Also attracting renewed interest was The Declaration of Independence: Americans and especially several entrepreneurs rediscovered the majesty of it and its wording. But it was not the Declaration as it came from a printing press that was of interest, rather it was the version indited by Charles Thomson, the Secretary of the Continental Congress. Coincidentally, this interest in the manuscript coincided with an upswing in the general upspringing writing masters and the publication of writing books that taught clerks, storekeepers, secretaries, and the interested populace how to write clearly and elegantly.

One of those entrepreneurial writing masters was Benjamin Owen Tyler and in 1818 he publishedthe first facsimile of the Declaration in its manuscript form. In 1817 he travelled to Washington and obtained the permission of Acting Secretary of State Richard Rush (son of Signer Benjamin Rush) to have access to the original manuscript so that he could engross his facsimile. As the facsimile proclaims: “The publisher designed and executed the ornamental writing, and has been particular to copy the facsimilies exact, and has also observed the same punctuation, and copied every capital as in the original.” The engraving also contains in attestation a facsimile signed statement of Richard Rush dated 10 September 10 and the seal of the Secretary of State's Office authenticating the copy.

The Tyler Declaration is not a one-to-one reproduction of the 1776 manuscript, for it incorporates decorative lettering not found in Thomson's original. But it certainly gives a feel for the original and it was a great advertising vehicle for Tyler as a writing master.

The whole LARGE production wasengraved by Peter Maverick, one of America's master engravers, and printed on paper with a few copies on parchment and at least one on silk. Many other facsimiles would follow. . .

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 46130.; Nash 87; John Bidwell, “American History in Image and Text” in Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, 1988, Vol. 98, pp. 247–302.   Document backed onto linen, edged with red linen tape, well-attached to an ebonized wood molding at head and roller at foot; age-toned or possibly showing discoloration from the mounting adhesive. One small piece of blank margin expertly readhered; some creasing. Overall very good. An impressive American document evoking not one but two significant patriotic periods, and one in safe and attractive condition for display.   (In its picture, it's hanging for the time being on one of our shop walls — comfortably!)   (29408)

The poem was left unpublished at the time of the author’s death and Francisco Garabito de León Messía saw to its publication.

•  Palau 347681; Medina, BHA, 1806; European Americana 687/140; DeBacker-Sommervogel, VIII, 376–77. Recased in old vellum. A very good copy.

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with inked inscription reading “A Thanksgiving Appreciation to Miss Alta Anderson from the Parents and Pupils of the Emerson St. Presbyterian S.S. Nov. 28, 1917.”

Signed binding: Publisher's deep violet-blue cloth, front cover with wide gilt border of floral and vine design, spine with gilt-stamped title and fleurons. Signed “EE,” with the second E reversed: Edward B. Edwards, who also designed the interior frames.

•  Binding as above, spine slightly dimmed. Pages and plates clean. A lovely copy.  (28954)

The volume was printed by the Haddon Craftsmen and the aquatone illustrations by Edward Stern & Company; there are 20 mounted photographic facsimiles of Van Gogh letters, sketches, and lithographs.

This is numbered copy 383 of 650 printed.

•  Publisher's red cloth, covers and spine with veneers of wood-grain paper, in original slipcase; spine and slipcase sunned. Internally crisp and clean.  (30128)

•  Goldsmiths’-Kress 7892.2; DeBacker-Sommervogel, VIII, 444. Contemporary speckled calf, spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title-label; binding scuffed and rubbed, with leather cracking over joints and spine extremities chipped. All edges speckled red. Front free endpaper and fly-leaf partially affixed to front pastedown; front pastedown with inked initials. Pages beautifully clean.

