|
||
|
Catalogue 254 New Acquisitions |
||
|
Section I: Abott to Bowdoin |
||
|
Papers
on Book Collecting by William S. Reese
|
Contemporary News of the Lincoln Assassination 1. Abott, Abott A.: THE ASSASSINATION AND DEATH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AT WASHINGTON, ON THE 14th OF APRIL, 1865. New York: American News Company, [1865]. 12pp. Self-wrappers, sewn, as issued. Very good. "Contemporary dispatches and observations" – Monaghan. Each leaf is edged in black to represent mourning. The text covers events of the evening of the 14th of April and through the morning of the 15th. It was probably printed within a few days of Lincoln’s death, certainly prior to the capture of any of those connected with the plot. MONAGHAN 372. McDADE 607. $750. 2. Adams, John Quincy: [AUTOGRAPH LETTER, SIGNED, FROM JOHN QUINCY ADAMS TO JOHN TURNER WAIT]. Washington. April 4, 1836. [1]p. plus integral address leaf. Address leaf bearing postal ink stamps, broken wax seal (with small accompanying tear), and addresses inscribed by Adams. Letter inscribed and signed by Adams in contemporary ink manuscript. Fine. A fine a.l.s. from John Quincy Adams during his later career as a congressman, relating to the Smithsonian bequest and a report on weights and measures. The letter is Adams’ reply to a request for reports he authored in 1821 and 1836, from John Turner Wait, a young attorney in Norwich, Connecticut who would himself serve in Congress in the 1870s and ’80s. "I forward by the mail in compliance with your request a copy of the Report of the Committee of the House of Representatives of the United States upon the bequest of James Smithson – I have never made a report upon foreign Coins and currency – in the year 1821 I made a Report upon Weights and Measures which necessarily involved considerations relating to coins, currency and exchange – I regret that I have not a spare copy of that Report, nor is it in my power to indicate where it could be procured – Several thousand copies of it were published by order of Congress, but there are exhausted so that there is not one left at the Department of State or any other public office which could be at my disposal." In 1835, Congress received word that a large bequest had been made by the English mineralogist and chemist, James Smithson, for founding at Washington an "establishment for the increase & diffusion of knowledge among men." Adams, who had fervently argued for federal support of the sciences during his presidency, was selected to chair the congressional committee on the subject of the bequest, and he wrote the committee’s first report, issued Jan. 14, 1836. After years of controversy regarding the bequest, the Smithsonian Institution was established through it by an act of Congress in 1846. It was presumably the January report which Adams forwarded to Wait with the present letter. The second report to which Adams refers here was an important document on weights and measures printed by Congress in 1821. It took Adams six months to complete this report, a process he later described as "a fearful and oppressive task" (DAB). DAB I, pp.84-93. Nina Burleigh, The Stranger and the Statesman James Smithson, John Quincy Adams, and the Making of America’s Greatest Museum, the Smithsonian (New York: William Morrow, 2003). $2750. 3. [American Bookseller’s Catalogue]: CATALOGUE OF BOOKS, STATIONARY [sic], &c. FOR SALE BY JOHN HUTCHENS... PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Providence]: Carlile & Brown, Printers, 1826. 12pp. Printed self-wrappers, stitched. Contemporary ink inscription on title-page. Closely trimmed at lower margin, with partial loss to a few letters of text. Foxing. Overall very good. An early American bookseller’s catalogue, this copy with a manuscript correction on the wrapper title ("john" struck through and "& Cory" added, creating the new business name, "Hutchens & Cory"). A scarce volume, with OCLC locating only two copies (at Brown and the Rhode Island Historical Society). $850. 4. [American Bookseller’s Catalogue]: CATALOGUE OF BOOKS ON SALE BY THOMPSON & HOMANS, PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, WASHINGTON CITY. THE ENGLISH PRINTED BOOKS IN THIS CATALOGUE ARE OF THE LATEST AND BEST EDITIONS: MANY OF THEM IN VERY SPLENDID BINDING. THOMPSON & HOMANS HAVE ALSO ON SALE A LARGE STOCK OF AMERICAN AND ENGLISH STATIONERY, FINE WRITING PAPER, &c. – MATHEMATICAL, OPTICAL AND SURVEYING INSTRUMENTS, GLOBES, DRAWING MATERIALS, IN EVERY VARIETY, AND OF THE BEST QUALITY. – FANCY PAPERS, GOLD ORNAMENTS, &c. – SCHOOL BOOKS OF EVERY DESCRIPTION. A LIBERAL DISCOUNT MADE TO COLLEGES, AND CONDUCTORS OF SCHOOLS. A VERY EXTENSIVE JUVENILE LIBRARY, CONSISTING OF DARTON & HARVEY’S, WALLIS & HARRIS’ LONDON BOOKS, MUNROE & FRANCIS’, LUCAS’, AND OTHER AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS, OF ALL PRICES AND DESCRIPTIONS. – AMUSING AND INSTRUCTIVE GAMES, DISSECTED MAPS, PUZZLES, &c. &c. NEW MUSIC OF EVERY DESCRIPTION; A VERY EXTENSIVE COLLECTION ON HAND, AND NEW PIECES REGULARLY ADDED. PIANO FORTES, BY THE BEST AMERICAN MAKERS; SPANISH GUITARS, VIOLINS, CLARIONETS, FRENCH HORNS, GERMAN FLUTES, FLAGIOLETS, &c. MUSIC WIRE, VIOLIN AND GUITAR STRINGS, FINE MUSIC PAPER, &c. &c. A VERY FINE COLLECTION OF PRINTS, ENGRAVINGS, LITHOGRAPHICS, &c. DRAWING BOOKS IN GREAT VARIETY. Washington: Printed by Peter Force, 1832. 141pp. Printed self-wrappers, stitched as issued. Upper inner corner of first two signatures lightly chipped. Slight foxing. Otherwise in excellent condition. An early and rare Washington bookseller’s catalogue, offering a very extensive stock. The books are listed alphabetically by subject, occasionally with annotations, under such headings as law, medicine, divinity, poetry, voyages and travels, chess and draughts, etc. This is by far the most extensive catalogue issued by Thompson and Homans; an eighteen-page music catalogue appeared in 1831, and a thirty-eight-page catalogue of books imported from England was issued in 1832. The NUC lists two copies (NcD, CSmH), along with one other copy (PPAmP) which lacks the five-page supplement (pp.137-141) of books imported from France. AMERICAN IMPRINTS 14988 (136pp., adding KyDC). $1250. A Manuscript American Novel Exploring 5. [American Manuscript Novel]: SAVANNAH OR THE FORM OF A SERVANT [manuscript title]. [Np. nd, ca. 1875-1876]. 