Du Bois, W. E. Burghardt
Black Reconstruction : An Essay Toward A History of the Part Which Black Folk Played in the Attempt to Reconstruct Democracy in America, 1860-1880
New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1935: 1935
- $2,500
8vo (8.75" x 6"), black cloth over boards, silver author, title, and publisher at spine. Deckled edges. [10], 746 pp. Early ownership inscription at top of ffep: "James Wesley Ashfard[?] Jr." CONDITION: Very good-, extremities lightly rubbed, partial separation at lower hinge, occasional pencil and ink markings and annotations throughout. First edition of this pioneering work on the role of Black Americans during Reconstruction by one of the most important thinkers and activists of the twentieth century. In the wake of censorship by the Encyclopedia Britannica of Du Bois's characterization of Reconstruction in an article he was asked to contribute on "the American negro," (MacDonald) this study restored "the chief witness in Reconstruction, the emancipated slave himself," to the historical record. Against the white scholarly consensus attributing "the faults and failures of Reconstruction to Negro ignorance and corruption," Du Bois made the then-revolutionary argument that "it was Negro loyalty and the Negro vote alone that restored the South to the Union" (Parfait, p. 271), and that Reconstruction constituted "the finest effort to achieve democracy for the working millions which this world had ever seen." Black Reconstruction is a "landmark in American Historiography" and widely regarded as "the definitive work" on the central role of African Americans in Reconstruction. REFERENCES: Aptheker 1964; Blockson 2426; Blockson, One Hundred and One Influential Books 72; Howe and Lewis 2934; Weinstein, Randy. Against the Tide : Commentaries on a Collection of African Americana 1711-1987 234; MacDonald, William. "The American Negro's Part in the Reconstruction Years," The New York Times, June 16, 1935; Parfait, Claire. "Rewriting History: The Publication of W. E. B. Du Bois's 'Black Reconstruction in America' (1935)," Book History, Vol. 12 (2009).
More from James Arsenault & Company
Maps of Connecticut before the year 1800 : A Descriptive List by Edmund Thompson. [bound with] Maps of Connecticut for the Years of Industrial Revolution 1801-1860 : A Descriptive List by Edmund Thompson
Thompson, Edmund Hardcover. 8vo, blue cloth with title gilt-stamped on upper cover and spine. Vol. 1: 66 pp.; vol. 2: 111 pp. CONDITION: Very good, some slight discoloration to covers but overall clean, bright, and attractive in a tight binding. Reprint edition of these two works, the standard carto-bibliography of Connecticut, first published in 1940 and 1942 respectively.- $45
- $45
Citizen’s Guide for the City of Chicago. Companion to Blanchard’s Map of Chicago. [including] Guide Map of Chicago
24mo, original printed tan paper covers. 24 pp., hand-colored folding map, 18.625" x 11.25" plus margins. CONDITION: Good, covers toned with small stains, portion of letter G in word "Guide" on cover skinned off, a bit of separation along folds in map. A scarce pocket map of Chicago, depicting the Windy City before the Great Fire of October 1871. Showing the city between Egan Avenue in the south and Fullerton Avenue in the north, this map provides a detailed street-by-street layout. Bordering Lake Michigan to the east of the Chicago River are densely developed residential and commercial areas, while to the west of the river the Jeffers and Union Park areas are quite developed as well, while to the north and south are many blocks apparently as yet undeveloped. Dissecting and connecting the disparate neighborhoods are numerous rail lines owned by the Pittsburgh Ft. Wayne & Chicago Railroad, the Michigan Southern Railroad, the Blue Island Railroad, the Chicago, South Burlington, and Quincy Railroad, and others. A line extending into Lake Michigan at the upper right represents the Chicago Lake Tunnel, one of the great engineering feats of the period, through which fresh water was brought into the city from a crib situated two miles out. Rufus Blanchard (1822-1904) was a mapmaker, historian, painter, and occasional bookseller, and one of the best known citizens of Chicago in the nineteenth century. According to his obituary in The Mattoon Commercial, Blanchard held an international reputation as a cartographer by the end of his life and used the relatively new technique of cerography to print his maps. Hailing from the East Coast, where he worked for Harper & Brothers, during the early 1840s he operated several book stores in Lowell and in Cincinnati. By 1849, he moved to New York to study cartography, and by 1854 brought his expertise to Chicago where he began making and printing railroad maps from his Chicago Map Store. His business was partially destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, but partially recovered after he moved his remaining tools etc. to his home in Wheaton. Unfortunately, in 1885, a major fire broke out on Wheaton's Front Street and spread to Blanchard's home and office, destroying his library, historical maps, drawings, notes, and tools. Nevertheless, Blanchard persevered and continued both making maps and writing, mostly about the early pioneers, until his death in 1904. Blanchard was a giant among the Chicago-based mapmakers and sellers of the nineteenth century. Along with "booksellers David B. Cooke, the Burleys, and Keen & Lee," Blanchard "published maps in the mid-1850s, often in collaboration with.other Chicago