Decade
[ catalog printed January 7, 1991 (300 copies);
original copies still available ($3 ppd.)
but virtually all items long-since sold ]An Informal Glance Backward
Over Ten Years in Business,
1981 - January 9 - 1991
Some interesting items offered (and generally sold) during the past ten years, listed here once again, briefly, as a keepsake for family and friends.
____________________________________
1 ALLYN, Nelson. Letter to his brother Joseph (living in Connecticut), describing the aftermath of the Nat Turner Rebellion. Gatesville, Gates County, North Carolina, 25 September 1831.
24½ X 19½ cm. 1½ pp.
On the night of August 21, 1831, Nat Turner led some seventy slaves on a killing spree across the plantations of Southampton, Virginia, leaving fifty-five whites dead. Writing from adjoining Gates County, North Carolina, Nelson Allyn here reports:
. . . the insurrection of the blacks has made greate disturbance here every man is armed with a gun by his bed nights and in the field at work a greate many of the blacks have been shot, there heads taken of stuck on poles at the forkes of rodes some been hung, some awaiting there trial in several countys 6 in this county I expect to see them strecht ther trial nex week there is no danger of them rising again here.
In fact, however, the South never got over the fear of this insurrection, and fugitive slave laws were soon strengthened.
2 [American Revolution] Manuscript receipt for £4,860 paid to the owners of the first privateer ships authorized by the Continental Congress, the Congress and the Chance, signed by one Caldwell, and William Erskine. Philadelphia? 6 August 1776.
Under Captains George Mc Aroy and John Adams, these ships captured three large British merchant vessels, taking $22,000 in specie and 1,500 barrels of powder. The two sloops were "so well manned and armed," according the British Royal Assiento Company agents in Havana, "that they are able to fight any vessel whatever, as we have been told by the people taken." (see Naval Documents of the Amer. Rev. Washington, 1969, 4:648-51, 774-5; 5:154-5, 384-87 et passim.)
3 Ballou, Benjamin (1747-1834). "On Moving." Delightful manuscript folk verse on the subject of dying, possessed of primitive charm and grace. The poor grammar and spelling, together with mention of an upcoming seventieth birthday, show this to be an original composition. No place [Monroe, MA?], 2 November 1817.
22 X 10 cm. on a single leaf.
Ballou was the eldest brother of the major Universalist leader, Hosea Ballou, and grandfather of Hosea Ballou II, founder of Tufts University. Among the twelve four-line stanzas, the following are difficult choices as my favorites:
|
I'm near to three score
years and ten |
No winter Cold nor Summer
heat, |
4 Bible. Apocrypha. Tobit. Manuscript fragments on vellum from the fifth chapter of Tobit (portions of verses 7-15). Written in a fine early Caroline minuscule script. France, 9th-10th centuries.
In six pieces, comprising about one-fifth of an original leaf once measuring approx. 25½ X 20 cm.
The story of Tobias and the Angel. It is at the crucial meeting of the young man and Archangel Raphael that this medieval manuscript fragment begins: Upon being asked his credentials as a worthy guide to help Tobias recover his father's money, the angel in guise of an ordinary man replies, "Ex filiis Israel sum ego . . . [I am an Israelite]." Tobias has the angel wait while he consults his father, who approves. This manuscript contains a variant in the first line evidently predating the 10th-century manuscript Ambros. R. 53 which has the same variant ("ex filiis Israel sum ego") which might
otherwise have been viewed merely as a scribe's error in the later example (preserved in the Ambrosian Library, Milan). In line 2, "dixit illi" can come only from the old Latin version, the later Vulgate manuscripts consistently reading "ei." (Information from research by Prof. Bernhard Bischoff.)
5 Bible. Latin. 1555. Estienne. Biblia. R. Stephanus Lectori . . . [Geneva: Conrad Badius for] Robert Estienne, 1555. In a splendid nineteenth-century binding by Leon Gruel, in very fine condition. The first Latin Bible divided into modern numbered verses, worked out by Estienne himself on horseback en route from Paris to Lyons.
6 Conrad, Joseph. The Nigger of the "Narcissus"; A Tale of the Sea. London, 1898. First published English edition, earliest state, issued two days after the first published edition of New York.
Inscribed "To Miss Watson from her very faithful friend and servant the Author. 24th Decer 1897." The recipient was the future Helen Sanderson, who would remain Conrad's lifelong friend. It was to her that Conrad had written immediately upon completion of the manuscript of this book, "Candidly, I think it has certain qualities of art that make it a thing apart. . . . I do not ask myself how much I have succeeded; I only hope it is not a shameful failure, that, perhaps, here and there, may be found a few men and women who will see what I have tried for. It would be triumph enough for me."
7 [Custer, George Armstrong] A Bullet from "Custer's Last Stand," picked up on the battlefield of the Little Big Horn in 1913 by historian E. A. Brininstool. I have the identifying note from his collection, describing this as a ". . . 45 caliber shot from old 1873 model Springfield carbine."
8 Davis, Jefferson. Autograph Signature on a small card, signed on the verso by "W. T. Sherman, General." The original collector has dated the two signatures with pencilled notes indicating April, 1884, and July 23, 1884, respectively.
9 Descartes, Rene. Discours de la Methode . . . Leiden, 1637. First edition. A fine, clean copy in a contemporary vellum binding. I owned this for a few days, which was about as long as I could afford.
10 Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist in Bentley's Miscellany, Volumes 1-5. London, 1837-9. The first appearance of Oliver Twist. It was not until six months before the last installment, as Dickens worked late into the nights to finish the novel, that Bentley published the first edition in book form, 1838. George Cruikshank, who claimed to have suggested the story to Dickens, provided the 24 illustrations.
11 Egyptian Mummy Bandage Sections, inscribed with names or religious formulae in Hieratic, Demotic, and Coptic. Black ink on linen. Egypt, ca. 2nd - 5th centuries A.D.
Twenty examples in all, 2 to 8.5 X 12.5 to 40.5 cm. Presumably cut from the outer layers of mummy wrappings, some retaining finished selvage edges. With as many as 40 threads per centimeter, but averaging perhaps 18, the warp threads numbering approximately 9 per centimeter. Some examples deteriorating from the ink, with other examples virtually as new. "Inscribed mummy bandages of this type are remarkably rare," according to Marjolein Thieme and P.W. Pestman, 1978. "Until quite recently, only two were known with a Greek inscription and thirteen with a Demotic one." Names present among my examples included Senporegebthis ["daughter of Poregebthis"] and Tanain. Among the inscriptions were a brief Demotic fragment which probably read, "May [ ] live before Osiris," and the Coptic supplication, "Efnai phs Efnai" ["He is merciful, Jesus is merciful"]. (Information from research kindly volunteered by Prof. Carleton Hodge, Indiana University.)
