Gems from “The Pearl of the Antilles” Cuba in Books, Manuscripts, Maps, and Pictures, 1521 - 1921 Terms Material herein is offered subject to prior sale. All items are as described and are considered 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. Orders may be emailed to [email protected]. Cuban Argument for Continued Union with Spain 1. [Arango y Parreno, Francisco de]: REFLEXIONES DE UN HABANERO SOBRE LA INDEPENDENCIA DE ESTA ISLA. Habana: Oficinia de Arazoza y Soler, 1823. [4],37pp. Small quarto. Modern morocco, titled in gilt on front board and spine. Titlepage slightly dusty, else quite clean and fresh. Near fine. "Segunda edicion. Corregida y Aumentada por su Autor," preceded only by a much briefer version of Arango y Parreno's essay in the periodical, EL REVISOR POLITICO Y LITERARIO, on June 30, 1823. This is the first edition in book form, and more substantial than the earlier appearance: additional text has been added above and beyond the periodical appearance, including notes and a postscript. The conclusion of the present edition is dated September 12, 1823. Francisco de Arango y Parreno (1765-1837) was born in Cuba and educated as a lawyer. He became a prominent politician and landowner, and was a leader of reform movements on the island. A member of the Supreme Council of the Indies, he was appointed Cuban Minister of State in 1820 and Finance Minister in 1824. He argued for freer trade for Cuba, and the increased importation of slaves to enhance agricultural production. In this work he compares Cuba to the United States and argues that the situations of the two are different, and that Cuba under Spain was in a different condition than the United States on the eve of the American Revolution. Cubans were free, allowed to trade freely, represented in the Spanish parliament, and not subject to arbitrary taxation. As such, Cuba had no need for formal independence from Spain, but existed comfortably in a relationship akin to that of Canada and England. This copy comes from the Coleccion Monclau, with their bookplate on the front pastedown. OCLC locates a total of only five copies, at the Library of Congress, Harvard, the Bancroft Library, Princeton, and the British Library. Rare, and an interesting argument against Cuban independence, by a leading politician. OCLC 26838670, 559354194, 14963922. PALAU 253238. SABIN 17804. $2500. With a Cuban Bookseller's Ticket 2. [Barbaza, Juan]: CONOCIMIENTOS MILITARES DEL ARTE DE LA GUERRA. Barcelona. 1828. 234,[7]pp. plus five folding tables and plates. Small quarto. Contemporary marbled boards with linen spine, all edges yellow. Extremities lightly worn. Contemporary Cuban bookseller's ticket on front pastedown, contemporary ownership inscription on front flyleaf. Worming in gutter margin, heavy at times, not affecting text but loosening several leaves. One plate separated at fold but complete. Minor scattered foxing. A good plus copy. Work on the art of warfare. Palau notes that this work is often attributed to the General of Artillery, Juan Barbaza. Interestingly, a contemporary bookseller's ticket for a Cuban bookseller is present on the front pastedown: "T. Howson. Encuadernador y fabricante de libros en blanco en la Calle del Obispo numero 22. Habana." A rare work - only three copies are listed in OCLC, at the College of William of Mary, and the national libraries of Spain and Chile. PALAU 59368. $325. 3. Blythe, A.K.: [TWO AUTOGRAPH LETTERS FROM A.K. BLYTHE TO JOSE DE LA CONCHA REQUESTING A LEAVE OF ABSENCE OF THE AMERICAN CONSULATE IN CUBA]. Havana. 1857. [2]pp. plus blank leaf; [2]pp. plus blank leaf. Bifolium. Minor toning and offsetting. Second document worn at edges, lightly chipped. Old fold lines. Very good. Two letters from the Consulate General of the United States addressed to the governor of Cuba, Jose de la Concha, requesting a leave of absence. Both letters, marked six months apart in 1857, address Blythe's wish to return to America for a short leave and, in a somewhat pleading tone, request permission and passport for said journey. Blythe also requests the appointment of Vice-Consulate General Thomas Savage to his role during his absence. $200. Painting of a Cuban Sugar Plantation in the 1850s 4. [Attributed to Brownell, Charles DeWolf]: [CUBAN SUGAR PLANTATION]. [Cuba. ca. 1850s]. Oil on canvas, 13½ x 23½ inches. Excellent displayable condition. Framed. This attractive landscape painting depicting a Cuban sugar plantation was almost certainly executed by artist Charles DeWolf Brownell, in the mid to late 1850s. As would be customary with Brownell, who was greatly influenced by the artists of the Hudson River School, the image is dominated by the Cuban