lithographers.In the decade from 1861 to 1871, map publishers increased from four to six, and specialized services like map coloring and map finishing came to be separately advertised. The prolific Charles Shober joined the ranks of lithographers, and Warner and Higgins (later Warner and Beers) established their county atlas business in 1869" (Conzen and Karrow). This particular edition of Blanchard's guide is not in the Rumsey Collection, which includes two other editions with distinctly different maps, both with surrounding vignette illustrations, published in 1867 and 1869. REFERENCES: "Had an International Reputation," The Mattoon Commercial (Mattoon, Illinois), January 7, 1904; "Fire Destroys Mapmaker's Work but not His Spirit," Chicago Tribune, October 18, 1998; Conzen, Michael and Robert W. Karrow, Jr., "Mapmaking and Map Publishing," at Encyclopedia of Chicago online. The Resources of Montana Territory and Attractions of Yellowstone National Park. Facts and Experiences on the Farming, Stock Raising, Mining, Lumbering and Other Industries of Montana.And Other Valuable and Reliable Information Applicable to the Wants of the Capitalist, Homeseeker, or Tourist
Strahorn, Robert E. Original printed wrappers. 77, [3] pp. including twelve wood engravings (some full-page), and three pages of advertisements. Map of Montana Territory on interior of front wrapper. CONDITION: Very good plus, slight chipping to bottom of spine, wrappers slightly creased with a few scattered stains, light even tanning. All of Strahorn's promotional works on the great Northwest have become scarce. Most of this pamphlet discusses the opportunities in stock raising and mining in Montana, with a section on Yellowstone. It contains very early, handsome woodcut engravings of Helena and Bozeman, public buildings, Yellowstone Lake and Falls, and the like. Also included is information on farming, home expenses, and local infrastructure. The final three pages contain advertisements for local businesses and the Union Pacific Railroad. The map of Montana on the interior of the front wrapper shows the county divisions of the territory, towns and settlements, mountain ranges, missions, rivers, the location of Yellowstone Park, and more. Although Helena is given as the imprint, both Howes and McMurtrie assert that Omaha was the true place of publication. Strahorn himself was in fact employed by the Union Pacific Railroad, and his detailed Western promotionals were largely backed by the company as part of a long-term plan to encourage settlement and increase rail traffic. An excellent copy of this rare promotional, in original wrappers. REFERENCES: Howes S1057, "aa"; Streeter Sale 2252; Adams Herd 2184; McMurtrie (Montana) 162. Reese, Best of the West 236 (note).- $5,750
- $5,750
Connecticut, From Actual Survey, Made in 1811; By and under the Direction of, Moses Warren and George Gillet; And by them Compiled
Warren, Moses and George Gillet Hand-colored engraving, 36.5" x 44.25" plus margins, dissected and mounted on linen, folding into original 8vo covers, half red leather and marbled paper boards, gilt title "Connecticut" and gilt rules at spine. CONDITION: Good, spotting mainly in the lower left quadrant, which seems to be endemic to case map examples, as evident in copies at Harvard and the Library of Congress, which can be viewed online. The first state of this scarce, important, and very fine map of Connecticut, offered here in desirable case map form, with beautiful original color. This large and impressive map depicts the entire state of Connecticut, as well as narrow portions of adjacent states, the whole of Long Island Sound, and part of Long Island. A circular cartouche incorporating the Connecticut coat-of-arms appears in the lower right corner along with a fine calligraphic dedication to Governor Roger Griswold. A handsome compass rose with a fleur-de-lis directional is situated in Long Island Sound near New Haven. A key in the upper left margin identifies some thirty-five points of interest, including churches, academies, court houses, gun & pistol factories, paper mills, distilleries, glass works, ore beds, light houses, etc. The last item listed is "Humphrysville - The first extensive successful woolen mill in the country." According to Thompson, there is an apparently later state of the map in which this note had been transferred to the site of present day Seymour. Also noted by Thompson are the turnpike roads, a recent development and apparently the first to appear on an American map. Warren & Gillett undertook the first survey of the state since William Blodget's map of 1792, carrying out much of the field work themselves, but also, as Ristow points out, likely incorporating manuscript maps from local surveyors as well as other locally provided data. "Though the publication of this map was a private venture, the survey had an official sanction. At the May session, 1811, of the Connecticut legislature a resolution was passed authorizing Hudson & Goodwin 'at their own expense to prepare and publish from actual survey a map of this state, and for that purpose the petitioners are authorised.to pass over the land of individuals in the state.and empowered to examine the records of the state'" (Thompson). As the authoritative map of the state, the Warren & Gillet map served as the prototype for other maps of Connecticut into the 1840s. Although cataloged by Thompson and others as 1812, the date of publication of this map is somewhat unclear. The inscription to Governor Griswold reads in part "Respectfully Inscribed By the Publishers. Hartford, February 1812," but the copyright date is 1813. Also, the last governor listed is John Cotton Smith, who succeeded Griswold in 1813. Moses Warren (1762-1835) was born in Hopkinton, Rhode Island, but soon moved with his family to East Lyme, Connecticut. He served as a sergeant in the Revolutionary War, and surveyed the Western Reserve in 1796. Warren's partner, George Gillet (1771-1853) was born in Hebron, Connecticut. He was appointed surveyor general of Connecticut following publication of this map. A splendid, early map of Connecticut. REFERENCES: Thompson, Maps of Connecticut, 52; Ristow, American Maps & Mapmakers, pp. 96-98.- $12,000
