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Presidential Poems from“The Poet & Philosopher”

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•  First edition: Sonnets on the presidents of the United States of America from Washington through Harding, each illustrated with a halftone portrait. This volume was a free giveaway for subscribers to the Poet & Philosopher Magazine, of which Schmidt was at one time the editor, and is now not often seen on the market. An errata slip is tipped in at the front.

Different readers will of course have different favorites; one PRB&Mer's is the poem on Van Buren, beginning, “A panic wild has seized our glorious land!” and moving to its denoument with that president couch[ing his] lance anent / Commercial Ruin, who on the field is slain.”

•  Publisher's blue cloth with all edges rose; gilt-stamped title on front cover and spine, blind-stamped American eagle on front cover; spine very slightly darkened, extremities a bit rubbed, back cover with spots of light discoloration. A solid, clean copy, better-looking than above description might imply.  (26694)

No“Tacks” on Bibles . . .

Scotland.

•  Scarce petition, written by “the Tacks-men of the Paper-Manufactorie,” arguing against a proposal to tax imported paper and foreign Bibles, Psalm books, and “Practical Pieces of Divinity.” Click the image for an enlargement.

•  Not in ESTC; not found either via OCLC or NUC. Removed from a nonce volume. Reverse with early inked inscription. Tattered, with lower quarter lost, as well as several words along the chipped and repaired inner margin. An incomplete survivor, but scarce and still of interest.

“Minuts” — The African & Indian Company

Scotland.

•  Number 78 (of 89) of the 1706–07 minutes, this is a brief account of a committee report “anent the Accompts”of a Scottish company trading to Africa and the Indies, authorized for printing by Andrew Anderson by decree of Sir James Murray, Lord Clerk Register. Many of the Parliamentary documents printed by Anderson and heirs display the same misspelling of minutes as seen in the header of this example.

•  ESTC T78547 (for holdings of complete sets). Tipped onto a leaf of 19th-century paper; now in a Mylar folder. Lower margin and bottom of outer margin slightly tattered to a curve; otherwise relatively minor creasing, soiling.

Creating a Landed Endowment for theWife of Eton's Provost

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•  On 20 January 1583 Besils Ffetyplace sold Ockholt (a.k.a. Ockwell's) Manor to Robert Scrope, Thomas Ridley ,and Francis Pigott. In this present instrument they “enfeoff it with the lands known as Burnhams to William Cox, William Day, Robert Silitoe, and William Raynor, all of Eton, as trustees for Anne, wife of the Provost William Day, for her life, and afterwards for her son and heir William Day” (The Berkshire Archaeological Journal, p. 24).

The verso has two slightly later addenda.

A handsome Elizabethan-era manuscript on vellum, elegantly and legibly indited in sepia ink.

•  See: The Berkshire Archaeological Journal, Vol. 24. No. 1, pp. 19–27, for a full account of the history of Ockholt Manor.   Top edge scalloped; old folds. One of the three wax seals still present. Overall, very good condition.  (28111)

Boom-Time Art Auction — Some Prices/Purchasers NOTED

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•  Partially priced and sometimes with name of purchaser. Sale occurred March 28–29 and contained 77 lots, all photographically illustrated.

Provenance of all items given.

•  Original green fabrikoid, spine and front cover title rubbed/faded, front joint cracking.  (26157)

We Can Do ANYTHING Here . . . Seybert, Adam. An oration, delivered on the 19th day of May, 1809, at the meeting of the manufacturers and mechanics of the city of Philadelphia. Philadelphia: Pr. by order of the committee, [1809]. 8vo. 16 pp.
$90.00

•  Seybert, a medical doctor, issues a rallying call for progress in developing national industry to rival that of Europe: All of the raw products are present for clothing, glassmaking, smelting, and much more.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 18591. Removed from a nonce volume; six-digit number stamped on title-page. Stapled and respined with archival tissue.

“The Leader of All Speakers in the Anti-Catholic Movement”
[NOT so much in theSpirit of the Season(s)]

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•  Scarce Detroit, Empire Theatre ephemerum promoting the “opportunity to hear the eloquent and brilliant ex-Romanist Margaret L. Shepherd.” Like Maria Monk, Shepherd had a wildly acclaimed — and highly profitable — run exploiting popular anti-Catholic bigotry before being discredited. Although she claimed to have been a consecrated penitent of Arnos Court Nunnery under the name Sister Magdalene Adelaide, it later turned out that Shepherd had been arrested for forgery under another alias, and apparently only ever came into contact with nuns by way of having been sent to an institution for fallen women.

Her lectures were so sensationalized that in Brooklyn a warrant was issued for her on obscenity charges. The current four-page publication describes the topics for three days' worth of lectures, some gender-segregated; admission to Shepherd's talks on the “unspeakable rascality and depravity of the priests of Rome” cost 25 cents per lecture, and this advertisement offers breathless testimonial to the shock value of the scandal revealed for such a reasonable fee. A portrait of Shepherd in nun's habit graces the front page.

We trace only one library copy: This one, now deaccessioned.

•  Folded as issued. Printed on pulp paper: moderately age-toned; creased, with short tears to outer edges. Fragile butnot disintegrating.  (30267)

THIS TimePay Attention

•  Second edition. Sheridan entered Parliament in 1780, crowning his previous career as a successful playwright and theatre manager with a long and distinguished record of public service. He originally read the main portion of this statement before the House of Commons as part of the debate, after noticing that the gentlemen discussing the two bills in question appeared not to have paid “any very minute degree of attention” (p. 6) to the details of either one.
Single-click lefthand image,
for an enlargement.

