Colonial Americana
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CATALOGUE THREE HUNDRED FORTY-ONE Colonial Americana WILLIAM REESE COMPANY 409 Temple Street New Haven, CT 06511 (203) 789-8081 A Note This catalogue is devoted to the history of colonial North America from the late 16th century to the American Revolution. Included are a fine copy of Catesby’s Natural History of Carolina, and classics of early Canada such as Champlain, Sagard, Thevenot, and Thevet. Early New England is represented by an early edition of the Bay Psalm Book, Morton’s New English Canaan, and Hubbard on King Philip’s War. There is a 1664 Cambridge, Massachusetts imprint by Richard Mather and a long personal letter by George Washington. Also included are early American views by Bowles, a series of important maps, and other notable graphics. There is a Franklin letter, a Poor Richard’s Almanac, a series of important colonial laws and imprints, and an extensive body of important material on the French and Indian War. Available on request or via our website are our recent catalogues 336 What I Like About the South, 337 The Federal Era, 338 Western Americana, 339 Pacific Voyages, Australia & Asia; bulletins 43 Cartography, 44 Photography, and 45 Natural History; e-lists (only available on our website) and many more topical lists. q A portion of our stock may be viewed at www.williamreesecompany.com. If you would like to receive e-mail notification when catalogues and lists are uploaded, please e-mail us at [email protected] or send us a fax, specifying whether you would like to receive the notifications in lieu of or in addition to paper catalogues. If you would prefer not to receive future catalogues and/or notifications, please let us know. Terms Material herein is offered subject to prior sale. All items are as described and are con- sidered to be on approval. Notice of return must be given within ten days unless specific arrangements are made. Connecticut residents must be billed state sales tax. Postage and insurance charges are billed to all nonprepaid domestic orders. Overseas orders are sent by air unless otherwise requested, with full postage charges billed at our discretion. Payment by check, wire transfer or bank draft is preferred, but may also be made by MasterCard or Visa. William Reese Company Phone: (203) 789-8081 409 Temple Street Fax: (203) 865-7653 New Haven, CT 06511 E-mail: [email protected] www.williamreesecompany.com ON THE COVER: 15. [Bowles, Carington]: A View of Fort George with the City of New York from the SW. London. [after 1764]. John Adams Files a Legal Complaint Against a Boston Bookbinder 1. Adams, John: [PARTIALLY PRINTED FORM, COMPLETED IN MANUSCRIPT AND ENDORSED BY JOHN ADAMS, OUTLIN- ING A LEGAL COMPLAINT AGAINST A BOSTON BOOK- BINDER]. Boston. April 5, 1774. [1]p., docketed on verso. Folio. Old folds. Separation at some folds with repairs on verso. Lightly soiled. Good. In a half morocco and cloth clamshell case, cloth chemise. Legal document for a suit brought against William McAlpine, bookbinder, by the “Proprietors of the Presbyterian Church in Boston.” The form is completed in John Adams’ hand and endorsed by him on the verso. The Presbyterian Church in Boston, having submitted several books to William McAlpine for binding but never receiving them in return despite repeated entreaties, sued him via a specially appointed committee for the sum of £12,000. This document is addressed to the Sheriff of Suffolk County, demanding a bond of £100 from William McAlpine and remanding him for a court appearance on the third Tuesday of April 1774. Adams has outlined the case thus: The Proprietors of the Presbyterian Church in Long Lane, in said Boston, who sue by Simon Elliot of Boston in said county, Tobacconist, William McNeil of said Boston Rope Maker, William Mackay of said Boston Merchant, Robert Wier of said Boston Distiller, and John McLean of said Boston Watchmaker, a Committee specially chosen and appointed for that Purpose, in a Plea of Detinue, for that on the first day of last January, at said Boston, the said Pro- prietors delivered to the said William McAlpine, their books, called the Sessions Books, and also their other books called their Books of Records, of Marriages, Baptisms, and Deaths, (which books called the Sessions Books were to the said Proprietors, of the value of two thousand pounds, and which Books of Records of Marriages, Baptisms, and Deaths, are to the said Proprietors of the value of ten thousand pounds) to be redelivered to the said Proprietors on demand; yet the said William McAlpine, tho often requested hath never redelivered any of the said books to the said Proprietors but unjustly withholds and detains them. Before the Declaration of Independence from Britain, Adams was a well known lawyer whose most famous case was the defense of the British soldiers in the Boston Massacre, in 1770. Although he worried at the time about the effects the case might have on his reputation, it certainly had no long-lasting negative ramifications (this letter is dated mere months before Adams was chosen to represent Massachusetts in the First Continental Congress, in September 1774). His reputation for fairness and equal-minded justice would see him through to the top ranks of the newly formed United States government. A wonderful piece of bibliographical history involving one of the greatest Found- ing Fathers. $6750. Attacking Organized Religion in Revolutionary America 2. [American Religion]: A DIALOGUE BETWEEN A– AND B–, ON A SUBJECT OF THE LAST IMPORTANCE. THINK FOR YOUR- SELVES. New-England. 