- $12,000
The Life of William Blake
Gilchrist, Alexander Hardcover. 8vo (9" x 6.25"), gilt red cloth. t.e.g., deckled edges. Frontis., xxii, 533 pp., 16 pp. pub. ads, b&w illus. with several facsimile reproductions. CONDITION: Good, covers dampstained, spine sunned, some offsetting to pastedowns and endpapers.- $45
- $45
On Reading
Hardcover in dj. 8vo (8.5" x 6.5"). Frontis. photo, unpaginated, illus. throughout. CONDITION: Near fine, two small black spots (one at top edge of cover, one at head of spine), text crisp and clear; dj very good, some spotting and toning, priceclipped, otherwise fine. First edition, first printing. A Plurality of Worlds
8vo (8.125" x 5.25"), full limp vellum, gilt title at spine and decorative gilt stamping at upper cover. ix, 138 pp., colophon. Bookplate of Wyman Parker at lower left corner of front paste-down. CONDITION: Very good, corners slightly bumped. Nonesuch Press edition of this work first published in 1686, first translated into English by John Glanvill in 1688. Declaring to those aware of recent developements in Natural Philosophy that he does "not pretend to instruct, but only to divert them by presenting.in a gay and pleasing dress, that which they already know," Fontenelle's A Plurality of Worlds is a classic of popular-scientific writing from the Age of Reason. First published forty-five years after Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy and a century after the Copernican revolution, this dialogue not only explains the Cartesian dualism of mind and body with respect to terrestrial and intergalactic bodies, but like Descartes before him, Fontenelle's writing in French rather than Latin made this book accessible to the less-educated. Tremendously popular both in France and across the Channel, the first English-edition, whose text is reproduced in the present edition, "seemed to the British peculiarly their own book, read for at least a century both by men and.ladies," becoming known as a book "that warranted a subtitle.'Science made clear to the Meanest Capacities, even to those of Women and Children'" (Nicolson 59). Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle (February 1657-January 1757) was neither an astronomer nor a scientist by training, but rather a poet, dramatist, and lawyer. Writing and revising A Plurality of Worlds throughout his life to best-accord with the then-most accurate astronomical observations, he became a precursor to the boom of popular-science writers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, who, like Fontenelle, sought especially to educate women and children (Stableford 394).Best remembered today for explaining "in terms that could be understood by an intelligent but untrained mind, recent discoveries in the world of stars," Fontenelle treated "difficult subjects in a light style, playfully and with a touch of affectation that detracted nothing from the seriousness of the given explanations" (Gillespie 59). John Glanvill (1664-1735) was an English poet, translator, and barrister, known for his penchant for drink and his foul-mouth, who died a wealthy bachelor. Best remembered for his translation of Fontenelle's text, he also translated Seneca and Horace. This is copy 834 of 1200 distributed by the Nonesuch Press; 400 additional copies were printed for sale by Random House in the U.S. From the colophon: "This edition of Fontenelle's La Pluralité des Mondes in John Glanvill's translation of 1688.has been designed by Francis Meynell, composed by T. W. Hay at the Nonesuch Press, and printed on Van Gelder paper at the Curwen Press. The colour-stencilled decorations are by T. L. Pouton; the remainder are composed of astronomical signs." REFERENCES: Dreyfus, A History of the Nonesuch Press, 65; Gillespie, Charles Coulston. Dictionary of Scientific Biography. vols 5&6. New York: Scribner, 1981; Nicolson, Marjorie Hope. Voyages to the Moon. New York: Macmillan, 1948; Stableford, Brian. Science: Fact and Science Fiction: An Encyclopedia. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2006. Sanborn’s geographical manual upon the classification system, designed to be used in connection with outline maps; being adapted to Mitchell’s, Smith’s, Cornell’s and Colton and Fitch’s school atlases. It can be used, however, with any system of maps or Geography treating of the various topics embracing in it
