MAGGS BROS LTD Winter Miscellany
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MAGGS BROS LTD Rare Books, Autographs and Manuscripts Winter Miscellany A Selection of new stock from the Travel and Early British Departments 1. [AMERICAN VITICULTURE] BULL (Ephraim Wales). The Concord Grape. Folio broadside (502 x 356mm)., printed ornamental border containing an image of a large bunch of grapes above and between four columns of text. Laid down neatly on later card (some very light brown- ing and a little damp staining to the upper part of the sheet). Concord, Mass, March, 1859. £1750 A scarce broadside advertising - and celebrating - the most iconic of all American grapes. Although numerous types of grapes had flourished in American soil none of them had ever proved resilient enough to survive the cold climates of New England. Bull, who was a gold beater and amateur horticul- turalist, had long experimented with different types of vine in the New England area but it was not until he moved to a house in Concord in 1836 that he noticed the eponymous fruit beginning to flourish in his garden. The possibly apocryphal story is that young boys returning from playing in the Concord River had scattered various seeds in the area thus facilitating a fortuitous cross pollination and a resulting hardier grape. This handsome broadside advertises the sale of Bull’s own Concord vines and is a valuable document of American viticulture and the (greatly unsung) achievement of Bull to produce a grape that would go on to become hugely popular. Either side of the image of the grapes is a list of the superior qualities of the Concord grape including the boast that it appears “four weeks earlier than the Isabella’ and about two weeks earlier than the Diana”; the text also states that the grape is “an inch in diameter” with a “very dark” colour and “soft, tender and juicy” flesh. The appearance of the Concord grape has become synonymous with the grape itself in America and Thomas Pinney has suggested that it is “by far the most popular and widely planted grape ever introduced in this country, the Concord still defines ‘grape’ for most Americans” (Pinney, A History of Wine in America from the Beginnings to Prohibition, Vol. 1, p.212). The middle section of the broadside reproduces the testimonies of various horticulturalists and horticul- tural publications which attest to the superior taste and hardy nature; put simply, by the Horticulturalist, the Concord grape is described as “large, handsome and excellent.” The bottom section of the sheet supplies Bull’s contact details and an offer of “greatly reduced prices” and “liberal” discounts for trade supplies. Bull promises that all plants will be “carefully packed in moss and delivered in Boston free of charge”. Bull’s reasonably priced vines were quickly purchased by competing growers which meant that he saw little profit from his venture, his epitaph sadly stated: “He Sowed Others Reaped”. Not recorded in OCLC, Amerine & Borg or Gabler. THE MACCLESFIELD COPY 2. [ANON.] An Authentic and accurate Jour- nal of the Late Siege of Gibraltar; being a cir- cumstantial Account of every material transaction relative to that memorable event, from the day on which the communication between that Garrison and Spain was shut up, to the arrival of the Thetis Frigate with the preliminary Articles of Peace. 8vo. Contemporary half calf, marbled boards, Macclesfield library plates to front pastedown & facing leaf, discreet Macclesfield blindstamp to title & 2 following leaves, some very light foxing to first few leaves. [iv], 173pp. London, [1783]. £1000 Beginning with the Spanish declaration of war on Great Britain in June 1779 through to Feb 20th 1783, the journal covers in great detail the block- ade and siege of Gibraltar, which saw General Augustus Eliott and his British troops under attack for over three years. Spain joined forces with France and the combined attack, involving 100,000 men and 48 ships, on September 13, 1782 is covered in great detail. RARE UNAUTHORISED ACCOUNT ships. In a committed act of leadership, Anson 3. [ANSON (George).] An Authentic Account pursued his stated objectives as best he could and of Commodore Anson’s Expedition: Contain- took small small prizes. The Centurion then limped ing All that was Remarkable, Curious and Enter- across the Pacific to Macau, where the ship was taining, during that long and dangerous Voyage... repaired and he was able to recruit more men. taken from a private Journal. This coincided with the arrival of the westbound First edition. 8vo. Period style half calf, title galleon from Mexico, which Anson successfully page a little dusty, untrimmed. 