4to. One page. Pencil, with a one-line alteration in ink by Whitman. Numerous deletions and additions in Whitman s hand. Original folds, wear and toning. Whitman has written second article in blue crayon on the verso. In this fine working manuscript Whitman reflects on the life of Elias Hicks, a major spiritual influence on the poet. The spellbinding Quaker preacher was a key source of Whitman s prophetic style and poetic vision. Hicks s presence persisted in Whitman s passions of oratory and natural eloquence in the loosely cadenced verse of Leaves of Grass. In the making of a poet s vision of reality and identity Hicks preceded Emerson and outlasted him (Justin Kaplan, Walt Whitman). Whitman s father and grandfather were both friends of Elias Hicks, the celebrated Quaker schismatic preacher. At age ten Whitman heard the elderly Elias Hicks speak, an experience he often recalled in later years. It was Hicks who declared that the godhead is in every blade of grass, a line echoed in Whitman s loafing and studying a single blade of grass and in the very title Leaves of Grass. Whitman explicitly drew on Hicks for his themes of the sanctity of mankind s inner light, nature, nationalism, the working class, and democracy. Whitman called the preacher the only real democrat among all the religious teachers. In this heavily revised manuscript Whitman discusses Hick s formative years in his late years and early 20s, when he was apprenticed to a carpenter, acquired a farm, and was married. Whitman observes in part, Elias had been touch d by spells of serious meditation which led to his assuming the role of religious speaker or preacher. The manuscript leaf is part of an essay on Hicks but is not related to the essay that appeared in November Boughs. This is an excellent Whitman manuscript on one of his most important spiritual and literary influences.
Original red cloth (first binding). Joints very slightly tender, light soiling. A very handsome copy in original, unrestored condition. Half morocco case. FIRST EDITION, FIRST BINDING, FIRST PRINTING (with page 213 mis-numbered 113 and sig. b present on the list of illustrations, points that were corrected in later copies of this edition). A Tale of Two Cities is one of Dickenss greatest and most-quoted novels. The force of the novel springs from its exploration of darkness and death but its beauty derives from Dickenss real sense of transcendence, from his ability to see the sweep of destiny . . . this is what emerges most clearly from one of his shortest and most powerful novels (Ackroyd). Dickens was emotionally vested in this great novel. He wrote, It has had complete possession of me; I have so far verified what is done and suffered in these pages as that I have certainly done and suffered it all myself. The quality and strength of the prose is some of the finest he was ever to produce, for example, It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known. This is the best copy we have seen. The novels serialization in Dickenss weekly All the Year Round reduced the demand for the book and parts issues, and thus collectible copies are scarce. Provenance: Mrs. J. Insley Blair, Sothebys, New York, 3 December 2004, lot 140.
Two volumes. Original cloth. Light fraying to spine ends, else a fine set. First American edition. A splendid presentation copy inscribed by Ralph Waldo Emerson to his brother: Wm. Emerson from his brother Waldo. The inscription is in pencil in the second volume. Emerson used this intimate signature only with his immediate family. Page 270 of the first volume bears a pencil correction apparently in Emersons hand. Emerson paid his greatest tribute and service to his friend Thomas Carlyle in arranging for this first American publication of The French Revolution. Thus Emerson was responsible for establishing in America the view of the French Revolution that has molded popular conception of the French Revolution down to the present day (Printing and the Mind of Man 304). The French Revolution is a prose epic, a work of creative genius, in which the facts of history are illumined by the imagination of a poet (Cambridge History). I know nobody among my contemporaries except Carlyle who writes with any sinew and vivacity comparable to Plutarch and Montaigne (Emersons journal June 24, 1840). Maintaining a close friendship and literary association for decades, Emerson and Carlyle served as intellectual inspirations and touchstones for each other. In 1836 Emerson arranged for the American publication of and wrote an introduction for Carlyles Sartor Resartus, and Carlyle returned the favor a few years later, writing an introduction for the English edition of his friends Essays. Emerson wrote in his journal, Carlyle represents very well the literary man, makes good the place of and function of Erasmus and Johnson, of Dryden and Swift, to our generation. He is thoroughly a gentleman and deserves well of the whole fraternity of scholars, for sustaining the dignity of his profession of Author in England (July 12, 1842). RARE: we can trace no other inscribed copies at auction or in any of the major collections of American literature (Arnold, Chamberlain, Wakeman, Wilson, etc.). This is a 19th-century literary association copy of the greatest significance.
