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Exploring  One of those “Lesser Paths” of  History

“One Hundred Illustrations”

Click the interior images for enlargement.

•  Sixth edition (following its initial appearance in the previous year) of this engaging account, full of anecdotes, historical digressions, and literary quotations, as well as attempted analysis of emblems and their meanings. “One hundred illustrations in fac-simile” are attributed to Larwood on the title-page; the work features 19 plates, each depicting an assortment of house- and pub-signs, as well as a hand-colored frontispiece “Drawn by Experience . . . Engraved by Sorrow,” in which a cheerful gin-drinking lady rides her woebegone, care-laden husband.

Provenance: Title-page stamped by a private collector: “Thomas Witherell Palmer, Log Cabin Park” (Detroit).

•  Contemporary half calf with marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and ornate gilt-stamped decorations within compartments; binding with light to moderate rubbing overall, with spine leather starting to show some cracking. All edges stained red. Delightful reading and looking, and a delightful copy.

This entry is repeated in the
“H–L” section of this
catalogue . . .

WHINE, Whine . . . !

•  The officials of the Royal Accounting Office in Buenos Aires have complained to the king of ill-treatment at the hands of other government officials, and the king here declares how the accountants are to be treated.

•  Folded as issued.

How Many? HODS were in a“Dale” of Coal?

[Anderson, Andrew].

•  Sheet of five identical printed slips meant to be used as receipts; the text provides space for recording the date, the payer, and the sum paid for an amount of coal (in “Dales”) furnished by the Laird of Wolmet, acting through his factor Andrew Anderson, here identified as a “Writer in Edinburgh.”Only one holding of this item, in Scotland, is reported by ESTC.

•  ESTC R172299; Wing (rev.) A3084B. Small portion of upper inner margin torn away. Tipped onto a leaf of 19th-century paper; now in a Mylar folder.

Architecturo-Moral Observation & Satire

Click the interior image for an enlargement.

•  Although 13 copies of this are found, NUC Pre–1956, ESTC, and Melvyl offer no information on the author. A satire on the Royal Exchange, London (and reprint of a London edition of the same year), the first 16 pages of this give a detailed “reading” of the building's exterior and interior architecture — the building in question being the Second Royal Exchange, designed by Edward Jerman (with building continued upon his death by Thomas Cartwright) after the first was destroyed in the Great Fire.

•  ESTC T10087.   Recent marbled paper wrappers. Ex–defunct library: five pages including title faintly stamped. Clean.  (23710)

Money & Bank Paper — New York 1812–13

•  In addition to all promised in the title of this tract, the author examines the course of banking in New York state wondering if it is a paradigm for Pennsylvania and the rest of the nation. He studies the initial capitalization and ultimate failure, success, or mere existence of several banks. His analysis of specie versus paper money is detailed and takes into account the role each plays in internal and foreign trade.

Apparently a most scarce item: We trace only three institutional copies, two of which are in Philadelphia.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 32623; Sabin 60452. Removed from a nonce volume and inner margin irregular; six-digit number stamped on final, blank page; age-toning.

This PHILADELPHIA Bank's Articles of Association . . .

•  Sole edition and very rare. The bank was capitalized with $1,000,000, aimed at making loans to merchants and farmers, and drew its original 16 directors from the powers that were in Philadelphia at that time, both Christian and Jewish.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 4846. Sewn as issued. Waterstaining to lower margin of most pages; mildew damage to same areas.

. . . and Its Incorporation (Banking). Philadelphia [National] Bank. Pennsylvania. Laws, statutes, etc. An act to incorporate the Philadelphia Bank. Philadelphia: Pr. by W. W. Woodward, 1804. 8vo. 21, [1 (blank)] pp.
$800.00

•  The legislature enables the bank to come into existence and prohibits conflicts of interest by barring sitting governors and legislators from serving on the Bank's board of directors. This act of incorporation seems to be as rare as the Bank's Articles.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 7007. Original light boards covered with marbled paper. Back cover and two leaves gnawed by a rodent, with loss of paper.

Coal Mining (or Lack Thereof?) in Scotland

(Biggar vs. Buccleugh).

•  Legal dispute over the worth of mining rights at Sheriffhall; the Duchess of Buccleugh and her husband, Lord Cornwallis, had sold the rights to William Biggar, but the latter found the seams not as workable as expected. ESTC records only one, imperfect holding of this item.

•  ESTC T37215. Tipped onto a leaf of 19th-century paper, now in a Mylar folder. Dust-soiling, creasing; repairs to tears in both leaves done some time ago, with some unrepaired closed tears resulting in loss of a few letters here and there.

Curbing Contraband

Brazil

•  Document summary, found below "REY": "Alvará com força de Ley, porque V. Magestade he servido ampliar os Paragrafos quinto, sexto, e setimo do Capitulo decimo setimo dos Estatutos da Junta do Commercio destes Reynos, e seus Dominios, para mais efficazmente se evitarem os contrabandos. . . . "

•  Quarter green cloth with marbled paper sides, and red leather cover label with gilt-stamped title and gilt ruling.

A VeryStudyable Collection

•  The importance of Brazil to Portugal, brought home in a hard and dramatic way when the Dutch took over portions of the colony during the period 1630-54, was further enhanced by the discovery in the late 17th century of gold, and in the early 18th century of diamonds, there—in addition to the sugar and wood that had domininated the colony's earliest lists of exports. This collection of royal decrees (alvarás and other types) deals with treatment of black slaves, regulation of shipping, administration of sugar and tobacco monopolies, importing of wine and vinegar, and the constant and various problems of managing colonial administrators and distributing/limiting their perquisites and prerogatives.

