[Portland, Maine’s Great Fire of 1866.] [Newspaper.] Portland Daily Press. Friday Morning, July 6. 1866.
Portland, Maine.: 1866
- $750
11 1/2 x 8 1/4." 2pp. (single sheet). Old fold lines; a few pinholes. Minor edge chipping. Good impression. A wonderful and scarce account of the great Portland fire of 1866, written while the fire was still burning. Among the headlines: "TERRIBLE FIRE! The Largest that has Occurred in the United States! 1500 Buildings Destroyed." The fire "commenced at half past four o'clock, Wednesday afternoon [July 4]." It began "in Deguio's boat shop on Commercial Street and was caused by a lad's firing a cracker among some shavings on the outside of the building, which set them on fire." The paper then provides great detail of the losses caused by the inferno, including: "Every lawyer's office in the city was burned down. We believe there is not a single exception." In addition, "[e]very newspaper office in the city was destroyed." As a result, only this "small sheet" could be issued by the Portland Daily Press. "For the privilege of issuing this little sheet to our patrons, we are indebted to the courtesy of Mr. F.G. Rich, whose job printing office was one of three that were saved. It was a tight squeeze for Bro. R., as the building was on fire several times, and was saved only by the greatest exertions." A scarce and historic newspaper.
More from Bickerstaff's Books, Maps
[18th Century Maine Imprint.] Gospel Ministers the workmanship of Jesus Christ. A Sermon Delivered at Reedfield at the Ordination of Mr. James Murphy, To the Office of an Evangelist.
Green, Thomas. 28 pp. No half-title; string tied. Moderate staining and foxing. Edges somewhat worn. A very nice example of an uncommon 18th century Maine imprint. (Most of them are.) Skillin, A Bibliography of Maine Imprints, 1785-1820: 98-14.- $325
- $325
[Salem, Massachusetts View.] Vue de Salem. [subtitle:] Salem. Eine Stadt im Engellaendischen America, in der Grafschafft Essex. [Title repeated in French.]
1770s. Printed area: 12 x 15 5/8." Bright hand color, likely original. Full margins. Minimal staining/soiling and edge wear, primarily in the margins and easily matted out. This is one of a series of engravings of Boston, New York, and a few other important American cities done as perspective views or "vues d'optique." They were viewed with an "optical machine" (or "zograscope") that used a mirror and magnifying lens to approximate a three-dimensional image. (The main title, "Vue de Salem," is printed as a mirror image; when viewed through the optical machine, it would appear correctly.) These views were often fanciful and the exact location depicted here is not readily identifiable. Accuracy aside, a wonderful view of what a European artist thought Salem looked like during the American Revolution. The caption below the view notes that Salem has two harbors -- one for the summer and one for the winter. Cresswell, The American Revolution in Drawings and Prints: 481.- $675
- $675
[Scarce Monhegan Historical Account.] Monhegan Island Maine.
[Ellsworth, Wolcott W.] 13 pp. Printed wrapper. Wrapper stained and irregularly toned. Frontis illustration. Text clean. An uncommon historical account of Monhegan written in the early twentieth century by Reverend Wolcott W. Ellsworth, a minister in the Episcopal Diocese of Albany, New York.- $150
- $150
A Map of the White Mountains of New Hampshire 1853. [with] Mt. Washington from North Conway [and four other views].
[New Hampshire.] [White Mountains.] Bond, George and B[enjamin]. Champney. [Publisher: John Bartlett.] The Bond map and the Champney views are without doubt one of the White Mountains classics. On the Bond map, "[t]he names of the individual peaks of the Presidential Range appear for the first time on any map, as well as the names Cannon Mt., Twin Mts., Carrigain, Tremont, and Giant's Stairs." ( Bent, p.84). Hachure marks are employed to suggest elevation, and Apt notes that this is the first topographic map of the region. The five lithographed views after Champney are printed on the reverse of the map as called for by Bent. Apt notes that map and views appear on separate sheets in some cases. We do not know the precedence or relative rarity of the two formats. The front paste-down provides a "Table of Distances" while the rear has a "Table of Heights, Bearings and Distances" of 30 peaks. Apt, Maps of the White Mountains of New Hampshire (Exhibition Catalogue): Map 14, pp. 9-10. Hanrahan [ed.], Bent's Bibliography of the White Mountains: p. 84. Cobb, Maps of New Hampshire to 1900: 206. Dark green cloth-covered folder with gilt title on front board; some scuffing at top 2" of rear board. Foxing or glue staining to tables pasted down on inside of both boards. Map and scenes are bright and quite clean with an occasional spot; folds reinforced. Map: 15 1/4 x 16 3/4." Folder size: 8 x 5 1/8."American Practical Lunarian, and Seamen’s Guide.
