William Reese Company
a m e r ic a na • r a r e b o ok s • l i t e r at u r e a m e r ic a n a r t • pho to gr a ph y ______________________________ 409 t e m pl e s t r e e t n e w h av e n, c on n e c t ic u t 06511 (203) 789-8081 fa x (203) 865-7653 [email protected]Virtual Ephemera Fair 2021
Photo Collage of Chicago’s “Black Devils” During World War I1. [African Americana]: [World War I]: EIGHTH ILLINOIS REGIMENT NOW
IN FRANCE [caption title]. [Chicago]: E.G. Renesch, 1918.
Photographically-illus-trated lithographic broadside, approximately 15 x 19 inches. Minor soiling, a couple short closed tears on left side, three-inch closed diagonal tear in center portion. Good overall. Matted and framed.
A handsome photo-collage showing the African-American soldiers and officers of the Eighth Illinois Regiment who fought in France during World War I. The upper por-tion is composed of two angled photographs showing hundreds of African-American soldiers, with two oval portraits of commanding officers Col. Franklin H. Denison and John R. Marshall inset in the corners. Though they were also African Americans, both Denison and Marshall are depicted as light-skinned in the present portraits. The lower portion is a small-format panorama showing several hundred more soldiers from the Eighth Illinois.
The text at middle, just below the caption title, provides background on the unit and its commanders:
“The Regiment was mustered in the U.S. Volunteer Service as the Eighth Infantry, 370th U.S. National Guard, Illinois U.S. Volunteers. On June 28th, 1898, officers were commissioned by Governor John R. Tanner, then Governor of the State of Illinois. The first commander was John R. Marshall who commanded the Regiment and saw service during the Spanish American War in Cuba. He was placed on the retired list January 1st, 1914, and was succeeded by the present Commander, Colonel Franklin H. Denison, January 12th, 1914, who is at present Commanding Officer in France. The Eighth Regiment is now about 3,000 strong, and is now in France on active duty. There are over 157,000 negro troops either in France or on their way.”
The Eighth Illinois Regiment was based in Chicago, and for a long time was the only American service unit commanded by black officers. The unit served in the Spanish American War, but the conflict was largely over by the time they arrived in Cuba. Later, the Eighth Regiment Armory was built in Chicago in 1914, the first armory constructed by the American military specifically for an African-American regiment. The Eighth Illinois fought with distinction in Europe during World War I, after
mustering into service in August 1917. The unit was redesignated that December as the 370th Infantry, and was one of the fiercest units in France, earning the nickname “Black Devils” by German soldiers fighting in the Argonne Forest. The Victory Monument in Chicago was built in 1927 to honor the Eighth Illinois.
A rare image of a notable African-American military regiment, with no copies listed in
African-American Boxer and Veteran
2. [African Americana]: [Toran, Eugene “Terrible”]: [VERNACULAR
PHO-TOGRAPH ALBUM RECORDING THE LIFE OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL BOXER AND KOREAN WAR VETERAN EUGENE WILLIAM TORAN IN MID-20th-CENTURY PENNSYLVANIA].
[Vari-ous locations, mostly in and around Erie, Pa. ca. early 1950s and after]. [44]pp., with approximately 200 photographs of varying sizes pasted in or mounted on corners, plus twelve calling cards; three 8 x 10-inch promotional photographs (loosely laid in); and a photograph in a souvenir mount pasted to the inside rear cover. Also with a few pasted-in ephemera. Oblong quarto. Contemporary red leatherette photograph album, string bound. Some rubbing, edgeworn, front cover reattached with clear tape. Some leaves detached, chipping to fore-edge of album leaves. Overall good.
A remarkable vernacular photograph album documenting African-American life in Pennsylvania in the mid-20th century. The album contains a number of photographs of Eugene William “The Terrible” Toran, a prominent mid-century lightweight boxer from Erie, Pennsylvania. Photos of Toran emanate from both inside and outside the ring, with several shots identifying him as “Sling Shot.” The inside front cover shows an image of Toran hitting a heavy bag and is cap-tioned beneath in large white letters, “Kid Gene in Action.” After serving in the Korean War, Toran’s boxing career ran from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, after
which he retired and became a businessman and boxing trainer in Erie. Toran passed away in December 2019 in Erie.
The present album appears to have belonged to Toran, and was compiled by him or possibly by a spouse or family member. A great many of the photographs of people are identified around the margin in blue ballpoint pen, either by name or in some cases by nickname. The images show African-American men, women, and children in various social situations, sometimes indoors, sometimes on the streets of Erie, and appear to be Toran’s friends from around the neighborhood. One image shows a man named “Frank” across the street from Manendo’s Market at 21st and Wayne Street; two other photographs show African-American young men and women in front of the same market.
Other items present here include a clipped autograph of jazz saxophonist Arnett Cobb dated December 3, 1955; a photo postcard of noted Cleveland Indians and Negro League baseball player Luke Easter (along with a couple of images from a Cleveland game); a glossy 8 x 10 inscribed by Lula Reed to “Ann;” and a printed announcement for an event by the Youth Council of the NAACP called “King and Queen for a Day” at the YMCA on Friday, June 22, 1951.
A wonderful record of one African-American man’s boxing life and circle of friends and family in mid-century Erie, Pennsylvania. $1250.
Fanning Nationalist Flames in Bolivia in 1837
3. [Bolivia]: PROCLAMA. EL CONGRESO A LA NACION, ¡BOLIVIANOS! [caption title]. [Chuquisaca. 1837]. Broadside, 12¼ x 8½ inches. Several chips and tears, one two-inch tear at lower right edge. Light foxing and tanning. About good. Nationalist broadside issued by the Bolivian congress in 1837, addressed to the people and exhorting them to have faith in the strength of the government. Pub-lished under the dictatorship of Andrès de Santa Cruz at the time of the War of the Confederation, which a united Peru and Bolivia fought against Argentina and Chile from 1837 to 1839. OCLC records only one copy, at Yale.
“¡BOLIVIANOS! Reunidos todos en contorno del Gobierno, de un Gobierno enteramente nacional despreciad á vuestros enemigos que emplean contra vo-sotros la seduccion y el engaño, para alucinaros; y entregáos con confianza á las deliberaciones de la Representacion Nacional, que no han tenido otro objecto que la Patria, el nombre de BOLIVIA, el pabellon tricolor, su Constitucion y su indepencia que acaban de afianzar para siempre sin menoscabo alguno.”
John Wilkes Booth Plays Shakespeare During the Civil War
4. [Booth, John Wilkes]: BOSTON MUSEUM...FAREWELL BENEFIT OF
J. WILKES BOOTH WHO WILL HAVE THE HONOR OF APPEARING ON THIS OCCASION IN TWO SHAKESPERIAN [sic] CHARACTERS! SHYLOCK AND PETRUCHIO! Boston: F.A. Searle Printer, [1863]. Broadside,
13¼ x 4¾ inches. Old folds, minor edge wear, light scattered foxing. Near fine. A handsome broadside advertising John Wilkes Booth as the lead in two Shake-speare productions to be performed at the Boston Museum in February, 1863. Booth played Shylock in Merchant of Venice and then Petruchio in Katharine &
Petruchio (a reworking of The Taming of the Shrew), two of the most memorable
roles in the canon of the Bard. In addition to the two Shakespeare productions, Booth is also advertised as performing as both conjoined twins Louis and Fabian in a Saturday afternoon production of Corsican Brothers, a play based on a novella by Alexandre Dumas.
John Wilkes Booth must have learned much about revenge from his portrayal of Shylock. The character is one of Shakespeare’s most complex characters, and his famous soliloquy about revenge echoes loudly, if one replaces the word “Jew” with the word “Confederate:”
“To bait fish withal: if it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million; laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies; and what’s his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his suf-ferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.”
A fascinating piece of ephemera publicizing Booth’s portrayal of not one but two famous Shakespeare characters, one of which must have informed President Lincoln’s assassin about the nature of revenge. $3500.
