
AMERICANA TO 1820
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[Hare,
Francis]. A letter to a member of the October-Club: Shewing, that
to yield Spain to the Duke of Anjou by a peace, wou’d be the ruin of Great
Britain. The second edition, with additions. London: A. Baldwin, 1711. 8vo (20.8
cm, 8.25"). vi, 42 pp.
$800.00
Generally attributed to Francis Hare, Bishop of Chichester, this
anonymously published political analysis expresses concern not only that putting
the Duke of Anjou on the Spanish throne would tilt the balance of power in Europe
too far towards France, but also that such action would greatly damage the livelihoods
of English textile workers, among others dependent on international commerce;
also questioned are
Swift’s
views on the ramifications of trade with Portuguese America.
This is the second, expanded edition.
ESTC T58140; Alden & Landis, European Americana,
711/126; Teerink-Scouten 1034. Blue-green paper wrappers, old style. Title-page
with small numeric stamp, faint traces of other annotations. Small area of
worming in inner margins, touching a very few letters. A few scattered spots,
otherwise clean; edges untrimmed.

Virginia Discovery in
Limited Edition Facsimile
Hariot, Thomas. A briefe and true report of the new found land of Virginia ... reproduced in facsimile from the first edition of 1588. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1903. 4to (23 cm, 9.1"). xiii, [1], [48] pp.
$100.00

No. 1 in the “Historical Series” of Dodd, Mead & Company's facsimile reprints of rare books, here with an introduction by Luther S. Livingston. This is one of 520 copies printed.
Click the image for an enlargement.
Publisher's green cloth, front cover and spine with gilt-stamped title; corners and spine extremities a little rubbed, spine with white-inked call number. Front
pastedown with institutional bookplate, no stamps or other markings; clean and nice. (24657)

France
Sadly Disappointed Him . . .
Harper, Robert Goodloe. Observations on the dispute between the United States and France, addressed by...one of the representatives in Congress for the state of South Carolina, to his constituents, in May, 1797...second edition. London: (Pr. in Philadelphia & repr. by) Philanthropic Press, 1798. 8vo (21.5 cm, 8.5"). [2 (lacking half-title)], 5109, [1] pp.
$200.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Denunciation of France's aggressive stance, written by a politician who had been one of that country's most vocal American supporters during the Revolution. Harper, a prominent Federalist who served as a representative from South Carolina and later as a senator from Maryland, admits in this address his former pro-French sympathies before going on to critique the French assertions regarding various American actions and the U.S. treaty with Great Britainin fact, he goes so far as to call for war. This much-discussed tract was reprinted numerous times throughout the United States and Great Britain, both in English and in French, immediately following its initial appearance in 1797.
ESTC T110138; Sabin 30433. On Harper, see: Dictionary of American Biography, VIII, 28586. Recent quarter blue morocco with blue cloth sides, spine gilt-stamped with title within gilt-ruled raised bands and with trefoils at head and foot. Half-title lacking; one page (not the title) stamped by a now-defunct institution. Faint traces of waterstaining to lower outer margins of most leaves.
A handsome copy of an important document. (4791)

Careful
Scholarship
in
Quarter
Morocco
[Harrisse, Henri]. Bibliotheca
Americana Vetustissima: A Description of works relating to America published
between 1492 and 1551. New York: Geo. P. Philes, 1866. Large 8vo. liv, 519 pp.
$700.00


Still a standard bibliography
for this aspect of Americana. This copy is no. 74 of 400 copies in royal octavo format. Harrisse provides considerably more information than latter bibliographies such as European Americana, including details of collation by signature.
Modern quarter brown morocco. Ex-library with red stamps. Top edge gilt. A few margins with chips or short tears. In all a rather nice copy, one now in a strong and appropriate
binding.