[Nautical.] Arnold, Thomas. xviii, [3], 844, 71, [6]. An interesting, comprehensive and uncommon seafarer's guide, combining elements of Bowditch's New American Practical Navigator and Blunt's American Coastal Pilot and Shipmaster's Assistant. Arnold covers the waterfront, so to speak, addressing matters as diverse as finding longitude by chronometer, taking in a topsail in a gale of wind, sailing directions for the River Plate (and many other locales), practical sea gunnery, information on the pepper trade on the west coast of Sumatra, American customs duties and marine insurance. Among the plates are a double-page, two-hemisphere map of the world and a double-page chart (with a small nibble at center left) "Plan of Port Soledad or Birkley's Sound, East End of Falkland Island." Another full-page plate shows the detail of the rigging of a three-masted vessel. From an advertisement following the table of contents, we learn that Arnold was the master of a "nautical academy" with thirty years experience and that he "continues to instruct gentlemen designed for and engaged in a seafaring life." Unlike the Bowditch and Blunt volumes, Arnold's appeared only in this single edition. Uncommon in the trade. Shoemaker, American Imprints: 7840. Original calf binding with spine label, well-used with abrasions and wear at hinges and head and tail of spine. Sixteen plates, as called for. Owner's name torn away at head of title and loss to several words in the detailed subtitle. Two previous owners' names remain on pastedown and ffep: James S. Bailey and Thad.[?] Brown, both of Marblehead. Foxing throughout, though mostly light. One plate heavily tanned. About ten pages in tables at rear misfolded.Recentissima Novi Orbis sive Americae Septentrionalis et Meridioalis Tabula.
[Map: Americas.] Danckerts. A very attractive, late 17th century map of the Americas, with California as an island. The map is derived directly from de Wit's c.1675 map. Five Great Lakes are shown and named, although Lakes Michigan and Superior are left open to the west. Burden, The Mapping of North America II: 725, State 2. McLaughlin, The Mapping of California as an Island: 123. Outline color and partially colored cartouche. Laid down on archival tissue curing minor chipping in the margins and a few small holes. Light staining at upper and lower right; errant traces of red ink/paint to the left of Cape Verde. Not perfect, but a very presentable example. 19 1/2 x 23."A Brief Notice of the Life of Mrs. Hannah Kinney, for Twenty Years.
[Maine.] Witham, Ward. 107, 13 pp. George Kinney died of arsenic poisoning. His wife, Hannah, was tried for murder and acquitted. This little gem was written by her first husband, Ward Witham, who, as McDade puts it, "reports that she never tried to poison him." There you have it. See McDade, The Annals of Murder: note on entry 561. Original blue paper covered boards with black fabric spine. Boards soiled and stained with worn edges. Contents exhibit occasional light foxing, but generally clean. Owner's name in ink on ffep.- $375
- $375
A Plan of Charles Town the Capital of South Carolina, with the Harbour, Islands and Forts; the Attack on Fort Sulivan [sic] by His Majesty’s Ships under Sir Peter Parker, in 1776; .
