
MANUSCRIPTS
A-G H-Z

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our MSS in SPANISH: Click here.
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Edward Everett Hale Pursues Good Works — Signed
Hale, Edward Everett. Autograph Letter Signed, to an unknown recipient. On paper, in English. Roxbury, MA: 1893. 8vo (20 cm, 7.9"). [1] f.
$75.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Letter written and signed by Edward Everett Hale (1822–1909), an author, historian, and Unitarian minister descended from a distinguished American family. In his day one of the nation's most prominent men of letters, Hale may now be best remembered for two stories: “The Man Without a Country,” a patriotic pro-Union allegory of the then-raging U.S. Civil War, and “The Brick Moon,” generally considered to be
the earliest known literary depiction of a man-made satellite.
With the present letter, Hale notifies an unidentified recipient of a planned meeting for an Ithaca church subscription committee, by way of a clearly written note on his Roxbury, MA, letterhead. This very nice example of his signature (here, “Edw. E. Hale”) on his stationery is also a pleasing reminder of the great author's commitment to good works throughout his life.
Creased along original folds, one lower corner creased acriss.
Excellent bit of Hale memorabilia. (36715)

A Writer at a (Charming!) Loss for Words
Hall, Basil. Autograph Letter Signed to Isabella Walsh. Philadelphia: 17 December 1827. Small 4to (24 x 19 cm; 9.5" x 7.5"). 1 p.
$100.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Inscribed on a page of Walsh's autograph album was this kind and playful sentiment:
“Your Brother has just called with this album, in which, he tells me, it is your wish that I should write something.
I am so much flattered by your request that I lose no time in complying with it: but I am much at a loss what to say that shall deserve a place in so gay a book — & in such good Company.
But as it becomes every well bred lion to roar for the entertainment of the company when he is bid — whether he be in a growling mood or not — I take up my pen accordingly.
Yet I daresay you will often have the mortification of hearing the visitors to this your 'menagerie' exclaim — 'Well! I am sure I never saw such a stupid wild beast before — I dont [sic] believe he is a real lion after all — I have heard many a donkey make quite as good an exhibition!'”
Hall (1788–1844) was a Scot, a naval officer, and author of several accounts of voyages and travels including Account of a Voyage of Discovery to the West Coast of Corea and the Great Loo-Choo Island in the Japan Sea (1818), Extracts from a Journal Written on the Coasts of Chili, Peru, and Mexico in the years 1820, 1821, 1822 (1824), and Travels in North America in 1827–28 (1829). Miss Walsh (b 8 July 1812) was the daughter of Robert Walsh (Philadelphia lawyer and abolitionist) and Anna Maria Moylan Walsh (who died in 1826).
Provenance: The Walsh album sold at Anderson Galleries 28 Nov. 1921 (sale 1609) as lot 60. Later in the Allyn K. Ford Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, recently deaccessioned.
Very good condition. (34491)

A Visit from an Unnamed BUT
Possibly Discoverable &
Probably Published WOMAN Writer
Hall, Capt. Basil. Autograph Letter Signed to “Madam.” Putney Heath: no year. 12mo (7.125" x 4"). 2 pp., with integral blank leaf.
$125.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Hall (1788–1844), a Scot, naval officer, and author of several accounts of voyages and travels including Account of a Voyage of Discovery to the West Coast of Corea and the Great Loo-Choo Island in the Japan Sea (1818), Extracts from a Journal Written on the Coasts of Chili, Peru, and Mexico in the years 1820, 1821, 1822 (1824), and Travels in North America in 1827–28, tells his correspondent that she is welcome to call on him on Sunday as she proposes, any time after 10:30 A.M. He gives detailed instructions on how to reach his house: It “is on the top of the Heath close to the Telegraph, which is a single Staff, a Semaphore.” He tells her he has finished making notes of her vol. II but has lent vol. I to another and does not yet have it returned to him.
As Hall writes that he will be easy to find because he is “about as well known here though I hope in a different spirit as in Yankee Land,” we date the letter to some time shortly enough after publication of Travels in North America for oblique reference to its angry reception there to be both natural and “fresh”; and, indeed, we wonder if his correspondent is American?
Provenance: Ex–Allyn K. Ford Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, recently deaccessioned.
Very good condition. Old folds, a few spots of pale tea-colored stains. Written in a pale ink that is yet quite legible. (33346)

