Item No. 1
A Landmark Exposition of the Principles of Republican Government
1. Adams, John: A DEFENCE OF THE CONSTITUTIONS OF GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AGAINST THE ATTACK OF M. TURGOT IN HIS LETTER TO DR. PRICE...IN THREE VOLUMES. A NEW EDITION. London: Printed for John Stockdale, 1794. Port. frontis, [2], 8, xxxii, [3]-392; [2], 451, [1]; [2], 528, [36] pp. Light private rubberstamp on front free endpaper of each volume. Volume I has the portrait frontis, which is somewhat foxed in the margins. Bound in contemporary tree calf, expertly rebacked with original spines laid down [some spine chipping] and original gilt-lettered black morocco spine labels. Gilt spine bands. Light foxing, Very Good.
The book was first published in London in 1787 as a single volume, just as the Constitutional Convention assembled in Philadelphia. This is Adams's completed work and final edition. "John Adams, it is safe to say, bestowed more thought on the nature of government, and exerted more influence in determining the character of the constitutions adopted during the Revolution by most of the original states, than any one of his contemporaries. When, therefore, Turgot attacked these constitutions because of 'an unreasonable imitation of the usages of England,' and because of a want of centralization, it was natural that Adams should come forward as their champion" [Larned]. The Defence "has ably combated the opinions of Turgot, Mably, and Price, who were in favour of a single Legislative Assembly, and by it has contributed much towards establishing that division of power in our Legislative Assemblies, with its proper checks and balances, which we now enjoy. His accounts of other republics and their governments, are accurate and well drawn, and show the author to have been a man of extensive reading, and well acquainted with his subject." Marvin. Howes A60aa. Marvin 50-51. Larned 2687. Sabin 235. Cohen 2735. $4,500.00
Item No. 2
“Not a Lecture, But a Budget of Jewels”
2. [Alaska Mining Promotional]: CAPTAIN JACK CRAWFORD, "THE POET SCOUT," IN HIS WONDERFUL ENTERTAINMENTS, "THE CAMP FIRE AND THE TRAIL." THE ONLY ENTERTAINMENT OF ITS KIND ON EARTH. GLOWING PICTURES OF THE BEAUTIFUL BORDERLAND. RECITATIONS OF HIS OWN QUAINT POEMS. THRILLING STORIES OF LIFE IN CAMP AND FIELD...TWO HOURS OF RARE ENJOYMENT. NOTHING LIKE HIM EVER SEEN BEFORE. NOTHING LIKE HIM WILL EVER BE SEEN AGAIN. [New York? 1897]. Broadsheet, 9 1/2" x 12". With a small, oval half-tone portrait. On recto, at the bottom, printed in red: 'Norton Hall, Granville, N.Y., Thursday Eve., Dec. 30, 1897". Near Fine.
A rare announcement of a public entertainment-- "Not a Lecture. But a Budget of Jewels, Sparkling, Pathetic, Humorous and Original"-- by this popular Western hero who, on his first outing as a reporter in 1875, did much to promote the Black Hills Gold Rush. John W. Crawford [1847-1917] was a "poet-scout" who memorialized Custer and Wild Bill Hickok in verse. He "was one of the original discoverers of gold on French Creek, in the Black Hills, in 1876." After a stint with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, which he left when he accidentally shot himself in the groin [blaming it on Buffalo Bill's drinking], he moved to New Mexico to scout for the Army against the Apache. He "did more than any other man in the Territory in bringing before the public the immense mineral wealth of New Mexico." This broadsheet serves not only to publicize Captain Jack's Entertainment, but also to promote "The Capt. Jack Crawford Alaska Prospecting and Mining Co." Testimonials to Crawford are printed here, along with an invitation for the recipient to receive a Company prospectus. OCLC 778631567 [2- Yale, SMU] as of March 2018. $375.00
Item No. 3
Where’s Missouri’s Boundary?
3. [Allen, Beverley]: [CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN BEVERLEY ALLEN, ESQ., A MEMBER OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE CONVENTION WHICH FORMED THE CONSTITUTION OF MISSOURI]. Jefferson City, Missouri: 1841. 15, [1 blank] pp. Disbound and lightly foxed, else Very Good.
The Correspondence is prefaced by a transmittal letter from Missouri Secretary of State James L. Minor. Seeking to resolve the vexing problem of the location of Missouri's northern boundary, Allen has "addressed a circular to each of the members, now living, of the Convention which formed the Constitution of this State. My object is to ascertain of them their information as to the opinions and intention of the Convention, as to the phrase in the Constitution, on which has arisen the dispute respecting our Northern boundary." The troublesome constitutional phrase is a reference to the meridian "which passes through the Rapids of the River Des Moines..." Several living members plead a "very indistinct recollection." But Edward Bates gives a clear and direct answer, and John D. Cook's and John Scott's replies agree with Bates. MO Imprints Inventory 289. OCLC records six locations under two accession numbers as of March 2018. $875.00
Item No. 4
Christianize Those Pesky Indians
4. American Indian Mission Association: PROCEEDINGS OF THE SEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN MISSION ASSOCIATION, HELD IN ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, OCTOBER 25TH, 26TH, AND 27TH, 1849. Louisville: Hull & Brother, Printers, 1849. 32pp. Stitched in original printed bright yellow wrappers. Near Fine.
The Constitution, amended as of November 26, 1849 and printed at page [2], identifies the Association's aims: "the promotion of the spiritual and temporal interests of the Aborigines of America, by the preaching of the Gospel, and other religious instruction; by the establishment of Schools, both male and female... and by promoting industry and civilization in general." Membership is open to "any person" by making an annual contribution of two dollars. Previously, membership was available to "Any member of a Baptist church." Attendees are listed, Officers and Managers are nominated, proceedings are printed with reports on the various tribes within the Indian Territory. Women as well as men participated in the Association's activities. The Committee on Increase of Missions warns of "influences which greatly tend to render more wretched the condition of these destitute tribes." FIRST EDITION. OCLC 950949979 [1- AAS] as of March 2018. Not in Field, Sabin, Decker, Gilcrease-Hargrett, Coleman, Eberstadt. Sabin records only the Third Annual Meeting. See Gilcrease-Hargrett 208-209 for other Meetings of this Association and 39 Decker 215 for the Third Annual Report. $650.00
“A CHOSEN INSTRUMENT in the hands of the ALMIGHTY”
5. Andrews, John: A SERMON, DELIVERED FEBRUARY 19, 1795, BEING A DAY OF PUBLIC THANKSGIVING, THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Newburyport: Blunt & March, 1795. 22, [2 blanks] pp, with the half title. Disbound, scattered foxing, light rubberstamp on blank portion of half title. Good+. Presentation on half title: "From the Author."
"After the establishment of peace, the want of a firm, efficient, federal government was sensibly felt. Our credit, our reputation were daily sinking; and the situation of our country was truly deplorable. The good sense of our enlightened citizens soon led them to adopt a constitution of government, framed by statesmen and legislators, inferior to none in the world." Andrews praises President Washington "as a CHOSEN INSTRUMENT in the hand of the ALMIGHTY, for preserving us from the horrors of war, and continuing to us the blessings of peace." He excoriates "popular demagogues" who "calumniate" the President and want "to destroy a Constitution, which would honor any nation in the world." Evans 28194. $450.00
Item No. 5
Item No. 6
6. Anti-Quay [pseud.]: TO THE DISFRANCHISED VOTERS OF LEBANON CO. [Lancaster PA? 1898?]. Broadside, 3-1/2" x 12". Poetry, entirely in the German language. Fine.
A poetic broadside, opposing the powerful Quay Machine in Pennsylvania. Reichard, Pennsylvania-German Dialect Writings and Their Writers 339 [Lancaster, PA: 1918]. Not located on OCLC as of March 2018. $150.00
High-Water Mark of the Antimasonic Party
7. [Antimasonic Party]: HARRISBURG, MARCH 1ST, 1832. SIR:- THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTION WAS UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED AT THE ANTIMASONIC STATE CONVENTION HELD ON THE 22D DAY OF FEBRUARY LAST, AT HARRISBURG:-. Harrisburg: 1832. Printed broadside letter, folded to 7-3/4" x 12-1/2". Single printed page, resolving to support William Wirt and Amos Ellmaker for President and Vice President on the Antimasonic Ticket, and Samuel Harvey's selection as an Elector. Three blank pages follow, except addressed on last page in ink, with postal cancel, to 'Samuel Harvey, Esquire, Germantown, Phila. Co. Penna.' Docketed in ink on last page: 'Nomination to be an Elector of President and Vice Pres. Harrisburgh March 1, 1832.' At the bottom of the first page is a handwritten response from Harvey, agreeing to be an Elector ['Copy' written at bottom]. Very Good.
Harvey was a Methodist preacher and active citizen in Philadelphia. Harvey Street in Germantown is named after him. Not located on OCLC as of March 2018. $275.00
Item No. 8
8. Antimasonic State Committee of Pennsylvania [Thaddeus Stevens]: CIRCULAR LETTER ADDRESSED BY THE ANTI-MASONIC COMMITTEE OF PENNSYLVANIA TO THE COMMITTEES OF OTHER STATES. Harrisburg: June 20, 1837. Broadside, 8-1/2" x 13". Light wear, Very Good.
Thaddeus Stevens began his political career as an opponent of Freemasonry. Here he is chosen as a Delegate to a proposed national Antimasonic convention, to be held the following year, "to nominate candidates for the office of President and Vice President of the United States." The broadside forcefully charges that Freemasonry embodies "those secret bonds of tyranny which have so long and so shamefully perverted the use and object of our free institutions, and controlled the operations of all political parties." Warnings are issued "against the treasonable designs of the masonic order;" and all are urged to take the measures "necessary to the general prostration of secret societies." Not in American Imprints or Sabin. OCLC 55645866 [1- MA Hist. Soc.] as of March 2018. Not located at online sites of AAS, NYPL. $500.00
Item No. 9
Baptists in North America
9. Asplund, John: THE ANNUAL REGISTER OF THE BAPTIST DENOMINATION, IN NORTH-AMERICA; TO THE FIRST OF NOVEMBER, 1790. CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE CHURCHES AND THEIR CONSTITUTIONS, MINISTERS, MEMBERS, ASSOCIATIONS, THEIR PLAN AND SENTIMENTS, RULE AND ORDER, PROCEEDINGS AND CORRESPONDENCE. ALSO REMARKS UPON PRACTICAL RELIGION. HUMBLY OFFERED TO THE PUBLIC, BY JOHN ASPLUND. [Philadelphia: Thomas Dobson, 1792]. Quarto. iv, [5]-70 pp. [as issued]. Contemporary plain wrappers, light rubberstamp on title page. Scattered spotting. The text is continuous. Good+.
Prefaced from Southampton County, Virginia, July 14, 1791, the first year of Asplund's annual Baptist Register. Originally "it was printed in Richmond, Virginia, in 1791 and contained 60 pages in quarto." This is a scarce variant. "The first sixteen pages are from the same sheets as the original Richmond edition (Evans 26580), and were probably printed in 1791... Pages 17-70 were presumably printed in Philadelphia by Thomas Dobson in September, 1792" [ESTC]. The document identifies the minister, number of members, and location of each Baptist church in each State; and provides data about each Baptist Association. Evans 26583. Howes A361. ESTC W37303 [7 locations]. Sabin 2222. $850.00
Item No. 10
A Complete Run of This Brutal Dissection of Andrew Jackson
10. [Association of Individuals, An] [Hammond, Charles (editor)]: TRUTH'S ADVOCATE AND MONTHLY ANTI-JACKSON EXPOSITOR. BY AN ASSOCIATION OF INDIVIDUALS. Cincinnati: Lodge, L'Hommedieu, and Hammond, Printers. 1828. [4], 400 pp. The ten issues, from January through October 1828, are the entire output of this engaging monthly. Contemporary half sheep and marbled boards [binding firm, light rubbing] with gilt-lettered black morocco spine label. The first four pages are the general title and an Index. Toned, scattered and generally light foxing. Very Good.
The Expositor opposes the "strongly repulsive... combination organized to prostrate the Administration" of J.Q. Adams. The opposition is "a monstrosity... an alarming destitution of the moral sense." Calhoun is an "arch-intriguer." Jackson is "a man of very slender capacity, of no learning and of no experience in public affairs." He has thrust himself forward "by the mere force of arrogant pretension." Each number examines political activities, Jackson's tyrannical character, and his atrocious conduct: his "domestic relations", highlighting his bigamous marriage to poor Rachel; his dictatorial and arbitrary administration of New Orleans; his aptitude for and enjoyment of violence and dueling; his outrageous conduct of military affairs in Florida. Ernie Wessen wrote that this book "had the distinction of being burnt at the public whipping-post, by irate Jacksonians, in Knoxville, Tennessee. Although the work is said to have lost friends, because of the erudite Hammond's bitter attacks upon Jackson; a part of which were believed to have been directed against Mrs. Jackson; it is a reliable source on Jackson's relations with Burr, and covers in considerable detail Jackson's army career; the Florida War, etc." Wise & Cronin 498. Sabin 97272 ("Planned from the beginning to be continued for ten months only"). 96 Midland Notes 502. Not in Miles, Lomazow, Mott, American Imprints. Servies 1376. $1,500.00
“The Frigid Zone of Harvard”
11. [Austin, William]: STRICTURES ON HARVARD UNIVERSITY. -- PERSONAL SATIRE IS WORTHY OF LITTLE NOTICE-- IT IS SELDOM JUST. BY A SENIOR. Boston: Printed and Sold by John W. Folsom, 1798. 35, [1 blank] pp. Disbound, untrimmed, light rubberstamp, light foxing and mild wear. One small margin hole slightly touches but does not obscure a couple of letters. Good+.
Austin, to whom DAB attributes authorship, graduated from Harvard in 1798. Among his classmates were Joseph Story and William Ellery Channing. "Now forgotten, William Austin was a prominent literary figure of his time, and an acute critic of law and politics of the early nineteenth century. He... wrote 'Strictures on Harvard University' soon after graduation." His most famous work, 'Peter Rugg, the Missing Man', foreshadows themes later taken up by Hawthorne, Melville, and Poe. See, Joyce Carol Oates [editor], THE OXFORD BOOK OF AMERICAN SHORT STORIES [second edition] pages 31 et seq. Fullerton [page 16] says that, after Washington Irving, "he was the best of the early American short story writers." This pamphlet consists of six Numbers, each critically and humorously examining "the frigid zone of Harvard." Evans 33344. ESTC W3579. $1,250.00
Item No. 11
Item No. 12
Acclaimed Work by “A Self-Taught Artist”
12. [Banvard, John]: DESCRIPTION OF BANVARD'S PANORAMA OF THE MISSISSIPPI & MISSOURI RIVERS, EXTENSIVELY KNOWN AS THE "THREE MILE PAINTING," EXHIBITING A VIEW OF COUNTRY OVER 3000 MILES IN LENGTH, EXTENDING FROM THE MOUTH OF THE YELLOW STONE TO THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS, BEING BY FAR THE LARGEST PICTURE EVER EXECUTED BY MAN. London: Printed by W.J. Goldbourn, 1849. 48pp. Disbound without wraps, else Very Good.
In 1847, an edition issued describing Banvard's panorama of the Mississippi River. "A much longer painting including the Missouri River was described in the pamphlet published in 1849" [Clark]. The pamphlet's first 24 pages are a biography of Banvard, "a self-taught artist." Pages 25-35 describe the painting; pages 36-44 describe "Life on the Mississippi." Pages 45-48 print admiring resolutions and testimonials. III Clark 271. Rader 247. Howes B110 and Sabin 3223 [recording the "Mississippi River" imprint]. $650.00
Rare Baptist Catechism
13. Baptist Church in America: THE BAPTIST CATECHISM; OR, A BRIEF INSTRUCTION IN THE PRINCIPLES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, AGREEABLY TO THE CONFESSION OF FAITH PUT FORTH BY UPWARDS OF AN HUNDRED CONGREGATIONS IN GREAT-BRITAIN, JULY THE 3D, 1689; ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSOCIATION OF PHILADELPHIA, SEPTEMBER THE 22D, 1742; AND NOW RECEIVED BY CHURCHES OF THE SAME DENOMINATION IN MOST OF THE UNITED STATES. TO WHICH ARE ADDED, THE PROOFS FROM SCRIPTURES. Boston: Manning and Loring, 1795. 24pp, stitched as issued. Untrimmed, with some chipping at the untrimmed edges. Last two leaves browned, Good+.
The Catechism of 114 questions and answers continues through page 19, followed by The Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments. Pages 21-24 print Watts's songs for children. A scarce imprint, ESTC recording locations only at AAS, the Huntington, and Andover-Newton's Trask Library. Evans 28232. ESTC W9539. $500.00
Item No. 13
A Thriving, Politically-Connected 19th Century Massachusetts Law Firm
14. Baylies, Francis and William: COLLECTION OF HUNDREDS OF BUSINESS LETTERS AND LEGAL DOCUMENTS FROM THE LAW FIRM OF WILLIAM AND FRANCIS BAYLIES, FROM THE EARLY TO MID-1800s. [1814-1863]. A large lot of items from the law firm of William Baylies and Francis Baylies, mostly unresearched and unexplored. This collection is an excellent opportunity to study a thriving, successful legal practice during the middle years of the 19th century. The material includes: 1. More than 100 letters addressed to William Baylies or Francis Baylies by clients and business associates in their capacity as lawyers, concerning the law practice, requests for services, discussions of ongoing matters. Most are dated from the 1820s and 1830s; a small number are dated as early as 1814 and as late as 1863. A small number are personal in nature. Ranging in size, up to legal size, averaging 1-4 pages. Old folds, some wax seals, occasional closed tear, scattered age toning and foxing. Overall, Very Good. 2. More than 300 legal documents, most completely in manuscript, some printed forms completed in manuscript and executed. Includes case facts, pleadings, agreements, bonds, opening and closing arguments, and other legal writings. Tanned, scattered foxing, occasional tears. Overall, Very Good. 3. William Baylies' personal copy of the RULES AND ORDERS TO BE OBSERVED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES... 1830, signed "Wm. Baylies" on the front wrap and flyleaf. 36pp, plain blue wraps, stitched. Light scattered foxing. Very Good. 4. More than 100 smaller documents and scraps of paper consisting mostly of receipts and random notes. Overall, Good+.
Item No. 14 [a sampling] William Baylies [1776-1865] and Francis Baylies [1783-1852] were brothers and partners in a Massachusetts law firm. William served as a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts in 1809, 1813-1817, and 1833-1835; was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1808-1809, 1812-1813, and 1820-1821; and a member of the Massachusetts Senate from 1825-1826 and 1830-1831. Francis was a Congressman from 1821-1827; a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1827-1832 and in 1835; and the United States Charge d'Affaires, Argentina in 1832. $5,000.00
Item No. 15
15. [Bell, Miss Fanny]: REMARKABLE NARRATIVE OF THE FEMALE HERMIT, AND TELOULA, THE INDIAN GIRL. Boston: For Sale by Travelling Agents Through the United States, 1849. 32pp. Stitched in original printed yellow, illustrated title wrappers [as issued]. Pages in the second half are toned; scattered light foxing, a couple of closed tears without loss. Good+. Frontis illustration with caption, "Die, then, base Robber, without judge or jury." Rear wrapper with identical illustration, captioned, "The same moment witnessed the vows of love, and the tears of agony." A rare fictional account of the Life of Miss Fanny Bell, and a tale of 'The Father's Revenge.' I Wright 1670 note. OCLC 40958712 [4- Newberry, Huntington, U VA, Boston Pub. Lib.]. Not in Sabin. Not located on AAS's or the Library of Congress's online sites as of March 2018. $500.00
Item No. 16
“Choice Prairie Land” For Sale
16. Bent, J.A.: STATE LEASED LANDS IN NORTH-EASTERN NEBRASKA. [Wheaton, Illinois? 1888]. Single pink sheet, folded to 5 1/4" x 11". [4] pp. A couple of short, closed blank margin tears. Very Good.
Bent ran the Western Land Agency in Wheaton, Illinois. This ephemeral item offers dozens of available lots in Northeastern Nebraska for purchase or lease, and also advertises "choice prairie land" in Iowa, Kansas, and other parts of Nebraska. Pages [2] and [3] describe in detail 23 lots in Kansas, Iowa, Texas, Illinois, Dakota, as well as Nebraska. OCLC records a single copy, at Yale. OCLC 27955238 [1- Yale] [as of March 2018]. $450.00
Item No. 17
From the Influential Spokesman for the West
17. Benton, Thomas Hart: LETTER FROM COL. BENTON TO THE PEOPLE OF MISSOURI. CENTRAL NATIONAL HIGHWAY FROM THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER TO THE PACIFIC. [Washington: 1853]. 24pp, caption title [as issued]. Stitched, untrimmed, uncut. First and last leaves dusted and lightly worn, else Very Good.
"Signed Thomas H. Benton and dated Washington, March 4, 1853 on page 16. Pages [17]-24 comprise the Appendix. Contains the probable first printing of Leroux's statement to Benton of his activities with Ashley and Henry and his residence in Taos, dated March 1, 1853. Also contains Fremont's letter to the Philadelphia Railroad Convention, April, 1850. Probably printed at Washington in 1853" [Graff]. "Senator Benton refers to the Fremont winter trip of 1848-9 and reprints the Fremont letter to the Philadelphia Railroad Convention of April, 1850. Benton also includes a statement made to him by Antoine Leroux concerning the latter's early years in New Mexico" [Wagner-Camp]. Howes B368. Graff 270. Wagner-Camp-Becker 221. 137 Eberstadt 26. $350.00
18. Benton, Thomas Hart: MR. BENTON'S LETTER TO MAJ. GEN. DAVIS, OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, DECLINING THE NOMINATION OF THE CONVENTION OF THAT STATE; DEFENDING THE NOMINATION OF VAN BUREN FOR THE PRESIDENCY; AND RECOMMENDING HARMONY, CONCERT, AND UNION, TO THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES. Washington: Blair & Rives, 1835. 16pp, disbound. Benton's free frank manuscript signature laid down on blank portion of title page. Good+.
The first great spokesman for the interests of the West, Benton was a pre-eminent Democrat and a strong supporter of Andrew Jackson, despite an early violent dispute in which Jackson received a bullet in his shoulder. Benton declines consideration for the Vice Presidency in the upcoming 1836 election. He writes warmly of the Northern Democrat, Martin Van Buren, Jackson's Vice President, who has no peer in his opposition to the banking system; and provides a detailed biography of Van Buren's public life. FIRST EDITION. Wise & Cronin 37. AI 30385 [4]. Not in Eberstadt, Decker, Soliday, Sabin, Owen, or Miles. $350.00
Item No. 19
“Papal Usurpations”
19. Bicheno, J[ames]: THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES: OR, THE OVERTHROW OF THE PAPAL TYRANNY IN FRANCE, THE PRELUDE OF DESTRUCTION TO POPERY AND DESPOTISM; BUT OF PEACE TO MANKIND...THE FIRST AMERICAN EDITION, FROM THE SECOND EUROPEAN, TO WHICH LARGE ADDITIONS WERE MADE. America: Printed at Providence (R. Island) by Carter and Wilkinson, and sold at their Book and Stationary Store, 1794. [4], iii, [1 blank], 83, [1 blank] pp + A Synoptical Table of Prophetic Numbers [folded, as issued]. Stitched, lightly worn, rubberstamp at blank margin of title page. Else Very Good.
Bicheno says there is no "event so extraordinary as the late revolution in France." It heralds "the utter downfall of the papacy," "a fatal stroke to the papal usurpations, and to the reign of despotism." The author's research on the Prophecies leads him to conclude "that the beast which John saw coming up out of the earth was Lewis the Fourteenth, or the French tyranny, perfected by him, and supported by his successors." FIRST AMERICAN EDITION. Evans 26670. Alden 1355. $450.00 Unfair: President Johnson Prefers the Black Soldier!
20. [Black Soldiers]: JOHNSON'S LOVE FOR THE SOLDIER. [np: 1867]. Broadsheet political card, oblong 4" x 3". Minor toning. Very Good.
A political cartoon card with two woodcut illustrations: one depicts a black soldier asking for and receiving a Congressionally-authorized Bounty of $300 for service in the Union army; the other shows a one-legged white Civil War veteran asking for a Congressionally- authorized "EXTRA bounty" of $100 to white veterans. But the "Johnson paymaster", sitting indifferently in his chair and reading a newspaper, tells him, "I am very sorry, but the President says the brave black troops must be paid first." The verso is headed, "Cash for the Black Soldier. Promises Only for the White Soldier." "President Johnson's Paymasters are paying the $300 to the Black Soldier; but say they have no money to pay the $100 to the White Soldier. Which is the White Man's Party?" The card accuses Johnson supporters of favoring suffrage for African-Americans. LCP Supp. 365. Library of Congress, Portfolio 236, Folder 10a. Not in Reilly, Weitenkampf. OCLC 172834876 [1- LCP], 748086556 [1- U TN] as of February 2018. $750.00
Item No. 20
21. [Black Soldiers in World War I]: GENERAL ORDERS, NO. 125. WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, SEPTEMBER 22, 1917... "THE PRESIDENT DIRECTS THAT THERE BE ORGANIZED FOR THE PERIOD OF THE EXISTING EMERGENCY, THE ENLISTED STRENGTH TO BE RAISED AND MAINTAINED BY VOLUNTARY ENROLLMENT OF CONSCRIPTED COLORED MEN AFTER THEIR MOBILIZATION, OR, IF SUFFICIENT MEN ARE NOT OBTAINED BY THIS METHOD BY VOLUNTARY ENLISTMENT OF COLORED MEN, 24 LABOR COMPANIES, EACH COMPANY CONSISTING OF THE FOLLOWING PERSONNEL..." [Washington, D.C.: 1917]. 4 1/2" x 7". 3, [1 blank] pp. Loose. Else Fine.
Each of the twenty-four labor companies consists of four commissioned white officers, and two hundred enlisted "colored" personnel including one first sergeant, one mess sergeant, one supply sergeant, 5 sergeants, 20 corporals, 2 mechanics, 3 wagoners, 3 cooks, 2 buglers, 41 privates first class, and 121 privates. $250.00
Item No. 21
The Constitution “Expressly Designed for the Purpose of Supporting Slavery”
22. Bowditch, William I.: SLAVERY AND THE CONSTITUTION. Boston: Robert F. Wallcut, 1849. Original printed wrappers, stitched. [4], 156pp. Rear wrapper detached but present; two inconspicuous rubberstamps; light wrapper chipping; occasional mild foxing. Very Good. Presentation inscription: "Hezekiah Skinner with the regards of W.I.B."
Bowditch was a lawyer, actively involved in the anti-slavery cause. He demonstrates that the deck is stacked against Emancipation: respectable clergy bless Slavery as consistent with Divine Providence; private and public resources are devoted to the slave's "remaining a passive and obedient, working machine... The value of [Frederick] Douglass as a slave decreased just as fast as his manhood increased." Slaves are deliberately kept in a "degraded" condition. Bowditch rejects his utopian brethren’s contention that Slavery is unconstitutional. When the Constitution was adopted Massachusetts was the only State that had outlawed Slavery. The Framers created a Constitution "expressly designed for the purpose of supporting slavery." They protected it in the Three-Fifths Clause, and in the requirement for rendition of fugitive slaves. "In sober truth, then, we are a nation of slaveholders!" Bowditch counsels: "No union with slaveholders." Cohen 9899. LCP 1434. Dumond 30. Sabin 7010. Not in Work. OCLC locates only a few copies [but many facsimiles] as of March 2018. $650.00
Item No. 22 Item No. 23
“Enormous and Alarming” Crimes by a Prolific Mail-Robber
23. [Braddee, John F.]: TRIAL OF JOHN F. BRADDEE, IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT OF WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA, MAY TERM 1841: FOR ROBBING THE U. STATES MAIL, AT UNIONTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA, NOVEMBER & DECEMBER, 1840. REPORTED BY MARCUS T.C. GOULD, STENOGRAPHER. Pittsburgh: Published by R.G. Berford... 1841. 155, [1- Index] pp. Bound in modern plain wrappers. Light rubberstamp on title page, scattered light to moderate foxing. Good+.