Illustrated Broadside for a 19th-Century Market in Boston
5. [Boston Grocer’s Broadside]: STOP! READ THIS! HAVING TAKEN
THE PROVISION STORE 67 BEACH STREET, CORNER HUDSON, I WOULD RESPECTFULLY INFORM OLD PATRONS AND THE PUBLIC GENERALLY THAT I HAVE RE-STOCKED THE SAME, AND INTEND KEEPING ON HAND A FULL STOCK OF MEATS, VEGETABLES, FRUITS, &c... Boston: Wm. Elder & Sons, [ca. 1870?]. Broadside, 8 x 4 inches.
Framed. Old fold lines. Some light soiling. Very good.
Grocer’s advertising broadside or handbill from the latter part of the 19th century, under the proprietorship of Fred C. Gay. The broadside continues: “...of the best quality the market affords, which I will sell at the lowest living prices. Trusting that by courteous treatment, neatness and prompt attention to business, to merit your patronage. I very respectfully solicit a trial.” A handsome woodcut of a man and a large cow with a flag bearing the numeral “67” adorns the top third of the piece. Interesting and ephemeral. $200.
Buying a Cemetery Plot in Placerville in the 1870s
6. [California]: CEMETERY BOOK MORNING STAR LODGE No. 20
IOOF [manuscript cover title]. Placerville, Ca. [ca. 1870]. [48] leaves, plus six
stubs. Oblong quarto. Original half sheep and paper boards. Front board detached, stitching perishing. Boards rubbed, edges and corners worn.
An 1870s receipt book for cemetery plots in Placerville, California. The burial ground belonged to the Morning Star Lodge, founded in the town at the height of the Gold Rush in 1854. The blank printed forms all provide a “Certificate of Purchase for Lot in the Union Cemetery, Placerville...belonging to said Lodge, according to the Plat of Survey made by D.B. Merry, and the said Lot is hereby granted to him, subject to the rules of said Lodge now in force, or that may hereafter be adopted for the government of the same.” This particular lodge was (and still is) associated with the International Order of Odd Fellows, which established a number of groups in California during the Gold Rush. $425.
Lovely, Unused California Gold Rush Letter Book
7. [California Gold Rush]: Gregory, Joseph W.: GREGORY’S EXPRESS
POCKET LETTER BOOK, DESIGNED TO FACILITATE CORRESPON-DENCE BETWEEN CITIES AND TOWNS AND THE MINING DISTRICTS IN CALIFORNIA AND ALL PARTS OF THE UNITED STATES [wrapper
title]. San Francisco: Thompson & Hitchcock, 1851. [20] blank leaves. 24mo. Original dark purple wrappers printed in gilt. Minor ink stains on inner wrap-pers, otherwise a near fine copy, with the original unused plain paper envelope.
A lovely example of an unused Gold Rush letter book, intended to advertise Jo-seph Gregory’s California and New York Express Line by means of a convenient way for gold seekers in California to communicate with friends and family back home. According to the wrapper, “this book is made of the finest letter paper, and of the size of a folded letter, which, with an envelope, will not exceed the weight of a single letter, and is more convenient than paper in sheets.” Gregory also published a pamphlet, Gregory’s Guide for California Travellers; Via the Isthmus
The Pope Prohibits Eggs and Milk
8. [Catholic Church]: SEGUNDA PREDICACION DE LA DECIMA QUINTA
CONCESSION. BULLA CONCEDIDA POR LA SANTIDAD DE EL PAPA INNOCENCIO UNDECIMO...PARA LOS PATRIARCAS, PRIMADOS, ARZOBISPOS, OBISPOS, CLERIGOS PRESBYTEROS SECULARES DE NUEVA-ESPAÑA, Y FILIPINAS, À QUIEN ESTAVA PROHIBIDO EL COMER HUEVOS, Y COSAS DE LECHE EN TIEMPO DE QUARESMA LO PUEDAN COMER DURANTE LA SEGUNDA
PREDICACION...[cap-tion title]. [Madrid]. 1750. Broadside, 12¼ x 8½ inches. Folio. Old folds. Later pencil annotation and a few instances of light soiling in margins. Text very clean, unaccomplished with spaces left blank. A very good copy.
A papal bull originally issued by Pope Innocent XI (1676-1689) regarding pro-hibitions on the eating of eggs and milk products, here printed in the form of an indulgence and addressed to patriarchs, primates, archbishops, bishops, and other religious leaders in New Spain and the Philippines. The text, illustrated with five simple woodcuts, includes images of St. Peter and St. Paul, the holy cross, the seal of the Comisario General de la Santa Cruzada, and the facsimile signature of the Bishop. The spaces, such as those the date the indulgence was submitted and the amount of the indulgence, are here left unaccomplished. A rare mid-18th century Spanish ephemeral religious printing with references to colonial Spanish regions in the New World and in Asia. Not in OCLC. $400.
Chinese Communists in America Celebrate Their Leading Periodical
9. [Chinese Americana]: CELEBRATE SIXTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
CHINESE VANGUARD! GREET “RED MAY” AND THE LIBERATION MOVEMENT OF THE CHINESE PEOPLE! [New York]: Chinese Vanguard
Weekly, [ca. 1933-1936]. Handbill, 9 x 6 inches. Old folds, tiny chip to left mar-gin. Near fine.
A handbill advertising an event celebrating the sixth anniversary of the Chinese
Vanguard Weekly, “the only Chinese language paper on this continent fighting
for the interests of the Chinese toilers and for the unity of all Chinese people against Japanese imperialism....” The Chinese Vanguard was founded in San Francisco and then moved to Philadelphia before settling in New York. The weekly was created by leftist Chinese Americans after the communists and com-munist sympathizers were expelled from the Kuomintang in 1927. The text also calls for a celebration of “Red May”: “Besides May Day, there are May 4th, the anniversary of the student movement of 1919, and May 30th, the anniversary of the Shanghai massacre of 1925, which set sparks to the Chinese Revolution – 1925-1927.” Held at the Manhattan Lyceum on Sunday, May 3, at 8 p.m., the event promised to highlight China’s coming triumph over Japanese imperialism, and featured presentations by Hansu Chan (a.k.a., Ji Chaoding), editor of China
Today, a “chalk talk by S. Yamasaki,” and the “Negro Orchestra and Dance.” It
also notes that tickets are available at the Workers Bookshop (50 East 13th St.) and Peoples’ Bookshop (142 Second Ave.).
A Large Collection
of American Chromolithographic Ephemera
10. [Chromolithographs]: [COLLECTION OF SCRAPBOOKS
CONTAIN-ING OVER 1000 TRADE CARDS, ADVERTISEMENTS, AND OTHER EPHEMERAL CHROMOLITHOGRAPHIC ITEMS, ALMOST ALL PRO-DUCED IN THE UNITED STATES IN THE 19th CENTURY]. [Various
places. ca. 1875-1905]. Approximately 1100 pieces, both loose and in four albums.
Most pieces pasted into albums. Albums are quarto and folio in size. Largest album lacking spine and front board, spine de-teriorated on second album, leaves loose in both. Some light wear to leaves in all four albums, some heavier than others. Overall, the individual pieces are in very good condition.
Large group of primarily American trade cards, advertisements, and other ephemeral printed items, most printed in chromolithographic full color. The collection spans a variety of printing firms, in various locales, including Bos-ton, New York, New Bedford, Philadelphia, and Buffalo, among others. In ad-dition to chromolithographs of flowers and other ornamental scenes, there are trade cards advertising a wide variety of products: corsets, soap, thread, medicines and remedies, early appliances and household goods, shoes, furniture, dry goods, cigars, and many more. Most of the advertisements and trade cards are aimed at a female audience, relying on the desires of the burgeoning Victorian middle class. Some show African Americans in extreme caricatures, notably a series of cards for cigars. A significant archive of ephemeral items, neatly collected and
Unrecorded Civil War Recruiting Broadside
11. [Civil War]: [Pennsylvania]: ONCE MORE FOR THE COUNTRY!! [cap-tion title]. Pottsville, Pa. August 1861. Broadside, approximately 24 x 18 inches. Minor separations at crossfolds, some edge wear and short closed tears at edges, somewhat toned. Good. Framed.