332 numbered pages on ruled paper, with eight leaves excised, evidently by the author at the time of composition, but with no loss to the narrative flow or content of the text. Totaling more than 80,000 words, in a neat, clean hand. Quarto. Original three quarter roan and marbled boards. Boards detached but present, edge-worn and rubbed. Text block split in half, a few signatures loose. Internally clean, neat, and very legible. In all, in very good condition. In a half morocco and cloth box. A fascinating and well-written unpublished American manuscript novel, quite likely written by a woman, and addressing some of the leading issues of the Reconstruction era, including the status of Blacks and their role in society. The text of the story, told from the point of view of an omniscient narrator, follows the travels and adventures of Hannah Ten Eyck, a teenaged child of privilege, as she journeys from her home in the Northeast through the American South on a voyage of self-discovery and racial sensitivity. The novel contains intricate plotting, offering rich insights into the social customs, politics, and the life of the times across all social classes, as well as touching on important issues of race and gender. The author deftly weaves her narrative, composing a tale that would have initially drawn in northern and southern racists with a story that would have reinforced their prejudices against Blacks, women’s rights’ advocates and northern radicals, before unfolding moving accounts of the horrors of slavery and the justness of the protagonist’s work among freed Blacks. This text has never been published, and it affords a fine opportunity for the scholarly analysis and publication of a story that tells a great deal about American society – especially the fortunes of women and freed slaves – during Reconstruction. The text is unsigned and the identity of the author is unknown, though from the style of the handwriting it appears to have been written by a woman. The style of the writing (done in a variety of inks, but consistently in the same hand) and of the notebook itself leads us to date the manuscript to the middle part of the 1870s. There is only one date in the text, a note at the top of page 65 reading "Jan. 28, 1876, New Orleans," possibly indicating that the author was in that city during a part of the composition of the work. The text gives quite detailed descriptions of New York City and Nashville, Tennessee, and it seems very likely that the author had firsthand knowledge of those places. The skill in the plotting, composition, foreshadowing, and flow of the narrative indicate a skillful writer. Furthermore, her references to places and events, and her thinly veiled portraits of several prominent figures of the time – as well as the inclusion of references to actual people – divulge a well-read and knowledgeable author. The protagonist of the story is Hannah Ten Eyck, usually referred to as "Annah," a nineteen-year-old of Knickerbocker heritage, whose maternal line had Spanish blood in it as well. Her mother is dead at the start of the novel, and she was raised primarily by her father, Tracy Ten Eyck. Her father decides to take her to Florida for the winter, travelling down the East Coast to "Islington," an orange farm near Jacksonville. Her father is called back to the North, but Hannah decides to stay in Florida, embarking upon a series of adventures. In one, while walking through the woods she steps on a log to cross a stream, only to discover that the log is an alligator. She’s rescued from this mishap by "Napoleon," a black laborer, and this begins a series of encounters in which he learns more about Blacks and about the general situation of former slaves in the post-Civil War South. Soon she is informed by her father that he has remarried, and learns that he will no longer support her financially. Hannah travels to Tennessee and decides to devote herself to working as a teacher in black communities. Theories of education and racial uplift through learning play a large role in the text, as Hannah meets several teachers and educational administrators, including "John S. Cartwright," president of "Dunstable University"; "President Blanche of Succotash University"; and the "Rev. Dr. Winters," a professor at "Granderlaid University" and an exponent of the inferiority of Blacks. Aside from the encounter with Napoleon, Hannah has other experiences with southern Blacks that lead her on a journey of racial enlightenment. One of these is "Cindy Postelwaite," a former slave who considers herself a sinner and does not think that she was too harshly treated by her former owners. Another character in the book is "Aunt Ticey," who suffered great cruelty at the hands of her former masters and consoled herself through her religious faith. Ticey is also noteworthy for having composed songs for the Fiske Jubilee Singers, the lyrics of several of which are included in the text. Toward the end of the text Hannah learns that not only is she of Spanish descent on her mother’s side, but that her mother was also partly African-American. She then undergoes a "passing" experience in reverse, as she darkens her complexion, renames herself "Savannah," and expresses her kinship with a black woman named "Delthy," apparently resolving to live as a black woman. The text mentions several prominent Americans, including Susan B. Anthony and her fellow women’s rights activists, Lucy Stone and Antoinette Blackwell. Also discussed are authors Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Thomas Higginson. Several characters in the novel appear to be thinly veiled portraits of contemporary American figures, including Capt. Jack Arnoldson, likely patterned after Andrew Jackson Donelson, the nephew of President Andrew Jackson, and writer Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, who was likely the inspiration for the character, Caroline Edwards Wells. The author also employs a wide range of language, from that of the upper levels of society to that of the street as she creates long dialogue passages in several voices, including black dialects. This unpublished text presents an excellent opportunity for the scholarly study and publication of an intriguing Reconstruction-era novel. Not only is it a substantial work of contemporary literature – fully engaged with the important issues of its day and very progressive in its attitudes – but also a rich historical document, disclosing much about sectional attitudes, racial identity, and gender roles. $25,000. 