"Braddee was convicted and sentenced to ten years in a Pennsylvania penitentiary" [Cohen]. Uniontown, the location of the robbery, "is the centre of the very extensive and successful mail and stage coach facilities of the Messrs. Stockton... But for the last few months previous to the Mail Robberies developed in this publication, the amount of depredations, by night, in this vicinity, had far outstripped the relative proportion of business, great as it was, and is." The area experienced an outbreak of "enormous and alarming robberies," which are chronicled in this Trial of Braddee, a busy mail robber. The indictment, list of jurors, and names of counsel for defense and prosecution are printed; with opening statements, summaries of testimony [including cross-examinations] for prosecution and defense, closing arguments, the charge to the jury, and the jury's verdict [guilty on three of four counts]. AI 41-796 [5]. Cohen 13980. OCLC records eight locations under three accession numbers as of February 2018. $750.00 A Salute to the New Constitution
24. Bridge, Josiah: A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE HIS EXCELLENCY JOHN HANCOCK, ESQ. GOVERNOUR; HIS HONOR BENJAMIN LINCOLN, ESQ. LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOUR...OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, MAY 27, 1789. BEING THE DAY OF GENERAL ELECTION. Boston: 1789. 54, [2 blanks] pp, with the half title. Disbound, mild foxing, Very Good.
Bridge speaks a few weeks after Washington's inauguration as President: "Man was originally formed for society, and furnished with faculties adapted thereto." But not just any society-- only one which, like the United States under its Constitution, "protects the subjects in the peaceable possession of their just rights, properties and priviledges." Bridge rejects one-man rule because the temptations of power are corrupting. He notes that God helped us obtain independence "upon terms too, as honorable to America, as they were humiliating to Britain." The rulers' task is to encourage education and useful pursuits, and to distribute justice fairly and impartially. Bridge pleads for the bond-holders of the new country. They should be paid in full. "They risqued their dear-earned interest, and their still dearer lives for the freedom of their country." America, he says, is "blest with the bright beams of gospel light and grace." FIRST EDITION. Evans 21713. Sabin 7808. $375.00
Item No. 25 Brierly Attacks Public Corruption, Defends the Vigilance Committee
25. Brierly, B[enjamin]: THOUGHTS FOR THE CRISIS: A DISCOURSE DELIVERED IN THE WASHINGTON ST. BAPTIST CHURCH, SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., ON THE SABBATH FOLLOWING THE ASSASSINATION OF JAMES KING OF WM BY JAMES P. CASEY. BY REV. B. BRIERLY. SECOND EDITION. San Francisco: Printed at the Eureka Book and Job Office, 1856. 20pp. Stitched in original printed wrappers. Paper adhesion to blank rear wrapper. Very Good.
This powerful, uncompromising Discourse denounces the assassination of King, and excoriates the corruption of public officials. Two editions were printed in 1856; Cowan says they are identical. "James King, editor of the San Francisco Evening Bulletin and a leading citizen of the city, was deliberately shot to death by Casey, the editor of the Sunday Times, on May 14, 1856. The two men approached each other on the street and Casey, drawing a heavy revolver, said to King, 'Draw and defend yourself,' immediately firing at King. This outrageous act prompted the Vigilance Committee to take Casey and Charles Cora from the jail and hang them before a crowd of about 20,000" [McDade 556]. King had been a crusading newspaperman, opposing public corruption, gambling, dueling, and municipal inefficiency. Brierly praises King’s exposure of San Francisco's lawlessness. "So far as government, and law, and order, and justice are concerned, we are reduced, almost to the original elements of society... [M]en are forced to band together for self-defence because these legally appointed agents cannot, or will not" protect life and property. Citizens-- i.e., the Vigilance Committee-- thus properly take up "the original right of exercising that power themselves." No one is fooled by the fact that "a few ignorant Chinamen or Chilenos may be punished. Men who have money, or friends of a certain class, or can stuff ballot-boxes, and thus help unprincipled politicians, will escape, however foul and damning their crime." Cowan 71. Greenwood 656. Not in Eberstadt, Decker, Soliday, Graff. $1,250.00
Slavery “Imperils the Life of Our Beloved Union”
26. Burritt, Elihu: A PLAN OF BROTHERLY COPARTNERSHIP OF THE NORTH AND SOUTH, FOR THE PEACEFUL EXTINCTION OF SLAVERY. New York: Dayton and Burdick, 1856. Original printed salmon wrappers, stitched. 48pp. Light wear, Very Good.
Elihu Burritt [1810-1879], a native of Connecticut and a blacksmith turned philanthropist, was known as "The Learned Blacksmith." He was a religious man who sought to resolve the Slavery crisis without violence. His causes included the abolition of slavery, "an enemy which imperils the life of our beloved Union far more than a world of foreign foes could do... The recent events in Congress and Kanzas denote how wide and deep the abyss has grown that divides the North and South." Burritt began to advocate compensated emancipation in 1855, in his monthly publication "Bond of Brotherhood." Recognizing the North's complicity in the maintenance of Slavery, he argues that "The only possible way the Free States can acquire the right to legislate for the extinction of slavery throughout the Union, is by compensating the slaveholders of the South for the act of manumission." A rare pamphlet: there are plenty of facsimiles and reprints in the ether and elsewhere, but only a few [as noted below] originals. FIRST EDITION. LCP 1839. Dumond 33. Not in Work or Blockson. OCLC 557539579 [1- British Library] as of March 2018. $750.00
Item No. 26
Item No. 27
Item No. 27
Carey Enthusiastically Endorses African Colonization
27. Carey, M[athew]: LETTERS ON THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY; AND OF ITS PROBABLE RESULTS; UNDER THE PROBABLE HEADS: ...ADVANTAGES TO THE FREE COLOURED POPULATION, BY EMIGRATION TO LIBERIA; DISADVANTAGES OF SLAVERY TO THE WHITE POPULATION; CHARACTER OF THE NATIVES OF AFRICA, BEFORE THE IRRUPTIONS OF THE BARBARIANS; EFFECTS OF COLONIZATION ON THE SLAVE TRADE, WITH A SLIGHT SKETCH OF THAT NEFARIOUS AND ACCURSED TRAFFIC. ADDRESSED TO THE HON. C.F. MERCER, M.H.R.U.S. FOURTH EDITION, GREATLY ENLARGED AND IMPROVED. Philadelphia: Stereotyped by L. Johnson, June 19, 1832. Original printed yellow wrappers [dusted at the margins]. 32pp, preceded by Carey's slip laid in 'To the Public', offering information on the acquisition of copies. Title page preceded by two leaves of illustrations: 'Sector of a Slave Ship,' 'Map of the Colony of Liberia,' and 'Plan of the Town of Monrovia. Stitched, scattered spotting, Good+.
Carey favors colonization, enthusiastically arguing that slavery and the slave trade are a curse to white society. His prime illustration is the horrific Nat Turner Rebellion in Southampton, Virginia, in late 1831. Seven editions issued during 1832. LCP 2051. Sabin 10870. AI 11659 [5]. Not in Work. $350.00
Rare Newport Carrier Address
28. [Carrier Address]: TO THE PATRONS OF THE NEWPORT MERCURY, THE CARRIER PRESENTS THE COMPLIMENTS OF THE SEASON, AND THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS. [Newport: Newport Mercury, 1813]. Broadside, 5-1/2" x 17-1/2". Text surrounded by attractive ornamental border. Uniformly tanned, a couple of light margin spots, shallow blank edge wear. Very Good.
"When rival Nations, great in Arms/ Great in Pow'r in Glory great/ Fill the whole World with war's alarms,/ And breathe a temporary Hate;/ The hostile storms but rage a-while,/ And the tir'd contest ends./ But, ah! how hard to reconcile/ The Foes who once were Friends!" The Address during the War of 1812. The broadside was printed in late 1813, for distribution on January 1, 1814. OCLC 191267430 [1- AAS] as of March 2018. Not in American Imprints. $1,250.00
Item No. 28
The Hero of Gettysburg in the Political Arena
29. [Chamberlain, Joshua Lawrence et al.]: TO THE REPUBLICAN VOTERS IN THE FIRST CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF MAINE. [Portland? 1884]. Broadside, 5-3/4" x 11-3/4". Printed in two columns separated by a rule. Near Fine.
Chamberlain, the Hero of Gettysburg, and five other members of a Republican Committee in Portland, refuse to vote for Thomas B. Reed for Congress because he is not a friend of civil service reform, and because he refused to reappoint as Postmaster J.W. Crawford, a partially disabled Civil War veteran, fully qualified for the job. Crawford had been Postmaster for one term, done an excellent job, and should have been reappointed. Reed, a powerful Congressman, became Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Not located on OCLC as of March 2018. $275.00
“The Triumph of Liberty in AMERICA”
30. Channing, Henry: THE CONSIDERATION OF DIVINE GOODNESS AN ARGUMENT FOR RELIGIOUS GRATITUDE AND OBEDIENCE. A SERMON, DELIVERED AT NEW-LONDON, NOVEMBER 27, 1794. BEING THE DAY APPOINTED BY AUTHORITY FOR PUBLIC THANKSGIVING IN CONNECTICUT. New London: Samuel Green, 1794. 24pp, with the half title. Scattered light to moderate foxing, disbound, Good+.
Channing's text is from Samuel, XII: "Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you." Channing considers "the great things which God hath done for us," in assuring "the triumph of liberty in AMERICA," and spreading the influence of American liberty around the world: first in France, where the people "at length burst the chains which enslaved them;" and later in Poland, a "nation long oppressed" and delivered by Kosciusko, the "generalissimo of Poland." Channing contrasts life in England, the land of "haughty nobles, affecting dignity from an empty title," and who would "dictate articles of faith to another." FIRST EDITION. Evans 26755. Trumbull 451. Johnson 1173. ESTC W30490. $450.00
Item No. 30
Dakota “A Wonderful Locality”
31. [Chicago and Northwestern Railway]: TAKE ONE! FACTS ABOUT THE WORLD'S GARDEN SPOT, SOUTHEASTERN DAKOTA. SOME SPECIMENS OF DAKOTA TOWN BUILDING. [Chicago: John Anderson & Co., Printers. @1885]. Caption title, as issued. 32pp. Page 31 is a full-page 'Map of the Chicago & North-Western Railway System.' Page 32 calls the Railway 'the Palace Drawing Room and Sleeping Car Route to all points in the West and Northwest.' Fare rates and timetables are printed at pages 28-30. Bound in modern blue paper wrappers, toned. About Very Good.
Eastern and Central Dakota, the most "talked and written about" section of the county, is a "wonderful locality" for professionals, mechanics, and farmers to "invest their brains, money and muscle." The great agricultural resources, cheap land, boom towns-- each town described in alphabetical order-- and human capital are an unrivaled opportunity for the settler. Procedures are described for obtaining free homesteads. Not located on OCLC as of March 2018. $500.00
Item No. 31
Item No. 32 32. [Civil War Patriotic Envelopes]: TWENTY-THREE PRO-UNION CIVIL WAR PATRIOTIC POSTAL COVERS, ALL WITH CARICATURES. [vp: 1861-1865]. All uncanceled, generally 3" x 5 1/2". Occasional light wear and soil. A few glue remnants from prior mounting. Very Good. The following postal covers in order [by Weiss citation]:
C-P-A-4. Printed in red ink. A man in hat and long coat, a soldier turned hobo, holds a bottle in his right hand and a sack on the end of a can in his left hand; a tag hangs from his hat. Caption below image: "An Officer in King Cotton's Army addressing his constituents." C-P-A-6. "A Pair of Spectacles." Image of spectacles: left lens depicts Jefferson Davis arriving in Washington, D.C under arrest. "J.D. arrives in Washington from the 'Sunny South'" is printed beneath the left lens. The right lens depicts Davis hanging from the gallows. "J.D. departs from Washington, for a warmer climate" is printed beneath the right lens. Printed in black ink. C-P-A-11. "A Blower." General Henry A. Wise blows through a tube into a contraption; McClellan looks on with sword drawn. "Gen. McClellan. - I say, Wise, put that thing up; everybody knows you're a good blower, but you can't fight!' Imprint of S.C. Upham, 310 Chestnut St. Printed in blue ink. C-P-A-17. Confederate soldier stands in front of a door, Confederate flag atop his bayonet. The shadow he casts on the door shows him standing in the same position but with a noose around his neck. Imprint of E. Cogan, No. 48 N. Tenth Street, Philadelphia on verso. Printed in blue and red inks. C-P-A-19. "A New Way to pay Old Debts, as practiced by the 'Southern Chivalry.'" A southern gentleman, wearing a straw hat, points a revolver at a well-dressed Brit. The southerner holds a cat o'-nine-tails in the crook of his left arm, as does a second southern man in the background who is overseeing slaves. There is also a Confederate flag, a Palmetto tree and a cotton bale in the background. Imprint of D. Murphy's Son. 65 Fulton & 372 Pearl Street, N.Y. Printed in red and blue inks. C-P-A-20. Silhouette of a scraggly Confederate soldier in uniform, boots and spurs on his feet, holding a cat o' nine tails in his left hand and a bottle of "OLD. B" in his right, a sword at his left thigh; initials "J.D." on his hat and "C.S.A." on his belt; Confederate flag behind him with a skull and cross bones on it. "A member of the C.S.A. Alligator Rangers who is to make 5 of the 'Northern mudsils' run. We don't see it." Printed in black ink. C-P-A-21. Same as item C-P-A-20 above but with the imprint of D. Murphy's Son, Print. 65 Fulton & 372 Pearl-sts, N.Y. printed vertically to left of image. C-P-A-26. A well dressed man turns a spinning wheel with the words "Hemp for traitors, North or South" written on it. A field of grain stands to his left, a gallows to his right. The words "Agriculture," "Manufactures," "Fine Arts" are written below the grain, man, and gallows, respectively. Imprint of J. Nash in tiny letters under picture. Printed in black ink on orange cover. C-P-A-32. Bearded individual with a wide-brim straw hat, a sword attached to his belt. He carries a rifle and drags a cannon. “Agricultural Implements going South." Printed in black ink. C-P-C-13. Babies dressed in finery gather around a witch with a pointed hat, cloak and cane. Caption below image, "Commissioners of C.S.A. at the Foreign Courts." Printed in red ink. C-P-D-5. Heavy-set woman wears bonnet and aproned dress, one hand on her hip and the other extended. Caption below image, "Didn't I tell you so? Jeff. Davis." Printed in red ink. C-P-D-8. Two sets of troops march along railroad tracks. Above each is a bubble captioned, "Only 9 miles to the Junction." [The second bubble is missing the 'l' in 'only', as printed.] Caption below image, "Dedicated to the 71st Regiment and the Rhode Island Boys." Imprint vertically to left of image, John H. Tinlgye, 1524 Fulton St., N.Y. Printed in blue ink. C-P-D-11. "Death To Traitors" printed at head of envelope and across its full length; each letter made up of images such as a lynching, gallows, soldiers, rifles, and flags. In the background are several tents and more soldiers. Imprint of E. Cogan, 48 N. Tenth Street, Philadelphia on flap. Printed in black ink. C-P-F-3. Jefferson Davis hung by a noose, soldiers standing at attention with bayonets beside a large Union flag. "Jeff. Davis" above his head. Caption below image, "Fate of Traitors!" Printed in red and blue inks. C-P-G-9. Four Union soldiers chase down four Confederate soldiers who are running and stumbling, two of them holding Confederate flags, one fallen to his knees, and one astride a donkey. The Union soldiers have a Union flag, a cannon and rifles with bayonets. One Confederate soldier is poked in the behind and held in the air at the end of a Union soldier's bayonet. Second soldier is riding a donkey. The third soldier may be Robert E. Lee, running with a Confederate flag. Printed in brown ink. Caption: "Grand Victorious 'Return' march of the Rebels." C-P-J-27. General Scott holds Jefferson Davis off the ground by the throat, Davis' hat and sword falling. Text above reads, "Jeff in a tight place, he wont get off "SCOTT free". Caption below reads, "Gen. Scott on being asked 'What he would do with Jeff Davis, if he caught him?' made no reply, but slowly closed his fist with a convulsive grasp." Imprint vertically to left of image, Dr. Murphy's Son, Print., 65 Fulton & 372 Pearl-sts. N.Y. Printed in blue ink. C-P-J-30. Jefferson Davis is hoisted in the air atop three Union soldiers' bayonets poked into his bottom. Davis says, "I only wanted to be let alone." The caption beneath the image says, "Jeff's unbounded ambition gives him an elevated position." Printed in red ink. C-P-J-34. Jefferson Davis seated upon a cotton bale, arms folded across his chest. Caption below image, "Jeff. King of the Cotton plant-nation, on his throne." Imprint below caption of S.C. Upham, 310 Chestnut St. Printed in blue ink. [This interesting cover pokes fun at one with an identical image printed by J. Mullen of New Orleans which has ‘C.S.A.’ above Davis' head and says "Cotton defeated Packenham, and Cotton will defeat ‘Ape Lincoln’."] C-P-J-36. Jefferson Davis chews on a root with the Confederate flag growing from it. A man kneeling in front of him with hands in praying position says, "Sweet flag." The caption below reads, "'He will hold on to the bitter end.' - DAVIS' SPEECH." Printed in black ink. C-P-J-54. Davis and Scott sit at a table playing chess. Davis' features appear devil-like. "Jeff. Davis" above his image; "Gen. Scott" above his image. Caption below says, "Jeff Davis Checkmated." Imprint vertically to left of image, "Copyright secured by Brown & Ryan, New York." Printed in blue ink. C-P-J-59. A hand holds a card which reads "Jeff Davis' Passport" vertically, and "Mr. Jeff. Davis and friends are permitted to leave the State of Virginia. Imprint vertically to left of image, "New-York Union Envelope Depot, 144 Broadway." Printed in blue ink. C-P-J-67. "JEFF. DAVIS GOING TO WAR." Beneath the caption is Davis' face. When you turn the card upside down, a second caption reads "JEFF, RETURNING FROM WAR" with the image now appearing to be the head of an ass. Printed beneath image, "Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861, by E. Rogers, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania." Printed in several colors. C-P-J-74. Elaborate scene of Davis approaching a guillotine as uniformed soldiers look on with raised swords; buildings appear in the background. Reminiscent of the French Revolution. Caption below image reads, "Jeff. Davis's adieu to his foes. His last words, let me alone now, and I will go home and live the balance of my days on Hog, Hominy, Whiskey and Tobacco." Printed in blue ink. $850.00
Item No. 33
Black Civil War Soldier’s Discharge Papers
33. [Colored Troops]: DISCHARGE PAPERS OF CIVIL WAR COLORED SOLDIER JOSEPH DERRY: “I CERTIFY, ON HONOR, THAT JOSEPH DERRY A PRIVATE OF CAPTION J.M. THOMPSON'S COMPANY (F) OF THE 33RD REGIMENT OF U.S.C.T. VOLUNTEERS, OF [blank] BORN AT YELLOW BLUFF, STATE OF FLORIDA, AGED 28 YEARS; 5 FEET 2 1/2 INCHES HIGH; BLACK COMPLEXION, BLK. EYES, BLK HAIR, AND BY OCCUPATION A FIELD HAND, HAVING JOINED THE COMPANY ON ITS ORIGINAL ORGANIZATION AT BEAUFORT S.C., AND ENROLLED IN IT AT THE MUSTER INTO THE SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES AT BEAUFORT S.C., ON THE THIRD DAY OF DECEMBER, 1862... TO SERVE IN THE REGIMENT, FOR THE TERM OF THREE YEARS: AND HAVING SERVED HONESTLY AND FAITHFULLY WITH THIS COMPANY IN DEPT. OF SOUTH TO THE PRESENT DATE, IS NOW ENTITLED TO A DISCHARGE BY REASON OF DISABILITY. ... WAS LAST PAID BY PAYMASTER MAJ. WOOD TO INCLUDE THE 29TH DAY OF FEBRUARY, 1864, AND HAS PAY DUE HIM FROM THAT TIME TO THE PRESENT DATE... HE HAS RECEIVED FROM THE UNITED STATES CLOTHING AMOUNTING TO THIRTY THREE 14/100 DOLLARS, SINCE THE THIRD DAY OF DECEMBER, 1863, WHEN HIS CLOTHING ACCOUNT WAS LAST SETTLED... GIVEN IN DUPLICATE, AT FOLLY ISLAND S.C. THIS 15TH DAY OF AUGUST, 1864. [signed] E. WYLLYS HYDE, LIEUT. 33RD U.S.C.T., COMMANDING COMPANY.” 8-1/2" x 11". [4] pp, including the Final Statement of Private Joseph Derry, Co. F, 33rd Reg't of U.S.C.T. with Pay Voucher No. 5 attached with glue [obscures a few letters], docketed on verso. The Final Statement has been signed by E. Wyllys Hyde, Lieut. The pay receipt has been signed by Joseph Derry by his mark and is witnessed by M.S. Gregory, Paymaster Clk. with Maj. Jos. Moore listed as the Paymaster. The receipt shows that Derry Received $40.35 from the Paymaster after deductions for his clothing and other costs. Both are printed forms completed in manuscript. Tanned, old horizontal folds with some fold splits [one split repaired with archival tape, two repaired with what appears to be thick non-archival tape]. A rare survival. Good+.
The disability causing Derry's discharge is not noted. The 1880 U.S. Census lists him as blind in one eye; living with his wife Caroline in Nassau County, Florida, and working as a laborer. U.S. Pension Files show three applications for pensions: Class Invalid filed 10/30/1889; Class Widow filed 3/5/1890 for Caroline Derry; and Class Minor filed 9/20/1894 [Anna F. Young, Guardian.]. Derry mustered in at Beaufort, S.C. in December 1862, a Sea Island town which Union troops captured early in the War. He was later transferred to the 33d U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment, which was formed on February 8, 1864 from Capt. John M. Thompson's First South Carolina Volunteers, the first colored regiment mustered into United States service. Derry evidently joined that regiment at its "original organization." During his time in service, Derry's regiment traveled from Beaufort up the St. Mary's River, where it had skirmishes with Confederate troops; then occupied Jacksonville, Florida, until the end of March; then to Hilton Head in January, 1864. By June, 1864, the regiment was at Folly Island, where it remained until after the siege of Charleston. The Thirty-Third had participated in the Battle of Honey Hill during this time and sustained casualties. This may have been where Private Derry lost his eye. $750.00
Item No. 34
Connecticut Jeffersonians Try to Oust the Federalists
34. [Connecticut]: "AT THE SEMI-ANNUAL MEETING OF THE REPUBLICANS OF THE STATE LEGISLATURE, AND OTHERS FROM DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE STATE, ASSEMBLED PURSUANT TO ADJOURNMENT, AT THE CITY HALL, IN THE CITY OF HARTFORD, ON THE 25TH DAY OF MAY, A.D. 1804 - RESOLVED, AS THE UNANIMOUS OPINION OF THIS MEETING, THAT IT IS THE DUTY OF THE REPUBLICANS IN THE SEVERAL TOWNS IN THIS STATE, ON OR BEFORE THE 15TH DAY OF JULY NEXT, TO HOLD IN THEIR RESPECTIVE TOWNS A GENERAL MEETING OF ALL THE REPUBLICANS, AND AT SUCH MEETING TO ADOPT SUCH MEASURES AS THEIR WISDOM MAY SUGGEST, TO CALL FORTH AN UNITED EXERTION IN FAVOR OF THE REPUBLICAN NOMINATION, AND IN SUPPORT OF SUCH REPRESENTATIVES FOR THEIR RESPECTIVE TOWNS AS THEY SHALL RESPECTIVELY AGREE ON. "RESOLVED THAT THOMAS TISDALL, AND JOHN RUSS, OF HARTFORD - HENRY W. EDWARDS, WILLIAM POWELL, NEW-HAVEN - RICHARD FOSDICK, ABISHAI WOODWARD, NEW-LONDON - EPAPHRAS W. BULL, SAMUEL H. PHILLIPS, DANBURY - PETER WEBB, CHARLES TAINTER, WINDHAM - MOSES SEYMOUR, JUN. ROGER SKINNER, LITCHFIELD - WILLIAM VAN DUERSON, ELISHA COE, MIDDLETOWN - SAMUEL WHITTLESEY AND ASHBEL CHAPMAN, TOLLAND - BE A COMMITTEE TO SOLICIT SUBSCRIPTIONS... EXTRACT FROM THE PROCEEDINGS, H. HUNTINGTON, CLERK." [Hartford? 1804]. Folio broadside, 7 3/4" x 12 1/2". Faint fold lines, small tape repair of fold split on verso. Signed in type by H. Huntington, Clerk. Names of suitable nominees are printed at the end: Thomas Seymour, Jonathan Bull, Ebenezer Barnard, Rufus Hitchcock, Andrew Hull, Jun., Asa Spalding, Elias Brown, Moses Warren Jun., Jabez Fitch, Walter Bradley, Jabez H. Tomlinson, Ebenezer Devotion, Daniel Tilden, Ephraim Kirby, John Welch, Ephraim Starr, William Hart, Isaac Spencer, 2d, John T. Peters, and Samuel Whittlesey. Very Good.
This document summarizes tasks to be performed by Connecticut Republicans, who sought to oust the Federalists from power. Under Federalist control, Connecticut adhered to its 1662 Charter. Republicans advocated a new Constitution for Connecticut in their 1804 platform. The struggle with the Federalists continued until, in 1818, Connecticut's first Constitution was enacted. Not located on OCLC as of March 2018, or in American Imprints or Sabin. $350.00
35. [Connecticut]: "CONNECTICUT EXPECTS EVERY MAN TO DO HIS DUTY." [Tolland, CT? 1834]. Broadside, 7-3/4" x 12-3/4". Title followed by nine printed lines; remainder of broadside blank. Very Good.
"Independent Electors of Tolland County, without distinction of Party" call a "County Meeting, at the house of Elijah Smith, of Tolland, on Wednesday, the 26th day of March." Their purpose: to protest President Jackson's "recent usurpation in removing the public moneys" from the Bank of the United States, and to deliberate "on the deranged state of the currency, and the deep distress which pervades all classes of people throughout the Union." OCLC 47259202 [1- CT Hist. Soc.] as of March 2018. Not at online AAS site. $275.00
Item No. 36 Connecticut Federalists Refute Jeffersonian Slanders
36. [Connecticut]: COURANT-OFFICE, HARTFORD, APRIL 1, 1817. THE LAST RESOURCE OF DEMOCRACY. FROM THE AMERICAN MERCURY OF APRIL 1, 1817. "A MAMMOTH TAX!" Hartford: Courant. 1817. Broadside, oblong 10" x 8-1/2". Light uniform toning, old folds. Irregular edges. Good+.
A rare survival of Connecticut's intense, early 19th century political conflicts. The 'American Mercury', a Hartford Democratic periodical, reported "that it will be necessary, this spring to lay a State tax of ten cents on the dollar, to clear the State from debt. Whether the platform folks really have it in contemplation to lay this enormous tax at once, or by piece-meal, we cannot say..." Andrew Kingsbury, Connecticut's Treasurer since 1794, refutes the dastardly claim: "There are ample funds in the Treasury to meet any outstanding claims against the State." The broadside closes, "After so complete a refutation of the statement in the Mercury, it is hoped that no further cautions will be necessary against giving credit to Democratic Electioneering Statements." OCLC 79110053 [1- AAS]. Not in American Imprints, Sabin, or CT Historical Society as of March 2018. $450.00
Item No. 37
Governor Trumbull’s Rare Description of Colonial Connecticut
37. [Connecticut]: HEADS OF ENQUIRY RELATIVE TO THE PRESENT STATE AND CONDITION OF HIS MAJESTY'S COLONY OF CONNECTICUT, SIGNIFIED BY HIS MAJESTY'S SECRETARY OF STATE, IN HIS LETTER OF THE 5TH OF JULY, 1773. WITH THE ANSWERS THERETO. New-London: Printed. Norwich: Re-printed and sold by Judah P. Spooner, 1775. 4to. 16pp. Gatherings of 4pp each, stitching loose. Else Very Good. With ownership signature on last page, "Isaac Backus's Nov. 1775."