[Charleston, SC.] [American Revolution.] [title continues:] the Position of the Landed Forces, under General Clinton, and the Rebel Camp and Intrenchments, exactly delineated. A small but informative map depicting the British attack on Fort Sullivan in Charleston harbor in late June, 1776. Five ships are shown attacking the Fort. Rebel camps, ships and intrenchments are also shown. Jolly, Maps of America in Periodicals before 1800: 340. Nebenzahl, A Bibliography of Printed Battle Plans of the American Revolution 1775-1795: 70. Original fold lines. Moderate offsetting where folded on itself. 5 3/8 x 11 1/4."Connecticut.
[Connecticut.] Scott. Scott's The United States Gazetteer was one of the earliest atlases printed in the U.S. to include maps of the individual states. Publishd in 1795, this attractive early American map of Connecticut shows towns, counties, rivers and roads. The northern shore of Long Island is also depicted. Wheat & Brun, Maps and Charts Published in America before 1800: 285. Thompson, Maps of Connecticut before the Year 1800: 37. Very good with original fold lines and a bit of light spotting and offsetting. Trimmed close to the neat lines, as usual. 6 1/4 x 7 1/2."Mount Vernon in Virginia, the Seat of the late Genl. Washington.
[Mount Vernon.] Parkyns, George [Artist.] A delightful engraving of Mount Vernon with Washington on horseback greeting visitors. The view, drawn by English artist and landscape architect George Parkyns, appeared as the frontispiece to Volume II of the English edition of Marshall's The Life of George Washington (London, 1804). The view is a slightly modified and smaller version of a circa 1794 view which Parkyns prepared as one of a projected series of twenty-four aquatints (never completed) of notable American landscapes. (For a description of the larger view, see Deak, Picturing America, 1497-1899: 204.) The view is accompanied by a fascinating bit of ephemera documenting its publishing history -- a small printed notice apologizing for the delay in the delivery of the view "owing to the continued ILL-HEALTH of MR. MILTON, the Engraver." Apparently the notice was laid in to Volume II of The Life of Washington and then the Mount Vernon view was subsequently delivered and also laid into the volume (as the view shows no evidence of ever being bound into a volume). Very limited, light spotting. Otherwise, very good. Sheet size: 8 1/4 x 10 3/4." Image: 6 x 7 3/4."- $300
- $300
The State of New Hampshire, Compiled chiefly from Actual Surveys. 1796.
[New Hampshire.] Reid, John [publisher]. Wheat and Brun note that this map was copied from the Samuel Lewis map of 1795, including the note "The White Hills appear many leagues off at Sea like White Clouds, just rising above the Horizon." At the extreme north are the notations: " "42 000 Acres to Dartmouth College," "Northern Boundary Surveyed 1789" and " Indian Carrying place." County boundaries are indicated as are numerous roads. Wheat & Brun, Maps and Charts Published in America before 1800: 189. Cobb, Maps of New Hampshire to 1900: 76. An excellent impression. An exceptionally clean example. Near fine. 17 1/2 x 11."- $900
- $900
An Exact Map of New England, New York, Pensylvania [sic] & New Jersey from the latest Surveys.
[Northeastern U.S.] [American Revolution.] This is the first -- and apparently unrecorded -- appearance of John Lodge's map of the northeastern United States in the midst of the American Revolution. The map is documented as having appeared in William Russell's The History of America, London, 1778. However, we find no record of it appearing in The English Magazine at the end of 1777. Indeed, Jolly makes no mention of The English Magazine in either Maps of America in Periodicals before 1800 or Maps in British Periodicals. The map includes the colonial description of Long Island Sound as "The Devil's Belt." An interesting map in a previously unrecorded source. McCorkle, New England in Early Printed Maps, 1513-1800: 778.5. Phillips, A List of Maps of America: 859. This is the first -- and apparently unrecorded -- appearance of John Lodge's map of the northeastern United States in the midst of the American Revolution. The map is documented as having appeared in William Russell's The History of America, London, 1778. However, we find no record of it appearing in The English Magazine at the end of 1777. Indeed, Jolly makes no mention of The English Magazine in either Maps of America in Periodicals before 1800 or Maps in British Periodicals. The map includes the colonial description of Long Island Sound as "The Devil's Belt." An interesting map in a previously unrecorded source. McCorkle, New England in Early Printed Maps, 1513-1800: 778.5. Phillips, A List of Maps of America: 859. 7 1/2 x 10."- $1,250
- $1,250
The Gentleman’s and London Magazine: or, Monthly Chronologer. MDCCLXXIV.