The texts of both bills are present here, along with Sheridan’s analysis of how each would address “the question of right between the public and the [East India] Company” (p. 39).

•  ESTC T30944; Goldsmiths’-Kress no. 13610. Recent marbled paper–covered boards, front cover with gilt-stamped leather title label and spine with gilt-stamped leather author label. Half-title and several other pages stamped by a now-defunct institution. Pages with edges untrimmed and a few small spots of staining; mostly, clean.

A “First Purchaser” Sells aPart of Her Plot in Philadelphia

Shorter, Elizabeth.

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•  A rare glimpse into the earliest days of Philadelphia, this unique document waswritten within four years of the city's founding (1682). Widow Elizabeth Shorter was a London glover who moved to Pennsylvania with her grandson Isaac Knight about 1683 and was one of theFirst Purchasers, that select group of 751 individuals who bought the first offering of land from William Penn. She was certainly in contact with Penn by 1681, when he signed an indenture to her in London; two years later, he signed an official land grant confirming the location and cost of her 250-acre plot. Witness to the lack of government structure at the time, beingwritten on scrap paper and without any official notarization, the deed in hand documents the sale of widow Shorter's “housing in the front street of Delawar with my lott” to Christopher Libthorpe for the sum of one hundred pounds sterling.

Indited in secretary hand with witnesses' signatures in both italic and secretary, the deed is followed by two blank pages on the interior (as usual); the witnesses were John Morroy (Morrey?) and John Best (Lest?), who both had fine signatures. Not unexpectedly, the widow signed with her mark. A docket on the last leaf's verso reads, “Xher [Christopher] Libthorpe To George Rothe” and another, in a second hand, adds, “and a Deed from Pickering to Post for a lot,” with a computation below on the same page.

The watermark appears to be a heart-shaped shield crowned by a fleur de lis, or trefoil; however we find no match in Briquet or Gravell.

•  Parry, E.C., “A Widow's Might,” Old York Road Historical Society Bulletin, Vol. XXVII, 1966. For the early history of Philadelphia, its incidents and denizens, see: Watson, Annals of Philadelphia (1850).   Previously folded in multiple places, and now along bifolium crease only; four small holes in the upper corner where previously stapled or pinned. “Lacing,” a result of the iron gall ink's exposure to moisture, is in evidence here but does not affect the legibility or stability of the deed, which is neatly repaired in two places at the outer edge of the first recto near the remnants of the red wax seal. An attractive relic of colonial American, Pennsylvania/Philadelphia, commercial, and women's history.  (29823)

By a Bible Scholar & Church Historian
     (Later, the Property of a Scholar Collector)

•  First edition of this pseudonymously published work on the history of Church finances, written by a controversial French Oratorian priest much attacked for his published arguments that Moses had not written the whole of the Pentateuch. Simon, an accomplished Hebrew scholar, was later lauded by the New Catholic Encyclopedia as the “father of Biblical criticism.” Click the interior image for an enlargement.

Provenance:  Signature on title-page of Howard Osgood, a prominent late 19th- and early 20th-century Hebrew scholar and noted collector.

•  Goldsmiths'-Kress 2558; Wing (2nd ed.) S3801B.   Contemporary speckled calf, spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title-label, board edges stamped with gilt roll; corners and spine extremities worn, front joint cracked and back joint starting, sewing holding. Front pastedown with small French bookseller's ticket and early inked numeral. Title-page with small early inked owner's name and with institutional pressure stamp, reverse with pencilled numerals. Pages clean. (19511)

& the Exciseman Ends Up in Hell

•  The first named item in this chapbook is a tale of rashness and death,

•  NSTC 2N2681. Removed from a bound volume. Good++ condition. (8418)

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The Church of England in CHINA

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•  First U.S. edition of this travelogue, printed in the same year as the London first andillustrated with 12 wood-engraved plates (some signed by Edward Bookhout) plus an oversized, folding map. Smith (1815–71) was the first Anglican bishop of Victoria, Hong Kong; along with his assessment of Anglican and other missions in China, his account includes observations of daily life as well as comments on infanticide, opium addiction and the opium trade, and the difficulties of evangelizing Chinese women.

•  Cordier, Bibliotheca Sinica, 2115. Not in Howgego, Encyclopedia of Exploration.   Publisher's brown cloth, covers framed in blind, front cover with gilt-stamped ship vignette, spine with gilt-stamped title and arabesque decorations; binding slightly cocked and rubbed, spine sunned and covers with small spots of discoloration. Pencilled ownership inscription to front free endpaper and title-page; pencilled numerals on back pastedown. Foxing.  (27047)

Free Trade forSouth America

•  The king here adds to his 16 October 1765 decree that established free commerce for the Caribbean islands and the provinces of Campeche, Santa Marta, and Rio del Hacha. He now extends the privilege to the viceroyalty of Buenos Aires, the legal ports on the Pacific coast, and elsewhere in South America. Click the images for enlargements.

Handsomely printed, with the royal coat of arms on the title-page and same page with a handsome decorative border. One large woodcut initial.

•  Palau 251081.   20th-century quarter vellum with green cloth sides. Spine lettered in black and red. Crisp copy.  (28863)

Abolition of the Spanish Crown's
TOBACCO MONOPOLY

•  The first printing of the 31-clause decree abolishing the Crown's tobacco monopoly, creating free trade in the commodity "in both [the Old and New] worlds," scrapping the old tax structure and instituting a new one, and addressing what is to be done with the government employees in the Tobacco Branch.