A rare imprint, ESTC recording locations only at Harvard, Brown, and the New York Historical Society. Yale also owns a copy but AAS does not; it does not appear at the Connecticut Historical Society's web site. ESTC does not record a New London printing. The pamphlet consists of twenty-one "Queries from the British secretary of state, answered by Governor Trumbull" [ESTC]. The Queries concern "the Nature of the Country, Soil and Climate," "reputed Boundaries," whether there "are any Parts thereof disputed," methods "used to prevent illegal Trade," the "natural Produce of the Country, staple Commodities and Manufactures," "the number of Militia," and other matters of concern. Names of "present Civil Officers" are listed, from Governor Trumbull to Justices of the Peace, Sheriffs and King's Attornies in each County, and Field Officers in Militia Regiments. Evans 13883. ESTC W651. $3,000.00
Item No. 38
Federalists “Ready to Atone For Their Misjudged” Support of the Treasonous Hartford Convention
38. [Connecticut]: STATE TICKET. DURING THE SESSION OF THE SUPERIOR COURT AT HARTFORD, FEBRUARY 1820, AT A TIME WHEN THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE WERE ABLY REPRESENTED, BY GENTLEMEN OF THE FIRST DISTINCTION FROM EVERY COUNTY, WHO, TO SAY THE LEAST, WERE SUFFICIENTLY INTERESTED IN THE WELFARE OF THE PEOPLE - THE FOLLOWING NOMINATION WAS UNANIMOUSLY SUPPORTED AS THE ONLY DENIER MEASURE BY WHICH THEIR DESTINIES CAN BE AVERTED, FROM THE AWFUL VORTEX TO WHICH THEY ARE SO RAPIDLY BORNE. JOHN COTTON SMITH, GOVERNOR... TO THE SUPPORT OF WHICH TICKET WE HONESTLY AND ZEALOUSLY CALL FOR THE UNITED EFFORTS OF ALL GOOD MEN. [Hartford? 1820]. Folio broadside, 7 1/4" x 12 1/4". Light old folds, Near Fine.
The Federalist Party, which dominated early Connecticut politics, was aligned with Connecticut's established church, the Congregationalists, to which all residents were required to pay tithes. Other denominations, deeply resentful, formed the Toleration Party in 1816, comprising Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists, Unitarians and Universalists, as well as Jeffersonians. In 1817 the Toleration Party won the governorship and took a majority of the State Assembly, ousting Governor John Cotton Smith and his Federal Party. The Federalists set out to take the State back. This Federalist assembly nominated former Governor Smith and his reliably Federalist colleagues in an effort to do so. The broadside apologizes for their nominees' participation in the embarrassing Hartford Convention: "It is true some of them represented the state in the memorable Hartford Convention, and were advocates of the appropriation act; but we trust the people are well satisfied that they have become thoroughly convinced of their error, and are now ready to atone for their misjudged acts, by becoming the humble servants of the people." Not in Sabin or American Imprints, or the online sites of OCLC, AAS, CT Historical Society, Yale as of March 2018. $500.00
Item No. 39
James Fenimore Cooper Fears Legislative Tyranny
39. Cooper, J. Fenimore: THE AMERICAN DEMOCRAT, OR HINTS ON THE SOCIAL AND CIVIC RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Cooperstown [NY]: H. & E. Phinney, 1838. 12mo, 192pp. Original cloth and spine label [some soil and rubbing]. Scattered foxing, light dampstaining to some corners. Good+.
Cooper exposes imperfections in American democracy, especially "a disposition in the majority to carry out the opinions of the system to extremes, and a disposition in the minority to abandon all to the current of the day, with the hope that this current will lead, in the end, to radical changes." Cooper identifies, as "distinctive" to America, the principle that "all political power is strictly a trust, granted by the constituent to the representative." The unique quality of American liberty is that power ultimately resides in the people. Cooper argues that the great danger to the American republic is the tyranny of legislative majorities. FIRST EDITION. Howes C745. Sabin 16412. BAL 3880. $750.00
40. Craig, B[enjamin] F[ranklin]: THE ROUGH DIAMOND. [Kansas City, MO: Printed and electrotyped by Ramsey, Millet & Hudson. 1880]. 8vo. 214pp, pictorial title page, plate. Original blindstamped blue cloth [spine ends and corners rubbed, some spotting], gilt lettered spine. Short closed tear in one blank margin [no text loss]. Pencil presentation on front endpaper, "Presented Dec. 25th, 1882 to Miss Mary Cooper by her Friend St. Nicholas." Good+.
"You'll have to find the next copy; we never saw another, and haven't much hope. An interesting narrative of early-day life in Arkansas; Mississippi flat boating; Kaintuck in the early 1800's folk-life of the time; Chicago in 1804; log-cabin life; Louisville; Port Williams, etc. The latter half of the work is given over to the author's poetic effusions as vouchsafed in 22 separate and distinct spasms." Eberstadt. FIRST EDITION. 113 Eberstadt 190. Howes C841. Not in Clark, Soliday, Graff, Decker. $375.00
41. Crosland, John M.: JOHN M. CROSLAND'S RECORD OF 1866. AND LET EVERY DEMOCRAT REMEMBER - THAT OF ALL THE WORTHY MEN BEFORE THE PEOPLE FOR ASSEMBLY, AT THIS TIME, CROSLAND IS THE ONLY CANDIDATE THAT PRESENTS HIS PAST RECORD AS A LEGISLATOR FOR THOROUGH EXAMINATION, OR THAT HAS GIVEN ANY PLEDGES FOR HIS FUTURE COURSE, IF HE BE ELECTED! [Pottsville? 1867?]. Folio broadside, 7 3/4" x 12 3/8". Twenty two lines in the top section followed by three columns, each with almost 100 lines of text. A few fox spots, lightly toned, Very Good.
We do not locate any record of this rare campaign broadside. It presents Crosland's positions on a variety of issues, and praises his work as State Representative. He seeks the endorsement of "Fellow-Democrats" for the upcoming election. Crosland was the guiding hand behind legislation protecting miners and laborers. He promises to advocate their interests, will oppose class legislation and oppressive special privileges, and "crazy theories of new-fangled Courts, and License Laws." He defends his Democratic Party against Republican charges of disloyalty during the Civil War. Crosland [1810-1892] was called "one of the best known citizens of Pottsville" in his obituary in the Miners' Journal. He settled in Pottsville soon after the Schuylkill canal opened in 1825, engaged in boat building, was proprietor of the Anthracite Gazette and Schuylkill County Advocate, and Justice of the Peace. He served one term in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1866. [MINERS JOURNAL, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1892, p.1]. $450.00
Item No. 41
“The Sacred Right of Private Judgment”
42. Cushing, Jacob: A SERMON PREACHED AT THE ORDINATION OF THE REV. BENJAMIN GREEN, TO THE PASTORAL CARE OF THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST IN MEDWAY; IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE REV. MR. NATHAN BUCKNAM, JUNE 25, 1788. Boston: Thomas and John Fleet, 1788. 42, [2 blanks] pp, but lacking the half title. Disbound, light rubberstamp in blank corner of title page. Last several leaves with light to moderate foxing. Good+. Page 37 misnumbered '39' [as issued]. Very Good.
The Right Hand of Fellowship was given by Elijah Brown. The Charge, by the Reverend Mr. Clark of Lexington, emphasizes, "The right of private judgment, in matters of Faith and Conscience, ought ever to be held sacred.-- Claiming it to yourself, and as cheerfully allowing it to others, to think and judge for themselves." Evans 21035. $350.00
Item No. 43
Louisiana’s Zachary Taylor has “An Attitude of Hostility To the Rights of the South”
43. Democratic Association of Louisiana: ADDRESS OF THE LOUISIANA DEMOCRATIC ASSOCIATION, TO THE PEOPLE OF LOUISIANA. [New Orleans? Baton Rouge? 1848]. 16pp. Upper blank forecorners of most leaves chipped [no text affected]. Good+ in later cloth with gilt-lettered spine title.
The place of publication of this rare pamphlet is undetermined. Neither the Historic New Orleans Collection nor Yale-- the only two locations listed by OCLC-- has suggested one; Jumonville and Thompson do not record it. Baton Rouge or New Orleans seems likely. The Association urges the presidential election of Democrat Lewis Cass, recalling the Nation's four years of progress-- including the Mexican War-- under Democratic stewardship. "To the Democratic party alone belongs the proud satisfaction of remembering that these glorious events have occurred during the administration of the President of their choice." With a backhanded compliment to General Taylor, Louisiana's native son and Cass's Whig opponent, "appreciation" is expressed for America's "illustrious Generals." But "this glorious war has been directed, prompted and controlled by a Democratic administration." Whig policies are denounced, particularly Whigs' wrongheaded opposition to the Texas annexation. Taylor has "an attitude of hostility to the rights of the South," and is committed "irrevocably to that odious measure, the Wilmot Proviso, or rather, we should style it, the anti-South Proviso." Taylor's running mate, Millard Fillmore, has similar "abolition sentiments." 113 Eberstadt 293. OCLC 24573675 [1- HNOC], 702665231 [1- Yale] as of February 2018. Not in Jumonville, Thompson, Sabin, LCP, or AAS's online site. $850.00
Federalists’ “Unprecedented Virulence and Rancour”
44. Democratic Central Committee of Carroll County, Ohio: IN COMPLIANCE WITH A RESOLUTION OF THE DEMOCRATS OF CENTRE TOWNSHIP, THE DEMOCRATIC CENTRAL COMMITTEE REPORT THE FOLLOWING DRAFT OF AN ADDRESS TO BE PRESENTED TO EACH DEMOCRATIC VOTER OF SAID COUNTY… Carrollton, Ohio: September 30th, 1840. Broadside, 7-1/2" x 12-1/2". Light wear, small closed tear without affecting text. Addressed in script to William Duane Morgan. Good+ or so.
Ohio Democrats warn that the Whigs [referred to pejoratively here as 'the Federalists'] have conducted the presidential campaign "with a virulence and rancour unprecedented in our history, except during the REIGN OF TERROR." They denounce "nefarious attacks upon the lives of our Editors," and "brutal assaults committed upon the persons of other leading champions of Democracy." Recalling the Revolution's Committees of Safety, with their "devotees of Liberty," the authors warn, "THE CRISIS HAS AGAIN ARRIVED FOR THE CREATION OF SUCH COMMITTEES." Democrats are urged to go all-out. Not located on OCLC as of March 2018. Not in American Imprints. $450.00
Item No. 44
Item No. 45
Dubuque: The Right Place to Be
45. [Dubuque Emigrant Association]: NORTHERN IOWA: CONTAINING HINTS AND INFORMATION OF VALUE TO EMIGRANTS. BY A PIONEER. Dubuque: W.A. Adams, Printer, Nonpareil Publishing House, 1858. 39, [1] pp. Stitched in original printed wrappers. Frontis plate of 'Dubuque, Iowa, 1858.' Plate of 'Ward School House' at page [31]. Plate of 'Dubuque Female Seminary' at page [33]. The last page is an advertisement for the 'Land Office of J.B. Calhoun & Co.' in Dubuque. Very Good plus.
There were two 1858 printings. This one has the View of Dubuque as a frontis. The pamphlet describes public lands for purchase by settlers, homesteading, railroads, and the many advantages of the Dubuque area for natural resources, healthy environment, climate, family-friendly settlements, economic opportunity. "Iowa has fewer Paupers and Criminals" than in the East. The Dubuque Emigrant Association was formed in early 1858. Howes I 72. Streeter Sale 1914. Graff 1163. Moffit 359. $600.00
Item No. 46
Defence of “The Character of the Methodists”
46. [Duke, William]: A METHODIST'S REMONSTRANCE; ADDRESSED TO A CERTAIN CLERGYMAN, &C. WITH A REPLY. Baltimore: Printed by Samuel and John Adams, 1790. 22pp. Disbound, light scattered foxing, light rubberstamp on title page. Good+.
A rare Baltimore imprint located, according to ESTC and OCLC, only at Yale and the University of Pennsylvania. Evans missed it. The author writes "to defend the truth of God, and the character of the Methodists." An unnamed clergyman had supposedly accused Methodists of "delusion" and "superstition." The pamphlet then prints the reply of the erring clergyman, who denies slurring Methodists' faith; he attributes the dispute to "party-makers," who are "generally men of bitterness, and their antagonists may expect to be treated with much vilification and clandestine slander." He doesn't mind Methodists' "loudness in preaching." Rather, he objects to "a tumultuous and frantic mode of worship." ESTC W38825 and OCLC 12717877. Not at the AAS online site. $2,750.00 Dorr Constitution has “No Justification in Law”
47. Durfee, Job: CHARGE OF THE HON. CHIEF JUSTICE DURFEE, DELIVERED TO THE GRAND JURY AT THE MARCH TERM OF THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT, AT BRISTOL, RHODE ISLAND, A.D. 1842. [Bristol? 1842]. 16pp, caption title [as issued]. Disbound, else Very Good
Chief Justice Durfee calls the Dorr rebels traitors. "The first duty which every person residing within the jurisdiction of this State owes to it, is that of allegiance." The Dorr Constitution "can find no justification in law." Durfee explains, with references to Rhode Island's original Charter of 1643, that sovereignty is "found in the body politic and corporate, and no where else...[N]o one within this jurisdiction can lawfully renounce this allegiance and transfer it to another sovereignty." The Chief Justice denounces "this principle of revolution, by an unauthorized and irresponsible movement of masses." Dorrites must have trembled when, soon after Durfee gave this Charge, he was appointed to preside at Dorr’s treason trial. FIRST EDITION. Cohen 3298. Bartlett [RI], page 115. $275.00
“Wars are Fatal to a Young Nation”
48. [Election of 1812] [War of 1812]: JEFFERSON AGAINST MADISON'S WAR, BEING AN EXHIBITION OF THE LATE PRESIDENT JEFFERSON'S OPINIONS OF THE IMPOLICY, AND FOLLY OF ALL WARS, ESPECIALLY FOR THE UNITED STATES, TOGETHER WITH SOME REMARKS ON THE PRESENT WAR, AND THE PROPRIETY OF CHOOSING ELECTORS WHO WILL VOTE FOR A PEACE PRESIDENT. BY A TRUE REPUBLICAN. [Boston? 1812]. 20pp. Disbound, old stitching holes in blank inner margin. A couple of light rubberstamps in blank portion of title leaf. Good+, with the contemporary ownership signature of Samuel P. Loud of Massachusetts.
The anonymous author, probably from Massachusetts, opposes the War of 1812, blames it on President Madison, and urges Madison's replacement with Governor Clinton of New York. "The interest of all the republicans of Massachusetts" demands it. Madison "has departed from all the old and excellent and prudent maxims which have endeared Mr. Jefferson to the republican party." Indeed, "he has gone directly counter" to them. Jefferson understood that "wars are fatal to a young, growing, agricultural and commercial nation-- they are still more fatal to a republican one." Sabin 35930. AI 25101 [1- MB]; OCLC records many institutional locations. $250.00
Jackson’s “Hostility to Equal Rights”
49. Election of 1828: THE PRESIDENTIAL QUESTION. THE PEOPLE OF OUR HITHERTO FREE AND HAPPY REPUBLIC, ARE SHORTLY TO DECIDE THE IMPORTANT QUESTION...THE PRESIDENT SHOULD BE A FRIEND TO EQUAL RIGHTS. [Philadelphia: 1828]. 8pp, stitched. Caption title as issued. Toned, scattered foxing. Good+.
Jackson is not a friend to equal rights: his votes at the Tennessee Constitutional Convention advocated property qualifications for the right of suffrage. Moreover, his "hostility to equal rights is further illustrated by his putting the six Militia-men to death, while he suffered their officers to escape with dismission from service." Adams, on the other hand, has voted right on suffrage qualifications. Unlike the plain republican Adams, Jackson lives in "splendid style, with his black servants." He is a dictator and a liar, charges proven by an examination of his military service, undertaken here with vindictive glee. Adding to the litany of Jackson's offenses is Thomas Hart Benton who, in an 1813 letter published here, describes Jackson's unprovoked attack on him, "the most outrageous affray ever witnessed in a civilized country." OCLC records only four copies of this rare item, noting a Philadelphia imprint from the colophon. Ours, apparently otherwise identical, does not disclose an imprint. OCLC 32778517 [3- Lib. Cong., two at U So. Me.], 9354399 [1- Wm & Mary] as of March 2018. Not in Sabin, Wise & Cronin, AI, Miles, Eberstadt, Decker. $375.00
The Nobility of Zachary Taylor
50. [Election of 1848]: ADDRESS OF THE WHIG STATE CONVENTION TO THE PEOPLE OF RHODE-ISLAND. [Newport? 1848]. 24pp. Disbound, printed in two columns per page. Light wear, faint blindstamp on final leaf. Good+
On "the wisdom and good policy" of the Whigs' 1848 nomination of Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore for the presidency. The pamphlet soothes the wounds of the failed candidates and their supporters: Winfield Scott, the "noble old chief, who had just carried the eagles of our Republic in triumph over the mountains of Mexico;" Henry Clay, "the gallant, chivalrous and accomplished statesman of the West;" Webster, "the strong, towering, giant defender of the constitution, of the North." "Circumstances demanded the nomination of another patriotic whig, as the standard bearer of our party." Taylor is a man of "TRUTH, JUSTICE, INTEGRITY, FIDELITY, and a NOBLE GENEROSITY." In this complicated election, the Whigs had to contend, not only with the Democrats and their nominee Lewis Cass, but also with former President Martin Van Buren and his Free Soil Party. Seeking to hold the votes of anti-slavery Whigs, this pamphlet derides Van Buren's last-minute conversion: his record shows a complete subservience to the Slave Power. Sabin 70526. OCLC 25797641 [5] as of March 2018. $250.00
Odious Federalists, “Political Bastards”
51. [Elections of 1836]: GREAT DEMOCRATIC MEETING!! IN MADISON. [Madison, CT? 1836]. Broadside, 5-3/4" x 12". Printed in two columns separated by a rule, several type fonts and styles. Light spotting, Very Good.
This rare broadside, issued by Democratic Republicans of the Town of Madison, records their meeting on March 23, 1836. They praise the Jackson Administration for embodying "the political precepts of that great apostle of Liberty, the illustrious Jefferson." Their opponents, the Whigs, are the incarnation of the loathsome Federalists, "advocates of the odious Hartford Convention, opponents and revilers of Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, and of all true Republicans and Republican principles." A breakaway "class of men claiming to be Jeffersonian Democrats, and acting with the Federal Wigs [sic], are political bastards." The Federal Wig party, seeking "to conceal its deformities," fraudulently hide its opposition to the War of 1812 and its support of the Alien and Sedition laws. The Meeting endorses Van Buren and Johnson at the head of the National Democratic Ticket, and supports the State Ticket led by Henry W. Edwards for Governor. OCLC 26666478 [2- CT Hist. Soc., CT State Lib.]. Not in Sabin or American Imprints, or the online sites of AAS, Library of Congress, Yale, as of February 2018. $750.00
Item No. 51
Each Congregation’s Right of Self-Government
52. Eliot, Andrew: A SERMON PREACHED AT THE ORDINATION OF THE REVEREND MR. JOSEPH WILLARD, TO THE PASTORAL CARE OF THE FIRST CHURCH IN BEVERLY, IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE REVEREND MR. JOSEPH CHAMPNEY, NOVEMBER XXV. MDCCLXXII. TO WHICH ARE ANNEXED, THE CHARGE, BY THE REV. DR. APPLETON, AND THE RIGHT HAND OF FELLOWSHIP, BY THE REV. MR. HOLT. Boston, New England: Thomas and John Fleet, 1773. 47, [1 blank] pp. Disbound, with the half title. Very Good. Inscribed on half title, "Rev. Joseph Willard of Beverly to his friend Joseph [last letter clipped] Lee."
Eliot was an influential proponent of the ideas of Natural Rights and self-government. Supporting the American Revolution, he remained in Boston during the British occupation; during that time, says Appleton's, he "did much to alleviate the sufferings of the people." This Sermon presents a democratic view of religious organization and supports each congregation's right of self-government. "Every society of christians have a right to determine this for themselves. But ministers may do much by advice..." He offers "cautions against pride and domination" by ministers. "Ordination makes no alteration in the person, he is not more learned, more wise, or righteous, than he was before." He is merely privileged "to act as a minister in the administration of divine ordinations, so long as he behaves well." FIRST EDITION. Evans 12760. $275.00
Item No. 53
A Sensational Ante-Bellum Virginia Trial, With the Prisoner’s Execution Speech
53. [Epes, William Dandridge] : TRIAL OF WILLIAM DANDRIDGE EPES, FOR THE MURDER OF FRANCIS ADOLPHUS MUIR, DINWIDDIE COUNTY, VIRGINIA: INCLUDING THE TESTIMONY SUBMITTED IN THE CASE, THE SPEECHES OF COUNSEL, &C. TO WHICH ARE ADDED THE CONFESSIONS OF THE PRISONER, AN ACCOUNT OF HIS EXECUTION, &C. &C. Petersburg, VA: J.M.H. Brunet, Reporter, 1849. 76pp. Original illustrated and printed wrappers, stitched. Portrait of defendant on front wrapper, repeated in text. Early ownership signature and paper label at head of front wrap [no text obscured]. Near Fine.
In order to avoid foreclosure of his property in Dinwiddie County, Epes murdered Francis Adolphus Muir, the mortgage holder, on February 2, 1846. When Muir showed up to collect payment, Epes shot him and buried the body in a grove of trees on his property. "He faked a series of letters to account for Muir's absence" [McDade]. When the body was discovered in July, 1846, Epes fled to Texas. He was captured almost two years later and tried at Dinwiddie County, where he was convicted and hanged. "Pawning the victim's watch led to the arrest and conviction of Epes for the murder of Francis Muir, who had threatened to foreclose on property he had sold Epes." This is the only separately published contemporary account of a significant Virginia trial, including the prisoner's execution speech. The case was sufficiently notable to be included, with a full introduction, in Lawson, AMERICAN STATE TRIALS, Vol. 3, 1915, pp. 412-520. Adding to its importance in the annals of crime in ante-bellum Virginia was the participation of four distinguished members of the Virginia bench and bar who would later play significant roles in the Confederacy: John W. Nash, presiding judge; William T. Joynes and Timothy Rives, counsel for the defense; and Thomas Saunders Gholson, counsel for the prosecution. Lawson notes that the evidence against Epes "was very strong on all points, but his lawyers fought strenuously for his life." But only minutes after Gholson's closing argument the jury returned a guilty verdict of first-degree murder. Cohen 12532. McDade 286. Haynes 5728. Bryson, VIRGINIA LAW BOOKS: ESSAYS AND BIBLIOGRAPHIES, p. 150. $1,750.00
Item No. 54
Detailed Congressional Protection of the Early American Maritime Trade
54. [Fisheries]: SECOND CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES...AN ACT FOR ENROLLING AND LICENSING SHIPS OR VESSELS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE COASTING TRADE AND FISHERIES, AND FOR REGULATING THE SAME. [Philadelphia: Printed by Francis Childs and John Swaine, 1793]. Folio. 13, [1 blank] pp, with caption title [as issued]. Disbound, a few margin spots, lightly toned. Signed in type at the end by Jonathan Trumbull, Speaker of the House; Vice President and President of the Senate John Adams; and approved by President Washington, February 18, 1793. Good+, in a slipcase of quarter morocco and marbled paper [some wear to the slipcase].
This Act is a rare, detailed, and important early law protecting the American maritime trade. Until the development of turnpikes, canals, and railroads, coastal vessels were the primary means of transporting goods. Congress understood that the cod and whale fisheries were a valuable natural resource which ought to be reserved, as much as possible, for Americans. The Act established a licensing system to assure that only American vessels "shall be deemed ships or vessels of the United States, entitled to the privileges of ships or vessels employed in the coasting trade or fisheries." Licensing, for which a fee was levied, was limited to "citizens of the United States." The licensing system protected American whale and cod fisheries from foreign competition; and provided some protection to American shipping, which was increasingly harassed by French and British naval vessels and privateers. Evans 26307. ESTC W3377, locating copies only at AAS, the Library of Congress, and the John Carter Brown Library. $2,000.00
Item No. 55
A Bookseller Tried for Libel
55. [Fitzpatrick, Hugh]: A REPORT OF THE TRIAL OF MR. HUGH FITZPATRICK, FOR A LIBEL UPON HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF RICHMOND, LORD LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND. BY WILLIAM RIDGEWAY, ESQ. BARRISTER AT LAW. Dublin: Graisberry and Campbell, 1813. [2], 105, [1 blank] pp. Light blindstamp and rubberstamp on title page. Final blank spotted. Bound in modern plain wrappers. Good+.
Fitzpatrick, a Dublin bookseller, published a book entitled, "A Statement of the Penal Laws Which Aggrieve the Catholics of Ireland." The book alleged that the Duke of Richmond had executed "a respectable Catholic farmer" despite his obvious innocence. The Crown alleged that the book maliciously sought "to stir up and excite discontents amongst His Majesty's subjects professing the Roman Catholic religion in Ireland." Fitzpatrick was convicted and jailed. "This was the only important trial against a book during that period in Irish history" [McCoy]. McCoy R136. II Harv. Law Cat. 1076. $500.00
56. [Florida]: JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA - OPEN JANUARY TO MAY, 1888. FLORIDA SUB TROPICAL EXPOSITION. THE BAHAMAS, FLORIDA, WEST INDIES. ALSO OPEN TO DISPLAYS FROM MEXICO AND CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA... [On verso: JAMES W. KREAMER, PRESIDENT. W.T. FORBES, SECRETARY. J.H. PAINE, DIRECTOR-GENERAL. J.M. SCHUMACHER, TREASURER. FLORIDA SUB-TROPICAL EXPOSITION...]. Jacksonville, FL: Dacosta Ptg. and Pub. House, [1887-1888]. Broadsheet, 8" x 10 1/2". Printed in several typesettings. One side describes the Exposition; the other side illustrates the main exposition building, a large fountain in the foreground, people walking on the grounds. Bottom corner of the picture: "A.E. McClure Architect, Jacksonville, Fla." The top margin lists officers of the Exposition Committee and the office address. Very Good.
Exhibits include a band of Seminole Indians from the Everglades of Florida, encamped on the Exposition grounds; an agricultural and horticultural exhibit with trees, fruits, flowers, shrubs, plants and grasses, cotton, tobacco and sugar cane; an industrial exhibit showing methods of using Florida products: sugar making, cotton and tobacco culture and manufacture; an orange and citrus market, a bazaar of items on display and for sale; fresh and salt water aquariums; and a zoological collection of wild animals and birds. Low railway fares to and from the Exposition, hotels with fixed rates for visitors, a Bureau of Information center. OCLC 35993718 [4- all in Florida] as of February 2018. $175.00
“Valuable Tract, Compiled from Original Sources”
57. Foxcroft, Thomas: OBSERVATIONS HISTORICAL AND PRACTICAL ON THE RISE AND PRIMITIVE STATE OF NEW-ENGLAND. WITH A SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE OLD OR FIRST GATHER'D CHURCH IN BOSTON. A SERMON PREACH'D TO THE SAID CONGREGATION AUG. 23. 1730. BEING THE LAST SABBATH OF THE FIRST CENTURY SINCE ITS SETTLEMENT. Boston, N.E.: Printed by S. Kneeland and T. Green, for S. Gerrish in Cornhill, 1730. [8], 46, [2 blanks] pp, with the half title and final blank. Stitched and untrimmed. Half title with a light rubberstamp in blank corner], final blank detached, lightly foxed. Else Very Good.