“My Pen Has Been Taken up in the Cause, & for the Benefit, of My Own Sex”
A Biographical Dictionary of & for WOMEN
Hays, Mary. Female biography; or, memoirs of illustrious and celebrated women, of all ages and countries. Philadelphia: Birch & Small (pr. by Fry & Kammerer), 1807. 8vo (22.3 cm, 8.8"). 3 vols. I: vi, [2], 488 pp. II: [4], 510, [2 (adv.)] pp. III: [4], 512 pp.
$1850.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First American edition, following the London first of 1803. This encyclopedic collection of lives of famous (and infamous) women was compiled by controversial novelist, editor, and feminist Mary Hays, friend of Mary Wollstonecraft — who is, curiously, not counted among the “illustrious and celebrated women” here. Among those who did make the cut are Sappho, Diane de Poitiers, Matoaks (a.k.a. Pocahontas), Susannah Centlivre, Charlotte Corday, Anne Boleyn, Mrs. Pilkington, and Anne Broadstreet (i.e., Bradstreet).
Hays notes in her preface that “Women, unsophisticated by the pedantry of the schools, read not for dry information, to load their memories with uninteresting facts, or to make a display of a vain erudition . . . they require pleasure to be mingled with instruction, lively images, the graces of sentiment, and the polish of language” (vol. I, p. iii). These last things, she strives to supply herself!
Shaw & Shoemaker 12742; Sabin 31061. Period-style quarter tan cloth over blue-grey paper-covered sides, spines with printed paper labels. Title-page of each volume with the blind pressure- (not perforation-) stamp of a social club library. As in all copies we have had, pages age-toned, with a few foxed or spotted; occasional short edge tears, not extending into text. Three leaves in vol. II with tears in margin with loss of paper only and four other leaves in the same volume with loss of paper and either a few letters (pp. 10710) or words (approximately half the words on each of five lines on pp. 15152 and a word or threeon each of five lines on 22930).
A good resource and a good “read.” (28716)
Hill, John. An account of the life and writings of Hugh Blair .... Philadelphia: James Humphreys, 1808. 8vo (21.7 cm, 8.5"). 229, [1 (blank)] pp.
$125.00
First U.S. edition, following the Edinburgh first of 1807, of this laudatory biography written by a professor at the University of Edinburgh. Dr. Blair, a Scottish preacher, critic, and rhetorician, is best remembered for his sermons (which were praised by Dr. Johnson) and his involvement in the Ossian debate, in which he defended the poems’ authenticity.
Provenance: The Rev. Edwin A. Dalrymple; the Maryland Diocesan Library.
Shaw & Shoemaker 15224. Contemporary quarter cloth over marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; binding moderately darkened and worn, cloth chipped over head of spine, spine showing shadow of a now-absent shelving label. Front pastedown with private collector’s bookplate and with institutional rubber-stamp (as above); title-page additionally with early inked gift inscription in upper margin (this cut into by binder). Some light spotting and age-toning.

Cutting Way Back on
Presidential Authority
Hillhouse,
James. Propositions for amending the
constitution of the United States, submitted by Mr. Hillhouse to the Senate
on the twelfth day of April, 1808, with his explanatory remarks. [Washington]:
1808. 12mo (19.3 cm, 7.6"). 52, [2], 7 pp.
$150.00

Hillhouse, a United States Senator from Connecticut, put forth these seven amendments in the hopes of diminishing corruption and partisan politics.
One of the most interesting suggestions isthat the President of the U.S. be chosen by lottery from among the existing senators, to serve a one-year term!
Click the interior image for an enlargement.
Following Hillhouse's discussion of his purpose and reasoning, the actual amendments have a separate title-page.
First edition. Second
and third editions were printed at New Haven by Oliver Steele & Co. in
the same year as this first.
Sabin 31883; Shaw & Shoemaker 15230. Recent marbled paper–covered boards, front cover with printed paper label. Pages with a few scattered spots of light staining and occasional early inked corrections; old stitching holes in inner margins. Page edges untrimmed. In fact, quite a nice copy. (25210)

“The First Age of Pennsylvania”
Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. [Vol. I]. Philadelphia: M'Carty & Davis, 1826. 8vo (22.1 cm, 8.75"). 432, [4 (2 blank, 2 contents)] pp.
$100.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition of the first collected volume of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's transactions. Following the society's constitution and list of officers are Rawle's inaugural discourse, Vaux's “Memoir on the Locality of the Great Treaty between William Penn and the Indian Natives in 1682,” Wharton's “Notes on the Provincial Literature of Pennsylvania,” James's “Brief Account of the Discovery of Anthracite Coal on the Lehigh,” Morris's “Contributions to the Medical History of Pennsylvania,” and Bettle's “Notices of Negro Slavery, as Connected with Pennsylvania,” among other works. Part II has a separate title-page; the “Account of the First Settlement of the Townships of Buckingham and Solebury” has an errata slip tipped in.
Vol. I not in Shoemaker (see 30192 for vol. II). Contemporary speckled sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; moderately rubbed and scuffed overall, spine darkened, spine head reinforced some time ago with library cloth tape. Ex–social club library: paper shelving label on spine, 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, title-page and two others rubber-stamped, one page pressure-stamped. Mild age-toning, scattered small spots of foxing.
Despite condition notes reflecting onetime residence in a lending library, this is a nice old thing. (29879)
A
Winner in the "Great Names"
Sweepstakes
(Pseudonymous Division)
Hold-Fast, Simon, [pseud.]. Facts are stubborn things, or nine plain questions to the people of Connecticut, with a brief reply to each. By Simon Hold-Fast. Hartford: Pr. by Hudson & Goodwin, 1803. 8vo. 23, [1 (blank)] pp.
$90.00
Pro-Federalist, anti-Republican tract that is well written and
shows reasoning of the non-strident school. Very good political content.
Provenance:
Ownership signature of Ezra S. Ely, D.D.
Shaw & Shoemaker 4393. Removed from a nonce volume. Respined
with archival tissue. Six-digit number stamped on title-page. Some age-toning
and occasional light foxing.
A
Lancaster Imprint Not
a Stone upon Stone
[Holford, George Peter].
Die Zerstörung Jerusalems: Ein unumstösslicher Beweisgrund
von der Wahrheit des
Christenthums. Lancaster, PA: Gedruckt bei J. Ehrenfriend für Joseph Scharpless, 1810. 12mo (17.2 cm. 6.75"). 132 pp.
$250.00
Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D.
70 by the Romans, ending a four-year revolt by the Jewish zealots. Many Christians,
even at the time, saw this as a judgment on the Jewish nation for rejecting
Jesus, something apparently supported by Jesus' words as recorded in the Gospels
(cf. Luke 19:4244). George Peter Holford (17681839) first published
this popular work in 1805, entitled in its original English The Destruction
of Jerusalem, taking the prophecy of Jesus and its subsequent fulfillment
as one of the proofs of Christianity.
Translated
from English into German by W. Reichenbach, no doubt for the German Evangelicals
in central Pennsylvania, this is the work's first German-language edition.
Another came out in Philadelphia in 1831, and more appeared in the 20th
century.
Shaw & Shoemaker 20358; Arndt, The First
Century of German Language Printing in the United States of America,
1740. Sheep with remnants of gilt on spine. Abraded and stained with two wormholes. Pages with some waterstaining
and scattered age spots, not obscuring text; also some chipping in the margins,
not affecting text.
For more GERMAN AMERICANA,
click here.
Honeywood,
St. John. Poems ... some pieces
in prose. New York: Pr. by T. & J. Swords, 1801. 12mo (17.2 cm, 6.75"). viii,
159, [1 (errata)] pp.
$450.00
Toward the end of this volume of early U.S. poetry is a prose chapter entitled “The Shaking Quakers” — a well-observed account of two visits that the author made to the Niskayuna Shakers. The visits in all likelihood occurred in 1784–86, while Honeywood was studying law in Albany.
Wegelin 996; Shaw & Shoemaker 669; Sabin 32786; Richmond 2274. Period-style quarter tan cloth with light blue paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label. Title-page and several others rubber-stamped by a now-defunct institution. An uncommon book, with many interesting points, including some charming little head- and tailpieces.

