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KINSEI KIJIN-DEN

KINSEI KIJIN-DEN

[EHON] Mikuma Katen, artist [EHON] Mikuma Katen, artist. KINSEI KIJIN-DEN, 5 vols. Kyoto, Hishiya Magobei, et al. Kansei 2 [1790]. String-bound Japanese-style fukuro toji, in textured blue-grey covers with printed paper title labels. 37 single page and 2 double page b+w woodcuts, largely depicting the subject matter of the title: TALES OF ECCENTRICS FROM RECENT YEARS. Originally printed, as here, in 1790, this is a deservedly famous and oft-reprinted work in Japan. This is probably a relatively early reprint. It has Wonderful thin paper. The KIJIN_DEN catalogues the eccentricities and eccentrics of the late 18th Century - a time of florescence of the "bunjin" literati ideal in Japan. The bunjin created an esthetically pure environment in the midst of the bustle (and corruption) of everyday life. The initial exemplars were those scholars and artists who withdrew from public life in China after the fall of the Ming Dynasty to the alien Manchus in the mid-17th Century. The KIJIN-DEN represents one of the efforts by the Japanese to domesticate a Chinese cultural import and find native representatives of the literati ideal. It should be noted that this guide came out just as the Kansei Reforms, with a decidedly Confucian, if not authoritarian, bent, had just been promulgated. The "kijin" or literatus might well chafe under such a "reform" agenda. This book even well be seen as a bit of cultural protest on behalf of the individual ideal. The KIJIN-DEN is interesting for its exploration of the art world in Japan- for example, there is a domestic scene of the painters Ikeno Taiga and wife Gyokuran, among others. (Unfortunately, it is the only torn woodcut with part of the image missing) Indeed, there are many women depicted in the KIJIN-DEN. (See JAPANESE WOMEN ARTISTS 1600-1900) Also see Ryerson 416, Mitchell 364, Hillier/Ravicz 22. The condition is good over all, the printings are fair to good. There was a second series done some few years later, but this first series is complete as issued in 5 volumes.
  • $975
Il Roccolo ditirambo di Valeriano Acanti Acc. Olimpico Vicentino.

Il Roccolo ditirambo di Valeriano Acanti Acc. Olimpico Vicentino.

ACANTI, Aureliano (CANATI, Valeriano). Quarto (255 x 190 mm.), xxiv, 67 pages with allegorical vignette on title page, two more vignette in the text and a folding table, all engraved by Cunego. Two small defects on spine but a very good copy in ontemporary boards with manuscript title on spine. First edition of the earliest account of wines from the Veneto region, containing the first mention of Prosecco. One of the most important and rare works on the history of Italian wine, Il Roccolo ditirambo disguises itself as a dithyrambic poem in honour of Dionysus to sing the praises of Venetian enology.  The work is dedicated to Count Gelio Ghellini, patriarch of one of the most powerful families of Vicenza, on the occasion of the marriage of his daughter Elena to Count Simandio Chiericati and it is illustrated with a a fold-out engraving of a pastoral scene including vineyard plantations from count Ghellini's villa, as well as two small bucolic scenes at the beginning and end of the poem, engraved by Domenico Cunego from Verona.Publishing under the pseudonym and anagram Aureliano Acanti, the author Valeriano Canati (1706 - 1787) was an Italian priest of the Theatines order, as well as a poet, member of the Venetian Accademia Olimpica. Lyrically, Canati recounts the emergence of ?the son of Bacchus' from a subterranean cloister and his discovery of the idealistic rural scenery he encounters. Soon enough he encounters vineyards and plunges into a passionate and playful discovery of different wines, producing vivid descriptions of their colour, flavour, fullness as well as their effects on the drinker. Of note is the mention of Prosecco as a sweet and cloudy, but pure and healthy wine: ?Con quel melaromatico Prosecco.//Di Monteberico questo perfetto//Prosecco eletto ci dà lo splendido//Nostro Canonico. Io lo conosco//Egli è un po' fosco, e sembra torbido;//Ma pur è un balsamo sì puro e sano' (p.29).  Il Roccolo ditirambo is a fascinating work, both as a commemoration of late eighteenth century Italian enology and a historical record of colossal academic value.Extremely rare, only four copies have been auctioned in the past twenty-five years, and WorldCat records only three copies: The British Library, Staatsbibliothek Berlin, and Biblioteca intercomunale di Fiera di Primiero. Three facsimiles have been published, in 1971 by the Accademia italiana della cucina, Milan, in 2003 by Provincia di Vicenza, and in 2011 under ?La modernità del pensiero vitivinicolo di Aureliano Acanti nel Roccolo ditirambo (1754)? by Antonio Calò and Angelo Costacurta (Biblioteca La Vigna, Vicenza). Morazzoni 211.
  • $6,008
  • $6,008
La reale medicide