•  Bengesco, Voltaire, 514; Cohen & de Ricci 1035; Graesse 393. Not in Ray, Art of the French Illustrated Book.   Mid-19th-century half dark green morocco and marbled paper–covered sides, leather edges with gilt fillet, spine with gilt-stamped title; spine faintly sunned, minor wear to corners and spine extremities. Top edge gilt. Front pastedown with unidentified dolphin and anchor bookplate. Tissue guard present following frontispiece but not elsewhere. Original ribbon bookmarker present and intact. A very few instances of small, light spots, most pages and certainly the “figures gravèes”) clean and fresh.  (28347)

•  BAL 20798; Grolier, American 100, 82; Russo & Sullivan, Bibliographical Studies of Seven Authors of Crawfordsville,Indiana, 315–17; Wright, III, 5720.   Publisher's textured brown cloth with bevelled edges, spine with gilt-stamped title; binding slightly shaken, edges and extremities rubbed, sides with spots of discoloration. Hinges (inside) tender. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate on front pastedown, title-page pressure-stamped, dedication page with inked numeral, back free endpaper with slip. Front free endpaper with faint early inscription, front fly-leaf with inked ownership inscription. Pages age-toned; a few leaves with light staining, most clean.  (26381)

Provenance:  “Jos. Clementson” rather beautifully indited on title-page and p. 1; a “Basinghall Street” address provided in the former place, but the surname there some time ago inked through.

•  ESTC T63197; Hazen 65; NCBEL, II, 1589; Printing & the Mind of Man 211 (for first edition).   Recent quarter calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and interesting, rather deeply blind-tooled compartment decorations; binding clean, fresh, and handsome. Contemporary ownership inscriptions inked as above; frontispiece with small area of offsetting from ink and crease across one corner. One plate with lower outer corner torn away, affecting caption but not image. Pages faintly age-toned, with scattered light spotting only. A delightful book.  (28372)

Provenance: The publisher-issued bookplate and box label proclaim that this copy belonged to L. Haskell Sweet, a New York businessman.

•  Coigney 308.   Publisher's quarter vellum and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; original glassine dust wrapper and original charcoal-colored paper-covered box with personalized label present, wrapper with chips, short tears, and some creasing, and box split at seams with two side elements fully detached (one lost). Vellum of the volume's spine faintly darkened and spotted, book otherwise clean and fresh with top edges gilt; sweet identification as above. A good catch.  (28332)

Bindings: Straight-grained maroon morocco, covers framed in gilt triple fillets, spines with gilt-stamped author and title; board edges with gilt roll, turn-ins with gilt double fillets. All edges gilt.

Provenance:  Front pastedowns each with armorial bookplate of collector John Train; front fly-leaves with early inked ownership inscriptions of Lucy S. Sanford and T. (or J.?) Lister.

•  NSTC 2W4371. Bound as above, rubbed at joints/extremities, hinges (inside) tender; text block of vol. II starting to separate from spine and front free endpaper with outer edge chipped.  Pages generally clean; moderate foxing to some plates, with offsetting to surrounding pages. Unusual and very attractive.  (30156)

The volume was designed by Lewis F. White and printed in an edition of 920 copies; this is numbered copy 648, andsigned by the artist.

•  Publisher's airbrush-patterned paper–covered sides with copper foil backstrip stitched in black (stitching intact); front upper outer corner and back outer edge bumped, paper showing minor wear, foil chipped at head and foot. Front free endpaper with inked ownership inscriptions dated 1933 and 1977. Stains and smudges to early leaves with the occasional spot elsewhere; most plates and pages with waterstaining to upper outer corner, not touching images. Not a “painful” copy but not pristine either; priced accordingly.  (29246)

The volume opens with a wood-engraved frontispiece and title-page, the latter done by Augustus Kinnersley; vignettes by Phinneas F. Annin, E.J. Whitney, and others are sprinkled throughout, many featuring children with birds or animals. First published in 1842.

Binding:  Publisher's dark terra-cotta cloth, front cover black- and gilt-stamped, spine with gilt-stamped title, back cover with blind-stamped frame. All edges gilt.

•  Bound as above; minor wear to extremities, otherwise fresh and bright. Pages gently age-toned with very few spots of light foxing. A very nice copy.  (30287)

•  Blue publisher's cloth, spine with simple gilt-stamped rules and title, front cover with gilt-stamped "GTS" device (for the Golden Treasury Series). With an 1896 gift inscription on half-title. Pages gently age-toned. (5538)

•  One crease in the lower margin, below the bottom of the decorative border. (8269)

Single-click the image, for an enlargement.

For more BROADSIDES,  click here.

Binding:  Publisher's brick-colored cloth, front cover decoratively stamped in black and gilt withthree affixed CHROMOLITHOGRAPHIC illustrations of children at play.