A rare Civil War recruitment broadside, calling for troops to join the Tower Guards in Pennsylvania during the first year of the conflict. The broadside is illustrated
with a large, open-winged eagle holding a banner in his beak which reads: “The Union Forever!” The body of the broadside reads, in part:
“The undersigned desires to have the Company which has been commanded by him for three months past, the ‘Tower Guards,’ go again to support the Govern-ment and help crush out the great rebellion. He therefore offers A bounty of five hundred and five dollars, to one hundred and one picked men.”
The text explains that the company will be commanded by Henry Pleasants as captain, and will be part of a Regiment commanded by Col. James Nagle “Or some other satisfactory Colonel, or as an independent company of Rangers.” The broadside directs any interested men to call and enroll their names at the Office of Henry Pleasants. Signed in type by “C. Tower, Captain.” Charlemagne Tower organized a company of Union soldiers from Pottsville in a three-month enlist-ment during the Civil War. Before the war Tower worked in law, specifically moving to Schuylkill County to get involved in claims to large coal and mineral deposits there. Tower was able to build wealth and prominence for himself in the area through his work in land dispute cases, most prominently the Munson-Williams case.
When the Civil War began at Fort Sumter, Tower took notice. Within ten days of that first conflict on April 12, 1861, Tower had recruited around 270 men from his county to join the Union Army under a three-month enlistment provision. Tower’s unit, who became known as the “Tower Guards,” entered the Union Army as Company H of the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment, part of a brigade commanded by Maj. Gen. Robert Patterson. Tower, commissioned captain of his unit, provided uniforms and arms for his men at his own expense. The unit saw action most famously in the engagement at Falling Waters in July of 1861, a Union victory in name, but with its own failings that led to the defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run. It would seem that Tower’s efforts were not exhausted on this first unit, because the featured broadside is dated just after his unit mustered out of service, and asks for more men to take up the cause and fight for the Union. It would seem that Tower himself funded the bounty offered in the broadside, but this is not certain because much less is known about this second attempt to recruit men for the Union Army.
After his service in the war, Tower was later named U.S. Provost Marshal for Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District from 1863-64, and continued working at his Pottsville practice until moving to Philadelphia in 1875. A master land negotiator, Tower held property in North Dakota and Minnesota that would help develop those states and the United States as a whole. His holdings in North Dakota became Tower City, a promising town arranged and planned by George Ellisbury in 1879. Tower’s land in the Vermilion Range in Minnesota proved to be rich with iron ore, necessitating a mine and a direct railroad line, both of which contributed to the local, state, and inter-state economies.
Though Tower died on July 25, 1889, his legacy was carried on by the towns across state lines that were named after him, his son who became the minister to Austria-Hungary under President William McKinley, and the unit of “Tower Guards” who fought for the Union Cause in the Civil War.
A visually-striking artifact from the early period of the Civil War, with no copies
The Surrender at Appomattox, Idealized
12. [Civil War]: SURRENDER OF GEN. LEE. [Philadelphia: John Smith, 1865]. Lithograph, 21¼ x 26½ inches. Margins with surface rubbing and soiling. Four-inch closed tear in upper margin, descending into the image, two-and-one-half-inch closed tear in lower margin ascending into the image, no paper loss in either case. Backed by later paper, mending tears and a few small chips in edges of sheet. Very nice tone to the image. Good overall.
Apparently a rare, unrecorded proof of this lithograph commemorating the meet-ing between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Courthouse on
April 9, 1865, at which Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia and the Civil War essentially came to an end. This print is not only important as a proof giving evidence of how the image was reworked for final publication, but also as part of a series of prints commemorating Lee’s surrender that did so much to bolster the image of Grant as the “savior of the Union.” “No single event of Ulysses S. Grant’s life inspired more prints than the surrender he accepted at Appomattox...” – Neely & Holzer.
The present image bears the title Surrender of Gen.
Lee, only, with no publication, copyright, or artist
information. In the image Grant and Lee meet in the open air, before a large tree (not indoors as was actually the case). Grant, standing to the right, holds the surrender terms in his right hand, extended toward Lee. Lee, one gloved hand on his hip and the other on the hilt of his sword, stares steadily at Grant but makes no move toward the paper. Grant and Lee are each accompanied by a pair of aides, who gaze at each other suspiciously. In the receding background thousands of troops are shown, formed in long curving lines while a handful of officers ride horses. In the version of this print as finally published by John Smith of Philadelphia, the positions of Grant, Lee, and their aides have been reversed, and Lee extends his hand toward Grant, ready to accept the terms of surrender. The configuration of the armies in the background has been modi-fied, and a prominent scar has been added to the trunk of the tree between the two leaders. In both this proof and the final version of the print, Grant’s uniform has been improved from what he actually wore – he still does not match the splendor of Lee, but he is not shown wearing the uniform of a private with the straps of a Lieutenant General. “Here,” as Neely & Holzer observe, “the lithographer’s notions of creating a picture for posterity do battle with widely reported truth.” The title of the final version was modified to The Surrender Of General Lee And
His Entire Army To Lieut. General Grant, April 9th 1865 ((Library of Congress
control number 2015647830).
“If Any One Attempts to Haul Down the American Flag, Shoot Him on the Spot.”
13. [Civil War Covers]: [SUBSTANTIAL COLLECTION OF 119 UNUSED
CIVIL WAR-ERA PATRIOTIC POSTAL COVERS, ALL BUT ONE OF THEM ILLUSTRATED, ALMOST ALL WITH ORIGINAL PRINTED OR HAND-COLORING]. [Various locations, including Philadelphia, New York,
Salem, Cincinnati, Baltimore, and others. 1861-1865]. 119 unused postal covers, all but one of them illustrated, almost all printed in color or handcolored. Gener-ally minimal wear. Ranging from very good to near fine condition.
An interesting and substantial grouping of Civil War-era patriotic covers, encom-passing a wide variety of themes devoted to the Union cause. A great number of Union officers are celebrated here, among them are eight examples depicting General McClellan, three of Gen. Fremont, and a pair featuring Gen. Rosecrans the “Hero of the West.” There are also numerous regimental leaders, including Edward Dickinson Baker, Commodore Silas H. Stringham, Lt. John T, Greble, Gen. Wool (printed with a map of the seat of war in Missouri), Col. E.D. Baker,
Col. H.E. Paine of the Wisconsin Volunteers, Col. Max Friedman of the Cameron Dragoons, and many others. There are also pictorial covers of Gen. Sherman’s Headquarters at Hilton Head; a pair depicting Fort Sumter; four depicting Camp Dennison, near Cincinnati; one of the Battle Monument in Baltimore; and one featuring Benton Barracks in St. Louis. Three examples are practically bird’s-eye views of Baltimore, one a general view, another from the perspective of Federal Hill, and the third from Fort McHenry.
A common visual theme is the use of symbolic iconography of the United States. Numerous examples depict women standing proudly with the American flag, and are evocative of Columbia, the personification of the United States. One depicts a woman serving with the “Home Guard” and decked out in a dress resembling the flag. Another example shows a “Daughter of the Regiment.” Yet another is titled, “The Ladies’ Envelope” and features Columbia with an American flag-style shield. There are also a plethora of examples featuring the flag itself. One example prints a “History of Our Flag” beginning with its endorsement by Congress on June 14, 1777. One prints the flag next to a warning reading, “If Any One Attempts to Haul Down the American Flag, Shoot Him on the Spot.” The American Eagle features prominently here as well. In one example, the great bird is tearing apart a Rebel flag with his beak. In another, the eagle holds a banner in his mouth reading, “Beware” while confronted with a disjointed hand labeled “Jeff. Davis” holding eight snakes labeled with the names of the
Confed-erate states, an interesting twist on the famous severed snake image featured in the Revolutionary-era “join or die” illustration.