12 Eusebius. Historia Ecclesiastica Latine, Interprete Ruffino. Mantua: Johannes Schallus, 1479. Folio, 172ff., complete. Modern full red morocco. Foxing throughout, else a nice copy with ample margins and the uncommon final blank.
13 Fielding, Henry. The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling. London, 1749. First edition. (2 copies)
14 Flint, Timothy. Autograph Letter Signed, to Rev. Jedediah Morse. Lunenburg, Massachusetts, 4 September 1815.
24 X 19 cm. 2 pages. In fine condition.
Announcing Flint's upcoming move "as missionary to the states of Ohio & Kentucky . . .," thanks to the good offices of the recipient, Jedediah Morse, who has docketed this letter upon receipt. Flint contemplates this assignment with great enthusiasm, dreams of establishing a newspaper in "the western country," and requests letters of recommendation from the famous geographer. It was this trip which lasted nearly a decade and resulted in several works of interest to Ohio, the Ohio & Mississippi River Valleys, and the entire region surrounding them. See Howes F 199-204.
15 [Freemasons] [Broadside] ANDERTON, Samuel G. "MASONRY THE SAME ALL OVER THE WORLD." ANOTHER MASONIC MURDER. No place, [1830].
47 X 30½ cm. Printed in four columns. Several bibliographies record pamphlet versions, but not this broadside printing. Cummings, p.7 (describing an 1830 Boston pamphlet): "This is a palpable falsehood. Though proved by Stone . . . to be wholly untrue, as early as 1832, it is still [1963] being used in the writings of Anti-Masonic authors."
Antimasonic poster containing graphic statements by an American sailor, notarized in Boston 15 March 1830. Anderton (b.1780) described a Masonic murder he claimed to have witnessed in Ireland after he was freed by a British sea captain who happened to be a fellow Mason during the War of 1812. ("Those horrid sounds of the tortured victim seem still to ring in mine ears."). Antimasons used Anderton's story to feed hysteria against secret "combinations" and societies during this period.
16 [Freemasons] MASONICK INTELLIGENCER. [Printed every Wednesday, at Batavia, Genesee Co, N.Y., R. Martin, Editor—Adams & Thorp, Printers], 1827.
27 X 21 cm. 104 pp. One volume (of 26 issues) was printed, 7 February - 1 August, 1827. My volume lacked issues 6, 17 and 24. Extremely rare.
Pro-Masonic newspaper established to defend Freemasonry in the town where the William Morgan affair had recently begun. Edited by Robert Martin, Thurlow Weed's former printing partner, the Mason who had rushed to De Witt Clinton in Albany in early September, 1826, with news of the Morgan abduction. Martin offers a number of striking first-hand accounts of supposed mercenary comments by Morgan and his antimasonic publisher David C. Miller, together with their supposed candid admissions (overheard in town) that they had intended all along to stir up trouble in order to ensure the sale of Illustrations of Masonry (1826).
17 [Freemasons] A Narrative of the Facts and Circumstances Relating to the Kidnapping and Presumed Murder of William Morgan, And of the Attempt to Carry Off David C. Miller, and to Burn or Destroy the Printing Office of the Latter, for the Purpose of Preventing the Printing and Publishing of a Book, Entitled "Illustrations of Masonry." . . . Batavia [NY]: Printed by D. C. Miller, Under the Direction of the Committees, 1827.
Pamphlet side-tied as issued; never bound. Uncut, with a contemporary note written in a blank area:
Dear friend,
This publication has excited deep interest in the minds of the Citisens of this Section of Country. You will please to receive it from one who does not approve of the measures taken with Wm Morgan, nor of the motives of those who so violently oppose them. Yours in haste
Lucy C Hurd
First Edition. Very rare and important. The original report of the events which began the antimasonic movement which led to the founding of the nation's first third party and the nominating convention tradition still prominent in Presidential elections today. A general paranoia had existed against secret societies for decades. When the Batavia writer of an exposé of Masonic rituals disappeared under suspicious circumstances, Freemasons throughout the Northeast were expelled from churches, government offices, and many social groups on the assumption that secret Masonic conspiracies threatened the very foundations of Christian society and religion.
18 Gilmore, Gary Mark. Autograph Letter Signed to a former prison mate living in Oregon. Utah State Prison, Draper, Utah, 20 November, [1976].
Gilmore was the first person executed in the United States after a hiatus of several years without capital punishment anywhere in the nation. He apologizes here for having once given his correspondent an obscene tattoo (see Norman Mailer, The Executioner's Song, Boston & Toronto, 1979, p.620), and muses, "Yeah, they're gonna shoot me. I hope. F---- it, I've had enough of this life . . ."
19 Hale, Sarah Josepha. The Genius of Oblivion; And Other Original Poems. By a Lady of New-Hampshire. Concord, 1823. Original boards. First edition of the author's first book. (4 copies)
An epic poem in which a young man, Ormond, prays in the woods to learn where his people's forgotten books of history lie forgotten. He learns in a vision that the first American inhabitants came to this "western Eden" from the Holy Land at the time of Nebuchadnezzar. Mrs. Hale went on to publish 36 volumes and to edit Godey's Lady's Book, the best known of all American periodicals for women at the time. She was the author of ''Mary Had a Little Lamb," 1830.
20 Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Boston, 1850. First edition, signed and inscribed by Hawthorne. I owned this book, in a sense, for about three months, which was longer than I could afford. Mark Hofmann asked me to bid on it for him at Sotheby's ($14,000), then delayed payment and bounced a check or two to the auction house, all the while making incredible excuses.
21 [Henri III, King of France] manuscript royal household account sheet on vellum. 28 May 1559. (56 X 14 cm.) Approximately 75 lines, enumerating disbursements for bread, wine, and other categories of food, identifying the suppliers by name. Nine common and two fine wines were purchased this day, during the brief period between the crucial treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis and Henri's death. Thirty-two days following the record preserved here, the king
would be mortally wounded at a jousting match, and the succession of his ineffectual sons dominated by Catherine de Medici would see France involved in intermittent wars of religion throughout most of the remainder of the century.
22 Johanna, widow of Oliver de Hasele, daughter and heiress of John Blancbuly. Manuscript appointment of attorney to Nigel de Sandervill and Alice his wife to hold from Reading Abbey the land which they hold from her in Tilehurst, giving to the abbey a halfpenny and appropriate services. April 10, 1278.
6 X 20 cm. 6 lines. Bearing Johanna's green wax seal with the central device of a woman's face. With Johanna's corresponding grant itself (and seal), undated, 11½ X 24½ cm. In very good condition.
23 Leggett, William. Leisure Hours at Sea: Being a Few Miscellaneous Poems . . . NY, 1825. First edition of the first published book by the future part-owner and assistant editor of the New York Evening Post. Very scarce. The young hot-tempered abolitionist would ultimately be praised in ardent terms by both Whitman and Whittier on a par with Jefferson for his political thought.
