additions, 6 early tape repairs including two holes in left margin; modern private library bookplate on verso. With transcript and translation.
Just months before the outbreak of open rebellion in Texas, Governor Viesca, forwards a decree by Mexico’s Minister of the Interior, José María Gutiérrez de Estrada. The minister noted that a 7 April order by the Texas legislature, allowing the governor to call out the local militia to maintain the peace, was in conflict with a 31 March federal decree. He concludes (in translation) that the government “cannot allow partial measures to subsist that conflict directly with the general laws. . . . It will be the responsibility of Your Excellency for the lack of compliance with what was agreed by the Congress if your government insists on upholding the aforementioned article.”
The manuscript additions show that this copy was sent by Angel Navarro, the political head of San Antonio de Bexar, to his counterpart in Goliad. Streeter, Texas 838 (calling for a second blank leaf not found here). 2 in OCLC, and no other examples traced at auction.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(west–texas.)
A Mexican compilation of key documents relating to Goliad and the Alamo.
[Mexico], circa April 1836
[10] printed pages, 12½ x 8½ inches, stitched, with caption title “El diario del supremo gobierno de la nacion del dia 13 de abril ultimo, inserta las plausibles e interesantes noticias que siguen”; minor marginal dampstaining, minor worming, light folds.
A compilation of 15 key documents relating to the Texas Revolution in March and early April 1836, covering both the Goliad campaign and the siege of the Alamo, some of them as reported in an issue of the “Diario del Gobierno de la Republica Mexicana.”
They include the 20 March instrument of surrender by General James Fannin at Goliad (pages 5-6), and the internal debate between President Santa Anna and General Urrea over the fate of the prisoners which culminated in the Goliad Massacre. Also included is a Spanish translation of the last appeal for assistance by Alamo commander William Travis, dated 3 March 1836, which concludes “Victoria ó muerte!!” (Victory or Death). We can find no other example of this Spanish translation in print.
4 documents are signed in type by Santa Anna, dated 18 March, 26 March, 27 March, and 28 March. In this last letter, which we have not found published elsewhere, he expresses outrage to General Urrea about the arrogance and defiance of Travis: “En el sitado periódico y parte dicho del comandante Travis, se nota tambien la arrogancia y desprecio con que estos foragidos insultaban el acreditado valor del ejército mexicano ; y si bien pelearon hasta la desesperacion, tambien se ha dado á sus compañeros una terrible leccion de la suerte que les está reservada á los que como ellos atenten á la integridad de la repúblico, provocando su justa venganza.” Translated: “In the newspaper statement by Commander Travis, the arrogance and contempt with which these outlaws insulted the courage of the Mexican army is also noted; and although they fought to the point of desperation, their companions have also been given a terrible lesson in the fate that is reserved for those who, like them, violate the integrity of the republic, provoking their just revenge.”
5 other letters are signed in type by José de Urrea, commander of the Goliad Campaign. 2 are by the Mexican Secretary of War José María de Tornel, and a 20 March letter by Colonel Francisco de Garay describes the Mexican victory at Goliad. The final document repeats a report on the Mexican attack on San Felipe de Austin, which had been published in the 28 April 1836 issue of another Mexican newspaper, “La Lima del Vulcano.”
We trace no other examples of this important pamphlet–not in OCLC, Palau, Streeter’s Texas, or via Google.
Estimate
$12,000 – $18,000
(west–texas.) valentín canalizo.
Decree waiving the death penalty for certain Texan prisoners of war–but not their leaders.
Toluca, 23 April 1836
Letterpress broadside, 12¼ x 8½ inches, signed in type by Canalizo as Governor of the State of Mexico, and by Joaquin Noriega as secretary; stitch holes, one horizontal fold, light staining at corners, lone wormhole, mount remnants on verso. In custom gilt calf folder.
“Substituting perpetual banishment for the death penalty in the case of certain Texan prisoners of war, but not members of the government and leaders of the revolution. . . . This decree was passed in the flush of the victory at the Alamo, applied to those rebellious Texans who surrendered within fifteen days. . . . Those not already subject to the death penalty might be punished by ten years imprisonment in interior regions”–Streeter, Texas 876 (re the 14 April first printing). This is a local printing of the decree by President José Justo Corro, with seven additional articles added by Governor Canalizo. This printing not traced in OCLC.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
(west–texas.) valentín canalizo.
Emotional message on the capture of General Santa Anna in Texas.
Toluca, 24 May 1836
Letterpress broadside, 12¼ x 8½, signed in type as Governor of the State of Mexico; losses at all 4 corners just touching text with paper repairs; modern private library bookplate on verso.
The Governor of Mexico responds to the news of General Santa-Anna’s capture in Texas, asking that the people take up arms and do not relinquish them until the injustice is avenged. The opening lines are “El Gobernador del Departamento de México: á sus habitantes. Conciudadanos y amigos! Una de las bicisitudes tan comunes en la guerra á hecho que el digno Presidente de la República General D. Antonio Lopez de Santa-Anna se encuentre prisionero entre los estrangeros colonos de Tejas.” 2 examples in OCLC, and none traced at auction.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(west–texas.) valentín canalizo.
Mexican decree pledging to free Santa Anna, but disavowing any promises made by him while a prisoner.
Toluca, 31 May 1836
Letterpress broadside, 12¼ x 8½ inches, signed in type by Canalizo as Governor of the State of Mexico, and by Joaquin Noriega as secretary; horizontal fold, stitch holes, slight wear and mount remnants at all four corners; modern private library bookplate on verso.
“Pledging every effort to secure the liberty of Santa Anna, but declaring in section 3 any promises he may make while a prisoner not binding on the Government”–Streeter, Texas 879 (re 20 May first edition). The captured Santa Anna had signed the Treaty of Velasco on 14 May, promising that the Mexican army would withdraw to south of the Rio Grande. This is a local printing of the original decree by President José Justo Corro.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
(west–texas.) andrew jackson.
Message . . . Relating to the Condition of Texas.
23 pages. Large 8vo, modern gilt calf; minor foxing; uncut. 24th Congress, 1st Session, Senate Doc. 415.
Includes the first official United States government printings of the 2 March 1836 “Unanimous Declaration of Independence,” the 17 March 1836 “Constitution of the Republic of Texas,” and Samuel Houston’s 25 April 1836 report on the Battle of San Jacinto and the capture of Santa Anna. Streeter, Texas 1253.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(west–texas.) josé justo corro.
Plan to pay for Mexican foreign debt with land in Texas, California and other frontier territories.
Mexico, 12 April 1837
3 printed pages, 12 x 8½ inches, on one folding sheet, signed in type by Ignacio Alas as secretary; 2 short tape repairs on fore-edge, later pencil notes; modern private library bookplate on verso.
A decree establishing a Mexican national account at 5% interest to redeem the foreign debt, using 100 million acres of land on the northern frontier in the states of Tejas, Chihuahua, Nuevo Mexico, Sonora, and California (this was a year into Texan independence). The final Article 10 offers full legal status as colonists to foreigners who colonize these territories. 4 in OCLC; not in Streeter, Texas. One other traced at auction, at Swann on 12 November 1981, lot 543.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(west–texas.)
Republic of Texas deed signed by General Thomas Jefferson Green.
Velasco, TX, 2 May 1837
Autograph Document Signed by Thomas Jefferson Green as “Thos J. Green, Agent for Velasco Association.” One page, 10 x 8 inches, plus integral blank; minor wear and offsetting.
Thomas Jefferson Green moved to Texas in 1836 and became a brigadier general in the republic’s army. He was later second in command on the Mier Expedition. In this deed, he sells a piece of land in Velasco, TX to John Heth of Virginia for $200.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(west–texas.) josé justo corro.
Decree awarding land to soldiers who had fought against the Texan rebels.
Mexico, 4 April 1837
Letterpress broadside, 12 x 8¾ inches, signed in type by Joaquin de Iturbide as secretary; trimmed, tape repairs in right margin, modern private library bookplate on verso.
Although Texas had gained independence the previous year, this act authorizes the colonization of Texas by veterans of the struggle for Mexican independence, and offers concessions to allied Indian tribes and those who fought for the recovery of Texas. It also confirms Article 11 of the Colonization Act of 6 April 1830, which had prohibited Americans from settling in Texas and had helped spark the Texan Revolution: “el congreso á favor de las tribus ó naciones indígenas, y de los cooperadores al restablecimiento de Tejas; no embarazándose por las leyes dadas hasta aquí sobre colonizacion, cuyas disposiciones se derogan en todo lo que contrarien á la presente, repitiéndose la prohibicion del art. 11 de la ley de 6 de Abril de 1830.” This Ministry of the Interior printing was issued on the same day as the decree. Not in Streeter’s Texas. Only one is traced in OCLC (Huntington Library), and none traced at auction since a Swann sale, 12 November 1981, lot 541.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(west–texas.)
Discharge certificate from the Army of the Republic of Texas.
Houston, TX, 30 December 1837
Partly-printed Document Signed by Barnard E. Bee, countersigned by clerk John Redman Jr.[?], additionally signed by the Board of Land Commissioners, Houston, illustrated with an engraved star. One page, 6¼ x 8 inches, with later pencil docketing on verso; folds, moderate foxing and wear.
This certificate was issued to Private James Castello of Hall’s Company A of the 2nd Regiment; his name is recorded elsewhere as Castillo. It attests that he is “honorably discharged from the army of the Republic of Texas” after more than 10 months of service. It is signed by Barnard E. Bee Sr. (1787-1853), Secretary of War of the Republic of Texas; his son Barnard Jr. was later a Confederate general.
We trace no other Republic of Texas army discharge certificates at auction. Wofford College holds another example of the same certificate, the only other one we have traced.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(west–texas.)
Group of 11 speeches and government documents on the Texas annexation debate.
Washington and elsewhere, 1844-1845
8vo, the speeches mostly disbound, and the government documents mostly rebacked with paper tape; minor dampstaining and wear except as noted.
Thomas Hart Benton. “Speech . . . on the Treaty for the Annexation of Texas.” 8 pages. Washington: Globe Office, [20 May] 1844.
Another printing of the same, with inclusion of appended documents. 28 pages; dampstained and worn. Washington: Gideon, 1844.
James Buchanan. “Speech . . . in Favor of the Treaty for the Annexation of Texas.” 15 pages; unopened. [Washington], 8 June 1844.
Thomas Hart Benton. “Texas Annexation Bill: Speech . . . in Reply to Mr. McDuffie.” 16 pages. [Washington], 15 June 1844.
“Resolutions of the General Assembly of New Hampshire in Favor of the Annexation of Texas.” 2 pages. 28th Congress, 2nd Session, Senate Doc. 22. [Washington], 6 January 1845.
John Tyler. “Message from the President . . . in Reply to a Resolution . . . Relative to the Public Debt and Public Lands of the Republic of Texas.” 3 pages. 28th Congress, 2nd Session, Senate Doc. 29. [Washington], 7 January 1845.
John Tyler. “Message from the President . . . in Reply to a Resolution . . . in Relation to Various Treaty Stipulations between Texas and other Independent Powers.” 11 pages. 28th Congress, 2nd Session, Senate Doc. 30. [Washington], 7 January 1845.
“Resolutions of the General Assembly of Missouri in Favor of the Reannexation of Texas.” 2 pages. 28th Congress, 2nd Session, Senate Doc. 46. [Washington], 20 January 1845.
Daniel D. Barnard. “Speech . . . on the Annexation of Texas.” 16 pages; inked library deaccession stamps. Washington, [24 January] 1845.
Joseph T. Adams. “Lecture on the Subject of Re-Annexing Texas to the United States.” 23 pages. “Texas is the greatest cotton region in the world. It is not only more fertile for cotton, but it produces a better article. There is enough land in Texas to enable her to supply the world with this great staple.” New Bedford, MA, 10 February 1845.
Joseph Bell. “Report of a Joint Committee and Resolutions of the General Assembly of Massachusetts Adverse to the Annexation of Texas.” 12 pages. “While slavery or slave representation form any part of the claims or conditions of admission, Texas, with their consent, can never be admitted.” 28th Congress, 2nd Session, Senate Doc. 141. [Washington], 27 February 1845.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(west–utah.)
Charter of Great Salt Lake City, and Ordinances and Resolutions of the City Council.
xxiii, xliv, 75, 6 pages. 8vo, contemporary ¼ calf, minor wear; lacking front free endpaper, minor ink spotting to title page; early signature on rear flyleaf.