Also, a handful of the covers display the type of twisted gallows humor (sometimes literally) to be expected from patriotic covers. One of these shows Jefferson Davis hanging from a tree; the text around his lifeless body reads, “Southern Eagle Jeff. Davis in Suspense Long May He Wave.” A similar example shows Davis hanging from a gallows; the caption reads, “Jeff. Davis, ‘President’ of Traitors, Robbers, and Pirates; the Nero of the 19th century. On the Last ‘Platform’ of the Southern Confeder-ass-y.” Yet another cover, not gallows humor but featuring Jefferson Davis, depicts him as a fox holding two geese, one labeled Tennessee and the other Virginia, above a caption reading “Jeff. Davis on a Scouting Expedition.” A particularly-colorful example depicts a proud Union soldier defending Wash-ington, D.C. The soldier holds fast to an American flag as a cannon fires beneath his feet, with the Capitol building in the background. Other examples celebrate the New York State Volunteer Militia, the Pennsylvania Volunteers, the Quar-termaster Department of the Anderson Zouaves, the Monitor, the naval battle between the Monitor and the Merrimack, Sherman’s Flying Artillery, the text of the Army Hymn, “Jeff. Davis’ Doom,” various political cartoon-style illustrations, and many more.
A significant collection of one of the more ephemeral and visually significant artifacts of life in the North during the Civil War. $3000.
Port Regulations for Havana
14. [Cuba]: EL CAPITAN DEL PUERTO DE LA HABANA PREVIENE A
LOS CAPITANES Y PATRONES QUE FONDEEN O ESTEN FONDEADOS EN ESTE PUERTO, LO SIGUIENTE...[caption title]. [Havana. 1850s?] 4pp.
on a bifolium, 15¾ x 10½ inches. Printed in three columns. Previously folded, with some short separations along fold lines, and a closed tear to top edge. Somewhat tanned, with some dust soiling in upper portion of first leaf recto. Good plus. Bifolium printing of twenty-four directives intended to govern the operation of vessels in the port of Havana. They include provisions for the arrival and de-parture of ships, their docking and mooring, the storage of gunpowder while in port, fire prevention, and penalties for carrying firearms or other deadly weapons ashore. The document is printed in three columns, which provide versions of the regulations in Spanish, English, and French. Daniel Warren, mentioned here as the port officer in charge of preventing desertions and illegal transfers of men from ship to ship, is also named as Havana shipping master in an 1858 letter from the American Consul, Thomas Savage, to the Governor of Havana, included in a contemporary United States Senate report on foreign trade. “As early as 1828, Irish migrant Daniel Warren established ‘a deposit for foreign sailors and artisans’ in Havana, providing an initial place for them to stay while looking for work”- Curry-Machado. A very rare piece of Cuban maritime ephemera, with OCLC noting only one copy at the Harvard Law Library.
A Bullfighting Broadside from Cuba in 1854
15. [Cuba]: [Bullfighting]: PLAZA DE TOROS DE LA HABANA. DECIMA
CORRIDA DEL PRIMER ABONO, PARA EL DOMINGO 16 DE JULIO DE 1854, A LAS 5 DE LA TARDE [caption title]. Havana. 1854. Broadside,
12½ x 8 inches. Printed on green paper. Old fold lines. Light wear and soiling, minor separation at some folds. A few contemporary notations. Very good. Cuban broadside advertising a bullfight featuring matador Don Manuel Rodriguez Lanza and the “8 toros de muerte.” The top of the sheet features a woodcut of a matador holding his cape out to a bull. The first swordsman for the fight is Manuel Diaz Lavi, with two alternates listed. The names of the Banderilleros and Picadores for the fight are also noted. Bullfighting was a popular entertainment in Cuba during the Spanish colonial period, though it was done away with after Cuban independence at the beginning of the 20th century. $1500.
Jefferson Davis in Drag and On the Run
16. [Davis, Jefferson]: THE LAST DITCH OF THE CHIVALRY, OR A
PRESIDENT IN PETTICOATS. Washington, D.C.: Currier & Ives, 1865.
Lithographic broadside, 11¼ x 16 inches. Unevenly trimmed, two repaired tears. Backed on thin archival paper. Very good overall.
A scarce lithograph satirizing Jefferson Davis’s infamous 1865 chase and arrest, showing the Confederate President fleeing capture disguised in petticoats and a bonnet. Just prior to his arrest, the Confederate president committed a gaffe that only added insult to injury in the wake of the south’s defeat in the Civil War. On the morning of May 10, 1865, federal cavalrymen apprehended a small group of Confederates that included Davis and his wife Varina, both of whom had camped overnight near Irwinville, Georgia. Amid the confusion, Davis attempted to flee
unrecognized, but not before his wife hurriedly threw her shawl and raincoat over his shoulders to protect him from the morning chill. Davis would maintain that he was unaware he had donned his wife’s clothing. The more appealing version – quickly elaborated upon by Northern satirists in newspapers, magazines, and prints – was that the Confederate presi-dent had attempted to avoid capture by dressing himself up in women’s clothing. In this Currier & Ives print Jefferson Davis is pursued by gleeful Union soldiers brandishing pistols and swords as he flees in the aforementioned petticoats and bon-net. Davis exclaims, “Let me alone you bloodthirsty villains: – I thought your government more magnanimous than to hunt down women and children!” He holds a knife in his right hand and a bag of gold under his arm. Behind Davis, his wife Varina Howell yells to the soldiers in pursuit, “Look out you vile Yankees, if you make him mad he will hurt some of you!” Three Union soldiers chase Davis, each shouting at the Confederate president. The first exclaims, “Surrender Old Fellow, or we will let daylight into you; you have reached your last ditch!” The middle pursuer shouts, “Its no use trying that shift, Jeff, we see your boots!” The last soldier yells, “Give in Old Chap, we have got a $100,000 on you!” referring to the reward that President Andrew Johnson issued for Davis’ capture.
This incident provided a boon for political satirists of the day, who began produc-ing scores of cartoons depictproduc-ing Davis as a bearded Southern belle, often wearproduc-ing petticoats, hoop skirts, and bonnets. In the wake of Davis’ arrest, P.T. Barnum announced that he would pay $500 for Davis’s dress, and “Jeff in Petticoats” soon became a popular post-war song in the North. Historian Andrew F. Rolle has noted that the “North’s treatment of Jefferson Davis symbolized the humiliation being inflicted upon the South.”
OCLC locates nine copies. Not in Reilly, nor in The Union Image or The
Con-federate Image.
CURRIER & IVES: CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ 3714. PETERS, CURRIER & IVES: PRINTMAKERS TO THE PEOPLE, p.292. WEITENKAMPF, PO-LITICAL CARICATURE IN THE UNITED STATES, p.151. OCLC 46269362,
Canadian Oil Lands
17. Ellis, John: ELLIS’ NEW MAP OF THE CANADA OIL LANDS,
POCK-ET EDITION 1865. [Toronto: John Ellis, 1865]. Folding map, 17 x 24 inches.
Blue printed wrappers, 6 x 3¾ inches. Minor shelf wear. Two-inch tear at base of affixed edge. A few small holes and minor tears along folds. About very good. Mid-19th-century lithograph map of Canadian oil fields in the isthmus between Lake Huron and Lake Erie, just east of Michigan. Oil was discovered in this region of Lambton County, Ontario in 1859, and the first commercial oil field in North America opened at Oil Springs, Ontario in the same year. The present map charts the area at the height of the Canadian oil boom of the 1860s. The market declined precipitously in the years after 1865 due to oversupply. Rare, with copies recorded by OCLC at only three institutions.
Swampland in Southern Florida
18. [Florida]: [La Belle Park Land Company]: THE KINGDOM OF THE
ROSE AND THE PALM. LA BELLE PARK LAND COMPANY, DETROIT, MICH. [wrapper title]. Detroit, Mi. [ca. 1911]. 47,[1]pp. including double-page
map Tall octavo. Original color pictorial wrappers. Some wear and soiling to wrappers. A number of discrete archival tape repairs throughout, old creases to corners. Good.