“It Was a Very Happy Little Leaf to Be Allowed to See
What It Had Seen
This Blessed Christmas Tide”
Hurst, May E. Manuscript on paper, in English. “What a Little Leaf Seen at Christmas Time.” [ca. 1890?]. 8vo (20.5 cm, 8.07"). 11 ff.
$135.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
“It was the day before Christmas . . . “ begins May E. Hurst's handwritten original tale, in which a late-lingering leaf and a pair of sparrows bear witness to the differing perspectives on Christmas given by two “plump red-cheeked” and two “poorly clad and shivering” children — the latter, not forgotten by the Christ Child after all, receiving a miraculous gift of food and fuel on Christmas Eve. The piece is inked in a very neat, regular cursive hand on single sides of eleven lined sheets, with a winged helmet and caduceus blind-stamp in the corner.
Leaves with some edges slightly tattered; age-toned, with small burn mark to lower edges of first two leaves and occasional small spots and edge chips.
A sweet late 19th-century effort, possibly a little later and possibly composed for Sunday school use? (40367)

Visiting the Land of Tigreen — An Illustrated Fantastical Travelogue
& Playful Ethnographic Study — Hand-Written & Extensive
[Imaginary Travel/Voyage/Country]. Manuscript on paper, in English. “The Tigeenish News Paper.” [U.K.: ca. 1940?]. Folio (31.7 cm, 12.51"). [160 (156 used)] pp.; 5 ff. of illus.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
Curious and charming: A detailed survey of the imaginary land of Tigreen, in which the females are all tigers — and notably the dominant, ruling personalities throughout — and the males all lions, with many of the customs seeming to poke gentle fun at Anglo culture. The volume opens with an account of Tigeenish journalism (it should be noted that the country is generally given as “Tigreen,” but its people and language as the “Tigeenish”), and goes on to lovingly describe “Great Names & Well Known Personalities of the Tigeenish World” before embarking on the events of the main travelogue — which include “Going to a Tigeenish Swimming Bath,” shopping and eating out, going to the theater, attending Fuersday services at the village church, and making the “First Visit to the Tigeenish Liberary” (sic). Inked neatly and possibly left-handedly in green, the text is both expository and narrative, with the writer giving a first-person account of events and dialogue; spelling is erratic. As the travelogue opens at item (chapter) 11, with “We have explored into the outlines of Tigeenish life,” and concludes with the party's return to its “home base” village in item 19 — not, apparently, the travellers' true home — the reader of these 150+ folio pages is both tantalized and impressed to realize that they present
a broad landscape vista of “Tigeen” as seen through a generous window but a “window” nonetheless, with an even broader, larger fantasy world to be presumed as “existing” beyond it.
The story is illustrated with
five leaves' worth of pencil drawings, including sketches of household chores and of a series of swimmers in their bathing costumes; portraits of ancient Tigeenish royalty, author “Wittiber Bope,” “Mee-Wae the famous ballerina,” and other prominent figures; and two full-page drawings of a game called Blacking-Pot and of church-goers assembled on the steps outside the building.
Clues in the text indicate that this is a British work (the author mentions queuing at bus stops, describes a mode of dress as “equivalent to our late Edwardian stile,” and has one character warn against spoiling breakfast with biscuits, among other details); it was written not earlier than 1936 and, we think, not so late as the wartime forties. The elaborate detail of Tigeenish worldbuilding, including linguistics, may variously reflect the influence of Wonderland, Toad Hall, the Hundred Acre Wood, or Middle-Earth; some aspects prefigure even Narnia (or perhaps the text dates later than we think). The age of the narrator is difficult to pin down, with some of the elements here conveying what could well be enthusiastic teenaged pop-culture fandom (Deanna Durbin is cited as the pinnacle of silver-screen fame), while some suggest a bit more reflective distance from childhood. The focus on domestic details implies, though of course does not guarantee, a feminine sensibility — and confirming this, the author does refer to herself as she and “Miss.”
Certain remarks convey a sort of backstage meta-commentary on the fiction, as if it had an existence outside this manuscript (“Indeed Tigreen functioned largely on my own experiences and childhood's impressions, many of which remain with me”; “She [Poy] was inspired by the fact that when I was a child myself I could never understand why people would exclaim Oh! & Ah! each time they saw such children as Poy making an entry anywhere”; “The pictures you see of Tigeenish personalities, places, & objects placed within the pages are the exact replicas of what they represent . . . in my young days I was not always able to get them to look just as I saw them, even though I tried very hard . . . now I draw them as I meant them to look then & as I visualized them in my childish mind”).
There is no evidence that this feminist-informed fantasy creation was ever published in any form.
Contemporary pebbled green paper–covered sides with red oilcloth shelfback; moderately rubbed overall, front board slightly sprung. Occasional underlining and marks of emphasis in red; some corrections in the same hand but different ink color.
A treasure, and intriguing. (41069)