Two volumes. Large folio. Contemporary mottled calf, with big, bold morocco labels stating English Dictionary and Johnson. Joints tender, some wear and browning. A very good copy in original condition. An outstanding copy of the first edition of this enduring classic of English literature. This is Johnson s audacious attempt to tame his unruly native tongue combining huge erudition with a steely wit and remarkable clarity of thought (Hitchings). Dr. Johnson performed with his Dictionary the most amazing, enduring, and endearing one-man feat in the field of lexicography It is the dictionary itself which justifies Noah Webster s statement that Johnson s writings had, in philology, the effect which Newton s discoveries had in mathematics (PMM). To be sure, there had been dictionaries before his. The difference is that, while these were compiled, Johnson s was written. The glory of the book is that it is also a compendium of English literature, reprinting fine examples of words from the masters, often Shakespeare or Sir Francis Bacon. Johnson sought to intersperse with verdure and flowers the dusty desarts of barren philology (Smithsonian Book of Books). Johnson illustrated the meanings of his 40,000 definitions with more than 100,000 quotations drawn from the time of Shakespeare down to Johnson s own time. He wrote in the preface, It is the fate of those that toil at the lower employments of life, to be rather driven by fear of evil, than attracted by the prospect of good; to be punished for neglect, where success would have been without applause, and diligence without reward. Among these unhappy mortals is the writer of dictionaries. Every other author may aspire to praise; the lexicographer can only hope to escape reproach. This enormous book is generally found rebound, rebacked, or in dilapidated condition. This splendid copy in original condition is one of only a handful of unrestored copies to appear for public sale in recent decades. Printing and the Mind of Man 201. Rothschild 1237.
Two volumes. Original decorated cloth designed by Mario Prassinos. Fine. FIRST EDITIONS. The two volumes were published months apart in 1949, each in an edition of 2000 numbered copies (from a total edition of 2,150). This landmark of feminism presents a scathing analysis of the history and treatment of women in the patriarchal West. Beauvoir begins by asking, What is woman? She argues that man is the default, while woman is Other: Thus humanity is male and man defines woman not herself but as relative to him. To state the question is, to me, to suggest, at once, a preliminary answer. The fact that I ask it is in itself significant. A man would never set out to write a book on the peculiar situation of the human male. But if I wish to define myself, I must first of all say: I am a woman; on this truth must be based all further discussion. A man never begins by presenting himself as an individual of a certain sex; it goes without saying that he is a man The Second Sex was published in France in 1949, a year after the authora thirty-eight-year-old public intellectualwas allowed to vote for the first time. French women, so belatedly enfranchised, would not have access to legal birth control until 1967, or to legal first-trimester abortions until 1975 (Judith Thurman). The Second Sex has been translated into more than a dozen languages and has sold millions of copies. It is central work in the transition from the feminism of the woman suffrage era to the second wave feminism of the second half of the 20th century and beyond. A beautiful set of this landmark work. New York Public Library Books of the Century 129. En Français dans le Texte 392. Le Monde Books of the Century 11.
Salted paper print from a calotype negative (6 ½ x 5 inches). Tipped onto later mount. Excellent condition. This is a fine salt print portrait of Harriet Beecher Stowe by John A. Whipple, a leading early American portrait photographer. When she sat for this portrait in 1853, Stowe was at the height of her fame. Her Uncle Toms Cabin had become a runaway best seller in the United States and Great Britain when it was published in 1852. The book invigorated the abolition movement and moved many Northerners who were on the fence to active opposition to slavery. Stowe visited Lincoln at the White House in 1862, and the president is said to have exclaimed, So this is the little lady who made this big war. John A. Whipple (1822-1891) was one of the pioneers of American photography. He came to Boston as a young man in 1840, he was one of the first in the United States to learn Daguerres process. That year he became the first American to produce the chemicals for Daguerres process. He was instrumental in the development of the glass negative/paper positive process in America, and several of his techniques and inventions played an important role in American photography. In the 1840s and 1850s he was one of Bostons foremost portrait photographers. His portrait clientele included the highest of Boston society. Whipple was known for the psychological content of his portraits, for his ability to put clients at ease by telling little stories, and for his skill in arranging sitters (Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography). A smaller print of this rare portrait was published in the Photographic Art-Journal (August 1853), the first American periodical to be illustrated with original photographic prints. Our print measures 6 ½ x 5 inches, while the example of the print in the journal found in the Dibner Library, Smithsonian Institution, is just under 4 x 3 in. This rare, large salt print is one of the most important Harriet Beecher Stowe photographs to appear in the market in many years.
