David M. Lesser Archives - Rare Book Insider

David M. Lesser

  • Showing all 24 results

CITY OF NEW-YORK
  • $1,250
LETTERS OF FRIENDSHIP TO THOSE CLERGYMEN WHO HAVE LATELY RENOUNCED COMMUNION WITH THE MINISTERS AND CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN GENERAL

LETTERS OF FRIENDSHIP TO THOSE CLERGYMEN WHO HAVE LATELY RENOUNCED COMMUNION WITH THE MINISTERS AND CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN GENERAL, WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND RECENT EXAMPLES

[Huntington, Joseph] 134pp. "By Joseph Huntington D.D." written in neat ink beneath the title. Ezra Stiles's copy, with inscription at head of title: "To Revd E. Stiles. Nov. 23 1780." Several learned marginal notes by Stiles, with some text underlined. Stitched and untrimmed. Lacking the final blank. Closed tear at leaf 89-90 with slight text loss. Last several leaves with significant margin tears and loss of several letters. Hence Good only. "In response to Stephen West's Vindication of the principles and conduct of the church in Stockbridge, concerning the excommunication of Mrs. Fisk by an ecclesiastical council convened at Stockbridge. Attributed to Joseph Huntington in Dexter's Yale graduates" [ESTC] John Fisk had been a military officer and was now a school teacher in Stockbridge. He wooed and won the Widow Deane. Widow Deane's church warned her not to marry Fisk, whom it deemed an immoral character, primarily because of his barnyard [or military camp] language. Remorseful, Fisk sought pardon; nevertheless the church was unswayed by his purported repentance. The widow Deane went ahead and married him anyway-- she was promptly excommunicated at Stockbridge. Stephen West wrote a pamphlet in vindication of the excommunication. Huntington disagrees, saying the Church and Council seek "to debar mankind from the plain, common right they have of chusing those companions which they like best, and which they judge will be the greatest blessings and comforts to them." Writing during the American Revolution, Huntington compares such dictatorial behavior to that of "the British Ministry." FIRST EDITION. Evans 16804. Trumbull 888. ESTC W13558.
  • $500
NEW-ENGLAND'S MEMORIAL: OR

NEW-ENGLAND’S MEMORIAL: OR, A BRIEF RELATION OF THE MOST MEMORABLE AND REMARKABLE PASSAGES OF THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD, MANIFESTED TO THE PLANTERS OF NEW-ENGLAND IN AMERICA: WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE FIRST COLONY THEREOF, CALLED NEW-PLYMOUTH. PUBLISHED FOR THE USE AND BENEFIT OF PRESENT AND FUTURE GENERATIONS, BY NATHANIEL MORTON, SECRETARY TO THE COURT FOR THE JURISDICTION OF NEW-PLYMOUTH

Morton, Nathaniel viii, 208 + 6-pages of subscriber's names (of 8, lacking the final subscriber leaf). Flaw at page 119 affects several words. Lightly toned, contemporary paneled sheep [somewhat shaken, with a few early leaves loosened. Good+. Third American edition, and the first to be printed in Rhode Island. The prefatory "To the Reader," dated 26 March 1669 by John Higginson and Thomas Thacher, recommends the book as the work of "an approved godly man, and one of the first Planters at Plymouth." Morton was a nephew of Governor Bradford and Secretary to the General Court of Massachusetts. Morton dedicates it to Thomas Prince, "Governour of the Jurisdiction of New-Plimouth," and "the Magistrates, his Assistants in the said Government." "This book is one of the class commonly referred to as 'the cornerstones' of early New England history. It was the first strictly historical publication issued by the New England press, and brings the history of the colony down to 1668. The work is arranged in chronological order, and is filled with particulars of the greatest interest. The voyage of the Mayflower is given in detail, as is also the story of the landing and first settlement of the Pilgrims. The text is interspersed with several elegiac poems, epitaphs, and acrostics" [Church]. ESTC W13885. Howes M851. Evans 12469. Church 606.
  • $475
book (2)