The Check Is in the Mail
Joseph Anthony & Co. Autograph Letter Signed to Benjamin Bourne. Philadelphia, PA: 28 January 1800. 4to (10" x 7.75"). 1 p., without the integral address leaf.
$75.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
The merchant company of Joseph Anthony & Co. tells Bourne that on 18 January it sent him a post note for $170; it laments the irregularity of post mail, which is due (it thinks) to carelessness of the post riders.
Provenance: Ex–Allyn K. Ford Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, recently deaccessioned.
Very good condition. Docketed on verso. (33398)

A Most Creatively
Faux-Medieval Manuscript from
THE Lindsay Family
Lindsay, Margaret E.; Alice F. Lindsay, illus.; et al. Manuscript on paper, in English: “Dark Baron Rolf. Or a romance of the Middle Ages.” [U.K.]: “New Year's Eve,” 1866. 4to (26.1 cm, 10.27"). [2], 54 pp.; illus.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
Stunning manuscript presentation epitomizing 19th-century medievalism: a handwritten and painted tale, lovingly calligraphed and illuminated as
a gift from four young sisters to their mother. The fair Lady Madeline's adventures — which show a certain degree of Sir Walter Scott's influence, and which begin in a convent and end in blissful marriage — feature
16 brightly rendered watercolor illustrations of various sizes, some quite large, as well as
several apparently original lyrics including lines such as “O I would that my heart would merry be,” and “Fill the goblet to the brim / Fa-la-la-la-fal-la-la.” Also present are a musical setting of the Miserere, with accompanying poetic English translation, and a troubadour-style song of four verses set to an original melody.
The “medievalesque” text (by sister Margaret Elizabeth, b. 1850) was indited throughout (by Mary Susan, b. 1852) in
red and black inks within red-line borders, with its accomplished, charming illustrations (by Alice Frances, b. 1849) similarly red-framed. Each page, numbered, carries a sometimes breathless red header (“The Choice,” “Gone to Palestine,” “The Widowed Bride,” “Found!”).
These talented Lindsay girls were children of Scots peer Alexander William Crawford Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford — the collector responsible for establishing the celebrated Bibliotheca Lindesiana — and his wife Margaret Lindsay, Countess of Crawford and Belcarres. Lady Alice Frances (later Archer-Houblin), Lady Margaret Elizabeth (later Majendie), and Lady Mary Susan Félicie (later Meynell) were clearly steeped from birth in bibliophilia as well as in the romances of elegant fiction, and they must have collaborated for months to produce this remarkable volume of knightly deeds, maidenly virtue, gentle nuns, and foul villainy — not quite always, they let us know, in perfect artistic harmony, for short pencilled comments, initialed by lead writer Margaret Elizabeth and entered outside the story-borders on two pages, record it that a scene involving a “matchmaking friar” was “composed by compulsion,” as was the introduction of a song with its music!
Labors done, the proud daughters (and their little sister, Lady Mabel Marion, b. 1855, who signed herself on their title-page as “May”) inscribed their manuscript to “our darling Mother, on her birthday,” and had it elegantly bound.
Their final result is, without exaggeration, a treasure.
Binding: Scarlet morocco, covers bordered and panelled in gilt and black rules surrounding a gilt frame incorporating foliate motifs; front cover with gilt-stamped coronet and “M.L.” monogram. Spine gilt extra, board edges and turn-ins gilt with rolls, moiré silk endpapers, all edges gilt.
Binding stamped by C.E. Clifford of Piccadilly.
Bound as above, minor rubbing to corners and spine extremities. Pages age-toned with scattered faint smudges only, these testifying along with the title-page that many hands labored over the leaves.
A delightful fantasy creation, a charming family love-gift, a surviving family “period piece” with impressive family provenance. (41478)