The earliest dated photograph of Mount Vernon, this is one of the very earliest known photographs of George Washingtons home. By this time Mount Vernon was badly dilapidated. This view from the northeast shows ship masts propping up the porticos sagging roof where several columns had rotted away. A man wearing a dark suit and top hat stands in the foreground, his arm on a white painted fence protecting a small tree. The Mount Vernon Ladies Association, formed in 1853, purchased the mansion and estate from Washingtons descendant John Augustine Washington III for $200,000. After an intensive fund raising effort and protracted negotiations, the organization took possession on February 22, 1860, nearly one year after this photograph was made. Extensive renovations were soon made. As a result this image shows a number of architectural and landscape elements differing from those seen in photographs of the 1860s. Salted paper print (5 ¼ x 7 ½ in., on publishers 8 ¼ x 10 ¼ inch mount with gold lithograph captions and decorative border. Neat punch holes in upper margin, ½ inch adhesion at lower right, faint pencil note in lower corner. Very good. Rare. The other known examples are at the Fred W. Smith National Library at Mount Vernon and at the Getty Museum.
The great Darwin portrait, Julia Margaret Camerons 1868 profile of Darwin is probably the most famous photograph of a 19th-century scientist. Darwin remarked, I like this photograph very much better than any other which has been taken of me. In 1868, Darwin and his family traveled to the Isle of Wight, both for a long holiday and to aid in his recuperation from a recent illness. The Darwins rented a house from Cameron and were immediately charmed by the photographer: She received the whole family with open-hearted kindness and hospitality, and Darwin always retained a warm feeling of friendship for her. When they left she came to see them off, loading them with presents of photographs. Moved, Darwin said: Mrs. Cameron, there are sixteen people in this house, all in love with you. Darwin paid her for her portraits of him, and as the Camerons had by that time lost a great deal of money through the continued failure of the coffee crop, she gladly accepted payment and ran boasting to her husband, Look, Charles, what a lot of money! (Gernsheim, Julia Margaret Cameron). Cameron is now widely regarded as one of the most accomplished photographers of all time. Her portraits are easily recognized by their dramatic lighting and soft focus. Albumen print from a collodion negative (11 1⁄4 x 9 1⁄2 in.), mounted on original gilt-ruled card (14 1⁄2 x 12 1⁄2 in.). Signed, dated, and inscribed by Cameron: From life. Registered photograph. Copyright. and Julia Margaret Cameron Freshwater 1868. Blindstamp of Messrs Colnaghi, 14 Pall Mall, London on separated card with printed facsimile signature and inscription: I like this Photograph very much better than any other which has been taken of me. Ch. Darwin.