8vo (9" x 5.5"), printed wrappers. 32 pp. Ownership inscription on title-page of Ellen L. Steele, Springfield, Vermont (Steele was engaged in the American Home Missionary Society in Vermont during the 1860s), and an inscription concerning geography on the front pastedown by an anonymous "Sleepy Jack." CONDITION: Good, back-wrapper detached and stained, light staining to front-wrapper; contents generally clean with occasional light staining. The second edition of this comprehensive geography instruction manual designed for use with the school atlases of the day, written by the noted instructor Dyer H. Sanborn who was active in academies and seminaries across New England. The text begins with directions to teachers addressing map drawing, recitation, lessons, and more, and proceeds with geographical definitions and simple divisions of geography into continents, oceans, hemispheres, etc. The following are explored and detailed: North America; the U.S. (including New England, Middle States, Southern States, Western States and Territories), the Provinces of British America, Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Mexico, Central America, West Indies, South America, Europe, British Isles, Asia, Palestine (or Holy Land), Africa, Liberia, Oceanica, Australia, and Polynesia. Some of the geographical features covered include mountains, islands, rivers, cities, towns, counties, falls and cataracts, and more. Also given is an overview through tables of America's Races of Men, Tribes of Indians (forty are named), Presidents and Vice Presidents, colleges, mottos of states, cities and their characteristics, etc. The work concludes with an overview of different kinds of government, religion, a pronunciation key, useful definitions and illustrations (e.g., bayou, "a channel for water; the outlet of any stream which issues from some other stream or lake"), the meaning of several proper names (e.g., Santa Fe, "holy faith"), and public water works of note (e.g., the Croton Aqueduct in New York). Dyer Hook Sanborn (1799-1871) was for many years one of the best known instructors in various academies and seminaries in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and was author of two English Grammars which were extensively used during their day. Sanborn was also a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church, holding many offices of influence and trust. His other published works include Analytical Grammar of the English Language, embracing the inductive and productive methods of teaching. and an appendix. In five parts. (Concord, NH: Marsh, Capen and Lyon, 1836), Sanborn's normal school grammar, being an abridgment of the analytical grammar of the English language (Concord, NH: G. Parker Lyon, 1846), and Sanborn's school mottos, suggestive directions to teachers, and rules for spelling (Concord, NH: E.C. Eastman, 1858). REFERENCES: Granite State Monthly, Vol. 1 (Dover, NH: H. H. Metcalf, 1877-78), p. 289; The Home Missionary, Vols. 34-35 (Astor Place, NY: American Home Missionary Society, 1862), 273. William and Marguerite Zorach: The Maine Years
Softcover. Sm 4to (11" x 8.25"). Title page illus., 55 pp., illus. throughout, some color. Gift inscription, "For Jo and Dick, Who remember us all when? Much love from Dahlov & Adolph [Ipcar] Xmas 1980." CONDITION: Very good, covers toned at edges. Inscribed by Zorach's daughter, artist Dahlov Ipcar, to poet Richard Aldridge and his wife Jo of Phippsburg, Maine. History of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, 1863-1865
8vo (8.5" x 6") original navy cloth, gilt title to spine and upper cover. [ii], frontis., [iii]-xvi, 410 pp., numerous b&w plates and maps, 2 folding maps, 15" x 4.75" and 5.5" x 15". Early bookplate of "John M. Glidden" on front pastedown. CONDITION: Very good; a bright, attractive, clean and solid copy, with minimal wear. First edition of this important history of the first African American regiment raised after the Emancipation Proclamation and the first to consist entirely of free Black volunteers from the North, by one of its white officers. The most renowned of the African American units to fight in the Civil War, the 54th was commanded by Boston abolitionist Robert Gould Shaw and included two of Frederick Douglass's sons. The regiment is remembered for assailing Fort Wagner (at the entrance of Charleston Harbor) in 1863-during which it lost the battle, and half of the regiment was killed or wounded. Weeks later, the regiment successfully captured the fort. The unit's success led to the creation of more Black Union regiments. The 54th's assault on Fort Wagner was the subject of the movie Glory (1989). "To the present generation of the race from which the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts volunteers was recruited, the history of the regiment should have peculiar interest. The author's treatment of the subject is simple and straightforward, with hardly a word of eulogy; and yet the plain narrative of the soldierly achievement of this black regiment is better evidence of the manly qualities of the race than volumes of rhetoric and panegyric could convey" (Publisher's preface, p. ix). REFERENCES: Afro-Americana 3486; Blockson 3033; Howe and Lewis 2616; Dornbusch MA-401; Kuryla Peter. "54th Regiment U.S. Military" at Britannica online. An Account of the Reception Given by the Citizens of New-York to the Survivors of the Officers and Crews of the United States Frigates Cumberland and Congress, at the Academy of Music, April 10th, 1862