6. [American Textile]: GEN. JAMES A. GARFIELD, REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT 1880, GEN. CHESTER A. ARTHUR, REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR VICE-PRESIDENT. [Np. 1880]. Large textile, 19½ x 20 inches. Cotton, in red, white, and black. Bright and clean. Preserved in a sunken mat with marbled edging, matted and glazed in a gilt wood frame, 27½ x 29 inches. A large textile campaign with central oval portraits of Republican presidential and vice-presidential candidates James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur, set against a red background with a white border. Both portraits were adapted from earlier photographs. A fine sample of American textile art. COLLINS, THREADS OF HISTORY 478. $750. 7. Ashcroft, John: ASHCROFT’S RAILWAY DIRECTORY, FOR 1868. CONTAINING AN OFFICIAL LIST OF THE OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS OF THE RAIL-ROADS IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADAS, TOGETHER WITH THEIR FINANCIAL CONDITION AND AMOUNT OF ROLLING STOCK. New York. [1868]. xxxii,367pp. plus numerous inserted ads. Contemporary gold cloth, gilt-stamped cover. Rubbed, slight dampstain and bubbling to covers. Moderate foxing on front matter, otherwise internally clean. Good. Ashcroft’s comprehensive railway directory for 1868. Begun in 1862, Ashcroft’s railway directories provide a complete listing of all railroads in the United States and Canada, with extensive details regarding their operation. Ashcroft records recent mergers and acquisitions, costs of operation, officers, and total stock value. An excellent railroad history resource. All Ashcroft directories are extremely rare, and this edition is not on OCLC. SABIN 2176 (ref). $750. 8. Audubon, John James: ORNITHOLOGICAL BIOGRAPHY, OR AN ACCOUNT OF THE HABITS OF THE BIRDS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; ACCOMPANIED BY DESCRIPTIONS OF THE OBJECTS REPRESENTED IN THE WORK ENTITLED THE BIRDS OF AMERICA, AND INTERSPERSED WITH DELINEATIONS OF AMERICAN SCENERY AND MANNERS. Philadelphia: E.L. Carey and A. Hart, 1832 [ca. 1831]. xxiv,512pp. Small quarto. Later 19th-century three-quarter calf over marbled boards, spine gilt. Spine and leather on boards moderately worn, outer joints tender. Titlepage, as always, the cancel with 1832 on the recto and the 1831 copyright on the verso. Text moderately browned, occasional dampstaining and foxing. A good copy. The rare first volume of the American edition of Audubon’s text, originally intended to accompany the elephant folio edition of The Birds of America, his masterpiece of ornithological illustration published in London between 1827 and 1832. Of great interest are Audubon’s accounts of his travels and adventures in the American hinterlands, found throughout the volume both as part of the bird descriptions and as separate anecdotes. According to Low, "Had Audubon included the text with [the British publication of] The Birds of America folio, he would have been required under the British Copyright Act of 1709 to deposit a copy in each of nine libraries in the United Kingdom. This would have been an intolerable expense. Therefore, he arranged to have the text published separately in five volumes under the title Ornithological Biography." This work was published in Edinburgh between 1831 and 1839. In order to secure the separately issued American copyright, Audubon also needed to arrange publication of the text in America. In a letter to his brother-in-law, William Bakewell, Audubon wrote: "I find myself in a manner forced to publish a small edition of 500 copies of my first volume of Ornithological Biography in the U.S. to secure the copyright thereof. Philadelphia is the place I have pitched on for this undertaking and I employ there Donald McMurtry as the corrector of the proof sheets and [natural historian] Doctor Richard Harlan as my banker or money agent, further payment of the sum which I will have to distribute on account of said publication." Audubon provided his brother-in-law with additional financial and copyright details regarding this American edition, and also noted the importance of securing the American copyright. He quoted the proofreader, McMurtry, who informed him that unless "I have a responsible friend [with access to funds] in the U.S. he could not undertake the publication, and should this publication fail to take place through me and under my name, I must lose the copyright of my book in the United S[tates] where any bookseller might publish it and reap the benefit...from it." Audubon was successful in finding a publisher in Philadelphia, and this first volume did appear in a small edition in 1831, thus securing his American copyright to the work. No other volumes were immediately published, Audubon correctly assuming that his possession of the American copyright for volume one would prohibit other publishers from printing the other four volumes. SABIN 2366. HOWES A389. CLARK II:179 (ref). MEISEL III, p.406 (other eds). SERVIES 1532 (ref). Susanne M. Low, A Guide to Audubon’s BIRDS OF AMERICA (New Haven & New York, 2002), p.5. $2000. 