This volume begins with the United States Constitution, the federal act to establish Utah Territory, and the Salt Lake City charter, followed by 75 pages of Salt Lake City ordinances passed through 1860, including restrictions on liquor sales on pages 29-32. An appendix includes ordinances restricting firearm use, houses of ill fame, and more.
Earlier editions of the Salt Lake charter and ordinances appeared in 1855 and 1859. Although the federally appointed governor of Utah Territory arrived in 1858, the mayor and aldermen listed here were all prominent LDS members. Original owner Thomas Burchell (1830-1871) was born in England, was baptized into the LDS in 1856, came to Salt Lake City by wagon train in September 1859, and this book was published the following year. See his death notice in the Millennial Star of 19 December 1871. Sabin 75840.
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
(west–washington state.) elwood evans.
Washington Territory: Her Past, Her Present and the Elements of Wealth which Ensure Her Future.
Olympia, WA: C.B. Bagley, 1877
51 pages. 8vo, original printed wrappers, 2-inch closed tear with tape repair; vertical fold throughout; signed and inscribed by the author on front wrapper to Joshua Nye of Maine, modern bookplate of Frederick E. Ellis of Shaw Island, WA.
A promotional address delivered at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, and published by order of the Washington legislature. Graff 1268; Howes E218 (“aa”). None traced at auction since 1988.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(west–washington state.)
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.” Period material in this lot includes:
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.”
Estimate
$300 – $400
(west–wyoming.) john h. mcilvain.
Letter from an early visitor to Fort Laramie.
Fort Laramie, WY, 13 [July] (“7 Mo.”) [1853]
Autograph Letter Signed to brothers James and Hugh McIlvain. 2 pages, 9¾ x 7½ inches, with no postal markings; worn on inner edge with slight loss of text and 2-inch closed tear with short tape repairs.
John Hunt McIlvain (1808-1885) came from a prominent Philadelphia family of lumber merchants, and became a noted ornithologist. This letter was written on his 1853 trip to the Rocky Mountains.
He writes from Fort Laramie, which had been established in 1849 on the site of an older trading post. “I had walked a short distance down the Laramie [River], & seeing the mail coming, hurried home with trembling anxiety. All the officers & souldiers were assembled in the office & I saw each receiving their letters, some ½ dozen, and quietly awaited my turn without speaking a word; but when informed ‘Mr. Mc, there is nothing for you’ I felt my heart sinck within me, & my discomforture was noted by every body. What shall I say? My forebodings are dreadfull. Is my wife or my precious children gone? I have now been here between 4 & 5 weeks since which this very mail & the same driver have been to Independence on the frontier & returned. Not one word since the day I left the boundary. . . . I will endeavor to bear my disappointment with philosophy.” A bit of good news: McIlvain’s wife and children all survived long past 1853. McIlvain also receives postal advice from one of the post’s officers, Hugh B. Fleming: “Mr. F. has just learned of his promotion, & he is worthy of it if any military man is, he is quite young & also the quartermaster here.”
Estimate
$500 – $750
(west–wyoming.)
Reports and a manuscript re the Teschemacher & deBillier Cattle Company, with close ties to the Johnson County War.
Wyoming, 1884-1890
3 items, up to 14 inches long; generally moderate wear.
Herbert Englebert Teschemacher (1856-1907) and Frederick Ogden deBilliers (1857-1935) were Harvard classmates (class of 1878). Much like Theodore Roosevelt (Class of 1880), they went west together to seek their fortunes in cattle; Roosevelt became one of their stockholders. Teschemacher and deBilliers were both among the leaders of the raiders who did battle against rustlers and smaller ranchers in the famous 1892 Johnson County Range War, and were both arrested for their roles. While in confinement deBilliers became violently insane and was sent east to New York for recovery (see San Francisco Chronicle, 8 July 1892, Chicago Inter-Ocean, 6 January 1893). Offered here are:
Financial statement for the Teschemacher & deBillier Cattle Co. 6 printed pages. 8vo, original wrappers, dampstained and lacking part of front wrapper; heavily annotated with related manuscript calculations and errata. Cheyenne, WY, February 1884.
“Report of the Teschemacher & deBillier Cattle Company.” [5] printed pages. Folio, 14 x 8½ inches, unbound; horizontal fold, minor wear. Uva, WY, 9 January 1889.
Manuscript document headed “Mr. F.O. deBillier, one of our oldest and most popular members, is about to sever his connection with this Club. We, the undersigned, hereby express our desire to unite in giving him a farewell dinner,” followed by 22 signatures of club members. One page, 13 x 8 inches; partial separation at fold. No place, 25 October 1890. The club is not named, but many or most of the signers appear to be prominent Wyoming businessmen, including deBilliers’ business partner H.E. Teschemacher, and former Cheyenne mayor M.V. Boughton–best known as the founding president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, which represented the larger cattlemen. Prominent Wyoming businessman John Clay, whose name appears here, was also named as a supporter of the raiders. We suspect the event may have been held by the Cheyenne Club, Wyoming’s leading social club.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(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
$250 – $350
(west–wyoming.)
Early wanted poster and photograph issued by a renowned Cheyenne sheriff.
Cheyenne, WY, 25 January 1908
One mimeograph page, 11 x 8¼ inches, on letterhead of Sheriff Edwin J. Smalley; partial separation at fold, moderate wear and dampstaining; with small silver-print photograph of the suspect, 1¾ x 1¼ inches, minor wear.
This notice announces a warrant for the arrest of A. Leysen and Mrs. D.P. Gould for “obtaining goods under false pretense and grand larceny.” Leysen is described at length and “has a blue uniform and badge, Cheyenne Detective Bureau. He is a barber by trade and undertakes to act as a detective. Ran a Detective Bureau here a short time.” Mrs. Gould is “Leyden’s mistress, and acts as a lady detective.” The accompanying photograph of Leyden shows him in his blue uniform and Cheyenne Detective Bureau badge.
A report on Loysen’s arrest two weeks later notes that “he has been a constant reader of dime novels for years and wanted to establish a reputation,” which he accomplished by circulating worthless checks.
Sheriff Edwin John Smalley (1868-1939), who issued this notice, was the first white child born in Cheyenne, and is best known as the sheriff who arrested outlaw Tom Horn in 1902.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(whaling.) philip m. kinsey.
An unusually lively group of letters home from a South Pacific whaler.
Various places, 1852-1855
8 Autograph Letters Signed to various family members (most of them quite long) and additional incomplete letter fragments, plus 2 letters addressed to Kinsey from his father Samuel, and one to Samuel Kinsey from the ship’s captain; later numbers added in red pencil, generally moderate wear, with the letter fragments quite worn; no postal markings.
These letters offer an entertaining mix of whaling stories and South Pacific ethnographic detail, and they reach a poignant conclusion. Philip Mixsell Kinsey (1829-1855) was raised in Catasauqua, PA near Allentown, and set out on a whaling voyage aboard the ship Amazon of Fairhaven, MA in September 1852.
His 8 November 1853 letter describes whaling in the Arctic, including an attempt to strip the blubber and tusks from a dead walrus, running through an ice field which other whalers had refused to attempt. One of many rousing whaling passages: “When he rose to the top of the water, he recived two iron from our boat, and now the fun commences. . . . Now he’s off at rail road speed and towing the two boats. . . . You can hardly see for the white water, but there he slacks. Hall line quick my boys, there he slows, spring to your ores and lay back, let her run steady, and now the mate is lancin’ him stern all quick, the Capt. is lancin’ on the other side. There he goes down. . . . The next time he rose, the mate gave him a death lance for sure. He spouts thick blood, and three hearty cheers arises from the boats and ship. . . . The head with bone weighed about 3000 lbs–rather a large head, don’t you think?” On 25 March 1855 he contemplates a gift for his brother: “About that mermaid I am afraid I shall be unable to catch one, but what do you think about a bottle of wind caught from the last gale, or a piece of blackskin scraped from the flukes of a whale?”
On 24 March 1853 he describes the Portuguese Atlantic colony of Cape Verde: “These islands are inhabited by Portiguise. Thay look like our plantation Negrows. I understand that the missionarys have made an excellant harvest in converting souls to God.” On 12 April [1853] he describes at length the island of “Whylootake one of the Friendlys” (in Tonga, or perhaps Aitutaki in the Cook Islands): extensive fruit groves, and an exceptionally honest and intelligent population. He also recounts three sailors who deserted the ship in New Zealand, but ran out of food after eight days: “Hunger compelled them to leave their hiding place to seek some food, but no sooner did they show their heads, than the Mowarys [Maoris] nab them and conducted them to the calabuse . . . for a reward of 5 lb. They will burn all the wood on the land if they could not find the runaway outside the bush.” Archangel Bay in Siberia is discussed on 8 November 1853.
Maui did not meet with Kinsey’s approval. He describes the restrictive shore leave laws at length, and complains: “The dust in the streets in generly from 8 to 10 inches thick. . . . Their dress is made in the oddest style that I can remember, the waist being right under the arms and hanging loose upon the body. Their head dress is generly artificial flowers brought from China.” In March 1855 he describes alleged cannibalism on the Marquesas Islands: “At times the chiefs will fight their king, or it will be chief against chief. When an enemy kills annother, if he can get the body he secures it untill he collects his friends, when he takes certain parts of the body and roasts it for them.” He also describes their appearance: “Each tribe can be told by their tatooing. This tattoing is all done for the girls. If a man is not pricked up in this way, no girl will marry him. The women have the tattooing done upon the arms and legs and some upon the lips.”
Philip’s last letter was written from Lahaina, Hawaii on 15 October 1855. He describes landing a whale in a storm “blowing so hard that it caused the ship to jump up and down so bad that the fluke chain parted, and so to save our main mast we had to cut the whale adrift, and to tell the truth it was with sad hearts that we did so.” He describes the celebration on the ship as their cruise came to an end, bound for the Hawaiian Islands. A month later came a mournful letter from the ship’s master Edward H. Barber announcing Philip’s death while “attempting to recover one of the ship’s boats whilst on shore at Hervey’s Island after recruits for my homeward passage. . . . He must have been carried out with the undertow. . . . His body was not recovered.”
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(women’s history.) virginia penny.
Think and Act: A Series of Articles Pertaining to Men and Women, Work and Wages.
Philadelphia, 1869
372 pages. 8vo, publisher’s cloth, minor wear; minimal wear to contents; original owner’s inscription on front free endpaper.
The economist and social reformer Virginia Penny (1826-1913) of Kentucky was a leading advocate for women’s suffrage. “Think and Act,” her second book, addresses the struggles of women in the workplace, with chapter titles including “Women’s Labor Not Justly Compensated–and Why”; “It Requires as Much to Support a Woman as a Man”; and “Women Without a Home.” Sabin 60794n. None traced at auction since 1895.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(women’s history.) julia e. smith.
Abby Smith and Her Cows, with a Report of the Law Case Decided Contrary to Law.
Hartford, CT, 1877
Full-page woodcut on page [2]. 94 pages. 8vo, publisher’s printed wrappers, minor wear; minimal dampstaining on top edge.
Julia Evelina Smith (1792-1886) and her sister Abby Hadassah Smith sued the town of Glastonbury, CT when it attempted to levy a tax directed at single and widowed women. They argued that, because they could not vote, the town’s assessment constituted taxation without representation. The town responded by auctioning the sisters’ beloved cows to pay the debt.
Julia Smith is best known for publishing the first translation of the Bible by a woman, in 1876. A full-page advertisement for her Bible appears on the inner wrapper of this pamphlet.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(women’s history.) ann grifalconi, artist.
The man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages . . .
New York, 1971
and ain’t I a woman? Poster in pink and purple, 32 x 23 inches; minor wear.
This striking poster depicts Sojourner Truth with part of her famous “Ain’t I a Woman” speech–undoubtedly intended to speak to both the civil rights and feminist movements of the day. Another variant exists in brown and orange, printed by New Victoria Printers of New Hampshire.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(women’s history.) esther & roslyn, artists.
What Betsy Ross put together, let no male put asunder.
[Washington?], [December 1976?]
Poster, 28½ x 22 inches; minimal wear.