24 Long, John. Voyages and Travels of an Indian Interpreter and Trader, Describing the Manners and Customs of the North American Indians . . . London, 1791. First edition. Uncut, with large margins.
25 [Mariner's journal] "Journal of a Voyage to China and Eastern Seas, 1842 and 44 . . . Philadelphia to New Orleans 1845 . . . to the West Indies 1845." Superb manuscript of an unidentified American sailor aboard several trade vessels, providing lusty and poignant images of life and emotions at sea. 2 December 1843 - 3 July 1845.
In a worn notebook 24 X 19 cm. 126, 29, 19, 26 pages (approx. 35,000 words). The following entry was written at Barbados, June 14, 1845:
As we went ashore this evening we were joined by twenty or thirty boats from other vessels - bound on like errands. "Dance, Boatman Dance" was struck up, one in each boat going through the song, while all hands joined in the chorus - and such was the effect performed by a hundred huge darkies with boatsanic lungs, that for minutes after the song had ceased - the whole bay resounded again and again with its echo . . .
Among our passengers there is a young lad of about fourteen, the son of a Moravian minister residing upon the island - going to the States to be educated - His parents came out into the bay to see him off, both very aged - - After we had broken the anchor from the bottom, they prepared to take their leave, and their parting with the youngster was of the most affecting kind. They hung on each others shoulders and wept ere they could muster strength to seperate - kisses and blessing falling in rich profusion. At times the old father, bearhead - his silver locks streaming in the breeze - would hold his son at arms length for minutes, gazing into his face with the fixed look of a maniac - the tears flowing in torrents down his cheeks - until overcome with emotion, he would fall upon his neck for support.
At length they left us, and as long as the boat was visable, a white handkerchief was seen waving from its stern - the token of a parents undying affection.
I was at work in the immediate gangway, and my attention was much attracted by what was passing - and nothing that I have witnessed for a long time has so affected me as this - I did not catch the soft infection and weep - for my fountain of tears had long since dried up - but I felt far more than ever tears could express . . . and a host of tender feelings were my companions long after we had got to sea -
26 [Millerites] Manuscript wall chart on vellum with nicely formed numerals in blue on a red time line with touches of yellow, leading to the inscription in the lower right corner, "End of th World." No place, no date, but American, probably early 1840s. The chart is entirely filled with large numerals calculating the year 1843 as the end. It bears no other words but for the small inscriptions "Babylon" and "Grecia" near the upper left corner.
27 [Mormons] BAUDER, Peter. THE KINGDOM AND GOSPEL
OF JESUS CHRIST: CONTRASTED WITH THAT OF ANTI-CHRIST. . . . Canajoharie, N.Y.: Printed by A.H. Calhoun., 1834.Pamphlet side-stitched as issued; additional later overcast stitching. Right edge of title leaf turned back upon itself, receiving some of the imprint
during the original printing process; impression of type is uneven and rather poorly executed.The only known copy. By a religious primitivist writing in Palatine, New York, a community of largely Germanic origin situated on the Mohawk River northwest of Albany. Bauder traces the history of Christianity in order to demonstrate his belief that whenever a denomination achieves any degree of success, anti-Christ then steps in and corrupts the majority of the people with wealth and theological learning.
In October of 1830, Bauder stayed for a day and night at the home of the Whitmers, and spent several hours in private conversation with Joseph Smith (pp.36-7). Smith apparently demured from mentioning his first vision (". . . he could give me no christian experience . . ." p.36). As a translator himself, Bauder was concerned to hear that Joseph understood the engravings on the golden plates of the Book of Mormon ". . . only by the aid of a glass which he also obtained with the plate . . ." p.37. This, Bauder decries as ". . . a horrid blasphemy, but not so wicked as another manuscript which he was then preparing for publication, which I also saw. He told me no man had ever seen it except a few of his apostles: the publication intended was to be the Bible!!!" Bauder then describes the Bible re-translation process, and expresses his fears that Smith will present it to the world as coming from the sealed portion of the gold plates.
28 [Mormons] Bennett, John C[ook]. The History of the Saints; or, An Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. Boston, 1842.
First Edition. One of the most influential anti-Mormon books ever written. It contained damaging accusations which included Mormon prostitution, polygamy (spiritual wifery) and murder by the Danite band. Bennett's shocking "revelations" may have helped directly to fuel the fires of mobocracy which, within two years of this publication, would culminate in the murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. Indeed, the effects of this narrative continued to hurt the Church for generations. The engraved portrait of Joseph Smith, between pages 56-7, is based on the June 25, 1842 portrait by Sutcliffe Maudsley done at Nauvoo, and is probably the first published likeness of the Mormon prophet. (2 copies)
29 [Mormons] Bernhisel, John W. [Broadside] To the Authors, Editors and Publishers of the United States: —The Inhabitants of the Territory of Utah, Through Their Authorized Agent, Desire to Address You on a Subject Wherein You Have Power Very Greatly to Assist Them . . . NY, November 12, 1850. 25 X 20 cm. on blue paper. One page with blank integral leaf. A very fine copy. A well-written appeal for books for the Utah Territorial Library, to which Congress had appropriated $5,000. Dr. Bernhisel, a friend of Joseph Smith and Thomas L. Kane, was acting as the Territory's first delegate.
30 [Mormons] Bible. New Testament. Apocryphal books. The Apocryphal New Testament; Being All the Gospels, Epistles, and Other Pieces Now Extant . . . Not Included in the New Testament . . . Boston, 1878. Joseph F. Smith's copy, signed boldly at front and back with dates, perhaps indicating when he purchased and finished reading this volume, November 12 and 27, 1880. Smith paid $1.35.
31 [Mormons] [Broadside] Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A Circular, of the High Council. To the Members of the Church . . . And to All Whom It May Concern: Greeting. Nauvoo, Illinois, January 20, 1846. Broadside in fine condition. "Our pioneers are instructed to proceed West until they find a good place to make a crop, in some good valley in the neighborhood of the Rocky Mountains, where they will infringe upon no one, and be not likely to be infringed upon. Here we will make a resting place, until we can determine a place for a permanent location."
32 [Mormons] [Broadside] "A Poor Way-Faring Man." Duane Street. L.M. Rev. Geo. Coles [music] . . . James Montgomery [lyrics]. No place, no date, but probably northeastern United States, ca. 1840.
28½ X 29 cm. Two lines of printed music with the first verse; the final six verses printed beneath.
Rare, if not unique. The last hymn Joseph Smith ever heard, sung to him by John Taylor in the Carthage Jail moments before he and
Hyrum were shot to death on June 27, 1844. This original tune is only vaguely similar to the present version, but is highly emotive when appreciated for its primitive style and meter.
33 [Mormons] CHAMBERLIN, Solomon. A SKETCH OF THE EXPERIENCE OF SOLOMON CHAMBERLIN, To Which is Added a Remarkable Revelation, or Trance of His Father-In-Law Philip Haskins: How His Soul Actually Left His Body and Was Guided by a Holy Angel to Eternal Day. . . . Lyons, N.Y., 1829.