•  Binding as above, spine and extremities moderately worn, small spots of light discoloration mostly confined to spine and edges. Pages faintly age-toned with intermittent light spotting; six images with early hand-coloring as above. Really, a very pleasing copy anda covetable gift for anyone who appreciates the joys of childhood.  (30281)

•  Garrison B15. Publisher’s printed paper–covered boards, darkened, most notably over spine. Front free endpaper with pencilled owner’s name. Pages slightly age-toned.

•  Garrison A.19.1.f. Publisher’s cloth, front cover and spine stamped in gold; lacking the very scarce dustjacket, with spine sunned, and cloth wrinkled over lower portion of back cover. Pages clean.

•  Garrison A28.I.a. Publisher’s green cloth, front cover stamped with a French country scene in white, red, and gold, spine with gilt-stamped title; original box lacking, cloth a bit rubbed over corners and spine extremities, with spine title dimmed. Front free endpaper with inked owner’s inscription dated 1919. Faint waterstaining to outer margins of pp. 21–35.

•  Garrison A45.1.a, binding A, jacket A. Publisher’s blue cloth, front cover and spine stamped in gold, in original printed paper dustwrapper with price; binding clean and unworn save for minor wear to spine extremities, dustjacket with cream portions slightly darkened and small edge nicks to front panel and spine.

Binding:  Publisher's deeply waved terra-cotta cloth of Krupp's style Wav6, front cover with gilt-stamped title and blind-stamped frame.

•  Binding: Krupp, Bookcloth in England and America, 1823--50, p. 43.   Binding as above, corners/edges slightly rubbed and spine pulled at top; interior with an upper corner bumped. A very attractive, clean copy.  (26714)

•  Publisher's cloth. Text split from binding at several places.

The text is in Latin printed in roman and italic, decorated with a few woodcut ornaments and one initial at the beginning of the dedication. The engraved title shows Widl holding a lamp and an open a book with the words “Poesis sacra et profana” written across the opening, as he floats above our book's title which appears in an abstract cartouche flanked by four figures standing in an architectural frame supported by portraits of Pindar, Horace Flaccus, Sarbiewski, and Balde.

WorldCat locates only two copies in the U.S.

Provenance:  Albertus Henricus Krussi(?) (his ownership signature in ink, front flyleaf and engraved title).

Evidence of readership: Heavy underlining, occasional annotations, and scribbles on the rear flyleaf verso in early ink.

•  DeBacker-Sommervogel, VIII, 1107; W. Kühlmann, “Neo-Latin Literature in Early Modern Germany,” in Camden House History of German Literature, p. 297.   Period-style calf, boards with single-ruled border; round spine with gilt-stamped red morocco label and blind-stamped devices in “compartments” defined by a gilt roll of a chain pattern; red speckled edges. Trimmed close and bound tightly, often affecting but not taking a few letters at the gutter, with light water- or dampstaining in upper outer corner extending into the middle of many pages; intermittent inkstains from the annotator's pen; one corner tip torn away and other corners creased, visible from the edges. Miniscule wormholes barely visible in upper and outer margins extending from preliminaries to mid-text. A substantial little book in several senses.  (29853)

Binding:  Publisher's muted brown cloth, front cover and spine with stylized rose, leaf, and thorn design stamped in gilt, black, and red. Unsigned.

•  Binding as above, corners and spine extremities lightly rubbed, spine with two small scrapes, and gilt slightly dimmed; an eye-catching binding design and attractive overall. Frontispiece recto with early inked gift inscription. A few faint smudges, one leaf with short tear from lower margin not touching text. Quite a nice copy.  (28865)

•  Good; binding worn, spine faded. Upper margin of half-title torn away. Moderate foxing throughout, with some leaves age-toned. (1931)

Binding:  Publisher's quarter red textured cloth over gold paper–covered sides, front cover with George Wevill's (signed) chromolithographic illustration in red, green, black, brown, and blue of a “perfect” orator wearing a toga — and also, wearingmagnificent Victorian whiskers!

•  Binding as above, moderately worn overall with small spots of discoloration. Title-page with inked ownership inscription dated 1872. Pages slightly age-toned; three leaves with faint lines of waterstaining in outer margins. With endpapers, 10 pages of ads present — and interesting.  (28444)

Click the image for an enlargement.