“Many Years Ago I Was Quite Intimately Associated with the Rev. Dr. Shields”
Low, Seth. Autograph Letter Signed to Mrs. [Bayard?] Stockton. North East Harbor, ME: 2 September 1904. 12mo (7" x 4.5"). 3 pp.
$125.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Low began his adult life in the family China trade business but went on to be mayor of Brooklyn, President of Columbia University, a diplomatic representative of the United
States, and mayor of New York City. In that latter position he was a strong municipal reformer, introducing the civil service system and attempting to root out police corruption.
Here he sends a thoughtfully reminiscent note of sympathy on the death of the Rev. Dr. Shields (Charles Woodruff Shields); his “Mrs. Stockton” was probably Charlotte, Mrs. Bayard Stockton, the deceased's daughter.
Provenance: Ex–Allyn K. Ford Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, recently deaccessioned.
Very good condition. Low's is not a very difficult hand, but someone has lightly, interlinearly pencilled in the words s/he found hard to decipher. (33395)

Seville Jesuits Pursue Legacies in Mexico A Woman's Estate Included
(Mata, Martin de la). Manuscript on paper, in Spanish: A carta de poder. Sevilla: 1692 (4 July). Folio (30.8 cm, 12.125"). [3] pp., with a final page blank.
$350.00
Click the images for enlargements.
The Jesuit house in Seville wishes to take possession of the legacy situated in Mexico that the late Capt. Martin de la Mata bequeathed to it. Consequently the Jesuits give their full power of attorney to Francisco de Losada, the procurador general of the Society in Mexico.
The estate holdings in Mexico are in excess of 1,500 ducados de vellón (i.e., about 16,500 reales de plata), including the estate of
Doña Tomasina de Ochoa of which Mata was the executor. Some of the value is in the form of mortgages held in Mexico City.
Removed from a bound volume in very good condition. Written in a clear ecclesiastical notary's hand. (41089)

A Pittsburgh Woman's
Exceptionally Well-Documented Trip to Europe
McKnight, Mary Baird. Manuscript on paper, in English. European travel diary. Rome, Seville, Paris, Gibralter, & elsewhere.: 1895. 4to (19 cm, 7.5"). [136] pp.; illus. & lay-ins.
$950.00
Click the images for enlargements.
A grand three-and-a-half-month adventure in Europe, memorialized in a combination journal-scrapbook created by Mary Baird McKnight (1866–1958). Daughter of Charles McKnight (1826–1881), a journalist and proprietor of periodicals including The Pittsburgh Chronicle, The Illustrated People's Monthly, and The Evening News of Philadelphia, McKnight was 28 years old and single at the time of the trip. She started out in Italy and ended in France: The diary opens with an entry from Rome, and closes with a letter written home from Paris on 2 July affixed at the back of the volume. Along the way she visited the Vatican, Switzerland, Germany, and Spain, providing daily descriptions of the scenery and people along with museums, cathedrals, events, etc.
While her handwriting requires some study, it is legible, and her notes are detailed.
Many of the pages feature
small affixed photographic reproductions of the sights. Among the other intriguing items present are a first-class ticket booklet from Seville to Madrid (perforation- and rubber-stamped), the color-printed folding cabin passenger list for the Kaiser Wilhelm II steamship sailing from Genoa to New York (via Gibraltar, where Mary stopped), a bullfight ticket, the card of Wayne MacVeagh (United States ambassador to Italy), letterheads from many of the hotels and restaurants visited, and numerous other souvenirs, as well as instances of dried flower and plant matter.
Canvas-covered limp wrappers with leather edging; cloth with date inked in upper outer corner and with small spots of discoloration, leather edging lost at spine extremities and worn elsewhere. Pages age-toned, with some starting to separate; that said, however, this compendium is in a better state of conservation than most “mixed media” constructions of the sort. The affixations remain affixed, the artistically arranged clipped images have not faded to mere shadows, the pressed flowers have not crumbled and retain color.
A unique and remarkable travelogue. (41244)