•  Not in Palau (?); not in Maggs, Bibl. Amer.; not in Harper, Catalogue XVI. Excised from a volume and leaves no longer integral, but now rehinged. Light stain in inner margin. Rubber-stamped numbers in upper margins. Manuscript notes indicating that this copy was sent to authorities in Chile. Now housed in a quarter cloth (faux leather) folder with marbled paper sides. A nice copy of an important economic document.

Encouraging Local Industry

•  Finds that local manufacture of linen and textiles is beneficial and removes restrictions on it; the "locality" is Vich, near Barcelona. The title-page has a nifty woodcut of the royal arms. Originally printed in Madrid. Click the interior image for an enlargement.

•  Modern half vellum over burgundy cloth sides. Contemporary inked notation at top right corner of title-page. Very good. (21056)

Dyers & Loomers areEngaged in Essential Services!

•  Exempts master dyers, and wool- and silk-loomers, from military service. Woodcut of the royal arms on title.

•  Lightly in later wrappers; small ownership stamp eradicated from title-page. A very good exemplar.  (24386)

Protecting theSpanish Fashion Industry

•  Royal decree forbidding importation of caps, gloves, stockings, sashes, and other goods made of linen, wool, and cotton. A very nice woodcut of the royal arms on the title. Click the image for an enlargement.

•  Disbound, with a bit of pinhole worming not affecting text; lightly laid into later wrappers.  (24388)

We Are SERIOUS, Here!

•  Announcing strict enforcement of the law that prohibits importation of all outer and under garments manufactured abroad. A woodcut of the royal arms on the title. Click the image for an enlargement.

•  Removed from a bound volume; a few wormholes.  (24392)

Protecting Cotton Growers

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•  Republication for the Catalan region of a royal decree (San Lorenzo, 14 November 1771) prohibiting importation of cotton goods manufactured abroad. Contains a decorative woodcut initial.

•  Half vellum with brown cloth sides by Brugalla. Very good copy.  (20392)

War with England => Free Trade in American Corn & Wheat

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•  Royal decree (original promulgated in Madrid, 10 September 1771) permitting free entry into Spain of foreign grains including wheat and maize. A woodcut of the royal arms on the title.

•  Palau 239456ii.   Half vellum with caramel cloth sides by Brugalla. Excellent copy.  (20394)

Sumptuary Standards — Barcelona Edition

•  Reprinting in Barcelona of this royal decree promulgated 19 July 1804 and first published in Madrid. Regulating the gold braid and other ornaments worn by liveried servants, and concerning uniforms of coachmen and runners. With a woodcut of the royal arms on the title-page.

•  Folded and never sewn; as issued.  (24389)

A Truly PECULIAR Publication

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•  Bizarre concatenation of document and newspaper accounts: A royal decree forbidding government employees to receive two salaries, anotherending taxes and fiscal impositions of the already abolished Inquisition, a circular from the Minister of War, a news report of a boy in South Carolina who suffered severe burns and how the application of raw cotton helped.

No copy located via NUC Pre-1956 and WoldCat locates only the copy at Yale.

•  Medina, Puebla, 1842.   Folded as issued; never bound. Light foxing.  (29988)

Improved Edition of  SPANHEIM's Most Celebrated Work
Now, with More Illustrations!

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•  Important treatise on ancient numismatics, written by a prominent scholar, diplomat, and collector who was one of the first to combine genuine interest in coins and medals with antiquarian erudition. This is the second edition, following the first of 1664 but more highly illustrated than that printing; the volume includes numerous in-text copper engravings depicting coins and monuments, at least one of which is signed I. Wyngaerden. The title-page is printed in red and black, with Elzevir's Minerva vignette.

•  Goldsmiths'-Kress 1964.3 suppl.; Willems 1460.   Contemporary vellum framed in blind double fillets with blind-tooled corner fleurons and central medallion, spine with early inked title; vellum lightly soiled, corners bumped, spine with mostly eradicated traces of old inked shelving number. Front pastedown with institutional bookplate (no stamps). Pages almost entirely clean, a few with chipped or lightly stained outer edges or corners. A good copy.  (25281)

“Moses Smote the Rock — ThisWATER Smites Disease & Death”

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•  Advertisement for the marvelous spring water enjoyed by the Shaker community, published by John H. Sprague — manager of the Rural Home hotel, conveniently located near the allegedly blood-purifying spring and also promoted here. The hotel and a man lifting a glass of the “cure for Bright's Disease of the Kidneys” are both depicted in wood-engravings.

•  Richmond, Shaker Literature, I, 236; Western Reserve Historical Society Shaker Collection no. 200.   Original fold visible but pamphlet now housed opened flat, in a mylar sleeve; one corner faintly discolored, one page with a small faint spot.  (27509)

“Have You aTamerlaine in Your Attic?”

•  First edition, second printing (stated) of this classic compilation of engaging anecdotes about book hunting, selling, collecting, binding, etc., written by the Toronto-born and Chicago-based novelist, newspaperman, Baker Street Irregular, and famed bibliophile, Vincent Starrett. Articles are well illustrated.

A difficult book to find in its dust jacket.