Sabin calls this a "valuable tract, compiled from original sources." Foxcroft, minister of the First Church of Boston, begins his Observations with the Protestant Reformation, "after a long Night of Popish Darkness" caused by "that cruel Church." He moves on to the exodus of Puritans who "sought a Refuge and Covert from the Storm in some quiet Recess of the NEW WORLD," in order "to enjoy the spiritual Liberties & Blessings of the purest Church-State under a faithful Ministry." They thus "planted themselves, Families, and Estates into these remote Regions of NEW-ENGLAND." Foxcroft then explains the history of the previous hundred years' experience of Puritans in New England. Sabin 25399. Evans 3280. ESTC W28699. Howes F309aa. Sabin 25399. $1,000.00
Item No. 57
Item No. 58 Fowler is “Fully and Radically Free Soil”
58. Free Soiler, A: DISTRICT NO. 9. BOLTING FREE SOILERS. Taunton [MA]: Nov. 5th, 1850. Broadside, 9-1/4" x 17-1/2". Printed in three columns separated by a rule. Signed and dated in type at the end. A couple of blotches at the blank upper margin, else Very Good.
The broadside scolds Free Soil men who shunned their Convention's nomination of Orin Fowler for Congress, and hence "bolted" the Party. No justification exists to reject Fowler, who courageously opposed Daniel Webster's flirtations with the Slave Power. Fowler is "fully and radically Free Soil." Purists who oppose Fowler because he was not a Free Soil man in the 1830s are foolish; opposition may "seriously injure your party." Not in Sabin, LCP, Dumond. OCLC 48405012 [2- MA Hist. Soc., Brown], 210310696 [1- AAS] as of March 2018. $600.00
Item No. 59
“Freedmen’s Aid Societies Sent Teachers and Labor Superintendents”
59. [Freedmen]: FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE EDUCATIONAL COMMISSION FOR FREEDMEN. MAY, 1863. Boston: Prentiss & Deland, 1863. 22pp, stitched in original printed wrappers. Light wrapper wear, light vertical fold, Very Good.
The first Report on the remarkable work of this organization, describing educational efforts with freedmen in Port Royal, South Carolina, one of the coastal areas liberated by the North in late 1861. "Left behind by their owners were some ten thousand contrabands who soon became part of an abolitionist experiment in freedmen's education and cotton planting with free labor...Abolitionists organized freedmen's aid societies which sent teachers and labor superintendents to these islands..." [McPherson. Battle Cry of Freedom 371, 498]. This document includes the Constitution of the Commission, its officers [several of whom were women], and a description of its activities. The teachers taught "about three thousand children." "Several plantations, amounting in all to about two thousand acres, were purchased by the freedmen themselves, at the Government sale for taxes...and these freeholds are being cultivated this season, in corn and cotton, by these men who, less than two years since were slaves without hope of deliverance..." Sabin 25739. LCP 7050. Not in Work or Blockson. $500.00
Item No. 60
Pierce “Will Go Down to Posterity a Shame and a Reproach”
60. Fremont Republican State Committee [New Hampshire]: TO THE PEOPLE OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [Concord? 1857]. Broadside, 13" x 19-1/2". Printed in four columns divided by rules. Light wear [old folds, couple of closed tears, one causing abrasion to about five words]. Good+.
This broadside's publication was stimulated by "the deceptive statements and desperate falsehoods of the Opposition." After correcting the record on various State matters [the Reform School, the State Debt], the Fremont Committee gets to "The Real Issue"-- the New Hampshire Democrats have "lent themselves to the iniquity of the Nebraska and Kansas Bill," thus joining forces with "the South and the slave power. The President, "that recreant son of New- Hampshire, Franklin Pierce, the aider and abettor of their atrocities, will go down to posterity a shame and a reproach," OCLC 57278017 [1- NHHS] as of March 2018. $500.00
Item No. 61
“Extortion of the Blackest Hue”
61. French, Jonathan: A PRACTICAL DISCOURSE AGAINST EXTORTION, FROM EZEKIEL XXII, 12. DELIVERED AT A LECTURE IN THE SOUTH PARISH IN ANDOVER, JANUARY 1, 1777. Boston, New-England: T. and J. Fleet, 1777. 38pp, with half title [light rubberstamp on blank portion] but lacking the final blank. Disbound, minor wear, Good+.
By 'extortion' French means 'oppression,' "especially in cases of buying, and selling," an appropriate topic in this revolutionary year. French inveighs against price inflation resulting from the War. Merchants in the "maritime towns have taken advantage of the times and laid extravagant prices on almost every article, which the necessities of the people have compelled them to purchase." Farmers then "immediately raised the price of almost every necessary of life, carried into the markets, as high as the general demand would admit them." Though increased trade risks may justify higher prices, "have not others who have sustained no such losses, nor run any such hazards" raised prices "merely for the sake of private gain?" Soldiers have suffered most from this Extortion "of the blackest hue." And, "Extortion most rapidly increases the debt, depreciates the Currency, and sinks the credit of the public." Evans 15299. ESTC W27782. $850.00
Levi Becomes Frey
62. Frey, Joseph Samuel C[hristian] F[rederick]: ESSAYS ON THE PASSOVER. New York: Printed for the Author... D. Fanshaw, Printer, 1834. 76pp, stitched in original printed yellow wrappers [dusted, old rubberstamp on front wrap]. Widely scattered and generally light foxing, Very Good.
Frey [1771-1850] was born a Jew in Germany. His name was Joseph Levi. He converted to Christianity, became a missionary to the Jews, founded the London Society for promoting Christianity among the Jews, came to the United States in 1815, and died in Michigan. He was agent of 'The American Society for Ameliorating the Condition of the Jews' and edited 'The Jewish Intelligencer.' Rosenbach 372. Singerman 0573. $450.00
Item No. 62 Item No. 63
63. Gallaudet, Thomas H.: A SERMON DELIVERED AT THE OPENING OF THE CONNECTICUT ASYLUM FOR THE EDUCATION AND INSTRUCTION OF DEAF AND DUMB PERSONS, AT THE REQUEST OF THE DIRECTORS, ON SUNDAY EVENING, APRIL 20TH, 1817, IN THE BRICK CHURCH AT HARTFORD. Hartford: Hudson and Co. 1817. 15, [1 blank] pp. Disbound, else Very Good.
Gallaudet's Sermon is from the 35th Chapter of Isaiah: "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped." Sabin 26408. AI 40885. $250.00
Item No. 64
Early, Grass-Roots Republican Party in Massachusetts
64. [Georgetown Fremont Club]: MANUSCRIPT CONSTITUTION OF THE GEORGETOWN FREMONT CLUB WITH NAMES OF 116 MEMBERS LISTED: "JULY 21, 1856 ... WE THE UNDERSIGNED CITIZENS OF GEORGETOWN, BEING OPPOSED TO THE PRESENT ADMINISTRATION, AND TO THE FURTHER EXTENSION OF SLAVERY, DO HEREBY FORM OURSELVES INTO A POLITICAL ORGANIZATION FOR THE ELECTION OF JOHN C. FREMONT TO THE OFFICE OF PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES." [Georgetown, Massachusetts: 1856]. 4-1/8" x 7-1/8". 8pp, written on blue lined paper, stitched. Completely in manuscript. The Constitution is followed by the names of 116 members. Constitution and most names written in ink; about forty names written in pencil. The first @30 names are in the same hand; others appear to be original signatures. Some of the pencil signatures are faded but most are legible. Light spotting. Except as noted, Very Good.
Georgetown is located in Essex County, on the North Shore about thirty miles from Boston. The Georgetown Fremont Club's Officers consisted of a president, six vice-presidents, a secretary, a corresponding secretary, and a treasurer, who also comprised the Executive Committee. Membership was open to "any legal voter." A few Club members were Stephen Osgoode [1826-1911], a tailor who later was Georgetown's Selectman, Assessor and Overseer of the Poor, and a banker; J[oseph] P. Stickney, merchant; Richard Tenney [1810-1884], Postmaster under the Lincoln administration and shoemaker; John Preston, shoemaker; William B. Harriman, boat maker. Many other local merchants and tradesmen signed up. The membership list suggests the grass-roots nature of Northern opposition to the extension of Slavery into the Western Territories. Passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 ignited the North, caused the withdrawal of many Northern Democrats and Whigs from those political parties, and resulted in the creation of the Republican Party. This was the Republicans' first national campaign. $850.00
Item No. 65 Rare Georgia Confederate Imprint
65. [Georgia Confederate Imprint]: STATE OF GEORGIA, ADJ'T AND INSP. GEN.'S OFFICE, MILLEDGEVILLE, DEC. 17, 1862.| GENERAL ORDERS, NO. 23| UNDER THE RESOLUTION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, ASSENTED TO DECEMBER 13, 1862, AUTHORIZING TWO REGIMENTS TO BE ORGANIZED FOR THE SERVICE OF THE STATE, THE GOVERNOR WILL ACCEPT THE FIRST FIFTEEN COMPANIES TENDERED, THAT SHALL CONSIST OF NOT LESS THAN NINETY OR MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED MEN, RANK AND FILE. IN ADDITION, HE WILL ACCEPT THREE COMPANIES TO BE MADE UP WITHIN THE COUNTIES OF GILMER, FANNIN, UNION, TOWNS, RABUN, HABERSHAM, WHITE AND LUMPKIN, AS SOON AS TENDERED, IF MADE UP WITHIN A REASONABLE TIME - SAY THIRTY DAYS FROM THE DATE OF THIS ORDER... [Milledgeville: 1862]. Broadside, 6" x 13", printed in two columns. Browned and lightly worn. The following two lines of manuscript on verso bleed through to recto: "Insert one time & forward Bill to Executive Dept." Else Very Good. Signed in type by Henry C. Wayne, "Adj. & Ins. General."
Georgia's General Assembly issued this rare Confederate Imprint pursuant to Resolution 40, which authorized the Governor to "call into the service of the State, two Regiments of Militia, to consist of two companies not exceeding one hundred men, rank and file, including the two companies now in service on the Western and Atlantic Rail Road; such amount of said force to be employed for guarding and protecting the Rail Road bridges of this State... [T]he Regiments so organized, shall be governed by and subject to, the rules and articles of war of the Confederate States..." Our General Order specifies the troops needed, defines how they will be organized, and that they will serve until disbanded. Volunteers must be between ages 18-45, and otherwise unenrolled in the Confederate service. "As these two Regiments are auxiliary to the great objects of the Confederacy, there is no reason why perfect harmony should not exist between the State and the Confederacy in their organization." The broadside provides the precise wording of the Oath of Allegiance and the appropriate Certification. OCLC 502281244 [1- location not disclosed] as of March 2018. Not in Crandall. Parrish & Willingham 2885. $1,500.00
Massachusetts is “Barbarously Treated for the Noble Stand She Has Made In Favour of Liberty, Against the Partisans of Slavery”
66. Gordon, William: A DISCOURSE PREACHED IN THE MORNING OF DECEMBER 15TH 1774. BEING THE DAY RECOMMENDED BY THE PROVINCIAL CONGRESS; BY WILLIAM GORDON. PASTOR OF THE THIRD CHURCH IN ROXBURY. Boston: Printed for, and Sold by Thomas Leverett, Corn-Hill, 1775. [with] A DISCOURSE PREACHED DECEMBER 15TH 1774. BEING THE DAY RECOMMENDED BY THE PROVINCIAL CONGRESS; AND AFTERWARDS AT THE BOSTON LECTURE. Boston: Printed for, and Sold by Thomas Leverett, Corn-Hill. 1775. 22, [2]; 32, [1], [1 blank] pp. The Discourses are preceded by a general half title, "Mr. Gordon's Thanksgiving Discourses." Light rubberstamp at top margin of general half title, and top margin of half title to second Discourse. Occasional light toning. Later plain wrappers. Very Good.
The Discourses were also issued separately. The general half title was printed for their joint publication. Gordon uncompromisingly attacks oppressive British policies: "The capital of the colony is barbarously treated, pretendedly for a crime, but actually, for the noble stand she has made in favour of liberty, against the partisans of slavery. She has distinguished herself by an animated opposition to arbitrary and unconstitutional proceedings; and therefore has been markt out, by ministerial vengeance, to be made an example of, whereby to terrify other American cities into a tame submission." He denounces "unconstitutional acts of the British Parliament," depriving "the colony of invaluable privileges," and for introducing "a train of evils" into the life of the people. Evans 14070. ESTC W20210. Adams, American Independence 167a [second title] ["Not to be confused with the Discourse delivered by Gordon the morning of the same day with almost the same title"]. Bailyn, Ideological Origins of the American Revolution 104 note 7 [Belknap Press: 1992]. $2,000.00
Item No. 66
“We are Keeping the Anniversary of Our Independency!”
67. Gordon, William: THE SEPARATION OF THE JEWISH TRIBES, AFTER THE DEATH OF SOLOMON, ACCOUNTED FOR, AND APPLIED TO THE PRESENT DAY, IN A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE GENERAL COURT, ON FRIDAY, JULY THE 4TH, 1777. BEING THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCY. Boston: Printed by J. Gill, Printer to the General Assembly, 1777. 37, [3 blanks] pp, with the half title and final blank. Disbound, light rubberstamp on blank portion of half title. Presentation inscription: "To the Rev. Mr. Jackson from the Author." Very Good.
This is the first July 4 Oration commemorating the Declaration of Independence. Gordon "was a vigorous partisan of independence and in 1775 was made chaplain to both houses of the Provincial Congress assembled at Watertown. Congress possessed great confidence in him and voted him a good horse and access to the prisoners of war... He delivered the first independence anniversary sermon on July 4, 1777" [DAB]. Later he would write the "first full-scale history of this war by an American" [Howes]. Likening Americans to the Hebrews of biblical times, Gordon emphasizes that "the king hearkened not unto the people, for the cause was from the Lord. And it is upon that principle alone that we can rationally account for the seperation [sic] that hath taken place between the united States of America and Great-Britain." Gordon stresses the justice of the American cause, and "recollects that we were without an army, without money and without ammunition, we are amazed, that instead of being galled to the bone with the yoke of slavery, we are keeping the anniversary of our independency!" FIRST EDITION. Evans 15317. Rosenbach 69. Singerman 0053. $2,500.00
Item No. 67
“Never Did a Nation Appear with Such Lustre as Did America”
68. Gray, Edward: AN ORATION, DELIVERED JULY 5, 1790. AT THE REQUEST OF THE INHABITANTS OF THE TOWN OF BOSTON, IN CELEBRATION OF THE ANNIVERSARY OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. Boston: Printed and sold by Samuel Hall, 1790. 16pp, but lacking the half title. A couple of leaves trimmed closely at bottom margin, with slight shaving of small portions of a few letters. Clean text, Good+, in modern plain wrappers.
The holiday commemorates "that great day, which beheld three millions of people break from their chains, and assume their native dignity... Never did a nation appear with such lustre as did America, in the day we celebrate. The declaration of Independence spoke the united sentiments of the people." Gray's footnote quotes the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights: "All men are born free and equal." Gray celebrates the new U.S. Constitution, and explains its advantages over the "nerveless government" of the Articles of Confederation. Evans 22541. Sabin 28381. ESTC W28765 [10 locations as of February 2018]. $350.00
Item No. 68
Item No. 69
Item No. 69
Big Dreams for the Great Western Railway
69. Great Western Railroad Company: REPORT OF THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY, CANADA WEST, TO THE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTORS. BY CHARLES B. STUART, CHIEF ENGINEER. [Ontario?] September 1, 1847. 47, [1 blank] pp, plus two folding maps [as issued]: 'Map and Profile of the Great Western Railway Canada West,' 48 1/2 cm x 32 cm; 'Map of the Route of the Great Western Railway Shewing its Connection with other Public Works,' 35 1/2 cm x 29 cm. Versos with expertly repaired closed tears, short margin tear, else Very Good.
The railroad is "on the precise ground that will enable it to control the trade and travel of such a vast portion of the Canadas and the prosperous American States." TPL 2850. Sabin 28478n. $450.00
70. Grosvenor, Roxalana L.: THE SHAKERS' COVENANT, (NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED,) WITH A BRIEF OUTLINE OF SHAKER HISTORY. BY ROXALANA L. GROSVENOR, AUTHOR OF "REMINISCENCES OF LIFE AMONG THE SHAKERS; HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES." Boston: W.C. Allan, Printer, 1873. 4to. [4], 12 pp, as issued. Original printed purple wrappers [detached but present]. Text block stitched. Extremity wear to blank wrapper edges, Good+.
The rear wrapper, and verso of the front wrapper, consist of advertisements for Boston merchants, including Mary F. Grosvenor, "Magnetic Physician;" "Miss M.M. Merrill's Private Fitting for Ladies;" a dentist; a "Hygenic Retreat," and other businesses. The pamphlet prints the "Covenant or Constitution" of the "Brethren and Sisters of the United Society of Believers (called Shakers), residing in the County of Worcester, and State of Massachusetts." OCLC records fourteen locations as of March 2018. $250.00
Item No. 70
Item No. 71
Harrison Campaign Material in the German Language
71. [Harrison, William Henry]: HARRISION CALENDAR AUF DAS JAHR 1841. Philadelphia: Herausgegeben von Georg W. Menss und Sohn... [1840]. Original printed and illustrated wrappers with wrapper title as issued. 35, [1- Illustrated rear wrapper]. Foxed, some wear to extremities, Good+.
The front wrapper shows Harrison at his plow, a barrel of hard cider at hand, log cabins in the background, and-- directly beneath the iconic Screaming Eagle-- the caption, "Wilhelm Heinrich Harrison, der Bauer von Nord Bend." The rear wrapper depicts Harrison astride his horse, in full military dress. A biography of Harrison, all in the German language, a calendar, and a fulsome description of his achievements are included. Miles 99. Drake 12189. OCLC records nine locations under several accession numbers as of March 2018. $350.00
The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case
72. [Hauptmann, Bruno]: NEW JERSEY COURT OF ERRORS AND APPEALS MAY TERM, 1935. STATE OF NEW JERSEY, DEFENDANT-IN-ERROR, VS. BRUNO RICHARD HAUPTMANN, PLAINTIFF-IN-ERROR. BRIEF FOR THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY... DAVID T. WILENTZ, ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Trenton: MacCrellish & Quigley Co., Printers, [1935]. Original printed wrappers with wrapper title, as issued. 126pp. Disbound, light rubberstamp on blank verso of front wrapper, else Fine.
This is the State's brief on appeal, urging the Court to uphold the conviction of Hauptmann for the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh, Jr. The brief summarizes the evidence and testimony, and rebuts Hauptmann's claims of reversible error. OCLC 39754165 [2- NYPL, Smith College], 49959812 [1- Penn. State], 83794876 [1- Harv. Law] as of February 2018. $600.00
Item No. 72
Item No. 73
Americans are “The Redeemed of the Lord”
73. Hazlitt, William: A THANKSGIVING DISCOURSE, PREACHED AT HALLOWELL, 15 DECEMBER 1785. Boston: Printed and Sold by Samuel Hall, 1786. 19, [1 blank] pp, with the half title. Disbound, lightly foxed, else Very Good.
Williamson, the bibliographer of Maine, has a long note on Hazlitt's settlement in Hallowell, then a "remote place" inhabited by dangerous wolves, "making a dismal noise with their hideous barking." Alongside the wolves, Hazlitt found "a very respectable society, many of them genteel people." Hazlitt's Thanksgiving sermon observes that "the people of these United States are so peculiarly circumstanced," that they are "the redeemed of the Lord, whom he hath redeemed out of the hand of the enemy." His audience has "reaped the benefits" of the "toilsome labours" of "your ancestors [who], in search of liberty, fled from the cultivated fields, and the proud and flourishing cities of Britain, and traversed a wide, and tempestuous ocean, compared with which the Red Sea might be called an insignificant stream." Evans 19709. Williamson [Maine] 4369a. ESTC W29527. $750.00
74. Hildreth, Richard: A REPORT OF THE TRIAL OF THE REV. EPHRAIM K. AVERY, BEFORE THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT OF RHODE ISLAND, ON AN INDICTMENT FOR THE MURDER OF SARAH MARIA CORNELL; CONTAINING A FULL STATEMENT OF THE TESTIMONY, TOGETHER WITH THE ARGUMENTS OF COUNSEL, AND THE CHARGE TO THE JURY. BY RICHARD HILDRETH, ATTORNEY AT LAW. WITH A MAP. THIRD EDITION. Boston: Russell, Odiorne... 1833. 143, [1 blank] pp, full page map. Bound in contemporary [?] handwritten wrappers. Scattered light to moderate foxing, Good+.
"When Sarah Cornell was found hanging from the frame of a haystack in Tiverton, Rhode Island, it might easily have been called suicide but for a note she had left in her bandbox saying, 'If I should be missing, enquire of the Rev. Mr. Avery, of Bristol,- he will know where I am.' This was the beginning of the Reverend's troubles and one of the most famous nineteenth- century cases." McDade 33. Sarah had been five months pregnant, allegedly by Avery; a 27-day trial ensued, which resulted in Avery's acquittal. The first edition also issued in 1833. McDade 46. AI 17468 [4]. II Harv. Law Cat. 1008. Cohen 12306. $250.00
Item No. 75
Beware “Enthusiastick Humours”
75. Hooper, William: THE APOSTLES NEITHER IMPOSTORS NOR ENTHUSIASTS. A SERMON ON ACTS XXVI. 25. PREACHED AT THE WEST CHURCH IN BOSTON, SEPTEMBER 1742. Boston: Printed and Sold by Rogers and Fowle... 1742. 48pp, but lacking the half title. Lightly spotted and foxed, disbound, Good+.
Hooper, the father of Signer William Hooper, urges his flock to shun the Great Awakening: beware of "enthusiastick Humours." For the "Mind is liable to great Disorders and Extravagances. Many Persons from the Conceits of a warmed or over-weening Brain, perswade themselves that they are the particular Favourites of Heaven, and that every vain Notion that settles strongly in their Fancies, is the Effect of divine Inspiration..." Evans 4974. III Appleton's 252. ESTC W37825. $500.00
Item No. 76
76. Hotel Del Monte: SOUVENIR GUIDE. THE MANAGER OF THE HOTEL DEL MONTE PRESENTS, WITH HIS COMPLIMENTS, THIS GUIDE TO MONTEREY AND ITS ENVIRONMENTS. [San Francisco: A.L. Bancroft & Co. 1886]. Contemporary staples in original printed wrappers. 24, [16] pp. Folding frontis engraving of the Hotel Del Monte, "America's Famous Summer and Winter Resort," laid in. Light wear, minor spotting, Good+ or so, with many illustrations and advertisements from railroads and Bay Area businesses.
The unsurpassed quality of the Del Monte "reminds one infinitely more of a modern English country mansion than of an American watering-place hotel." Photo illustrations of the hotel and sketches of its interior abound. The pamphlet dwells on the beauties and sights of Monterey-- Pacific Grove Retreat, Point Pinos Light House, Moss Beach, Seal Rocks, Cypress Point, the Carmel Mission. The excellent climate is noted. Advertisers include the Southern Pacific Broad Gauge Company, the Park and Ocean Railroad, the Market St. Cable Railway, the Wilkins House in Santa Cruz, the Pacific Ocean House, and others. OCLC 54266041 [2- Yale, CA State Lib.] as of March 2018. Not in Cowan. $350.00
The Persecution of General Howard
77. [Howard, O.O.]: COURT OF INQUIRY IN THE CASE OF BRIG. GEN. O.O. HOWARD. REVIEW OF THE JUDGE-ADVOCATE-GENERAL AND ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR ANNOUNCING THE PROCEEDINGS, REPORT OF FACTS, OPINION OF THE COURT, AND THE ACTION OF THE PRESIDENT IN THE CASE. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1874. 38, [2 blanks] pp. Stitched in original printed deep blue wrappers. Light wear, Very Good.
After his Civil War service, in which he won the Medal of Honor at the Battle of Fair Oaks, Howard became head of the Freedmen's Bureau, a Reconstruction agency which President Andrew Johnson and his allies particularly disliked. Howard sought equal rights for the Freedmen, associated with Republicans in Congress, and founded Howard University. The clash of ideologies resulted in trumped-up accusations that Howard had failed to pay bounties for "colored soldiers" and had misapplied public funds at the Freedmen's Bureau. This military Court of Inquiry, acknowledging irregularities and fraud regarding bounty payments, found Howard blameless and acquitted him of all charges. OCLC records only a few copies as of March 2018. $275.00
Raised as a Cherokee
78. Hunter, John Dunn: MEMOIRS OF A CAPTIVITY AMONG THE INDIANS OF NORTH AMERICA, FROM CHILDHOOD TO THE AGE OF NINETEEN: WITH ANECDOTES DESCRIPTIVE OF THEIR MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. TO WHICH IS ADDED, SOME ACCOUNT OF THE SOIL, CLIMATE, AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS OF THE TERRITORY WESTWARD OF THE MISSISSIPPI. BY JOHN D. HUNTER. A NEW EDITION, WITH PORTRAIT. London: Printed for Longman, Hurst… 1823. [4 publisher advts], [1-frontispiece portrait of author], v, [1 blank], [1-letter], [1-blank], [vii]-ix, 447 pp. Untrimmed. Bound in blue paper-covered boards, rebacked [original cloth spine and paper title label retained]. Very Good.
John Dunn Hunter [c.1798-1827] claimed he was kidnapped and raised by Cherokee Indians as a child. He took the name 'John Dunn' from an English benefactor and added 'Hunter', the name the Cherokees had given him. He negotiated with Mexico for a Cherokee nation in Texas in the mid-1820s. When Mexico refused he helped to initiate the Fredonian Rebellion. This decision resulted in his trial before the Cherokee Council, and execution. See, Handbook of Texas. Hunter tells the interesting story-- doubtless embellished-- of his life, and discusses many aspects of Indian life: customs, religion, marriage, divorce, polygamy, crimes and punishment, medicine, hunting, fishing, etc. The book was also printed in Philadelphia in 1823. Ayer 142. Howes H813. Sabin 33921. Wagner-Camp 24:2. $450.00
Item No. 78
Item No. 79 Humorous Attack on the Know-Nothings
79. [Know Nothing Party]: THE DARK LANTERN. VOL. I. NO. 1. Scoharie [NY]: November 2d, 1855. Elephant folio broadside, 16" x 19-1/2". Printed in six columns, separated by rules. Bit of blank edge chipping, couple of short closed tears without loss, old folds with a slight crimp. Good+.
The American, or Know-Nothing, Party was known for its "Dark Lantern" politics, referring to the secrecy of its organization and hierarchy. This rare broadside mocks the Know- Nothings. It provided an account of "Hindoostan in Labor. Great Rally of the Know Nothings at Summit 4 Corners. Speeches, Incidents, Songs, &c., &c., &c." Among the events is the reading of a poem: "Ye flummixed-out Whigs of Scoharie,/ And all ye sick Democrats too,/ Come leave your old wind broken parties/ And join the Great Mogul Hindoo!" Not located on OCLC as of March 2018, or the online sites of the New York Historical Society, the New York Public Library, AAS, Library of Congress. $750.00
Item No. 80
80. [Know-Nothing Party]: FOR SALT RIVER-- DIRECT! THE NEW BUT ROTTEN AND WATER-LOGGED STEAMER KNOW-NOTHING, COM. NICHOLSON, CAPT. KERN, PILOT BOLTON, CLERK SMALL, WITH MANY EXTINGUISHED PASSENGERS, WILL LEAVE THIS DAY... A FREE TICKET FOR SALT RIVER. [Philadelphia]: Printed and for sale at 63 Walnut Street. 1855 or 1856]. Printed broadside card, illustrated with a steamship, on orange stock. Oblong 3-1/2" x 2-1/8". Minor age wear. Near Fine.