A Series of Medieval LEAVES
(Medieval Manuscript Leaves). A selection
eminently suitable for use in the teaching and practicing of paleography.
ALL INDIVIDUALLY PRICED
Click the images for enlargements.
Some examples are recovered from bindings; some show significant damage while some are pristine and
simply lovely. Most represent scribal work of the 13th to early 16th century and most are from books of devotion.
For an illustrated list of the full gathering, with prices, click here.
Mifflin, Samuel. Document signed on parchment, in English. “Exemplification of a common recovery with double vouchers of the messuage & plantation in Blockley late the estate of Morton Garrett.” Philadelphia, 1776. Folio (51.5 cm, 20.5"). [1] p.
$850.00
Document relating to strife between John Ord and Gunning Bedford (probably not the Constitutional signer but rather his cousin; both Bedfords were born in Philadelphia, a few years apart) over a Philadelphia-area property and its rents. Written in March of the “sixteenth year of the reign of” George III and the year of the Revolution, this was filed before Samuel Ashmead, justice of the Court of Common Pleas; the document is indited in a fine, light hand, and signed by Samuel Mifflin, a merchant and landowner who in 1761 had refused election as mayor of the city.
All the names involved here have powerful Philadelphia associations. A seal is affixed to the sheet, intended to be removed and used “for sealing of Writs in our Court.”
Blockley, in which the land in question was located, was a township located in West Philadelphia from about 1677 until its consolidation with the city in 1854. The name has lingered, although it has been superceded in general usage by the broader term “University City.”
Parchment crisp and untorn, with outermost folded portions lightly spotted; front with early inked title as given above, plus pencilled numerals. An evocative document connected to some very prominent names, in excellent condition, with its seal protected for its intended reuse by a diamond-shaped paper covering. (7720)
For PRE-1820 AMERICANA,
click here.
For more of PHILADELPHIA interest, click here.
This also appears in the GENERAL
MISCELLANY click here.

Ocharte Job Printing Using Roman Type
Notarial form. Carta de poder. [Mexico: Pedro Ocharte, before 15 March 1590]. Folio (31.5 cm, 12.5"). [1] f.
$1875.00
Click the images for enlargements.
This leaf contains one notarial form, extending from the recto onto the verso. The characteristics of the recto are: Type face: roman. Imprint area of recto: 256 x 140 mm. Number of lines of text: on recto 33. Woodcut initial is Valton type D. First line: Sepan quantos esta carta vieren como yo First line of main text: Generalmente, para en todos mis pleytos, causas ynegocios ceuiles y Last line of recto: cias judiciales que co[n]uegan de se hazer; aunque sean de calidad que Blank space between lines 1 & 2: 63 mm.
The characteristics of the verso are: Type face: roman. Imprint area: 42 x 153 mm. Number of lines of text: 9. First line of verso: pa[ra] ello se reqiera, y deua auer otro mi mas especial poder y ma[n]dado Last line of verso mi persona y bienes anidos [sic, for auer] y por auer.
The document was sworn in Mexico on 15 March 1594, before the notary Alonso Santres (??) , and in it Juan Gracia Barranco, a citizen of Puebla but visiting Mexico City, gives his power of attorney to Lope de la Carrera, also a citizen of Puebla, who was not present, to buy in his name gold, silver, and other things as he sees fit.
Valton (see below) attributed this formulary to Pedro Ocharte and the woodcut “S” is of the style of woodcut initials he used in various books.
The earliest known example of such job printing was dated in manuscript in 1562.
Carpenter, A Sixteenth Century Broadside from the Collection of Emilio Valton, #26. Removed from a bound volume and moderately tattered in inner margin. Worming in margins occasionally extending into the text area.
A very good example of Ocharte's job printing, with one of the classic initials. (34746)

“My Creditors Have Indeed Fallen upon Me without Mercy”
Otis, Samuel Allyne. Autograph Letter Signed to unknown addressee. Boston: 11 September 1785. 12mo (18.5 cm, 7.25"). [2] pp.
$750.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Otis was a Boston merchant, the brother of revolutionary James Otis, Jr., and of America's first female playwright, Mercy Otis Warren. In 1789 he was elected Secretary of the United States Senate.
Here he writes, “my creditors have indeed fallen upon me without mercy.” He assures his correspondent that the note that he owes him is a personal one and not drawn on Otis's company; so, he advises the correspondent not to accede to any demands of Otis's business creditors regarding that note.
Provenance: Ex–Allyn K. Ford Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, recently deaccessioned.
Very good condition. (27919)