La reale medicide, esponente nella morte di Don Garzia i fatti piu? speciali di Cosimo Duca II. di Firenze . Tragica festa teatrale, illustrata di rami e d’istoriche annotazioni.

CATANI, Francesco Saverino. Quarto (240 x 180 mm.), 190 pages with 9 full pages illustarion engraved by Matteo Carboni: two allegory of the Medici family, one view of Palazzo Pitti and six portraits ( Cosimo, Eleonora, Francesco, Giovanni, Garzia and Ferdinando de'Medici). A very fine copy in contemporary boards with manuscript title on spine. First edition of Francesco Catani's (1755-1789) first published work, a tragic theatrical representation of the Medici family's history. The stage play was based on Garzia de' Medici's (1547-1562) death from Malaria when travelling to Spain, along with his brother Giovanni di Cosimo's and mother Eleonora of Toledo's death in the surrounding weeks. Each member of the family is presented through portraits engraved by Matteo Carboni, consisting in total of six illustrations: Cosimo I, Eleonora di Toledo, Francesco I, Giovanni di Cosimo I, Garzia di Toscana and Ferdinando I. The work includes further engravings by Carboni, being two allegorical tables with a motto and a  view of Palazzo Pitti in Florence. It is dedicated to Marquis Vincenzo Capponi, a Florentine patrician.La reale medicide was structured in five acts joined by cantatas, dithyrambs and dances which pertain very little to the solemnity of the piece. It was the first in a projected series of seven tragic theatrical festivals, of which only a second work was written the following year, the Bianca Capello. Both pieces were heavily criticised in the press, particularly in Catani's own journalistic publication Giornale fiorentino istorico-politico-letterario, a periodical ran in collaboration with Modesto Rastrelli, author of Morte di Alessandro de' Medici (1780). In particular, the play's contrived nature, lack of creativity and artificiality were emphasized, even advising the author to "change profession " (Catani, Francesco Maria Xaverio in Dizionario Biografico). Catani did not pursue further a career in theatre, focusing his energy on the publication of Giornale fiorentino with Rastrelli. The periodical contained roughly four themes: extracts from works, literary varieties, political reflections, and poetry. To this journalistic enterprise C. tried to associate various personalities including Benjamin Franklin, to whom he wrote on the 2nd of January 1778, inviting him to collaborate in a casual manner. Catani's later publications followed the previous political thematic, and were printed in his own house, in collaboration with Girolamo Betti with who he also carried out a trade in books.  Melzi, III, p. 394. 
  • $3,605
  • $3,605
Allgemeine Relativitätstheorie und Bewegungsgesetz. Offprint from Sitzungsbericht der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. (THE PROBLEM OF MOTION IN GENERAL RELATIVITY). 6 January 1927

Allgemeine Relativitätstheorie und Bewegungsgesetz. Offprint from Sitzungsbericht der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. (THE PROBLEM OF MOTION IN GENERAL RELATIVITY). 6 January 1927, pp. 2-13