In this wonderful scientific manuscript Caroline Herschel records her observations of her newly-discovered comet, known today as 35P/Herschel-Rigollet. Caroline Herschel is one of the most famous women in the history of science. The effects of childhood smallpox and typhus and a domineering mother seemed likely to limit her to housework in the family home. But in 1772 her much older brother William asked her to join him in England where he worked as a musician, and soon Caroline was featured there as a singer. When William turned to astronomy and the building of ever-larger reflecting telescopes, she worked as his assistant and collaborator. In 1781 William discovered Uranus, resulting in a royal pension of £200 and the opportunity to build an observatory near Windsor. When Caroline discovered a comet in 1786, George III granted her an annual salary of £50 for her work as Williams assistant, making her the first professional female astronomer. This was the first professional salary ever paid a woman scientist in Britain, marking a social revolution (Olson and Pasachoff). Caroline Herschel is perhaps most famous for her discovery of eight comets. This manuscript documents her second comet discovery, which came on 21st December, 1788, when she found a comet around one degree south of Beta Lyrae. Like her first comet, the brightness was around magnitude 7.5, and brother William described it as a considerably bright nebula, of an irregular form, very gradually brighter in the middle, and about five or six minutes in diameter (Bryant, The Comets of Caroline Herschel, Universe, May 1997). The comet reappeared in 1939 when Roger Rigollet in France discovered it. It is today known as 35P/Herschel- Rigollet. The comet will next appear at the end of this century. William Herschel wrote a letter to the president of the Royal Society describing Carolines discovery and fully crediting her. That paper, Observations on a Comet. In a letter to Sir Joseph Banks, dated March 3, 1789, appeared in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Carolines career was rather like that of a comet. At first her glory reflected that of her brotheras a comet reflects the light of the sunbut as she approached perihelion, she burned brightly not only with Williams light but also with the light of her own achievements (Olson and Pasachoff). Caroline Herschel manuscripts are very rare in the market. Only one letterand no scientific manuscriptsappears in the auction records of the past fifty years. This rare Herschel manuscript on her discovery of a comet is worthy of any collection of the history of astronomy or the history of women in science. One page. Light creasing. Herschels observations are followed with her statement, Hence the Comet preced P Lyra 7 5 in time and is in the parallel of the small star (P being double) See 5 Class 3rd Star of my brothers Catalogue. Provenance: the Herschel family, by descent. Olson and Pasachoff, The Comets of Caroline Herschel (1750-1848), Sleuth of the Skies at Slough, Culture and Cosmos (2012).
LEWIS, MERIWETHER & WILLIAM CLARK
Large folding map, one closed tear, some restoration; five other engraved maps or charts. Two volumes. Original calf boards, expertly rebacked and recornered, red leather labels. Browned with occasional stains. A very good copy. FIRST EDITION of the definitive account of the most important exploration of the North American continent (Wagner-Camp-Becker). This is the most important of all overland narratives. . . . American explorers had for the first time spanned the continental United States and driven the first wedge in the settlement of our new far western frontier (Grolier 100 American Books). Only 1417 copies were printed. This copy has an excellent example of the important folding map, which was available at a premium and thus was not issued with all copies. Engraved from Clark s manuscript, this map showing the 8000-mile trek is one of the greatest landmarks American cartographic history. More accurate than any previous western map, it rapidly became the source for a new generation of western maps (Schwartz and Ehrenberg, The Mapping of America, p. 227). Thomas Jefferson had begun the planning of a western expedition even before his inauguration. Early in 1801 he appointed Meriwether Lewis as his secretary, in part, as he wrote the army officer, because of your knowledge of the Western country. Early in 1803 Jefferson proposed the expedition to Congress, and soon thereafter the Louisiana Purchase removed the major obstacles blocking not only the expedition, but also westward expansion. This book includes the first printing of Thomas Jefferson s biography of Meriwether Lewis, who had served as Jefferson s private secretary at the White House. Lewis had been killed (or had killed himself, as Jefferson later thought) under mysterious circumstances in Tennessee in 1809. The expedition took place in 1804-6, but the publication of the official account was delayed until 1814. Provenance: early signatures of Henry and Gerard Walton on title pages. Printing and the Mind of Man 272. Grolier 100 American Books 30.
(CIVIL WAR.) Boucher, James H. Medical Director s Office, 17th Army Corps
4pp. Folio. Very good condition. This remarkable document provides detailed instructions for the medical officers of XVII Corps. The corps was organized in December 1862 as part of U.S. Grant s Army of the Tennessee. It formed the center of Grant s forces in the siege of Vicksburg, which was taken on July 4, 1863. Prior to an engagement, each division is to establish a hospital with a surgeon in charge leading three medical officers in performing the most important operations. In case of doubt, the three (selected on the basis of skills and qualifications, not rank) will consult on the necessity and character of the operation. The division surgeon will appoint an assistant to establish hospital sites and tents, commandeer houses, and provide food, water, and supplies, employing a staff enumerated in the document. Another assistant surgeon is to keep records of all cases including name, rank, unit, injury, operation, and result, as well as interment of the dead. Each regiment is to have a medical officer who establishes a temporary depot 400-600 yards in the rear to give immediate aid. It reminds surgeons, whilst no personal consideration should interfere with their duty, the grave responsibilities resting upon them render any unnecessary expense improper. The document goes on in this vein, establishing hierarchies and procedures for efficient operations. It closes, the Medical director confidently hopes that the professional skill, humanity, and well earned reputation of the medical officers of the 17th Army Corps will be sustained in carryout it out. This manuscript provides vivid testimony to the immense challenges of surgery and medicine in wartime.
FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN
4to. Fine olive green morocco gilt by the Club Bindery. Minor repairs. A fine copy. Marbled paper slipcase. FIRST EDITION of Benjamin Franklin s account of the Pennsylvania Hospital, the first hospital established in the British colonies, co-founded by Franklin with his friend Dr. Thomas Bond. It remains a leading medical institution in Philadelphia. Franklin s Account is a record of one of his and Philadelphia s noblest civic achievements; and from its magnificent opening paragraph to its final moving appeal, it is, in Carl Van Doren s words, an example of homespun splendor hardly to be matched in the English language (Franklin Project). Franklin was a prime force in founding the institution, its first secretary, and later chairman of its trustees. In his Autobiography he wrote that he could remember no maneuver the success of which gave him at the time more pleasure than that of persuading the citizens and assembly to contribute matching funds to start the hospital initially (Miller). Written and printed by Franklin at the request of the Hospital trustees, the Account describes the plan on which the hospital was founded, rules for admission, rules for the choice of staff, and an Abstract of Cases Admitted (Streeter). Provenance: John Camp Williams, with his bookplates, his sale, American Art Association, November 6, 1929, lot 49. Evans 7197. Miller, Benjamin Franklin s Philadelphia printing, 1728-1766: A descriptive bibliography 587.
TOCQUEVILLE, ALEXIS DE
Four volumes. Near contemporary quarter blue morocco. Folding map after Tocqueville by Bernard. Some browning and foxing. An excellent set. FIRST EDITIONS. Famed Harvard constitutional scholar Harvey Mansfield called Democracy in America at once the best book ever written on democracy and the best book ever written on America. The most influential commentary on America in the nineteenth century, Democracy in America was based on Tocqueville s travels in the United States in 1831 and 1832. Tocqueville came to America to study the American prison system on behalf of the French government. After completing his official duties in the east, he toured the West and the South, visiting Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, the Carolinas, Virginia, and Washington, D. C. The book resulting from these investigations is generally considered the 19th century s most insightful commentary on the development of our unique American culture and political system. Tocqueville declared, Democratic nations care but little for what has been, but they are haunted by visions of what will be; in this direction their unbounded imagination grows and dilates beyond all measure Democracy, which shuts the past against the poet, opens the future before him. Fewer than 500 copies of the first part were published. The second part (1840) was issued concurrently with the eighth edition of the first part, helping to explain why quality matched sets are so difficult to obtain today. The book was an immediate success, and more than fifty editions were published in French and English in the nineteenth century. For nearly two centuries it has provoked endless discussion and been an inspiration for countless commentaries on American democracy. Finely bound matched sets of the first edition are difficult to locate.