17½ X 10 cm. 12 pp. In contemporary plain blue wrappers; rather crudely stitched, the printing quality fairly primitive.
The only known copy of this pamphlet which moved Hyrum Smith to tears, and so impressed the Smith and Whitmer Families that they gave Chamberlin (1788-1862) early sheets of the Book of Mormon at Grandin's print shop to take on what may have been the first mission of the Church and the first "Mormon" contact with Brigham Young. See Larry C. Porter, "Solomon Chamberlain - Early Missionary," BYU Studies XII (Spring 1972), pp.314-18. A comparison of Chamberlain's later autobiographical record with this 1829 pamphlet shows Chamberlin's tendency to read his later Mormonism back into his pre-Mormon spiritual experiences. Nonetheless, both accounts are highly interesting.
34 [Mormons] Crary, Christopher G. (b.1806). Pioneer Reminiscences, neatly pasted up in a volume, taken from numerous issues of the Willoughby Independent, published four miles from Kirtland, Ohio. Ca. 1889. First appearance of the most important (and friendly) non-Mormon source for earliest Kirtland History, by one of the original settlers there.
35 [Mormons] Currier & Ives. Great Salt Lake, Utah. Undated lithograph plate published by Currier & Ives, 152 Nassau St., New York. Mid-nineteenth century. Original hand coloring. The picture bears no resemblance to any city in Utah, but is a dramatic rendering of a town set close to a small lake immediately surrounded by high mountains. Rare. (2 copies)
36 [Mormons] Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God, and Compiled by Joseph Smith Junior[,] Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, Frederick G. Williams, [Presiding Elders of said Church.] Proprietors. Kirtland, Ohio.: Printed by F. G. Williams & co. for the Proprietors., 1835.
First edition as the Doctrine and Covenants. Far more rare and doctrinally influential than the Book of Mormon. 15 cm. (height of pages). Internally dampstained, but the original binding particularly nice. Complete, with all six original blank flyleaves (two at the front and four at the back). The margins were (for this book) generously wide.
37 [Mormons] Gore, Ebenezer Emory (b. ca. 1824). Story of Ebenezer Emory Gore. 1826 Halifax, Vermont to Kirtland, Ohio. 1840 to Charleston, Iowa. Apr-Sept 1852 across plains to Jacksonville, Oregon. 1860 East - married and to Atchison, Kansas. 1879 to Lawrence [Kansas] Written 1904. [manuscript title on wrapper]. Typescript carbon copy, 20 long pages (approx. 8,000 words).
Unpublished overland with colorful details crossing the plains. Includes first-hand experiences living near Mormons in both Kirtland and Nauvoo. Ebenezer apparently viewed the slain prophet's body
(". . . He was as black as my hat, I saw the scalawag myself.") This copy went to Brigham Young University; a similar carbon copy, without a pencilled correction found on this example, is preserved at the University of Kansas.
38 [Mormons] Grandin, E[gbert] B. Manuscript bond signed by E. B. Grandin and by Pomeroy Tucker, Grandin's partner in publishing the Wayne Sentinel. Palmyra, New York, 11 June 1831.
24 X 20 cm. 4 pages on two leaves. In fine, attractive condition.
A bond guaranteeing the integrity of Pomeroy Tucker as Wayne County auctioneer. Also signed by Sydney S. Durfee, J.H. Bartles, and Judge Thomas Baldwin. Grandin had printed the Book of Mormon one year earlier, and Tucker would go on to write Origin, Rise and Progress of Mormonism (1867). I found this document at a
philatelic show in New York City. When I mentioned it to Mark Hofmann by telephone, he seemed eager to acquire it (perhaps to salt his own productions with authentic examples), but he never saw it; very shortly afterward he committed the bombings in Salt Lake City and had more pressing matters to consider.
39 [Mormons] Howe, Eber D. Mormonism Unvailed: Or, A Faithful Account of that Singular Imposition And Delusion, From its Rise to the Present Time. . . . Painesville, Ohio, 1834.
First Edition of the first anti-Mormon book, cited continuously even today by mainline Mormon historians for the material it contains. Joseph Smith referred to the frontispiece, which showed him being kicked by the devil, "with his pitchfork of lies, as you will see fairly represented in a cut contained in Mr. Howe's Mormonism Unveiled . . ." —History of the Church 2:268. That caricature may be the first known picture of Joseph Smith, although it certainly does not look like him. (3 copies)
40 [Mormons] Pratt, Parley Parker. Mormonism Unveiled: Zion's Watchman Unmasked, and its Editor, Mr. L. R. Sunderland, Exposed: Truth Vindicated: the Devil Mad, and Priestcraft in Danger! By P. P. Pratt, Minister of the Gospel. "Should thy lies make men hold their peace? and when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?"—Job, xi : 3. New-York: Printed for the Publisher., 1838.
First edition. Pamphlet, disbound. Extremely rare. A Mormon Fifty 8, noting:
In April 1838, just before leaving New York for the new Mormon colony in Far West, Missouri, Parley published his reply to Sunderland. This 47-page pamphlet is the first of a vast number of tracts written in response to anti-Mormon attacks. Like Voice of Warning, it established a formula that would be followed by Mormon pamphleteers for another century, balancing a defense of Mormonism's sacred books and its doctrines with an assault on the religion of the attacker.
41 [Mormons] Pratt, Parley Parker. A Voice of Warning And Instruction to All People . . . NY, 1837. First edition. One of the most influential books in Mormonism ever produced, many times reprinted and translated into foreign languages by the Church. Very rare. (3 copies)
42 [Mormons] Remy, Jules, and Julius Brenchley. Voyage Au Pays Des Mormons; Relation - Geographie, Histoire Naturelle - Histoire - Theologie, Moeurs et Coutumes. Paris, 1860.
First edition, two volumes. Brenchley's own set, with his manuscript corrections and additions which appeared in the first English edition the following year.
43 [Mormons] Smith, Jesse, elder brother of Joseph Smith, Sr. Autograph manuscript deed signed as witness. Apparently entirely in the hand of Jesse Smith. The instrument of sale by one William Adams of 63 acres of Asael Smith's original farm in Tunbridge gore, lot 19. Signed by Jesse Smith, William Adams, and the Randolph, Vermont, Justice of the Peace, Samuel Austin. Randolph, Vermont. 15 September 1808.
31 X 18 cm. One leaf. Plain red wax seal.
I purchased this document at a book fair in New Hampshire for $15, little suspecting that it would relate to the original farm settled by Joseph Smith's grandfather when the family first moved to Vermont in the 1790s. For background, see Richard Anderson, Joseph Smith's New England Heritage ( Salt Lake City, 1971), pp. 101-3, 204-5.
