CATALOGUE THREE HUNDRED SIXTY-SEVEN Broadsides & Broadsheets WILLIAM REESE COMPANY 409 Temple Street New Haven, CT 06511 (203) 789-8081 A Note Long before “breaking news” could be flashed across a television or cell phone screen, a highly effective way to transmit important information quickly was by printing it as a broadside, to be displayed in a conspicuous place. Whether it was bringing news of a political campaign or military victory, the text of a law or a petition for social change, a commercial announcement or news of an impending event, a broadside was an efficient way to get the word out. This catalogue is devoted to broadsides and broadsheets printed over a span of 350 years, and reflects the diverse manner in which the medium was used. Among the most remarkable items is a late 16th-century illustrated broadside celebrating Sir Francis Drake’s circumnavigation (no. 44), a very early instance of matching image and text to bring news to the populace. American wars, including the Revolution, Civil War, Mexican-American War, and World War I are represented by, among other items, a printing of the South Carolina Act of Secession (no. 25), a Pennsylvania recruiting broadside issued just a few months later (no. 24, featured on the front cover), and a Confederate law allowing slaves and free blacks to serve in certain capacities in the Rebel army (no. 28). Item 34 – a broad- sheet of the Continental Congress’ Declaration for taking up arms – contains one of the most important texts of the American Revolution. The wide range of topics is further exemplified by a series of Parliamentary lobbying petitions from the early 18th century, and the handsome poster for African-American film star Bill Pickett’s western, The Bull-Dogger (no. 90, featured on the rear cover). Available on request or via our website are our bulletins as well as recent catalogues 362 Recent Acquisitions in Americana, 363 Still Cold: Travels & Ex- plorations in the Frozen Regions of the Earth, 365 American Panorana, and 366 Latin Americana. E-lists, available only on our website, cover a broad range of topics including theatre, education, mail, the Transcontinental Railroad, satire, abolition, technology, horticulture, advertising, and directories. A portion of our stock may be viewed on our website as well. 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 un- less specific arrangements are made. Residents of applicable states 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 Striking Abolitionist Broadside 1. [Abolition]: [Western Anti-Slavery Society]: UNION WITH FREE- MEN – NO UNION WITH SLAVEHOLDERS. ANTI-SLAVERY MEETINGS! [caption title]. Salem, Oh.: Homestead Print, [ca. 1850]. Broadside, 16 x 10¾ inches. A few short closed edge tears, light toning and foxing. Very good plus. A rare and striking abolitionist broadside from Salem, Ohio, the seat of the Western Anti-Slavery Society, and a small but important center of progressive movements through much of the 19th century. As suggested by their advertisement’s headline, “Union with Freemen – No Union with Slaveholders,” the members of the Western Anti-Slavery Society were radical Garrisonian abolitionists who believed the U.S. Constitution was fundamentally a pro-slavery document and therefore unfit to bind together a morally just nation. Formed in the mold of Garrison’s New England Anti-Slavery Society (founded 1832) and American Anti-Slavery Society (1833), the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society first assembled in 1833 in Putnam, Ohio, and in 1839 moved its headquarters to Salem and became known as the Western Anti- Slavery Society. From 1845 to 1861 the Society published a weekly newspaper, The Anti-Slavery Bugle, printed for the first five weeks in New Lisbon, Ohio, and for all subsequent issues in Salem. The text of the broadside, a printed blank form for advertising abolitionist meetings, reads in full as follows: Union with Freemen – No Union with Slaveholders. ANTI-SLAVERY MEETINGS! Anti-Slavery Meetings will be held in this place, to commence on [blank] in the [blank] at [blank] To be Addressed by [blank] Agents of the Western ANTI- SLAVERY SOCIETY. Three millions of your fellow beings are in chains – the Church and Government sustains the horrible system of oppression. Turn Out! AND LEARN YOUR DUTY TO YOURSELVES, THE SLAVE AND GOD. EMANCIPATION or DISSOLUTION, and a FREE NORTHERN REPUBLIC! OCLC lists only two copies, at Yale and Williams College; the Library of Congress holds an additional copy, which may be viewed online at the American Memory web site (see below). OCLC 59557224. “An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera.” Library of Congress, American Memory website. $4750. Rare State of the Union Address 2. Adams, John Quincy: PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE. NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER...EXTRA. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1825. Washington: National Intelligencer, 1825. Broadside, 23 x 19 inches. Several hundred lines of text printed in five-column format. Minor creasing, occasional foxing. Very good. Expertly matted, and protected with a mylar sheet. Adams’ first State of the Union address. Before becoming president, Adams was the chief architect of the Monroe Doctrine, and it is with joy that he states that a treaty of “Commerce and Navigation” has been entered into with the Colombian Republic. This treaty was the first between the United States and any Latin American government. Among other interesting topics discussed are compensation rates for War of Independence veterans, the contribution of West Point to the militia, and the establishment of a uniform system of weights and measures. Adams attempts to prod Congress into establishing a national university on land bequeathed by Washington for that purpose. Of particular note is Adams’ summation of the progress being made on the construction of a marble monument within the capital, under which Washington’s family had granted their consent to lay the first president’s remains. This broadside printing was issued by the National Intelligencer, the newspaper of record in Washington. It would later be printed in the newspaper. An impres- sive copy of a rare piece. AMERICAN IMPRINTS 23021 (only the Huntington copy). $2750. 3. [African Americana]: [ Jordan, James Edward]: HY-BEAUTE COS- METICS STYLED FOR SMART WOMEN WHO CARE. Atlanta, Ga.: Hy-Beaute Chemical Co., [ca. 1950]. Photographic broadside, 19¼ x 25 inches, printed in red and black on glossy paper. Vertical creases. Slight wear and a few small closed tears at edges, not affecting text or images. Very good. A well-preserved advertising poster for Hy-Beaute Cosmetics, featuring images of eighteen different hair-silkening and smoothing products for women and men, and a “konk” straightener for men. The “konk” (or “conk,” from congolene, hair- straightening gel made from lye) was a hairstyle popular with African-American men from the 1920s-1960s. African-American women also used a variety of relaxers and straighteners to allow hair to be more easily worked into fashionable (i.e. “white”) styles. A dozen female and two male models demonstrate the hairstyles attainable through application of various Hy-Beaute products. Entrepreneur James Edward Jordan (1888-1977) was born in Wrightsville, Georgia and moved to Atlanta in 1919. He founded a number of businesses, including Hy-Beaute Cosmetics and other beauty and barber supplies, a tailoring shop, clothing sales and department stores, a real estate agency, a photography studio, and a motion-picture production company. Many of these businesses (including Hy-Beaute) were located on or near Auburn Avenue, also known as “Sweet Auburn,” the central business and cultural street of Atlanta’s African-American community. JAMES EDWARD JORDAN PAPERS, MSS 565, Kenan Research Center, Atlanta His- tory Center. $675. A Critical Moment in American Constitutional History: The Virginia Resolutions of 1800 Protesting the Alien and Sedition Acts and the Expansion of the Armed Forces 4. [Alien and Sedition Acts]: [Quasi-War with France]: [Virginia Resolu- tions of 1800]: INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE GENERAL ASSEM- BLY OF VIRGINIA TO STEPHENS [sic] THOMPSON MASON AND WILSON CARY NICHOLAS, SENATORS FROM THE STATE OF VIRGINIA IN THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES [caption title]. [Richmond: Augustine Davis, 1800]. Broadsheet, 19 x 11½ inches, printed in two columns on both sides. Old fold lines, with small separation at the center cross-fold. Light dampstaining at bottom edge, else very good. In a half morocco slipcase. A rare printing of the Virginia Assembly’s instructions to the state’s U.S. Senators, explaining their reasons for opposing the Adams administration’s expansion of the American army and navy, the Alien and Sedition Acts, and the suspension of trade with France. This broadsheet summarizes arguments made in Virginia Resolutions of 1800, authored by James Madison, which explicitly called on the Congress to repeal the Alien and Sedition Acts, and to curtail the increased size of the military. The so-called “Quasi War” with France was a major crisis for the Adams admin- istration, and it had far-reaching policy ramifications. In order to defend against enemies both foreign and domestic, Adams called for an increase in the size of the navy, tightened naval laws against France, abrogated treaties with the French and suspended trade with France, called 80,000 militia to active duty, and appointed George Washington commander-in-chief of a revitalized army (with Alexander Hamilton as second-in-command).