Einstein, A. [Albert]; Grommer, J. [Jakob] FIRST EDITION, OFFPRINT ISSUE IN ORIGINAL PAPER WRAPS, VERY GOOD CONDITION. "Einstein and Grommer's work [treats] the particle as a singularity in the field, and attempts[s] to obtain the equations of motion by imposing conditions on the exterior field in the neighborhood of the singularity" (Stachel, Einstein from â??B' to'Z', pp. 507). Weil 155. In 1927, Einstein's research "concentrated on a new approach to the problem of the motion of particles in a general field theory" (Mehra, The Golden Age of Theoretical Physics, 997). He presented his work, conducted with Jakob Grommer in this report. Einstein and Grommer here show that â??in the case of a pure gravitational field the mechanical behavior of singularities can be derived,' a result which in Einstein's opinion â??opened the possibility to obtain, on the basis of the field equations, a theory of matter characterized as discontinuities in space' (ibid, 997; Einstein and Grommer, 1927). "After Einstein had tried for years to obtain a theory of material particles in a generalized field theory by describing these objects with the help of continuous functions, Einstein and Grommer now proposed â??to consider elementary particles as singular points or singular world lines, respectively,' motivated by the observation â??that both the equations of the pure gravitational field and the equations augmented by Maxwell's electromagnetic field possess simple spherically-symmetric solutions which contain a singularity' (ibid). Finally they arrived at the result: In the approximation of the gravitational field obtained by solving linearized equations, the equation of motion for a singularity is completely determined - at least in the case of equilibrium - and corresponds to the law of a geodetic line" (ibid). CONDITION & DETAILS: Berlin: Verlag der Akademie der Wiss. Pp. 2-13. Offprint in original wraps. (10 x 7.25 inches; 250 x 181mm). Toning at the edges & bearing the ownership stamp of "Friedrich Wilhelm Ritter" (W. F. Ritter) 1839-1929. Ritter had a large library. Very good condition.
  • $200
Esperienze Intorno alla Generazione Deglinsetti Fatte da Francesco Redi Accademia della Crusca

Esperienze Intorno alla Generazione Deglinsetti Fatte da Francesco Redi Accademia della Crusca, e scritte in una letters, 1674 [MASTERPIECE REFUTING SPONTANEOUS REGENERATION; 39 COPPERPLATE ENGRAVINGS]

Redi, Francesco THIRD EDITION OF FRANCESCO REDI'S MASTERPIECE REFUTING SPONTANEOUS REGENERATION, first published in 1668. "A milestone in the history of modern science," Redi's book outlines the first series of experiments to disprove 'spontaneous generation' -- "a theory also known as Aristotelian abiogenesis" (Wikipedia). Francesco Redi was an Italian physician, naturalist, and poet. Redi's seminal work includes 39 particularly gorgeous copperplate engravings. "At the time, [the] prevailing wisdom was that maggots arose spontaneously from rotting meat"; in other words, that nonliving matter could generate the production of living organisms" (ibid). In his experiments, Redi captured maggots and waited for them to metamorphose, becoming flies. "Also, when dead flies or maggots were put in sealed jars with dead animals or veal, no maggots appeared, but when the same thing was done with living flies, maggots did" (Wikipedia). Redi compared two groups of meat: "the first left exposed to insects, and the second group covered by a barrier of gauze. In the exposed meat, flies laid eggs, which quickly hatched into maggots. On the gauze-covered meat, no maggots appeared, but Redi observed fly eggs on the outer surface of the gauze" (Benecke, A Brief History of Forensic Entomology). Knowing full well the terrible fates of out-spoken scientists like Giordino Bruno and Galileo Galilei, Redi was careful to express his new views in a manner that would not contradict to theological tradition of the Church; hence, his interpretations were always based on biblical passages, such as his famous adage: omne vivum ex vivo ('All life comes from life')" (Wikipedia). CONDITION & DETAILS: Florenz: Onofri. 1674. Quarto (9.5 x 7 inches; 238 x 175mm). Complete. [4], 136, [39], 1. 39 copperplate engravings in near fine condition (29 numbered; 10 unnumbered; 3 large folding). Vellum bound with the title written on the spine in an early hand. A large section of the vellum has been cut from the rear board and is missing. The binding and its stitching, however, remain very solid. Vellum has some creasing, but is still handsome. Two early ownership signatures; see photos. Consistent with its age, slight toning within.
  • $1,300
  • $1,300
Appendix Deß Fünfften Theils Opervm Theophrasti

Appendix Deß Fünfften Theils Opervm Theophrasti, In welchem folgende Bücher begriffen: I. Außlegung primae Sectionis Aphorismorum Hippocratis. II. Der Modo Phlebotomandi, dz ist Vnderricht vom Aderlassen. III. De Vrinis, de Pvlsibus, & de Physignomia medica. IIII. De Modo Pharmacandi.