We have traced only one other example of this poster, donated in 1980 to the Smithsonian Institution, which states that it was created for a Bella Abzug farewell luncheon. This was likely the 10 December 1976 luncheon given for Abzug at Washington’s House Office Building shortly before she completed her six years in Congress. None traced in OCLC or at auction.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(world war one.)
Broadside issued in occupied Germany under the command of General Pershing.
General Headquarters, American Expeditionary Force, 9 December 1918
Broadside, 22 x 9 inches, in parallel English and German; fold, minor wear.
This broadside sets boundaries for the inhabitants of occupied Germany less than a month after Armistice Day. It requires identification cards; sets a strict curfew from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. and a tighter window on the sale of alcohol; forbids weapons, assemblies, carrier pigeons, and outdoor photography; and sets up censorship of all publications and mail. It is headed “Anordnungen: The following rules and regulations are published for the guidance of the inhabitants of the District of Germany occupied by the American forces and will be strictly observed.” It is signed in type “by command of General Pershing: James W. McAndrew, Chief of Staff.” None traced in OCLC or at auction.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(world war one.) merl a. mcgee.
Letter from a Black doughboy in France.
St. Jean, France, 30 December 1918
Autograph Letter Signed to friend LeEtta Sanders of Seattle, WA. 6 pages on 3 sheets of Knights of Columbus War Activities stationery, 8½ x 5½ inches; mailing folds, small tear at bottom of last page, other minor wear. With original postmarked and censored envelope and 2 copy prints of photographs of Sanders with soldier friends.
This letter was written by an African-American soldier a few weeks after the fighting ended. Merl Alick McGee (1892-1967) was a South Dakotan native; when war broke out, he was working in a fish cannery in Blaine, WA, on the Canadian border. This letter discusses his Christmas-time homesickness, his hunt for souvenirs, and his old base at Camp Lewis, WA. He notes “I have explored all the country around this place within walking distance . . . we are now part of the battle line, so there is not quite so much to see.” He closes with some humorous thoughts on the head of the United States Food Administration (and future president): “Has Mr. Hoover commenced letting up on his conservation notions yet? If he has not, he is going to have trouble with this bunch when they get back. The whole outfit has planned a campaign against pies, cakes, and all the other sweet stuff. With our present strength, we believe that we can win out in a short time. When we strike, we will all hit that line at once, and I know that victory must be ours.”
Estimate
$500 – $750
(world war two.)
Navy man’s scrapbook showing the gruesome aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack.
Hawaii, 1938-circa 1941
157 photographs and three matchbook covers inserted with corner mounts to 36 scrapbook leaves, with an “Ancient Order of the Deep” certificate and a page of autographs bound in. Oblong 4to, 8 x 11 inches, decorative limp calf covers with silk engraving of ship set in, minor wear; signature and ship name on front cover.
Most of this album depicts the idyllic life of a peacetime sailor stationed in Hawaii, enjoying the beach, the palm trees, and the local tourist sights. In the rear are 7 pages of uncaptioned photos depicting the carnage of Pearl Harbor. Souvenir shots of the U.S.S. Houston, Chicago, Argonne, and Maryland are juxtaposed with 19 snapshots of explosions and corpses, each 2¾ x 4 inches. 3 are distant views of buildings and ships with smoke rising. One simply shows the spatter of blood on a ship’s deck. Another shows a dismembered hand. 14 other snapshots show corpses of soldiers. We have found no evidence that any of them were published.
The album is signed on the cover “Lindley, E.A. E.M. 3/6 1938 U.S.S. Argonne.” The compiler was apparently Edward Arthur Lindley (1916-1980) of Connecticut, who had enlisted in the Navy by 1935.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(world war two.) florence hodgson.
Vivid first-hand account of the Pearl Harbor attack by a Honolulu resident.
Honolulu, HI, 15 March 1943
17 manuscript pages, 7¾ x 5 inches, stitched and laid down in the rear of a printed book, Blake Clark’s “Remember Pearl Harbor!” (Philadelphia, 1942); minimal wear to the manuscript, the book with substantial wear to backstrip but clean internally, two small photographs of Hodgson’s terrace laid down, and one of her brother Joseph V. Hodgson (the territory’s Attorney General) laid in; inscribed on front free endpaper to Hodgson’s sister on 18 April 1943.
Florence Lucile Hodgson (1892-1968) attended the University of Michigan, and then in 1929 began teaching Latin at the Punahou Academy, an elite Honolulu preparatory school. She wrote this haunting manuscript memoir of Pearl Harbor, “written this 463rd night of black-out, March 15, 1943.” It begins with a description of a routine pleasant Sunday morning disturbed by a distant sound of “almost continuous firing of guns . . . interspersed with very disturbing louder crashes.” She assumed it was simply a military exercise, but thought with annoyance “If war ever should come, it would probably sound like this.” The radio began making cryptic pronouncements urging residents to stay indoors and avoid the telephone, adding “This is the real McCoy” and eventually “The Islands are being attacked.” She climbed a nearby hill where other residents had gathered, and saw smoke screening Pearl Harbor, burning homes scattered through the city, and military convoys moving into her school’s campus below: “Little did we think as we watched them that the U.S.E.D was taking possession of our school and seventy-acre campus for the duration of the war.”
The small crowd on the hill spotted seven Japanese planes circling the harbor just out of reach of the anti-aircraft guns, and fled rapidly when the planes veered off and headed directly toward the hill: “A few like me just stood, hoping that if they strafed us with machine guns, that it would be over for us quickly.” A neighbor carrying a long rifle urged them to disperse, as the crowd was an easy target.
Actual news mixed with wild rumors filtered in through the afternoon (“Jap parachutists are dropping everywhere on St. Louis Heights”). The radio urged civilians to donate blood. The governor declared martial law “in a shaking voice” as “a bomb that morning had fallen in front of his residence.” She learned that a friend who had been out for a drive that morning near the base was evacuated by military truck and spent the night sheltered at Diamond Head Crater. The account closes with the author sitting on her terrace that evening in near-total darkness, “firmly convinced that the dastardly sneak attack on the fleet at Pearl Harbor . . . had been but a prelude to the landing of Jap troops. . . . I wondered how ready were we to meet the invasion.”
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(world war two.)
Diaries kept by a fireman aboard the destroyer USS Gillis in the Aleutians and South Pacific, including Okinawa.
Various places, 8 November 1943 to 27 July 1945
[50], [83] manuscript diary pages. 2 volumes. 8vo, original buckram, minor wear, one titled “Log U.S.S. Gillis” on front board; minimal wear to contents.
When these diaries began, our diarist was a fireman third class. He had just transferred to the USS Gillis, an aircraft tender and rescue patrol ship heading north from Seattle to Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, when had been recently liberated from the Japanese. This was not the typical naval service. The Gillis was tasked with transporting a boatload of military dogs on 20 November 1943, which caused considerable chaos on board: “40 Airdales came aboard today. We are to take them to Attu.” He recorded a mighty storm on the unusual date of 30 February 1944 near Attu (“the westernmost point in the world”): “Had a big one hit us, liked to of taken the stack off, put two holes in it, tore off one gun, knock the guard rail out of line, tore up the flare locker.”
The Gillis went in for overhaul in the spring of 1944, and Elliott started a new diary volume on 10 June 1944 as the ship began a new cruise in the South Pacific. Here the ship, accompanying aircraft carriers, was under constant threat from “tin fish” (torpedoes) and kamikaze planes. On 20 August 1944, “had a fire last night on the main discustion panel, burn hell out of everything. Sure was a mess. We–Scratch, Ford & I–had to rig up portable lights all over the ship.” On 7 December 1944, “radar shack . . . had picked up a ship which was headed in our direction. . . . It didn’t pass us. Instead it ramed us just aft of our No. 1 gun, nearly cutting us in two. We put the collision mat over, but it didn’t do any good. . . . One officer got hurt bad.” On 11 March, “during movie Jap planes (3) came over. One crashed into the ACV, doing some damage to her aft end. Kill one, wounded 25 others, other planes crashed and missed.” In the fleet to capture the Kerama Islands on 27 March 1945, “was attacked this morning by 4 dive bombers and one light bomber. . . . We were about 1 mile off the beach, acting as a screen and also to draw fire from the shore batteries.” At the start of the long Battle of Okinawa, 1 April 1945, “Easter Sunday to the folk home, but to us Invasion Day. Went in about 0300 first wave. By noon today we had taken two airstrips.” 7 April: “On the number of Jap planes, it was 186 that came over. We got 118 of them. They hit 28 ships, sunk 4, still our losses are slight.” 14 April: “Seem to be fighting the Japs up in the hills. Several fires were started.” 29 April: “The raid last night was of 200 planes, most of them were Jap human robot bombs.”
Inserted in one diary are a few mementos: an insignia (belonging to an electrician, not our fireman diarist); two slips with the names of sailors; a Real Photo postcard of an unidentified sweetheart; and a group portrait of about 20 smiling sailors.
We attribute the authorship to Harold McGee Elliott (1923-2019), who was born in Richmond, VA and enlisted in the Navy from Washington in October 1942. Elliott is not named in these diaries, but is recorded as one of 4 firemen assigned to the Gillis on 8 November 1943, and his promotion to fireman first class is recorded in both the diary and muster rolls on 2 February 1944; he notes his 22nd birthday on 2 February 1945. The man standing farthest to the right in the group photograph bears some resemblance to Elliott’s obituary photograph, though they are separated by more than 70 years.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(world war two.) edwin s. fulgo.
A marine’s painting done soon after the Battle of Kwajalein in the South Pacific.
Kwajalein Atoll, 18 February 1944
Oil on canvas, 14¾ x 23½ inches to sight, signed and captioned in lower margin; wrapped around and affixed to period board with adhesive and nails, minor soiling. Not examined out of period frame.
This view was painted by Edwin S. Fulgo (1920-1944) of Rensselaer, NY, a corporal in the Fourth Tank Battalion in the Fourth Marine Division. It was painted 15 days after the American victory over the Japanese in the Battle of Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands. It apparently shows a tank crew’s sleeping quarters on the occupied atoll: a tent pitched off the rear of a tank, fortified by logs and sandbags. Corporal Fulgo was killed in action four months later at the Battle of Saipan.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(world war two.)
Occupation broadside issued by the United States military government in Frankfurt, 4 days after the German surrender.
Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Gerhard Blümlein, 12 May 1945
Broadside, 16½ x 23½ inches, in parallel English and German; partial separations at folds, other minor wear.
The United States Army. led by the 5th Infantry Division, captured the German city of Frankfurt am Main on 29 March 1945. Germany surrendered effective 8 May, and this broadside was issued in Frankfurt four days later. It announces a curfew: “No person within the Stadtkreis Frankfurt will be permitted to circulate on the streets without a permit of Military Government between the hours of 2100 and 0500. . . . Military guards are instructed to shoot any persons seen outside their houses after hours who attempt to hide or escape.” None traced in OCLC or at auction.
Estimate
$400 – $600
Latin Americana & The Caribbean
(simon bolivar.)
Correspondence on the last months of Bolívar and Gran Colombia, and on Bolívar’s sword and cloak.
Various places, 1830-1861
4 manuscript items in one folder; incomplete with moderate wear as noted.
Benjamin Clement (1785-1835) was a captain in the Royal Navy (and an acquaintance of Jane Austen). In 1830, he was the captain of renowned HMS Shannon. These papers relate to his offer to help revolutionary hero Simón Bolívar seek exile in Jamaica, to the dissolution of Gran Colombia in 1830, and to Bolívar’s sword and cloak which remained in the captain’s possession.
“Memoranda for Capt. Clement,” unsigned but apparently by Bolívar’s aide-de-camp Colonel Belford Wilson. 7 [of 11?] pages, moderate wear including some loss from vermin, apparently missing a second sheet. “By an extraordinary courier that reached Bogotá a few hours previous . . . information was received of the south of Colombia having separated from the rest of the Republick . . . in consequence of the resolution of G’l Bolivar to resign the supreme command and leave the country altogether being made known. G’l Bolivar was the connecting link that had hitherto preserved the union.” He describes military actions in the cities of Pasto and Cali, where “three hundred citizens armed themselves and refused to deliver up to G’l Obando the ammunition & stores they had in their city.” General José María Obando, new governor of Socorro, is denounced for his role “in a plot to destroy the late Congress.” The outlying departments of Colombia are now “prey to anarchy, divided among themselves & from the rest of the republick.” As for Bolívar, his “intention is to sail for England so soon as his passport arrives from Bogotá,” otherwise he “would have availed himself of Capt. Clement’s kind offer for passage to Jamaica on board the HMS Shannon. He was most anxious to have done so.” 28 May and 9 June 1830.