To
Amputate or Not?
Hooper, Robert. The surgeon's vade-mecum: containing the symptoms, causes, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of surgical diseases. Accompanied by the modern and approved methods of operating, select formulae of prescriptions, Latin and English, and a glossary of terms. Albany: Pub. & sold by E.F. Backus...; E. & E. Hosford, printers, © 1813. 12mo. xviii, 275, [1 (blank)] pp., [5] ff.
$300.00
Click the images for enlargement.
First American edition of a work not to be confused with the same author's Physician’s Vade-Mecum of which the first American edition also appeared in Albany (1809). From amputation to syphilis, to piles, exostosis, abscesses, tumors, deafness, gunshot wounds, burns, and so many other topics, Hooper (1773–1835) crammed a great deal into his handy go-with pocket volume. He was successful both as a physician and as a medical writer, and although the Royal College of Physicians prevented his obtaining a D.M. at Oxford, he was successful in obtaining an M.D. from St. Andrews. The DNB says of him that as a writer he was “most industrious,” noting that “his books had a large sale.”
At rear are “Select Formulae of Prescriptions, Latin & English, and a Glossary of Terms.”
Provenance: Early 19th-century signature on title-page of “John Stevens, No. 6" at top of title-page.
Shaw & Shoemaker 28770. On Hooper, see the DNB, XXVII, 306–307. Publisher's acid-stained sheep with red leather spine label, modest gilt ruling on spine; leather joints and worn corners repaired with toned tissue. Occasional foxing only. In all, a nice copy of a volume that was a must for American doctors at the beginning of the 19th century. (29572)
A
Philadelphia
“Prep”
Text — The
RARER of
Two
Horatius
Flaccus, Quintus. Opera expurgata, notis anglicis illustrata:
Quibus præfixum syntagma prosodiale. Cura et studio Thomæ Dugdale.
Philadelphiae: Impensis Solomon W. Conrad, excud. Guilelmus Fry, 1815. 8vo.
xvii, [1 (blank)], 359, [1 (blank)] pp.
$125.00
Click the title-page image for an enlargement.
Important, early, American college-preparatory/college-level edition.
The preface, explanatory matter, and notes are in English. The editor, Dugdale,
taught in Philadelphia, and several teachers at the University of Pennsylvania
whom he asked to review the volume recommend it to schools and colleges in the
preface.
This is the rarer of two Philadelphia editions of 1815: It is not listed
in NUC Pre-1956 and Shaw and Shoemaker located only one copy (at The
American Antiquarian Society); we do know of some other copies. The other
edition has the imprint reading “Impensis E. Kimber.”
Shaw & Shoemaker 34951. Original treed sheep, leather
label; spine, with gilt-stamped red leather label, a little pulled at bottom.
Significant degrees of browning and foxing, as expectable of the paper used.
Front free endpaper missing; volume opens on title-page. An interesting volume
in attractive condition. (7008)
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