[American Revolution.] [Boston Map.] 800 + indices. Despite the title, this Magazine was published in Dublin. It is the volume of twelve issues plus indices for the year 1774. There is considerable reporting of the American unrest, including "Thoughts of a Traveller upon our American Disputes" (pp. 789-794). An account of the closing of the port of Boston as of June 1 notes that the day was observed as one of mourning "at Harvard in Connecticut [sic]" with bells ringing, the town-house draped in black and shops closed. Most significant, however, is a nice report on the Boston tea party and the events leading to it (pp. 84-85). Finally, an extremely uncommon map of Boston remains bound into the volume in the June, 1774 issue (opposite p. 358). Titled A New and Accurate Plan of the Town of Boston, in New England, the map is clearly based on a very similar map that appeared in the May, 1774 issue of the London-based Universal Magazine. The map is newly engraved, however, as is evident by the orientation of the title block and the misspelling of a few street names. Jolly does not list the map in his Maps of America in Periodicals Before 1800; he does, however, describe maps from the Gentleman's and London Magazine "as rare as all get-out." In addition, Jolly does describe the map in his more comprehensive Maps in British Periodicals (GAL-104). A rare map in an uncommon magazine presenting an Irish perspective on the growing unrest in the American colonies. Quarter calf over very worn marbled boards. Red spine label with gilt title. Considerable erosion along joints. Lacking endpapers. Lacking most plates and with several leaves partially loosened from the text block.- $2,500
- $2,500
A Map of the North Western Territory.
[Northwest Territory.] Morse. A wonderful and scarce early American map of the Old Northwest. It appeared in the third edition of Morse's The American Universal Geography and was engraved by Samuel Hill. The map has many interesting features: Numerous forts are located, and the Connecticut Lands are identified. "Source unknown" describes the Mississippi River. The Missouri River is described as "Said to be navigable 1300 Miles." A note at the lower left explains: "The dotted squares are the Reservations made by the Indians in their Treaty in 1795, and ceded to the United States." Wheat & Brun, Maps and Charts Published in America before 1800: 679. Backed with archival tissue, closing fold separations. Trimmed close at upper edge but sparing the imprint and neat line. Overall, very good and presentable example. 7 1/2 x 9 1/2."- $550
- $550
L’Acadia, le Province di Sagagahook e Main, la Nuova Hampshire, la Rhode Island, e Parte di Massachusset e Connecticut.
[New England.] Zatta. An attractive Italian mapping of all of Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, as well as portions of Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. It is based on John Mitchell's large-scale, multi-sheet map of North America of 1755. The map was published during the American Revolution, and a note off the coast of Maine refers to the burning of Falmouth (Maine) by the British in October, 1775 -- an interesting example of a map being a purveyor of history as well as geography. McCorkle, New England in Early Printed Maps, 1513-1800: 778.8. Outline color; a few spots of light staining. A bit of wrinkling, especially along the centerfold. Nevertheless, an attractive example. 13 x 16 3/4."- $700
- $700
A New and accurate Map of New Jersey, from the best Authorities.
[New Jersey.] Universal Magazine. A nice Revolutionary War-era map of the Province of New Jersey, also including Delaware Bay and the western portion of Long Island. The map portrays a fairly well-developed road system. Counties are named but boundaries are not shown. However, two lines depict the East and West Jersey boundary as it existed in 1687 and 1743. Jolly, Maps of America in Periodicals before 1800: 352. Sellers & Van Ee, Maps and Charts of North America and the West Indies, 1750-1789: 1242. Black and white, as issued. Old fold lines. Light offsetting with two areas of somewhat heavier offsetting of text from the opposing page. Very good. 12 3/8 x 10 1/2."- $500
- $500
The American Magazine For May, 1758.