Partial letter to Capt. Clement, in the same hand, also apparently Colonel Belford Wilson. 4 pages but lacking the final pages and signature; partial separations at folds. “The untimely death of my late illustrious benefactor and your friend, the Liberator of Colombia, must have been deeply regretted by you. . . . I was greatly grieved to hear that you had unfortunately lost the military cloak presented to you by H.E. [His Excellency?] together with his sword, the last he ever used in defense of his country, of liberty, & of humanity.” He also discusses “G’l Bolivar’s letter to me” which “gives his motives for not profitting by your kind offer to convey him to Jamaica. Would to God he had done so. . . . I assure you, the Shannon was for a long time our hope, but fate prevented his return.” The author discusses his recent convalescence in Jamaica under the care of Commodore Farquhar, which was widely reported in newspapers such as the Caledonian Mercury of 26 February 1831 (naming him as Belford Wilson). Kingston, Jamaica, 4 March 1831.
Letter from Capt. Clement’s younger son William Thomas Clement (1820-1864) to elder son, the Rev. Benjamin Prowting Clement (1813-1873). 3 pages. “I am in correspondence with General Santa Cruz, Minister Plenipotentiary from the Bolivian government, relative to the sword of General Bolívar. . . . He speaks of it very kind of me to offer the sword to Bolivia. . . . Let me have all papers and letters . . . as I am certain there are some letters that passed about the sword & belt from Col. Wilson. . . . I mentioned to General Santa Cruz that you were in possession of Bolívar’s cloak.” Anstey, Alton [Hampshire, England], 11 April 1861.
Draft of a return letter from the Rev. Clement to his brother. 2 pages. “Respecting Bolívar’s sword . . . we will collect all letters & papers at all likely to have reference to the subject. . . . I fear you will not find any about the sword or cloke.” Winchester, England, 12 April 1861.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(bolivia.) constant cordier.
The Republic of Bolivia 1908: Its History and Government, Topography and Natural Resources.
Lima, 1909
15 maps, 164 other photographs and printed illustrations laid down. xxiii, 600 typed leaves. Folio, 13 x 7¾ inches, contemporary ½ morocco, moderate wear; hinges split, minimal wear to contents; military library and withdrawal stamps on front flyleaf and title page.
This American military intelligence report was based on ten months of study in La Paz and a journey across the nation’s central plain. The compiler was Lieutenant Constant Cordier (1878-1940) of the 4th United States Infantry, a Louisiana native who later reached the rank of colonel. His preface asserts his confidence that “it combines the most accurate and up-to-date information extant, under any one cover, on Bolivia.” The illustrations are generally excised or reproduced from other publications, but some photographs appear to be original. The report covers geography, natural history, economy, and of course the Bolivian military (pages 483-527). His assessment of the Bolivian troops: “They appeared to march not only well, but better than the Peruvians. . . . He will march for days with a load upon his back, which any white man would grumble at, without the slightest murmur. With his coca, and very little more in the way of nourishment, he will outwalk any white foreign soldier” (pages 521-522). The report has a detailed bibliography and table of contents, and is well-indexed.
Lieutenant Cordier compiled this report while serving as an American military attaché in Lima for the Office of the Chief of Staff’s Second Section, which supervised military intelligence operations. It was filed in the library of the Second Section with a “Confidential” stamp, but the Second Section soon abandoned its intelligence duties, which probably explains the “withdrawn from library” stamp on the title page. The rear flyleaf bears a pencil notation, “Bought City 1/18/47”; City Book Auction of New York held an auction that day. The report appears to be unpublished. No other examples are known; his similar report on Brazil in 4 volumes is held by the New York Public Library.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(brazil.) jean de léry.
Historia navigationis in Brasiliam.
Geneva: Eustathium Vignon, 1586
7 full-page engravings. [61], [3 blank pages], 341, [17] pages. 8vo, contemporary vellum, moderate wear and soiling; lacking the scarce folding plate, crudely rejointed.
First Latin edition, containing material suppressed from the 1578 French first edition. An important account by a Huguenot Protestant missionary. Includes the first attempt to commit Brazilian melodies to print (pages 128, 214-220), which first appeared in the 1585 edition. Borba de Moraes page I:470; European Americana 586/47; Sabin 40153.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
(brazil.)
Tratado entre os Commandantes das Forças de Sua Magestade Fidellissima . . . o Imperador do Brazil no Estado Cis-Platino.
Montevideo, Uruguay: Ayllones y Compañia, [20 November 1823]
6 pages, 12 x 8¼ inches, on 2 unbound sheets; edge wear not affecting text, minor dampstaining.
In the early 19th century, Uruguay sought freedom not only from the Spanish empire, but also from a British invasion, annexation by Portugal, and Portugal’s defeat by independent Brazil. This Portuguese-language treaty between Brazil and the Portuguese stronghold at Montevideo was signed during the Siege of Montevideo. None traced at auction or in OCLC.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(brazil.)
Correspondence with a British admiral regarding the bloody Cabanagem revolts in Pará.
Various places, March 1835 to January 1836
12 letters addressed to Rear Admiral Graham Eden Hamond or copies forwarded to his attention, in one folder; minor wear.
“The rebels’ party murdered every white person that came in their way.”
The 1835 Cabanagem revolt in the northern Brazilian province of Pará attempted to establish independence from Brazil and Portugal; an estimated 40,000 combatants and civilians lost their lives. The Rear Admiral Graham Eden Hamond (1779-1862) was then commander of the Royal Navy’s South American Station, and the best hope for the protection of British citizens caught up in the revolt. Offered here are:
4 letters from consul Edward Watts in Pernambuco. Watts reports on political conditions in the province, noting on 7 March “an unceasing oscillation for supremacy which disturbs publick tranquility and very materially deranges the operations of British and other foreign trade at this port” and praising the “moral effect produced by the occasional appearance of a British pennant at this port.” A week later he discusses the Cabanagem revolt, a “bloody tragedy” in which “the insurgents assassinated the president of that province. . . . Several others have fallen victims to the savage fury of the populace and soldiers,” stirring up separatists in Pernambuco. He encloses a plea signed by 12 British merchants in Pernambuco: “Apprehensive as we are that a violent explosion may soon take place in Pernambuco” they plead for “the urgent necessity of the immediate appearance of a British vessel of war.”
Two contemporary copies of reports from the province of Maranhão are dated 31 August and 10 September 1835, describing “the dreadful account of the attack of the city and the capture of the greatest part of it by the rebels . . . chiefly or altogether people of colour. . . . Most or all of the English houses in Pará have been plundered. That of Mssrs. Campbell & Co. was defended for thirty-six hours by the sailors of H.M. Sloop racehorse, but after several of these sailors were killed it was abandoned to the rebels and plundered of everything. . . . It appears the rebels’ party murdered every white person that came in their way.”
Finally, Admiralty official Sir John Barrow (best known as a patron of polar exploration) wrote to Hamond on 18 January 1836, on learning “the ports of the revolted province of Para to be in a state of blockade, I am commanded by their Lordships to acquaint you that they approve of what you have done.” Two copies of this official message are present here, both signed by Barrow.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(colombia.) john c. trautwine.
Rough Notes of an Exploration for an Inter-Oceanic Canal Route . . . in New Granada.
Philadelphia, 1854
4 folding maps (one colored in outline); 14 tinted lithograph plates. [4], 96 pages. 8vo, publisher’s cloth, minor wear; light toning; inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper “To S.P. Kase Esq. with the author’s respects.”
Reprinted from the Proceedings of the Franklin Society. Sabin 96480; not in Palau.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(commerce.)
Reglamento y aranceles reales para el comercio libre de España a Indias de 12. de octubre de 1778.
Madrid: Marín, [1778]
Armorial frontispiece plate. [2], 19, 262 pages. 4to, contemporary red morocco gilt with stamped arms of Charles III of Spain on front board, moderate wear; dampstaining in top margin only; title page in red and black; library tag on front free endpaper, small inked “MM” stamps on verso of title and page 52.
Spanish regulations for trade with the Indies, including the act which lifted Seville and Cádiz’s monopoly. Palau 255843; Sabin 68890. Provenance: Swann’s Michael Mathes sale, 6 November 2014, lot 40.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(cuba.)
Relacion verdadera de . . . la real armada de la flota en la carrera de las Indias, con los Olandeses.
Madrid: Juan Sanchez, 1641
[4] pages, 10¾ x 8 inches, on one folding sheet; disbound, minor foxing, early manuscript page numbers; uncut.
An account of a hard-fought naval battle off the coast of Havana between the Spanish navy and a fleet of 17 Dutch privateers, as relayed by Admirals Geronimo de Sandoval and Juan de Vega Baçan. European Americana 641/121 (listing only two copies in libraries); Medina BHA, 1028; Palau 258221. None traced at auction, although Maggs offered a copy for sale in 1930, and Palau notes another listing from 1954.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(cuba.) [tomas romay.]
Descripcion de los ornatos y del bayle publico con que el Real Consulado,
Havana: Arazoza y Soler, 1814
otros cuerpos y vecinos de la Habana solemnizaron el triunfante regreso del Rey Nuestro Señor don Fernando Septimo. 8 pages. Folio, 10¾ x 7½ inches, modern gilt boards, light staining; dampstaining, moderate worming with tasteful repairs, tightly trimmed on bottom edge with possible loss of catchwords; inked stamp of Havana collector Doctor Manuel Pérez Beato (1855-1943) on title page.
A description of how Havana celebrated King Ferdinand VII’s return to power after 5 years of Napoleonic rule. Sabin 73002. Not traced in OCLC, Palau, or auction records.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(guatemala.)
Constitucion de la Republica Federal de Centro-America.
Guatemala, 1825
Engraved illustrated title page. [4], 49, [6] pages. Small 8vo, stitched; moderate dampstaining, minor wear, title and second leaf detached.
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Central America, the independent nation which took the place of the Captaincy of Guatemala under New Spain, and which divided into Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua between 1838 and 1841. Palau 59789. 2 copies of this edition in OCLC, and none traced at auction since 1900.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(guatemala.) henry dunn.
Guatimala, or, the United Provinces of Central America, in 1827-8.
New York, 1828
318, [1] pages. 8vo, publisher’s cloth-backed boards, rebacked with portion of original backstrip laid down, moderate wear; foxing.
First edition. “One of the classic travelogues, written by an Anglican clergyman traveling in company with the Dutch consul general during the conflicts relating to the independence movement”—Grieb, Central America GU 392. Palau 77296; Sabin 21320.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(guiana.) antoine biet.
Voyage de la France equinoxiale en l’isle de Cayenne.
Paris: François Clouzier, 1664
[24], 432 pages. 4to, contemporary mottled calf, minor wear; internally clean.
The travel narrative of a priest who accompanied the French settlement of Cayenne in 1652. Pages 268-295 are devoted to his 1654 visit to Barbados; he also describes Martinique and Guadeloupe, and provides a glossary of the Galibi Carib language (pages 399-432). European Americana 664/15; Handler, Barbados page 5; JCB, pages III:106-7; European American 664/15; Sabin 5269; not in Hough’s Lesser Antilles.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(latin america.)
Papers of United States Army officer and castanet master LeRoy Glodell, stationed in Bolivia, Panama and elsewhere.
Various places, bulk circa 1941-1977
At least 2,000 items including correspondence (most with original envelopes), photographs, printed ephemera, and more in 2 boxes (2 linear feet); condition generally strong, almost entirely unprocessed.
And now for something completely different. Connecticut native Leroy Marcus Glodell (1902-1984) traveled widely before the World War Two, including a tour of Mexico in the 1920s as a dancer. He became known as an artisanal castanet maker. In 1938 he settled in East Providence, RI where he worked as an electrician. By March 1941, before Pearl Harbor, he was already in army service in Florida. He became a captain, stationed mostly stateside in Washington, Miami, Leavenworth, KS, and elsewhere. After the war, given his fluency in Spanish, he remained in the army as an attaché in South America, and as chief of intelligence in the Panama Canal Zone, reaching the rank of colonel.
About half of this collection consists of a long correspondence between Glodell and his sweetheart Florence Grace Knapton Consolves (1910-1997) of Providence, RI. This collection includes several hundred letters between the two, mostly from 1941 through their marriage in 1947 in Cochabamba, Bolivia.