Rare comprehensive and extensively illustrated promotional booklet from this Michigan-based land investment company offering swampland in southern Florida. Nestled next to Lake Okeechobee, bisected by the proposed route of the Atlantic Okeechobee & Gulf Railroad, and with the recent completion of a deep water channel for the harbor at Fort Myers, the La Belle Park Land Tract offered un-paralleled opportunities for the prospective citrus farmer and settler. The booklet provides numerous statistics comparing Florida with other states, including rain-fall and overall climate, crop yields, and market rates for a wide range of fruits, vegetables, and grains. There are also quotations from state and local officials about the state’s development rates. They even provide data demonstrating the low death rate in Florida: “The registration areas of the United States, including the New England states, New York...has a death rate of 17.8 per thousand....The death rate in De Soto County is only 2.4” (p.38).
The promoters attempt to spin southern Florida’s less-avoidable features, such as a very flat landscape: “Not a Hill to Impede to View,” “As Far as the Eye Can See and Not a Stump in Sight” (pp.22-3), but then strain credulity as they quote J.B. Dignam who claims, “Of gnats, fleas, spiders, sand flies and house flies I did not see a sign....Of mosquitoes I did not get a peep....Of snakes and other de-testable things that crawl I saw nothing” (p.44). There is a page of photographs showing prospective farmers arriving by boat. The Company also offers the opportunity to purchase land and have it cultivated by contractors in the region, though of course the company “is not directly interested in their work, nor in any way responsible for it....”
La Belle Park Land Co. was part of the larger Southern Land & Investment Co., which promoted land development in the south via offices throughout the Mid-west. This particular pamphlet was advertised in several trade journals during the period. We could find no listing for this booklet in OCLC, and found only
The End of a Once-Massive Cattle Operation in the Texas Panhandle
19. [Francklyn Land & Cattle Company]: TO THE HOLDERS OF THE
FRANCKLYN LAND MORTGAGE GOLD BONDS ISSUED BY THE FRANCKLYN LAND AND CATTLE COMPANY [caption title]. New York.
Nov. 26, 1887. [1]p. plus integral blank. Quarto, on a folded folio sheet. Lightly creased, minor soiling. Near fine.
Circular letter from the Francklyn Land & Cattle Company of White Deer Pasture, Texas, stating that “the United States Circuit Court for the Northern District of Texas, sitting in Equity, made a final decree in the suit instituted by me, as your trustee...for the foreclosure of the mortgage or deed of trust, dated December 1st, 1882, and the supplemental mortgage, dated November 27, 1883, executed by the Francklyn Land and Cattle Company to Trustees to secure the payment of the bonds held by you. You will please note that the Court finds that the Francklyn Company was indebted at the date of the decree in the sum of $1,718,900 upon the bonds held by you, inclusive of interest coupons thereon; that this amount with costs the Francklyn Company was directed to pay on or before the 15th November, inst.; and that in default of such payment a sale of the property mortgage is decreed.” The trustee writes that he is initiating such a sale, as the company had thus far failed to make good on its payments. Blank space has been left for a signature, but it has not been completed. Scarce and
Early Depiction of an American Aloe Plant
20. [Genesee Valley Nurseries]: THE STRIPED LEAVED AMERICAN ALOE,
OR CENTURY PLANT, WILL BE ON EXHIBITION AT “FAREWELL HALL,” CHICAGO, ILL., ABOUT AUG. 30, 1869. NOW IN FLOWER.
Rochester. 1869. Broadsheet, 8½ x 11 inches. Light scattered soiling. A few creases. Very good.
Advertisement for the Century Plant, or American Aloe, grown in Rochester, New York at the Genesee Valley Nurseries. The front of the sheet shows a woodcut of the plant in flower, with explanatory text on the reverse, giving the history of the plant. The Century Plant, a native of Mexico and so-called because it was believed to bloom only once every hundred years, shoots up an enormous blooming stalk at the end of its life. This stalk can reach up to thirty feet or more, growing at a rate of about five inches a day. This was quite a rare and marvellous occurrence at the time, and was widely advertised. The explanatory text notes that their plant is about seventy-five years old, thirty feet in circumference, with a flower stem currently eighteen feet high. The greenhouse roof has been raised by thirty feet to accommodate the plant, and a platform erected for better viewing. $350.
The Proposed Georgia Reconstruction Constitution of Fall 1865, in Its Earliest Printing
21. [Georgia]: SUPPLEMENT TO THE DAILY CONSTITUTIONALIST.
AUGUSTA, GA., SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 3, 1865. Augusta,
Ga. September 3, 1865. Broadsheet, approximately 21¾ x 14 inches. Previously folded. Light tanning at edges, a few stray ink marks. Very good plus.
An exceedingly rare newspaper printing of an early draft of the proposed Georgia state constitution of 1865. This document attempted to fulfill the requirements place on Confederate states by the federal government after the end of the Civil War, including the repeal of secession, the abolition of slavery, and repudiation of war debts. Although this constitution addressed several of the obligations for readmission, the Georgia legislature refused to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment, and the state was placed into Reconstruction and military rule. Only after fed-eral control under Reconstruction was established did an acceptable constitution receive passage in 1868.
This supplement to the Daily Constitutionalist prints the proposed constitution almost in its entirety on the recto of the broadsheet and the remainder in one half column on the verso. Numerous advertisements fill the rest of the space on the verso. This draft was printed in September, but Georgia’s Constitutional Convention did not commence until the next month in Milledgeville, and the final draft of the document was not adopted until November 6, 1865, just over two months after this printing. As a result, this version of the document exhibits numerous differences from the final one.
An enormously rare imprint, we locate only one potential copy, at the American
The Revolution of 1848
22. [German Revolution of 1848]: [GROUP OF NINE POLITICAL
BROAD-SIDES RELATING TO THE 1848 REVOLUTIONS IN GERMANY]. Berlin.
1848-1849. Nine broadsides, various sizes. Folded. Some wrinkling and chipping. One broadside split along central fold. Light tanning and foxing. About very good. This group of German political broadsides addresses aspects of the 1848 Revolution in Prussia. Along with citizens of several European countries, German citizens in a number of states rose up in the spring of 1848 to demand more democratic government and a unified Germany. In Prussia, protestors confronted the King, Frederick William IV, demanding parliamentary elections and a free press. Several days later a prolonged street battle between demonstrators and the Prussian army left over two hundred dead, and the King agreed to the formation of a Constitu-tional Assembly. By the end of the year, however, the body was unable to agree
upon a functioning constitution, and Frederick William was able to regain almost all of his authority by the middle of 1849.
The vast majority of broadsides present in this group express the revolutionary perspective. They put forth ideas for the prospective new constitution, impugn the monarch and the ruling classes, and issue calls to arms to the Prussian people to protect their country and their brothers and fellow citizens. One broadside prints a satire of army officers among the revolutionary forces; another publishes Frederick William’s rejection of the imperial crown offered to him by the failing National Assembly in May 1849, of which only three copies are recorded in OCLC. Fascinating and ephemeral propaganda from a period of great upheaval in Central
Printed on Silk
23. Jackson, Andrew: FIRST MESSAGE OF PRESIDENT JACKSON TO
THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. Washington. 1830. Broadside,
25½ x 19¾ inches, printed on silk and mounted on paper. Some scattered tears and slight silk loss, mainly in margins, but with a few text tears. Expertly matted, and protected with mylar sheet.
A very striking broadside, evidently intended for presentation to members of Congress, as it bears the printed inscription: “Respectfully inscribed to the Twenty-First Congress...By the Publisher.” The text is Jackson’s first State of the Union Message, of December 8, 1829, and printed in January 1830. Any early broadsides printed on silk are very rare. $1000.
The Fantastic Feats of Professor H.B. Reynolds
24. [Magic]: COMING! PROF. H.B. REYNOLDS THE WORLD RENOWNED
NECROMANCER AND MAGICIAN! WILL APPEAR IN [blank]. FREAKS THAT WOULD DIM THE VISION OF HERRMANN, DEBARY BEN ALLI, HERCHEL, COBALL, AND GEURNER, WILL BE PERFORMED BY PROF. REYNOLDS, IT BEING HIS FIRST AND ONLY TOUR THROUGH THE COUNTRY...DON’T MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY OF SEEING THAT WHICH WILL NEVER APPEAR BEFORE YOU AGAIN. Providence: What
Cheer Print, [n.d., but ca. 1885]. Broadside, 29¼ x 10½ inches. Accompanied by 6½ x 8¼-inch wood engraving, signed by Jackson’s Print. Printed on inexpensive advertising paper, now a light brown tone. Three minor holes, one barely affect-ing the image. Very good.