9. Audubon, John James: THE BIRDS OF AMERICA, FROM DRAWINGS MADE IN THE UNITED STATES AND THEIR TERRITORIES. New York & Philadelphia: E.G. Dorsey for J.J. Audubon and [Vols. I-V] J.B. Chevalier, [1839]-1840-1844. Seven volumes signed in fours. 18pp. subscribers’ lists. 500 very fine handcolored lithographed plates after Audubon by W.E. Hitchcock, R. Trembley, and others, printed by J.T. Bowen of Philadelphia (plates 1-135, 151-500) or George Endicott of New York (plates 136-150); numerous wood-engraved anatomical figures in text. Without half titles, plate number 471 misbound between plates 475 and 476 in Volume VII. Octavo, 10¼ x 6½ inches. Contemporary black pebble-grained gilt morocco, covers with single gilt fillet border, spines in five compartments with double raised bands, the bands highlighted in gilt and blind, lettered in gilt in the second and fourth compartments, turn-ins tooled in blind, marbled endpapers, red-sprinkled edges. Provenance: T.J. Coolidge (armorial bookplate); Amory Coolidge (inscription in Volume I noting the gift of the work from "C.A.C." dated 1930). A very fine copy of the first octavo edition of "Audubon’s Great National Work" with the plates remarkably free of the spotting that often mars this work. This is the first complete edition and the first American edition, with the "Black-shouldered Elanus" plate (no. 16) in its earliest state, and with plate 17, "Mississippi Kite," correctly numbered 17. The work is one of the "most beautiful, popular, and important natural history books published in America in the nineteenth century...[also] representing the best of pre-Civil War American lithography and giving Audubon the opportunity finally to display his scholarship and genius to a large American audience for the first time" (Ron Tyler). The plates, here accompanied by the text for the first time, were reduced and variously modified from the Havell engravings in the double elephant folio. Seven new species are figured and seventeen others, previously described in the Ornithological Biography but not illustrated, are also shown for the first time. Audubon may have been prompted to publish the reduced version of his double elephant folio by the appearance in 1839 of John Kirk Townsend’s rival Ornithology of the United States, or, as he writes in the introduction to the present work, he may have succumbed to public demand and his wish that a work similar to his large work should be published but "at such a price, as would enable every student or lover of nature to place it in his Library." The first edition of the octavo work is certainly the most famous and accessible of all the great American color plate books, and now represents the only realistic opportunity that exists for collectors to own an entire collection of Audubon images in a form that was overseen and approved by the great artist himself. The octavo Birds of America was originally issued in 100 parts, each containing five plates. The whole story of the production of the book, with detailed information about every aspect of the project, is told by Ron Tyler in Audubon’s Great National Work (Austin, 1993). The story Tyler tells of the difficulties of production and marketing are revealing of the whole world of color printing in mid-19th-century America. The enormous success of the work was important to Audubon for two main reasons: first, it was a moneymaker, marketed throughout the United States on a scale that the great cost of the original Birds of America had made impossible. Second, by combining a detailed text with careful observations next to his famous images, he offered further proof that he was as good a scientific naturalist as the members of the scientific establishment who had scorned his earlier work. BENNETT, p.5. NISSEN (IVB) 51. RIPLEY 13. Ron Tyler, Audubon’s Great National Work (1993), Appendix I. SABIN 2364. ZIMMER, p.22. FRIES, Appendix A. WOOD, p.208. REESE, STAMPED WITH A NATIONAL CHARACTER 34. $120,000. 10. Barnard, George N.: THE ALLATOONA PASS LOOKING NORTH. GA. [Plate 29]. [New York. 1866]. Albumen photograph from a negative taken in 1866, 10 x 13 inches, on original two-tone gilt-edged thin card mount, 16 1/8 x 20 inches, with plate title and photographer’s credit. A fine copy of a stunning image from Barnard’s Photographic Views of Sherman’s Campaign, an album which is one of the two greatest photographic monuments to the Civil War and "a landmark in the history of photography" (Keith F. Davis). A contemporary reviewer wrote of this image and its companions: "These photographs... surpass any other photographic views which have been produced in this country – whether relating to the war or otherwise" (Harper’s Weekly, Dec. 8, 1866, p.771). This image comes from George N. Barnard’s album titled Photographic Views of Sherman’s Campaign, Embracing Scenes of the Occupation of Nashville, the Great Battles Around Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain, the Campaign of Atlanta, March to the Sea, and the Great Raid Through the Carolinas (1866). This album, together with Alexander Gardner’s Photographic Sketchbook of the Civil War (1866), are the two greatest photographic monuments of the Civil War. Between them they contain some of the most famous images of the War. The present image offers a poignant reminder of the trail of destruction left across the Confederacy by Gen. William T. Sherman’s army in 1864 and 1865 during his famous campaign from Nashville to Chattanooga, then Atlanta, and so to Savannah and the sea, then bypassing Charleston, north to Columbia. In the meantime, a smaller force had occupied Charleston and Fort Sumter. To the North the military campaign was brilliant, bold, and decisive – an event worthy of the present monumental album. To the South it was vicious, bloody, and destructive. DE RENNE, p.1317. HOWES B150, "b." SABIN 3462. Taft, Photography and the American Scene, pp.232, 486. George N. Barnard, Photographic Views of Sherman’s Campaign... with a new preface by Beaumont Newhall (New York, 1977). Keith F. Davis, George N. Barnard Photographer of Sherman’s Campaign (Kansas City, Mo., 1990). $2000. 