The phrase "for Salt River" or "up Salt River" is 19th century American slang: a losing candidate for office took a trip "up Salt River." Tickets for passage "up Salt River" were frequently printed to mock supporters of losing candidates. This "Free Ticket for Salt River" offers passage on "the new but rotten and water-logged Steamer Know- Nothing." It would carry "many extinguished passengers" who supported the losers: Nicholson, Kern, Bolton and Small. The losers ran on a fusion "union" ticket made up of the Whig, American and Republican parties in a consolidated attempt to defeat the Democrats. Thomas Nicholson, candidate for Canal Commissioner, was the chief clerk in the Pennsylvania Treasurer's Office and a Know-Nothing. William H. Kern, candidate for Sheriff and a Philadelphia politician, was president of the People's Bank. William P. Bolton, candidate for Register of Wills and a local politician, was a Trustee of the American Trust Company and partner in the manufacturing firm of Griffiths & Bolton. William F. Small, candidate for Clerk of the Orphan's Court, was a lawyer, member of Philadelphia's Board of Education, a Senator in the Pennsylvania State Senate, and a member of the militia. $250.00
Item No. 81
81. [Lane, Fitz Henry]: LITHOGRAPH ON PAPER, DRAWN ON STONE BY F.H. LANE: "WILLIAM H. HARRISON/ LATE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES." LARGE CROSS MONUMENT UPON A PEDESTAL, ORNAMENTAL SCROLL AT THE TOP OF THE CROSS, BANNER HANGING FROM EACH SIDE. THE CENTER OF THE CROSS HAS A BUST PORTRAIT OF HARRISON WITH "AE. LXVIII. DEEPLY LAMENTED BY SIXTEEN MILLIONS OF PEOPLE" FOLLOWED BY HIS LAST WORDS. THE LEFT BANNER HAS A VIGNETTE OF A SMALL FOUNTAIN WITH TREES IN THE BACKGROUND, FOLLOWED BY HARRISON'S DATE OF BIRTH, THE FIRST LINE OF HIS INAUGURAL SPEECH, AND THE FOURTH STANZA OF GEORGE P. MORRIS' POEM "A HERO OF THE REVOLUTION." THE RIGHT BANNER HAS A VIGNETTE OF TWO MONUMENTS WITH TREES IN THE BACKGROUND, FOLLOWED BY HARRISON'S DATE OF DEATH, THE WORDS OF "ORIGINAL HYMN" BY REV. JOHN PIERPONT, AND THE WORDS "DESIGNED & RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO JOHN TYLER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES BY SIMON WHITNEY" BELOW THE HYMN. AT THE BOTTOM OF THE MONUMENT STANDS A ROBED WOMAN POINTING AT THE MONUMENT, A LANDSCAPE IN THE BACKGROUND. "ENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS IN THE YEAR 1841 BY SIMON WHITNEY IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF MASSACHUSETTS" Boston: B.W. Thayer & Co.'s Lithography, [1841]. Rare elephant folio lithograph, 20-3/4" x 26-1/2". Uncolored. Scene set within a rectangular border. Printed using different sizes and styles of type. Elaborate design with great attention to detail. Light spotting, old folds visible but without taking any text or illustration. Good+ or better. In a decorative wood frame.
"Harrison died only one month into his presidency of pneumonia, and Lane's commemorative print - a memento mori dripping with the romantic sensibilities of his times - celebrates the deeds and accomplishments of the late Whig president. And in what may well be a nod toward temperance, on the left-hand banner hanging down from the cross Lane included a prime iconographic symbol of the movement: 'a sparkling fountain of pure water,' akin to that which he featured in the 1849 floral procession." [Craig, James A.: FITZ H. LANE: AN ARTIST'S VOYAGE THROUGH NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICA. History Press: 2006, Pages 69 [Figure 82], 126]. Library of Congress, LCCN 2004669120. Wilmerding: FITZ HUGH LANE, 1804-1865, AMERICAN MARINE PAINTER, #161, page 68. $1,250.00
“Epileptic Insanity”
82. [Laros, Allen C.]: TRIAL OF ALLEN C. LAROS AT EASTON, PENNSYLVANIA, AUGUST, 1876, FOR THE MURDER OF HIS FATHER, MARTIN LAROS, BY POISON, AND HIS DEFENCE, BASED UPON THE DEFENCE OF EPILEPTIC INSANITY, TOGETHER WITH THE ARGUMENT ON THE RULE FOR A NEW TRIAL AND PROCEEDINGS UPON THE PLEAS IN BAR OF THE SENTENCE. Easton, Pa.: Cole & Morwitz, Publishers, 1876. [6], 245, [1 blank] pp. Disbound. Original printed front wrapper [chipped at blank extremities, abrasion spot affects a few letters]. Text block and title page are clean. Good+.
"In Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Laros, a twenty-two-year-old teacher, put four and one-half ounces [equal to over two thousand grains] of arsenic in the family coffeepot, killing his parents and a hired man; his two brothers and two sisters were made ill but lived. He had stolen $330 from money kept in the house" [McDade]. Laros's claim of "insanity, produced by epilepsy or some other disease," was unpersuasive; he was sentenced to death. The Reporter, who compiled this pamphlet from a variety of sources and reviewed it with counsel for accuracy, says Laros "was always disposed to be somewhat reticent and spent much of his time alone. For several years past he has taught school in the neighborhood and in connection with the duties of his school had begun the study of law." McDade 583. II Harv. Law Cat. 1125. $500.00
“Every People Have a Right to be Free”
83. Lathrop, Joseph: THE HAPPINESS OF A FREE GOVERNMENT, AND THE MEANS OF PRESERVING IT: ILLUSTRATED IN A SERMON, DELIVERED IN WEST-SPRINGFIELD, ON JULY 4TH, 1794, IN COMMEMORATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. Springfield: James Hutchins, 1794. 23, [1 blank] pp, with the half title in ornamental border. Disbound, lightly foxed, half title detached but present. Good+.
This is a pleasing July 4 oration. God's way is a Republic, where men are governed "by men freely chosen from among themselves." Other than the ancient Jews, Americans are the only people in the world who have been so chosen and blessed. "In free states, power, at certain periods, reverts to the people, from whom it originated. If they find, it has been abused and perverted, they can redress themselves by placing it in other hands...Every people have a right to be free- to judge of the proper means of securing their freedom- to determine when they ought to become independent of former connections- and to constitute for themselves such a government as they choose." Evans 27200. ESTC W20427. $375.00
Item No. 83
A “Sprightly Brochure”—“Tart, Mocking, Cosmopolitan”
84. [Lee, Charles]: STRICTURES ON A PAMPHLET, ENTITLED A "FRIENDLY ADDRESS TO ALL REASONABLE AMERICANS, ON THE SUBJECT OF OUR POLITICAL CONFUSIONS." ADDRESSED TO THE PEOPLE OF AMERICA. America: Boston: Re-Printed and Sold at Greenleaf's Printing-Office... 1775. 20pp. Disbound, rubberstamp at blank upper margin of title page. Else Very Good.
The 'Friendly Address' had supported the Intolerable Acts, warned against a bloody and futile colonial rebellion, argued that the colonists were unreasonable, and insisted that English policies were just. Of the numerous responses to the 'Friendly Address,' "probably none was more talked about and laughed over, and none was more effective, than" this "sprightly brochure," which was immediately "attributed to General Charles Lee, for it has all the notes of that brilliant and Mephistophelian personage-- eccentricity, fluentness, smartness, tartness, a mocking tone, a cosmopolitan air, unusual information, an easy assumption of authority on all subjects-- particularly on those appertaining to military history and to military criticism." Tyler, Literary History of the American Revolution 395 [1897]. Its first edition issued in 1774 from Philadelphia. This is one of five 1775 printings. Lee surmises that the author of the Friendly Address [probably Thomas Bradbury Chandler] must be an Anglican, for the Address "has the want of candour and truth, the apparent spirit of persecution, the unforgivingness, the deadly hatred to Dissenters, and the zeal for arbitrary power, which has distinguished Churchmen in all ages, and more particularly the high part of the Church of England." Chandler, a clergyman who favored establishing the Church of England in the Colonies, opposed American independence. FIRST EDITION. Howes L193. Adams, American Independence 125b. Evans 14151. $3,000.00
Item No. 84
The Major Parties are “Sold to the South.” “We Have Done Their Bidding”
85. Liberty Party: ADDRESS, TO THE FREE ELECTORS OF THE SIXTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT. FELLOW CITIZENS:- ... Northampton [MA]: Dec. 13, 1843. Broadside, 9-1/2" x 22". Printed in two columns, separated by a rule, and dated and signed in type by members of the District Liberty Committee: J.P. Williston, B.J. Johnson, Amzi Allen, Moses, Erastus Bridgman. Old folds, crimps affecting a bit of text on several lines. Good+.
This is a powerful Liberty Party attack on the two major political parties and their anticipated candidates for the upcoming presidential election. It is apparently unrecorded. "The Democratic party is sold to the South." Calhoun, Van Buren, Buchanan are all pro-slavery men. The Whig Party's "champion," Henry Clay, is "the owner and holder of SIXTY SLAVES, a man who has been a duelist from early life, and who still clings to this barbarous and murderous custom in his old age." Indeed, whichever Party is in power doesn't matter: "We have all along been really the tools of the South, and have done their bidding." The Liberty Party puts forth its candidate: Lucius Boltwood, "the uncompromising friend of impartial liberty." Not in Sabin, American Imprints, LCP, Dumond. Not located on OCLC, or the online sites of AAS, Harvard, MA Hist. Soc., Brown, Library of Congress as of March 2018. $850.00
Item No. 85
“How Unlike These Proslavery Parties is the Liberty Party!”
86. Liberty Party: THE POOR MAN'S PARTY. TO THE POOR MEN OF THE COUNTY OF MADISON: [Peterboro (NY)]: October 17, 1846. Broadside, 9.5" x 12". Lightly foxed, old folds, Very Good.
A call to the poor men of the County to vote the ticket of the anti-slavery Liberty Party, precursor of the Free Soil and Republican parties; and to recognize the interests that poor whites share with blacks. "How vain for you to hope, that parties, who choose for civil rulers men, who buy and sell the black poor, will be faithful to the rights of the white poor!" The other political parties would permit seizure of residences by "merciless creditors" for nonpayment of debts, and would permit Blacks to vote only if they owned sufficient property. "How unlike these proslavery parties is the Liberty party! The true hearted members of that Party would be crucified rather than consent to cast their votes for men, who beat, and bind, and buy and sell, God's poor... Liberty men should never cease, no not for a day, to strive for a New Constitution for the State of New-York, so long as its existing Constitution fails to recognize the right of a man to his vote, whatever may be the color of his skin, or the right of a man to his honestly obtained home, whatever the debts he may owe." A rare, passionate antislavery and reformist broadside which [because of the Peterboro imprint, and its content] probably reflects the hidden hand of Gerrit Smith, wealthy antislavery and Utopian gadfly. American Imprints [but not the Library Company of Philadelphia] attributes authorship to him. FIRST EDITION. LCP 5887. AI 46-6520 [1]. Not in Sabin, Work, Blockson, Dumond, Eberstadt, Decker. OCLC locates eight, under three accession numbers. $650.00
Item No. 86
“Vote Early!” Vote Liberty!
87. Liberty Party [Free Soil Party; Francis William Bird; Charles Francis Adams]: FREE SOIL VOTERS OF NORFOLK COUNTY, WE HAVE A SINGLE WORD TO SAY TO OUR FRIENDS ONE AND ALL. VOTE! VOTE EARLY! VOTE RIGHT! [Norfolk County, MA? 1849]. Broadside, 10" x 11-3/4". Crudely trimmed, lightly foxed, Very Good.
This apparently unrecorded broadside, reflecting the political turmoil over the extension of slavery, is signed in type at the end by F.W. Bird, Chairman of the Liberty Party Town Committee. Bird was tireless in his efforts to unite anti-slavery men of all stripes into a single political force. Norfolk County would elect three men to the State Senate. Bird urges a vote for his ticket: Charles Francis Adams-- who had run as Vice President on Martin Van Buren's Free Soil ticket-- carries on "the imperishable love of LIBERTY" which distinguished his father and grandfather; Ezra Wilkinson, who "always has been, out and out, a WILMOT PROVISO MAN," including support for the Liberty Party's Buffalo Platform; and M.M. Fisher, "a tried and true Liberty man of the old stamp." On 7 November 1849 the Brooklyn Eagle, quoting from an article in the Boston Chronotype, reported that "The Union Convention for Norfolk yesterday nominated for Senators" these three candidates, "a good ticket." Not in LCP, Dumond, Blockson, Sabin. Not located on OCLC as of March 2018, or the online sites of AAS, Harvard, Boston Athenaeum, Massachusetts Historical Society, Library of Congress. $750.00
Item No. 87
St. Louis is “Stamped Indelibly” as a Great City
88. [Lindley, G.]: ESSAY ON ESTABLISHING A GENERAL SYSTEM OF MANUFACTURES, IN ST. LOUIS AND VICINITY. [St. Louis: 1860]. 8pp, stitched. Caption title, as issued, and printed in two columns per page. Lightly dusted, Very Good. Lindley, about whom we know next to nothing, entered the copyright in the Eastern District of Missouri in 1860. His introductory remarks, signed at the end 'G.L.', express hope that his Essay will "ultimately be as much value to the public as the sight of a bull for which a thousand dollars has been paid, and maybe as much as the sight of a horse for which the sum of fifteen hundred dollars was paid." St. Louis's strategic location, "at the confluence of the two largest and longest rivers of North America," renders it unequalled "as a business place." He surveys the area's natural resources, fruit, domestic animals, fish iron, and manufacturing materials. St. Louis can exploit these advantages and become mighty. Thanks to "The Great Engineer of the Universe," St. Louis is "stamped indelibly...as a large commercial as well as manufacturing city." He signs in type at the end, 'Manifest Destiny.' Not in Sabin, Eberstadt, Decker. OCLC 297540011 [1- WI Hist. Soc.] [as of March 2018]. $850.00
Item No. 88
First American Edition of the Philosophical Justification for American Independence
89. Locke, John: AN ESSAY CONCERNING THE TRUE ORIGINAL EXTENT AND END OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. BY THE LATE LEARNED JOHN LOCKE, ESQ. Boston: Re-Printed and Sold by Edes and Gill, in Queen-Street, 1773. Original plain drab wrappers [loosening, some extremity chipping], stitched, untrimmed. 129, [3 blanks] pp, as issued. Light rubberstamp on front wrapper. Very Good. "Isaac Backus's Feb. 26. 1773" written at bottom of title page.
This is the first American edition of a classic Locke work. Locke's writings, and this timely publication, profoundly influenced the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary Generation's idea of government based on Natural Rights. Locke argues that "all men are naturally in... a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons, as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of nature, without asking leave, or depending upon the will of any other man." Thus there is an "equality of men by nature," and a "natural liberty of man to be free from any superior power on earth." Men's liberty is "under no other legislative power, but that established, by consent, in the commonwealth." Evans 12834. ESTC W31951. See, generally, Bailyn, 'The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution.' $4,500.00
Item No. 89
The Germans’ “Illegal” Attack on the Lusitania
90. [Lusitania] [Julius M. Mayer, District Judge]: UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK. IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION OF THE CUNARD STEAMSHIP COMPANY, LIMITED, AS OWNERS OF THE STEAMSHIP "LUSITANIA," FOR LIMITATION OF ITS LIABILITY. THE "LUSITANIA" OPINION OF COURT. [New York: 1918]. Original printed front wrapper with wrapper title, as issued. 45, [1 blank] pp. Disbound, lacking rear wrapper, light rubberstamp on blank portion of wrapper. Else Very Good. Inscribed on front wrapper, "To Mr. Arthur H. Masten with the warm regard of Julius M. Mayer."
The Cunard Steamship Company sought an adjudication that it was not liable for the deaths and injuries suffered when a German U-Boat sank the Lusitania in 1915. Judge Mayer concludes after examining the evidence, "The proof is absolute" that the "illegal act" of the German submarine commander, targeting a civilian and unarmed vessel, caused the tragedy. Germany acted in violation of a "simple, humane and universally accepted principle" of international law that such a bedrock rule "would not be violated." Judge Mayer thus holds that the Cunard Company is not liable for the deaths and injuries. However, "it is not to be doubted that the United States of America and her Allies, will well remember the rights of those affected by the sinking of the Lusitania and, when the time shall come, will see to it that reparation shall be made for one of the most indefensible acts of modern times." Mayer, formerly New York's attorney general, was born and raised in New York City, a graduate of CCNY and Columbia Law School. According to the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle, 22 September 1922, Mayer was one of only two Jewish United States District Judges. $450.00
Item No. 90 Item No. 91
The Final, Failed Attempt to Abolish the “Fatal Institution” in Virginia
91. M'Dowell, James Jr.: SPEECH OF... (OF ROCKBRIDGE,) IN THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES OF VIRGINIA, ON THE SLAVE QUESTION: DELIVERED SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 1832. SECOND EDITION… PUBLISHED BY GENTLEMEN WHO ARE FAVORABLE TO THE VIEWS ADVOCATED BY MR. M'D. Richmond: Thomas White, 1832. 33, [3 blanks] pp. Stitched [loosening]. Lightly worn, small rubberstamp at blank upper corner of title page. Good+ or Very Good.
The previous year Nat Turner had led the insurrection in Southampton County, Virginia, a profoundly disturbing realization of the South's worst nightmare. The last Southern effort to abolish slavery occurred when Thomas Jefferson Randolph, Jefferson's grandson, introduced a substitute resolution, because "of the tragical massacre in Southampton," to free all children born of slave parents after July 4, 1840. Here McDowell, the future Virginia Governor and the brother-in-law of Thomas Hart Benton, gives "one of his greatest speeches. He maintained that slavery was a cause of national dissension, that separation could not be peaceful, and that the separate existence of the slave states would be disastrous to their own welfare" [DAB]. McDowell says Virginia is "wasting away under the improvidence and the inactivity which eternally accompany the fatal institution that she cherishes and cherishes, too, as a mother who will hazard her own life rather than part even with the monstrous offspring that afflicts her." An eloquent speech in a losing battle, with the deck stacked in favor of the Tidewater slaveocracy by a malapportioned legislature. Of the sources consulted, only OCLC records another 1832 printing, now housed at the Wisconsin Historical Society. Swem 3330. Sabin 43195n. LCP 6212. AI 13489 [4]. Not in Haynes, Dumond, Work. $850.00
Item No. 92
Co-Education “Partakes So Much of the Nature of an Axiom”
92. Magill, Edward H.: AN ADDRESS UPON THE CO-EDUCATION OF THE SEXES. BY EDWARD H. MAGILL, PRESIDENT OF SWARTHMORE COLLEGE, DELAWARE COUNTY, PA. Philadelphia: Charles A. Dixon & Co. 1873. 14pp, stitched in original printed wrappers. Light wear, inconspicuous rubberstamp at upper blank corner of front wrapper. Else Very Good.
Magill says that co-education of the sexes "seems to partake so much of the nature of an axiom as to be almost incapable of proof... The moral and social effect of educating the sexes together is advantageous to them both." He supports his assertions with quotes from Dr. Fairchild, President of Oberlin College, whose Letter endorsing Magill's sentiments appears at pages 13-14. Magill cautions: "If our young women would be successful in pursuing the higher courses now opening to them, they must be willing to devote several years of their early womanhood to earnest study, nor be in too great haste to enter society, and give less of their time and thoughts to dress and to fashionable accomplishments." The rear wrapper explains the mission of Swarthmore College: "to extend the benefits of a thorough Collegiate Education to both sexes." OCLC records [as of March 2018] only the copy at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, but AAS, Harvard, and probably others also own it. $500.00
Item No. 93
“Practiced in Plunder, and Hardened by Habit”
93. [Martin, Michael]: TRIAL OF MICHAEL MARTIN, FOR HIGHWAY ROBBERY, BEFORE THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT OF MASSACHUSETTS, FOR THE COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX, OCTOBER TERM, 1821. REPORTED BY F.W. WALDO, ESQ. Boston: Russell and Gardner, 1821. 36pp, bound into modern plain wrappers. Rubberstamp and faint blindstamp on title page, a few spots, else Very Good.
Martin was a highwayman, active in the border region between England and Scotland. He fled to American in 1819 and resumed his life of crime. In 1821, convicted of highway robbery in Massachusetts, he was executed. The indictment charged that Martin, "otherwise called Joseph Hendley," armed with a pistol, robbed John Bray of nine dollars and a gold watch. The pamphlet identifies counsel and the jurors, prints counsel's opening and closing statements, summaries of testimony, a summary of Chief Justice Parker's charge to the jury, the verdict and sentencing. "A deed like this," Parker says, "could be committed only by one who is practiced in plunder, and hardened by habit in the most flagitious courses." Cohen 14031. Sabin 44903. OCLC 12200185 [8] as of February 2018. $750.00
“Outrageous Misrepresentation of Facts and Perversion of Veracity”
94. [Massachusetts]: 160,000 DOLLARS!! OR DECEPTION EXPOSED. [Boston? 1812?]. Broadside, 8-1/4" x 13". Printed in two columns. Two small rubberstamps in blank margin. Horizontal fold separation, costing portions of three or four letters; light edgewear. Good+.
This campaign broadside, supporting the gubernatorial candidacies of Caleb Strong and William Phillips, corrects "a most daring and outrageous misrepresentation of facts and perversion of veracity." The Democrats "say that the General Court granted to Harvard College 100,000 dollars, Williams' College 30,000, Bowdoin College 30,000. IT IS FALSE!" Democrats say "that the tax imposed on the Banks of this Commonwealth has been diverted to enrich institutions already too rich, at the expense of the people! IT IS FALSE!" OCLC 77712725 [1- AAS] as of March 2018. Not located on online sites of MA Historical Society, Harvard, Boston Athenaeum. $750.00
Item No. 94
Item No. 95
The Massachusetts Ratification Debates: A Close Call
95. [Massachusetts]: DEBATES, RESOLUTIONS AND OTHER PROCEEDINGS; OF THE CONVENTION OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, CONVENED AT BOSTON, ON THE 9TH OF JANUARY 1788, AND CONTINUED UNTIL THE 7TH OF FEBRUARY FOLLOWING, FOR THE PURPOSE OF ASSENTING TO AND RATIFYING THE CONSTITUTION RECOMMENDED BY THE GRAND FEDERAL CONVENTION. TOGETHER WITH THE YEAS AND NAYS ON THE DECISION OF THE GRAND QUESTION. TO WHICH THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION IS PREFIXED. Boston: Printed and sold by Adams and Nourse, in Court-Street; and Benjamin Russell, and Edmund Freeman, in State-Street, 1788. 219, [1 blank] pp, as issued. Followed by contemporary ink manuscript index on four succeeding blank pages. Bound in modern calf. Light to moderate foxing, Good+.
A printing of the proposed Constitution appears at pages 3-19, followed by the Resolution of Submission and the Letter to Congress dated September 17, 1787, the day on which the delegates signed the Constitution. The Debates and other proceedings, commencing January 9, 1788, begin at page 23, and are reported in detail. Included are, not only the yeas and nays, but also the debates and speeches [summarized in varying degrees] of the delegates. Hancock, Adams, Gerry, Ames, King, Sedgwick, Minot, and other luminaries participated in one of the most thoughtful recorded discussions on the foundations of a just republican society, the nature of good government, and the means of protecting citizens against its encroachments. Massachusetts ratified the Constitution on February 6, 1788, proposing amendments that would explicitly guarantee the reserved rights of the States, trial by jury, and other protections. The minority's concerns-- about the absence of a Bill of Rights, the overshadowing of local governments-- and their final gracious assent to the ultimate verdict against them, are also reported here. FIRST EDITION. Evans 21242. JCB 3207. II Gephart 9607. II Harv. Law Cat. 80. $3,500.00
“Carefully Watch Against the Introduction of Innovations”
96. Mather, Samuel: OF THE PASTORAL CARE: A SERMON PREACHED TO THE REVEREND MINISTERS OF THE PROVINCE OF THE MASSACHUSETTS-BAY IN NEW-ENGLAND, AT THEIR ANNUAL CONVENTION IN BOSTON, ON MAY 27. 1762. AND NOW PUBLISHED AT THEIR REQUEST. Boston, New-England: Printed by Thomas and John Fleet, 1762. 31, [1 blank] pp, with the half title. Disbound, light scattered spotting. Old rubberstamp on blank verso of title page. Good+.
The son of Cotton Mather, Samuel was pastor of the North Church in Boston. His Sermon discusses the early years of the Church. He counsels, "The faithful Pastor will most carefully Watch against the Introduction of Innovations into the Churches. Some are too fond of These; and not only plead for them as indifferent Things, but recommend them as Decencies and Ornaments in Religion." Evans 9187. Holmes, Minor Mathers 79. ESTC W16940. $750.00
Item No. 96
Jeffersonians are “Domestic Traitors” Seeking “Perpetual Revolutions”
97. Maxcy, Jonathan: AN ORATION, DELIVERED IN THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL MEETING-HOUSE, IN PROVIDENCE, ON THE FOURTH OF JULY, 1799. BY... PRESIDENT OF RHODE-ISLAND COLLEGE. Providence: John Carter, Jun., 1799. Small quarto, 16pp in original plain drab wrappers. Library tape along blank inner margin and spine. Rubberstamp on title page, light wear, Good+.
Maxcy's oration vividly expresses the bitter divisions in American political life. He denounces Jeffersonians as "domestic traitors" who "undermine the foundations of religion" and "cut asunder the sinews of moral obligation." They "derive their political principles from foreign influence and foreign intrigue," seeking "perpetual revolutions." Against these usurpers stand those who protect the American system of a "well regulated balance of power; guarding on the one hand against tyrannical usurpation, and on the other against democratic violence." Maxcy loathes the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions: they advocate the theory "that the union of the States is an affair of occasional convenience or advantage; and that any State, whenever she sees fit, has a right to denounce the proceedings of Congress, and to secede from the great political body." FIRST EDITION. Evans 35806. Alden 1624. $350.00
Item No. 97
Missionary Wants Indians Removed to Reservations
98. McCoy, Isaac: REMARKS ON THE PRACTICABILITY OF INDIAN REFORM, EMBRACING THEIR COLONIZATION. BY ISAAC M'COY. Boston: Printed by Lincoln & Edmands, December, 1827. 47, [1 blank] pp. Disbound, a couple of mild fox spots, Very Good.
"One of the earliest suggestion for a reservation on which to colonize and educate Western Indians" [Howes]. "A missionary to the Indians in the Arkansas Territory and present-day Kansas, McCoy was motivated by the desire---or 'obligation,' as he put it---'to meliorate and substantially improve the condition of the Aborigines of our country'." [Siebert Sale]. "McCoy became convinced of the necessity of removing the Indians from European influence by means of forced migration beyond the Mississippi and the establishment of a new Indian state. On behalf of this cause he labored for nearly thirty years...McCoy helped found the Shawnee Baptist Mission, i.e., Shawanoe Mission, in present Johnson County in eastern Kansas, where he made his home for many years" [Wagner-Camp 81 note]. McCoy's work is that "of a highly intelligent man, who recorded with the judgment of a historian, while he labored with the zeal of an ecclesiastic; and the result of his early philosophical observations has been, to give us a very valuable record of the characteristic traits of the Indian tribes he lived among" [Field 982]. FIRST EDITION. Howes M70 'aa'. Field 985. Siebert Sale 816. Graff 2591. $650.00
Item No. 98 Item No. 99
99. Mellen, Jr., John: A SERMON, DELIVERED BEFORE HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR, AND THE HONORABLE LEGISLATURE, OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, ON THE ANNUAL ELECTION. MAY 31, 1797. Boston: Young & Minns, 1797. 36pp, with the half title. Disbound, lightly foxed, Good+.
