AMERICANA
AFTER 1820
AMERICANA
AFTER 1820
Much
FUNEREAL
Detail . . .
(Taylor, Zachary). Obituary addresses delivered on the occasion of the death of Zachary Taylor, president of the United States, in the Senate and House of Representatives, July 10, 1850; with the funeral sermon by the Rev. Smith Pyne, D.D. rector of St. John's church, Washington, preached in the
presidential mansion, July 13, 1850. Washington: William M. Belt, 1850. 8vo. Frontis., 107, [5 (blank)] pp. 
• Not in Sabin. Quarter buckram over paper-covered sides. Without the original mourning wrappers. "Mercantile Library Co." blind-stamped on both sides. Paper call number label on spine. Edges and corners worn, tips of spine pulled, with loss. Ownership signature on front fly leaf, and charge pocket and card on rear free endpaper. Dog-eared. (3722)
“What is a Chord?”“Teacher of Music, A.” First steps to thorough base [sic], in twelve familiar lessons between a teacher and a pupil. By a teacher of music. Revised from the London edition. Boston: James Loring, 1833. 12mo (15.5 cm, 8.125"). 110 pp. 
Single-click the image for an enlargement.• NSTC 2S3882. Contemporary quarter roan over marbled paper, front cover almost detached; corners bumped, edges chipped, spine rubbed with front joint open and some loss of leather at base. A little fine chipping of paper and some leaves dog-eared; light foxing with a little waterstaining. Inked ownership inscription on recto of front free endpaper and title-page.
Travels in
Greece & TurkeyTennent, James Emerson, Sir. Letters from the Aegean. New York: J. & J. Harper, 1829. 8vo (23.8 cm, 9.4"). [6 (adv.)], x, [25]–248 pp.
The six pages of advertisements offer multiplereviews of the Harper works listed, not just publication information!
Provenance: Front free endpaper with ex libris inscription initialed “GRW”: William [Guillelmus] R. Whittingham, Bishop of Baltimore.
• Shoemaker 40623; NSTC 2E8969. Publisher’s quarter cloth and paper-covered sides, spine with printed paper label; binding faded and worn, spine label chipped and darkened. Front pastedown with institutional rubber-stamp, no other markings; pages untrimmed, and foxed throughout.
With
Extensive Book Advertising at the End — “New BooksTennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron. Maud, and other poems. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1856. 8vo (18.7 cm, 7.4"). 160, [2 (blank)], 12 (adv.) pp.
• Publisher’s cloth, covers blind-stamped, spine with gilt-stamped title; binding lightly scuffed overall, spine with extremities worn and one compartment gently faded, back joint with small ink blotch and corner of front cover with traces of old adhesion, as a sticker. Front pastedown with private collector’s bookplate and institutional bookplate, front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription dated 1859, title-page verso stamped (no other markings). Pages slightly age-toned.
Becky! Comes to AmericaThackeray, William Makepeace. Vanity
Fair. A novel without a hero. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1848. 8vo (23.8 cm, 9.3"). Add. engr. t.-p., 332 pp.; 31 plts.
Kempis
for 
CONNECTICUT
[Thomas à Kempis]. Of
the Imitation of Christ. Tr. by John Payne. New-Haven: Pub. by William Storer,
Gray & Hewit, Printers, 1822. 8vo. 42, 210 pp.
The first printing of the Imitation appeared in 1473 and there followed
hundreds of European editions before the first American appeared 1749. It
was as popular with the American audience as it had been in Europe, and
it appeared here in English and German translation and even in an extracted
form, almost always redone for Protestants.
This
is the first printing of the Imitation in Connecticut.
• Shoemaker 9094; Parsons 778. On the translator, see: The Dictionary of National Biography. Contemporary sheep with a near-contemporary over-covering of another sheep binding—with a rectangle cut out to expose the original spine label. Over-covering very plain. Expectable foxing and a certain amount of staining; a "decent" copy made interesting by the careful early "conservation" of the binding.
Privately
Printed for the
Philobiblon
ClubThorp, Williard. Lost tradition of American
letters. Philadelphia: Privately printed for the Philobiblon Club, 1945. 8vo.
[2], 26, [2] pp. 
• Quarter cloth and marbled paper sides, spine gilt-stamped with title. Pages crisp and binding clean; the whole very nearly pristine. (4925)
WORDS . . . Town, Salem. An analysis of derivative words the English language [sic]; or, a key to their precise analytic definitions, by prefixes and suffixes...Carefully revised, and adapted to schools of all grades. Boston: Phinney & Co., 1853. 12mo. 168 pp.
• This edition not in Vancil or O'Neill. Publisher's quarter black sheep with blue paper covers; front cover printed with replica of title-page and rear cover with ads. Leather pulled at top of spine and front joint opening/fragile. Small amount of rodent activity shows at top of front cover, and first gathering loosening. (8006)
WithTWO
Wood-Engraved Plates
[True, Charles Kittredge]. Tri-mountain;
or, the early history of Boston. Boston: Pub. by Heath & Graves, [©
1845]. 12mo (6 inches, 15.5 cm). Frontis., 136 pp. (pp. [7 & 8, &
130] blank; number 131 & 132 not used in pagination), plt., [4 (ads)]
ff.
• Sabin 97079. Publisher's blind stamped charcoal gray cloth with a grain to it; spine stamped and lettered in gilt. Cloth a little bubbled on the boards, with spots of discoloration. Top and bottom of spine pulled. Faint traces of waterstaining at top of some pages and a few other, stray stains. An okay copy.
Debatable Literary Merits — Entirely Admirable BindingTupper, Martin Farquhar. Proverbial philosophy: A book of thoughts and arguments, originally treated...first series. [bound with, as issued, the author's] Proverbial philosophy: A book of thoughts and arguments...second series. [and with his] A thousand lines: Now first offered to the world we live in. New York: Wiley & Putnam, 1847. 8vo (19 cm, 7.5"). Frontis., [2], [vii]–159, [1 (blank)] pp.; [2], [vii]–154 pp.; [4], [7]–48 pp.
Provenance: Front free endpaper with early inked owner’s name, “Fanny G. [or C.?] Paine.”
Binding: Signed by Bradley, with that company’s pressure-stamp on the front free endpaper: Dark brown cloth, covers and spine gilt-stamped over all with floral and arabesque designs. All edges gilt.
• NCBEL, III, 557 (first ed.). Binding as above, cloth slightly rubbed over corners and spine extremities, gilt oxidized/bronzed (quite attractively) in spots. Frontispiece and a number of leaves with light foxing. 
An awesome example of this signed Victorian binding — a production both elaborate and elegant.
TO Part
XXII . . . |