•  Publisher's green cloth, in publisher's printed paper dust wrapper; jacket slightly darkened, taped to boards, chipped at back upper edge, and nicked at corners and spine extremities; very neatly applied pen and ink call number on spine of jacket. Front (inside) hinge tender; front pastedown with institutional bookplate. Offsetting to endpapers from cover tape, otherwise clean internally.  (24656)

Putting DOWN theREVOLUTION in Connecticut

•  Daggett, a Federalist lawyer and politician, argues against the creation of a new state constitution for Connecticut; he claims that those promoting such a thing do so for personal and political gain, and suggests they are “pigmy politicians, the mushroom growth of an hour” (p. 16). The appendix provides “a View of the Fiscal Concerns of Connecticut.” Click the interior image for an enlargement.

First edition.

•  Sabin 15716; Shaw & Shoemaker 610.   Recent marbled paper–covered boards, front cover with printed paper label. Title-page with small inked “pseud.” comment next to author's name. Pages age-toned with offsetting and some light spotting (darkest to title-page); one leaf with upper margin repaired some time ago. Page edges untrimmed; one signature unopened.  (25211)

An AMERICAN Dissatisfied with New-Granada

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•  First edition of this travel account, in which Steuart describes his journey from New York to Bogotá and Carthagena. The author, who opens by debunking “Extravagant Ideas prevalent regarding South America” (p. 13), is highly critical of the local virtue, temperament, religious observances, apparel, and cuisine (complaining particularly of excessive cumin and garlic), reserving his praise primarily for the excellent chocolate. In his concluding remarks, he expresses much pessimism regarding any possibility of successful international commerce with the South American states.

Binding:  Publisher's ribbon-embossed green floral-patterned cloth of Krupp's style Ft6.

•  American Imprints 53109; Palau 322394; Sabin 91388. Not in Smith, American Travellers Abroad. On the binding, see: Krupp, Bookcloth in England and America, 1823--50.   Publisher's green floral-patterned cloth, spine with printed paper label; corners and spine foot rubbed, spine head pulled, paper label darkened with edges chipped. Front free endpaper with pencilled ownership inscription; occasional pencilled annotations and marks of emphasis. Light to moderate foxing.  (25425)

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Carbonated Drinks including“Kola Champagne”

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•  “Description of the chemicals and ingredients commonly used by mineral water manufacturers, cordial makers, &c. including a collection of valuable & reliable original practical recipes” meant for tradespeople and manufacturers. This is the fifth edition, revised and enlarged, following the first of 1883; “the recipes have been for the most part re-written,” due to “the vast and important improvements we have made in the strength, aroma and quality of our Essences” (p. 3). The instructions include formulations for wines and beers.

•  Not in Bitting, not in Cagle.   Publisher's moiré plum-colored cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title; spine and edges worn with hinges (inside) starting. Pages age-toned with occasional smudges; some corners dog-eared and one leaf with ragged edges. Recipe index with several instances of “cider” lined through in pencil and rubber-stamped “ciderette” instead. Lots and lots and lots of information and, in the format, some sense of how it was worked with.  (28522)

A Lot of“STORYS” for the Money!

•  Title woodcut vignette of a man leading a prancing black horse by the reins. Also with decorative woodcut border & woodcut tail-piece on p. 12 of a tiger stalking through the underbrush. In the first tale [12 pages] a fiddler becomes lost in the forest and finds his way into a enchanted castle. He wakes up at the foot of a gibbet with a strange violin which turns out to be made of a dead man's bone embossed in silver. Engraved on it is the name of a much-feared local magician. With some trepidation he returns the violin to its owner and in return is given a bottomless purse of money. His four nephews, envying his new-found wealth, murder him for his money. The second story [6 pages] is a vividly dramatic account of the narrow escape of sailors whose ship is set on fire by lightning. John Hetherington, a tailor who cannot resist clipping small pieces out of each piece of cloth his customers bring him, falls asleep after a meal of Welsh rabbit [toasted cheese]. He dreams he has died and is met by the Devil, who unrolls a long patchwork scroll of all the pieces he has stolen. This cures him of the practice of "cabbaging". The final page of the chapbook contains an anecdote about soldiers from an American regiment making fun of a hunchback who gets back at them with a dig about Bunker Hill where the regiment suffered heavy losses. "[No.] 28." printed at the foot of the title.

•  Not located in RLIN. Very good. Original self wrappers (unbound; removed). (17584)

The 1851 Streets of New York & Their Well-Regulated Cartmen

Taylor, Asher. 

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•  Two scarce official publications both in different ways relating to streets, common areas, and the use of them. The ordinance for cartmen and porters details registration requirements and fees, rules for operation, and approved prices for hauling all manner of goods from fish to rubbish to plaster, with the penalties for failure to comply. Taylor's 107-page “Hand Book,” following, locates streets (“Abingdon Place. From Hudson street, at 611, to Greenwich street”) and, where distances are necessary, gives them in hundredths of a mile; going northward, the city seems to end at about 24th Street, except for casual inclusion along Broadway of 33rd and 43rd [sic for 34th] Streets. (Taylor is described as “first marshal” and his book was “compiled for use in the mayor's office.”)

Searches of WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 locateonly one copy of each item, those copies being at the New-York Historical Society; bound with the N-YHS's copy of Taylor is a separately paged, six-page publication with a caption title “Hackney coaches,” which gives rules and regulations concerning taxi fares. (The copy of Taylor reported at the New York Public Library is a photostat of the Society's copy.)