11. Barton, William Paul Crillon: A FLORA OF NORTH AMERICA. ILLUSTRATED BY COLOURED FIGURES, DRAWN FROM NATURE. Philadelphia: Vol. I: M. Carey & Sons; Vols. II & III: H.C. Carey & I. Lea, [1820-]1821-1823[-1824]. Three volumes. 106 handcolored engraved plates (two folding), including some partially printed in colors and finished by hand, from drawings by the author, by Cornelius Tiebout (29), G.B. Ellis (32), F. Kearney (23), J. Boyd (7), J. Drayton (6), C. Goodman (6), Jacob J. Plocher (2), and J.L. Frederick (1). Half titles, "To Subscribers" leaf in Volume II. Quarto, 10 5/8 x 8 1/2 inches. Expertly bound to style in red half morocco, preserving original grey paper-covered boards, spines simply gilt in compartments, lettered in the second and numbered in the fourth. Some expert repairs to marginal tears. An important American flora, "magnificently illustrated" (DAB) with "plates [that] are clear, soft and lovely" (Bennett). The work includes the first successful use of stipple engraving in the United States. This set includes the rare "To Subscribers" leaf in the second volume. In addition to its significance as a botanical work, Barton’s Flora... is also one of the most important early color plate books produced entirely in the United States. "The plates were made by [amongst others] Cornelius Tiebout, the first really skilled engraver born in the United States, although he trained in London for two years in the 1790s to perfect his technique" – Reese. Barton states in the advertisement to the first volume that some of the "plates are printed in color, and are afterwards colored by hand. It is confidently believed by the author, that they will be found the most successful attempts at imitation by sound engraving, of the French style, yet made in this country." He goes on to note that the method of color printing was the result of "repeated experiments" owing "to the impossibility of obtaining information as to the manner of coloring abroad." The text gives details of each species, its Latin binomial, common name, and class and order according to the Linnean system, followed by interesting information about the history of the discovery of the species and details about its geographical range. BM (NATURAL HISTORY) I, p.105. BENNETT, p.9 (incorrect plate count). DUNTHORNE 26. NISSEN (BBI) 84. MacPHAIL, BENJAMIN SMITH BARTON AND WILLIAM CRILLON BARTON 19. MEISEL III, p.385. PRITZEL 446. REESE, STAMPED WITH A NATIONAL CHARACTER 11. SABIN 3858. STAFLEU & COWAN 236. $14,500. Bartram, Kalm, and Collinson: 12. Bartram, John, and Peter Kalm: OBSERVATIONS ON THE INHABITANTS, CLIMATE, SOIL, RIVERS, PRODUCTIONS, ANIMALS, AND OTHER MATTERS WORTHY OF NOTICE. MADE BY MR. JOHN BARTRAM, IN HIS TRAVELS FROM PENSILVANIA TO ONONDAGO, OSWEGO AND LAKE ONTARIO, IN CANADA. TO WHICH IS ANNEX’D, A CURIOUS ACCOUNT OF THE CATARACTS AT NIAGARA. BY MR. PETER KALM, A SWEDISH GENTLEMAN WHO TRAVELLED THERE. London: Printed for J. Whiston and B. White, 1751. 94pp. plus folding plan of Fort Oswego. Modern three-quarter morocco over marbled boards, boards and spine gilt. Upper joint worn, lower joint tender. Internally very clean. A very good copy. In a half morocco slipcase. The journal of the eminent American naturalist, John Bartram, kept during his trip from July 3 to Aug. 19, 1743, through Pennsylvania and into the Indian country of New York as far as Oswego and Lake George, in the company of cartographer Lewis Evans and interpreter Conrad Weiser, to hold a conference with the Iroquois Indians. The journal contains descriptions of the country and detailed observations of American Indian life. There is also a plan of an Iroquois long house on the folding plan of Fort Oswego. Besides this journal, the text includes a letter from Bartram to the Swedish naturalist and traveller, Peter Kalm, describing Niagara. Bartram’s international fame rested on his extensive correspondence with leading European scientists, and it was through his contact with British naturalist Peter Collinson that this journal came to be published, sent to press by Collinson without Bartram’s knowledge. Bartram was surprised and somewhat annoyed with his British friend when he was sent a copy of the book, since he had wanted to expand on his original diary before publication. A rare and important work. HOWES B222. CHURCH 977. FIELD 92. LANDE S148. STREETER SALE 869. SIEBERT SALE 152. Wroth, An American Bookshelf 1755, pp.101-5, 149-51. LARSON 321. TPL 186. MEISEL III, p.345. SABIN 3868. $12,500. 13. Beatty, Charles: THE JOURNAL OF A TWO-MONTHS TOUR; WITH A VIEW OF PROMOTING RELIGION AMONG THE FRONTIER INHABITANTS OF PENSYLVANIA, AND OF INTRODUCING CHRISTIANITY AMONG THE INDIANS.... Edinburgh: T. Maccliesh and Co., 1798. 56pp. Later three quarter morocco and marbled boards, gilt-lettered spine. Very good. Reprints the text of the first edition of 1768, which Howes calls the "first account of Indian towns in southeast Ohio." PILLING, PROOF-SHEETS 324. HOWES B281. VAIL 589 (note). $1000. A Rare Santo Domingo Imprint 14. [Bertin, Antoine de]: DES MOYENS DE CONSERVER LA SANTE DES BLANCS ET DES NEGRES, AUX ANTILLES OU CLIMATS CHAUDS ET HUMIDES DE L’AMERIQUE...ET LE TRAITEMENT EN PARTICULIER DE QUELQUES MALADIES COMMUNES CHEZ LES NEGRES.... Saint-Domingue. 1786. [4],126pp. (with the pagination omitting pages 115 and 117, but with no break in text). Half title. Dbd. Faint dampstaining and soiling, but on the whole in very good condition. In a half morocco and cloth box. A rare work on tropical medicine, with a special emphasis on the diseases of Blacks in the West Indies. Bertin practiced medicine in the West Indies, and writes about the physical effects of the voyage there from Europe, the effects of the Caribbean climate and humidity on health, the causes of maladies, and their cures. Much of the text addresses specifically the health issues of Blacks in the region. The NUC locates a copy at the John Carter Brown Library, and OCLC adds another six (at least one of which, the Wellcome copy, is a facsimile). Books faired less well than humans in the Caribbean climate, and the survival of any Santo Domingo imprint from the 1780s is a rarity, let alone a work of such practical use and importance. SABIN 5011. WELLCOME H.17. OCLC 14837765. $10,000. 