Paracelsus, Philippus Bombastus von Hohemheim: 179 S., 16 nn. Bll. (Index). Mit einigen figürlichen Holzschnitt--Initialen und einer Falttafel (Schematismus) zur Urin-Diagnose. 4°. Gebunden in lat. Pergamenthandschrift des Mittelalters mit marm. Papierrücken des 19. Jhdts; Rückenschild. Vgl. VD16 P373. Der Text ist entnommen der maßgeblichen Paracelsus-Ausgabe von Joh. Huser und entspricht 5.2, S. 695-786; jedoch mit neuer Seitenzahl und eigenem Index, nach dem hier ein Gedicht von Paul Linck folgt: "Naturae geminae qui NOVA prospero". Linck, Mitherausgeber der Werkausgabe, hatte noch Zugang zu den Paracelsus-Autographen und verfaßte insgesamt 3 Gedichte zum Lobe des Paracelsus. Die Pergamenthandschrift des Einbandes in einer (karolingischer?) Minuskel ist schwer lesbar (klein, voller Abbreviaturen und Ligaturen) und für mich nicht entzifferbar; sie stammt wahrscheinlich aus dem Beginn des 14. Jhdts und enthält einen Kommentar zum Neuen Testament (mit Dank für den Hinweis an Ingo Fleisch von manuscryptum, Berlin). Einband berieben und fleckig; obere Kante des Vorderdeckels mit Wurmfraß; Rückenschild mit Fehlstelle; zeitgenössischer Besitzeintrag auf Titelei, dort auch kleiner Wasserrfleck, der sich bis S. 15 fortsetzt; papierbedingt gebräunt; zu Beginn mit schwacher Knickfalte in der Ecke; auf vorderem Spiegel zeitgenössischer Bibl.-Eintrag, dann unleserliches Bibl.-Papiersiegel mit Rundstempel, dann kl. Bibl.-Schild des 19. Jhdts, schließlich das Bibl.-Exlibris eines Dr. Maximilian Joseph Pfeiffer, Deutscher Gesandter in Wien, 1921-1926. DE = Appendix zum 5. Band der Werkausgabe, hg. von Joh. Huser.
  • $1,671
  • $1,671
The Absent-Minded Beggar Copyright in England and the United States by the Daily Mail Publishing Co.

The Absent-Minded Beggar Copyright in England and the United States by the Daily Mail Publishing Co.,

KIPLING, Rudyard. 'This souvenir is presented by Mrs. Langtry on the occasion of the 100th performance of the "Degenerates" at the Garrick Theatre. For permission to use Mr. Kipling's poem Mrs. Langtry has made to the "Daily Mail" a contribution of £100 for the benefit of the wives and children of the Reservists fighting in South Africa.' Kipling wrote 'The Absent-Minded Beggar' to assist the Daily Mail's 'Soldiers' Families Fund', established to raise money for comforts such as tobacco, cocoa, and soap for the troops, and clothing and postage for parcels from home for their families. Many of the men mobilised were ex-soldiers in permanent employment for whom returning to military duty meant a significant cut in their income, and there was no legislation to protect Reservists' employment. Poverty hit many families when the lifestyle maintained comfortably on a workman's wage of twenty shillings could not be kept up on the infantryman's 'shilling a day': When you've shouted "Rule Britannia" when you've sung "God Save the Queen" When you've finished killing Kruger with your mouth Will you kindly drop a shilling in my little tambourine For a gentleman in kharki ordered South? The poem was first published in the Daily Mail on 31 October 1899; both Kipling and the artist Richard Caton Woodvillethe image of a defiant Tommy was commissioned to accompany Kipling's poem, and endlessly reproducedcontributed their fees, and the Fund raised £100,000 in three months. While not rare in commerce, this is a particularly nice example, well preserved. Folding cream silk 'triptych' (287 × 588 mm; 287 × 200 mm when folded), printed in green, the poem in manuscript facsimile, portrait of Kipling on the front and Richard Caton Woodville's 'A gentleman in kharki' inside printed in sanguine; the silk stitched over three pieces of card, as issued; in very good condition.
  • $376
Fasciculus homileticarum dispositionum

Fasciculus homileticarum dispositionum, annis circiter XXVII seorsim editarum: videlicet CCXX in textus sacros poenitentiales. Et V in totidem textus sollenn. grat. act. Accedunt nunc quoque XIII homiliæ juridicæ: auctoribus b. Johanne Gezelio patre, et Johanne Gezelio j.f.