The survival of a bound-together duo particularly useful to cartmen and another to hacks, along with a separately bound copy of the text that would have been independently useful to both, raises tantalizing questions about how the pamphlets were sold and left Bowne's shop — i.e., as individual items, as mix-and-match two-fers, bound or only to-be-bound?? The questions may be unresolvable as the surviving exemplars constitute so small a sample!

•  Contemporary sheep with modest blind roll around the perimeter of the boards; plainly rebacked. Overall clean; stray staining in Ordinances, age-toning overall. Housed in a light brown cloth open-back case with dark brown leather spine label, and cloth chemise (by MacDonald of New York). An amazing survival of two interesting works relating to “New-York's” public spaces.  (29764)

Herbal/Alternative Medicine: It'sThe Thomsonian System

•  Popular yet controversial manual by a self-taught, “Empiric” herbalist who encouraged public resistance to the then-fashionable established practices of treating illnesses with mercury, opium, and bloodletting, establishing his own system based on steaming and on botanical remedies (including lobelia, bayberry, and cayenne pepper). This is the eighth edition, following the first of 1822; Thomson here provides detailed instructions for making home remedies from the plants mentioned above, as well as raspberry leaves, valerian, goldenseal, etc. Click the images for enlargements.

Among the public health crises Thomson discusses in this guidebook is an increase inchildbirth mortality rates; he notes that many doctors' techniques and prescriptions endangered the lives of women and infants, and strongly recommends that pregnant women rely on experienced midwives instead of greedy, “ignorant pretenders” (p. 179).

•  American Imprints 14994. Not in Garrison & Morton.   Contemporary treed sheep, spine with later paper, hand-inked label; binding moderately rubbed overall, spine head chipped, front joint cracked and back joint starting from foot. One leaf with small hole, not touching text; one leaf with tear from lower margin, extending into text without loss. Foxing, staining, used and fit for more use.  (28458)

“The Great Buzaglo”

•  Unusual: ESTC gives listings for fourth and sixth editions, but not for a fifth edition.

The "Buzaglo" referred to in the poem is the eponymous cast-iron stove designed by London inventor/ironmaster Abraham Buzaglo, which the author of the poem contends will, once installed, quell party strife in the House of Commons by warming the uncomfortable chill that provokes and riles the more partisan members.

•  Recent marbled paper wrappers. Very light foxing on first three leaves. Two page numbers shaved.

A Tour ofRUSSIA Conducted by a SPECIALIST

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•  Second edition, following the first of 1799: Extensive overview of the peoples, customs, laws, religion, natural history, etc. of “the arctic eagle” (p. v), compiled from primary and secondary sources by a member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences and of the Free Economical Society at St. Petersburg. The Rev. Tooke was an “intelligent and observant Russophile” (DNB) responsible for several original works as well as a number of English translations (with added substance and critical apparati) of significant works on that country, including Georgi's Russia, or, A Compleat Historical Account of All the Nations which Compose that Empire and Castéra's Life of Catharine II, Empress of Russia.

The state of the Russian military forces is here described at length. The commerce section includes chapters on viniculture, sericulture, and apiculture, as well as mining and salt harvesting; at the back of the third volume are extensive tables of Russian imports and exports, merchant ships arrived and sailed, duties and taxes, and names of the most active St. Petersburg merchants. Coins and measures are also examined.

Binding:  Contemporary treed calf, flat spines with gilt tooling of several sorts creating compartments, each with a large device; gilt-stamped green leather title and volume labels.

•  ESTC T109837; Allibone 2434. On Tooke, see: Dictionary of National Biography online.   Bound as above, two volumes with front covers off and all other joints weak; covers showing some gouges and spines some chips, the set apparently having been exposed not only to normal wear/rubbing but sometime long past to something (heat? “repairs”?) that darkened and roughened them irregularly. Ex–social club library: front pastedowns each with 19th-century bookplate and inked numerals, title-pages pressure-stamped. Intermittent light foxing and light to moderate offsetting throughout; vol. III with waterstaining in upper margins. Map lightly foxed but otherwise in excellent condition. A set of booksstill striking, and priced to permit the next owner to contemplate repairs.  (26366)

"Scipio's" Opinions

•  Monroe was dismissed from office as minister to the French Republic, then replaced by Pinckney; he subsequently attempted to vindicate his actions and place blame on the president in a publication entitled A View on the Conduct of the Executive on the Foreign Affairs of the United States, Connected with the Mission of the French Republic, which piece is here attacked by the so-called Scipio. Tracy does not confine himself to reproving Monroe's words, but also denounces Paine's letters and one letter translated from French that is attributed to Jefferson.

•  ESTC W007021; Evans 34675; Howes T 326; Sabin 96421. Recently rebound in quarter blue goat over blue cloth, leather edges with gilt roll-tooling; spine with gilt-accented raised bands and with gilt-stamped title, author, place, and date. Some pages spotted.

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BEGGING for Commercial Law Reform

•  First edition: Pamphlet in support of law reforms for merchants and traders. The final portion is subtitled “Remarks on the utility and organisation of Tribunals of Commerce. (By the aid of a Belgian barrister).”

•  NSTC 2L25966; not in Goldsmiths’-Kress. Recent paper-covered boards. Title-page with small inked numerals in upper outer corner. Shouldernotes shaved. Pages clean.