12mo (7.25" x 4.875"), illustrated pink wrappers. [1], frontis., 37, [2], [1] pp. Pencil calculations on verso of title page. CONDITION: Wrappers good, spine perished and sewn, light wear and soiling; contents very good, occasional light foxing. An account of the celebration held to honor the Union veterans of the Battle of Hampton Roads and benefit the families of those killed aboard the USS Cumberland and the USS Congress. "Saturday, the Eighth Day of March, A.D. 1862, will ever be regarded as the beginning of a new era in the annals of naval warfare." So opens this tribute to the heroic crews of the Cumberland and Congress, the two wooden-hulled Union frigates sunk by the Rebel ironclad Merrimack in the Battle of Hampton Roads, also known as the Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack. It was the first confrontation in the world between two ironclad war ships, and prompted both Great Britain and France to cease construction of wooden-hulled models. After sinking the Cumberland and the Congress, the Merrimack battled its ironclad Union counterpart, the Monitor, for some three hours without a conclusive result: the Union trade blockade of Norfolk and Richmond-which the Cumberland and Congress had been enforcing-continued unbroken. This account, which includes brief histories of the Monitor and the Merrimac as well as lists of the killed and missing, details the formal celebration organized in New York City's Academy of Music for the officers and crews of the two Union vessels. The circular advertising the event is reprinted ("A reception will be given.to the Officers and Crews of the Frigates CUMBERLAND and CONGRESS who so nobly stood by their guns and their flag in the late engagement in Hampton Roads") as is the two-part program. Detailed descriptions of the evening-from decorations to music to the "continued manifestations of sympathy and gratitude" accompanying the sailors on their "return march to the Navy-Yard"-are included alongside transcripts of the evening's speeches. A Series of Maps to an Abridgement of the History of the United States. Designed for Schools
Sm 4to (9.5" x 7"), printed paper over boards. 8 engraved maps (3 double-sheet and 5 single-sheet). CONDITION: Very good, covers lightly foxed and worn at extremities, paper chipped at outer hinge. First abridged edition of the first historical atlas of the United States by pioneering educator Emma Willard, who, in promoting the power of visual learning, became the country's first female map maker. The first map in this volume, designated the "Introductory Map," presents the "Locations and Wanderings of the Aboriginal Tribes." The second, which begins the numbered series, represents the year 1578. It shows numerous ships approaching the east coast of North America, and includes a vignette in the upper left captioned"Queen Elizabeth Signs for Sir Humphrey Gilbert The first patent granted by an English Sovereign to lands within The territory of the United States." Subsequent maps-for the years 1620, 1643, 1692, 1733, 1763, and 1776-include several more pictorial vignettes of historic milestones, as well as larger-scale inset maps. Willard's "Introductory Map" was the first of its kind to depict tribal migration over several centuries. By placing it outside the numbered series, however, Willard "reinforced the contemporary assumption that Native Americans existed in a timeless space prior to human history" and "established a pattern replicated by historians throughout the century [of] mapping Natives as part of the nation's natural landscape rather than its political history" (Mapping, pp. 25, 26). Willard's intense nationalism meant that for her, American history began with Columbus and led inexorably towards the foundation of the United States. This supposedly natural trajectory was based in her idea that "territorial sovereignty formed the foundation of history," (Emma Willard, p. 60) and it is further reinforced by the outlines of states in the "Introductory Map" and the steadily fading Native American presence in subsequent maps. The full atlas, which was first published in 1828, accompanied Willard's History of the United States, or Republic of America: Exhibited in Connexion with Its Chronology and Progressive Geography by Means of a Series of Maps. The History became one of Willard's longest-lived texts, republished almost every year through the 1860s, and was first abridged in 1831. Together, the History and the Series of Maps put into practice her revolutionary recognition of the interdependence between geography and history. As she put it, "the event fixes the recollection of the place, no less than the place of the event" (Mapping, p. 23). Emma Willard (née Hart, 1787-1870) was born in Berlin, Connecticut, where she began teaching as a teenager. In 1807 she moved to Middlebury, Vermont, to teach at a small girl's school; however, frustrated with the limited subjects available to female students and somewhat unpopular for her attempts to broaden her students' education, in 1814, recently married to Dr. John Willard, she founded her own boarding school, known as Middlebury Female Seminary, in her home. Determined to prove that women were equally capable of mastering the subjects studied by men, Willard began teaching her students the same subjects studied by her nephew, a student at nearby Middlebury College. She soon developed a proposal for elevating female education by means of public funding, but after being rebuffed by Vermont lawmakers, moved to New York State, where, with legislative support, she founded the Troy Female Seminary in 1821. This was the first school in the country to offer women an education comparable to that of college-going men, and it soon became "a preeminent school for future teachers and one of the country's finest institutions of female education" (Schulten, p. 18). After retiring from its management in 1838, Willard continued to lecture and publish widely. Her work inspired a movement that brought higher education to women throughout America and even abroad. REFERENCES: Schulten, Susan. Mapping the Nation: History and Cartography in Nineteenth Century America (University of Chicago Press, 2012); Schulten, Susan, ed. Emma Willard : Maps of History (San Francisco: Visionary Press, 2022). My Bondage and My Freedom. Part I.-Life as a Slave. Part II-Life as a Freeman. [“Seventeenth Thousand” printed at head of title]