A marvelous and extremely rare example of late 19th-century American advertising ephemera for Prof. H.B. Reynolds, “the world renowned sorcerer, necromancer and magician.” The wood engraving shows the Professor on stage with a few of the elements to be seen during his performances, including demons, birds, and cards in various stages of flight; a boiling cauldron; two separate card displays; and a table with three objects used in the act (including an additional demon’s head). The text of the broadside, which is nearly two and a half feet in height, details the wonders the audience will see. These include “original and more marvellous illusions than was [sic] ever performed by the Ancient Egyptians or the Necro-mancer of India....The wonderful power of producing realities from nothing and commanding articles to be constructed from the ashes of the earth....His marvellous power of conjuring is manifested by merely asking for or moving his hand that his desires are complied with....” Reynolds also claimed to be “cabalistic in his superiority of multitude of mankind, allowing himself to be bound with 100 feet of cord in the hands of the most expertitious in knot tying; when in a moment of unseen gesture he frees himself from the cords that bound him and is found within the silent enclosure of a structure whose walls have been permanently secured with screens and nails, locked and sealed, and bound with ropes.”
Although much detail is provided regarding Reynolds’ skills and attributes, the actual place of performance is not indicated. Space was intentionally left blank for the name of the venue to be added when available, but the price of admis-sion (“15 and 25 cts., Children under 10 years, 15 cents”) and performance times (“Doors open at 7 p.m. Oracles 8 p.m.”) are noted. Printed in Providence, the name of the printing house, What Cheer Print, is derived from the Narragansett Indian’s greeting to Roger Williams in June 1636 (“What cheer, Netop” [friend]). A fascinating example of late 19th-century American advertising ephemera. Ex-tremely rare, not in OCLC, but one copy in the Smith Magic Collection at Brown
Massachusetts Votes
for Representatives to the Third Federal Congress
25. [Massachusetts]: [Elections]: THESE CERTIFY, THAT THE RETURNS
FROM THE SEVERAL TOWNS, WITHIN THE FIRST DISTRICT, VIZ – SUFFOLK, ESSEX, AND MIDDLESEX, RESPECTING THE CHOICE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO REPRESENT THE PEOPLE, THEREOF, IN THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES, HAVE BEEN EXAM-INED...[caption title]. [N.p., likely Boston. June 13, 1792]. Printed on the recto
of a single sheet, 6¼ x 8½ inches. Signed in ink at bottom by secretary John Avery. Chipped at the edges, small tear with loss in the left margin. Old folds, a few tears in upper half mended on the verso with tape, minor staining. An uncommon survival, in good condition.
An apparently unrecorded and extraordinary surviving election certification return recording early ballot vote tallies for thirty-three United States Congressional candidates in Massachusetts in 1792. The elections for the Third Congress in 1792
were important in the political development of the United States, as they further cemented the fledgling two-party system in the country. President George Washington, who won unanimous reelection in 1792, remained unaf-filiated with any political party while in office, but his allies were largely members of the Federalist Party. The opposition to Washington’s policies generally centered around the Democratic-Republican Party.
The present document lists the candidates for Massachu-setts’ First Congressional District, along with their vote tallies from an early ballot during the summer of 1792. With no single member winning a majority of the vote, the ballots continued into the fall, and even into the spring of 1793 for the at-large seat in the first district. After some redistricting based on the 1790 census, Mas-sachusetts’s representation in the House jumped from eight to fourteen seats; the First District received an at-large seat along with one representative for each county – Suffolk, Essex, and Middlesex. The four candidates eventually elected to the Third Congress from the Mas-sachusetts First District were Samuel Holten (at-large), Benjamin Goodhue (Essex), Samuel Dexter (Middlesex), and Fisher Ames (Suffolk). All of these men are listed on the current broadside, along with the twenty-nine candidates they eventually defeated, including Elbridge Gerry (the incumbent in Middlesex County unseated by Dexter), Samuel Sewall, William Heath, James Bowdoin, Theophilus Parsons, Joseph B. Varnum, and others. Three of the four candidates elected from the First Dis-trict of Massachusetts were allies of President Washington: Goodhue, Dexter (who unseated the anti-administration Gerry), and Ames. After three ballots for the newly-created at-large seat, Samuel Holten won almost seventy percent of the vote as an anti-administration candidate. Holten would help turn the majority of the House of Representatives to the anti-administration faction, though it was a narrow majority.
The document is signed in ink by John Avery, the First Secretary of the Com-monwealth of Massachusetts. Avery served in this position from 1780 until his death in 1806. It is also signed in print by Governor John Hancock. While not reporting final results for the 1792 race, this document does provide an important view of federal-period electoral politics in Massachusetts.
No copies of this appear in OCLC, which records the only known copy of a similar report naming eleven candidates for the Congressional race in the third southern district of Massachusetts in 1794, also signed in ink by John Avery (Bristol B8737, Shipton & Mooney 47112, ESTC W10358, OCLC 950918045) located at the
Early Mississippi Printing
26. [Mississippi]: [UNUSED PRINTED LEGAL FORM: “THE STATE OF
MISSISSIPPI”]. [Adams County, Mississippi. N.d., but 1820s]. Printed form,
12¾ x 8 inches. Old crease marks, bit tanned. Overall quite good. Manuscript note on verso: “Mr. Forvor ?”
An unused printed court form issued for the Circuit Court of Adams County,
A Frontier Oath of Allegiance in Bloody Missouri
27. [Missouri]: [Civil War]: OATH OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE UNITED
STATES GOVERNMENT [caption title]. [Jefferson City, Mo.? 1862]. Broadsheet,
approximately 8 x 10¼ inches. Previously folded, with some small separations and tears, with one larger repaired 2½ tear. Small closed marginal tear at lower left corner. Moderate patch of dampstaining at central upper edge. Good plus. An apparently unrecorded form, printing an oath of allegiance to the United States government and the provisional government of Missouri early in the Civil War. The pro-Union state government was established when Northern forces
took Jefferson City in 1861 and the Confeder-ate government established by Claiborne Fox Jackson was put to flight. Nevertheless, the shadow government continued to operate and the national Confederate government at Richmond counted Missouri as one of its constituent states; moreover, there was much conflict between pro-Union and Confederate Missourians throughout the course of the war. The document, the present copy of which in uncompleted, states in part that the signer will: “Solemnly swear that I will support, protect and defend the Constitution and Government of the United States, and the Pro-visional Government of the State of Missouri, against all enemies, wether [sic] foreign or domestic.... And I take this oath without any mental reservation or evasion whatsoever, with a full and clear understanding, that death or punishment by the judgment of a Military Commission, will be the penalty for the violation of this, my solemn oath.” An evocative piece of ephemera from Missouri’s Civil
Mormons Issue Stock to Build a Hotel in Nauvoo
28. [Mormons]: [TWO PARTIALLY-PRINTED SHARES OF STOCK IN THE
NAUVOO HOUSE ASSOCIATION, COMPLETED IN MANUSCRIPT].
Nauvoo, Il.: E. Robinson’s Print, [1841]. Two certificates, 2¼ x 7¾ inches each, printed dos-a-dos on a single 4¾ x 7¾-inch sheet of paper. Fine.
A rare example of Mormon financial ephemera, documenting the Mormons’ stay in Nauvoo and the attempt to build “Nauvoo House,” a splendid hotel in the Illinois town. The present example of Nauvoo House stock certificates is one of only two mentioned by Rush, the other being printed in St. Louis, but prob-ably never officially issued. The Mormon Church was headquartered in Nauvoo from 1839 until they moved westward in 1846. In January 1841, Joseph Smith had a revelation instructing him to build a hotel that would provide accommo-dations for “strangers and tourists” (see the Mormon Doctrines and Covenants, 124:60). Construction began in the spring of 1841, and stock in the building was sold in order to fund the efforts. It was estimated that construction would cost $100,000, and stock was issued in shares ranging from $50 to $1500. The total stock subscription was $150,000. “All who believed in the Book of Mormon or
the revelations of God were permitted to hold stock” – Jenson. The stock certificates were transferable by endorsement, so they were used as a medium of exchange as well.