•  NSTC 2F755 & 2W16139.   Disbound. A few light brown spots on title-page. A very good copy.  (11078)

Willis himself was the founder of the magazine that became the Home Journal, and was celebrated in his day for his essays and travel writings as well as several collections of his journalistic work. The Cambridge History of American Literature calls him the “prince of magazinists,” and remarks on “the evanescent sparkle and glancing brilliance” of A L'abri, later known as Letters from under a Bridge. These charming, witty essays touch on Willis's Yale education (and its lack of practical application!); fishing; a dinner with Lady Blessington, Benjamin Disraeli, Count D'Orsay, and Lord Durham; the possibility of local railroad construction to connect the Hudson with Lake Erie; the relationship of American to British literature, etc. Whatever the ostensible topics of the individual letters, each touches in affectionate and amusing fashion on some aspect of life in the Susquehanna region.

A publishing practice, demonstrated: Bound in at the back of this volume are yellow printed paper wrappers for John Smith's Letters, and the title-page and preface for Fireside Education — both items published by Colman in the same year as the present work.

•  BAL 22752 (spine label in first state, cloth described as “Brown S cloth “); American Imprints 59260; Fearing, Check List of Books on Angling, Fishing, Fisheries, Fish-Culture, etc., 135; Sabin 104504. On Willis, see: Cambridge History of American Literature online.   Publisher's brown cloth embossed with floret and dash pattern, spine with printed paper label; corners rubbed, and spine cloth chipped with paper label chipped and darkened. Front free endpaper with early pencilled ownership inscription. Foxing throughout; occasional pencilled marginalia and marks of emphasis.  (25806)

This work is rarely found in the deluxe binding: The handsomely gilt-stamped publisher's cloth is the norm.

•  NSTC 2W24418; Allibone 2762.   For binding, see: Morris & Levin, Art of Publisher's Bookbindings, 44. Binding as above, showing minor wear to extremities and front cover vignette, original silk bookmark detached and laid in. Volume slightly shaken with text block starting to pull away from spine; this is the kind of volume that wants to do that, and the reader will want to “cradle” it in hand — that done, no worries. Front fly-leaf with early pencilled gift inscription and with a Maine druggist's small ticket. Mild to moderate foxing. Both funny and decorative, in a publisher's binding that may fairly be called “DAZZLING.”  (26748)

•  ESTC T121646; NCBEL, II, 695. Removed from a nonce volume and now in a Mylar folder. One corner creased; first and last page lightly spotted, otherwise clean.

Binding:  Publisher's cream-colored paper, front cover with black-stamped lyre decoration, back one with black-stamped laurel wreath; spine with black-stamped decorations (no title). All edges gilt.

•  Binding moderately rubbed, spine darkened. Two leaves with tears from margins extending into text, without loss; pages and plates clean. Inherently a bit fragile, this is standing up well to the years.  (27087)

Provenance: With laid-in invoice from the Davenant Bookshop in Oxford, dated 1924.

•  McKittrick/Rendall/Dreyfus 17. Publisher’s quarter brown buckram over tan paper- covered sides, spines with printed paper labels; gently worn, two labels chipped, one volume with cloth of a darker shade and noticeable rippling thereto. Two volumes with hinges slightly tender. Page edges untrimmed, some signatures uncut. It should be remarked that, by some unexpected trick of the camera, our righthand picture above makes this set look a bit smarter than it is; that said, though — it is rightly priced for its real condition and still worthy of purchase.

Binding:  Russell-Rutter Company binding of quarter dark green morocco with green linen–covered sides, front cover with embossed portrait in black.

This is numbered copy 972 of 1500 printed, signed by the illustrator at the colophon. The appropriate LEC newsletter is laid in, noting that this volume is part of the LEC's British poets series.

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 425.   Binding as above, in original glassine wrapper and black paper-covered slipcase with gold spine label; spine leather very slightly, almost unnoticeably sunned, book otherwise clean and fresh. Wrapper with spine darkened and torn, with loss; one side of slipcase with two faint scratches, overall showing only minimal wear. Book/slipcase as a whole in beautiful clean condition; book's pages crisp. (30088)