William Reese Company AMERICANA ● RARE BOOKS ● LITERATURE AMERICAN ART ● PHOTOGRAPHY __________ 409 TEMPLE STREET NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT 06511 (203) 789-8081 FAX (203) 865-7653 [email protected] www.williamreesecompany.com Boston Antiquarian Book Fair 2017 With Images of Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass 1. [Abolitionist Photographica]: [ALBUM CONTAINING OVER TWENTY-FIVE CIVIL WAR-ERA CARTES DE VISITE, INCLUDING IMAGES OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS AND SOJOURNER TRUTH]. [Philadelphia, New England, & New York, 1856-1864]. Twenty-six cartes de visite inserted into fifteen heavy card stock leaves, images approximately 4 x 2½ inches. Contemporary embossed leather album, with brass clasp at fore-edge, a.e.g. Expertly rebacked, original spine laid down. Several tears and light foxing to photo mounts. Images generally clean, with a few occasional stray marks. Later ink annotations to image and mount of the Douglass image. Very good. An interesting album of twenty-six cartes de visite from the Civil War period, with several significant and scarce images. The album consists partially of family portraits, but principally contains images of a number of important figures in the abolitionist movement, and seems to have been compiled by a person with strong anti-slavery sentiments. The majority of images were taken by the Philadelphia photographer J.W. Hurn. Most significantly, the album contains rare cartes de visite of Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass. The Sojourner Truth image was issued in 1864, and is captioned at the lower margin, “I sell the shadow to support the substance, Sojourner Truth.” The image of Douglass is one of those taken by Hurn, who photographed him several times in the course of his career. There are also carte de visite images of several other important figures in the abolitionist movement and anti-slavery lead- ers. These include pictures of William Lloyd Garrison, Lucretia Mott, and Salmon P. Chase. Also present are images of Anna E. Dickinson, Wendell Phillips, Theodore Tilton, George Truman, and several of Abraham Lincoln. A fascinating assemblage. $10,000. Contemporary News of the Lincoln Assassination 2. Abott, Abott A.: THE ASSASSINATION AND DEATH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AT WASHINGTON, ON THE 14th OF APRIL, 1865. New York: American News Company, [1865]. 12pp. Self wrappers. Stitching perished. Very good. According to MIDLAND NOTES, this is the “first separately published account of the assassination.” Each leaf is edged in black to represent mourning. The text covers events of the evening of the 14th of April and through the morning of the 15th, including the events at Ford’s Theatre and the attack on Secretary Seward. It was probably printed within a few days of Lincoln’s death, certainly prior to the capture of any of those connected with the plot. “Employs the garbled and conflicting deathbed dispatches, and possibly their earliest appearance in pamphlet form” - Eberstadt. FISH 3. MONAGHAN 372. McDADE 607. MIDLAND NOTES 4:1. EBERSTADT 165:451. $2250. Fighting for South American Independence 3. Adam, William Jackson: JOURNAL OF VOYAGES TO MARGUARITTA, TRINIDAD, & MATURIN, WITH THE AUTHOR’S TRAVELS ACROSS THE PLAINS OF THE LLANEROS, TO ANGUSTURA, AND SUBSE- QUENT DESCENT OF THE ORINOCO, IN THE YEARS 1819 & 1820; COMPRISING HIS SEVERAL IN- TERVIEWS WITH BOLIVAR, THE SUPREME CHIEF.... Dublin. 1824. 160pp. 19th-century purple straight-grain morocco, ornately gilt. Mid-19th-century ownership inscriptions on titlepage, scattered marginal pencil marks. A few leaves untrimmed. A fine copy in a handsome English binding. A rare first-hand account of the war of independence in Venezuela (1810-23), by an Irish sympathizer and fighter for the cause of liberty in South America. In July, 1819, Adam joined the Second Regiment of Lancers raised by General De- vereux in Ireland to support the movement for South American independence. Military actions, camp adventures, voyages to Caribbean islands, depredations (including unceasing “Musquitoes”), meetings with Bolivar, etc., are all described in fascinating detail. The author records what he saw on the islands of Trinidad, Marguaritta and Tobago, describing the latter as “a rich, elevated country, agreeably diversified with cottages, villages, plantations, and extensive tracks of fertile, well cultivated soil.” OCLC locates only five copies of this rarity, at the Library of Congress, Yale, Harvard, the National Library of Ireland, and the British Library. SABIN 167. PALAU ADDENDA 2601ii. $4500. An Extraordinary Ephrata Musical Manuscript, with Superb Fraktur Titlepage 4. [American Music]: [German Americana]: DIE BITTRE SUSE ODER DAS GESANG DER EINSAMEN TUR- TEL TAUBE, DER CHRISTLICHEN KIRCHEN HIER AUF ERDEN...[manuscript title]. Ephrata. 