BENESE, RICHARD
4to. 104 leaves, black letter. Complete with the errata leaf at the end and rare correction slip for V4verso. In some copies the diagram on V4 verso is corrected with a pasted-on slip. In this probably unique copy, the slip is laid in loosely, so that the original erroneous printing is still visible. Numerous tables and diagrams, some colored in red. Original wallet-style limp vellum, wrap-around flap restored. Wear and soiling to binding and first few leaves, last several leaves lightly stained. Early annotations and calculations on free endpaper. A very good copy in original condition. FIRST EDITION of the first English textbook on geometrical land-measurement and surveying (Buisseret, Monarchs, Ministers, and Maps). The book focused on practical methods calculating everything from the amount of stone needed to pave a chamber floor to the size of a pasture or field marking the beginning of a new interest in measuring not just the assets of the land, but the land itself (D. K. Smith, Cartographic Imagination in Early Modern England). In this landmark in the history of surveying, Richard Benese described for the first time in English how to calculate the area of a field or an entire estate. Noting that sellers tended to exaggerate the size of a property whereas buyers were inclined to underestimate it, he advised the surveyor to approach the task in a careful and methodical manner: When ye shall measure a piece of any land ye shall go about the boundes of it once or twice, and [then] consider well by viewing it whether ye may measure it in one parcel wholly altogether or else in two or many parcels. Measuring it in many parcels, he explained, was necessary when the field was an uneven, irregular shape; by dividing it up into smaller, regular shapes like squares and oblongs and triangles it became easy to calculate accurately the total area. The distances were to be carefully measured with a rod or pole, precisely 16 1/2 feet long, or a cord. And finally, the surveyor was to describe the area in words, and to draw a plat showing its shape and extent. Benese s Maner of Measurynge All Maner of Lande marks an epoch, the widespread idea of land as private property. Under the feudal system, land was generally owned by the king. Everyone else, from duke and baron to vassal and villein, was a tenant exchanging goods and services for land rights. During the sixteenth century a large part of the property of Europe was suddenly wrested from one privileged group and handed over to a new one. The Church was expropriated; the lands of feudal magnates, who opposed both capitalism and the new religion, and the ancient demesne lands of the Crown, were transferred by forced sale to the new ruling class (Schlatter, Private Property, the History of an Idea). Suddenly land became widely available to capitalists. This sea change in the world s economic order required that real estate dealings be put on a rational economic basis, and Benese s book marks that new era. Benese was the last canon of the Augustinian monastery at Merton, and he surely was involved in the dissolution of the monasteries. He became Surveyor of Works at Hampton Court and chaplain to Henry VIII. This is the first English book on geometrical surveying and the second English book on surveying of any kind, preceded only by John Fitzherbert s Boke of Surveying (1523). For Fitzherbert, surveying carried its literal meaning from the French, overseeing, looking over the land to determine its use. It was Benese who showed how to determine the area of the land (and surveying has denoted measurement ever since). RARE. This is a splendid copy in original condition. No unrestored copy has appeared for public sale since 1932. STC 1873 (giving date 1537?).
GODDARD, ROBERT H.
5 x 8 inches. 2pp on a single leaf. Pencil on paper. Near fine condition. GODDARD S DESIGNS OF ROCKET VALVES. This manuscript contains Goddard s technical notes and three illustrations of rocket engine valves. Two drawings fill the center of the page: a large outline of a rocket engine valve and a smaller depiction of a diaphragm cover. Goddard s notes read in part: For main valves, Ox. P = supply line . . . control valve. For tank valves, Ox. P = tank, B = supply line. The verso has a diagram of a tank valve accompanied by notes stating, Tank Valves, short distance, and diaphragm, if it gains enough travel otherwise use a bellows 35 lbs. Goddard (1882-1945), the father of modern rocket propulsion, launched the world s first liquid-propellant rocket on March 16, 1926, at Auburn, Massachusetts, a feat as epochal in history as that of the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk (NASA). Goddard had a rare genius for invention and these notes suggest the endless refinement necessary to create a dependable, operational rocket engine. The illustrations and annotations show Goddard wrestling with the problematic design of control valves. One of the early development challenges of launching liquid-fueled rockets was the proper operation of control valves for fuel and oxidizer. Often the valves would fail in tests or during flight with catastrophic results. Proper and continuous operation of the mechanisms was required for Goddard s rockets to maintain flight until fuel depletion. The modification of the valves represents a breakthrough in scientific technology without which the American space exploration program would not have been possible. Goddard once remarked that such research is a never-ending process, as there can be no thought of finishing, for aiming for the stars is a problem to occupy generations, so that no matter how much progress we make, there is always the thrill of just beginning (Almanac, 11). Goddard s contributions to aerospace science cannot be overstated he was the first scientist who not only realized the potentialities of missiles and space flight but also contributed directly in bringing them to practical realization. This rare talent in both theory and application places Goddard as one of the great minds of the 20th century. This manuscript was preserved by Nils Ljungquist, a machinist who worked with Goddard for decades and who often appears in photographs with Goddard and his rockets. Ljungquist accompanied Goddard to Roswell, New Mexico when the scientist received a Guggenheim grant. Goddard spent nearly a decade in Roswell where he manufactured a rocket that exceeded the speed of sound and another with fin-stabilized steering, and he filed dozens of patents for everything from gyroscopic guidance systems to multistage rockets (Time, 100 Most Important People of the Century ). Some of Goddard s greatest engineering contributions to modern aviation and space exploration were made during this exceptionally productive period. RARE. Goddard s scientific manuscripts are extremely rare, and apart from the Nils Ljungquist documents, we can trace no others ever appearing for sale. This manuscript represents a unique opportunity to acquire a document that allowed the father of rocketry to lead the emerging science toward the very possibility of space exploration. Provenance: Goddard s colleague, machinist Nils Ljungquist, with his initialed authentication in ink dated 1973. In the photo shown here, Goddard poses in New Mexico, 1935. (left to right) Assistant Albert Kisk, financier Harry Guggenheim, Goddard, Charles Lindbergh, and Goddard s assistants Nils Ljungquist and Charles Mansur. On consignment.