1779. 44pp. Dbd. Edge wear and dampstaining. Toned and foxed throughout. Good. An anonymous tract composed in the form of a dialogue, attacking the tenets of organized Christianity, and appealing for an understanding of God inspired by reason and nature rather than by faith alone. As God has given mankind no other way to distinguish between good and evil, but by the exercise of reason, so when they act according to the best of their reason, they act what is required of them, and what is acceptable to God.... Heaven and Earth shall sooner pass away, than one title of this eternal law shall either be abrogated or altered. Whoever does his best, for the good of his fellow-creatures, does all that either God, or man, can require. A rare early United States imprint that expounds upon subversive religious views. ESTC records only three copies, at the American Antiquarian Society, New York Public Library, and John Carter Brown Library. BRISTOL B4868. ESTC W12006. $4250. With Real or Pirated Paul Revere Engravings 3. Ames, Nathaniel: AN ASTRONOMICAL DIARY: OR, ALMANACK FOR THE YEAR OF OUR LORD CHRIST, 1772. [Boston. 1771]. [24]pp. including three metal-cut engravings, possibly by Revere. 12mo. Dbd. Lightly foxed. Very good. A variation of the original Russell edition (which had two engravings by Revere), this is one of several editions published in New England, although this one lacks any imprint information. ESTC notes that this edition, with its advertisement on the last page for Daniel Jones, is almost cer- tainly the edition printed and advertised by Edes & Gill. The nature of the engravings in this almanac becomes more puzzling due to a charge in Paul Revere’s Day Book which reads, “Messrs Edes & Gill Dr / To Engraving 3 plates for Ames Almanack / 2-14-0,” on Dec. 21, just five days after his entry for two engravings for Russell’s Ames almanac. It is unclear, then, whether this almanac should be considered a pirated edition with imita- tions of Revere’s engravings, or whether there is sufficient evidence to believe that these engravings are genuine Revere engravings, albeit copies of his original engravings. The engraving on the titlepage is of a dwarf, Miss Emma Leach, who had recently traveled to Boston. Of the two engravings in the interior, the first depicts political writer Jonathan Dickinson under his pseudonym of “The Patriotic American Farmer.” The second shows Mrs. Catherine Macaulay, a famous British intellectual and author, and correspondent of many of the leading Boston patriots. Macaulay’s book on English liberties was an important source for Otis, Adams, Dickinson, and other American leaders. This almanac is also notable for including an essay on a beekeep- ing technique used in Greece. Nathaniel Ames Jr. continued writing this almanac series after his father died in 1764 and until the beginning of the Revolutionary War. He was a successful doctor, ardent Anti-Federalist, and local politician. DRAKE 3205. EVANS 11961. ESTC W22505. BRIGHAM, PAUL REVERE’S EN- GRAVINGS, pp.135-36. $3500. Important Work on the West Indies Sugar Trade 4. Ashley, John: MEMOIRS AND CONSIDERATIONS CONCERN- ING THE TRADE AND REVENUES OF THE BRITISH COLO- NIES IN AMERICA. WITH PROPOSALS FOR RENDERING THOSE COLONIES MORE BENEFICIAL TO GREAT BRITAIN. [with:] THE SECOND PART.... London. 1740-1743. Two volumes bound in one. vi,154; xii,127pp. General half title for both parts bound in at the front. Contemporary calf, ruled in gilt, expertly rebacked in matching style, spine gilt, new endpapers. Boards a bit rubbed and edgeworn. Save for an old stain on the final few leaves of the second part, internally clean and fresh. Very good overall. Both parts of this important work on the West Indies trade, issued three years apart. Ashley, a Barbados planter, published several works to encourage the British West India sugar trade. The present book requests further legislative assistance for the sugar producing colonies. Many of the questions addressed by Ashley center on trade with the British North colonies, whether sugar or rum can be exported directly, whether ships built in North America can be used in the sugar trade, and the like.