15. [Black Minstrel Songs]: DANDY JIM’S DELIGHT. [St. Louis? nd, but ca. 1850]. [32]pp. with three wood engravings in the text. 16mo. Illustrated publisher’s wrapper, with St. Louis booksellers’ advertisement on rear cover. Wrappers slightly chipped at edge, front cover and a few leaves partially separated from binding. Light dampstaining and soiling. A good copy. An extremely rare ephemeral pamphlet providing lyrics for fifteen minstrel songs, identified in the text as "Nigga Melodies." A representative selection of the song titles includes "Maine Boundary Question," "Dandy Jim from Caroline," "Jim Crow," "Sing Darkies Sing," "Phillisee Charcoal," and "Yaw yaw or de niggar of Com-munipaw." The handcolored illustration on the front cover is of a "Negro" holding a banjo and smoking a cigar. The rear cover is an advertisement for Nafis and Cornish Booksellers in St. Louis. An extremely rare black Americanum. OCLC records a copy with thirty-one pages at the University of Pittsburgh; RLIN records the same title, but with twenty-two pages, at Temple. $1250. 16. [Black Satirical Cartoon]: SATAN REPROVING SIN [caption title]. New York: H.R. Robinson, [nd, but ca. 1836]. Lithographic print, 19 x 12¼ inches. Archivally matted. Tear in lower margin, old stain in upper right margin, intruding a bit into the image. Small closed edge tears and edge wear. A few light fox marks and some soiling. Overall, still about very good. An interesting and rare satirical print showing a British soldier rebuking a black child in the West Indies, and the child and an accompanying black man mocking the soldier in return. The soldier, who has just had his uniform soiled with black polish, exclaims: "The d——d black rascal to soil my Regimentals in this manner, he ought to have a good threshing; the infernal villains!" The child answers back, calling the sun-tanned soldier a "black rascal" himself, addressing him as "Mister Lobster" and asking "what colour you was before you was boiled." The language and dress of the soldier identifies him as British, and the scene is almost certainly the West Indies in the immediate post-emancipation era. The maker of this print, H.R. Robinson of New York, was best known for producing satirical prints and caricatures, and Murrell calls him the most prolific designer and printer of caricatures and cartoons between the 1830s and ’50s. He often took as his subject American politics – this print is a rare example of his non-political and non-American satire. Such prints were usually produced quickly and in response to topical events. They were made for popular consumption, often discarded, and are therefore quite scarce. Not on OCLC. Rare and interesting. Murrell, History of American Graphic Humor, p.171. PETERS, AMERICA ON STONE, pp.337-42. $1750. 17. [Book of Common Prayer in Mohawk]: THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE SACRAMENTS, AND OTHER RITES AND CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH, ACCORDING TO THE USE OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. [bound with:] A COLLECTION OF OCCASIONAL PRAYERS, AND DIVERS SENTENCES OF HOLY SCRIPTURE, NECESSARY FOR KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE. London: C. Buckton, 1787. [4],iii,[1],505,[1]pp. including English language titlepage, Mohawk language titlepage, plus frontispiece and eighteen plates. Beautifully bound in burgundy-brown crushed morocco, by Sangorski & Sutcliffe. Each cover with two single gilt fillets defining its outer edges; then, working towards the center, are an impressed black fillet, a wide gilt roll of a vine design, a single gilt fillet, another impressed black fillet, and another single gilt fillet, resulting in a rectangular center panel. Centered within that panel on the front cover is a cross formed from three single fillets tooled horizontally and three vertically, each fillet ending in a gilt point; at the intersection of the horizontal and vertical fillets is an elaborately tooled circular medallion composed of gilt pointillé tooling, gilt petals, and a green morocco dot onlay in the very center. Round spine with raised bands, each band tooled with three gilt beads; spine compartments defined by gilt and black fillets forming concentric rectangles, a gilt-tooled bead at each inner corner of each rectangle; the very center of each rectangle tooled with a cross device. Title and Brant’s name lettered directly in two spine compartments and date at base of spine. Double gilt fillets on board edges; wide gilt inner dentelles. Binding signed in lower area of front dentelle. All edges gilt. An exquisite copy. In a cloth clam-shell case, repaired at two joints. The first illustrated edition of The Book of Common Prayer in the Mohawk language, styled on the titlepage: "A New Edition to which is added The Gospel according to St. Mark, Translated into the Mohawk Language By Captn. Joseph Brant, An Indian of the Mohawk Nation." Joseph Brant was a Mohawk chief who fought in the American Revolution and led his tribe into Canada in 1784 to live by the Grand River north of Lake Erie. His translation of the Gospel is the first appearance of the entire gospel in Mohawk. The Book of Common Prayer was first printed in Mohawk in 1715 by William Bradford, with editions following in 1769 and 1780. The present edition, printed in parallel English and Mohawk, was revised by Daniel Claus, Deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and printed for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. A preface is provided by Charles Inglis, the first Bishop of Nova Scotia. The eighteen excellent engravings here, depicting biblical images and events, were produced by James Peachey, a British officer, surveyor, and artist who was stationed in Canada off and on from 1773 