“Horse-Hoing” — 6NIFTY Fold-Out Plates

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•  Improvements in farming founded on a scientific basis made British agriculture one of the strongest in Europe in the 18th century. Though called to the bar, Jethro Tull (1674–1741) never practiced law, but devoted himself to farming on land that had belonged to his father. From the beginning he set about trying to discover ways of doing things better, including inventing a number of implements, as this work reveals both in text and in image. His work proved very successful—Tull’s “seed drills” revolutionized planting techniques—and it saw a number of editions; it was translated into French, whence it proved influential on the Continent. This volume’s six beautifully engraved, pleasantly intelligible plates (“W. Thorpe, sculp.) illustrate some of Tull’s inventions, including improved plows and drills for planting seeds.

First printed in London in 1731, Horse-hoing is here (likely) the fourth edition. Bound with it is the first edition of the interesting Supplement issued in 1736, directed largely to answering Tull’s detractors. The first title is fairly widely held, in libraries; the latter, much less so.

•  Goldsmiths’-Kress 7065; ESTC T81915 and N24607. Contemporary calf with remnants of gilt; dry, flaking, and partially gone to red, with some chips to edges, corners, and spine tips; old repairs to joints. Remnants of bookplate on front pastedown. Old water/mildew damage to lower margins, occasionally making its way a bit into text; several leaves repaired, long since. Plates generally quite clean and always pleasing, with faintest waterstaining to lower portion of plate 6 (only). All edges speckled red. (11286)

“Horse-Hoeing” — COBBETT's Introduction

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•  Second Cobbett edition of this work on scientific farming that was first published in 1731 to some little controversy concerning “plagarism.” This edition contains William Cobbett's lengthy introduction “explanatory of some circumstances connected with the History and Division of the Work; and containing an account of certain experiments of recent date.” Illustrated with a single full-page woodcut diagram accompanying the chapter on roots.

Published at the beginning of renewed interest in the U.S. and England in “scientific agriculture.”

•  Goldsmiths'-Kress 25812.   Publisher's blind-embossed green cloth, rebacked with much of old spine unobtrusively reapplied. Binding a little soiled and spine darkened with gilt of title dimmed; tips of corners chipped. Instances of dust-soiling at some top margins; one leaf with loss and soiling along outer edge without affecting text. Ex-library with old rubber-stamp on the title-page and several other pages.  (24439)

Party Strife!
     New York State Senate — 1806

•  A wall posting of the so-called “Lewisites” or “Quids,” the faction of the Democratic-Republican party that supported Gov. Morgan Lewis of New York against the faction led by New York City Mayor DeWitt Clinton. It is a direct reply to a handbill circulated by “A Republican of 1776,” who assailed the character of three candidates for State Senate in the Western District, Evans Wharry, Freegift Patchin, and Joseph Annin. Much of the text presents a defense of the incorporation of the Merchants' Bank. Printed in triple columns.

Rare: We fail to trace any copies via OCLC; only one holding listed in Shaw & Shoemaker.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 11490.   As issued, with old folds, edges slightly irregular. Two tiny holes within text, at the point where two folds intersect, and costing only a portion of two letters. Fingernail-sized stain. Four words have been redacted by the previous owner in ink, but can still be easily read.  (24636)

The Committee of Commerce & Manufactures
SaysNO

•  The petitioners seek to have Congress make Plymouth, North Carolina, a port of entry. The congressional committee recommends against it.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 14060. Removed from a library-style pamphlet binding and in new wrappers.

Maintaining the U.S. Public Credit1814 Style

Click the image for an enlargement.

•  “Read, and committed to the committee of the whole House on the report of the Committee of Ways and Means on so much of the president’s message as relates to the finances of the United States.”

The prosecution of the War of 1812 had left the U.S. in debt and, invited by committee chairman John W. Eppes to opine, the Secretary of the Treasury A.J. Dallas here offers an extended analysis of how the national debt was incurred, notes that “it becomes the object first and last in every practical scheme of finance, to re-animate the confidence of the citizens,” and observes it as a state of things that must not continue that specie is being hoarded, banks are not lending, and a regularized national currency is lacking, so that “the monied transactions of private life are at a stand; and the fiscal operations of the government labour with extreme inconvenience.” Fortunately, he says, there are solutions, and he outlines these in a series of proposals including “taxes, duties, imposts, and excises,” reaching even unto “addition[s] of 100 per cent. on the present auction duties . . . [and] on the existing duties upon carriages.”

Occupying pp. 21–22 is record of the “schedule of new taxes referred to in the letter of the secretary of the Treasury . . . in which the taxes proposed . . . are principally adopted.”

But Secretary Dallas realized that the solution was not as simple as raising taxes or even doing that and instituting new ones. It would be necessary to issue bonds, and to do that the U.S. needed to establish a national bank: These propositions are canvassed here.

The act incorporating a national bank passed Congress in 1816.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 33249.   Disbound and now laid into marbled paper wrappers, pamphlet age-toned and foremargins with noticeable foxing and staining; paper good and the whole readable in several senses.  (29861)

An Irish-AMERICAN'S Service & Claims

•  Oliver Pollock, an Irish-born American merchant, claims remuneration for losses sustained in his capacity as commercial agent for the United States at Orleans during the American Revolution.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 14058. Removed from a nonce volume. Librarian's lightly pencilled notation on title-page. Stray brown spots. Very good. (18017)

Treasury Department Copy

Click the interior images for enlargements.

•  Extremely detailed accounting of appropriations and expenditures. Both reports were submitted by Samuel Meredith, the first treasurer of the United States; both of these government documents are not commonly seen in institutional holdings save in microform.