Several binders of photographs and reports relate to Glodell’s military work in Latin America, and to his interest in local history there: an analysis of Fort Lorenzo de Chagres in Panama; photos of the Escuela de Transmisiones in Bolivia; several scrapbook pages of Glodell’s expedition down Bolivia’s Espirito Santo River; a typescript 1925 Department of State analysis of Mexican-American relations, 1910-1920; and much more. Hundreds of photographs document his military, personal, and musical lives.
Also included are correspondence and printed matter regarding flamenco dancing and his side business as a castanet manufacturer through 1977. His obituary in the January 1984 issue of Jaleo, a flamenco newsletter, described him as “one of the finest castanet makers in the world . . . one of the great masters of his craft.”
Estimate
$300 – $400
(mexican cookery.) maría antonia martínez.
Early manuscript cookbook titled “Libro de Cosina.”
No place, 1827
[2], 225, [15] pages. Small 8vo, modern ¼ morocco; water damage to bottom edge, stabilized with tasteful conservation but affecting the legibility of a line or two on many pages.
This manuscript was written four years before the first printed Mexican cookbook. The recipes are arranged under the headings of guisados, dulces finos (starting on page 83), arina (183), and nevados (221). Many of the recipes are distinctively Mexican, such as nogada (page 7), mole verde (page 19), “estofado megicano” (34), mole poblano (37), chilhuacle (39), Oaxaceño stew with veal (44), Poblana quince jam (92), and mamey (153). The recipe for alfajores cubiertos (iced almond cookies) on pages 146-147 includes an illustration.
Estimate
$4,000 – $6,000
(mexican imprint–1555.) alonso de molina.
Aquí comiença un vocabulario en la lengua Castellana y Mexicana.
Mexico: Juan Pablos, 1555
[8], 259, [1] leaves including facsimiles. 4to, later gilt calf, lacking backstrip; lacking 13 leaves (title page, 3 leaves of front matter, and 9 near the end, all with tasteful facsimiles bound in), moderate dampstaining, inked text on top and bottom edges, a few manuscript notes and doodles in margins.
first edition of the first Spanish-Nahuatl dictionary. Alonso de Molina (1513-79) learned Nahuatl, the dominant indigenous language of central Mexico, as a child in New Spain. He taught the language to the first Franciscan missionaries there and subsequently entered the Franciscan order. His dictionary went through many editions (a Nahuatl-Spanish dictionary was added for the second edition in 1571), and is still influential today. García Icazbalceta 23; Medina, Mexico 24; Palau 174351 (“obra rara y extraordinaria”); Pilling 2600; Sabin 49866. An incomplete example of an extremely early and important book.
Estimate
$6,000 – $9,000
(mexican imprint–1577.) [juan de la anunciación.]
[Sermonario en lengua mexicana.]
[Mexico: Antonio Ricardo, 1577]
[8], 267 leaves (erratically paginated). 3 parts in one volume. 4to, contemporary vellum, worn; lacking endpapers, lacking first and second title pages, worming becomes heavier after page 231, leaf Aaa6 and final 4 leaves defective, stabilized with early repairs to many leaves, moderate dampstaining.
First edition of the first book of sermons in Nahuatl. This volume was issued in three parts. The second had a half-title page in Nahuatl reading “Nican ompehua yn temachtilli, ynitechpovi sanctoral,” and the third has a full title page reading “Cathecismo en lengua mexicana y espanola.” The first two title pages are lacking. Most of the volume is printed in Nahuatl in two columns, while most of the Cathecismo is printed in parallel columns of Nahuatl and Spanish. “A volume of extreme rarity and value”–Sabin 36798 (incorrect collation). Icazbalceta 73; Medina, Mexico 78; Palau 13496; Pilling 123-4.
Estimate
$6,000 – $9,000
(mexican imprint–1607.) [juan de mijangos.]
[Espeio divino en lengua mexicana.]
[Mexico: Diego Lopez Davalos, 1607]
5 full-page woodcuts and other illustrations. [14 of 16], 562, [6] pages. 4to, later½ calf, moderate wear; lacking title page, moderate dampstaining and worming, a few side-notes cropped, a few early manuscript notes in margins.
“A large work of moral and theological philosophy written entirely in Nahuatl. The work is designed for use by both the educated Indians and the clergy working among the natives”–Szewcyzk, 39 Books and Broadsides Printed in America Before the Bay Psalm Book, 20. Features one of the first American images of Saint Augustine. Medina, Mexico 238; Palau 168872 (“estimado en comercio”); Pilling 2581; Sabin 48908 (“Extremely rare, not mentioned by Brunet, Rich, Brochaus, or Stevens”).
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
(mexican imprint–1623.) juan cevicos.
Discurso . . . sobre los privilegios de las sagradas religiones de las Indias.
Mexico: Juan de Alcaçar, 1623
58 pages. 4to, contemporary vellum, moderate wear and staining; minor worming, extensive manuscript notes in margins, lacking rear free endpaper; partial marcas de fuego on top and bottom edges.
A discourse by a religious official in the Philippines. Medina, Mexico 349. 5 in OCLC, and none traced at auction.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(mexican imprint–1637.) jerónimo moreno.
Reglas ciertas, y precisamente necessarias para juezes, y ministros de justicia de las Indias
[Mexico: Francisco Salbago, 1637]
y para sus Confessores. [8], 59 leaves. 4to, contemporary vellum, minor wear; moderate dampstaining, lacking free endpapers; edges tinted red; partial marca de fuego on top edge, early owner’s inscription on title page.
First edition of a manual for confessors. Medina, Mexico 490; Palau 181853 (“rarísima edición y fundamento del derecho colonial”); Sabin 50605 (“a rare production”). None traced at auction since 1925.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
(mexican imprint–1644.) juan de palafox y mendoza.
El pastor de noche buena.
Mexico: viuda de Bernardo Calderón, [1644]
[24 of 25], 139, [4] leaves. 8vo, contemporary vellum, stained, minor wear; lacking endpapers and half-title, water damage to title page and preliminaries, otherwise minor dampstaining and worming.
An early edition (possibly the first) of an allegorical work by the Bishop of Puebla, more often seen in later European editions from 1645 onward. Features a half-title, undated title page with 1644 license on verso, and other preliminaries dated through September 1644. The main body of text is followed by a table of contents, and a 6-page index with a brief errata appended. This edition is discussed in Medina, Mexico 586, but with no examples cited or collation given. Sabin 58300; not in Palau.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(mexican imprint–1646.) thomas gonzalez.
Explicacion de las syllabas sobre el Libro Quinto de Antonio de Nebrija.
Mexico: Juan Ruiz, [1646 per colophon]
[1], 41, [1] leaves. 8vo, contemporary vellum, moderate wear; leaf 25 defective with slight loss, coming disbound, moderate wear, bound with 2 other tracts by Gonzalez (both incomplete).
First edition. Not traced at auction, not in Medina (see Medina, Mexico 750 for the 1653 second edition). One in OCLC (Biblioteca Nacional de España). Bound at the end of a sammelband with:
[“De arte rhetorica, libri tres.”] [6 of 7], 55 leaves; lacking title page, with title of the second work improperly bound at front. Medina, Mexico 627. [Mexico: Juan Ruiz, 1646.]
“Summa totius rhetoricae.” [1], 23 leaves (quite erratically paginated but apparently lacking 5 leaves, title page bound at front of the volume as noted). Medina, Mexico 628. Mexico: viuda de Bernardo Calderón, 1646.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(mexican imprints–1657.)
Group of 5 17th-century Mexican imprints.
Mexico, 1657-1695
5 volumes, all 4to in contemporary vellum except as noted; condition varies.
Estevan García. “El maximo limosnero, mayor padre de pobres, grande arçobispo de Valencia . . . Thomas de Villanueva.” [8], 85 [i.e. 95] leaves; lacking final index leaf; marcas de fuego on top and bottom edges, inked armorial stamp on leaf 80. The life of Augustinian ascetic St. Thomas of Villanova (1488-1555), Archbishop of Valencia, for whom Villanova University was named. Mexico: viuda de Bernardo Calderón, 1657.
Isidro Sariñana. “Noticia breve de la solemne, deseada, ultima dedicacion del Templo Metropolitano de Mexico.” [10], 50, [1], 25 leaves; lacking leaves 20-21, minor dampstaining, last leaf torn and worn; marcas de fuego on top and bottom edges. Mexico: Francisco Rodriguez Lupercio, 1668.
Ignacio de Asenjo y Crespo. “Exercicio practico de la voluntad de Dios, y compendio de la mortificacion.” [12], 130, 66 leaves; 16mo, manuscript waste paper endpapers; minor dampstaining. 4th edition. Mexico: viuda de Bernardo Calderón, 1682.
Raymundo Lumbier. “Noticia de las sesenta, y cinco proposiciones nuevamente condenasas por . . . Inocencio XI.” [10], 125, 33 leaves; moderate edge wear, minor dampstaining and worming, final leaf detached, lacking final unnumbered index leaf. 7th edition. Mexico: Juan de Ribera, 1684.
Clemente de Ledesma. “Dispertador de noticias de los santos sacramentos.” [28], 378, [5] pages; lacks front endpapers, fore-edge wear to index leaves; marca de fuego on top edge. Mexico: Maria de Benavides, viuda e Juan de Ribera, 1695.
Medina, Mexico 842, 1009, 1239, 1312, 1599.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(mexican imprint–1674.)
Sammelband including scarce Mexican sermons from 1674 and 1701.
Mexico and Spain, 1618-1701
4to, contemporary vellum, worn; contents variously worn with several items already extracted.
Juan de Solorzano de Salcedo. “Gloriosos desempenos de la mas ardiemte caridad.” [4], 11, [12], 9 leaves; moderate worming. None at auction since 1988. Mexico: viuda de Bernardo de Calderón, 1674.
Juan de San Miguel. “Sermon, en accion de gracias.” [8], 17 leaves; minor dampstaining. None traced at auction. Mexico: Juan José Guillen Carrascoso, 1701.
Plus 2 incomplete Mexican imprints and 4 incomplete Spanish imprints. Additional details on request. Medina, Mexico 1115, 837, 2057, 629.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(mexican imprint–1676.) juan francisco de montemayor córdoba.
Pastor bonus, dominus Jesus, sacerdos in aeternum.
Mexico: Francisco Rodriguez Lupercio, 1676
[17 of 18], 67, 81, 75, [10] leaves. 8vo, later ½ moroccco, small tag on backstrip, minor wear; lacking frontispiece engraving as usual, leaves E7-8, minor worming; later bookplate of collector José Castillo y Piña on front pastedown.
“The Good Shepherd.” Medina calls for a frontispiece plate as the first of 18 preliminary leaves, but most copies on OCLC note only 17 preliminaries as seen here. Medina, Mexico 1141; Palau 178031; Sabin 50108. One other traced at auction.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(mexican imprints–1681.)
Group of 6 Mexican sermons.
Puebla and Mexico, 1681-1735
4to, disbound; various conditions.
Gregorio Sedeño. “Descripcio de las funerales . . . doña Jacinta de Vidarte, y Pardo.” [7], 20 leaves plus engraved leaf at end. Puebla: Borja y Gandia, 1681.
Nicolás de la Trinidad. “Sermon a S. Antonio Padua en la rogativa.” [12], 10 leaves; worming, wear; title in red and black. Mexico: viuda de Francisco Rodriguez Lupercio, 1691.
Pedro de Avendaño Suarez. “Sermon de N.S.S.P. y señor San Pedro, principe de la Iglesia, predicado en su Hospital real de la ciudad de los Angeles.” [6], 10 leaves; worming. Mexico: Juan José Guillen Carrascoso, 1694.
Juan de Avila. “Los hercules seraphicos: Excellentssimos Señores Condes de Chinchon.” [8], 10 leaves. Mexico: Maria de Benavides, 1696.
José de Lanciego y Eguilaz. “Sermon que en el dia del esclarecido Patriarcha San Ignacio de Loyola.” [5], 9 pages. Mexico: Francisco de Rivera Calderón, 1720.
José Antonio Ponce de Leon. “La lampara de los cielos el Glorioso Archangel San Miguel.” [26], 13 pages. Mexico: José Bernardo de Hogal, 1735.