to 1797. The famous frontispiece represents George III’s reception of the Mohawk delegation to London. FIELD 1073. LANDE 1671. JCB II:3141. SABIN 6351. PILLING, IROQUOIAN, pp.14-16. TPL 589 (imperfect). ALLODI, PRINTMAKING IN CANADA, pp.2-3. DARLOW & MOULE 6796. GRIFFITHS, BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER 111.6. $4250. Bougainville at War in Canada: 18. Bougainville, Louis-Antoine de: [ARCHIVE OF LETTERS FROM LOUIS-ANTOINE DE BOUGAINVILLE]. Montreal, Québec, & "Du camp de Lorette." June 5, 1756 – Sept. 21, 1759. In all, 31½pp. in various secretarial hands on unruled paper. Quarto, 22 to 25 cm. x 17 to 19 cm. Except for two pages (first and third) of the letter of Nov. 6, 1756, which are faded but legible, all are fresh and clean, with only an occasional stain. Each is docketed with a number in pencil (by M. Dubois de l’Etang) representing its place in the Turgot Archives, where these letters have remained for over 300 years. Except for the manuscript summary of the campaign, all are apparently unpublished. A remarkable collection of heretofore unknown and unpublished letters from Canada by the young and brilliant Louis-Antoine de Bougainville (1729-1811), and an important supplement to Bougainville’s published writings in Canada, which include his Mémoires, his Journal de l’Expédition d’Amérique, and the letter to his brother and his mother (v. Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, Ecrits sur le Canada, Roland Lamontagne ed., Québec, 1993). This archive consists of five letters to Anne Robert Jacques Turgot de Brucourt (future Minister of Finance under Louis XVI); one letter to Turgot’s brother, Etienne-François Turgot, gouverneur de Guyane; one letter to the Chevalier de Chastellux; and one manuscript summarizing the campaign in Quebec, all dictated by Bougainville from Canada where he was aide-de-camp to Montcalm during the French and Indian War; and all from the private archives of A.R.J. Turgot at the Chateau de Lantheuil. The Letters to Turgot (1727-1781) 1) Montreal, June 5, 1756. 3½pp. Letter beginning: "Je ne vous ferai point, monsieur, le detail de notre navigation..." in which Bougainville recounts the conditions of their voyage from Brest on April 3 to Québec on May 10, mentioning his commanders, Vaudreuil and Montcalm, and their plans, "les sauvages" who "continuent leurs courses avec un grand succès. Tous les jours ils apportent des chevelures [i.e. scalps] qu’on leur paye dix ecus chacune. Ils sont le fléau de l’anglais...." Bougainville continues: "Je vois beaucoup de sauvages. Je fais des recherches sur leur langue et j’espère avec le tems rassembler de quoi faire une grammaire des trois langues qui sont les chefs de toutes celles de l’amérique septentrionale. En générale j’ai déjà remarqué que les sons de ces langues sont fort doux...." Bougainville writes of the ravages of smallpox ("la petite vérole") in Canada and begs Turgot to send whatever writings he can on the subject. 2) Montreal, November 6, 1756. 3pp. Letter beginning: "Je vous fais de tout mon coeur mes compliments, Monsieur, sur l’heureux succès de votre inoculation. Vous êtes délivrés de la cruauté d’une maladie dangereuse et vous avez fait acte de von et généreux citoyen en contribuant a donner ce bon exemple. D’après les nouvelles qui nous viennent ici de France, je commence à croire que l’inoculation prendra le dessus et que l’exemple des philosophes et des grands entrainera les sages et le people...." Discussing the approach of winter which will force them to abandon the countryside, Bougainville writes of the success of the campaign, of his expeditions with "les sauvages" ("je vous le jure c’est le plus dure des métiers"), of his continuing studies of the natives’ languages, and remarks that their customs both in the villages and at war remind him more and more of the Homeric Greeks. He sends his greetings to the brother of Turgot ("au M. le Chevalier") and asks that he tell his brother that they arrived too late to find any seeds. 3) Québec, November 8, 1757. 5½pp. In a lengthy and detailed letter beginning "Depuis notre expédition du fort Guillaume Henry...," Bougainville reports that nothing "formidable" has happened in the campaign, noting only "quelques chevelures [i.e. scalps] cependant et quelques prisonniers." Bougainville makes an interesting remark about the Iroquois: "...les Sauvages des Cantons Iroquois que les autres nomment les grands politiques de l’amérique sans avoir lu Machiavel, ils savent parfaitement ménager les deux Nations...tous les Sauvages des Cantons font merveilles – ils desolent les Colonies anglaises. Les frontières de la pennsylvanie, de la Virginie et du Maryland sonts deserts, ils enlèvent des familles entières. Tous les prisonniers ___ à dire que s’il parraissait dans les pensylvanie un corps de françois cette province ____ sur le champ en république independante sous la protection de la france...." Addressing Turgot’s interest in the native languages of North America, Bougainville apologizes, saying "je serias ce Printemps plus en état de ____ votre curiosité…." Bougainville mentions writing to Benjamin Franklin: "J’ai profité du départ d’un otage que nous avons renvoyés en paquebot à Halifax, pour écrire à Franklin. Je luy propose une correspondance littéraire et les moyens de s’entretenir malgré la Guerre et les Sauvages. Je lui fais beaucoup de questions...." Bougainville continues with remarks on the natural history and geology of the region, mentions his memoirs which he has sent to his brother to read, etc. 4) Montreal, April 21, 1758. 