AMERICAN METHODISM. 1872

Broadside print, 14" x 19" [by sight], in a contemporary frame. Twenty-Nine oval portraits of American Methodist preachers, including African-American preacher Francis Burns. A central vignette of "Pioneer Preacher" John Wesley riding a horse into a small village where rural citizens await him in front of a log cabin. Light dusting and minor spotting, Very Good. Reverend Francis Burns was the "first Black bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Elected in 1858, he served as a missionary bishop in Liberia. His rise to ministry and the episcopate happened against a background of American racism, colonialism, and imperialism. His early life was spent in Greene County, NY. His family was poor, and at the age of four he was indentured to a farmer. At age eight, he was indentured to the Atwood family. Mrs. Atwood was a Methodist class leader. She permitted Francis to attend school with her children during the winter season" [article on Burns at online UMC web site]. From the Smithsonian's description: "This black and white print contains twenty-nine small oval portraits of leaders of American Methodists and five vignettes. The vignettes are of John Wesley rescued from a burning building; Wesley preaching on the tombstone of his father; Old John Street Church, New York; Tremont Street Methodist Church, Boston; and Pioneer Preacher (the central vignette). . . This print was produced by the artist L. Hollis and lithographer John Chester Buttre. John Chester Buttre (1821-1893) was an American steel-plate engraver, lithographer and publisher. He first studied drawing in his hometown of Auburn, New York, and moved to New York City in 1841. He produced thousands of engraved portraits of American political and military figures, which he published in a three-volume work entitled The American Portrait Gallery. Nothing is known about artist L. Hollis." OCLC 499459544 [1- AAS]. Copies also noted at Smithsonian and Library of Congress.
book (2)

ILLUSTRATED ENGRAVED CERTIFICATE ACKNOWLEDGING A DONATION TO A TESTIMONIAL TO “THOMAS HOLLIDAY HICKS, WHO WAS GOVERNOR OF THIS STATE FROM 1858 TO 1862, IN RECOGNITION OF A LOYAL PEOPLE’S GRATITUDE FOR THE PATRIOTIC FIRMNESS WITH WHICH, DURING HIS ADMINISTRATION, HE SUCCESSFULLY RESISTED EVERY EFFORT TO SEDUCE OR FORCE THE STATE OF MARYLAND FROM ITS ALLEGIANCE TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE UNION UNDER IT.”

Oblong engraved broadside, 9-7/8" x 5-3/4." Printed in elegant typescript, with contributor's name [Ruben Hain-] and amount [$5] in ink manuscript, and signature of Fred Fickey, Jr., as treasurer. Lithograph with portrait of Governor Hicks; illustration of clasping hands Union and Liberty; Lady Liberty holding the American Flag and shield, standing next to the American Eagle holding "E Pluribus Unum" banner. Very Good. Hicks helped to hold Maryland in the Union, although he hated abolitionists, approved of slavery, and urged President Lincoln not to send troops through Maryland. Appointed to the U.S. Senate in 1862, he endorsed Lincoln's bid for reelection. This attractive certificate memorializes Hicks's considerable accomplishment. Without a loyal Maryland, Washington DC would have been isolated from the rest of the Union. Frederick Fickey, Jr. [1786-1877] was a Baltimore merchant of the wholesale house of F. Fickey & Sons, and Treasurer and Secretary of the Union State Central Committee of Maryland from at least 1861-1862. He was an original directors of the Maryland Fire Insurance Company of Baltimore, Chairman of the Committee of the City Council of Merchants of Baltimore in 1860, and one of the Commissioners of Public Works from 1861-1864.
book (2)

THE HISTORY OF THE RISE, PROGRESS, AND ESTABLISHMENT, OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: INCLUDING AN ACCOUNT OF THE LATE WAR; AND OF THE THIRTEEN COLONIES, FROM THEIR ORIGIN TO THAT PERIOD. IN FOUR VOLUMES

Four volumes: [26], 504; [8], 584; [8], 499, [1 blank]; [8], 445, [1, blank], [34- Index], [2 blanks] pp. Complete with nine folding maps: The United States of America; Boston, and its Environs; New York Island, & parts adjacent; The Jerseys, &c. &c; folding map of parts of Canada and New England at rear of Volume 2; The Carolina's, with part of Georgia; A Sketch of the Operations before Charlestown, South Carolina, 1780; The Part of Virginia which was the Seat of Action; Yorktown, and Gloucester Point, as besieged by The Allied Army. Bound in contemporary or near-contemporary marbled paper over boards and half calf, with gilt spine rules and gilt-lettered red morocco spine labels. Lightly foxed, Very Good. "First full-scale history of this war by an American; to its preparation Jefferson contributed some aid" [Howes]. "Gordon is deservedly reckoned as one of the most impartial and reliable of the numerous historians of the American Revolution" [Sabin]. "Gordon was a dissenting minister in England, who like many of his class sympathized with the contentions of the thirteen colonies. Going to America during the disturbances, and becoming pastor of the church at Jamaica Plain, now a district of Boston, he was throughout the Revolution a spectator close at hand to many important events, and the associate of many of the chief patriots" [Reese]. The List of Subscribers is a veritable Who's Who of important Revolutionary War figures, including John Adams, Marquis de Lafayette, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Samuel Adams, and many other notables. The volumes were owned by William Chauncey Fowler [1793-1881], with his ownership stamp on the blank upper margin of each volume's title page ["W.C. Fowler"]. Wikipedia has written his biography, calling him "an American scholar." Yale University has his papers, as well as those of the related Chauncey family. Reese Revolutionary Hundred 86. Howes G256. Sabin 28011. Larned 1341. Gephart 996.
book (2)

AUTOGRAPH LETTER, SIGNED, 30 OCTOBER 1912 FROM CHARLOTTE, N.C., TO MR. GAILLARD S. TENNENT, ASHEVILLE, N.C.