BENJAMIN, ASHER
4to. 44 plates. Original or contemporary calf. Worn, quite browned and stained as usual. A good, sound, unrestored copy. Half calf case. First edition of the second book by Asher Benjamin, Americas first great writer on architecture. In the introduction, Benjamin notes that the style of building in this country differs very considerably from that of Great Britain and that architects who rely on European publications are wasting their money. He concludes, we feel confident that this publication will be found to contain more useful information for the American workman than all the European works which have appeared in this country. Through his books late colonial details and designs were broadcast throughout New England and there is scarcely a village which in moulding profiles, cornice details, church spire, or farm-house does not reflect his influence (DAB). The plates in this work inspired countless builders, and they have been used to identify Benjamin as the architect of a number of important buildings in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Benjamins plates formed a collection harmonious and almost always in perfect taste (DAB). Benjamins most popular book, The American Builders Companion went into six editions by 1827. A note in the second edition (Charlestown, 1811) indicates that the extent of co-author Raynerds contribution was to draw the plates. His name was omitted from the title page of the second and subsequent editions. Provenance: the early American owners stamp Wm. Cook on upper board and title page. Hitchcock, American Architecture Books 99.
(BROWN, JOHN.)
Boston: The Liberator, Oct 21, Nov 4, 11, and 18, Dec 2 and 9, 1859 Six issues, each a large folio measuring 24 x 18 in. Original folds, never bound. Light stains. Very good condition. This exceptional file of The Liberator contains detailed accounts of John Brown s raid on Harpers Ferry and his capture, imprisonment, trial, and execution. The Liberator, edited and published by William Lloyd Garrison, was a leading force in the abolition movement beginning in the 1830s. John Brown s failed attempt to seize the federal armory at Harpers Ferry and spark a slave rebellion was a central event in the lead-up to the Civil War. His trial for treason and his execution made him a martyr in the cause of abolition. The file starts with a breathless hour-by-hour account of Brown s raid on Harpers Ferry and its suppression. Subsequent issues are packed with accounts of the insurrection and its aftermath, including letters from the scene. These scarce newspapers include detailed accounts of Brown s trial and his famous speech before the court. They contain letters Brown wrote from prison, his last will and testament, and accounts of the events of the day of execution, Brown s last words, his death by hanging, and reaction to the killing. Printed opposite the account of the hanging is an advertisement for Redpath s Life of John Brown, soon to be published. The paper s columns are filled with letters, editorials, and speeches by abolitionist luminaries including Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips (his incendiary address The Lesson of the Hour ), Lydia Maria Child, Theodore Parker, Granville Sharp, and Sarah E. Wall (a long essay on non-resistance). Frederick Douglass, writing from safety in Canada, writes a very long letter praising Brown and addressing allegations of his own involvement in the plot. Descriptions of public meetings in support of Brown and countless letters for and against him reflect the controversy swirling around the radical abolitionist. These abolitionist newspapers provide a dramatic view of John Brown s celebrated raid, his martyrdom, and American reaction to it.
(AVIATION.)