3pp. A moving letter of complaint from a weary and disillusioned Bougainville. "Nous respirons enfin, Monsieur, après les rigeurs d’un hyver affreux...Je profite avec empressement de l’occasion d’un navire que le marquis de Vaudreuil envoye en Europe pour me rappeller à votre souvenir. Quelle étrange situation que la nôtre! Sept mois de l’année nous ne tenons pas plus à votre monde que les habitans de La Lune ne tiennent à la terre. Les glaces opposent à notre commerce avec vous une invincible barrière. La Navigation se rétablit, nous recevons une fois de vos nouvelles, en voilà pour une année entière. Je joins à cette lettre un bulletin des principaux evenmens qui seront panés ici depuis le depart des derniers vaisseaux. Vous n’y trouverez rien de fort importance: des courses de sauvages, quelques prisonniers faits, beaucoup de chevelures levées en d’habitations détruites. Quelle guerre, quelle moeurs, quel pays!...fort peu de provisions de guerre, presque plus de viande, presque point de pain: a force de ménager ma mince ration, je me suis accoutumé à manger très peu." Bougainville cites some of the causes of their present predicament: "...des vices enormes dans l’administration, de l’aveuglement, de l’indolence, de la malversation dans les chefs...." His outlook for the war is gloomy and he writes of the superiority of the English forces. Sending his apologies to Turgot’s brother for failing to render him any service, he nonetheless remarks that his linguistic studies have encountered less difficulty. "Si je ne puis vous rien envoyer à ce sujet, du moins à mon retour, je vous dirai tous ce que j’en aurai appris...." 5) Au camp du lac st Sacrement, July 24, 1758. [1]p. Just after the French victory at Carillon, during which Bougainville was wounded, he writes to his friend Turgot: "Nous avons pour cette fois encore sauvé la Colonie...Vous saurez avant nous le sort de Louisbourg, quelqu’il soit. On parle ici d’une expédition cu Colonel Washington avec un assez grand corps contre la ___ [?]: bruits vagues, rien de précis ni de positif. Ces gens en veulent cette année serieusement à l’Amérique...." There follow two letters dated November 8, 1758, Québec: 6) The first is to Turgot’s brother, Etienne-François Turgot (1721-88) ("M. Le Chevalier de Turgot"), with whom Bougainville shared a variety of scientific interests." 3pp. "J’ai reçu, monsieur, au camp devant le fort Guillaume Henry, une lettre de Monsieur votre frère en date du 26 Juillet 1756, qui m’en annonce une de vous avec des memoires sur l’inoculation. Je n’ay rien reçu de tout cela...." Bougainville writes of his attempt to establish inoculation in Canada as a defense against smallpox, the poor treatment of those affected, the medicinal practices of "les Sauvages"; he discusses his plans to establish "la nouvelle Culture" in Canada, asks Turgot to please send him "la charue nouvelle," mentions Duhamel du Monceau’s Suite des experiences et reflections relatives au Traité de la culture des terres, speaks of the extreme fertility of the land and other agricultural matters. "Je n’ai pû encore faire aucune recherche pour votre Cabinet – pendant 6 mois la terre est couvert de neige...." 7) The second is to the Marquis de Chastellux, an officer in the French army, and the future author of Voyages dans l’Amerique Septentrionale. 6pp. "Eh bien, mon cher Chevalier, vous avez donc gagné une bataille, qu’il me tarde d’en sçavoir par vous les details...." 8) Manuscript headed: "Du camp de Lorette les 21 7bre 1759." 6½pp. Bougainville’s moving résumé of the French campaign, Montcalm’s death, etc.: "Voici mon histoire abregée dont les circonstances ne me permettent point de donner les details...." $30,000. A Rare American Color Plate Book 19. Bourne, Hermon: FLORES POETICI. THE FLORIST’S MANUAL: DESIGNED AS AN INTRODUCTION TO VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY AND SYSTEMATIC BOTANY, FOR CULTIVATORS OF FLOWERS. WITH MORE THAN EIGHTY BEAUTIFULLY COLOURED ENGRAVINGS OF POETIC FLOWERS. Boston & New York: Munroe and Francis & Charles S. Francis, 1833. 288pp. including seventy-three handcolored engravings. Later pebbled cloth boards and modern morocco backstrip, leather label. Corners worn. One signature badly foxed (affecting four illustrations). Very good. A treatise on botany, with interesting early American color plates. In the introduction, Bourne states that his purpose is to provide his readers with a text that includes a discussion of the scientific elements of plant botany that will also be accessible to the casual reader. The list that appears under the running title, "Index to Colored Flowers," is misleading. Though 124 plants are noted, many in the same class are represented by a single, general illustration. According to the titlepage, Bourne was editor of the Literary Magazine. Not in Bennett or McGrath. An attractive, and rare, American botanical, with interesting and early color plates. OCLC 5226972. $4500. An Attack on Jay’s Treaty 20. [Bowdoin, James]: OPINIONS RESPECTING THE COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND THE DOMINIONS OF GREAT-BRITAIN, INCLUDING OBSERVATIONS UPON THE NECESSITY AND IMPORTANCE OF AN AMERICAN NAVIGATION ACT. By a Citizen of Massachusetts. Boston: Samuel Hall, 1797. 61,[1]pp. Half title. Original plain wrappers, string-tied, as issued. Tears along the spine of the wrappers, else fine, untrimmed and unopened. Bowdoin criticizes Jay’s Treaty, made between the United States and Great Britain in 1795, as conceding too much to the British, and encourages the American government to pass its own "navigation act." In so doing, he joined the chorus of voices, including that of James Madison, calling for retaliatory measures against unfair British trade practices. Bowdoin argues that the United States should stop letting itself be pushed around by the British, to make the choice between being a "great, independent, enterprising and commanding people; – or a weak – dependent – timid and degraded one!" Published anonymously, but attributed to Bowdoin by Evans and Sabin. Bowdoin (1752-1811) was a prominent Massachusetts merchant and diplomat who ran against the political trend of his region by siding with the Democratic Republican party. Jefferson appointed him the American minister to Spain in 1804. Not in Howes. EVANS 31857. SABIN 7015. NAIP w006694. KRESS B3351. $750. |
|
|
|
||
|
Papers
on Book Collecting by William S. Reese
|
|
|
Questions or comments?Write us at amorder@reeseco.com |
||