Medina, Puebla 76; Medina, Mexico 1510, 1559, 1630, 2588, 3389.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(mexican imprint–1689.) francisco de florencia.
La casa peregrina, solar ilustre, en que nacio la Reyna de los Angeles.
Mexico: herederos de la viuda de Bernardo Calderón, 1689
[9], 123, [5] leaves. 4to, contemporary vellum, moderate wear; long closed tear to leaf 122, early underlining to index leaves, lacking rear endpapers; marca de fuego on bottom edge.
A work on the Virgin Mary, written by the first Florida-born author. Medina, Mexico 1440; Palau 92346.
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
(mexican imprint–1690.) juan martinez de araujo.
Manual de los santos sacramentos en el idioma de Michuacan.
Mexico: Maria de Benavides, viuda de Juan de Ribera, 1690
[7], 93, [1] leaves. 4to, contemporary vellum, worn, tightly recased; paper repair to title page, moderate wear and worming, small hole in leaf 5.
A catechism in Purépecha or Tarascan, a language spoken in the state of Michoacán. Medina, Mexico 1476; Palau 154733; Pilling 146; Sabin 44956.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
(mexican imprint–1695.) [antonio de nuñez; editor.]
Exercicios espirituals de San Ignacio.
Mexico: herederos de la viuda de Bernardo Calderon, 1695
[5], 196, [3] leaves. 8vo, contemporary vellum, moderate wear; lacking front endpapers, minor worming, leaf 101 supplied from another copy; edges tinted red; early inscriptions on verso of title page and on leaf 39.
5th Mexican edition of the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Medina, Mexico 1606; Palau 291365.
Estimate
$2,500 – $3,500
(mexican imprint–1697.) pedro muñoz de castro, et al.
Exaltacion magnifica de la Betlemitica rosa de la mejor americana Jerico.
Mexico: Maria de Benavides, viuda de Juan de Ribera, 1697
Frontispiece plate of founder Hermano Pedro de San José Betancurt. [12], 84 leaves. 4to, contemporary vellum, minor wear; minor wear and faint staining to plate, minor worming, lacking rear free endpaper; partial marcas de fuego on all 3 edges.
A history of the Bethlehemite order in Mexico. Medina, Mexico 1674; Palau 185265 (calls for only 92 total leaves); Sabin 51532.
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
(mexican imprint–1699.) josé de lezamis.
Vida del Apostol Santiago . . . con algunas antiguedes y excelencias de . . . Viscaya.
Mexico: Maria de Benavides, 1699
[124], 426, [6] pages. 4to, contemporary vellum, minor wear; dampstaining to fore-edge with wear to first few and final few leaves, moderate worming; early inscriptions on front free endpaper and title page, marca de fuego on top edge, later private library bookplate on front pastedown.
A life of the apostle James, patron saint of Spain, prefaced by a long biography of Archbishop Francisco de Aguiar y Seijas of Mexico. The last section, from page 280 onward, relates to the Vizcaya province of the Basque region of Spain. Medina, Mexico 1733 (collates with this copy); Palau 137583 (calls for 68 preliminary leaves, probably in error).
Estimate
$600 – $900
(mexican imprint–1715.)
Llanto de flora, desatado en sepulchrales rosas sobre el magestuoso tumulo.
Mexico: viuda de Miguel de Ribera, 1715
[4], 48, [17], 11, [13] leaves. 4to, contemporary vellum, minimal wear; minor wear to contents; marca de fuego on top edge, and early monastic inscription on title page.
A tribute to Maria Luisa of Savoy (1688-1714), queen consort of King Philip V of Spain. With two appendices bearing separate title pages, as issued: Bermudes de Castro,”Regia parentatio exorans pios manes”; and “Regina Maria, Aloysa Gabriela, Sabaudiae princeps, vel umbra hispaniarum tutela.” Medina, Mexico 2436; Palau 144765; Sabin 71416.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
(mexican imprint–1717.) francisco de avila.
Arte de la lengua mexicana, y breves platicas . . . de su obligacion á los Indios.
Mexico: herederos de la viuda de Miguel de Ribera Calderón, 1717
[13], 37 leaves. Small 8vo, later limp calf, minor wear; moderate dampstaining and wear, extraneous later engravings mounted to endpapers.
Avila was a Franciscan priest based in the village of Milpa Alta. Medina, Mexico 2478; Palau 20391; Pilling 193.
Estimate
$2,500 – $3,500
(mexican imprint–1718.)
Excellentissimo señor . . . el real assiento de la polvora . . . en el pleyto que le han movido la Universidad de Mercaderes.
Mexico: viuda de Miguel de Rivera Calderón, 1718
[1], 23 leaves. Folio, 11 x 7½ inches, disbound; moderate dampstaining.
A printed legal case involving Francisco de Aguirre Gomendio (1657-1721), a merchant guild, and the gunpowder trade. One example in OCLC (Biblioteca Nacional de Chile), and none traced at auction. Medina, Mexico 2539; Sabin 98018.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(mexican imprint–1736.) nicolás quiñones.
Explicacion de la primera regla de la exclarecida madre Santa Clara de Assis.
Mexico: José Bernardo de Hogal, 1736
[20], 224, [14] pages. 8vo, contemporary vellum, minor wear; substantial worming through page 32; inscription dated 1863 on front free endpaper.
Regulations for the Corpus Christi convent in Mexico. Medina, Mexico 3436; Palau 245395; Sabin 67310. None traced at auction.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(mexican imprint–1747.) josé jerónimo sanchez de castro.
Vida de la V.M. Sor Antonia de la Madre de Dios.
Mexico: viuda de José Bernardo de Hogal, 1747
2 plates. [40], 510, [4] pages. 4to, contemporary vellum, worn; moderate worming, heavier pages 147-198, 375-420, minor dampstaining; title page printed in red and black.
Life of an Augustine nun in Puebla and Oaxaca. Only one other example traced at auction. Medina 3859; Palau 295215.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(mexican imprint–1757.) josé joaquin de ortega.
Nueva aljaba apostolica, con varias canciones. . . para el exercicio de las missiones.
[22], 367, [9] pages. 12mo, contemporary vellum, worn; moderate dampstaining, lacking endpapers.
A songbook for use in frontier missions. Medina, Mexico 4422; not in Palau.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(mexican imprint–1758.) juan mayora.
Relacion de la vida, y virtudes del P. Antonio Herdoñana.
Mexico: Bibliotheca Mexicana, 1758
[2], 78 pages. 4to, contemporary vellum, minor wear; minor foxing; marca de fuego on top edge.
Life of a Jesuit missionary to the Indians of Mexico. Medina, Mexico 4483; Palau 159097; Sabin 47198.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(mexican imprint–1759.) horacio carochi.
Compendio del arte de la lengua mexicana.
Mexico: Bibliotheca Mexicana, 1759
Frontispiece plate of Loyola. [24], 202 pages. 4to, contemporary vellum, minimal wear; moderate worming, heavier toward rear, otherwise minimal wear to contents; bookplate of Manuel Alcala on front pastedown.
Second edition of a 1645 grammar of Nahuatl. Medina, Mexico 4534; Palau 44871; Pilling 606; Sabin 10954.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(mexican imprint–1762.) juan díaz de arce.
Libro de la vida del proximo evangelico, el vener. Padre Bernardino Alvarez.
Mexico: Christóbal y Felipe de Zúñiga y Ontiveros, 1762
2 (of 3) plates. [12], 464, [7] pages. 4to, later ¼ morocco, moderate wear; slip of paper covering one line on first preliminary page, minor foxing, moderate worming toward rear.
Second edition. Life of the 16th-century founder of the first psychiatric hospital in the Americas. Medina, México 4775; Palau 72257. No other examples of either edition known at auction since 1947.
Bound with a related Spanish imprint: Regla de San Augustin Obispo. Third edition, 170, [2], 19 pages. Engraved title page, plus second title page reading “Actas hechas por la religion de N. Padre San Juan de Dios”; final leaf lacking blank lower corner. Palau 254033. [Madrid, 1733].
Provenance: Swann’s Michael Mathes sale, 6 November 2014, lot 366, to the consignor.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(mexican imprint–1765.) joseph eugenio valdes.
Vida admirable, y penitente de la V. M. Sor Sebastiana Josepha.
Mexico: Bibliotheca Mexicana, 1765
Portrait plate. [8], 396, [4] pages. 4to, contemporary vellum, rear wrapper defective; minimal wear to contents; edges faintly speckled in red; early inscription on front free endpaper.
First and only edition of the biography of a notable nun, the subject of continued scholarly interest today. Medina, Mexico 5022; Palau 347490; Sabin 98310.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(mexican imprints–1779.)
Group of 3 medical tracts.
Mexico, 1779-1782
4to or 8vo, later stiff vellum; minimal wear.
José Flores. “Especifico nuevamente descubierto en el Reyno de Goatemala, para la curacion radical del horrible mal de cancro.” [4], 15 pages. Small 4to, contemporary plain wrappers, minor wear, stained on rear wrapper; minimal worming, minor foxing. First published in Guatemala the preceding year. “Flores recounts how an Indian remedy of a diet of raw newts cured a Guatemalan citizen of cancer”–Wellcome, Medical Americana M.56. Guerra, Medica Mexicana 433; Medina, Mexico 7310; Palau 92485. Mexico: Felipe de Zúñiga y Ontiveros, 1782.
José Ignacio Bartolache. “Instruccion que puede servir para que se cure á los enfermos de las viruelas epidémicas.” [8] pages, partly unopened. A tract on smallpox; 3 in OCLC. Guerra, Medica Mexicana 426; Medina, Mexico 7049; Palau 25093. Mexico: Felipe de Zúñiga y Ontiveros, [1779].
José Vicente Garcia de la Vega. “Discurso critico que sobre el uso de las lagartijas, como especifico contra muchas enfermedades.” [8], 28 pages. discusses the medical uses of small lizards. 4 in OCLC. Guerra, Medica Mexicana 434; Medina, Mexico 7311; not in Palau. Mexico: Felipe de Zúñiga y Ontiveros, 1782.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
(mexican imprint–1785.) bernardo de gálvez.
En real cédula de 10 de Marzo . . . aprobar una poderosa compañía para el comercio
Mexico, 22 November 1785
de Filipinas y demas partes de la Asia. Letterpress broadside, 23½ x 17¼ inches, on two conjoined sheets of sealed paper; folds, minor worming; signed with rubric of Gálvez and by José de Gorraes as secretary.
The Viceroy of New Spain announces the formation of the Real Compañia de Filipinas to advance trade with the Philippines and beyond, including the full text of King Carlos III’s important decree. One copy in OCLC.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(mexican imprint–1787.) josé de avila.
Coleccion de noticias de muchas de las indulgencias plenarias y perpetuas.
Mexico: Felipé de Zúñiga y Ontiveros, 1787
[20], 152 pages. Small 8vo, contemporary calf, moderate wear; minimal wear to contents; original ownership inscription on front free endpaper, later inked owner’s stamp on page 13.
First edition. A very detailed church calendar for Mexico City. Medina, Mexico 7695; Palau 20393.
Estimate
$250 – $350
(mexican imprint–1797.) antonio de san miguel.
Statuta ecclesiae mexicanae necnon ordo in choro servandus.
Mexico: Mariano Zúñiga y Ontiveros, 1797
[1], 140, [3] pages. Small folio, early vellum, minor wear; just a bit of nibbling on first three leaves.
Rules for choirs, originally set forth in the 16th century, and here edited and published by the Bishop of Michoacán. Medina, Mexico 8711.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(mexican imprint–puebla.) bartholomé de letona.
Perfecta religiosa, contiene tres libros.
[Puebla: viuda de Juan de] Borja, [1662]
[64], 389, [14] pages (erratically paginated). 4to, contemporary calf, moderate wear and worming; title page and final leaf defective with partial loss of imprint and laid down, minor foxing, minor worming; edges tinted yellow; early monastic inscriptions on verso of title page and page 102.
A life of Mother Jerónima de la Asunción, who founded the first Catholic monastery in Manila in 1621. The book also includes some of her works. Chocolate is discussed on pages 339-342. Medina, Puebla 59; Palau 136757; Sabin 40250.
Estimate
$700 – $1,000
(mexican imprint–puebla.)
Reglas de la Compañia de Jesus.