Plato's Dialogues in
German Manuscript
Plato. Manuscript on paper, in German. “Dialogum des Plato mit biografischen Anmerkungen.” No place [Germany]: 1790. 4to (23.5 cm, 9.25"). [8], 73 pp.; [4], 71 pp.; [4], 108 pp.; [4], 60 pp.; [4], 36 pp.; [2], 54 pp.; [2], 20 pp.; [2], 14 pp.; [2], 18 pp.
$900.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Nine of Plato's Dialogues with biographical notes, footnotes, and occasional citations in Greek, all transcribed in the same small neat hand in black ink; e.g., Protagoras, Gorgias, Phaedras, the Apology of Socrates. Each dialogue is introduced by a sectional title-page, some having brief notes on that leaf verso.
Provenance: Ex–Johann August Wilhelm Neander Collection, Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School (properly deaccessioned).
Modern black moiré cloth, gilt leather spine label. Very good condition save for smoke-darkening on page edges, in some cases working inward to affect a margin though not heavily; strong and readable. (30160)

19th-Century Cookery “On the Fire” in the Household of a
Widely Active Lancashire Executive
(Mrs. Rawlinson's Manuscript Compilations)
Rawlinson, Mary Ann. Manuscript on paper, in English. [Cookery]. Burnley, Lancashire: [ca. 1884]. 2 vols (16.1 cm, 6.34"; 15.7 cm, 6.18"). I: [32] ff. II: [24] ff.
$1250.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Two notebooks of recipes compiled by Mary Ann Rawlinson of Burnley, Lancashire. Rawlinson (1841–1912) was the wife of Joshua Rawlinson (1841–1896), a prominent figure in the Burnley community — having trained at his father's cotton mill, he went on to become an accountant and successfully directed or managed a jaw-dropping number of businesses and business concerns in the area, including the Burnley Paper Works, the Burnley Carriage Company, the Burnley Ironworks, the Nelson Room and Power Company, etc. He also became a well-known authority on the cotton trade, founding or serving in various positions in the Burnley Cotton Spinners' and Manufacturers' Association, the Todmorden Cotton Spinners' and Manufacturers' Association, the Padiham Masters' Association, the Colne and District Coloured Goods Manufacturers' Association, and many other organizations; his obituary in The Accountant periodical noted his widespread influence in trade matters, and his position as “one of the best-known men on the Manchester Exchange . . . well known and respected throughout commercial circles in Lancashire.” In addition, he was one of the founding members of the Victoria Hospital, assisted in that capacity by Mary Ann.
Mrs. Rawlinson recorded these recipes in standard format with ingredients listed first, and although her page-filling, uninterrupted, and only lightly punctuated paragraphs sometimes obscure that convention, her strong, slanting handwriting is very decipherable. The dishes she chose to preserve here (unseparated by any categorization) include British classics as well as dishes showing overseas influences; among them are Genoise pudding, maccaroni cheese [sic], curry, baked haddock, marmalade pudding, ragout of rabbit, milk rolls, lobster cutlets, beef olives, amber pudding (using apples, dried cherries, and lemon rind), Charlotte Russe, stewed steak, potato croquettes, Mulligatawny soup, lentil purée, beef hash pie, orange fritters, stewed kidney, kedgeree, German pudding, oyster patties, and many others. In the middle of one volume are a few pages bearing dessert recipes given in several different hands, one recipe being attributed to Mrs. Carr and one dated 1884.
This gathering of recipes provides
a great deal of information regarding the dietary habits and preferences of the prosperous couple, as well as the culinary techniques available to Mrs. Rawlinson — everything here was prepared “on the fire,” as Burnley did not have electricity until 1893.
Contemporary oilcloth limp wrappers, now housed in a plain box with printed paper label on lid; box extremities lightly rubbed, wrappers rubbed and worn, text block all but detached from spine in smaller volume; Mrs. Rawlinson's name inscribed in each volume. Larger volume with offsetting to first and last pages; a very few instances of spotting, pages overall very clean.
Interesting provenance/context, and interesting content. (41147)