23 x 30 in. Color lithograph. Minor repairs on verso, light wear. Fine condition. This spectacular color lithograph commemorates the Grande Semaine d Aviation of 1909, the first international public flying event and a turning point in aviation history. The powered aircraft featured at the event dominate the center. Surrounding it are portraits of pioneering figures in flight (including Wright, Curtiss, Latham, Fournier, and Blériot) and vignettes from aviation history. The event, held at Reims, France in August 1909, attracted more than 500,000 spectators to watch famous aviators compete in contests of distance, altitude, and speed, all from the massive grandstands constructed for the event. The meeting signified a transition in the public perception of flight. Once an experimental curiosity practiced by a few, it came to be seen as a viable technology with the potential for practical application. This print, a supplement to Parisian newspaper Le Petit Journal, highlights technological advances in aviation history. The fall of Icarus is depicted in the upper right corner, next to two unrealized designs for flying machines from the 17th century. Vignettes show the various hot air balloons of the 18th century and capture the 19th-century shift to airships capable of controlled flight. At the center, the collection of heavier-than-air planes flown at Reims in the early 20th century point to the transitional nature of this pioneer era. In 1903, the Wright brothers achieved a twelve-second flight in their biplane; in 1909, technology had advanced enough for Louis Blériot to cross the English Channel in a powered monoplane. The array of airplanes shown in Reims exemplified this transformational period as Wright-style flyers and propeller-led monoplanes were featured side by side. The debut of lightweight, more reliable engines at Reims also indicated the advances that were to come. The Grande Semaine showed that heavier-than-air flight was proven to be a viable technology full of possibilities. The next few decades brought the first major wartime use of airplanes, the invention of the jet engine, and growth of commercial aviation. Within sixty years, man s conquest of the air had extended to outer space. This is a visually stunning record of a critical moment in technological history, marking the beginning of modern aviation.
(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.)
Folio (20 x 13 in.). 4pp. Untrimmed, never bound. Light browning. Near fine. This is probably the earliest American runaway slave advertisement to feature an accurate likeness of its subject. Sancho escaped from a Mississippi plantation and was presumed to have made his way north. Winthrop Sargent (1753-1820), who has signed the notice in print, had served as an officer in the Revolutionary War officer. He later became governor of Mississippi Territory and a plantation owner in Natchez, Mississippi. He offers a reward of up to $100 for Sancho s return and presents an extraordinary portrait of Sancho, a good likeness, presumably made from a cut paper silhouette. Sancho is described as a Negro man, thirty years of age, about 5 feet high, very black complexion . . . & a fast walker. He had learned the trade of a Barber and is in every respect a most accomplished servant for a gentleman or a family; was born and educated in his master s house; endeared to him and his mistress and his own wife and children, as well as the numerous blacks of his Master s Plantations, by long, affectionate and faithful services. Sargent suggests that Sancho was so loyal that he must have been inveigled away by some artful villains for their own use. A landmark portrait in the history of American slavery.
EMERSON, RALPH WALDO
4pp. Fine. With original envelope addressed Mr. Luther Houghton for Mrs. Houghton, South Waterford, Maine in Emerson s hand. In this warm, newsy letter Emerson sends regrets that his family s plans to come to South Waterford, Maine have gone awry because, in accompanying his nephew down Mount Wachusett, he sprained his ankle. The doctor has ordered six weeks of rest. This opinion and prescription forbids Waterford to me, who, if I must be shut up, can only well be where my books and papers are, and our household plans are so united in this matter, that wife and children cannot well go without me. He acknowledges this is a sore disappointment to all, especially his daughter Ellen. He then asks whether Mr. True will release him from his lease. To this end he sends $10 to cover any actual expenses already incurred. He closes, for my children are quite seriously disappointed by this bad turn overtaking and overturning our plan, and think we shall yet come to Waterford if only for a visit. Emerson s aunt and mentor Mary Moody Emerson (1774-1863) lived in South Waterford. Emerson and his family made regular summer pilgrimages to the town.
![Le Deuxieme Sexe [The Second Sex]](https://rarebookinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/31397425828-600x694.jpg)
![Manuscript] Circular. During and after an engagement](https://rarebookinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/31447505928-600x944.jpg)