The present two certificates are each for one share of stock at $50, and are dated in manuscript Feb. 11, 1841. They are both signed by George Miller (who would later form a schismatic Mormon sect of his own) as president, and John Snyder as secretary. The certificate is decorated with an illustration showing the facade of Nauvoo House, and with an eagle within a decorative border on the left side. Nauvoo House was only partially completed when the Mormons left Nauvoo in 1846, and the house was eventually completed (though not to the original grand design) by Joseph Smith’s widow and her second husband. It survives today as a hostel, owned and operated by the Reorganized Church.
Printing began in Nauvoo in 1839 under the direction of Ebenezer Robinson and Don Carlos Smith. Byrd lists several items printed by Robinson in voo, but not the present stock certificates. The only institution listing Nau-voo House Association stock certificates on OCLC is Yale, which apparently owns an example slightly larger in size than this certificate. The Eberstadts of-fered an example of this certificate in 1954, priced $75. Any such pieces of Mormon ephemera from the Saints’ stay in Nauvoo are rare.
Rust, Mormon and Utah Coin and Currency, pp.23-24. EBERSTADT 133:700. OCLC 54168121 (ref). Jenson, Encyclopedic History of the Church, p.562. $3000.
A Treasure Trove of Early Rock and Roll and Country Music Photographs and Autographs
29. [Music Photographica]: [ANNOTATED VERNACULAR PHOTOGRAPH
ALBUM KEPT BY AN EARLY POPULAR MUSIC FAN, FEATURING BILL HALEY & HIS COMETS, HANK THOMPSON AND THE BRAZOS VALLEY BOYS, HANK SNOW, AND OTHERS IN THE EARLY DAYS OF ROCK AND ROLL, WITH NUMEROUS ADDITIONAL SIGNED PHO-TOGRAPHS]. [Pennsylvania & New Jersey. May to June, 1955]. 130 black and
white photographs, from 2 x 3½ inches to 8 x 10 inches, almost all with printed captions in the margins dated May or June 1955, most also with manuscript
cap-tions written below the image in red or blue pencil. Plus two souvenir programs; one 6 x 9-inch promotional color photograph, signed; and twenty 8 x 10-inch promotional black and white photographs, most signed. Square fo-lio. Contemporary red leatherette photograph album. Covers soiled, front cover detached, minor edge wear. One leaf detached, minor wear to photographs, album pages toned, chipped, and somewhat brittle. Very good. A fantastic personal photographic record of early rock and roll and country music stars from 1955, compiled by a woman named “Ann” who traveled to document her musical interests. Many of the photographs are non-professional, and were likely taken by Ann or a friend or family member. Several of the professional pictures of country music artists – including Eddy Arnold, Faron Young, Porter Wagoner, and the Maddox Brothers and Rose – are signed by the stars themselves.
Two locations can be identified from the pictures (Uncle Roy’s Beautiful Sunset Park in Jennersville, Pennsyl-vania and Circle A Ranch in Deer Park, New Jersey), but a variety of small clubs, auditoriums, jamborees, and honky tonks are depicted. The album features mounted photographs capturing notable musicians such as Hank Thompson (several photos, including one of their tour bus), Shorty Long, Hank Snow, Kenny Rob-erts, Clair “Tiny” Mickey, Sally Starr, Mickie Evans, Tim Holt, the Tune Dusters, the Eckert Family, and others. One original photograph shows Ray Meyers, an accomplished steel guitar player despite being born without arms, signing an autograph with his right foot. The musician photographs are interspersed with some family photographs.
Most notable are the dozen photographs featuring Bill Haley & His Comets at the height of their fame. Their most famous song, “Rock Around the Clock,” which is credited by some for bringing rock and roll music to the mainstream, was released the year before, and then featured in and popular-ized by the release of the film, The Blackboard Jungle, in March 1955. Two of the Bill Haley photographs are signed, though the compiler trimmed them a bit, and a few of them feature Haley with various local women identified in the captions. Accompanying the album are twenty-one larger promotional photographs, many of which are signed. These include Hank Snow (color photo, signed on verso); Hank Thompson and the Brazos Valley Boys (signed by Snow in the image); another of Hank Snow by himself (signed in the image); Faron Young (signed in the image); Porter Wagoner, Junior “Speedy” Haworth, and Don Warden (signed by all three
in the image); Eddy Arnold (signed in the image); Lash La Rue (signed in the im-age); Jesse Rogers (inscribed to “Ann” on verso); Maddox Bros. and Rose (signed in bottom margin); the Eckert Family (giant photographic postcard signed by all on verso); Rosie and Retta (signed by Retta Maddox on verso); Gordon Terry, “Champion Old-Time Fiddler” (signed in the image); prolific singer-songwriter Jean Shepard (with her signature on the verso); Lloyd Arnold (inscribed on verso); Lloyd Arnold with his band, the Rockin Drifters (inscribed to “Ann” in the bottom margin); cowgirl TV hostess Sally Starr (inscribed on the verso, “To Ann Lovingly Sally Starr”); Don Reno & Red Smiley and the Tennessee Cut-Ups (signed by the
whole band on the verso); the Wilburn Brothers (signed by both in the image); and a few unsigned photos, including one featuring Jimmy Dean. There are also two souvenir programs laid in: a promotional program for Webb Pierce (signed by him inside) and a Souvenir Picture Album Grand Opry (with signatures by Kitty Wells and Lester Wilburn of the Tennessee Mountain Boys inside).
A wonderful collection of early rock and roll and country music notables compiled by a fan in 1955, at the point when rock and roll was beginning to emerge in the
“Manhattan is probably the greatest early producer of gold ever known....”
30. [Nevada Mining]: THE MANHATTAN NEVADA GOLD MINES
COM-PANY...CAPITAL STOCK, 5,000,000 SHARES. PAR VALUE $1 EACH...
[caption title]. [New York. 1906]. Bifolium, 15¼ x 8¾ inches, plus two small printed forms. Previously folded. Two minor separations at old folds, very short closed tear at fore-edge. Very good.
Advertising prospectus for a new mining venture in central Nevada during the first decade of the 20th century. Mining in the Manhattan area had slowed dramatically since the end of the silver boom, but the discovery of gold in 1905 reinvigorated the industry in the area, and the company for which this prospectus advertises was one of numerous endeavors that sought to cash in. “Mines of marvellous richness are being discovered and developed; new strikes of ore, literally sprinkled with gold, are being made almost daily. The Smelting Companies at Salt Lake declare they have never before received so much high-grade ore in so short a period. Manhattan is probably the greatest early producer of gold ever known.... The bonanza days of Virginia City and the Comstock Lode are been [sic] outdone and their glitter is overshadowed by the record and the possibilities of Manhattan.” Accompanied by two printed order forms, one solely for purchasing stock in the Manhattan Nevada Company, and a second for a combination offer of stock in three mining companies – Manhattan Nevada, Empire, and Black Oak. Only copy of the prospectus located by OCLC, at Yale. $300.
The Last New Orleans “Blue Book”
31. [New Orleans]: BLUE BOOK [wrapper title]. [New Orleans. ca. 1913-1915]. [96]pp., printed throughout in red and black. 12mo. Original printed pale blue wrappers, expertly rebacked in matching blue paper. Soft vertical crease to text, minor toning, upper outer corner of one leaf repaired. Very good.
The last edition of the series of guides to the bawdy houses and prostitutes of New Orleans, issued between 1900 and 1915, and known collectively as the “Blue Books” of Storyville. Heartman identifies this is as the twelfth or thirteenth edition. Pamela Arceneaux, in Guidebooks to Sin, condenses Heartman’s last two editions into the same print run, having compared Heartman’s two editions and finding them identical. Arceneaux further believes that this edition could have been printed as early as 1913, based on intertextual clues found during her research, cross-referenced with contemporary New Orleans city directories.