Scary Times for Spaniards in the
Break-Away Yucatan
(Republic of the Yucatan). Group of 15 documents (see below for details). Campeche, Merida: Various publishers, 1842–43. Folio and slightly smaller (31 cm; 12.25"; and slightly smaller). 38 pp. (11 blank).
$7500.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
The culture and politics of central Mexico in the 19th century often did not coincide with those of the Yucatan, especially after the dissolution of the constitution of the First Empire. The long-smoldering discontent that the post-Empire constitutions engendered reached the breaking point for the Yucatecans in March of 1841 and on the 16th of that month
the peninsula declared its independence from the rest of Mexico.
The Yucatecans were perhaps encouraged by the Tejanos and their successful separation from Mexico in 1836.
The four manuscript documents, two broadsides, and nine newspapers in this collection date from the period of the first Mexican invasion of the peninsula and the central government's failed attempt to quell what it saw as a rebellion — an invasion that was not repelled until April, 1843. Included here are: 1) A pair of letters dated Merida 17 and 24 January 1843, from Juan de Regil to Mauricio de Santelices of Havana regarding the political situation. 2) A printed broadside proclamation by President Miguel Barbachano (Mérida, 2 December 1842), imposing a heavy tax on and forced loans from the nation's industrialists, merchants, and professionals. 3) A manuscript extract from a letter (Merida, 21 December 1842) from an unknown Spanish national to Santelices, requesting assistance in leaving Yucatan due to the oppressive new tax, but also giving first-hand information about
military operations. 4) An Autograph Letter Signed, Campeche, 17 February 1843, from Geronimo Ferrer y Valls (Spanish commercial agent in Yucatan) to the Captain General of Cuba in Havana, expressing concern for the safety of Spanish nationals in the Yucatan and containing details of
murders and summary military executions. 5) A printed broadside entitled Opinion General, Verdaderas ideas y convicciones de las secciones del ejército del Estado acampadas extramuros de esta Ciudad (Campeche: José M. Peralta, 1843). And, 6) Nine issues of the Boletin del Espiritu del Siglo dated January to June 1843, most with
excellent content on Yucatecan resistance to the invasion by Mexico.
The Boletin del Espiritu del Siglo (published in Campeche by Jose Maria Peralta) is quite scarce, with only Yale reporting ownership of a very good but incomplete run. Present here are issues from 1843: 43 (7 January), 46 (13 January), 48 (15 January), 52 (19 January), 53 (20 January), 63 (30 January), 144 (22 April), 148 (26 April), and 189 (6 June).
Primary source material on the Republic of the Yucatan is rare.
Neither broadside is found in WorldCat, CCILA, or Palau. Boletin del Espiritu del Siglo is not listed in Charno, Latin American Newspapers, nor in CCILA. Some newspaper issues and one broadside are browned or partially so. Overall condition is good or better. (37063)