Mellen praises President Washington upon his impending retirement, but notes that a just government can never depend upon the merits of a single individual. FIRST EDITION. Evans 32462. $150.00
Item No. 100
Item No. 100
The Prominent Presbyterian Minister’s Personal Copies
100. Miller, Reverend Samuel M.: A COLLECTION OF SERMONS, WITH MILLER'S MANUSCRIPT NOTES, BY THE MINISTER OF THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN NEW YORK CITY. New York: various publishers. 1793-1812. Ten sermons, bound in contemporary half sheep and marbled boards [rubbed, gum label at spine base]. Rubberstamp on blank front pastedown. Manuscript table of contents. Each sermon as follows:
1. A SERMON, PREACHED IN NEW-YORK, JULY 4TH, 1793. BEING THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF AMERICA: AT THE REQUEST OF THE TAMMANY SOCIETY, OR COLUMBIAN ORDER. BY...ONE OF THE MINISTERS OF THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES, IN THE CITY OF NEW-YORK. New York: Greenleaf. 1793. 38, [2 blanks] pp. Very Good. On the final blank is Miller's written notes. The Tammany Society should "stand as guardians over those inestimable rights and privileges, which have been so dearly purchased." Christianity teaches the equality of all. Slavery will "be forever banished from a nation" which regards everyone "as subject to the same great laws, and amenable to the same awful tribunal, in the end." Evans 25823. 2. A DISCOURSE DELIVERED IN THE NEW PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NEW-YORK: BEFORE THE GRAND LODGE OF THE STATE OF NEW-YORK, AND THE BRETHREN OF THAT FRATERNITY, ASSEMBLED IN GENERAL COMMUNICATION, ON THE FESTIVAL OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, JUNE 24TH, 1795. New York: Childs. 1795. 32pp. Light to moderate foxing, Good+. Verso of title page has Miller's notes laid in, explaining another of his discourses should have been inserted. His Discourse says Masonic principles "are such as the blessed Redeemer perpetually dropped from his hallowed lips." Evans 29081. 3. A SERMON, DELIVERED FEBRUARY 5, 1799; RECOMMENDED BY THE CLERGY OF THE CITY OF NEW-YORK, TO BE OBSERVED AS A DAY OF THANKSGIVING, HUMILIATION, AND PRAYER, ON ACCOUNT OF THE REMOVAL OF A MALIGNANT AND MORTAL DISEASE, WHICH HAD PREVAILED IN THE CITY SOME TIME BEFORE. New York: Forman. 1799. 36pp, scattered foxing. Good+. With a chart showing 2082 deaths, listed by religions, including eleven Jews; also listing forty-three Negroes. Evans 35821. Not in Austin. 4. A SERMON, DELIVERED MAY 9, 1798, RECOMMENDED, BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, TO BE OBSERVED AS A DAY OF GENERAL HUMILIATION, FASTING, AND PRAYER. New-York: Swords. 1798. 46, [2 blanks] pp. Very Good. The "events in Europe" are characterized by atheism, profaneness, a "selfish and mercenary spirit." Miller warns against the "curse" of "European connections." Evans 34109. 5. A SERMON, DELIVERED DECEMBER 29, 1799; OCCASIONED BY THE DEATH OF GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON, LATE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE AMERICAN ARMIES. New York: Swords. 1800. 39, [1 blank] pp, with the half title. Light toning, Very Good. Evidently Miller's sermon was similar to one delivered by Dr. Erskine of Edinburgh, because an 'Advertisement' on the verso of the title page denies that "such coincidence" was the result of plagiarism. Evans 37964. Stillwell 171a. 6. A SERMON, DELIVERED BEFORE THE NEW-YORK MISSIONARY SOCIETY... APRIL 6TH, 1802... TO WHICH ARE ADDED, THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DIRECTORS, AND OTHER PAPERS RELATING TO AMERICAN MISSIONS. New York: Swords. 1802. 81, [3 blanks] pp. Lightly foxed, else Very Good. AI 2660 [5]. 7. THE GUILT, FOLLY, AND SOURCES OF SUICIDE: TWO DISCOURSES, PREACHED IN THE CITY OF NEW-YORK, FEBRUARY, 1805. New York: Swords. 1805. 72pp, with the half title. Mild foxing, Very Good. AI 8903 [4]. 8. A SERMON, PREACHED MARCH 13TH, 1808, FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE SOCIETY INSTITUTED IN THE CITY OF NEW-YORK, FOR THE RELIEF OF POOR WIDOWS WITH SMALL CHILDREN. New York: Hopkins and Seymour. 1808. 31, [1 blank] pp. Very Good. AI 15610 [3]. 9. THE ADDRESS INTRODUCTORY TO THE ORDINATION SERVICE AND THE CHARGE TO THE MINISTER. Pages 19-38, comprising Miller's Address in a pamphlet on Reverend Gardiner Spring's ordination, AI 20738. With Miller's handwritten notes. 10. THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH TO TAKE MEASURES FOR PROVIDING AN ABLE AND FAITHFUL MINISTRY: A SERMON DELIVERED AT PRINCETON, AUGUST 12, 1812, AT THE INAUGURATION OF THE REV. ARCHIBALD ALEXANDER, D.D. AS PROFESSOR OF DIDACTIC AND POLEMIC THEOLOGY, IN THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. Pages 5-54, comprising Miller's remarks in a pamphlet including his and other Addresses on the occasion. See American Imprints 26080. $1,750.00
Field’s Great Supreme Court Argument for Individual Liberty During Wartime
101. [Milligan, Lambdin P.]: ARGUMENT OF DAVID DUDLEY FIELD, ESQ. BEFORE THE SUPREME COURT OF THE U.S. MARCH 12TH AND 13TH, 1866. IN THE MATTER OF L.P. MILLIGAN, PETITIONER, EX PARTE... [REPORTED BY D.F. MURPHY]. [New York: Printed by William J. Read, 1866]. 97, [1 blank], 104 pp. Disbound rather roughly, rubberstamp on title page, else a clean text. Good+. The imprint appears on the wrapper, which is absent here. A case "of great historical interest" [Marke 996]. An Indianan whom the Army arrested during the War, Milligan was tried before a military tribunal and sentenced to be hanged. The arrest arose out of the "spectacular revelations-- some of them probably true-- of skullduggery and treason" by the Sons of Liberty in the midwest [McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom 782]. Milligan's lawyers were among the most talented members of the 19th century American Bar: David Dudley Field, General and future President James A. Garfield, and former Attorney General Jeremiah Black. Arguing over two days, Field gave an impassioned argument for individual liberty during wartime, with an Appendix of venerable precedent printed here. "The moment a declaration of war is made... are we then subject to martial rule, administered by the President upon his own sense of the exigency, with nobody to control him, and with every magistrate and every authority in the land subject to his will alone?" The Supreme Court's landmark decision, agreeing with Field, answered that question in the negative: a military court lacked jurisdiction to try Milligan during wartime, because he was a civilian residing where civil courts were functioning outside a war zone. He was thus entitled to all the guarantees of the Bill of Rights. Justice David Davis of Illinois, an old Lincoln friend and the latter's appointee, wrote the Court's opinion. Chief Justice Chase, formerly Lincoln's Treasury Secretary, concurred specially, asserting, "The laws which protect the liberties of the whole people must not be violated or set aside in order to inflict, even upon the guilty, unauthorized though merited justice." OCLC records only a few locations, some of which may be Kirtas Technologies reprints, as of January 2018. $450.00
Item No. 102
A “Cantankerous Character” Complains: “If I was a Mason My Life Would be Spared”
102. [Miner, Amos]: TRIAL, LIFE AND CONFESSION OF AMOS MINER, WHO WAS EXECUTED ON FRIDAY, DEC. 27, 1833, FOR THE MURDER OF JOHN SMITH, ESQ. LATE TOWN-SERGEANT OF FOSTER. WITH HIS SPEECH UNDER THE GALLOWS. ALSO, THE TRIAL AND SENTENCE OF CHARLES BROWN, FOR HIGHWAY ROBBERY. [ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING WORKS OF THE KIND.]. Providence: Published by Request, 1834. 36pp, untrimmed. Tan and fox, loosened stitching. Good+.
"Miner was a cantankerous character who traveled about in a wagon with his family. Process servers tried to recover some goods he had bought but had not paid for and he struck one of them with an ax and killed him" [McDade 685]. Two pamphlets were printed in 1833, before Miner's execution. This is the only one describing his death and his "dying declaration" at the gallows. He says he killed in a fit of passion and, "If I was a Mason my life would be spared." The pamphlet tells the story of Miner's life, some of it evidently written by Miner himself. S.S. Southworth of the Providence City Gazette, who compiled the pamphlet, details some of Miner's "defalcations and immoralities" and "unrestricted and vindictive passions." McDade 687. Cohen 12887. II Harv. Law Cat. 1145. AI 26887 [4]. $750.00
Item No. 103
“First Description of Iron Mines West of the Mississippi”
103. Missouri Iron Company: PROSPECTUS OF THE MISSOURI IRON COMPANY. WITH THE ACTS OF INCORPORATION. [St. Louis? 1837?]. 36pp, folding plate frontis, full-page map. Institutional rubberstamps at base of title page verso. Original printed wrappers [light rubberstamp, discard stamp on front wrapper]. Otherwise, Very Good.
"Missouri Imprints Inventory No. 197 cites only one copy. This tract is probably the first description of Iron mines west of the Mississippi. The Iron Mountains were located in St. Francis and Madison Counties. A proposal is made to make iron rails for a railroad from the mountains to the Mississippi" [Decker]. AII [MO] 197 [1]. 37 Decker 214. Not in Eberstadt, Soliday, Graff. OCLC indicates a number of institutional copies. $450.00
Item No. 103
“It Will Be Handed Down to Our Posterity, of the Latest Generations”
104. Morrill, Isaac: FAITH IN DIVINE PROVIDENCE, THE GREAT SUPPORT OF GOD'S PEOPLE IN PERILOUS TIMES. A SERMON, PREACHED AT LEXINGTON, APRIL 19, 1780. IN MEMORY OF THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE UNNATURAL WAR BETWEEN GREAT-BRITAIN AND AMERICA; WHICH TOOK PLACE IN SAID TOWN APRIL 19, 1775. Boston, New-England: Printed by John Gill, 1780. 30, [2 blanks] pp, with the half title. Disbound, light uniform toning, light rubberstamp at upper blank margin of half title. Good+.
A compelling Revolutionary War sermon. Morrill was Pastor of the Church in Wilmington, Massachusetts. "It will be handed down to our posterity, of the latest generations, what occurred at LEXINGTON, upon the Nineteenth of April, 1775. Five passing years, have not in the least erased from our minds the memory of that bloody and murderous scene, here began and since carried on by George's troops in our land." That afternoon the Brits suffered "a just punishment of the murder they had committed in the morning." Reverend Morrill counsels "faith in the providence of God... We have fought our enemies with their own weapons which God has put into our hands." Morrill cites, not only Scripture, but "the great Mr. Locke," who justified the right of revolution when "arbitrary power" would reduce a people to "slavery." He praises those who fought that day: "How sad had been the state of this land, had we been so pusilanimous, as to have suffered the British troops to march from place to place, without molestation." Evans 16873. ESTC W12313. $1,500.00
Item No. 104
Written and Published “At the Request of the Africans and Their Descendants in Boston”
105. Morse, Jedediah: A DISCOURSE, DELIVERED AT THE AFRICAN MEETING-HOUSE IN BOSTON, JULY 14, 1808, IN GRATEFUL CELEBRATION OF THE ABOLITION OF THE AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE, BY THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE UNITED STATES, GREAT BRITAIN AND DENMARK. Boston: Lincoln & Edmands, 1808. 28pp. Disbound with widely scattered foxing. Good+.
1808 was the first constitutionally permissible year for the U.S. to outlaw the African slave trade. Congress promptly did so, supported by both North and South. Morse wrote and published this discourse, as the Preface explains, "at the request of the Africans and their descendants in Boston, amounting to about twelve hundred souls, among whom originated the proposal of keeping a day of Thanksgiving in commemoration of the Abolition of the Slave Trade." For this celebration the "music, prepared and performed principally by the people of colour, was appropriate and excellent. The religious exercises, and the subsequent festivities of the day, were attended and conducted with a degree of seriousness, sobriety, order and decency, highly creditable to these Africans." FIRST EDITION. Dumond 82. Blockson 9358. LCP 6860. $600.00
Item No. 105 Item No. 106
Madison and His Democrats are “The War Party”
106. [New York State Federalists]: TO THE FEDERAL REPUBLICAN ELECTORS OF THE COUNTY OF MONTGOMERY. Johnstown [NY]: 20th April 1814. Broadside, 8" x 12-1/2". Old folds with slight separations [skilled repairs to blank verso]. Tanned. Light blank edge chipping. Good+.
Montgomery County comprised much of upstate New York. This broadside is signed in type at the end by nine Federalist members of a Corresponding Committee: Daniel Cady, Caleb Johnson, Nicholas Philpot, William I. Dodge, Benj. Chamberlin, Daniel Holden, John M'Laren, William A. Reid, and John W. Carey. They urge Federalists to stick together for the upcoming elections, and to elect David Rust to the General Assembly. Dissatisfied Federalists should shun their breakaway candidate, James Cushney. Otherwise, they "will give success to one of the Democratic Candidates. The loss of one of our Candidates may give the majority in the next Assembly to the War Party." Not in Sabin or American Imprints. Not located on OCLC or the online sites at AAS, NYHS, NYPL, Library of Congress as of March 2018. $500.00
A Passionate Boston Massacre Oration
107. Noble, Oliver: SOME STRICTURES UPON THE SACRED STORY RECORDED IN THE BOOK OF ESTHER, SHEWING THE POWER AND OPPRESSION OF STATE MINISTERS RENDING TO THE RUIN AND DESTRUCTION OF GOD'S PEOPLE:- AND THE REMARKABLE INTERPOSITIONS OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE, IN FAVOUR OF THE OPPRESSED; IN A DISCOURSE, DELIVERED AT NEWBURY-PORT, NORTH MEETING-HOUSE, MARCH 8TH, 1775. IN COMMEMORATION OF THE MASSACRE AT BOSTON. MARCH THE FIFTH, 1770. BY OLIVER NOBLE, M.A. AND PASTOR OF A CHURCH IN NEWBURY. Newbury-Port, New-England: Printed by Blunt and H.W. Tinges, 1775. 31, [1 errata] pp. Stitched as issued. Light rubberstamp at top margin of title leaf. Light spotting, title leaf dusted, Good+. At the upper margin of page [32], in a contemporary hand: "For the Revd Eliphalet Williams | Hartford in Connecticutt."
Noble preached this fiery Boston Massacre anniversary oration a few weeks before Lexington and Concord. "Oh! Americans will ye not take warning. . . will ye not shake off the yoke?" "In this stirring discourse the preacher exhorts his hearers as follows: 'My DEAR COUNTRYMEN, let nothing but a total repeal of all oppressive Acts of Parliament respecting American FREEDOM, remit the least degree of your zeal, and prudent firmness and perseverence in the measures adopted in support of your liberty, be not deceived with flattering hopes, and false pretences, least a snake in the grass bite you at unawares'." [Church] Adams, American Independence 187. Church 1123. Evans 14352. Sabin 55387. $1,250.00
Item No. 107
A Virginian Condemns Nullification as “Novel and Mischievous Heresy”
108. [Nullification] Cocke, Charles: FEDERAL RELATIONS. SPEECH OF CHARLES COCKE, DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF VIRGINIA, IN COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE, ON THE STATE OF THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE U. STATES AND S. CAROLINA, ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 1833. Richmond: Printed by Thomas W. White, 1833. 16pp. Disbound, lightly foxed, trimmed closely at the top margin, shaving portions of a few page numbers. Good+.
A rare pamphlet in the literature of Nullification and Virginia's response to South Carolina's attempt to nullify, within its borders, the Tariffs of 1828 and 1832. The conflict placed Virginia in a delicate position: its most prominent attorneys and politicians were of the State Rights, Strict Construction School. Though supporting State Rights, many Virginians considered Nullification an impermissible "revolutionary" measure, unjustified under the circumstances and wholly unsupported by the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798-1799. Cocke asserts that he "can never subscribe to the consolidating doctrine" that a State entering the Union has given up its "natural right of revolution." But Nullification is "novel and mischievous heresy," he explains, and impermissible under the Virginia Theory of the Union. AI 18315 [1- ViL]. OCLC 48818555 [2- VA Hist. Soc., U VA] [as of March 2018]. Not in Haynes, Swem, Cohen, LCP. $750.00
Item No. 108 Item No. 109
Those Darn French and “Their Strange Gods”
109. Packard, Hezekiah: FEDERAL REPUBLICANISM, DISPLAYED IN TWO DISCOURSES, PREACHED ON THE DAY OF THE STATE FAST AT CHELMSFORD, AND ON THE DAY OF THE NATIONAL FAST AT CONCORD, IN APRIL, 1799. Boston: Printed by John Russell, 1799. 35, [1- bookseller advertisement] pp, with the half title. Disbound, rubberstamp at blank upper corner of half title. Else Very Good.
"The enemy is sowing tares among our wheat." The enemy is the French, who "are approaching us with their strange gods" and seeking "the overthrow of Church and State." Though exerting "manly efforts in the American cause" during the Revolution, France did so from self-interested motives. France's "insidious movements" after the War, acting as "a committee of insurrection in the world" and an "insurgent movement," are a threat to American institutions. Packard denounces "the artful duplicity and political intrigues," "the schemes and cruelties of French revolutionists"; defends the Sedition Law; and urges that newspapers uttering "seditious" sentiments be "crushed by the power of our national authority." Evans 36023. $450.00
Item No. 110
A Quirk in the Law of Conspiracy Results in Acquittal
110. [Paul, Abraham]: TRIAL OF WILLIAM AND PETER C. SMITH, ON AN INDICTMENT FOR A CONSPIRACY, TO HARRASS [sic] AND OPPRESS ONE ABRAHAM PAUL. TRIED ON THE 9TH, 10TH, 11TH, AND 12TH OF NOVEMBER, 1824. BEFORE THE GENERAL SESSIONS OF THE PEACE OF THE CITY OF NEW-YORK. BY JACOB D. WHEELER, COUNSELLOR AT LAW New York: Printed for the Publisher, and Sold at the Book-Stores, 1824. 48pp. Light rubberstamp, faint blindstamps. Modern plain wrappers, light scattered foxing. Good+.
Abraham Paul was a successful New York publisher and printer. "William and Peter C. Smith, publishers, were charged with conspiracy to ruin the business of another publisher, Abraham Paul. They placed fictitious orders with him and cut the price of their edition of a Bible commentary which was also published by Paul" [Cohen]. This trial pamphlet prints the indictment, summarizes statements of counsel, the testimony, and the charge to the jury. William Smith had "made unfriendly declarations against Paul, as to his business." He had also made statements of his intention to "take every advantage of Paul he could." Other circumstances and declarations indicated his guilt; but the evidence against Peter Smith was very shaky. The court indicated that a verdict of 'Not Guilty' was appropriate, and the jury agreed. Since the defendants had been charged with conspiracy, and the involvement of Peter was doubtful, no conspiracy existed. Hence the acquittal. Cohen 12219. Sabin 103189. OCLC records eight locations under four accession numbers as of February 2018. $500.00
Item No. 111
The Pennsylvania Ground Rent Controversy
111. [Pennsylvania]: THE HAMILTON GROUND RENTS. REPORT AND CORRESPONDENCE OF THE COMMITTEE, APPOINTED BY THE CITIZENS OF LANCASTER, IN PUBLIC MEETING, HELD ON THE 27TH JULY, WITH EMANUEL C. REIGART, ESQ. ON THE SUBJECT OF THE HAMILTON GROUND RENTS... [Lancaster, PA? 1835?]. Folio, 11 1/2" x 17 1/4". Caption title, text printed in four columns. Light toning and wear, old folds, Good+.
Beginning in the late 17th century, William Penn and his heirs granted large tracts of land to several individuals. In the early 18th century James Hamilton and his heirs obtained such grants, laid out town plats, and rented out lots to Lancaster residents. With the passage of time questions arose as to the identity of the proper landlords and the propriety of such payments; arrears accumulated. Lancaster citizens believed that unauthorized parties sought to collect the rents and that injustices tainted the owners' claims. This broadside prints the opening efforts to resolve the dispute. A duly appointed Committee, whose membership included future President James Buchanan, urged the owners to forgive the arrearages and thus to avoid years of further and possibly violent conflict. E.C. Reigert, representing the owners, responded, noting that the courts of Pennsylvania had already held the arrearages recoverable. "But a legal course is the last one to which my constituents would willingly resort." Reigert assures that his clients will accept virtually any schedule of payments to liquidate the arrearages, and will proceed with compassion and understanding. Not in Sabin, American Imprints, NUC, or the online sites of OCLC, AAS, Library of Congress, Harvard, Penn State University, and the State Library of Pennsylvania as of March 2018. $650.00
Item No. 112
The Beautiful Black Hills
112. Peterson, C.F.: BLACK HILLS VIEWS PUBLISHED BY C.F. PETERSON, DEADWOOD, S.D. Omaha, Neb.: Omaha Printing Co. [1907]. [64] pp. Bound in original black publisher's cloth, with gilt-lettered title on front cover. A bit shaken, Very Good.
Two introductory pages of text are followed by rare illustrations of mining and milling operations [including the Homestake Mines near Deadwood, the Terraville Gold Mining Camp], cattle ranching, cowboys, Native Americans, towns and cities [Deadwood, Lead City], "productive prairie lands," and spectacular scenery. From context, this book was published in 1907, the latest date mentioned in the text. Other printings were issued by the firm of Peterson & Carwile. Not located in Eberstadt, Decker, Soliday. OCLC records twelve locations as of March 2018. $450.00
Item No. 112
College Humor
113. Phisterodactyle, Ignanodon [College Humorous Broadside]: GRAND FUNERAL OBSEQUIES OF THE SENATE SOCIETY. HUMANITY PROMPTS US TO INFORM THE WORLD THAT ON SATURDAY EVENING, AT THE FORT EDWARD INSTITUTE, WILL BE PRESENTED ONE OF THE MOST TERRIBLE AND AWE-INSPIRING SPECTACLES EVER EXHIBITED TO THE SONS OF AMERICA... np: nd. Broadside, 7" x 12". Text in a variety of type fonts and styles. One ink blotch, mostly in lower margin, affecting one word but still legible. Very Good.
The broadside is filled with indecipherable insider references, and dinosaur metaphors: "The Mastodon Presidentibus," "The Little Recneps" [which, of course, is 'Spencer' spelled backwards], "The Flaxen-Haired Ichthosaurus Oratoribus," "The Ethigorum," and the "Ourang Sizzlegee" are discussed. Mr. Phisterodactyle is the President of the unknown organization, and signs in type at the end. Reference is made to "Yale College Scrapes," and also to the Fort Edward Institute, located on the Hudson River in Fort Edward, N.Y. Not located on OCLC as of March 2018. $450.00
Item No. 113
114. Phleger, Herman: PACIFIC COAST LONGSHOREMEN'S STRIKE OF 1934. ARBITRATION BEFORE NATIONAL LONGSHOREMEN'S BOARD. ORAL ARGUMENT OF HERMAN PHLEGER, ESQ. IN BEHALF OF WATERFRONT EMPLOYERS. [San Francisco? 1934]. [2], 71, [3 blanks] pp. Original printed title wrappers. Disbound, light rubberstamp, else Very Good.
Phleger was a prominent California lawyer who served on several corporate boards. He also performed some public functions, having taken "part in the organization of the military government of Germany in 1945, served as a legal adviser to Secretary of State John Foster Dulles in President Eisenhower's first Administration, and was chairman of the 1959 Antarctica Conference, which drafted a treaty prohibiting use of Antarctica for military purposes. From 1962 to 1968, Mr. Phleger was a member of the Arms Control and Disarmament Committee, advising the President and Secretary of State in arms control matters." [From the New York Times obituary, November 23, 1984]. "82 days of bloody strife" [Madera Tribune, 30 July 1934] ensued before the settlement. The strike was called by the International Longshoremen's Union. Phleger says that "thousands were injured and many killed. Radicals and Communists seized upon the opportunity to foment class strife and engender class hatreds." He discusses the issues separating the parties during the Labor Movement's most violent decade. $125.00
Item No. 115
An Author Protests “Those Who Vilified My Dead Brother”
115. Pollard, Edward A.: MEMOIR OF THE ASSASSINATION OF HENRY RIVES POLLARD. PREPARED BY HIS BROTHER, EDWARD A. POLLARD. Lynchburg: Schaffter & Bryant, Printers, 1869. 32pp. Bound in modern plain wrappers, Good+.
"Pollard had published an account of the 'elopement' of a sister of James Grant who, taking offense at it, shot him in the back with a shotgun on the streets of Richmond. The jury acquitted him, apparently having its own ideas of the freedom of the press" [McDade]. This pamphlet describes the "assassination," prints the argument of John Gilmer, who prosecuted the defendant, the Judge's charge to the jury, and several "suppressed letters to the New York Herald" in which Edward protests "those who vilified my dead brother," including the Herald. Edward Pollard was the well-known contemporary historian of the Confederacy. Henry Pollard was the editor of the 'Southern Opinion,' a Richmond newspaper. He was killed on November 24, 1868. A week before his death he published a report of the 'elopement.' "About ten o'clock on the morning of the 24th, as Pollard, the editor of the paper, was near his office door, a shot was fired from the upper window of an opposite building. Pollard was instantly killed, eleven buckshot having entered his body, one passing through his heart... James Grant, a brother of the young lady named, was found in one of the rooms," with the fired gun near him. The previous day James had demanded a retraction, which Pollard refused, upon which James promised to shoot Pollard on sight. [Hudson, Journalism in the United States from 1690-1872, page 765. New York: 1873]. McDade 376. Haynes 14272. Cappon 2453. $1,000.00
116. Post, George I.: NO. 14. DOCUMENTS FROM THE N.Y. STATE UNION CENTRAL COMMITTEE. CAUSE OF THE WAR- PROCLAMATION- ARBITRARY ARRESTS. SPEECH...OF CAYUGA IN THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY, MARCH 3D, 1863. [Albany? 1863]. 10, [2 blanks] pp. Printed in two columns per page, caption title as issued, stitched. Small rubberstamp. Very Good.
A rebuttal to Copperhead Governor Seymour's speech attacking Lincoln and his war policies. "I stand by Abraham Lincoln, the President of the United States; I stand by the President as the constitutional Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy of the United States." Post concludes that slavery has been the cause of the Union's sectional fissure; and only the end of slavery will unite the country. Thus the Emancipation Proclamation is "just, legal and constitutional." Citing precedent from the Country's history [particularly Andrew Jackson's conduct at New Orleans], he sustains Lincoln's authority to suspend the writ of habeas corpus. Sabin 64455. Not in Monaghan [should be]. $125.00
Item No. 117
“The Most Free and Perfect System that can be Devised for Man”
117. Prince, John: A DISCOURSE, DELIVERED AT SALEM, ON THE DAY OF THE NATIONAL FAST, MAY 9, 1798; APPOINTED BY PRESIDENT ADAMS, ON ACCOUNT OF THE DIFFICULTIES SUBSISTING BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND FRANCE. Salem: Thomas C. Cushing, 1798. 44pp, with the half title. Disbound, rubberstamp on blank portion of half title. Occasional minor foxing, Good+.
Prince explains that the Constitution is based on Natural Rights, and that the American government's representative and federal attributes, with checks and balances, is "the most free and perfect system that can be devised for man in this state of his existence." By contrast, the European "revolutions in government...afford melancholy proofs, that the great body of the people do not always gain the end at which they aim by them." He urges avoidance of party spirit and of all foreign influence. Evans 34414. $250.00
Item No. 118
A Rare Woman Suffrage Broadside
118. Quimby, Miss Mary E.: OPINIONS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE MEN AND WOMEN. COMPILED BY MISS MARY E. QUIMBY, CONCORD, N.H. [Concord? @1890]. Broadsheet, 5-1/2" x 12". Two horizontal folds with slight discoloration. One margin pinhole along a fold. Else Very Good. Text fills recto and verso.