44 [Mormons] SMITH, Joseph, Jr., Lyman Wight, Edward Partridge, James Durfee and Austin A. King. Important Manuscript Document Signed, guaranteeing that Joseph Smith and Lyman Wight would appear before the Daviess County, Missouri, circuit court on [November 29], 1838. Daviess County, Missouri. 7 September 1838.
32 X 19 cm. 1½ pages on one leaf. With notarized letter of provenance.
Written and signed in a grove of trees in front of a hostile anti-Mormon mob while armed Mormon guards waited half a mile away, just across the Daviess County Line. During the following weeks, some of the most famous and devastating events in the Missouri "Mormon War" would take place, including the Haun's Mill Massacre, the near-execution of Joseph Smith, and the Mormon extermination order by Governor Boggs. Thus, ironically, one day before the projected trial intended by this document could take place, circumstances would lead to another trial in which Judge King, who ordered, wrote out and signed this bond, would commit Joseph Smith, his brother Hyrum, Lyman Wight and others to the Liberty Jail. In 1848, King would become the Governor of Missouri.
45 [Mormons] [Smith, Joseph and Emma] "Harmony Home." One of 25 photographic copies hand-enlarged from the unpublished original in my possession of the 1820s home of Joseph and Emma Smith (Harmony, Pennsylvania, taken ca. 1880s). 9½ X 12½ inches + margins and mount; printed description sheet hand-numbered and signed. Second in my historical Mormon photograph series, "Coming Home," 1990.
The only reproductions made; never published. All other photographs of this house which I have seen appear to have been taken later. Here much of the Book of Mormon was translated, and fifteen sections of the Doctrine and Covenants were received. Joseph Smith's parents visited here for a time, as did Martin Harris and his wife Lucy, who ransacked the house and grounds looking for the golden plates. Oliver Cowdery journeyed here to introduce himself to Joseph Smith, then stayed "--to sit under the sound of a voice dictated by the inspiration of heaven . . ." Joseph and Emma's first child, a baby boy, is buried a few hundred feet away.
46 [Mormons] [Smith, Joseph, Hyrum and Emma] Photographic black and white negatives, prints, and slides of tinted photographs of the re-burial of Joseph, Hyrum and Emma Smith at Nauvoo, Illinois, January, 1928.
One image shows the skeletons of Joseph and Hyrum laid out in their new coffins before they were covered over with cement. Another provides a close-up of Hyrum's skull, with an arrow indicating the
path of the bullet which killed him. An accompanying 1932 carbon typescript of a 1928 letter from S.O. Bennion (president of the LDS Central States Mission) to Heber J. Grant discusses the reburial, criticizing RLDS President Fred M. Smith for exhuming the bodies. Bennion then goes on, however, to describe the remains with some fascination, and mentions a few stones and pieces of glass which he retained as souvenirs from the original graves. (See Newell & Avery, Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith, pp. 304, 366).
47 [Mormons] Smith, Nathan. A Practical Essay on Typhous Fever. NY, 1824. First edition of a classic medical treatise by the founder of Dartmouth Medical School. What few readers know is that, about 1813, Dr. Smith saved the leg of the boy Joseph Smith, future founder of Mormonism, who was then living in nearby Lebanon, New Hampshire. Smith's leg was infected from complications arising from typhoid fever, and Nathan Smith was one of the very few physicians in the United States who could operate successfully on bones thus infected. The doctor, even had he remembered his later-famous patient, died before Joseph Smith came to prominence. (2 copies)
48 [Mormons] Snow, Lorenzo. Superb Autograph Letter Signed to his mother-in-law living in Ohio, presenting the granddaughter whom she had presumably never seen, his own daughter Eliza. Brigham City, Utah Territory, 16 September, year date partially obscured but probably 1869.
One page, written in ink, as opposed to Snow's frequent preference for pencil. In fine condition. With the original cover, addressed to "Mrs. Dutcher, Jefferson, Astabula Co., Ohio"
. . . you gave me your daughter, she has been all I expected . . . God will bless you and you shall come forth in the morning of the resurrection . . .
Acquired in Ohio in 1983. The owner's dog slept upon the paper bag containing this treasure the night before I bought it.
49 [Mormons] Strang, James Jesse. [The Book of the Law of the Lord . . . (Saint James, Michigan, 1856)].
Paged [17]-336, as issued, without preliminary leaves. Contemporary three-quarter calf over marbled boards.
Second, expanded edition. Apparently one of the first copies assembled and bound from sheets rescued after the assassination of Strang. The book was completed just before Strang was murdered, and the unbound sheets were shipped from Beaver Island to Racine, Wisconsin, where various individuals stored them, some letting them fall into decay. On Christmas Day, 1863, authorization was recorded for binding up 100 copies. According to Dale Morgan, however, at least two copies had already been bound nearly two years earlier, belonging to Wingfield and Gilbert Watson, judging from a letter between these brothers, now preserved in the Coe Collection at Yale. My copy bore a 1930 inscription indicating this had belonged to the owner's grandfather, Gilbert Watson.
50 [Mormons] Sunstone of the Nauvoo Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, property of the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County (Illinois) since 1913. The better of two examples known to exist, and the one generally used to illustrate books and articles.
White limestone carved with a radiant sun face surmounted by two hand-and-horn devices. 52" tall, 52" wide at the base, expanding to a width of 6 feet at the top; 16 " deep. Weight approx. 2½ tons.
A major historic monument of Americana. Probably the earliest surviving Mormon sculpture, and the prime iconographic art production of our nation's most successful millenarian / com-munitarian movement. When Joseph Smith saw this sun face in vision, as he claimed in 1844, he had thirty of the massive stones carved and placed as capitols atop the pilasters of his only full-fledged temple, built at Nauvoo, Illinois.
Smith was soon murdered, and the temple was destroyed. The culminating theological symbol which he himself designed to represent the Celestial Kingdom, the highest heavens or "glory of the sun," was nearly lost forever. However, two of the sunstones survived. One, now in the Nauvoo State Park, has suffered major damage to the nose. The finer example, which the Historical Society at Quincy asked me to sell on their behalf ($100,000), now reposes atop a pedestal in the central hall of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, a few feet away from the original Star Spangled Banner.
51 [Mormons] Van Dusen, I[increase]. McGee. Startling Disclosures of the Wonderful Ceremonies of the Mormon Spiritual-Wife System. . . . NY, 1850.
Pamphlet, with 8 full-page lithographed plates (in fine condition).
Only the New York Public Library copy is recorded, and it is badly damaged and lacks all but 2 of the plates. These illustrations are far superior in quality to examples in earlier Van Dusen temple exposés, and appear to be published here for the first time, copyrighted 1850. Flake 9443 seems to show uncut sheets of these plates (without the pamphlet) at Harvard and at the Chicago Historical Society. They are scandalous illustrations, somewhat primitive in style but well-executed, depicting semi-nudity and dancing in the Mormon temple. Some of these pictures were reduced to inferior line engravings of much less interest in later issues of Van Dusen material.