Puebla: herederos de Juan de Villa Real, 1698
[2], 187, [5]; blank leaf; [4], 223, [8] pages. 16mo, contemporary vellum, minor wear; minor worming; small bookplate of bibliographer J.M. Andrade on front pastedown.
First Mexican edition of the Jesuit manual, followed by the “Exercicios espirituales de San Ignacio de Loyala” with a separate title page, as issued. Medina, Puebla 196; Palau 256412. 3 in OCLC.
Estimate
$4,000 – $6,000
(mexican imprint–puebla.) josé gomez de la parra.
Fundacion y primero siglo del . . . Convento de Sr. S. Joseph . . . de la Puebla.
Puebla: viuda de Miguel de Ortega, 1732
Armorial engraving on second leaf. [18], 603, [7] pages. Folio, contemporary vellum, minor wear; lacking free endpapers, minor foxing, intermittent toning; inked convent stamp on second leaf.
A history of the first Discalced Carmelite convent in New Spain (established 1604), including the lives of 51 nuns. Medina, Puebla 388; Palau 104272; Sabin 27763.
Estimate
$1,200 – $1,800
(mexican imprint–puebla.) augustin de quintana.
Confessonario en lengua Mixe,
Puebla: viuda de Miguel de Ortega, 1733
con una construccion de las oraciones de la Doctrina Christiana. [16], 148, [4] pages including 3 full-page woodcuts. 4to, contemporary vellum, moderate staining and wear; minimal dampstaining and wear toward rear.
First edition. “Quintana was a native of Oajaca, and labored for 28 years as a missionary among the Mijes Indians, whose difficult dialect he perfectly mastered’–Sabin 67320. The Mixe language is still spoken by approximately 90,000 residents of Oaxaca today. Medina, Puebla 399; Palau 244703.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
(mexican imprint–puebla.) [juan benito díaz de gamarra.]
Errores del entendimiento humano,
Puebla: Seminario Palifoxiano, 1781
written under the pseudonym Juan de Bendiaga. [8], vi, 258 pages. 12mo, contemporary vellum, minor wear; minimal wear and foxing to contents.
First edition of an important work by a modernizing Franciscan philosopher from Michoacán. “A critique of scholastic philosophy written in Spanish for a popular audience . . . devoted to questions of human wisdom, the tenets of modern thinking, simply stated”–Cambridge History of Latin American Literature, pages 345-346. It also recommends cold baths and denounces corsets as unhealthful. Medina, Puebla 1044; Palau 72490. None traced at auction.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(mexican imprint–puebla.) andrés fernandez de otanez.
Formulario manual de las ceremonias . . . Militar Orden de Calatrava.
Puebla: Pedro de la Rosa, 1783
Frontispiece portrait of Carlos III; 6 insignia printed in color on later pages. [20], 119 pages. 16mo, elaborate contemporary gilt calf, minor wear; wallpaper endpapers; small tag of J.M. Andrade on front pastedown.
Medina, Puebla 1078; Palau 89515. Provenance: List & Franke’s José María de Andrade auction, 18 January 1869, lot 3516.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(mexican imprint–puebla.) juan anselmo de moral y castillo.
Platicas doctrinales de contricion, confesion, y satisfaccion
Puebla: Pedro de la Rosa, 1792
bound with, as issued, Sermon, que con motivo de la dedicacion . . . de Carmelitas Descalzos de la ciudad de Tehuacan. [28], 154; [10], 29 pages. 4to, contemporary vellum, minor wear; minor foxing; early inscription on front free endpaper. Medina, Puebla 1242; Palau 180496-7.
Estimate
$300 – $400
(mexican imprint–puebla.) pedro de arenas.
Vocabulario manual de las lenguas castellana, y mexicana.
Puebla: Pedro de la Rosa, 1793
[12], 145 pages. 8vo, contemporary vellum, moderate wear; first gathering detached, moderate foxing, moderate dampstaining toward rear; early signature on binding.
A later edition of one of the more popular Nahuatl-Spanish dictionaries, first published in 1611. Medina, Puebla 1248; Palau 15929; Pilling 158.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(mexican imprint–puebla.)
Clara y sucinta exposicion del pequeño catecismo impreso en el idioma mexicano.
Puebla: Oratorio de S. Felipe Néri, 1819
[3], 66, [1] leaves. 8vo, early vellum, moderate wear; minor wear and minimal dampstaining to contents; inked initials on top edge.
A catechism in a more modern colloquial form of Nahuatl, as opposed to the more formal classical Nahuatl featured in the early colonial works. The Nahuatl and Spanish texts appear on facing pages. Ayer, Nahuatl page 81; Medina, Puebla 1678; Palau 55072; Pilling 808; Sabin 13233.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(mexico.) carlos maría de bustamante.
Galeria de antiguos principes mejicanos, dedicada a la suprema potestad nacional.
Puebla: Gobierno Imperial, 1821
30, 21, [1] pages. 2 parts, with separate title pages. 4to, disbound; minor dampstaining, second part tightly trimmed.
A biographical compendium of the Toltec and Aztec emperors. In the wake of Mexican independence, it places the new government as their heirs. It concludes with a short sonnet. The following year, President Iturbide was declared Emperor. On the verso of the title page, an early owner has listed Iturbide’s five sons, to establish a monarchic succession. None traced at auction; not in Medina’s Puebla. Palau 37711.
WITH–3 other shorter disbound 4to works also published in Puebla in 1821, none of them in Medina.
“Representacion al futuro congreso representativo un ciudadano de la Puebla.” 4 pages; last leaf defective.
“Para esta se hiso la Imprenta.” 4 pages; minor worming and dampstaining.
“Carta del Poblano a un Mejicano.” 4 pages.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(mexico.)
Pair of pamphlets in honor of Agústin de Iturbide, Mexico’s first president and first emperor.
Mexico, 1821
2 pamphlets, both 8vo, unbound on folding sheets and uncut; minimal foxing.
El Pensador Mejicano [José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi.] “Al Excmo. Señor General del Ejército Imperial Americano D. Agustin de Iturbide.” 9, [3] pages. A satirical message of support for Iturbide, issued on 29 September 1821, two days after he led the Army of the Three Guarantees triumphantly into Mexico City. Mexico: Imprenta Imperial, 1821.
“Marcha que se cantó en el Teatro de la Gran México en celebridad del digno nombramiento de . . . Iturbide.” 4 pages. A song in honor of Iturbide. Mexico: Ontiveros, 1821.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(mexico.)
Constitucion politica del Estado Libre de Chihuahua.
Chihuahua: Francisco Carrasco, 1826
32 pages. Small 8vo, plain wrappers, disbound; minor wear to contents.
A reprinting of the constitution of the free state of Chihuahua, which then included the future city of El Paso, TX. Page 5 declares an end to slavery. Eberstadt, offering one in 1965 for $600, wrote “Very rare, and one of the earliest and crudest imprints to come from the Chihuahua press.” This edition not in Palau (cf. 59717-8). We trace none at auction, and one library copy (at Yale).
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(mexico.) antonio lópez de santa anna.
Esposicion . . . del programa proclamado para la verdadera regeneracion de la república.
[4] printed pages, 12½ x 8¾ inches, on one folding sheet; dampstaining, moderate edge wear including loss of an inch to the bottom corner of the second leaf. In a custom ¼ gilt morocco folding case.
At the outset of the war with the United States, disgraced former president Santa Anna was living in exile in Cuba. After the Mexicans were defeated at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma in May 1846, the American troops crossed the Rio Grande into Mexican territory. Santa Anna used this emergency to regain the trust of the Mexican government, and returned to Mexico on 6 August to lead the military defense. This message to his fellow citizens announced his return, and attempted to inspire a patriotic resistance to the American incursion. Not in Palau. None of this printing in OCLC, although single examples are recorded by two other printers.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(mexico.) antonio lópez de santa anna.
Escelentisimo Señor.
2 pages, 12½ x 8¾ inches; dampstaining, horizontal fold, two short repairs. In modern ¼ gilt morocco folding case.
Written shortly after Santa Anna returned from exile to lead the Mexican military response in the war against the United States. This open letter was written to his ally General Jose Mariano de Salas, and discusses the social, political, and economic problems facing Mexico in the forthcoming struggle–suggesting that Santa Anna may be the one to solve them. Written from Santa Anna’s personal estate, “Hacienda del Encero” [Lencero] in Xalapa, Veracruz. Not traced in Palau or OCLC; none traced at auction.
Estimate
$500 – $750
(mexico.)
Extraordinario de ahora.
San Luis Potosí: Ventura Carrillo, 28 August 1847
Illustrated broadside, 12¼ x 8½ inches; horizontal fold; modern private library bookplate on verso. With a partial translation.
A pair of news dispatches written from San Miguel de Allende north of Mexico City, detailing the Mexican army’s recent reverses, including the Battle of Churubusco. It mentions the battalion of primarily Irish-American deserters to the Mexican Army, the San Patricios, which made their last stand at this battle. One in OCLC (at Yale); not traced at auction or in Palau.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(mexico.) mariano paredes y arrillaga.
A sus conciudadanos.
Guanajuato: Juan E. Oñate, 15 June 1848
Letterpress broadside, 17 x 12 inches; folds, stitch holes in margin, short tape repair on verso; manuscript docket and modern private library bookplate on verso. With partial transcript and translation.
Paredes was a conservative general who had assumed the presidency by coup shortly before the Mexican-American War, resigned in July 1846, and went briefly into exile. Here, three months after Mexico’s formal surrender by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, he attempts to rally support for continued resistance to the punitive terms, asserting (in translation) that the treaty “makes a vain illusion of the independence that our forebears conquered with their blood. This situation is too humiliating and violent to be tolerated by the Mexicans who are accustomed to the pleasures of liberty and complete independence from foreign nations. Our nation will not accept this offense for very long.” In a separate document not offered here, a group of army officers in Guanajuato led by Nicolás Flores endorsed this plan two days later.
None traced at auction, in Palau, or in OCLC. The text otherwise scarcely appeared in print before 1900, and is even now rarely seen.
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
(mexico.) josé joaquin de herrera.
Decree creating customs offices on the new Mexico-United States border.
Mexico, 20 November 1848
[6] pages, 8½ x 6¼ inches, on one uncut folding sheet, signed in type Herrera as President, and by Manuel Piña y Cuevas as Minister of Finance with Piña’s manuscript paraph; one contemporary correction in manuscript (adding the word Tucson) with small ink burn, later notes in pencil.
The new borders created by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo necessitated the creation of new customs offices. For example, Article 4 moves an office from Nacogdoches to along the Rio Grande, with “sitios de vigilancia” at Guerrero, Nuevo Monterey (at a ranch located across from Laredo), Monclova and San Vicente. Article 6 transfers the responsibilities of a customs house in Taos, NM (now very deep into United States territory) to locations including Tucson, AZ (not yet ceded by the Gadsden Purchase). 3 copies in OCLC, and none traced at auction.
Estimate
$600 – $900
(mexico–manuscripts.)
Confirmation of arms and nobility in favor of the Diez y Mora family.
Madrid, 26 May 1710
One handpainted coat of arms, one handpainted title page, [32] manuscript pages with numerous decorative flourishes and hand-painted capitals, with 6 signatures at end, all on vellum. Folio, 11½ x 7¼ inches, modern full gilt calf; modern collector’s bookplate on front pastedown.
A series of royal decrees and supporting documentation, also known as a “cédula real de pureza de sangre,” confirming the nobility and privileges of a Mexican family. Includes family history going back to 1372, and discusses the arrival of Miguel Diez de la Mora in Mexico City, and his later service as governor of Tochimilco and alcalde of Guaracualco. It was compiled by Juan Antonio de Hozes Sarmiento, the royal chronicler of arms, and bearing his signature on the third page from the end.
Estimate
$2,500 – $3,500
(mexico–manuscripts.)
Manuscript privateering regulations issued during the Mexican-American war.
Mexico, 26 July 1846
[48] manuscript pages, 12½ x 8½ inches, on 12 numbered folding leaves of letterhead of the Ministerio de Guerro y Marina, Seccion de Operaciones, stitched with ribbon, signed by Mariano Paredes y Arrillaga as President of Mexico, with caption title “Reglamento para el corso de particulares contra los enemigos de la nacion”; minor wear and toning to exterior leaves. In modern ¼ morocco folding case.