Sm 8vo (7.75" x 5.5"), brown cloth, gilt spine title, blindstamped covers. Frontis., xxxi, [32]-464 pp., bookseller ticket of "John S. Andrews, Bookseller & Stationer No. 140 Nassau-St. New York" on front pastedown. Early ownership inscription reading "Elijah Holton's book, Hack. Grant" on ffep. Engraved frontis. port. by "J.C. Buttre from a daguerreotype." With facsimile signature below port. CONDITION: Good, extremities worn, foot of spine chipped, spine sunned, some spotting to spine and front cover, lower front inner hinge cracked but sound binding overall, frontis. tissue guard and title foxed, moderate foxing thereafter. An 1856 printing ("Seventeenth Thousand") of Douglass's renowned autobiography which first appeared the previous year, a profound critique of the injustices of slavery and among his greatest literary achievements. One of the most popular slave narratives of the nineteenth century (the first printing sold around 5,000 copies in two days), My Bondage and My Freedom expanded on the author's Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass of 1845 and added an account of his life as a free public intellectual. Published two years after Harriet Beecher Stowe's sensational Uncle Tom's Cabin, a year after the disastrous Kansas-Nebraska Act, and in the midst of the border war in the Kansas-Missouri region over the future of slavery, Douglass's narrative posits the violence of slavery as the central concern for all American citizens, and its fate-to be or not to be-as the prime determinant of the tumultuous nation's future. The publication of My Bondage and My Freedom firmly established its author as a master of American letters whose efforts here constitute nothing less than "a song born of dark memories converted into soaring literacy, a political argument with America's conscience, and an appeal by the risen slave testifying to his own sufferings and making witness to the crimes of a guilty land" (Blight). REFERENCES: Douglass, Frederick. My Bondage and My Freedom: Introduction and Notes by David W. Blight (New Haven: Yale UP, 2014), p.xxix. A Souvenir of the Trans-Continental Excursion of Railroad Agents, 1870. By One of the Party
8vo, original green cloth, gilt-title on upper cover. 92 pp., 1 chromolithographic plate. Inscribed on the flyleaf: "Mrs. Myron Miller With regards of Wm. H. Weed 1871." CONDITION: Very good, moderate wear and staining to covers, some brown spots to page margins, contents otherwise clean. First edition of this anonymously-authored account of an excursion on the Trans-continental Railroad taken by "the general passenger, ticket and freight agents of the railroads" in September of 1870 at the invitation of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroad Companies. On May 10, 1869 the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific were joined at Promontory Summit, Utah, when CPR president Leland Stanford drove the ceremonial "Last Spike." The following year railroad agents from both the United States and Canada were invited to participate in an excursion from Omaha to San Francisco and back, just prior to the General Ticket Agents' Convention at Milwaukee. This account by one of the excursionists offers a first-hand look at the extraordinary travel experience recently made available to the the public upon completion of the railroad. The party travels aboard a so-called "fancy train," consisting of five Pullman palace, drawing-room, and sleeping cars, a smoking car, and a baggage car. Among the places they pass through, and in many cases tour, are Cheyenne, Greeley, Denver, Sherman, Laramie, Fort Steele, Echo and Weber Canons, Salt Lake City, Ogden (where they transfer to the Silver Palace cars of the Central Pacific), Elko, Carlin, Humboldt, Truckee, Sacramento, and San Francisco. At Fort Steele the colonel in command, "a celebrated Indian fighter," offers a tour of his quarters, appointed with "the weapons of Indian warfare and torture." Aboard the train one morning the passengers are treated to a breakfast consisting of Green River brook trout. The narrative contains much similarly interesting matter relating both to places visited as well as life aboard the train. Illustrated with a chromolithographic facsimile of the the Excursion ticket, complete with the punch-holes unique to each rail division. REFERENCES: Howes S796. The Enormity of the Slave-Trade; and the Duty of Seeking the Moral and Spiritual revelation of the Colored race. Speeches of Wilberforce and Other Documents and Records
Wilberforce, William, et. al 16mo (6" x 3.875"), decoratively printed tan wrappers. 144 pp. Early ownership inscription by "C. R. Daggett" at top right of upper wrapper and title p. CONDITION: Very good, 1" loss to top left corner of upper wrapper, slight soiling to lower wrapper. A collection of anti-slavery speeches and texts, including a plan for the education and emancipation of slaves held by Kentucky Presbyterians. The volume opens with William Wilberforce's famous 1789 Parliamentary motion for the abolition of the slave trade, and includes several other British speeches before "The Bill Passed, Abolishing the Trade" and several anti-slavery documents from the Presbyterian Kentucky Synod. The first of these-the 1818 "Unanimous Action of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States"-deems "the voluntary enslaving of one portion of the human race by another.utterly irreconcilable with the spirit and principles of the gospel of Christ," and the next outlines "The Substance of the Plan of a Committee of the Synod of Kentucky, for the Instruction and Emancipation of their Slaves" (1835). An 1846 sermon by Rev. John C. Young on the "Duty of Masters" closes the collection. Elegiac Sonnets, And Other Poems