52 [Mormons] Whitmer Family Seer Stone. Said to be the seer stone of Hiram Page. An Indian gorget of polished grey green slate. 50 X 81 X 9 mm.; two small holes drilled. Located in 1955 by Alvin R. Dyer in the possession of Jacob Whitmer's granddaughter in Richmond, Missouri.
Early Mormon seer stones are of the greatest rarity and importance. Joseph Smith used his brown egg-shaped seer stone to translate parts of the Book of Mormon and to receive revelations. Slate similar to that of my Whitmer stone may still be seen on the banks of Seneca Lake, and one might easily imagine the Whitmers plowing up such an artifact on their farm in Fayette, New York. Dyer went so far as to believe that this was Whitmer in-law Hyrum Page's actual stone which threatened Joseph Smith's authority in the earliest days of Mormonism. The counter-revelations obtained through that stone occasioned Joseph Smith's revelation of September, 1830, which branded the stone as a tool of the devil. This, according to Smith's biographer Fawn Brodie, ". . . was the first step toward authoritarianism in his church. The pattern was set."
53 [Mormons] Young, Brigham. Important Letter Signed, to Thomas L. Kane. Great Salt Lake City, U[tah]. T[erritory]., December 15, 1859.
25 X 19½ cm. 6½ pages on four leaves (two folded sheets). Nearly fine, in a very fine hand. Bearing remnants of orange paper stubs with which the letter was mounted in a very old autograph album. Docketed on verso: "Dec. 15, '59. Brigham Young to Col. Kane," and in pencil: "Atty Gen."
A carefully crafted letter seeking greater jurisdiction for local Mormon-controlled probate courts over that of the Federal and military "Bayonet" courts in the Territory. Young asks Kane to procure a written statement from the Attorney General of the United States (Jeremiah S. Black) on this crucial issue (which Black would indeed send to Young in an almost obsequious letter the following spring). Young is forced to deal with the Mountain Meadows Massacre here, which he treats in a curious fashion, expressing unwillingness to hear anything about the event, and insisting that only [Mormon-controlled] probate courts should handle the matter. Brigham describes his horror at the thought of the murders, but denies having had prior knowledge that the massacre might take place, despite the fact that, according to modern historians, he had anxiously dispatched James Haslam, the messenger from southern Utah, back to the Mormon militia with orders not to kill the emigrants.
54 [New York State] The original manuscript order to pay the Seneca Nation their 1802 annuity for the Holland Purchase. Document signed by Henry DEARBORN as Secretary of War under Jefferson, to George Simpson, Cashier of the Bank of the United States. [Washington] 2 March 1802. Israel CHAPIN, western New York State Indian agent, has signed a receipt of payment on the verso, Philadelphia, 6 March 1802.
Small folio, one leaf. Designated in red ink as "Warrant No. 1," authorizing the bank to place $6,250.00 in the hands of Chapin, who had to convey the money to Canandaigua, New York, the place designated for the payment of all such annuities to the various nations of Indians for both the Holland and the Phelps & Gorham Purchases.
55 [New York State] Collection of Twenty-One Manuscript Documents relating to the sale of land in west-central New York State and the Ohio Western Reserve, spanning three generations of the Phelps family. Canandaigua, New York, and Hartford County, Connecticut, 1799-1825.
Listing hundreds of purchasers of land, primarily in Ontario County, New York. These papers apparently belonged to Zechariah Seymour (the Phelps in-law who sold the Mormon Smith Family their farm in Manchester), including an original power of attorney for him signed by Oliver L. Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham. A table of Canandaigua city lots shows 51 feet of frontage sold to pioneer New York State printer James D. Bemis on May 10, 1814, for $772.72, paying $160 down, with the rest to be paid in five years with annual interest.
56 [New York State] Jasper PARRISH. Autograph Letter Signed, to David A. Ogden (in Utica, NY). Canandaigua, New York, 4 July 1816.
33½ X 20 cm. 1½ pages.
Fascinating historical letter in which Indian agent Jasper Parrish apparently maneuvered to get an inside deal purchasing lands of Native Americans who were being forced to move further west:
. . . every circumstance appears favorable to the . . . negotiating . . . betwen the Six Nations, and the western Indians, for a tract of land in the western country. -yesterday there was two Indians runners called on me, they stated that they ware sent by the Chiefs at Buffalo, with message to the Oneidas & Onondargas Indians, to inform them that runners had arived at Buffalo from their western Brothern, to inform the Chiefs of the six Nations, that their would be a deligation of Chiefs from the western tribes of Indians, to hold a general Council with them at buffalo this summer . . .
It is my entention . . . to bring their business to a close, before we attempt to make any overtures, to them for a purches. it is the entention of Capt. Jones & myself to spare no paines to bring this Indians business to a favorable conclusion, and as soon as possible. This will lay a foundation to bring about the great object. I should be very happy to see you here, as you stated in your letter, for I have some communication to make that cannot be done by writing.
When a boy, Parrish spent six years of the American Revolution as an Indian captive. In later years, he was considered an important interpreter and friend to the Indians, and was made a local Indian agent in 1803. Nonetheless, the general policies and attitudes of forcing and "buying" out Native Americans devastated the Indian tribes.
57 [New York State] Four Manuscript Day Books, 1820-21, recording goods received from and shipped to Lewiston, NY, by the teams of Augustus Porter and others.
31 X 10½ cm. Four oblong volumes tied up in plain quires, approximately 135 pages in all. Two are labeled as Receiving Books and two as Forwarding Books, from and to Lewiston.
Recording the transportation of pork, salt, ashes, grain, whiskey, munitions, hides, medical supplies, "1 Box Books" to Detroit, "15 packs furs . . . 10 packs B[uffalo] Robes," and other goods to Ohio, Erie, PA, and elsewhere. The Niagara River was hardly navigable beyond Lewiston, which had only been re-settled for five years (because of the War of 1812) at the time these valuable records were kept. The Porters had to transport goods around the falls under the most primitive conditions, including the use of a sliding car pulled up an inclined plane using a windlass.
58 [New York State] Original Charcoal Portraits of Johnny and Emma Detter, Black children approximately 8-10 years of age. Signed "Ferry." No place (but Lake Placid region?). Dated February 7 and 14, [18]83.
16½ X 12½ and 16½ X 13¼ inches, on paper, traces of mounting on versos. Very good.
Highly appealing mid-chest-length drawings of attractive Black children, said by a previous owner to come from the Lake Placid area. Indeed, the town of North Elba was once an experimental haven for Blacks, and John Brown (of Harper's Ferry fame) assisted some of the early families in establishing farms there. Johnny and Emma have apparently each identified their portrait in their own hand, in the margin. Emma's hair is tied back in a sort of pony tail, with curly bangs; Johnny sports a small-brimmed hat, coat and tie.
59 Nixon, Howard M. Broxbourne Library: Styles and Designs of Bookbindings from the Twelfth to the Twentieth Century. London, 1956. First edition, one of 300 printed. A fine copy.
