PHILADELPHIA
NOT just Ben . . .
MULTICULTURAL ALWAYS!
A-C Bibles D-F G-L M N-Q R-T U-Z
(A
View Not to Be Forgotten). Pennsylvania.
Collection of the penal laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia:
Pr. by Budd & Bartram, for the use of the Prison, 1801. 8vo (19.5 cm, 7.6").
72 pp.
$1000.00
Click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.
Scarce: Only the second such collection of Pennsylvanian criminal laws and legislation, following Zachariah Poulson’s first of 1794. The unspecified prison for which Budd & Bartram printed this work was almost certainly the Walnut Street Prison, in operation from 1773 through 1838 and one of the earliest American penitentiaries as well as a groundbreaking experiment in humanitarian incarceration. At the time of this volume’s publication, the prison reform movement was flourishing in Philadelphia.
Many institutions report microform holdings, but very few hold actual copies.
Sabin 59986; Shaw & Shoemaker 1114. Contemporary-style quarter tan cloth over blue paper-covered sides, spine with printed paper label. Paper embrittled and somewhat fragile; pages age-toned and foxed.

Wood-Engravings by
Alexander Anderson
[Berquin, Arnaud]. The looking-glass for the mind, or, intellectual mirror. Being an elegant collection of the most delightful little stories, and interesting tales. Chiefly translated from that much admired work L'Ami Des Enfans. With elegant engravings of wood, by Anderson. Philadelphia: Alexander Towar; Hogan & Thompson, 1832. 12mo. 216 pp.
[SOLD]
Click the interior images for enlargements.
Illustrated by Alexander Anderson with very fine wood engravings, including on the title-page and at the beginning of each story. A
children's classic with illustrations by America's finest early wood engraver. A handsome edition.
Publisher's sheep, gilt-stamped label and modest gilt rules to spine; joints open and some leather lost to front cover and spine extremities, but volume sturdy. Foxing to outermost (blank) pages, occasional light spots in margins. The impressions of the images tend to be very crisp and satisfactory. (709)
“Northern Liberties”
Broadside. Partially printed, completed in manuscript, beginning: To --------- Esq. Attorney of the Court of Common Pleas, at Philadelphia in the County of Philadelphia in the state of Pennsylvania to any other Attorney of the said Court, or of any other Court elsewhere. Philadelphia: before 1790. Folio. 1 page (13.125" x 8").
$100.00
By this legal instrument William Tyson “of Northern Liberties [now a part of the city of Philadelphia] in the County of Philadelphia and state of Pennsylvania, Dealer” agrees to pay Thomas Walton “of the same place” two hundred pounds “current money of the said state of Pennsylvania in specie” of 100 pounds is payable with interest. The rate of interest is unstated but is six percent per annum.
Tyson and Walton signed the document on 24 August 1791.
An excellent display piece.
Old folds with a few short tears. Residue of mounting tape at two points on the left margin. (14729)

Whither,
the
AMERICAN
Economy?
[Carey, Mathew]. Addresses of The Philadelphia
Society for the Promotion of National Industry...Fourth edition. Philadelphia:
Pub. by M. Carey & Son, pr. by G.L. Austin, Dec. 20, 1819. 8vo (19.2 cm,
7.625"). xi, [1 (blank) pp., pp. [9]–248.
$350.00
Present here are a series of addresses to the citizenry from the Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of National Industry (nos. I–XIII and I of the "New Series"). With the exception of nos. XII and XIII, which were by Dr. Samuel Jackson, these important essays all flow from the creative and cantankerous genius of Mathew Carey.
They address then-pressing topics: tariffs, protectionism, development of domestic industry, and European foreign policy.
Shaw & Shoemaker 49095; Clarkin, Mathew Carey Bibliography, 1133. Recent quarter tan cloth with paper sides in the style of the era. Ex-library with stamp on title-page; paper brittle and age-toned. One page torn and repaired.
A
CURIOUS
Manuscript
Playlet The Lovers
(China, Really? Not
Hardly!). Anonymous. Manuscript, "The Lovers, A
Tragedy in Five Acts. Founded on an incident in Eastern History." On paper,
in English. [Philadelphia?, ca. 1830]. Folio (32 cm, 12.5"), 14 ff. (12.5 written
on).
$1500.00
An apparently unpublished playlet by an unknown, apparently American writer. It is set in China and among its characters are Selamah (a daughter; Orontah's love), Moretah (Selamah's mother), Orontah (a soldier; the hero and lover), Konkuri (Orontah's friend), Verandah (Orontah's enemy), and Chi Mung (the emperor). We have identified no published piece with these dramatis personae, despite their (most teasing!) evocation of other romantic "orientalia." The paper on which the work is indited is commercial, faintly lined folio paper, watermarked "Amies Philada." and with a dove holding a sprig in its beak.
The play's length is that of a "filler" piece in a jam-packed 19th-century theatrical night of three or four plays (or parts thereof) and other "entertainments"or, the length of a school or home production.
The style is distinctly amateur/naive. E.g., the euphonious exotic names are far from consistently Chinese and one character is "carried [from his 'chinese cottage'] to the ganges"; the author confuses exit and exeunt ("Exeunt Priest")we wonder if this blithe vagueness as to geography and world cultures, and the seeming lack of even basic classical education, suggest a lively-minded and enthusiastically play-going but unrigorously schooled female writer?
Provenance:
Gift inscription: "Horace W. Smith, Esq. to W.W., 1863." A pencil note says
"By J. Howard Payne in his handwriting, W.W."but the handwriting does
not match that of Payne's MSS. at Yale and Brown Universities.
First leaf dust-soiled and now separated. Edges of some leaves chipped costing a few letters and, very rarely, an entire word; lost letters and words are easily supplied by context. Comfortable, for working with.
PLACE
AN ORDER | E-MAIL
US | PRB&M HOME