The red-light district of New Orleans operated in a very public way until the U.S. government suppressed it at the time of the American entrance into the First World War. This guide lists women by address, followed by advertisements for brothels; all interspersed with advertisements for liquor and cigars. Included lists of burlesque houses, names of landladies, and names of prominent women in the trade. The prostitutes are often identified by race, most commonly white, black, and octoroon.
The earliest such guide appeared about 1896, and they were produced almost annually from 1900 to 1915. During this period, all of the guides issued under the title Blue Book were the product of Billy Struve, allegedly from the second floor of Lulu White’s saloon at the corner of Basin Street and Bienville (though that story is likely apocryphal). More likely, Struve assembled the Blue Books from his management offices at Anderson’s (a saloon owned by the “Mayor of Storyville,” Tom Anderson, located at the corner of Basin and Iberville) where, according to the city directories, he also resided for most of the Storyville years. An advertisement for Tom Anderson’s New Cabaret and Restaurant is found on the rear wrapper of this edition. The two photographs include the facade of Emma Johnson’s famous “Studio” and a portrait of the Oriental Danseuse, Rita Walker. Owing to their content and heavy use, all Blue Book guides are extremely rare. A nice example.
HEARTMAN, BLUE BOOKS XII/XIII. ARCENEAUX, GUIDEBOOKS TO
Promoting a Major New Orleans Public Works Project
32. [New Orleans]: Cass, Frank T., compiler: FACTS OF INTEREST
ABOUT THE PORT OF NEW ORLEANS SECOND PORT U.S.A. New
Orleans: Board of Commissioners, Port of New Orleans, 1922. 32pp., extensively illustrated. Original colored map-illustrated wrappers, string-tied. Small crease to lower corner of front wrapper, a few smudges to wrappers. Faint scrape to title-page, a few fingerprints to interior, but overall very clean. Very good.
Uncommon promotional pamphlet advertising the Port of New Orleans and touting the soon-to-be-completed “Inner-Harbor-Navigation Canal” (also known as the “Industrial Canal”) connecting the Mississippi River to Lake Pontchartrain. The names and portraits of the members of the Board of Commissioners are featured,
along with details on port administration, police and fire protection, dry dock and repair plants, and a map with the Mississippi Valley region highlighted in red. There are also recent statistics on imports and exports coming through the port, including bananas, cotton, coffee, coal, grain, oil, sisal, and sugar and molasses. Finally, there is information about steam-ship, rail lines, and barge lines that connect with the port, along with cranes and derricks available for loading and unloading, and public warehouse capacity and storage rates. Also included are the listings of all thirty-five nations who have consular offices in New Orleans, along with the names and addresses of the lead consular officers for each. The wrappers show a map of New Orleans with the route of the canal (in the eastern portion of the city) in red.
This canal had been on the minds of engineers since the Spanish held the region in the 18th century, but it wasn’t until the early 20th century that it became a reality. It made an already bustling port vital for trade in the region. OCLC locates eight copies.
Brooklyn Newspaper on Utopian Perfectionist Theology
33. Noyes, John H., editor: THE CIRCULAR. PUBLISHED WEEKLY.
DEVOTED TO THE SOVEREIGNTY OF JESUS CHRIST...Volume I. No. 1 [- 52] [caption title]. Brooklyn. 1851. 208pp. Folio. Stitched. Light tanning.
Very good. Untrimmed.
A complete run of the first volume, comprising fifty-two issues spanning from November 1851 to October 1852, of The Circular, “a publication of the utopian Oneida and Wallingford communities, edited by J.H. Noyes” – Lomazow. “The author, educated at Dartmouth, Andover, and Yale, became an advocate of Per-fectionism, and finally the founder of a community, in 1848, at Oneida, N.Y. A man of education and force, he developed this community to considerable suc-cess” – Larned. “Oneida’s system of governance took the form of mutual criticism rather than written laws; individuals underwent scrutiny of their attitudes and behaviors by a committee or the whole community. The living and economic ar-rangements at Oneida were designed to further a new vision of family. Members lived together in the mansion, held property communally, shared in the raising of children as well as domestic and outdoor labor, and participated together in recreation and education. All of these practices emerged from Noyes’s conviction that perfectionist theology must give rise to a radical restructuring of ‘family’ that would in turn reform the broader society” – ANB.
“The Oneida Circular was the chief organ of the perfectionist communities founded by J.H. Noyes. In it Noyes expounded his doctrines of spiritualism, communism, and free love; though uneven in its editing, it was often well written and inter-esting” – Mott. The Circular also discusses the organization and tenets of the community, the religious doctrines of Swedenborg, Brownson, and others, and much other material.
LARNED 2882. LOMAZOW 568. MOTT, AMERICAN MAGAZINES II, p.207. Mary Farrell Bednarowski, “Noyes, John Humphrey” in American National
Menu for a Japanese Banquet in Commodore Perry’s Honor
34. [Perry Japan Expedition]: [MANUSCRIPT MENU FOR A BANQUET
GIVEN AT THE YOKOHAMA TREATY HOUSE FOR THE AMERICAN DELEGATION LED BY COMMODORE PERRY]. [Yokohama. March 31,
1854]. [1]p. Oblong folio sheet, previously folded. A couple minor creases, with very light dampstaining at foot of sheet. Very good.
An impressive survival from Commodore Perry’s expedition, a decorative manuscript menu from the banquet that celebrated the agreement of the Treaty of Kanagawa between the United States and Japan in 1854. Although an official and extensive trade agreement between the two countries was not reached until 1858, the Treaty of Kanagawa achieved Perry and the United States government’s primary goal of opening Japan to U.S. trade by allowing the use of two ports at Shimoda and
Hakodate by American ships, granting a degree of freedom of movement to American sailors while in port, and establishing diplomatic relations via the appointment of an American consul.
The banquet was held in the Treaty House at Yoko-hama, which had been purpose-built for negotiating the agreement between the two countries. It was a return engagement, following a first event hosted by the Americans on board Perry’s flagship, the U.S.S. Powhatan, at which copious amounts of lamb, beef, and whiskey were reportedly served. The menu for the Japanese meal reflected the country’s altogether differ-ent culinary tastes, offering a long series of soup and seafood courses, including sea bream and a number of other fish. It is unclear which side found the other’s food more distasteful, but Perry remarked that the Japanese offerings “Seemed particularly meager in comparison with American fare, and soup, however desir-able in its proper place, was found to be but a poor substitute for a round of beef or a haunch of mutton.” For their part, the Japanese were unimpressed by the Americans’ loud and uncouth behavior at the event, and were amused by their inability to use chopsticks.
Despite the reservations of each side, the banquet served as a capstone to one of the most critical moments in the development of Japanese-American relations. This possibly unique piece of ephemera is a wonderful document of that entertaining, cross-cultural episode and the culmination of the Perry expedition. $4000.
Promoting a Growing Fort Worth
35. [Texas]: FACTS ABOUT FORT WORTH ISSUED BY THE CHAMBER
OF COMMERCE.... Fort Worth, Tx.: Trade Review Printing Co., [ca. 1890].
[8]pp. on one folding sheet of pink paper. 16mo. Near fine.
A rare pocket promotional pamphlet for Fort Worth, promoting its rapid growth and increasing wealth. Following the Civil War, Fort Worth suffered a significant financial downturn and some very rough winters. But in 1876, the Texas and Pa-cific Railway finally reached the city, jumpstarting the economy and transforming the Fort Worth stockyards into one of the premier centers of the cattle industry. This pamphlet notes that Fort Worth has the “best cotton market” in Texas, and has abundant artesian water sources for expanded farming opportunities. It also touts the city’s iron foundry, “the largest in Texas,” several other major manufac-turing operations, and the promise that canning, freight car, soap, and wire nail factories are in schedule for construction, along with a paper mill. Also included is information on real estate sales for 1890, totaling over $15 million; information on banking; and a list of Chamber of Commerce members.
An intriguing snapshot of Fort Worth as it was transforming from Hell’s Half Acre to a vital economic center. OCLC lists only one copy, at Southern Meth-odist University.