In all, an interesting sampling of the types of decrees that the kings and queens of Portugal issued in order to maintain order and discipline in the ever-increasingly important colony of Brazil. The value of the documents sold individually totals $6325.00, and the collection price represents a savings of above 20%.

•  The vast bulk of these decrees are bound in faux morocco and faux mottled calf; those that are in wrappers or as issued are carefully noted. All are in very good condition.

For details, please e-mail us.

Hands OffOur Guano!

•  The Isla de Aves was a matter of contention between the U.S. and Venezuela, as Venezuela claimed sovereignty over the island and thus the exclusive right to exploit the large amount of guano there. (The dispute was eventually decided in favor of Venezuela.) Briceño was envoy extraordinary to the U.S. and minister plenipotentiary of Venezuela.

•  Not in Palau. Original yellow printed wrappers, removed from a nonce volume with stab holes in the inner margins; inside wrappers with a short closed tear and a little shallow chipping, light soiling and a few stray marks. Fold mark down the center and traces of soiling on the top edges.

“Northern Liberties”

•  By this legal instrument William Tyson “of Northern Liberties [now a part of the city of Philadelphia] in the County of Philadelphia and state of Pennsylvania, Dealer” agrees to pay Thomas Walton “of the same place” two hundred pounds “current money of the said state of Pennsylvania in specie” of 100 pounds is payable with interest. The rate of interest is unstated but is six percent per annum.

Tyson and Walton signed the document on 24 August 1791.

An excellent display piece.

•  Old folds with a few short tears. Residue of mounting tape at two points on the left margin. (14729)

The World — As It Was in1766

Click the interior images for enlargements.

•  Stated “second edition, with great additions and improvements,” of this standard reference work. Industriously compiled by Richard Brookes, it went through numerous editions, the first being published in 1762. Sieges, battles, commerce, fair days, and the “Customs, Manners, and Religion of the Inhabitants” are briskly covered; this is not geography as mere topography. Opening at random places, we see from the entry on the Mississippi River that Louisiana is “a delightful country inhabited by savages”; that Prague, “a handsome, large, famous town or city” can “send 50,000 men into the field, without meddling with artificers, or perceiv[ing] any great loss of them”; and that the trees are always green in the Philippines.

The book includes eight folding maps, respectively, of the world, Africa, North America, South America, England and Wales, the Empire of Germany, and Europe.

•  ESTC N7888.   Contemporary calf, covers framed in double gilt fillets, rebacked in recent calf; raised bands defined by gilt rules above and below each band, and gilt-stamped title on a red leather label. Significant wear to corners and edges of front and rear covers; shallow chip at top edge of front cover. Title-page mounted, with upper, outer, and lower edges reinforced; early inked ownership notation (“His Book” but without a name attached!) on title-page. Some instances of mild foxing and the odd spot; light waterstaining to a number of early and later leaves, mostly in margins; offsetting from leather affecting only first three and final three leaves, at edges. First map with two repairs at top and bottom edge; closed tear at bottom and creases down center. A couple of maps with very shallow edge tears. All maps generally clean and overall in very good condition, excepting the map of Europe of which the right portion has been torn away along the fold and is now missing. Much interest and pleasure here.  (23789)

Corruption Trial & Ultimate Vindication

•  The Earl of Buchan (1742–29) writes convincingly in defense of Warren Hastings (1732–1818), the former governor of Bengal, against charges levelled against him by Burke. Buchan was impeached on several charges, others were added in later months, and the trial dragged on from 1787 to 1795, when he was ultimately found not guilty of all charges. What a nightmare!

Attributed to the Earl of Buchan by Halkett & Laing (vol. 9 [1962 ed.]).

•  Goldsmiths’-Kress 13204; ESTC T143537.   Recent full brown speckled calf, covers gilt-tooled in the Cambridge style. Raised bands on spine accented with gilt beading on bands and defined by gilt rules above and below each band. Title-page printed aslant or trimmed somewhat askew, and with a few small old inkspots; pamphlet otherwise clean, with occasional light instances of foxing.  (21735)

HAMBURG — Its History as Trade Center

•  First edition: Economic history of trade in Hamburg, written by the author of Grundriss einer Geschichte der merkwürdigsten Welthändel neuerer Zeit in einem erzählenden Vortrage.
Click the interior image for an enlargement.

Uncommon: Fewer than nine copies located in U.S. libraries.

•  Goldsmiths’-Kress 16971. Period-style speckled paper, spine with printed paper title and publication labels. Title-page and one other rubber-stamped by a now-defunct institution (being a “mercantile” library, intereting provenance for this work; title-page with short tear from upper margin (touching one word of title) repaired some time ago. Pages age-toned; first few leaves with inner margins waterstained.

What’s Going on Here?

Click the image for an enlargement.

•  Deed from the Hon. Thomas Burnside to Benjamin Patton, transferring the rights to a 559-acre property in western Pennsylvania previously owned by David Curry, deceased, which land became the property of the county upon default of payment of taxes. Two years later Patton sold the same tract to the George Curry, executor of David Curry’s estate. Patton had paid $14.65 in 1811 and sold in 1813 for $200.00.

The Irish-born Burnside, then treasurer of Clearfield, Pennsylvania, was later a justice of the Pennsylvania state supreme court.

A notary’s seal is affixed to the document, which was signed by both Burnside and Patton.

•  Creased and slightly age-toned, with the folios separated and some offsetting from seal; a few small holes, touching text without notable loss.

TO Part II

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