Provenance: A Treasury Department Library copy, with bookplate of that institution on the front pastedown. Gilt-stamped leather labels on spine state “1798” and “First Comp’t Office”; gilt-stamped leather labels on front cover state “Register’s Office” and “Treasurer's Accounts.”

•  Evans 34885, 36541, & 36595. Contemporary or very early19th-century library sheep, spine and front gilt-stamped on green and red leather labels (as described above); binding much rubbed and abraded, with some peeling of leather and loss at head and foot of spine; front cover detached. Remnants of old paper label adhered near inner edge of front cover. Pages clean save for some offsetting.

Convention Constitution Membership

•  The Railway Mail Service Mutual Benefit Association was founded in 1874 to secure life insurance and other benefits for its members. It was the grandfather of the current American Postal Workers Union. A number of delegate speakers are quoted at length, and some of their remarks are witty — Mr. Towers of Texas, for example, noted that he came from “Ft. Worth, the largest city of its size in the United States.”

•  Original printed wrappers, chipped at spine and edges and corners without loss of printing; darkened. A shallow chip or two to title and following page, shallow dog-earing and faint waterstaining to initial leaves including title-page; otherwise, clean and free of chips or tears. (21257)

“United States Register” —For English Reference, 1794

•  Uncommon British reprint of an American work originally printed in Philadelphia. Although no calendrical information is present, much other material commonly found in almanacs is: lists of government officials by state, population statistics (categorized by free white males and females, slaves, and “other persons”), and duties payable on assorted goods.

•  ESTC T105844. Period-style quarter calf with marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-ruled raised bands. Title-page and a few others stamped by a now-defunct institution. Some offsetting to margins of first and final leaves, pages otherwise clean. A nice little Anglo-Americanum, very evocative of its era.

Avoiding aU.S. Navy ENERGY Crisis (1860)

U.S. House of Representatives. Committee on Naval Affairs.

•  Steam-powered naval vessels of the 19th-century needed coal and lots of it. The U.S. Secretary of the Navy sought to obtain a reliable and abundant supply for the Pacific and Caribbean fleets through a contract with the Chiriqui Improvement Company of Nueva Granada; coal from the Chiriqui region of what is now Panama was to be extracted and transported for the navy's use to two ports, one on the Caribbean coast and one on the Pacific. Present here are the majority and minority reports of the House Committee on Naval Affairs. They are detailed and informative and include three highly important maps of the Chiriqui region.

•  Very Good condition, in recent wrappers.

A Beneficent System ofFraternity for Laborers

Click the images for enlargements.

•  First edition: Lightly edited autobiography of the man who established the first fraternal insurance association in the United States. Upchurch was a North Carolina-born clerk, temperance hotel manager, engraver, railroad agent, horse-tamer, and locomotive engineer (said to have been successful at all but the second!) whose background as a Freemason strongly influenced his concept of a society which would offer insurance for workers and arbitration that treated capital and labor equally fairly.

Upchurch's account of his life and accomplishments includes descriptions of the founding of various lodges and the establishment of their rules, his observations on visiting chapters in California and a number of other states, and (in passing) the poor living conditions in San Francisco's Chinatown; it is illustrated with portraits of the author, depictions of lodge charters and regalia, and other memorabilia. Poems and eulogies were added by Samuel Booth, the editor, who also did his best to shape the plain-spoken Upchurch's thoughts into publishable form while not making any attempt at literary polish.

Binding:  Publisher's roan, front cover with decorative gilt-stamped frame and gilt-stamped facsimile of Upchurch's signature ("Fraternally yours"), back cover stamped in blind. All edges gilt.

This is the original first edition, not a modern reprint. Actual holdings (as opposed to microform or online files) are uncommon in U.S. institutions.

•  Bound as above; rubbed overall most notably at edges and joints, front joint cracked but holding, spine with paper shelving label. Front pastedown with institutional presentation bookplate, lines unused. Pages faintly age-toned, otherwise clean; one leaf with small edge chip.  (29694)

All the News that Fits inFour or Six Pages

Click the images for enlargements.

•  The Gazetas de México began on 14 January 1784 as a semiweekly newspaper and when it ceased publishing (30 December 1809) it extended to 16 volumes — having along the way switched to being a biweekly.

The present volume covers 8 January 1788 through 22 December 1789. The news includes ship arrivals, cargoes unloaded, notices from the provinces, books published, personalities, contest results, royal decrees, notices from Europe, and an occasional article of a scientific nature (e.g., Aurora Borealis). The issue of 23 December 1788 describes a new and rather cumbersome device involving horse power to remove water from mines, and supplies a plate showing the machinery; that of 24 February 1789 reports on the birth of a “niño monstruo,” i.e., conjoined twins having one head, two arms, and four legs. The child was born to Otomí Indians, and there is a plate leaf bound in giving front and back views of him.

Provenance:  In calligraphy on the verso of the title: “Pertenece al Señor Mariscal de Castilla Marques de Ciria [i.e., Francisco de Paula Luna Gorraez y Malo]” with a flower below. Later in the collection of Alberto Parreño (20th century) and with his bookplate on the front pastedown.

•  Sabin 48484.   Contemporary Mexican mottled sheep with gilt spine extra; leather lightly worn at edges and with some scuffing. First and last few leaves with soiling/staining, and a few leaves browned due to the nature of their paper; else, clean with only the odd spot or smudge.  (27521)

As Viewed from Mexico:
    the Four Months Prior toNapoleon's Treachery

Click the images for enlargement.