Miss Quimby was Secretary of New Hampshire's Woman Suffrage Association. Her compilation quotes New Hampshire men and women-- educators, clergy, public officials-- who favor women suffrage. "Woman is denied the right of suffrage simply because man has the power to deny it, and for no other reason whatever." Not located on OCLC, or the websites of AAS, Harvard, Library of Congress, Dartmouth as of March 2018. $450.00
Item No. 119
Rare, Early Minnesota Territorial Imprint
119. [Ramsey, Alexander]: DISCOURS DU GOUVERNEUR DU TERRITOIRE DE MINNESOTA, AUX DEUX CHAMBRES DE L'ASSEMBLEE LEGISLATIVE, AU COMMENCEMENT DE LA PREMIERE SESSION. SEPTEMBRE 4, 1849. St. Paul: Imprime par James M. Goodhue, 1849. 14, [2 blanks]. Untrimmed, uncut, generously margined. A couple of small fox spots. A Fine copy.
One of the very first Minnesota imprints, and one of the rarest. 1849 was the first year of printing in the new Territory. Only eight imprints exceeding four pages were produced that year, none of them bearing a date earlier than 1 September 1849. This is the only one in the French language. Ramsey delivered his Speech on September 4. The Territory's first Governor, he discusses relations with the resident Indians and asks the Legislature to send a Memorial urging Congress to negotiate a Treaty of Cession with the Sioux. Martin [MN Imprints Inventory] 9 [1- MN Hist. Soc.]. OCLC 8329511 [1- MN Hist. Soc.], 762882038 [1- Bibliotheque Nationale de France] as of March 2018. $1,500.00
Down With “Brighamism”
120. Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints: TWENTY-FIVE PAMPHLETS ISSUED BY THE REORGANIZED CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS. [Plano, Illinois: 1860-1875]. 25 pamphlets, each with caption title. These include pamphlets numbered 2-3, 5-12, 14-18, 20, 22-28, above the caption title; and two unnumbered pamphlets: TRIAL OF THE WITNESSES TO THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS, A LEGAL ARGUMENT [Plano: Printed at the True Latter Day Saints' Herald Office. 1860's?], and BRIGHAMISM: ITS PROMISES AND THEIR FAILURES. [Plano: Printed at the True Latter Day Saints' Herald Steam and Book Office. 1869]. Bound in stiff contemporary paper wrappers [light wear, front free endpaper missing], with 'Tracts' stamped in gilt on front cover. Scattered foxing, Very Good.
Twenty-five pamphlets, many of them extremely scarce, from the Reorganized Church, founded in 1860 in Illinois. Its separation from the Latter Day Saints movement occurred in the schism of 1844, after the murder of Joseph Smith and the ensuing dispute over the succession. The pamphlets reflect the doctrines of the Reorganized Church and its early history. Certain pamphlets demonstrate rivalry with the Mormons, e.g., Nos. 12 and 16, denouncing polygamy and Brighamism, calling Brigham Young a profligate materialist and sensualist who is now "worth millions, and has expended vast sums yearly in maintaining large numbers of wives and children." Details on request. $3,500.00
Item No. 120
Connecticut’s Early Republican Party Opposes the Slave “Oligarchy”
121. [Republican Party in Connecticut]: PUBLIC MEETING. PARTIES SPRING FROM THE WANTS OF THE TIMES; AND THE PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE COUNTRY DEMAND A NEW POLITICAL ORGANIZATION IN THIS STATE... [Hartford: early 1856]. 4to broadside. 9-3/4" x 13-1/2". Signed in type at the end by more than ninety Hartford citizens. Lightly foxed. Good+ or Very Good.
This rare broadside records the beginnings of the Republican Party in Connecticut. It calls for a meeting at Union Hall in Hartford on February 11, 1856, in order "to oppose the extension of Slavery and resist all attempts to convert it into a national interest, when the Constitution recognizes it only as a local and State institution; to maintain the rightful jurisdiction of the Union, over the Territories, and to defend the rights of the people therein, abandoned, if not betrayed by the Federal authorities, and exposed to the aggressions of neighboring States; to rescue the government from the hands of a party which desecrates its principles and blasts its noblest fruits, and a dynasty composed of an oligarchy in one section of the Union..." The Meeting emphasizes the Republican Party's disinclination to interfere with slavery where it exists; but its determination to prevent slavery's spread into any additional territory. Among the signers were Gideon Welles and other Connecticut luminaries. OCLC 15254704 [1- CT Hist. Soc.] as of March 2018. $1,000.00
Item No. 121
122. [Rhode Island]: AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED TO GOVERNOR STEPHEN HOPKINS, 23 MARCH 1769; FROM A. CAMPBELL, SILAS DOWNER, AND JOSEPH ARLIN: "SIR MR. BENJA. WILKINSON HATH A CAUSE NOW ON TRYAL WITH THE LEWISES. IT IS FEARED THAT HE WILL MEET WITH DIFFICULTY IN GETTING THE ACCOUNTS PASSED WHICH WERE TRANSMITTED FROM HIS SOLLICITOR. HE THINKS THAT AS YOUR HONOR IS KNOWING TO HIS TRANSMISSION OF THE CAUSE TO THE KING IN COUNCIL AND DIVERS CIRCUMSTANCES ATTENDING THE PROGRESS OF THE CAUSE, AFTER IT WAS SENT FROM THIS COLONY TO THE AGENT, HE IS VERY EARNEST THAT YOU WOULD IMMEDIATELY (IF YOU CAN WITH CONVENIENCE) COME TO THE COURT IN ORDER TO CAST SUCH LIGHT UPON THIS MATTER AS YOU ARE ABLE. WE THOT THIS REQUEST TO BE BETTER AND MORE HONORABLE THAN A SUMMONS. YOUR HUMBLE SERVANTS. A CAMPBELL, SILAS DOWNER, JOSEPH ARLIN." [Providence?] 1769. Manuscript in ink on single page, 7 3/4" x 12 1/2". Signed at end by Campbell, Downer and Arlin. Light foxing. Old folds with some splitting along folds [expertly repaired on verso, a few letters slightly affected]. Good+.
Benjamin Wilkinson was defendant in a long-running suit brought by Philadelphia merchants Robert and Ellis Lewis. It concerned a mortgage on Wilkinson's land in Rhode Island. They sued Wilkinson in the Rhode Island Courts. Wilkinson prevailed, but appeals and legislative proceedings prolonged the proceedings. This Letter may have concerned that dispute. [amesfoundation.law.harvard.edu/ColonialAppeals/casenameslong.php.] Stephen Hopkins, the addressee, served four nonconsecutive terms as governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and three nonconsecutive terms as Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court. Silas Downer, a Rhode Island lawyer, gave a patriotic speech at the Dedication of the Tree of Liberty in 1768, declaring that Parliament violated the colonies' natural rights. Campbell and Arlin were likely attorneys. $350.00
All About San Francisco
123. [San Francisco]: SAN FRANCISCO HOTEL GAZETTE: A DIRECTORY OF HOTELS, RESTAURANTS, ROOMING HOUSES, GENERAL BUSINESS AND THE BLUE BOOK OF TIME TABLES OF THE SOUTHERN PACIFIC COMPANY AND OTHER RAILROAD LINES. VOL. 47, SEPTEMBER 28, 1899, NO. 22. San Francisco, CA: Wm. P. Harrison, President, Hotel & Wine Gazette Pub. Co., September 28, 1899. 4-1/4" x 7-1/4". 96 pp. Decorative wrappers printed in blue ink with illustrations on rear wrap, two staples. Double page map of San Francisco. Many railroad timetables with fares, advertisements for local hotels and businesses [many illustrated]. Photographic illustration of Paul Kerkow, proprietor of the New Vienna Buffet featuring the only free "high class vaudeville show" in Southern California. Light wrapper wear. Very Good.
The Hotel Gazette was a weekly, distributed for free on all trains of the main line of the Southern Pacific Railroad Co. and to customers purchasing tickets at about 1000 stations, as well as at leading hotels. This issue contains a brief editorial, followed by sections titled "Personal Notes," "City Notes" and "General Notes" with news on local proprietors' and residents' travels and legal matters, along with news on the local hotels such as renovations, burglaries, fires, etc. This is followed by a large number of railroad tables interspersed with the advertisements. The Gazette, according to the Library of Congress, began publishing in 1876. OCLC 37940847 [3-series], 174120593 [3-series], as of March 2018. $250.00
Item No. 123
Item No. 124
An Interesting Cohort of San Quentin Escapees
124. [San Quentin State Penitentiary]: ESCAPES FROM THE CALIFORNIA STATE PRISON AT SAN QUENTIN. ISSUED NOVEMBER 1916. [San Quentin, CA: 1916]. 16mo, 16pp. Original brown printed title wrappers, stitched. Photographic illustrations. Near Fine.
Each page has front and side mug-shots, vital statistics, and criminal record of an escaped convict. The featured miscreants range in age from 18-53; most were born west of the Mississippi; three were foreign-born. Crimes include murder, assault to murder, manslaughter, robbery, burglary, larceny, sex offense. Many escapes occurred in 1916, some within the previous few years, mostly from road camps; a few escaped from the prison itself. The sixteen escapees: Frank Melville, John Barnett, Harry Dayton, Chas. Lee Allison, Charles Rose, Frank Gilbon, Gustave Kahl, Harley Chase, Jack Rowdy, Owen Letterman, John H. Rubottom, Sam Anderson, E.J. Nunley, Raymond Tinnin, Cleo Halliday, George W. Garbrick. Some of these fellows are quite interesting. One, Gustave Kahl, was finally located in 1929 in an abandoned cabin in Salt Lake City, Utah, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A sheriff and posse had searched for him for three days after learning that he had been living for ten years under the name August Baum at a local ranch. Authorities found a passport issued from Mexico confirming that Kahl had first fled to Mexico. His original conviction was for the fatal shooting of his unrequited love, Freda Carleson. No copies located on OCLC, at the California State Library, or the California Historical Society as of February 2018. Not in Rocq or Cowan. $500.00
Item No. 124
Henry Obookiah and Thomas Hopoo
125. Sandwich Islands: A NARRATIVE OF FIVE YOUTH FROM THE SANDWICH ISLANDS, NOW RECEIVING AN EDUCATION IN THIS COUNTRY. PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE AGENTS APPOINTED TO ESTABLISH A SCHOOL FOR HEATHEN YOUTH. New York: J. Seymour, 1816. 44pp. Disbound, scattered foxing, Good+.
Captain Brintnal of New Haven gained the favor of the King of the Sandwich Islands in 1807, and took two of his subjects, Henry Obookiah and Thomas Hopoo, to America for an education. These first immigrants from Hawaii to America settled with families in New Haven. Henry converted to Christianity and was sent to the foreign mission school in Cornwall CT. He died before he could realize his dream of returning to the Islands as a missionary, but inspired the first Christian mission there. American Imprints also records a New Brunswick imprint this year. AI 38355 [3]. Sabin 51790. Not in Eberstadt, Decker, Hill. $1,500.00
Item No. 125
Gerrit Smith on Temperance
126. [Smith, Gerrit]: PETERBORO, MAY 18, 1857. EDWARD C. DELAVAN, MY DEAR SIR... Peterboro [NY]: 1857. Broadsheet, 8" x 12". Very Good.
The well-known reformer expresses his whole-hearted support for Temperance-- "I mean of prohibition... Oh that the friends of temperance were faithful to their cause! How soon then would it be crowned with triumph!" OCLC records about eleven locations under several accession numbers as of March 2018. $175.00
127. [Smith, Gerrit]: TO THE PEOPLE OF THE TOWN OF SMITHFIELD. Peterboro [NY]: March 15, 1843. Broadsheet, 8" x 12". Very Good.
The well-known reformer congratulates the Town's electors for refusing "to license dram-selling." Nevertheless, he says with frustration, "dram-selling is continued in your town. There are men amongst us so greedy of gain, so unscrupulous as to the means of acquiring it, and withal so lawless, as to perpetrate this transgression of both human and divine law." Drunkards are "the victims of a slavery which is a thousand fold more dreadful than that of the South." He urges "simple moral influence against dram-selling." OCLC records ten locations under several accession numbers as of March 2018. $175.00
Item No. 127
Rare New Hampshire Broadside
128. [Smith, Jeremiah]: STATE OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. TO THE SELECTMEN OF --- GREETING. THE HON. JEREMIAH SMITH HAVING RESIGNED HIS OFFICE... Exeter: Printed by Henry Ranley, [1797]. Broadside, 8" x 13". Signed in ink at the end, "Joseph Pearson,” as Secretary. "Hampstead" is written in ink in the appropriate blanks. Old folds, several fox spots, wax seal remnant, light blank edge chip. Very Good.
Smith had been a New Hampshire revolutionary soldier; he served from 1775 until wounded at the Battle of Bennington. A Federalist Congressman beginning in 1791, he resigned in 1797 to become United States Attorney for New Hampshire. Later he would be New Hampshire's Governor and Chief Justice. He was co-counsel with Daniel Webster and Jeremiah Mason in the Dartmouth College Case. In this rare broadside, evidently sent to all New Hampshire selectmen, Governor Gilman orders them to convene their electors to vote for Smith's replacement. The choices were Peleg Sprague and Woodbury Langdon. The broadside sets forth the appropriate procedures. Bristol B10014. ESTC W36118 [2- AAS, Clements]. Not in Evans, Shipton, or the Rauner Library. $850.00
Item No. 128
His Sudden Conversion to a Republican “Rivaled That of Saul of Tarsus”
129. Soldiers, Many: TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE AN ESTABLISHED PRINCIPLE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, NOT TO SUPPORT FOR ANY POLITICAL OFFICE, ANY MAN WHOSE VOICE AND INFLUENCE WAS NOT UNMISTAKABLY ON THE SIDE OF THE GOVERNMENT DURING THE DARK DAYS OF OUR TERRIBLE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. BY SHREWD MANAGEMENT ON THE PART OF A SMALL POLITICAL CLIQUE, DR. GEORGE B. LORING, OF SALEM, HAS BEEN FOISTED UPON THE REPUBLICANS OF THIS DISTRICT, AS THEIR CANDIDATE FOR SENATOR... [Salem, MA: 1872?]. Broadside, 7-1/2" x 12". Signed at the end in bold type, 'MANY SOLDIERS.' Very Good.
Originally a Democrat who stumped energetically for Franklin Pierce in 1852 and sought to purge antislavery men from his Party, Loring's conversion to a Republican "rivaled that of Saul of Tarsus." Only after Lincoln's re-election did he transform himself "from a pure Democrat to a rabid radical Republican." In 1860 he favored Breckinridge-- who later commanded Confederate armies-- for the Presidency. During the Civil War "he was the recognized promoter and leader of the Peace wing of the Democracy of Massachusetts." If Salem and Essex County can't do better than Loring, "let us do without a representation." OCLC 233648664 [1- AAS] as of March 2018. Not located at online site of Massachusetts Historical Society. $500.00
Item No. 129
130. Southern Pacific Railroad Company: SOUTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY. ORGANIZATION. ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION AND CONSOLIDATION, AND ACTS OF CONGRESS AND OF THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA RELATIVE THERETO. New York: Evening Post Steam Presses, 1875. Original printed wrappers with wrapper title [as issued]. Stitched. iv, [3]-133 pp. Wrappers moderately worn, else a clean text and Very Good.
A comprehensive compilation of the legal documents creating and authorizing the Railroad and its branches and affiliates. OCLC locates five copies under several accession numbers as of March 2018. A shorter version with this title appeared in 1873. $350.00
Hamilton was a Hypocrite
131. Spring, Samuel: THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT FRIENDLY TO VIRTUE, HONOR AND POLITENESS. A DISCOURSE, IN CONSEQUENCE OF THE LATE DUEL, ADDRESSED TO THE NORTH CONGREGATIONAL SOCIETY OF NEWBURYPORT. AUGUST 5, 1804. Newburyport: E.W. Allen, 1804. 28pp. Disbound, small rubberstamp in blank portion of title page, mild scattered foxing, else Very Good.
The "late alarming event" which prompted the Discourse was, of course, the Burr-Hamilton duel. Duelling expresses the "wicked propension of heart to injure one by taking away his life. This is the essence of the crime... The nature and grounds of the sixth commandment teach us that every Duellist is a murderer." Spring denounces the hypocrisy of Alexander Hamilton, who chose to duel but claimed "that he had no wish to injure his adversary"; who "invokes the name of God, but presumptuously refers to him the decision of the unlawful combat." He scoffs at Hamilton's "studied statement of his reasons of honor for accepting the challenge even while he professedly disapproved the practice of single combats." FIRST EDITION. Ford 104. Sabin 89807. $275.00
Item No. 132
Rare Missouri Almanac
132. St. Louis Almanac: CHAMBERS & KNAPP'S MISSOURI AND ILLINOIS ALMANAC, FOR THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1852... SOLD BY FISHER & BENNETT, ST. LOUIS, MO. St. Louis, Mo.: Printed at the Missouri Republican Office, [1851]. 4 1/2" x 7". [24] pp. Lightly worn, Very Good.
"No. 15- To Be Continued Annually" printed at the head of the title. Each month of the year has an illustration. There is also an illustrated 'Signs of the Zodiac.' The almanac prints the "times of holding circuit courts in Missouri", similar information for Illinois [its Eighth Circuit, frequented by Abraham Lincoln, lists Lincoln's friend David Davis as the Judge]. According to Drake, the Chambers & Knapp series of almanacs began in 1846. As of March 2018, OCLC 51883901 lists copies only at Yale, UMSL, and KS State. $500.00
Item No. 133
“Pause, Gentlemen!” Don’t Sell That Land to Maine so Quickly!
133. [Standish, A Descendant of Miles]: EASTERN LANDS. TO THE HONORABLE THE MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE OF MASSACHUSETTS. [Boston? 1820?]. Broadside, printed in three columns. 9-1/2" x 11". Mild uniform toning. Near Fine.
A scarce broadside concerning Maine's separation from Massachusetts. The pseudonymous author opposes Massachusetts' pending sale of unexplored lands in the new State of Maine. "At the end of forty years, Maine will be found to equal her parent state, in agricultural riches... Pause, gentlemen! At least wait till the boundary line is established, and the lands explored; they may contain a treasure far superior to all the mines of Mexico and Peru." American Imprints 1070 [1- NN]. OCLC 77589038 [6] as of February 2018. Not in Williamson, Sabin. $750.00
“The Most AUGUST ASSEMBLY, ever convened in America”
134. Stillman, Samuel: DEATH, THE LAST ENEMY, DESTROYED BY CHRIST. A SERMON, PREACHED, MARCH 27, 1776, BEFORE THE HONORABLE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS; ON THE DEATH OF THE HONORABLE SAMUEL WARD, ESQ. ONE OF THE DELEGATES FROM THE COLONY OF RHODE-ISLAND, WHO DIED OF THE SMALL-POX, IN THIS CITY, (PHILADELPHIA) MARCH 26, AET. 52. Philadelphia: Crukshank, 1776. iv, [5]-28pp. Stitched in contemporary, plain black mourning wrappers. Rubberstamp on front free endpaper, and on title page. Ownership signature, ‘Eliza Ward’, on title page. Light wear. Good+.
Ward had been colonial governor of Rhode Island. He refused to enforce the Stamp Act. One of his children was Elizabeth Ward. "It was his fortune to propose and to help secure the appointment of George Washington as commander-in-chief of the colonial forces" [DAB]. Stillman and Ward had, in the previous decade, joined forces to found Rhode Island College (later Brown University). “Being sensible, that I am called on this occasion, to address the most AUGUST ASSEMBLY, ever convened in America; I will take encouragement from the consideration, That great minds are always candid." FIRST EDITION. Evans 15097. Hildeburn 3476. Not in Austin. $750.00
Item No. 134
“Impossible for Every Lover of Liberty and His Country, to Conceal the Gladness of His Heart”
135. Stillman, Samuel: GOOD NEWS FROM A FAR COUNTRY. A SERMON PREACHED AT BOSTON, MAY 17. 1766. UPON THE ARRIVAL OF THE IMPORTANT NEWS OF THE REPEAL OF THE STAMP-ACT. Boston: Printed by Kneeland and Adams..., 1766. 34, [2 blank] pp, with the half title. Disbound with light to moderate foxing, Good+. Half title inscription, "Gardner Thurston's Book."
Stillman, an original trustee of Rhode Island College, was one of Boston's twelve delegates to the Convention to ratify the U.S. Constitution. "His influence penetrated the religious and educational interests of the Baptists of New England for forty years" [DAB]. "When the news arrived, so as to be confidently believed, there was a universal shout-- It now became impossible for every lover of liberty and his country, to conceal the gladness of his heart." The colonists should receive the news "as a favour from the best of earthly Monarchs; and always deeply impress your minds, with the belief, that our most gracious Sovereign is the father of his people; and that we, his most faithful subjects in America, have no small share in his royal affections... Let us entertain the most dutiful and loyal sentiments with respect to the King... May the British Parliament receive that deference from us that they deserve; and be convinced by our future conduct, that we aim not at INDEPENDENCY." Evans 10503. ESTC W12451. Adams, American Independence 44. $1,500.00
Item No. 135
136. Stillman, Samuel: A SERMON, PREACHED AT BOSTON, APRIL 25, 1799; THE DAY RECOMMENDED BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR A NATIONAL FAST. Boston: Manning & Lorin, 1799. 23, [1 blank] pp, with the half title. Disbound, rubberstamp at blank corner of half title, widely scattered foxing. Good+. Inscribed, "Rev. Mr. Pearce from the Author."
Stillman deplores the rancorous politics of the country, mentioning particularly the abuse heaped upon its leaders, the Whiskey Rebellion, and Shays' Rebellion. He is distressed at relations with France, worries that the country will be swept into a European war, and concerned about the moral condition of the people (especially the rise of Deism). The Sermon is Stillman’s essay on the state of the Union. Evans 36369. $275.00
Item No. 137
Early James Franklin Imprint
137. Symmes, Thomas: AN ORDINATION SERMON PREACH'D AT MALDEN, OCTOB. 31. 1721. WHEN THE REVEREND MR. JOSEPH EMERSON WAS ORDAIN'D PASTOR OF THE CHURCH IN SAID TOWN. Boston: J. Franklin, 1722. 4" x 6-1/4". [8], 28 pp, with the half title. Disbound, rubberstamp on blank portion of half title. Last several pages with a fox blotch, not affecting legibility. Last leaf torn at bottom corner with loss of a couple of words. Else Good+.
This is one of the earliest imprints from the press of James Franklin, older brother of Benjamin Franklin. James Franklin's first imprint issued from Boston in 1717 or 1718. Benjamin was apprenticed to him when they issued this Ordination Sermon. This scarce pamphlet, with attractive ornamentation and some text with Greek lettering, includes a Preface by Benjamin Colman. Evans 2389. ESTC W21582. $875.00
Civil Establishment of Religion an Unholy Alliance “Of Political and Priestly Ambition, Aided by Equal Cunning”
138. Tappan, David: A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE HIS EXCELLENCY JOHN HANCOCK, ESQ. GOVERNOUR ... OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, MAY 30, 1792. BEING THE DAY OF GENERAL ELECTION. Boston: 1792. 39, [1 blank] pp, with the half title. Disbound, light wear, Very Good.
Tappan recommends "a liberal and patriotick combination for the general good" of the Christian ministry and civil political leaders. He condemns a "set of philosophers and free-thinkers, who boast of their superiour reason and liberality... who have employed all the powers of metaphysical sophistry and licentious ridicule to shake the foundation of religion: and some of them have even denied its political importance and utility, and have proposed in its stead a kind of philosophical or civil morality, as fully competent to the purposes of general order and security." But Tappan emphatically supports separation of Church and State: the civil establishment of religion is an unholy alliance "of political and priestly ambition, aided by equal cunning." He notes with approval, "In America a Catholic Priest is a good citizen, a good charact er, and a good neighbour; an Episcopalian Minister is of the same description; and this proceeds from there being no law-establishment in America." FIRST EDITION. Evans 24841. Sabin 94366. $450.00
Item No. 138 Item No. 139
“Murder of a Harlot”
139. [Tirrell, Albert J.]: TRIAL OF ALBERT JOHN TIRRELL FOR THE MURDER OF MARY ANN BICKFORD. IN THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT OF MASSACHUSETTS, HOLDEN AT BOSTON, TUESDAY, MARCH 24TH, 1846. TOGETHER WITH THE LIVES OF ALBERT J. TIRRELL AND MARY ANN BICKFORD. REPORTED FOR THE BOSTON DAILY TIMES BY J.E.P. WEEKS, ESQ. Boston: Published at the 'Times' Office, 1846. 39, [1] pp. Disbound, original printed title wrappers, [two rubberstamps on title page]. Last leaf with a tear [early, crude repair] and loss of a couple of letters. Else Good+.
"The murder of a harlot seems to lend a special interest to a case which is measurable by the many publications which ensue. The Tirrell case is one of the triumphs of Rufus Choate, who convinced the jury that his client did not cut the throat of Mrs. Bickford, or, if he did, he did it in his sleep" [McDade 986]. McDade 991. Cohen 13118. $450.00
Item No. 140
An Enthusiastic Pro Bono, Volunteer Lawyer for Thomas Dorr
140. [Treadwell, Francis]: THE CONSPIRACY TO DEFEAT THE LIBERATION OF GOVERNOR DORR; OR THE HUNKERS AND ALGERINES IDENTIFIED, AND THEIR POLICY UNVEILED; TO WHICH IS ADDED, A REPORT OF THE CASE EX PARTE DORR; COMPRISING MOTION TO SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES; PETITION OF SUNDRY CITIZENS OF RHODE ISLAND; AFFIDAVITS SHOWING THE TREATMENT OF GOV. DORR BY THE INSPECTORS OF THE PRISON; ARGUMENT OF COUNSEL AND THE DECISION OF THE COURT. New York: Printed and Published by John Windt, 1845. Original blue printed and illustrated wrappers, stitched. 47, [1 blank] pp. Near Fine.
This is an unusually attractive pamphlet. The wrappers advertise Windt's publication of Treadwell's pamphlet entitled 'Treason Defined', and urge adoption of the principles of the National Reform Association. "Francis Treadwell was a New York lawyer who came to Rhode Island soon after Dorr's trial. He organized a Dorr Liberation Society which propagandized extensively in Rhode Island and even sold 'stock' to raise money for an appeal. Dorr refused to have anything to do with Treadwell's schemes. Despite this, on Treadwell's own authority he brought appeal of Dorr's conviction to the Supreme Court in 1845, applying for a writ of error on the grounds that the court convicting Dorr had refused to admit argument on what was the key issue in the case-- whether treason could be committed against a state. The appeal failed" [Cohen]. Treadwell's submissions are printed, with Justice McLean's Opinion for the U.S. Supreme Court denying the appeal. Cohen 14161 [noting that a portrait of Dorr may accompany some copies]. AI 45-6468 [5]. Sabin [after 96509]. $500.00
Item No. 141
“The Colored Race Utterly Unfitted for Citizenship”
141. Tucker, J.L.: THE RELATIONS OF THE CHURCH TO THE COLORED RACE. SPEECH OF THE REV. J.L. TUCKER, D.D., OF JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI, BEFORE THE CHURCH CONGRESS, HELD IN RICHMOND, VA., ON THE 24-27 OCT., 1882. THIS SPEECH IS HERE SOMEWHAT ENLARGED, BUT ADHERES TO THE LINE OF ARGUMENT ADOPTED AT THE CONGRESS. AS ORIGINALLY DELIVERED THE SPEECH WAS CUT SHORT AT THE END OF TWENTY MINUTES, BY THE SECRETARY'S BELL. Jackson, Miss.: Charles Winkley, Steam Book and Job Print. 1882. 91, [1 blank] pp. Original printed salmon wrappers with wrapper title [as issued]. Stitched. Small pale blue printed slip laid in, from Charles Winkley of Jackson, Mississippi, advising that he has copies "for distribution." Small rubberstamp at upper margin of front wrapper, Near Fine.