60pp. London, M. intercepted and captured. This one act, heavy Cooper, 1744. in symbolism, redeemed the voyage and Anson £8500 returned to England as the hero of the hour. “An extremely rare and unauthorized account, published four years before Richard Walter’s of- Just three copies have appeared at auction in the ficial narrative of the voyage...” (Hill). past thirty years. Hill, 39; Sabin 1630. Anson’s voyage commenced at a time of crisis in Anglo- Spanish relations. The prospect of a short war seemed unlikely and so Walpole and first lord of the Admiralty Sir Charles Wager adopted a strategy of harrassing the Spanish colo- nies. A large fleet was sent to the Carribean, while Anson’s smaller one was sent to the Pacific. He was to be ready to attack Panama should the larger force gain sufficient foothold on the other side. If the opportunity arose, he was also charged with capturing the annual galleon, linking Mexico and the Phillippines. After long delays, a squadron of eight ships departed in 1740. They managed to elude the Spanish ships, who had learned of their objectives, on the coast of Patagonia and rounded Cape Horn. Assembling at Mas-a-Tierra in the Juan Fernández Islands in mid-June, they eventually learned that only four ships remained - the Wager being wrecked and two others forced back in to the Atlantic. This was an unmitigated disaster, the squadron emerged with insuf- fucient hands to man even the Centurion properly and was very quickly reduced to just two 4. [ARMY LIST] [DUNDAS (Major General Sir his battlefield achievements included raids of St David)]. A List of the Officers of the Army Malo and Cherbourg in 1758 and the “brutal” and Marines with an index; a succession of rearguard action at St Cast in the same year. In Colonels; and a list of the Officers of the Army 1761 he accompanied Albermarle on his Cuban and Marines on Half-Pay; also with an index. expedition and was with him at the fall of Havana Forty-Third Edition. Large 8vo (222 x 140mm). in 1762. Dundas passed the American War of Very lightly browned in places, gilt edges have Independence on the Dublin staff - he was made bled onto a few leaves, dark stain to the inner Irish quartermaster-general in 1778. Later he margin of one leaf where a piece of paper (now joined with the Duke of York’s army in Flanders very browned) has been left in as a marker, some and took part in the heavy fighting at Tournai in manuscript annotations [see below]. Contempo- 1794. Dundas was also noted as an expert writer rary red morocco, covers with a handsome gilt on military drill strategies: as early as 1794 he had border, spine tooled in gilt, green morocco label, made a tour of France and Austria specifically to gilt edges, marbled endleaves (spine split down observe their training camps. In 1788 he pub- the centre (but still holding firm), a little rubbed lished Principles of Military Movememnts, Chiefly Ap- in places, some scuff- ing to the lower board, joints slightly worn). [?London], 1795. £650 ESTC records National Library of Wales, Meton College Oxford, Sand- hurst Military Academy, National Archives in UK; Boston Public Li- brary, Huntington, John Carter Brown Library, Newberry, Stanford in USA. There is also a copy at the Society of the Cincinnati. The same type-setting was also imposed in a quarto format, this setting is recorded in nine British libraries but only UC- Santa Barbara in USA. Major General Sir David Dundas’s (?1735- plied to Infantry (a second edition appeared in 1795) 1820) handsome annotated copy of the British and the work was an “immediate success because Army List for 1795 - the year in which Dundas it not only laid bare the irregularity prevailing became Colonel of the 7th Light Dragoons in the army’s current training and drill, but also and commanded at the attack of Tuil and served as a critique of the widespread influence in Geldermalsen. the army of an unsound tactical doctrine deriving from its experience in the America” (ODNB). Dundas was born in Edinburgh and trained at the Dundas’s works became widespread throughout Royal Military Academy, Woolwich before ac- the army and he continued to observe training companying his uncle, Lieutenant Colonel David proceedures in order to improve his manuals and Watson on a pioneering cartographical study of in 1801 he presided over the creation of the Royal Scotland. His military career was wide and varied Military College. Dundas was made commander- and is discussed, at length, in the ODNB. In in-chief of the army from 18 March 1809 until 26 short, it can be divided into two main sections: May 1811 while the Duke of York was embroiled in the scandal involving his mistress, Mary Anne Clarke. On the blank verso of the title-page Dundas has inscribed in manuscript the personnel of the 22nd foot regiment which he had been rewarded with on April 2nd 1791. Dundas has placed himself “D.