•  The Gazetas de México began on 14 January 1784 as a semiweekly newspaper and when it ceased publishing (30 December 1809) it extended to 16 volumes — having along the way switched to being a biweekly.

The present volume (XIV) covers 2 January 1808 through 16 April 1808, in other words till just before news arrived of Napoleon's treachery in Spain, with coverage of the war in Europe; British military actions in the Caribbean, Uruguay, and Argentina; ship arrivals; cargoes unloaded; notices from the provinces; Miranda's revolt in Venezuela; and even a comet seen in Europe.

Provenance:  Ex-John Carter Brown library, properly deaccessioned.

•  Sewn, removed from and now loosely laid into its original Mexican mottled sheep binding, this with a modestly gilt spine bearing a green leather gilt title-label and with an old paper label on its front cover. Some issues lightly soiled or with a bit of spotting/staining, else generally clean and very good.  (29691)

The Best Beer in Town — Each Pub with its Sign Evoked in Woodcut

A vade mecum for malt-worms: Or, a guide to good fellows.

Click the images for enlargements.

•  19th-century facsimile of a clever early 18th-century guidebook to “the manners and customs of the most eminent publick houses, in and about the cities of London and Westminster”: These raucous rhymes pay tribute to an assortment of famous pubs, “with a hint on the props (or principal customers) of each house” (descriptions from the main title-page). The verses veil only very thinly their allusions to notable pub-dwellers, and offer much detail regarding the nature of contemporary beers and other alcoholic drinks as well as the character of London itself; each bears a frankly charming woodcut image reflecting the signage of the pub under discussion.

Both parts (the second titled A Guide for Malt-Worms) are present here, with a separate title-page for the latter. The work is often attributed to Edward “Ned” Ward, who was both a poet and a tavern-keeper, known for his satires — and for having once written that it was better “To live by Malt, than starve by Meter.”

Provenance:  Front pastedown with pencilled ownership inscription of “J.B. Edwards,” giving his Denver address.

•  NSTC 2W5016. Not in George, Speise und Trank. On Ward, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   Publisher's textured violet-brown cloth, covers framed in blind, spine with gilt-stamped title; binding mildly rubbed overall, spine gently faded, cloth creased at lower back cover. A number of leaves creased across the upper margin (not distressingly, and perhaps in the press); several other leaves with chips from upper margin, not touching text or images. Inscription as above, a few scattered smudges, pages mostly clean.  (28630)

Trade in Wartime

•  Paginated continuously with Ward’s Treatise of the Relative Rights and Duties, and apparently also issued as the second part of that document, this work discusses international law regarding trade in wartime; the 1793 stoppage by the English of American corn exportation to France is included and analyzed as an example.

•  Goldsmiths'-Kress 18239; NSTC W529. Recent paper wrappers. Some instances of light foxing and offsetting.

“We Ought . . . to Prepare for Our Defence”

Click the images for enlargement.

•  In addition to the expected tables and predictions, present here on pp. [18–21] is an essay entitled, “A Brief View of the present Controversy between Great-Britain and America, with some Observations thereon.” The second paragraph begins: “Never perhaps was there a period more important to America than the present. Great-Britain is now carrying into execution a claim, assumed but a little while since, and which, if acceded to, will involve us in the most abject slavery.” Taxation and representation are the inflaming issues, of course, with the “dispute” thereon going far beyond the question of “whetherthe tea destroyed at Boston shall be paid for.”

The last page here, while hoping for peace and amity based on a British change of mind and attitude, makes it very clear what a serious militia (such, for example, as Rhode-Island has) can do against great armies!

•  Evans 13764; Alden, Rhode Island, 530; Drake, Almanacs, 12842; ESTC W22707. Not in Adams, American Independence, but that conceivably was deliberate.   Uncut; stitched as issued. Browned, tattered, handsoiling, bug-spotting and an inkblot at lower edge; small piece torn from title-leaf and same leaf with pin-prick holes not affecting readability. Looks like a survivor of the American Revolution, which it is.  (30423)

Handsome Copy

•  Early edition, following the first of 1876.

•  Publisher's brown cloth, front cover and spine with gilt-stamped title; binding slightly cocked, corners and spine extremities rubbed, gilt partially oxidized (quiet attractively). Back hinge tender. Front fly-leaf with early pencilled ownership inscription. Early portions of text with pencilled emphasis marks and some underlining. All edges red. A nifty period piece.  (20333)

A Revolutionary War GENERAL . . .

or Was He a Colonel?

•  At the beginning of the Revolutionary hostilities Whitcomb was “old,” i.e., in his 50s and he was not called to service until the men of his militia regiment refused to budge without him. He is variously described as having served as a colonel or a general before retiring late in 1776. Click either image for enlargement.

In the document at hand, Whitcomb in his capacity of justice of the peace attests on the verso of the leaf to the authenticity of the document on the recto. His attestation is approximately 1.5" high by 8" wide, with a clear signature.

The document on the recto is a printed legal form by which Artemus How of Bolton, Worcester County, Massachusetts Bay Province, sells 50 acres of land to Bezeleel Hale. Interestingly, both Artemus and his wife Abigail signed the instrument of sale.

•  On Whitcomb, see: Appleton’s Cyclopaedia. Good/Good+ condition: short fold tears. Three small areas of discoloration from old tape used to tip item into an album. With old pencilled dealer’s code (Sessler’s).

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