This rare pamphlet is a vicious attack on the intelligence and character of "the colored race." Tucker asserts that they are "utterly unfitted for citizenship" "retrograding in morality," "unintelligent and slow," with the "instinct of concealment," and, though "professing religion, have a form of Christianity without its substance: and further, that they have no comprehension of what that substance ought to be." Slavery was a good thing: "When the negroes were brought over to this country they were absolute barbarians." Alexander Crummell responded in an 1883 pamphlet. Not in LCP, Work, Blockson, Owen. OCLC 476536758 [3- NYHS, Howard U., U AL], 918156528 [1- Freie U. Berlin], 228706980 [1- Huntington] as of March 2018. $850.00
“America is Blest with a Genius, Which Deserves The Epithet of Singular”
142. Turner, Charles: DUE GLORY TO BE GIVEN TO GOD. A DISCOURSE CONTAINING TWO SERMONS PREACHED IN CAMBRIDGE MAY 15, 1783. BEING A DAY APPOINTED BY GOVERNMENT FOR PUBLICK FASTING AND PRAYER. Boston: Fleet, 1783. 35, [1 blank] pp, with the half title [light rubberstamp]. Disbound, scattered and generally light foxing. Good+.
"America is blest with a genius, which deserves the epithet of singular," says Turner, in these sermons on the success of the American Revolution. However, he warns, during the late War there was "a general decay of piety and virtue, and an increase of several species of henious sinfulness, amidst the most distressing and awakening dispensations." God must therefore have a "strong inclination, to give before the world, a striking attestation to the justice of our cause." Evans 18221. Sabin 97473. ESTC W30929. $500.00
Item No. 142 Item No. 143
“Passive Obedience and Non-Resistance” are “Treason against the People.” A Fiery Sermon Preached Soon After the Boston Massacre.
143. Turner, Charles: GOSPEL MINISTERS CONSIDERED AS THE SERVANTS OF CHRIST. A SERMON PREACHED AT THE ORDINATION OF THE REV. MR. THOMAS HAVEN, NOVEMBER 7TH 1770, TO THE PASTORAL OFFICE IN THE THIRD CHURCH OF REDDING. Boston: 1770. 32pp, with the half title [detached but present, chip at lower blank corner, light rubberstamp]. Disbound. Good+.
A significant pre-Revolutionary War sermon, delivered eight months after the Boston Massacre, demonstrating the convergence of political and religious ideology in the Colonies. Turner emphasizes the minister's "duty, to make prayers and supplications for the preservation of the just and lawful civil liberties of mankind." Indeed, he must "exclude the doctrine of unlimited passive obedience and non-resistance" which is "treason against the people, as militating against and endangering their privileges; and in British dominions it is treason against the King, as it is necessarily, and utterly subversive of those revolution- principles, which support the title of his present British Majesty to the throne." He also deplores the religious "hierarchy of popish countries, and that of England" as "incomprehensible by people in the distant woods of America." Evans 11902. ESTC W12463. $1000.00
Item No. 144
144. United States: ACTS PASSED AT THE FIRST SESSION OF THE FIFTH CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: BEGUN AND HELD AT THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, IN THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA, ON MONDAY THE FIFTEENTH OF MAY, ONE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND NINETY-SEVEN, AND OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE UNITED STATES, THE TWENTY-FIRST. Philadelphia: Ross, 1797. 561, 26 (Constitution and Amendments thereto), iv (Table of Contents) + Index of 24 leaves. Bound in attractive modern calf and marbled boards, with gilt-lettered morocco spine label. Occasional light toning and mild foxing, Very Good.
This is a complete offering of Ross's printing of the Acts of all three Sessions of the Fifth Congress, including the Alien & Sedition Acts and establishment of the Marine Corps, plus a treaty with the Cherokees. Evans 32951, 34688, 36479. Sabin 15501-15503. $650.00
145. [Vermont Democratic Republicans]: THE REPORT OF A COMMITTEE, APPOINTED BY A CONVENTION OF REPUBLICAN CITIZENS OF THE COUNTY OF ADDISON, MADE ON THE TWENTY THIRD DAY OF FEBRUARY, ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN, EMBRACING FACTS RELATIVE TO THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE LEGISLATURE OF VERMONT, AT THEIR OCTOBER SESSION, 1813. ALSO AN ADDRESS TO THE FREEMEN OF VERMONT. Middlebury, (VT.): Printed and Published by Slade & Ferguson, 1814. 31, [1 blank] pp. Disbound [some loosening]. Light scattered foxing, Good+.
Addison County supporters of President Madison review irregularities in recent elections, concluding that the electoral process has been corrupted; denounce Federalist opposition to the War; and support the national administration's policies. McCorison 1654. AI 31323 [8]. Sabin 99174. $150.00
An Unrecorded Virginia Political Broadside
146. [Virginia] [Election of 1848]: "UPON THE EVE OF THE APPROACHING ELECTION WE WOULD RESPECTFULLY BUT EARNESTLY CALL YOUR ATTENTION TO THE FOLLOWING BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE COURSE PURSUED B[Y] YOUR LATE REPRESENTATIVE WITH REFERENCE TO CERTAIN SUBJECTS OF DEEP INTEREST TO U[S] ALL. WE WISH TO DO GEN. CHAPMAN NO INJUSTICE, AND REFER TO THE RECORD FOR [A] VERIFICATION OF THE VOTES GIVEN. "A BILL WAS INTRODUCED TO TAX TEA AND COFFEE, HE WAS NOT PRESENT, WHEN THE VOTE WA[S] TAKEN ON THIS BILL, BUT IN HIS DISCUSSIONS WITH MR. PRESTON, HE SAYS 'HE WOULD HAVE VOTE[D] FOR IT, HAD HE BEEN PRESENT,' AND BOLDLY ADVOCATES AND DEFENDS IT. "ON THE 267TH PAGE OF THE CONGRESSIONAL REGISTER, OF FEBRUARY 25TH, WILL BE FOUND HIS VOTE AGAINST RAISING TAX ON SILKS, LINENS, WINES, SEGARS AND WOOLEN GOODS, USED BY THE RICH MAN. "ON THE 164TH PAGE OF THE CONGRESSIONAL REGISTER, 13TH MAY, 1846, WILL BE FOUND HIS VOTE TO CENSURE THAT BRAVE GENERAL TAYLOR, THAT YOU HAVE HEARD SO MUCH ABOUT - WHO WHIPPED THE MEXICANS THREE TO ONE, AND WAS GETTING TOO POPULAR WITH THE PEOPLE. THIS WAS NOT THE AVOWED, BUT THE OSTENSIBLE REASON..." [Virginia: 1847 or 1848]. Folio broadside, 12" x 10 3/4", untrimmed. Age toned, light foxing. Old folds, one fold split [expertly repaired on blank verso]. Outer edge occasionally missing final letter due to printer's error [as denoted by parentheses in the above-quoted portion of the text]. Good+. The broadside is signed in bold type at the end, 'MANY VOTERS.'
Augustus Chapman was Virginia's Democratic Congressman from the 12th Congressional District during the 28th and 29th Congresses [1843-1847]. His opponent for the election to the 30th Congress was the Whig William Preston. This broadside, issued by the local Whig Party, accuses Chapman of voting to tax "the Poor Man" for tea and coffee; opposing taxation of silks and other luxuries items for the "rich man”; and scolds him for censuring America's hero [and Whig Presidential candidate in 1848] Zachary Taylor. Voters are urged, "Shake off the shackles of part[y] and rally around the Flag that bears on its shining folds the honored names of PRESTO[N] and TAYLOR. Preston won the election; President Taylor appointed him Secretary of the Navy. Not in Hummel, Haynes, Sabin, or the online sites of OCLC, AAS, U VA as of March 2018. $750.00
Item No. 146
“An Extraordinarily Strong Statement”
147. Wadsworth, W[illiam] H[enry]: SPEECH OF HON. W.H. WADSWORTH IN THE GREAT LIBEL SUIT OF GREEN VS. HARGIS. Louisville: Bradley & Gilbert, 1880. Original printed front title wrapper. 63, [1 blank] pp. Disbound a bit crudely but text is clean. Two rubberstamps on wrapper. Good+.
Thomas Hargis, an attorney and Confederate veteran who had been wounded three times during the War, sought election to the office of circuit judge of Kentucky. Thomas Green, Editor of the Maysville Eagle, claimed that Hargis had not practiced law for the requisite number of years, and that he had illegally altered official records to conceal the date of his admission to the Bar. Hargis called Green a liar; in response, Green sued Hargis for libel. The jury quickly reached a verdict in Hargis's favor. See the June 14, 1879 issue of 'The Age', pages 327-329 [Louisville: 1879] for a further elaboration of the widely publicized case. Wadsworth's closing argument, printed here, is "an extraordinarily strong statement of Mr. Green's side of this remarkable case." [Louisville Medical News, page 18, issue of July 10, 1880]. OCLC 8447611 [5- Rutgers and four in Kentucky] as of February 2018. Not in Harv. Law Cat. or Marke. $450.00
“All the World Knows a Christian’s Life is a Warfare”
148. Walter, Nathaniel: THE CHARACTER OF A CHRISTIAN HERO. A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE ANCIENT AND HONOURABLE ARTILLERY COMPANY, ON THEIR ANNIVERSARY MEETING, JUNE 2D. 1746. Boston in New-England: Printed by J. Draper; for D. Henchman in Cornhill, 1746. 22pp, but lacking the half title and final blank. Disbound, scattered foxing, Good+.
"All the World knows a Christian's Life is a Warfare. From the Moment we name the Name of Christ, become His Disciples, we engage with the Flesh, the World, and the Devil, in a Combat..." The Artillery Company is comprised of true Christian heroes: "From You, as from a Nursery, our Land is ever to be supplied with Officers perfectly skill'd in the Art of War, and who shall train up our Forces to an Expertness in military Exercise equal to any of his Britanic Majesty's: This, under God, will be the best Defence of our Land." Walter was Pastor of the Second Church of Christ in Roxbury. He was Chaplain of Colonel Richmond's regiment in the Louisburg expedition. Evans 5877. ESTC W37721. $650.00
Item No. 148
Item No. 149
149. Webster, Daniel: MR. WEBSTER'S SPEECH IN DEFENCE OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY, AND IN FAVOR OF THE RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION OF THE YOUNG. DELIVERED IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, FEBRUARY 10, 1844, IN THE CASE OF STEPHEN GIRARD'S WILL. Washington: Gales and Seaton, 1844. 60pp, stitched [also disbound] in original printed wrappers. Inconspicuous rubberstamp at blank corner of title page. Else Very Good.
Girard's will, probated in Philadelphia, set up a school for orphans. There were two problems with this otherwise laudable charitable impulse. First, only white males were eligible for admission. Second, clergy were barred from entering the college's gates-- even as visitors. Webster's argument for invalidating the will concerned only the latter requirement. He argued that Girard’s bequest is void because it violated Pennsylvania’s policy to foster religion. Cohen 11412. Sabin 27486. AI 44-6491 [5]. $150.00
150. Webster, Noah: A LETTER FROM NOAH WEBSTER, ESQ. OF NEW-HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, TO A FRIEND, IN EXPLANATION AND DEFENCE OF THE DISTINGUISHING DOCTRINES OF THE GOSPEL. New York: Sold at the Theological and Classical Bookstore of Williams and Whiting… 1809. Original printed wrappers with wrapper title, as issued. Stitched [loosening]. Two inconspicuous rubberstamps. 23, [1 blank] pp. Untrimmed, light wear, Very Good.
The caption title is: 'The Peculiar Doctrines of the Gospel, Explained and Defended.' The wrappers print advertisements for the books available at the Theological and Classical Bookstore. Skeel's long note explains that the pamphlet "became part of the three-cornered wrangle then going on between the Calvinists, the Unitarians, and the Episcopalians." Skeel 706. AI 19180, 19181. Skeel and OCLC record a number of institutional locations. $600.00
Item No. 150
Item No. 151
151. Wheatley, Phillis: "RECOLLECTION". PRINTED IN THE ANNUAL REGISTER, OR A VIEW OF THE HISTORY, POLITICS, AND LITERATURE, FOR THE YEAR 1772. London: Printed for J. Dodsley, in Pall-Mall., 1773. [4], 256, 1-246, [9], [1 blank] pp. Bound in contemporary, gilt-decorated quarter calf and marbled boards. Fine. Wheatley's Poem is printed at pages 214-215 [second count].
The Publisher's Note explains: "Verses by a young African Negro Woman, at Boston in New-England; who did not quit her own country till she was ten years old, and has not been above eight in Boston." This is one of the poem's earliest printings. $1,250.00
Item No. 152
152. Whitney, Peter: THE TRANSGRESSION OF A LAND PUNISHED BY A MULTITUDE OF RULERS. CONSIDERED IN TWO DISCOURSES, DELIVERED JULY 14, 1774, BEING VOLUNTARILY OBSERVED IN MOST OF THE RELIGIOUS ASSEMBLIES THROUGHOUT THE PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS-BAY, AS A DAY OF FASTING AND PRAYER, ON ACCOUNT OF THE DARK ASPECT OF OUR PUBLIC AFFAIRS: AND NOW PUBLISHED AT THE DESIRE OF THE HEARERS, TO WHOM THEY ARE INSCRIBED. Boston: Printed by John Boyle, in Marlborough-Street, 1774. 71, [1 blank] pp, with the half title [which is detached]. Disbound and mildly foxed. Last leaf torn at inner margin, affecting all or portions of about ten words. Else Good+. Presentation from Whitney to Joseph Lee, dated 1780.
Reverend Whitney's Discourses are an uncompromising argument for the right of revolution. The notion of the Divine Right of Kings to rule is "glaringly absurd and groundless." Power derives legitimately "from compact and mutual consent... [I]t is the undoubted right of the community to say who shall govern them." When rulers "encroach on the natural and constitutional rights of the people... the people are bound not to obey them, but resist them as public robbers and the destroyers of mankind and of human happiness." The King's perversion of England's "most perfect" constitution is "a scourge, a curse." Whitney denounces England's "large standing army," a policy "to fright people into a compliance with favorite measures, which the abettors are sensible mankind will not readily consent unto." America's rulers are "maintained in pride, idleness and luxury, at a vast and needless expense of public treasure... It would be unpardonable in us tamely to submit to slavery and chains. Freedom is the gift of God: he has given us right and means to assert it." Evans 13769. Adams, American Independence 147. Bailyn, Ideological Origins of the American Revolution 59, 61, 67, 183 [Belknap Press: 1992]. $500.00
153. Wigglesworth, Edward: THE DOCTRINE OF REPROBATION BRIEFLY CONSIDERED: BEING THE SUBSTANCE OF SOME LECTURES IN HARVARD COLLEGE. Boston, New-England: 1763. 48pp, stitched and untrimmed. Light wear, light spotting, Very Good.
This piece shows "the split between conditional Arminianism, which provides salvation to those men redeemed by faith, and unconditional Calvinism...Wigglesworth, voicing distinct Arminian sentiments, answered that all election and foreordination are conditional, and that no man is 'under irresistible motions, either to good or evil.' From the point of view of theological doctrine, Wigglesworth's gradual compromise heralds the advent of Unitarianism." DAB. FIRST EDITION. XX DAB 192. Evans 9541. $450.00
Item No. 154
By the Prominent Advocate of Women’s Equality
154. Willard, Emma: ADVANCEMENT OF FEMALE EDUCATION: OR, A SERIES OF ADDRESSES, IN FAVOR OF ESTABLISHING AT ATHENS, IN GREECE, A FEMALE SEMINARY, ESPECIALLY DESIGNED TO INSTRUCT FEMALE TEACHERS. Troy: Norman Tuttle, 1833. 48pp, Disbound and lightly foxed. Inconspicuous rubberstamp. Good+.
The Greeks "have bled at every pore in the cause of liberty and the rights of man." For female education there, "small means may now effect what could not be done at all, should we wait till female schools on the old European plan are established." Willard rails against laws "which bear unequally on our sex." FIRST EDITION. Sabin 104043. AI 22661 [5]. $500.00
Early American Imprint
155. Williams, William: A PAINFUL MINISTRY THE PECULIAR GIFT OF THE LORD OF THE HARVEST TO BE SOUGHT BY PRAYER, AND ACKNOWLEDGED WITH THANKFULNESS. SHEWN IN A SERMON AT THE ORDINATION OF MR. STEPHEN WILLIAMS, TO THE OFFICE OF PASTOR OF A CHURCH IN SPRINGFIELD, OCTOBER 17TH. 1716. BY WILLIAM WILLIAMS, A.M. PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF HATFIELD. Boston: Printed by B. Green, 1717. 3-3/4" x 5-1/4". [2], 25, [1 blank] pp, as issued. Disbound, light old rubberstamp, trimmed closely at the top edge, occasionally shaving portions of the running title. Good+.
One of the earliest American imprints obtainable in today's marketplace. Evans 1940. ESTC W28847. $1,500.00
Item No. 155
Item No. 156
Dramatic Tale of a Damsel Who Went Wrong
156. [Wilson, Eliza]: TRIAL AND CONVICTION OF ELIZA WILSON, AT WINDSOR, N.S., JUNE 18, 1851, FOR THE MURDER OF CHARLES STEWARD AND WIFE. HER ENTIRE LIFE AND CONFESSION, WHEREIN WILL BE FOUND THE MOST DARING ROBBERIES AND COLD BLOODED MURDERS EVER RECORDED BY THE PEN OF MAN. CAREFULLY ARRANGED BY THE PUBLISHER, J.B. FINNERTY, PROPRIETOR OF THE MORNING COURIER. Halifax, Nova Scotia: 1851. [2], 32 pp. Frontis illustration of the murder scene and title page illustration. Disbound, a couple of rubberstamps, clean text, illustration at page 10. Good+.
The case is apparently entirely fictional. Finnerty also peddled a variation entitled, "TRIAL AND CONVICTION OF ELIZA DAWSON AT WINDSOR N.S. DECEMBER 18TH, 1849. FOR THE MURDER OF CHARLES STEWARD..." Finnerty published it in 1850. The illustrations in our copy are identical to those in the Eliza Dawson pamphlet; and the text is nearly identical, except for the last two paragraphs. The Preface states that a first edition "was only intended to supply the needs of the immediate vicinity... and was, therefore, entirely inadequate to supply the extraordinary demand." Finnerty entered the copyright in the Southern District of New York [Manhattan] in 1851. Eliza's "history will live in the memory of widows and orphans long after her mortal body will have passed from the stage of life." She was convicted of poisoning one Charles Steward "and his amiable wife." Steward, an infantry officer, entered upon a campaign to seduce Eliza, whose "personal beauty had few equals and no superior." Misguided, she fell in love with him and thus became "the victim of her own folly and his brutal appetite." After living with Steward for several months, he turned her out, despite his "promises to marry her." In retaliation, she poisoned Steward et ux. "The precise time of her execution has not been determined on... [R]eport says she will not suffer the extreme penalty of the law." The possibility of a pardon is suggested. Not in TPL, Sabin, Marke, Harv. Law Cat. OCLC 504598448 [2- both at the British Library] as of February 2018. $1,250.00
Item No. 157
“AN ABOLITIONIST BUT NOT AN AMALGAMATIONIST”
157. Wilson, George C.: TO THE FREEMEN OF NEW-LONDON. New London [CT]: April 4, 1840. Broadside, 10-1/2" x 12". Printed in two columns separated by a rule, and signed and dated at the end in type, 'GEORGE C. WILSON. New-London, April 4, 1840.’ Old horizontal fold [slight separation, no effect on text, short fold repair on blank verso]. One blank margin chip, light dusting. A Good+ copy of an apparently unrecorded Connecticut broadside.
Wilson angrily responds to the false charge that he, in "secret conclave" with one John Danforth and "a clique of office-holders," engineered the Democratic nominations of "an amalgamation loco-foco-abolition ticket" for Town Officers. This charge was made by someone who calls himself "AN ABOLITIONIST BUT NOT AN AMALGAMATIONIST." Wilson denounces this "libel so infamous": the nominations were unanimous, under unimpeachable democratic procedures. Not on OCLC or online sites of AAS, Library of Congress, CT Historical Society, or Yale. $750.00
New Jersey Ratifies, Then Rejects the Fourteenth Amendment
158. Winfield C[harles] H[ardenbergh]: CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. SPEECH OF HON. C.H. WINFIELD, IN THE NEW JERSEY SENATE, DELIVERED FEBRUARY 19, 1868, ON THE RESOLUTION TO WITHDRAW THE ASSENT OF NEW JERSEY TO THE PROPOSED FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. New Jersey: Printed by John H. Lyon, 1868. 31, [1 blank] pp. Original printed orange wraps [light extremity chipping], stitched. Minor wear, Very Good.
Winfield, from Hudson County, was a New Jersey lawyer, local historian, authority on Hudson County land titles, Democratic member of the New Jersey Senate 1866-1868, and post-War opponent of Republican Reconstruction. The New Jersey legislature ratified the Fourteenth Amendment on September 11, 1866. In February 1868, it enacted Senate Joint Resolution No. 1, purporting to withdraw New Jersey's ratification. The vagaries of the ballot box had installed a Democratic legislature in the 1867 State elections. Hostile to the Amendment, which rendered Negroes citizens [thereby overruling the Dred Scott case] and forbade governments from denying them due process and the equal protection of the laws, the Democrats claimed the power to reverse the previous ratification. Winfield agrees, arguing that the Legislature had the power and the duty to withdraw its support for this unwarranted intrusion upon the reserved powers of the States. Governor Ward emphatically disagreed, arguing that a subsequent legislature lacked the power to withdraw the ratification; that the Amendment is "a wise one"; and had the support of the majority of New Jersey electors. The Legislature promptly overrode Ward's veto. Work 536. Not in LCP. OCLC 31812445 [4- NYHS, Yale, Princeton, Rutgers] as of February 2018. $375.00
“We Have Been Too Long Regarded as POLITICAL CIPHERS”
159. [Women Suffrage]: FOURTH PARTY IN THE FIELD! THE LADIES OF CAMBRIDGE TO THEIR SISTERS IN THE FOURTH DISTRICT : Cambridge [MA]: Jan. 16, 1850. Broadside, 9" x 12/3/4". Old folds, else Very Good.
This is the "first Manifesto" of the Ladies, and a bold, early assertion of women's right to vote. "We have been too long regarded as POLITICAL CIPHERS... As we are not permitted to go to the ballot-box and vote by hand, we are determined hereafter to allow no obstacle to prevent our voting by pen and tongue... We demand a hearing and WILL HAVE IT [italics in original]." The broadside urges "Sisters of the Fourth District" of Massachusetts to form a Fourth Party, "comprising all the ladies and as many gentlemen as shall be prompted by their gallantry to unite with us." And, to end the political stalemate in the Fourth District, where "gentlemen who seemed mad as lunatics" had failed to make a choice in "the seventh trial for the election of a Representative to Congress," the Fourth Party recommends a candidate-- one Francis Cogswell of Bedford. OCLC 82622485 [1- Harvard] as of February 2018. Not at AAS's online site. $3,500.00
Item No. 159
160. Woods, Alva: BACCALAUREATE ADDRESS DELIVERED AUGUST 10, 1835, AT THE FOURTH ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF ALABAMA. Tuscaloosa, Ala.: Meek & M'Guire, 1835. 12pp, Stitched in original printed wrappers [inconspicuous rubberstamp in corner of front wrap]. Very Good.
Woods was a Vermont-born educator who sojourned for nearly a decade in the South, first at Transylvania University in Kentucky (where Jefferson Davis went to school) and then as President of the University at Tuscaloosa. Here he warns his erstwhile students that "The individual who seeks to float down the tide of life, reckless of all interests except his own, must be blind both to his present duties and his future welfare." Ellison 243. AII 210. AI 35503 [5]. Not in Owen. $175.00
161. Wool, John E.: AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED, 9 MARCH 1835, TO WILLIAM OR FRANCIS BAYLIES, DISCUSSING RELATIONS WITH FRANCE, POLITICAL MATTERS, AND PERSONAL SENTIMENTS. [Washington, D.C.: 1835]. Folio sheet, folded to 4pp, about 25 lines of ink manuscript on each page [1] and [2]. One archivally repaired short closed tear [no loss], Very Good.
When he wrote this informative Letter Brigadier General Wool, the Army's Inspector-General, was on official business in Washington. During his long career-- which included service in the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Civil War-- he was an extraordinarily capable soldier and organizer. Here he brings his friend Baylies current on the feud between President Jackson and his erstwhile supporter, Senator [and former Judge] Hugh White of Tennessee. White, who began his political career as a Jacksonian-- he succeeded Jackson in the U.S. Senate after Jackson lost the 1824 presidential election-- became disenchanted with him. White joined Henry Clay and the new Whig opposition party. When White voted against spending three million dollars on fortifications, a measure which Jackson supported, White made a bitter enemy of the President, who vowed to do whatever was necessary to thwart White's presidential bid in 1836. Wool also discusses the status of the French Spoliations negotiation: France had promised to pay the United States an instalment of $25,000,000 but had not yet done so. The complete letter reads as follows: Washington 9 March 1835 My Dear Baylies, I received your kind favor from Baltimore and thank you for it. Since you & your agreeable companions left us we have felt very much inclined to pull up stakes and follow you. It has I assure you been very loansome [sic]. Indeed we have missed you very much. To add to our gloom the weather has been worse since you left us, if possible, than it was before. By the Globe of to day you will perceive that he intends to assail Judge White. The cast vote of the judge over the rejection of the three millions will not be forgotten. It was the unkind cut, and shews in what direction he and his friends intend to go. The campaign is open, but what the result will be I am unable to say. I shall remain a mere looker on. This morning we had an [?] with dispatches, but I believe they contain nothing of importance. It is said that our affairs with France do not appear any worse than they did. We have a report that private letters say that the French chambers will vote the twenty five millions with a proviso, that is, to be paid in case we have taken no war like steps toward France. If you are still with Mr and Mrs Gorham, remember both Mrs. Wool & myself to them in the kindest manner- & for yourself believe me always your friend. John E. Wool $750.00
“Unconstitutionally Excluded from the National Councils”
162. Worth, Jonathan: GOV. WORTH'S CIRCULAR. TO THE PEOPLE OF NORTH CAROLINA:.. Raleigh: June 11th, 1866. Broadside, 7 1/4" x 12". Printed in two columns. Tanned uniformly, old folds, several tape repairs not affecting text. Good+.
Governor Worth's rare broadside announces his candidacy for re-election and displays his credentials as a national rather than a sectional man. In 1831 he offered "resolutions denouncing nullification"; opposed disunion in 1860-1861 as a member of "a forlorn minority"; and publicly asserted that the North Carolina Convention of 1861 was designed, not to save the Union, but "to destroy it.” Worth supports a speedy Reconstruction: "We are unwisely and unconstitutionally excluded from the National councils." Thornton [Official Publications] 1887. OCLC 24225228 [3- Duke, UNC, U VA], 960069551 [1- Huntington] as of February 2018. Not in Sabin, Hummel, or on AAS's online site. $500.00
Item No. 162
“A New Order of Things Commences”
163. Wortman, Tunis: AN ADDRESS, TO THE REPUBLICAN CITIZENS OF NEW-YORK, ON THE INAUGURATION OF THOMAS JEFFERSON PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. DELIVERED ON THE 4TH OF MARCH, 1801. New-York: Printed by William Durell, 1801. 24pp. Lightly toned and worn, mildly foxed. Corner chip to blank portion of one leaf. Else Very Good. A prominent libertarian lawyer, Wortman celebrates Jefferson’s election. "On this auspicious hour we behold the Salvation of our Country... Despotism has expired. A new order of things commences. A brighter era dawns upon our hopes-- Liberty is triumphant. Our Independence is secured, - and our glorious Revolution established for ever." "New York lawyer Tunis Wortman... authored 'A Treatise Concerning Political Enquiry, and the Liberty of the Press' in 1800. Robert W. T. Martin has described this text as 'the most articulate exposition of the modern concept of press liberty to emerge in the aftermath of the Sedition Act.' Although Wortman's work may have been occasioned by his opposition to the Sedition Act of 1798, it is notable for attempting to put the controversy within a larger context. Much as John Stuart Mill would do in England, Wortman attempted to portray freedom of the press as an engine for human progress" [First Amendment Encyclopedia online, on Wortman]. Sabin 105511. AI 1691 [4]. Wise & Cronin [Jefferson] 798. $350.00