Smith, Charlotte 18mo (155 x 95 mm), full marbled calf, gilt-stamped spine in five compartments with four octagonal floral devices and gilt-stamped red lettering-piece. [i-iv], v-xii, [xiii-xv], xvi-xix, [2], 22-126 pp., 5 engraved plates including frontis. Plates signed "Seymour sc" (Joseph Seymour). CONDITION: Good, crack along upper back of spine, small scratches on front and back cover, lacking front free end-paper; contents good. The first Worcester edition and the first American book printed on wove paper, in a lovely early American binding. This is Smith's second volume of poetry, from the Sixth London edition. Dard Hunter describes it as the "first book to be issued in America on 'wove' paper in which the paper is mentioned" and quotes from Thomas's preface: "The making of the particular kind of paper on which these Sonnets are printed, is a new business in America; and but lately introduced into Great Britain; it is the first manufactured by the Editor." Only the text is printed on wove paper; the illustrations are on laid paper. The present example is also of interest for ownership inscriptions by two women readers Sally Hare and Maria Matilda as well as a possible third [Bess Bingam?]. REFERENCES: Evans 29523; Sabin 82404; Hunter Dard. Papermaking: The History and Technique of an Ancient Craft (NY: Dover Pub., 1978), p. 129. The Union Pacific Tourist: Illustrated sketches of the principal health and pleasure resorts of the great West and Northwest, embracing Yellowstone Park, Shoshone Falls and Yosemite and the chief points of interest in the Rocky Mountain region, all most easily reached via the Union Pacific Railway
Union Pacific Railway Company 4to (10.5" x 8.25"), chromolithographic wrappers. 61, [3] pp., numerous illus., 3 maps, one printed inside front wrapper, one inside back wrapper (9" x 6.5", plus margins), and inset map at page 41 (5" x 6.5"). Agent's stamp at title page, "M. T. Dennis. New England Agent 290 Washington St., Boston, Mass." CONDITION: Good, .25" loss of paper at head of spine, a few other small losses, 1.5" separation of front wrapper along foot of spine; contents bright and clean. An unusually attractive, extensively illustrated pamphlet describing the various sites and destinations accessible via the Union Pacific Railway in the 1880s. Following an overview of the railroad and its main line, the text offers descriptions of Denver, Clear Creek Canyon, Platte Canyon, Gunnison, Colorado parks, Salt Lake City and vicinity, Yellowstone National Park, California's Golden Coast, etc. Other topic covered include how to hunt; climate and health in the American West; facts about mining and "Elements of Western Life." The illustrations picture towns and cities, bodies of water, mountains, falls, canyons, geysers, valleys, mills, bridges, hotels, rock formations, etc. Specific views show "Alice Mine And Mill, Butte City," the "Bridge Across Snake River," "Ogden And The Wasatch Range," "Palace butte, In Yellowstone," "Green River City And Buttes," and so on. The two larger maps, entitled "Tourists Map of Colorado Issued by the Union Pacific Railway" and "Map of the Union Pacific Ry & Connections," show the railway and its connections spanning, in the first map, the American West, and in the second, Colorado and Wyoming. The smaller map depicts rail and stage routes to Yosemite, the Big Trees, and the geysers, with an inset of Monterey. The appendix provides elevations of principal mountain cities, peaks, and passes; the Union Pacific Passenger Department's personnel, and facts about train service and sleeping cars. The front wrapper includes a view of Salt Lake City and the back shows Alpine Pass.
Sculpture by William Zorach
Softcover. Sm 4to (11" x 8"). 49 pp. Obituary of William Zorach published in The Sunday Telegram (Portland ME) and an invitation to the "unveiling of The Spirit of the Sea" by Zorach and the Bath Garden Club laid in. CONDITION: Very good, covers lightly toned, text clear, images bright. Sculptor William Zorach (1887-1966), a Lithuanian Jew, trained in Paris, exhibited in New York City, and by 1923 moved to Robinhood Cove on Georgetown Island, Maine, where he would reside for the remainder of his life. According to his obituary, "at his best, Zorach, through simplification of form and monumentality, dealt with life's poetry, love, childhood, and the beauty of living things.His involvement with the State of Maine was a continuous one. Both the animals in many of his pieces and the stone to carve them were often found on his Robinhood farm. His gifts to the City of Bath including the statue 'The Spirit of the Sea,' which stands in the city park, and to various museums in the state are well known. Bowdoin and Bates conferred honorary degrees on him. His wife, Marguerite, and his daughter, Dahlov Ipcar, both of Robinhood, are painters with broad reputations."
Handbook of the Complete Set of Etchings and Drypoints with 25 Illustrations of Childe Hassam, N.A.
