•  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)

There is another issue with twelve plates!

•  Reese, Stamped with a National Character, 58.   Publisher's blue cloth, covers stamped in gilt with a central egg-shaped frame surrounding the title; spine gilt with a vine pattern, a peacock, and a swallow in flight; all edges gilt. Spine pulled at extremities, cloth torn and repaired; discoloration to spine and both covers, with loss or fading of gilt; corners bumped and frayed with boards now evident. Some interior soiling, not much; one leaf with a small scraped hole between two lines, not touching text; off-setting as usual from the illustrations. A far less than perfect copy of a desirable American chromolithographic book; pleasure and interest still present and considerable.  (24361)

•  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.

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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)

•  Folders slightly to moderately age-toned, with cards clean and bright. (12532)

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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•  Publisher's green textured cloth, front cover embossed and gilt-stamped; corners and spine extremities a touch rubbed, with gilt-stamped spine title very faded. Front free endpaper excised. Text block starting to crack about a third of the way through the volume. (14457)

The deed was witnessed by Richard Peters and John Callahan, and signed by Charles West with his seal next to the signature. In 1787, the document was additionally signed and sealed by Mathew Irwin of the Office for Recording of Deeds for the City and County of Philadelphia.

•  Upper edge uneven; a few small holes along fold lines; some spotting. A pleasing and attractive item of Philadelphiana.

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for an enlargement.

Provenance:  Inscribed by the author to William C. Gannett, at top margin of p. [1]. Gannett spent three years in the 1860s working among freedmen in the South; he was afterwards to become a Unitarian minister and pastor of the church where Susan B. Anthony worshipped.

•  Original dark blue wrappers. A couple of tiny tears at top edge of front cover. Very good.  (20940)

•  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.

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for an enlargement.

•  19th-century textured cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title; spine reinforced with tape and covers pressure-stamped by a now-defunct institution. Title-page stamped. (9808)