GEZELIUS, JOHANNES d.ä. & GEZELIUS, JOHANNES d.y. Åbo, J. Winter, 1693. 4:o. (16),136,136-41,141-51,151-353,336-37,356-796,(38) pp. Contemporary vellum, soiled, with old handwritten title on spine. Red edges. Ink stains on front cover. Insert loose at front hinge, where a brochure has been cut out. Rear hinge also a little weak. Some foxing in margins. Multiple underlinings and margin notes. Index leaves at the end with dampstains in upper margin. Contemporary latin dedications on pastedowns.Collijn Sveriges bibliografi 1600-talet 318. "Svenskt biografiskt lexikon" writes: "As vice-chancellor at Åbo akademi G took a special interest in the theological faculty and in making the teaching there more effective. For a number of years he held lectures in homiletics and supervised preaching exercises. He attached great importance to the morning service sermon and published outlines for sermons that were frequently used by the clergy, to the benefit of the preaching within the diocese". [Our translation.] Johannes Gezelius the elder (1615-90) died before the present work was published and it was finished by his son, Johannes Gezelius the younger (1647-1718), who succeeded his father as bishop in Åbo.
  • $1,006
  • $1,006
General Hugh Mercer's WillNoting the Plantation he Purchased from George Washington (Ferry Farm

General Hugh Mercer’s WillNoting the Plantation he Purchased from George Washington (Ferry Farm, Washington’s Boyhood Home), and Instructions to Executors to “hire negroes” to Work the Plantation for the Benefit of his Wife and Children

REVOLUTIONARY WAR. SLAVERY. GEORGE WASHINGTON. HUGH MERCER Manuscript Document, Contemporary Copy of Last Will and Testament, March 20, 1776, Fredericksburg, Virginia. 4 pp., 7 1/2 x 11 5/8 in. "I direct that after my decease my dear Wife Isabella (if she survive me) and my children do reside on my plantation in King George County adjoining to Mr James Hunter's Land which Plantation I purchased from General George Washington and that my Executors hereafter named out of my personal Estate purchase or hire negroes as they shall think best to work the said Plantation.""I further direct my Books Drugs surgical Instruments shop utensils and Furniture to be sold and also such Household Furniture Negroes or stocks of Cattle and Horses as may appear to my Executors hereafter named to be for the benefit of my Personal Estate."Written shortly after Hugh Mercer became the colonel of the 3rd Virginia Regiment of the Virginia Line, his last will and testament disposed of his real and personal property, including slaves among his wife Isabella Gordon Mercer and children, including one yet to be born.After playing a key role in the Battles of Trenton, in January 1777 at the Battle of Princeton, Mercer's horse was shot from under him, and he was mortally wounded. Vastly outnumbered and mistaken by the British for George Washington, he was ordered to surrender. Instead, he drew his sword, and was bayonetted seven times. He died nine days later. Historical BackgroundGeorge Washington's family moved to Ferry Farm, outside of Fredericksburg, in King George County, Virginia, in 1738, when he was six years old. His father died in 1743, while they lived there, and George Washington eventually inherited the farm and lived there with his mother and siblings until his early 20s. His mother lived there until 1772, when she moved to a house in Fredericksburg. After leasing the tillable and pasture lands of Ferry Farm for two years, George Washington sold it in April 1774 to Scottish physician and fellow French and Indian War veteran Hugh Mercer for £2,000 Virginia currency, due in five annual payments plus interest.Mercer was appointed colonel of what became the 3rd Virginia Regiment of the Virginia Line in January 1776. Both future President James Monroe and future Chief Justice John Marshall served as officers under his command. By June 1776, the Continental Congress had appointed him as a brigadier general in the Continental Army, and he left for New York to oversee the construction of Fort Lee on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River.Mercer played major roles in the First and Second Battles of Trenton on December 26, 1776, and January 2, 1777. While he was leading a vanguard of soldiers to Princeton on January 3, Mercer's horse was shot from under him. British soldiers mistook Mercer for Washington and ordered him to surrender. Instead, Mercer drew his saber and attacked though heavily outnumbered. The British troops bayonetted him seven times and left him for dead. General Washington rallied Mercer's men, pushed back the British regiment, and continued the attack on Princeton. Despite medical attention from Dr. Benjamin Rush and local Quakers, Mercer died nine days later from his wounds.In 1791, Painter John Trumbull used Mercer's son Hugh Tennent Weedon Mercer, who was five months old when his father died, as a model for the large painting, The Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777, on which Trumbull worked for many years.Hugh Mercer (1726-1777) was born in Scotland as the son of a minister in the Church of Scotland. He studied medicine at the University of Aberdeen's Marischal College and graduated as a physician in 1744. He served as an assistant surgeon under Bonnie Prince Charlie and was present at the army's defeat at the Battle of Culloden in April 1746. He went into hiding and fled to America in 1747, settling in Pennsylvania, where he practiced medicine. During the French and Indian War, he joined a Pennsylvania regiment as. (See website for full description)
  • $12,500
  • $12,500
California Constitution First Printing in Book FormOne of Earliest Printings in San Francisco