60 Ossoli, Sarah Margaret Fuller, Marchioness of. Woman in the Nineteenth Century. NY, 1845. First edition, first issue. In the original blue-green wrappers (backstrip gone). I was approached at a country antiques show by two ladies from Goodwill Industries who wondered if some of their old donated books might have any value . . .
The first American literary feminist landmark, . . . the book marked an era in feminist thought. In it the author championed the unrestricted self-unfoldment of women, the concept of egalitarianism, and women's legal, educational, and economic rights. . . . The book helped clear the ground for the first women's rights convention, in Seneca Falls, N.Y., in 1848; but it remains less timely than timeless, less particular than generic, less parochial than universal. It is the work of a feminist who was also a humanitarian, of a special advocate who was also a citizen of the world. [Madeleine B. Stern and Paulette Rose, "25 Landmark Feminist Books of the 19th Century," AB Bookman's Weekly 86 (November 26, 1990), pp. 2098, 2100]
61 [Paltock, Robert] The Life and Adventures of Peter Wilkins, A Cornish Man: Relating Particularly, His Shipwreck Near the South Pole; His Wonderful Passage Thro' a Subterraneous Cavern Into a Kind of New World; His There Meeting with a Gawry or Flying Woman . . . Illustrated with Several Cuts, Clearly and Distinctly Representing the Structure and Mechanism of the Wings of the Glums and Gawrys, and the Manner in Which They Use Them Either to Swim or Fly. By R. S., a Passenger in the Hector. London, 1751. First edition. Duodecimo, 2 volumes, 6 plates, one folding. A fine set in a later ornate red morocco binding by Francis Bedford. The authorship of this popular romance remained a mystery for half a century after it was first published.
62 Romischer Kayserlicher Maiestat Geordent Camer-gericht Auff dem Reichstag zu Worms &c. [Mainz: Johannes Schöffer, 1521]. Folio, 18ff. Triple lime leaf ornament on title. Regulations governing the Imperial Supreme Court convened at Worms in conjunction with the famous Diet which proscribed Martin Luther that year. Printed by the son and successor of Peter Schöffer, of earliest printing fame.
63 Ruskin, John. Dame Wiggins of Lee, and Her Seven Wonderful Cats . . . London, 1897. Signed by Kate Greenaway, the illustrator. With an 1898 Christmas presentation from "Auntie Frances" to a young boy of the distinguished Younghusband family, who apparently died in childhood.
64 SEAVER, James E. A NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF MRS. MARY JEMISON, Who was Taken by the Indians in the Year 1755, When Only About Twelve Years of Age, and Has Continued to Reside Amongst Them to the Present Time. . . . Canandaigua: Printed by J.D. Bemis and Co., 1824. First edition. Rare. Howes S263: "One of the most authentic and interesting of captivity narratives, told by one who spent a long life among the Senecas and was the first white woman to descend the Ohio." (2 copies)
65 [Shakers] [McNemar, Richard] A Concise Answer, to the General Inquiry, Who, or What are the shakers. Union Village, [OH], 1823.
3¾ X 3½ inches. 12 pages. In the original plain blue wrappers. A very fine, clean copy. First Edition, reprinted and/or expanded at least a dozen times between 1825 and 1868. Extremely rare.
Homely verse intended for sincere inquirers who "cannot procure the larger volumes of information published by the Church, or society." When the third edition of The Testimony of Christ's Second Appearing was printed at Union Village that same year, McNemar worked from 4:00 a.m. until dark at the printing office each day, setting out a cold breakfast before retiring. He had originally written the Concise Answer in 1808 in response to an inquiry from a curious
writer in Georgia, but only manuscript copies were circulated. The following selections provide a sampling of the charm and spirit of this significant piece:
|
A Church or people have of late, |
We meet on ev'ry sabbath day, |
66 [Shakers] [STOFFEL, Margaretha] REMARKABLE PROPHECY [caption title]. [New Gloucester (Maine), March 1854].
12½ X 9½ cm. 18 pages + blank endpapers. In the original plain wrappers. In fine condition.
Printed by Deacon James Holmes, the octogenarian Shaker printer "who has neither press nor fixtures for printing, the types excepted, but those of his own invention . . ." [see Richmond 821 for this note]. Bearing a presentation inscription in pencil in a nineteenth-century hand: "For Sister Judith Rich From Otis S[awyer?] with much love." Very Rare.
67 [Shakers] [YOUNGS, Benjamin Seth] THE TESTIMONY OF CHRIST'S SECOND APPEARING; Containing a General Statement of All Things Pertaining to the Faith and Practice of the Church of God in This Latter Day. . . . Lebanon, State of Ohio: From the Press of John M'Clean, Office of the Western Star, 1808.
18.2 cm. (height of pages). 600 pp., without the added poem or errata leaves. Contemporary or early half-calf over marbled boards; black leather spine
label, "SHAKING QUAKERS";. small and very early printed bookplate reading "Elijah Hebard's property."First edition, extremely scarce. Sometimes called "The Shaker Bible," written to clarify and consolidate doctrines for Shakers and outsiders alike. "The first, greatest and most authentic theological work of the sect, and the one still relied on as clearly setting forth the tenets of its faith . . ." —MacLean 101.
68 Siringo, Charles A. History of "Billy the Kid." The True Life of the Most Daring Young Outlaw of the Age. [Santa Fe, 1920]. First edition, in the original stiff pictorial wrappers. Siringo spent several weeks with Bonney in the winter of 1878-9. This very scarce book, if inaccurate, reinforced the legends of "A cowboy outlaw whose youthful daring has never been equalled in the annals of criminal history."
69 Tennyson, Alfred. Maud, and Other Poems. London, 1855. First edition. With the engraved card of Baron de Rothschild and his family, the verso signed by "Miss Thackeray [and] Mr. Tennyson," who had apparently come to call. (Tennyson looked after Anne Thackeray after her father died.)
70 Thomson, Edward (1810-70). The original travel diary / typesetters' manuscript written by this Methodist Episcopal bishop while establishing the church in India and China. Together with the original manuscript of Thomson's most important theological work.
21 X 13 cm. Approximately 1,000 pages on loose blue and white writing paper leaves.
These manuscripts were published as Our Oriental Missions (Cincinnati & NY, 1870; 2 volumes) and Evidences of Revealed Religion (Cincinnati & NY, 1872). Stab marks and pencilled typesetters' names on the travel manuscript demonstrate that the book was set from the original record. The publishers confirm:
Our last interview with [Bishop Thomson], was scarcely a month before his death, when he entered our office, placed the manuscripts of these articles on the editor's table, and said, "There they are, such as they are; do whatever your judgment directs; publish them if you think them worthy of publication, and cut, omit, or prune as you think best." This from one of the greatest masters of classic English our Church has yet produced; and this, too, with regard to a series of the most eloquent and discriminating letters ever written on the great empires of India and China . . ." (Vol. 2, pp. 277-8)
The following extract is copied from an entry en route to China:
The waves roll over the quarter deck, one can take no exercise. The ports being closed the air of the cabin is impure. The ship is filled, even the state rooms, with opium, fish & melted ghee, part of which is rancid. The small pox appears among the sailors & the sick man in order to prevent the spread of the disease was brought into the cabin & placed in a state room near mine. We have no physician on board. The thermometer stands steadily at 85°. . . . At length the storm seems to do its worst, the jib boom is carried away, the figurehead is dashed to pieces, the cry of a man overboard pierces our ears.
