The plates are signed “F. Kearny,” an artist born in Perth Amboy, NJ, who studied drawing with Archibald and Alexander Robertson and engraving with Peter Maverick. From 1810 to his death in 1833 he practiced engraving in Philadelphia.

There are two states of gathering “U”: this copy has the typographical error “tibbon” with the stop-press correction to “ribbon” on p. 235.

The volume ends with advertisements for several sporting and fishing goods suppliers.

•  Shoemaker 27838; Howes K108; Henderson, American Sporting Books, 6; Phillips, Sporting Books, 21; Streeter Sale 4084; Bennett, Practical Guide, 60–61. On Stauffer, American Engravers, I, 148–49.   Publisher's sprinkled sheep with simple rope roll in blind on board edges, some abrasion to leather; round spine with gilt double rules forming “spine compartments,” black leather title label. The usual light and scattered foxing noted in all copies, nothing more. A very nice copy.  (28553)

•  Original red cloth, black-lettered on the front. Traces of soiling on covers. Small ink stain on title-page. Author's rubber-stamp on inner margin of p. [5]. Very good. (15956)

•  American Imprints 40-3037; Goldsmiths'-Kress 3730-3731; Sabin 31107.   19th-century half calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped leather title-labels; bindings moderately rubbed overall with some spots of discoloration, three volumes with front joints cracked, sewing holding. Ex–social club library: some spine heads reinforced with library cloth tape, 19th-century bookplates, call number on endpapers, pressure-stamp on title-pages, no other markings. Variously, throughout, sections of waterstaining, browning, offsetting; the occasional leaf torn without loss, chipped, or with margin reinforced; varying degrees of age-toning, with the majority of pages clean. Massive quantities of data on early 19th-century commerce, ready to be made use of for scholarship or simply to serve a reader's pleasure.  (30395)

•  Laced together with a silk ribbon. Some browning, especially adjacent to ribbon and wafer; and a few tiny tears in edges. Short closed tears along the folds, without loss.

•  Laced together with a silk ribbon. Some browning, especially adjacent to ribbon and wafer.

•  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)

Presentation copy: Front inside cover stamped “With compliments of the author.”

•  Publisher's cloth in imitation of morocco, front cover with gilt-stamped title; front cover detached, cloth almost entirely lost over spine. Ex-library: covers pressure-stamped by a now-defunct (Philadelphia) institution, title-page and a few others rubber-stamped, back free endpaper with pocket.   Sadly hurt, but a sweet effort and a presentation copy. (17770)

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)

Provenance:  Front pastedown with bookplates of prominent Philadelphia collector Robert R. Dearden and Philip Justice Steinmetz, an Episcopal clergyman; the latter design shows a view of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Elkins Park, PA, of which Dr. Steinmetz was the pastor.

•  BAL 10188.   Publisher's slate-green cloth, covers with blind-stamped rococo frame, front cover with gilt-stamped scenic vignette, spine with gilt-stamped author/title and embossed decorations; binding very slightly cocked, extremities rubbed, cloth somewhat faded overall. Front pastedown with bookplates as above and with affixed slip of old cataloguing. Frontispiece and added title-page with margins lightly stained; pages faintly age-toned, otherwise clean.  (29557)

This was long most commonly attributed to Benjamin Franklin, but recently, on the basis of new scholarship, authorship has been ascribed to Richard Jackson, a London barrister and colonial agent with whom Franklin collaborated in other publications. Franklin and his son, William, certainly supplied many of the materials that formed the basis of the book, which was published during Franklin's first mission to England.

Provenance:  Large signature of “Jo. Kirkbride” dated “Septr 30th 1759" on front free endpaper.

Manuscript additions: Under this ownership signature, in a later, much smaller hand, are five lines of speculation as to the work's authorship; a date is corrected on p. 263. Between leaves B3 and B4, a leaf is bound in containing, on its two sides, a handwritten “List of Governors of Pennsylvania — continued”; this, with one addition to the printed list on p. 262, takes the chronology through John W. Geary, inaugurated in 1867.

•  Sabin 25512 (noting that the editor of the second edition (Philadelphia, 1812) “had no doubt as to [Franklin's] authorship” and supplied his name); Sparks, Franklin, III, 109 (affirming that the volume “was prepared under [Franklin's] direction, and doubtless from copious materials furnished by him”); ESTC T117618.   Recent quarter calf, old style, with raised bands accented with gilt beading on each band, a gilt center device in each spine compartment, and a green leather title label. Boards covered with a stone pattern marbled paper. Title-page with two old ink blots; text lightly and uniformly age-toned. Inscriptions/additions as noted.  (25085)

Rare: We fail to trace this via NUC Pre-1956, OCLC, RLIN, and the OPACS of the Library Company, the Free Library of Philadelphia, and the Library of Congress.

•  Shallow tears in margin, folded once. Light age-toning. Very good.

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The volume is illustrated with20 copper-engraved plates by prominent Philadelphia engraver and publisher Joseph Yeager, including one dainty bird and a number of interesting sea creatures.

•  American Imprints 38398; NSTC 2K6659.   Period-style quarter light grey cloth and light blue paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label. All edges sprinkled. One leaf creased. Offsetting from plates, among which the last is misnumbered; otherwise, clean.  (30332)

•  Library quarter sheep over marbled paper boards, spine with paper shelving label, covers pressure-stamped by a now-defunct library; rubbed/abraded, chipped, joints starting, title-page and several others rubber-stamped. Fly-leaf and title-leaf among a number of others loose and chipped, one chip barely touching one letter of the title; tears, mostly marginal but occasionally into text not taking any; a few creased corners and occasional light spots and stains. Front pastedown with bookbinder's label, back free endpaper with library charge pocket. Lacks four pages of advertisements at end; pp. 87–90 misbound between pp. 154 and 155! In many respects a “poor soul” of a book; in others, a very good representative of what it is.  (8337)

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 8790; Wegelin 1038; BAL 1509 (for Brown’s “Sketch”). On Linn, see: Dictionary of American Biography, XI, 281–82. Period-style quarter tan cloth and light blue paper-covered sides, spine with printed paper label. Lacking portrait of author. Title-page and a few others stamped by a now-defunct institution; title-page also with pencilled inscription dated 1830. Pages age-toned and slightly cockled; some staining, with some spots accounted for by laid-in floral matter; occasional stray pencil marks and short edge tears or chips, with repairs to margins and longer tears of first few leaves.