California Constitution First Printing in Book FormOne of Earliest Printings in San Francisco

CALIFORNIA Constitution of the State of California. San Francisco: Office of the Alta California, 1849. 16 pp., 5 3/4 x 9 5/8 in. "We, the People of California, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure its blessings, do establish this Constitution." (p3)Art. I, "Sec. 18. Neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crimes, shall ever be tolerated in this State." (p4) Historical BackgroundIn January 1848, a carpenter first found gold at a sawmill owned by John Sutter on the South Fork American River northeast of Sacramento, launching the California Gold Rush. As news of the discovery spread, prospectors flocked to the new U.S. territory of California, 81,000 arriving in 1849 and another 91,000 in 1850. Over the next seven years, approximately 300,000 people came to California seeking gold or supplying prospectors. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican War in February 1848 made California, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado and parts of New Mexico and Arizona American territory.On June 3, 1849, Brigadier General Bennett C. Riley (1787-1853), the ex officio governor of California under U.S. military rule, issued a proclamation calling for a constitutional convention and the election of delegates to it on August 1. Voters elected 48 delegates, who convened in Monterey for six weeks in September and October 1849. William E. Shannon (1822-1850) of Sacramento proposed a section declaring that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude "shall ever be tolerated in this State," which was unanimously adopted and made part of the bill of rights in the first article. The constitution also guaranteed the right to vote to "every white male citizen of the United States, and every white male citizen of Mexico, who shall have elected to become a citizen of the United States" who was also at least twenty-one years old. The office of the Alta California newspaper in San Francisco printed this pamphlet for California's citizens to review before casting their ballots. Voters ratified the new state constitution on November 13. On December 1, 1849, the issue of the Alta California for the Steamer Unicorn reported early results on the ratification of the constitution and election of state officers: "From every precinct yet heard from, the meagerness of the vote is accounted for by the fact that the rain fell in torrents. Some complaint is also made that the printed copies of the Constitution were not properly circulated, and that is said to be one reason of the large vote against it in the Sacramento District." According to the precincts reporting from the Sacramento District, 5,002 voted in favor of the constitution and 603 against it. The final vote of the state was 12,061 for the constitution, and 811 against it.The rapid expansion of California's population inspired discussions of its status within the Union. In his annual message to Congress in December 1849, President Zachary Taylor noted the constitutional convention recently held and his expectation that California would soon apply for statehood, which he encouraged. Two months later, President Taylor submitted this California Constitution and a proposal to admit California as a new state to Congress. Taylor's death on July 9, 1850, elevated Millard Fillmore to the presidency. Fillmore supported the Compromise of 1850, engineered by Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky. One of the five acts that composed the Compromise of 1850 was "An Act for the Admission of the State of California into the Union." On September 9, 1850, Fillmore signed the act into law, and California became the 31st state in the Union.The Alta California began publication on January 4, 1849, as a weekly newspaper. Edward C. Kemble, Edward Gilbert, and George C. Hubbard were the first publishers. The newspaper became a daily in January 1850 and continued publishing until 1891.Condition: Small accession number stamped in margin of upper cover; scatt. (See website for full description)
  • $17,500
  • $17,500
J.E.B. Stuart Writes to Legendary Confederate Spy Laura Ratcliffe