I found these unidentified manuscripts in the trunk of a retired bookseller who had never examined them, having purchased them years earlier at a country auction for $7.50.
71 THOMPSON, D[aniel]. P[ierce]. MAY MARTIN: Or The Money Diggers. A Green Mountain Tale. Montpelier [VT]: E.P. Walton and Son, 1835. First Edition (in book form; first printed as a prize-winning entry in the New England Galaxy. Several copies sold). Thompson, author of The Green Mountain Boys, practiced law in his native state and often went fishing with local oldsters, gleaning information on the traditions of the area. This highly engaging story, which won the writer a $50 prize, deals with occult treasure digging. The following extract typifies the intrigue:
'But what can be the reason that you cannot see in the stone at one time as well as another?'
'No one can exactly tell. A friend of mine who has the faculty . . . supposes it is the devil that casts a mist before the stone . . . One must keep his mind intently fixed on what he expects to discover, and wait with patience till the stone clears, and then if there is any thing to be found, he will be sure to see it, and all the objects by which it is surrounded.'
'How wonderful! By heavens, if I only had the faculty, I—
'Hush—hush—Martin, it begins to clear.' [-pp.46-7]
72 Urquhart, Sir John, of Cromarty (Scotland). Lengthy Manorial Court Roll in English bearing transumption of sasine from Sir John's father John Urquhart of Craigfintray, Laithers, and Craigston, to Sir John and his wife Issobelle Irving. May - August, 1655. Manuscript on paper, 666 X 12 inches (55½ feet in length). With Sir John's concurrent rental agreement to George Stewart of Culphin and Janet Barclay, his wife, August, 1655.
Macbeth once presided over these estates as Thane of Ross and Cromarty. Sir John was a cousin to Sir Thomas Urquhart, noted author of The Jewel and translator of Rabelais. According to tradition, Sir John ultimately killed himself with his own sword in an apartment of the old castle, which bore the blood stains until it was torn town in the eighteenth century.
73 [Van Spaendonck, Gernit] Souvenirs de Van-Spaendonck, ou Receueil de Fleurs . . . Paris, 1826. Oblong quarto, 19 lithographed plates of flowers, delicately hand colored.. Unusual floral-design marbled endpapers. First edition, in a contemporary binding. Van Spaendonck was the teacher of Redouté.
74 Vaughan, George E. Small Card Signed and Inscribed, "God Bless the Name of President Lincoln . . ." Vaughan had been saved from execution as a Confederate spy during the Civil War by a pardon signed by Lincoln who was at that moment dressed to leave for Ford's Theater.
75 Vindiciae, Contra Tyrannos: Sive, De Principis in Populum, Populique in Principem, Legitima Potestate, Stephano Iunio Bruto Celta, Auctore. Edimburgi, Anno M. D. LXXIX. [actual place of publication unknown, perhaps Basel], 1579.
Octavo, 15 cm. [7]ff.; 236 pp.; [2]ff., lacking final blank. Eighteenth-century calf gilt, expertly rebacked; from the library of Cornelius Paine, with his signature and bookplate; ruled in red throughout. A very nice copy.
First edition of one of the most important syntheses on contract government between God, prince, and subject to appear in the sixteenth century, and preceding Locke's Two Treatises of Government by more than one hundred years. The authorship and place of publication are unknown; the book has been attributed over the centuries to Hubert Languet, Phillippe du Plessis-Mornay, Theodore Beza, and others.
According to this Huguenot Vindication Against Tyrants, one has the right, through properly constituted authorities, to depose monarches who prevent one from serving God. Few of the countless other polemics which grew out of the French Wars of Religion dealt in political and philosophical theory to any degree comparable to their rabid personal castigations of the foes at hand. It is therefore the Vindiciae' s distillation of political theories from masses of lesser contemporary works which sets it apart from the profusion of overnight tracts, pamphlets, and treatises which sprang up throughout the second half of the century, and establishes it as a milestone in the development of modern political thought.
76 The Western Recorder (Zanesville, Ohio). Volumes I-II, unbroken run, in 104 weekly issues, with volumes VIII-IX. 18 July 1839 - 18 August 1841; 8 October 1846 - 28 September 1848.
Editor A.H. Bassett's own copy, signed. A student at Indiana University, employed in a paper-pulping plant, balked at the idea of chopping these volumes to shreds, and contacted me. Judging from several bibliographies, it would appear that this is the only known set in existence (part of the unique set, from all indications, listed in Norton, Religious Newspapers in the Old Northwestt, p.177) At $1,000 in my subsequent catalogue, there were several takers. My take was 30%, the rest helping to pay the intelligent student's tuition. The Western Recorder was a newspaper aimed particularly at members of the Methodist Church, with local, national and world news mixed with the ecclesiastical matter.
77 [Zoar Community] Three highly scarce imprints by this smallest of American nineteenth-century separatist religious communities, located in eastern Ohio. Sammlung Auser-lesener Geistlicher Lieder . . . (Zoar, 1855); . . . Zweite, Vermehrte und Verbesserte Auflage (Zoar, 1867); Joseph Michael Bimeler, Die Wahre Separation . . . (vols. 3-4 in one, Zoar, 1858; comprising two of the six parts of Bimeler's known addresses).
The Zoarites apparently never numbered more than 326. They emigrated from Württemberg in 1817, purchased lands in Zoar, Ohio, and thrived under the leadership of Joseph Michael Bäumler ("Bimeler"). Participants deeded their land and possessions to the community, and observed a religious code which discouraged marriage. The had few books and no formal canon, but met weekly to listen to the extemporaneous addresses of Bimeler, whose death in 1853 marked the beginning of the group's ultimate decline and dissolution by the end of the century.
Missing the weekly lectures of Bimeler, the Zoarites turned to the manuscripts written by one of their number for a deaf father. They purchased a hand press, hired a printer, and published an impressive amount of text which had been recorded, all from the 1820s and 30s. Two editions of hymns were printed, and six volumes of Bimeler's addresses (issued in three physical volumes). While there is no record of the number of copies produced, the issues must have been very small., being in German and obviously intended only for the few hundred members of the commune, most of whom were women and children. The addresses of Bimeler were never translated, and by the early twentieth century, these Zoar imprints were already rare even among the survivors of the original families.