Philadelphia Rare Books and Manuscripts: Americana to 1820: Part I

Philadelphia Rare Books & Manuscripts Company - Early Printed Books, Substantive Manuscripts, U.S. and Latin Americana, Mexico & New World Languages, Hispanica, Histories & the History of Ideas, Travels, Cookery, Law, Religion, & Bibles (All Antiquarian)

AMERICANA TO 1820

A • Ba-Bl • Bibles1 • Bibles2 • Bm-Bz • C • D
E • F-G • H • I-J • K-L • Ma-Mb • Mc-Mz
N-P • Q-R • Sa-Sl • Sm-Sz • T-V • W-Z

For a separate guide page to ALL OUR AMERICANA
SUB-SECTIONS — click here.

The Dragon's Rage, The Shakers, & The Kingdom of Glory

(A SHAKER AMERICANUM). Wells, Seth Youngs. Millennial praises, containing a collection of gospel hymns, in four parts; adapted to the day of Christ's second appearing. Composed for the use of his people. Hancock: Pr. by Josiah Tallcott, jr., 1813. 12mo. viii, 288, [4 (adv.)] pp.
$3500.00

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• First edition of the very first Shaker hymnal, including the text without music for 140 hymns. The work also has the distinction of being the first book from a Shaker press, having been preceded only by broadsides and pamphlets. That the Hancock printers were still learning their art is evident by the at times wobbly impression of the type, the sudden shift to a smaller point size in part of the table of contents, etc. But it is a noble effort.

• Shaw & Shoemaker 30511; Richmond 1416. Full original calf, plain style, rubbed overall with small chips on front cover; chip at head of spine, front joint starting. Paper browned, and some stains; a bit of blue crayon doodling in blank area of top left corner of p. 50. Early leaves with stitch holes in inner margin, not touching text; three leaves with tears, not affecting text. Ex–theological library with area of spine blacked out where call number once was; library name and five-digit number rubber-stamped on front pastedown, accession number inked and rubber-stamped at base of p. [iii]. (21139)

Back to Africa?

American Society for Colonizing the Free People of Colour of the United States. [drop-title] Memorial of the President and Board of Managers of the American Society for Colonizing the Free People of Colour of the United States. January 14, 1817. Read and ordered to lie on the table. [Washington: William A. Davis, 1817]. 8vo. 5 pp.
$175.00

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for an enlargement.

• Shaw & Shoemaker 42652. Removed from a nonce volume; inner edge slightly irregular. Leaves once separated, now re-attached at inner edge with transparent tape. Lightly pencilled librarian's notation on p. [1]. Small faint spot at top margin of p. 2 and p. 3. (18246)

“Interesting In Spite of Its

Snarling Asperity
& Numerous Lies” — Howes

Ashe, Thomas. Travels in America, performed in 1806, for the purpose of exploring the rivers Alleghany, Monongahela, Ohio, and Mississippi, and ascertaining the produce and condition of their banks and vicinity. Newburyport [MA]: Wm. Sawyer & Co. (pr. by E.M. Blunt), 1808. 12mo (18.1 cm, 7.1"). 366 pp.
$500.00

Click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.

Provenance: Front free endpaper with inked inscription reading “Henry Pratt’s Book, Bought in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eleven, third month twelfth day”; front pastedown with inked inscription reading “Matilda Miller’s Book 1898.”

• Shaw & Shoemaker 14380; Sabin 2180; Howes A352. Contemporary sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; leather much worn and abraded, spine with inked call number. Front pastedown with institutional bookplate (affixed above and not obscuring inscription), front free endpaper and fly-leaf with inscriptions as above, title-page unobtrusively pressure-stamped, first text page with inked annotation in inner margin and stamped numeral in lower margin. Pages age-toned and spotted. Upper outer corner of one leaf torn away, with loss of a few words; four leaves torn, touching a number of lines of text but not generally affecting sense. Occasional small pencilled check marks.

Seceders & Covenanters

Associate Reformed Church in North America. The Constitution and Standards.... New York: Pr. by T.J. Swords, 1799. 8vo (21.5 cm, 8.5"). 612 pp., [2] ff.
$475.00

Constitution and Standards

• ESTC W35823; Evans 35119. Contemporary sheep, spine with red leather title label; abraded with a few wormholes (including one track across spine) and front joint opening. Some pages quite stained, not impairing reading; a couple instances of chipping in margins with loss of letters. Front free endpaper excised. Pp. 433–44 pinned together in the inside margin. Pencil doodlings on half-title and p. [5].

TO Part II . . .

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