J.E.B. Stuart Writes to Legendary Confederate Spy Laura Ratcliffe

J.E.B. STUART Autograph Letter Signed "S", to Laura Ratcliffe. April 8, 1862. 3 pp., 3 7/8 x 6 in. Full of braggadocio, Confederate cavalryman J.E.B. Stuart gives early mistaken reports of the Battle of Shiloh to an informant, the famous Confederate spy Laura Ratcliffe."We are here quietly waiting for the yankees and if they ever come we will send them howling." Complete Transcript Rappahannock April 8 1862My Dear Laura - We are here quietly waiting for the yankees and if they ever come we will send them howling - through Fairfax again. We have won a glorious victory in New Mexico, capturing the whole Federal command 5000 - under Genl Canby. We have also won a glorious victory near Corinth on the Tenn. Captured 3 genls Smith McClernand & Prentiss, & six thousand prisoners, all [2]their artillery & camp equipage & rumor says we are sure to bag the remainder who are in full retreat, A.S. Johnston was killed. Beauregard & Bragg were there - I have thought of you much, & hope soon to see you all again. Before another week we expect to win another glorious victory. Hurrah! Hurrah!! I wish I could see you read this -- [3] My regard to your folks - The bullet-proof is all right. Yours ever truly S__[envelope:] Miss Laura Ratcliffe / Beauty's Bower Historical Background Laura Ratcliffe lived in Fairfax, Virginia, and her home was sometimes used as headquarters by the ranger John Singleton Mosby. Ratcliffe used to hide messages and money for Mosby, and once hid him from a search party of Federal troops. Among other Confederate officers to whom she offered various types of support was J.E.B. Stuart, who corresponded with her and occasionally even sent her poetry.Stuart rapturously recounts a recent series of Confederate victories and anticipates others. "We are here quietly waiting for the Yankees and if they ever come we will send them howling through Fairfax again." Apparently dependent on early newspaper reports, Stuart is mistaken about the Battle "near Corinth." On April 4 and 5, 1862, after near-victory on the first day, General Albert S. Johnston's Army of Tennessee was defeated by Ulysses Grant at the Battle of Shiloh. Stuart was correct in noting, however, that Johnston was killed at this battle.The envelope for the letter bears the engraved address of "Head Quarters Cavalry Brigade, Army of the Potomac." The Confederate Army of the Potomac was commanded by P.G.T. Beauregard, but in June 1862 it was renamed as the First Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia when Robert E. Lee assumed command. Beauregard had been sent west to be second-in-command to Albert Johnston, and led the Army of Tennessee on the second day of Shiloh. Stuart's cavalry was soon transferred from north central Virginia (this letter is dated "Rappahannock") to the Peninsula, where Union General George McClellan had landed his Army of the Potomac in an attempt to advance on Richmond from the southeast with the help of Union Navy transport vessels.Laura Ratcliffe (1836-1923) was a legendary Confederate spy who operated a safe house in Fairfax County, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. She met cavalrymen J.E.B. Stuart and John S. Mosby early in the war, when she and her sister were nursing wounded soldiers, and soon began providing information on Union troop activity as the Confederate Army was forced south. In 1862 and 1863, when Stuart commanded Robert E. Lee's entire cavalry corps, he made several raids on the Fairfax County area, often visiting Laura at her home. In the winter of 1862, Mosby was granted permission to stay with Ratcliffe and nine soldiers. There was a rock at the top of Squirrel Hill on her property where she would leave messages for Mosby or Stuart. She was never charged with a crime.James Ewell Brown ("Jeb") Stuart (1833-1864) was the most famous Confederate cavalryman and one of General Lee's principal lieutenants in the Army of Northern Virginia. A Virginian, he graduated from West Point in 1854 and gained use. (See website for full description)
  • $7,800
  • $7,800