[4] pp, entirely in Mrs. Jackson's ink manuscript. Folded octavo leaf. Old horizontal fold, light wear, Very Good. With the front portion of the stamped and addressed envelope to Tennent. A native of North Carolina, "Jackson's widow was much honored in North Carolina and throughout the former Confederate states. After the death of Mrs. Jefferson Davis in 1906, Mrs. Jackson was recognized nationwide as 'The First Lady of the South.' The 'tiny, brown-eyed lady' was the idol of Confederate veterans, many of whom came from all over the South to pay their respects to her and to her husband's memory. She literally lived her legend in her own day" [NCPedia online article about Mrs. J.]. Here the Widow Jackson is distressed by the Coat of Arms that Gaillard S. Tennent created for her family [words in capital letters are underlined in the original]: "In reply to yours of the 28th I would say that I did receive the copy of the Morrison coat of arms, which I requested Mrs. T.S. Morrison to procure, for me, and which I suppose was identical with one she showed me of her husband's family which is also my own. I did not notice, however, in the dim evening light, that the MOOR'S heads were representatives of the purest AFRICAN type, and when I showed it to my family, the exclamation burst forth from me of them, "Well, I didn't know we were descended from 'NIGGERS'!' Now, my dear Sir, I know that the tradition is that the Morrisons gained the distinction for prowess by the slaughter of some Moors, and the Coat of Arms is represented by three MOOR'S HEADS, but surely my idea of the Moors is that they were NOT PURE, BLACK, THICK LIPPED AFRICANS! I wrote Mrs. Morrison this, and she replied that you were willing to change the work, if it was not satisfactory. I have intended ever since to return it to you and ask you to change it, so now I am taking the liberty of sending it back and asking you kindly to make the changes I so desire-- eg. to relieve the picture of the hideous AFRICAN representation, and transform such monsters into the type of the BROWN race with more regular and intelligent features; certainly NOT the THICK, SENSUAL LIPS, but more of the style of the Malay race. Don't you think I am correct in this? At any rate, I want the changes made if it is not digressing too much from the truth, as the present representation is really very objectionable to me and my family. Indeed, I do not care to accept it without some changes comporting as near as possible to the ideas I have described. If you will be good enough to do this, I will of course send you a check of $500 upon receipt of the Coat of Arms with its improvements. Excuse my long letter, but I wanted to explain to you just what I wished in the change. Yours truly, Mrs. T.H. Jackson."
book (2)

AN HISTORICAL, GEOGRAPHICAL, COMMERCIAL, AND PHILOSOPHICAL VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND OF THE EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS IN AMERICA AND THE WEST-INDIES. BY W. WINTERBOTHAM. IN FOUR VOLUMES. WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS

Four volumes, with seventeen engraved, uncolored plates [including frontis engraving in each volume], and four folding letterpress tables. Collation: pages [2- frontis: Falls of St. Anthony], viii, [26- 13 engravings plus their blank versos], 591, [1 blank]; [2- frontis: Tobacco plant], [4], 492, [1 blank]; [2- frontis: Black Snake], [4], 525, [1 blank], folding table after page 280; [2- frontis: Plan of Franklinville], [4], 415, [1 blank], 95, [1 blank], [9], [1blank], three folding tables after page 294. Bound in later half calf and marbled paper over boards [hinges tender, front cover of Volume 2 detached but present]. Text, plates, and tables clean. A couple of the plates trimmed closely, with occasional effect on caption. Except as noted, Very Good. The several plates noting dates are all 1794. Except for the frontis in each volume, all plates are bound consecutively in the first volume. As the Reese copy notes, this is evidently an early state of the first edition: the title pages are undated, the engravings are uncolored, and the book was evidently bound before later plates, maps, plans, and directions to the binder became available. A detailed index at the end of Volume 4 suggests the breadth of Winterbotham's coverage of his subject: the early settlement of the Americas, the American Revolution, the States of the United States, the Canadian Provinces and Northwest Territory, the West Indies and South America. Winterbotham found the time to write his tome while serving a stint at Newgate Prison for sedition. The volumes were owned by William Chauncey Fowler [1793-1881], with his ownership stamp on the blank upper margin of each volume's title page ["W.C. Fowler"]. Wikipedia has written his biography, calling him "an American scholar." Yale University has his papers, as well as those of the related Chauncey family. Howes W581. Gephart 1039. Sabin104832. 43 Decker 303.