landscape of lush greenery, rolling hills, and blue sky, with the main buildings on the edges of the work. There are various types of trees dotting the landscape, as well as shrubs, a stone fence, and livestock. At the bottom of the painting a horse ridden by a black servant pulls a barranca-style carriage occupied by a woman in a pink dress. In the center a man in a white suit and hat walks up a hill toward the plantation house beside a horse carrying a similarly dressed man. Five of the plantation structures are depicted. The main house, a white two-story gabled building with a balcony, is on the far left. A woman stands in the doorway. On the far right of the painting is a slat-roofed building with a large billowing chimney and slaves at work. In the center of the image are three more buildings: a thatch-roofed hut filled with sugarcane, and two storage buildings. The sky is bright blue, with pillowy white clouds rolling by. Charles DeWolf Brownell (1822-1909) was born in Rhode Island and spent most of his adult life in Hartford and New York City. Trained as a lawyer, he abandoned the law out of conscience and turned to painting. He was greatly influenced by the Hudson River School, and his most notable works are landscape paintings. His maternal relatives, the DeWolfs, owned several sugar plantations in Cuba, and beginning in 1854, Charles Brownell spent seven consecutive winters on the island. He returned to Cuba several times over the ensuing decades. He traveled throughout the island, boarding in several plantations. Inspired by the Cuban landscape, he created a number of paintings of the island, including portraits of plantations done as commissions to help pay his expenses. In his diary Brownell notes that these commissioned paintings usually brought between forty and sixty dollars. The present work, painted in oil on a relatively modest size canvas, is in keeping with the style and form of these other works. A 1991 Kennedy Gallery exhibition catalogue of Brownell's work notes that these paintings of Cuban plantations survive in only a small number. A fine representation of mid-19th-century Cuban plantation life. Early paintings of Cuba are rare. Kennedy Galleries, CHARLES DeWOLF BROWNELL (1822-1909), EXPLORER OF THE AMERICAN LANDSCAPE, March 1991. $15,000. 5. Campbell, John: THE SPANISH EMPIRE IN AMERICA. CONTAINING, A SUCCINCT RELATION OF THE DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT OF ITS SEVERAL COLONIES; A VIEW OF THEIR RESPECTIVE SITUATIONS, EXTENT, COMMODITIES, TRADE, &c…. London. 1747. viii,[4],330,[2]pp. Antique-style three-quarter calf. Leaf of advertisement trimmed and pasted to verso of front fly leaf. Minor foxing. Very good. An early English survey of Spanish discovery, conquest, and trade in America, with some material on California, New Mexico, Florida, Mexico, Cuba, Argentina, and South America in general. Also covers Spanish trade throughout the Americas, including the West Indies. Contains a chapter entitled, "Of the means by which Spain is drained of the Effects brought from the Indies." Includes a rare, early advertisement leaf after the text. SABIN 10240. EUROPEAN AMERICANA 747/28. PALAU 41176. GOLDSMITHS 8284. HANSON 5559. $1500. 6. Carleton, George W.: OUR ARTIST IN CUBA. FIFTY DRAWINGS ON WOOD. LEAVES FROM THE SKETCH-BOOK OF A TRAVELER, DURING THE WINTER OF 1864-5. New York. 1865. viii pp., 50 leaves. Original green cloth, gilt-stamped cover and spine. Ownership signature on front free endpaper. Elaborate color borders surround text and images. Very good. Uncommon work consisting of a short introduction with fifty sketches - often humorous - made by the author during his ocean voyage to Cuba from Sandy Hook, and including street scenes, common folk, and common insects, in Cuba. The date is given erroneously in roman numerals on the titlepage. SABIN 10902. $150. The British Attempt to Seize Cuba, 1741 7. [Cuba]: ORIGINAL PAPERS RELATING TO THE EXPEDITION TO THE ISLAND OF CUBA. London. 1744. 219pp. Dbd. Tears and abrasions in first three leaves, affecting up to 2½ x 1 inch areas including text on all three leaves, with some loss, light dampstaining in first ten leaves. After this initial damage, a good copy, but priced accordingly. A collection of papers relating to the attempt of a British expeditionary force under Admiral Edward Vernon, commander of British forces in the West Indies, to seize Cuba from Spain in 1741. Despite strenuous efforts, they were not successful. The present copy comes from the library of the Cuban General Carlos Garcia Velez, as noted in a 1915 inscription on the titlepage and a full page autograph inscription signed and dated by Garcia in London, December 1914.