1747. [264]pp. plus 7pp. printed register. Small quarto. Contemporary three-quarter calf and marbled boards. Spine heavily worn, split in center. Later 19th-century ownership inscription on front fly leaf. Slight wear and foxing to some leaves, and some ink burn, resulting in splits to some leaves. Very good. In a half morocco and cloth slipcase, spine gilt. A unique and spectacular manuscript hymnbook created by the religious community at Ephrata, Pennsylvania, founded by Johann Conrad Beissel. This manuscript is from the period when the community was at its zenith, and is an outstanding example of the Frakturschriften for which the Ephrata Cloister is known. It contains over 250 pages of manuscript music, some of it likely original compositions. The printed register at the end contains 375 hymn listings, and an additional fifteen pieces of music precede the main body of the work. Johann Conrad Beissel (1692-1768) was born in Germany and orphaned at an early age. A charismatic and engaging per- sonality, he tried on several religious movements, and eventually emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1720 after being banished from his homeland for radical religious beliefs. Beissel spent part of the 1720s with the Dunkards in Germantown and Lancaster County before his controversial beliefs about celibacy and Sabbath-keeping caused a rift with his fellow congre- gants. He then established himself as a hermit on the banks of the Cocalico River, where he was eventually joined by other like-minded individuals who wished to follow his teachings, and so founded the Ephrata Cloister in 1732. “What began as a hermitage for a small group of devoted individuals grew into a thriving community of nearly 80 celibate members supported by an estimated 200 family members from the region at its zenith in the mid-18th century. During that period much of the activity surrounded the charismatic founder and leader, Conrad Beissel. His theology, a hybrid of pietism and mysticism, encouraged celibacy, Sabbath worship, Anabaptism, and the ascetic life, yet provided room for families, limited industry, and creative expression” - Ephrata website. “Both within and without Ephrata, Beissel aroused controversy. His opposition to the institution of marriage early divided his congregation, as did his refusal to tolerate the community’s money-making industries. His adoption of the Jewish sabbath and work on Sunday violated provincial laws and aroused the opposition of civil officials. That women left their husbands and homes to be with Beissel produced their husbands’ ever-lasting hostility and even provoked one to attack Beissel physically. Beissel’s willingness to permit women to spend nights in his cabin and his initial housing of men and women in the same building led to rumors of sexual promiscuity that prompted a neighbor to try to set fire to the cloister” - ANB. The community became known for its self-composed a cappella music, Germanic calligraphy known as Frakturschriften, and the complete publishing center which included a paper mill, printing office, and book bindery. Printing at Ephrata began in 1745, the third geographical location of printing in Pennsylvania. In fact, the largest book printed in America before 1800, numbering more than 1,500 pages, was published at the Ephrata printing shop in 1748. The first printed hymnbook of the cloister was called the “Turtle-Taube (Turtle Dove),” and contained more than 400 of the community’s hymns, most of which Beissel had written. It was issued in 1747, the same year as this manuscript. In addition to the press, the Cloister also had a scriptorium which produced beautiful manuscript hymnals and other works. Beissel composed many original hymns for the community, which then produced manuscript volumes containing both the words and, separately, the music. He is said to have composed more than 4,000 lines of poetry, almost all of it religious, some of it set to music also of his composition. “For the community’s worship, he developed distinctive types of choral harmony and antiphonal singing, and he frequently required the members to sing in this style on late night walks around Ephrata” - ANB. Manuscript production at Ephrata was used as a form not only of book production, but also as a meditation and spiritual act. Beissel established a monastic style of living for the Cloister in 1735, three years after its founding, and the earliest output of the scriptorium dates to this time. Most of the fine manuscript work was likely done by the Sisters (the Cloister was segregated by gender), while the Brothers maintained the printing press. The scriptorium flourished during the 1740s and 1750s, declining near the end of that decade. The present manuscript was produced while the scriptorium was at the pinnacle of its output and handiwork. This volume, with its elaborate fraktur titlepage, was likely a presentation copy rather than a standard, everyday hymnbook. The Ephrata community produced virtually the only original hymn texts and tunes during the colonial era. It was meant to be used with the printed words from the 1747 edition of DAS GESANG DER EINSAMEN UND VERLASSENEN TURTEL-TAUBE.... A bearded face has been drawn in each of the two upper corners of the fraktur, a highly interest- ing and unusual feature of the work.