Eliasoph, Paula Hardcover. 8vo (9.25" x 6.25"), blue cloth. ix, 82, 25 b&w illus. Gift inscription "With the compliments of the Publishers. to Mrs. Ernest Haskell. April 28, 1934." CONDITION: Good, title at spine faded, front and rear cover toned, light toning to endpapers and pastedowns,- $55
- $55
America & Alfred Stieglitz: A Collective Portrait
Frank, Waldo, Lewis Mumford, Dorothy Norman, Paul Rosenfeld, Harold Rugg, ed Hardcover. 8vo (9.5" x 6.5"), black cloth. 339 pp., 32 b&w plates. Bookplate of "Mrs. Jerome B. Thomas, 1432 Webster St. Palo Alto, California," at front pastedown. CONDITION: Near fine, covers with minimal wear, endpapers and pastedowns slightly toned.- $45
- $45
![Specimens of Printing Types Made at Bruce's New York Type Foundry [with supplements 1-5]; [bound with] De Vinne](https://rarebookinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/31781745344.jpg)
Specimens of Printing Types Made at Bruce’s New York Type Foundry [with supplements 1-5]; [bound with] De Vinne, Theo. L.: The Invention of Printing. A collection of Facts and Opinions.Illustrated With Fac-Similes of Early Types and Wood-cuts
Hardcover. Small folio (12" x 9.5"), later red library buckram with title gilt-stamped at spine and "Franklin Institute" blind stamped at upper cover. Frontis.; Supplements: 353-376 pp.; Specimens of Printing Types: 352 pp.; The Invention of Printing: 168 pp. CONDITION: Very good; blindstamp and perforated stamp of Franklin Institute on title page; creases to upper right corner and a few small spots of soiling to the first pp. of The Invention of Printing. First edition of one of the finest American type specimens of the 19th Century. David Wolfe Bruce was the son of the important Scottish-American printer George Bruce (1781-1866)-credited as the first to try standardizing type sizes in America-and the nephew of David Bruce, whose type casting machine "mechanized the entire industry" (Annenberg, p. 72). Bruce assumed the management of his father's New York type foundry following the latter's death in 1866. At this time, as Annenberg notes, "The Civil War was just over, the industrial and mechanization period had just started, and there was a great demand for type and printing machinery.the Bruce foundry furnished special types that could be used in machinery that would eliminate hand typesetting" (p. 82). This is the first of two type specimen books into which Bruce incorporated his friend Theodore Low De Vinne's book The Invention of Printing-a discussion of, among other early printing topics, "the legend of Lourens Janszoon Coster, of Haarlem," who claimed to have developed movable type at the same time as Gutenberg. De Vinne (1828-1914) was an immensely successful printer and a founder of the Grolier Club, for which he served as printer for two decades. According to Annenberg, Bruce "always termed this catalog the crowning work of his career" (Annenberg, pp. 79-87). REFERENCES: Maurice Annenberg, Type Foundries of America and their Catalogs (1974).- $3,500
- $3,500
An Appeal to the Public, Especially Those Concerned in Education, Against the Wrong and Injury Done by Marcius Willson, in His Pamphlet Entitled “Report on American Histories, Etc. Published by Mark H. Newman & Co. New York, 1847.” Showing Also Their Trespasses on My Literary Property
Willard, Emma Small 8vo (7.625" x 4.625"), original printed gray wrappers. 36, [12] pp. Early ownership inscription in ink on upper wrapper: "J. Howard June 1847." CONDITION: Very good, dampstain to upper wrapper, 1.75" split to wrapper at foot of spine. Emma Willard's rebuttal of rival text book author Marcius Willson in a debate that articulated core questions of historiography and text-book compilation at the height of the common school era. This counter-thrust, an entry in the two-year pamphlet battle between pioneering female educator and mapmaker Emma Willard and her young rival Marcius Willson, opens with Willard's "Questions, for those who wish to be just" and states her intention "without fear, [to] let the truth be known"-that is, that Willson's book, which he promotes in part through his denigration of Willard's Abridged History of the United States, is in fact "an imitation of that work." In 1845, shortly before publishing his own History of the United States for the Use of Schools, Marcius Willson had published what he claimed to be an impartial criticism of eight historical textbooks, including Willard's. But, as Willard wrote in her first (anonymous) response, Willson, "being about to publish [a textbook] himself, very naturally seeks to destroy public confidence in his rivals." Willard was particularly nettled that Willson's History even looked like hers-so much that "booksellers.have come to me, and asked me if I was aware that a book was in the market, which appeared like a counterfeit of mine,-so resembling it, that it would naturally be taken by common observers for the same." She was the only author to respond to Willson's initial criticism, and their ensuing debate reflected the increasingly commercialized textbook market towards the end of the common school era and articulates clashing philosophies over "how to 'compile' a history textbook" and what such pedagogical works should attempt to accomplish. REFERENCES: Knupfer, Peter B. "How to Write a History Textbook: The Willard Willson Debate over History Education in the Common School Era," History of Education Quarterly, Vol. 59 No. 2 (2019).- $575
- $575
Black Reconstruction : An Essay Toward A History of the Part Which Black Folk Played in the Attempt to Reconstruct Democracy in America, 1860-1880: https://rarebookinsider.com/rare-books/black-reconstruction-an-essay-toward-a-history-of-the-part-which-black-folk-played-in-the-attempt-to-reconstruct-democracy-in-america-1860-1880/