Mexico, lacking a strong navy, authorized a fleet of privateers to weaken the American blockade in the Gulf and off the Californias, and to harass American commercial shipping. These regulations for the privateer fleet are divided into 109 articles. Issued by President Paredes just two days before his resignation. See Sabin 68869 for a printed edition. Provenance: Sotheby’s James L. Copley sale, 15 October 2010, lot 752.
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 quedaron 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
$800 – $1,200
(mexico–manuscripts.)
Estate and property documents of the Juan Antonio Canales family of Mier.
Mier and Monterrey, 1763-1850
50 manuscript leaves, most about 12 x 8½ inches; moderate wear, some rebacking, a few tape repairs, dampstaining to the earliest documents.
These papers relate to the prominent Canales family in Mier, Nuevo Santander / Tamaulipas, just across the present border of Texas about 50 miles south of Laredo. Includes: Inventories of the property of Juan Antonio Canales: 3 leaves, 1763-1768, over his signature; 5 leaves, Monterrey, 25 February 1774; and 3 leaves, Mier, 31 July 1788.
Packet on Juan Antonio Canales of Mier, 7 leaves, 16 December 1788.
Estate of Juan Antonio Canales. 6 leaves. Monterrey, 4 April 1793.
Packet on the estate of Josefa Lopez de Jaens (or Haens) of Mier, leaves numbered 2 to 27, February 1850.
Provenance: housed in repurposed circa late-1920s envelopes addressed to St. Augustine’s Church and School in Laredo, TX, with docketing contemporary to that period. Recently purchased from a collector in Texas.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(mexico–manuscripts.) charlotte biggs.
An American woman’s letter describing ten difficult years of life in Mexico.
Oquawka, IL, 14 February 1860
Autograph Letter Signed to an unidentified friend. 8 pages, 9½ x 7½ inches, on 3 folding sheets; minor wear and foxing.
Charlotte Ordway Biggs (1807-1889) grew up in Maine and married a textile mechanic. In 1833, he was hired to go to Mexico City to set up and operate a boatload of cotton machinery. This very long letter, written to a long-lost childhood friend, is basically an autobiography of hardship and tragedy.
She describes arrival in Veracruz during a plague: “They kept us several days in quarantine nearly roasting us alive and then suffered us to go ashore into the midst of the black vomit.
Political upheaval: “Santa Anna had just come to power. Every city in the union was in a state of revolt. Mexico was filled with his troops, all the principal streets barocaded and canon planted in every direction.”
Unemployment: “The company that brought us out had become bankrupt and we could not get a dollar from them . . . surrounded by a strange race of people, could not speak their language nor make ourselves understood, and destitute of the means of support.” They stayed for a year in the American consul’s hacienda, living on his charity.
Next came embezzlement by a business partner, after the cotton machinery was finally put to use, when they “took in a third partner who proved a perfect swindler. He cheated them out of nearly all they had made.”
Then her husband’s illness after running a cotton gin on Mexico’s Pacific Coast: “He took very sick with the coast fever which came near ending his career. When he left home he weighed 160 lbs and when he returned he weighed but 96.”
The Biggs family by now included 8 children, and they sought “the bennifit of an English education which we could not do thare amogst a set of Catholicks whare no other religion is tolerated.” After saving $6,000 in ten years, they returned to America, hoping to buy a farm. However, her husband became distracted on their journey by the offer of an old grist mill in Illinois, on which he spent all their savings. The mill soon washed out in a freshet, and after it was rebuilt, their eldest son was killed in the mill machinery. Mr. Biggs was so distraught that he died just 4 weeks later, leaving Charlotte with no income and 7 children to raise. She eked out a meager existence running a boarding house in Oquawka, IL, with other deaths and hardships along the way. She concludes: “When I was born, my destiny was marked out. I was poor then, and shall remain so to the end of the chapter.”
Estimate
$500 – $750
(mexico–photography.)
Album titled “La Nacion Mexicana a fines del siglo XIX en su era de paz.”
Mexico, circa 1899?
6 albumen photographs, each about 9 x 14 inches, on card mounts with printed captions. Folio, 12 x 19 inches, original gilt morocco, minor wear; minor offsetting.
The gilt cover title translates to “The Mexican Nation at the End of the 19th Century in its Era of Peace,” and these photographs project prosperity and tranquility. Included are a view of a man rowing a boat, titled “Panorama de la Hacienda de Chautla”; two distinct views titled “Panorama de la Ciudad de Puebla”; “Panorama del Puerto de Veracruz”; “Interior de la Biblioteca de Veracruz”; and “Plazuela del muelle de Veracruz.” We trace no other examples of this album or its photographs in OCLC or elsewhere.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(panama.)
Group of 3 pamphlets on the road proposed by the Chiriqui Improvement Company.
Various places, 1852-1855
3 items, all 8vo, disbound; variously worn.
“A Brief Description of the Facilities and Advantages which a Road across Central America from Admiral’s Bay, or Chiriqui Lagoon, on the Atlantic, to Chiriqui Bay, on the Pacific, would Afford to the Commerce of the World.” Hand-colored folding map, folding tinted lithograph view, both with contemporary annotations. 30 pages; moderate wear; inked stamp and release stamp of the American Museum of Natural History. Includes reports by 3 engineers. One in OCLC (at Columbia University), not in Palau, and none others traced at auction. Philadelphia: B. Franklin Jackson, 1852.
“Chiriqui Improvement Company. Officers . . . Directors . . . Counsellors.” Folding map. 53 pages, map detached and slightly defective but with a duplicate map included, last few leaves chipped with tape repairs. 5 in OCLC. New York: William W. Rose, 1855.
J. Eugene Flandin, Vice President. “Chiriqui Improvement Company, Report.” 12 pages, minimal wear. A July 1855 report; none traced in OCLC. Philadelphia: B. Franklin Jackson, 1855.
Provenance: Swann’s American Museum of Natural History duplicates sale, 1 March 1973, lot 170.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(peru.)
Tesoro Peruano de un mineral rico . . . sacado a luz en este de España.
Zaragoza, Spain: herederos de Juan de Ybar, 1677
[8], 363, [21] pages (erratically paginated). 4to, contemporary vellum, minor wear; endpapers renewed, 2-inch area of title page filled with loss of 2 letters, slightly larger filled loss to leaf T7, small puncture through center of first 84 pages, a few early ink marks, minor wear and toning; early owners’ inscriptions on title, later bookseller tag of Luis Bardon of Madrid on rear pastedown.
A compilation of 18 sermons preached in Peru. The value of this book still does not quite approach its weight in gold, but give it a few more centuries. The Universdidad Autonoma de Puebla credits authorship to Martín de Jáuregui, later the governor of Tucumán. A recent article credits authorship to Jáuregui’s fellow Jesuit José de Buendía (1644-1727). See Laske, “Cursus honorum y consagración profana: dos letrados jesuitas en Lima,” in Cuadernos de Historia 51 (2019), pages 85-123. European Americana 677/190; Medina BHA 1635; Palau 330967; Sabin 94900. 4 copies in OCLC, and no other examples traced at auction since 1953.
Estimate
$400 – $600
(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
$1,200 – $1,800
(peru.) josé hipólito unanúe.
Guia política, eclesiástica y militar del Virreynato del Perú para el año de 1794.
Folding map, 5 folding tables. [8], xii, [2], 306 pages. Small 8vo, publisher’s speckled calf, minor wear; minor worming; edges tinted red; inked stamp from a French private library on title page crudely obscured.
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 1790; Palau 344278; Sabin 97718.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
(peru.) mariano eduardo de rivero and johann jakob von tschudi.
Antiguedades Peruanas: Atlas.
Vienna, Austria, 1851
60 chromolithographic and tinted lithograph plates including illustrated title page. Oblong large folio, 16¾ x 22 inches, original printed cloth-backed boards, moderate wear; faint dampstaining to inner edge of early plates, minor foxing at edges, plate XXXVIII in tasteful facsimile.
This atlas volume was produced to accompany a landmark collaboration between a Peruvian archaeologist and a Swiss naturalist. It includes eye-grabbing views of pre-Columbian mummies, tombs, artifacts, and more. The lithography was done by Leopoldo Müller and the volume was published by the “imperial de la Corte del estado de Viena.” The plates are numbered I through LVIII, plus an additional plate IIa and the title page. Palau 341937; Sabin 71643 (“executed with great care and finely colored”).
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,000
(peru.) charles j. macconnell.
Letters from an early American tourist on the Peruvian Central Railway, and more.
Various places, 1873-1874, 1877
6 Autograph Letters to wife, all about 8 x 5 inches and ranging from 5 to 13 pages long; 3 of the letters lacking signatures and possibly incomplete. With full transcripts of all letters.
The Peruvian Central Railway was an ambitious mountainous line which began construction in 1870 and was not completed until 1908. It remains in operation, and has been submitted as a UNESCO World Heritage site for its engineering marvels and its evocation of Peru’s arrival in the industrial era.
Charles J. MacConnell (1837-1909) was a Pennsylvanian who graduated from the New Jersey State Normal School (now the College of New Jersey), enlisted in the Navy during the Civil War, and remained in the service afterward. At the time he wrote most of these letters, he was First Assistant Engineer aboard the USS Pensacola in the Pacific Squadron. He wrote four of these letters off the coast of Peru, or in the coastal city of Callao. The first of his letters, dated 20 April 1873, describes a visit to the tomb of Pizarro, where one of his ugly American colleagues offers to buy Pizarro’s skull and attempts to purloin a toe bone. He is then invited to join a party of officers on the new railroad up to the mining center in La Oroya, but misses the train. He soon learns by telegraph that the train had derailed: “One had broken his leg, another was paralyzed, and another had his head split open, another his back broken, the conductor was so much injured that he would probably die.” McConnell then took the next train up to San Bartolomé to help retrieve his wounded comrades. He sat in the locomotive for a better view, and found the railroad a marvel: “the road commences to climb as soon as you leave the depot . . . it looks like the roof of a house in some places.” In San Bartolomé he helped load the wounded naval men into the car for the return trip, then stayed on the mountain-bound train to explore to the end of the road: “The roads were laid to Surco at an elevation of over 7000 feet, considerably higher than Mount Washington, and yet the mountains loomed up for 2000 to 2000 feet higher above our heads and the snow glistened in the sun.” He gave the measurements of the famed bridge over the Rio Verrugas, adding that “it is the most magnificent structure of the kind I ever saw. . . rocks weighing sometimes 20 tons start down the mountain side when the steam whistles sound and are mighty likely to smash things. . . . These mountain sides are all terraced for gardens and vineyards by the ancient Peruvians hundreds of years ago, but now in ruins.” McConnell’s 24 April letter continues the story with an account of the ongoing rail construction at Surco: “They are digging, tunneling, and blasting beyond us, but no rails are laid yet. From this point, all the supplies etc. have to be transported on the backs of mules to the elevations under 10,000 feet. Above that they employ llamas, a beast peculiar to these regions. . . . They always have a leader who is as proud as a peacock with holes bored in the tips of his ears, in which are placed knots of brightly colored ribbons. . . . No other animals can live up here.”
MacConnell’s 8 July 1873 letter describes a grand ball at the Lima home of railroad magnate Henry Meiggs, and on 14 March 1874 he describes another trip up the Peruvian Central Railway, which extended 15 miles further past San Bartolomé than during his first visit. “I climbed up the side of a mountain on horseback and went in Tunnel No. 15 to see them at work. They had run the heading in some 750 feet in the hardest rock I ever saw, and were drilling away using a diamond drill worked with compressed air. . . . The grade is such that it would utterly demoralize any ordinary railroad engineer. . . . In Tunnel 15 they have already killed 500 men . . . from the effects of foul air, accidents, etc.” He concluded with a jolly visit to the American engineer Van Brocklin at his home in Matucana: “gentlemen, well bred and thoroughly educated, roughing it, as you are obliged to do in a place like this, with rough unkempt beards, booted to the thighs, heavy ponchos on the shoulders, slouched hats, big spurs clanking, a revolver buckled in the waist.”
One of MacConnell’s 1873 letters was written off Talcahuano, Chile. He describes a long excursion into the country by rail to San Rosenda, Chile, and then 40 miles further on a construction train as far as Cabrera station. One final letter was written from Cairo, Egypt in 1879 while serving aboard the USS Monongahela.
WITH–a cabinet card depicting MacConnell and the rest of his Pensacola crew on deck off Valparaiso, Chile in 1873.