[Slavery] [Early American Magazine] Smith, William (editor). 359-408 pp. The American Magazine and Monthly Chronicle was described by Mott as "the most brilliant magazine issued up to that time." He noted that it contained "more original material than had yet appeared in an American magazine, and much that is genuinely amusing." This issue has two significant items. One is a five-page "Short Dissertation on the Ancient and Present State of Slavery," with a running title of "Dissertation on the Lawfulness of keeping Slaves," an early defense of slavery. There is also a lengthy medical article "Of the Yaws," which according to Guerra, provides "an excellent clinical description." In addition, the final page is devoted almost entirely to military aspects of the French & Indian War -- departure of the Louisburg expedition and an update on "the Southern expedition." Evans, American Bibliography: 8071. Sabin, A Dictionary of Books Relating to America: 1133, 84585. Mott, A History of American Magazines 1741-1850: pp 80-82. Lomazow, American Periodicals: 6. Richardson, A History of Early American Magazines, 1741-1789: 99-123. Guerra, American Medical Bibliography 1639-1783: C-3. Disbound with some edge roughness. Lacks title page with engraving and list of contents; otherwise complete. Old 3" tissue repair of tear at top of pages 375/376 affects about 40 words. Rubbing to final page. Staining and foxing throughout, generally quite light but occasionally moderate.- $1,250
- $1,250
The Gentlemen and Ladies Town and Country Magazine.For August, 1789.
[Early American Magazine.] Coverly, Nathaniel [publisher]. 337-392 pp. An uncommon Boston-based magazine that ran from February, 1789 to August, 1790. Although Coverly had been a printer in Boston for nearly 20 years when he began The Gentlemen and Ladies Town and Country Magazine, he chose an inauspicious moment to begin publication -- just as Isaiah Thomas (the Rupert Murdoch of his time) was launching The Massachusetts Magazine. Coverly kept the magazine alive, according to Richardson, by "winning a local following of women who contributed both prose and poetry." This issue, published during the early days of the formation of the Federal government, has several items of significance: the first Act of Congress of the United States (pp. 343-344), the message from President Washington to the House of Representatives regarding the urgent need for the Fedral government to address problems with "several powerful tribes of Indians within the limits of the Union" (pp. 386-387) and a list of the Revenue officers appointed by Washington for New England and New York (pp. 388-389). A scarce magazine, with ESTC locating holdings at only four institutions. Evans add a very testy note, in part: "This magazine terminated its execrable typographical existence, with the issue for August, 1790, with the questionable distinction of having been, probably, the worst-printed magazine that ever was issued." (Based on the issue at hand, the criticism seems overly harsh.) Evans, American Bibliography: 21849. Lomazow, American Periodicals: 26. Richardson, A History of Early American Magazines, 1741-1789: pp. 351-354. String-tied, never bound. Lacks printed wrappers. Edges ragged. First leaf repaired with loss of two lines on verso. Foxing and staining, often moderate, throughout.- $450
- $450
Vertical Sections, Exhibiting the comparative Altitudes of the principal Highlands and Rivers of the State of Maine by Moses Greeleaf. 1828.
[Maine.] Greenleaf, Moses. This was plate IV of VII in the Atlas Accompanying Greenleaf's Map and Statistical Survey of Maine, published in 1829. Greenleaf is heralded as Maine's first and greatest mapmaker; the Atlas was one of his many important contributions to the mapping of Maine. Thompson: Important Maine Maps, Books, Prints and Ephemera: 118 (for the Atlas). Partial hand color. Now backed on canvas with a rod and roller added to create a rolled chart. (An unusual method of preservation, but not a bad choice, given that the plates from this atlas often are impaired by fold separations.) Moderate water staining in the upper 4" of the chart and a 3" tear from the lower right margin. About 19 x 28 3/4."- $750
- $750
[Portland, Maine’s Great Fire of 1866.] [Newspaper.] Portland Daily Press. Friday Morning, July 6. 1866.: https://rarebookinsider.com/rare-books/portland-maines-great-fire-of-1866-newspaper-portland-daily-press-friday-morning-july-6-1866/