A Young Ladies' Writing Club: The Fruits of their Labors in 1885
Handwritten, Illustrated, & Custom Bound
The Rocket Club. Manuscript on paper, in English. “Essays of the Rocket Club.” [England]: 1885. 4to (23.8 cm, 9.375"). [200 (195 used)] ff.; illus.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
A remarkable collection: One year's worth of
original, handwritten pieces painstakingly composed and assembled by the members of a private “girls'” essay society, covering a wide range of literary, cultural, and historical topics, gathered in a luxurious custom binding. At the time this volume was commenced, the club was coming into its eighth year of existence — “a venerable age for an essay society” according to the author of the introduction, whose pseudonymous “Elm” signature often shows up in these pages graced by a sketched leaf. Following Elm's admonishment to write more things worth reading in the coming year are pieces like “Books for the Million” (regarding the advantages and disadvantages of booms in publishing and public libraries, signed by Pleasance), “The Ministry of Little Things” (a parable in verse, from Ivy), “A Day in the Orkneys” (a travelogue by Sirius), a lengthy essay on personal influence by Serapis, and groups of essays from multiple contributors on assigned topics including fashion, 17th-century poets, architecture (to which Elm had strong objections, considering it too broad a topic to address in this format), beetles, and “Music: Its Use and Influence.”
The essays seem to have been submitted on a monthly basis, with each club member having an opportunity to comment on the month' offerings. In some instances, the critical responses are as interesting as the original pieces!
As mentioned in the November criticism section, there were at least 16 members of the club, although some were more active than others. It seems all but certain that all of them were female, well educated, and sufficiently wealthy to participate in this type of leisure activity. Several made use of overtly feminine pseudonyms (Stella, Faith, the intriguing Duhitar) or self-identifiers (Elm mentions “us girls”); Sirius, Serapis, Aquarius, Nitor, and Tortoise are less obvious — but in at least one instance a Serapis essay bears a follow-up comment that begins “she wishes to say . . .,” and other critical responses give us additional she/her references for Key, ?, Aquarius, Pleasance, and Dragonfly. Ivy is an interesting case, rebutting a point on contemporary male fashion by describing men's style as “simple, sensible, & comfortable,” and then going on to say “as to women, they may attire themselves in any way almost that is most convenient,” which seems curiously self-distancing from feminine experience. One of the few specifically female-oriented topics, “Should the Franchise be Extended to Women?,” brings several references to “our” characteristics, and although no hardline declarations in favor of suffrage are made, several essayists tentatively conclude that single women running their own households should have the right to vote.
In addition to the beautifully hand-calligraphed and illuminated title-page, the volume also contains a number of mounted illustrations. These include a pencilled “design for a border,” symbolically signed by Key, which received high praise from the club members in that month's criticism section; five costume drawings in one of the essays on fashion, likewise symbolically signed by Dragonfly; five striking depictions of beetles, four in color (the one of an African beetle bearing the sub-caption “Drawn from life,” which has been followed with a pencilled question mark!); a sketch of an Irish “Bian” horse-drawn carriage (accompanying an essay on the life of Charles Bianconi); and six lovely painted landscapes (including coastline, mountain, and village scenes — some connected to a group of essays on “What Constitutes Beauty” and some to “A Type of English Scenery”).
Binding: Contemporary black morocco, covers framed in gilt rolls and fillets with inner blind roll and blind-tooled corner fleurons surrounding gilt-stamped title (“Essays of the Rocket Club. 1885); spine with gilt-stamped raised bands and gilt-tooled compartment decorations. Board edges with gilt roll, turn-ins with blind roll; marbled endpapers and top edges gilt.
Bound as above, spine head repaired and refurbished; somewhat rubbed and a little scuffed — a volume that was both used/referred to and treasured. Many leaves with short tears from outer margins, often with old, possibly contemporary repairs; some leaves showing faint, pressed-out creases most likely from mailing.
Unique, enjoyable, and eminently worthy of study. (36353)

An American Boy Makes Good, Sees Changes — His Life Through His Diaries
Sampson, George G. Manuscript on paper, in English: Collection of 26 diaries. Maine, Worcester, New York City: 1886–1912. 32mo to 16mo (4" x 2.5" to 6" x 2.75"). 26 vols.
$1700.00
Click the images for enlargements.
George Sampson was an ordinary New England farm boy by birth, whose diaries here reflect his personal experience of two decades-plus of sometimes sweeping change in ordinary American life as well as his own transformation from a rural schoolboy into a professional man whose life is urban. As his 26 years of record-keeping begin in 1886, George is in Franklin County, ME, with extended family all around and many named neighbors; the diaries for many years show us a large, hardworking household whose members, all of them, commit themselves day after day (and year after year) to the unending, relentless, and remarkably various array of chores required by the propagation, planting, cultivation, reaping, and sale of market crops along with what seems to be extensive mixed animal husbandry — not to mention what was required simply to maintain and improve an array of farm properties including home gardens, orchards, woodlots, hayfields, and an additional acreage nearby used primarily for large-animal care.
The meticulously recorded, sometimes “how-to” detail on these activities can be surprisingly exhausting even to read, even as it is fascinating, informative, and impressive.
Yet when George is young he also records
plentiful times of fun and play; and as he gets older he records enjoyment of a full array of social, community, and church occasions — including, once, a circus, and eventually incorporating concerts, picnics, “sociables,” an occasional lecture, and attendance at a great many “lodge meetings.”
By 1893, our diarist has become serious about his studies, leaving home for the first time to attend school; by 1898, he is also teaching; and 1901 finds him at Bates College, where he works as hard intellectually as at home he had done bodily, and where he works in the dining hall to pay for his board. But, again, he records a full, fully enjoyed, and
fully detailed palette of recreations — e.g., glee club activities and attendance at football games; lectures and concerts; suppers and card parties with friends; lawn parties, dances, and candy pulls; and theater and concert trips. (
Oh, and dating. )
George graduates from Bates in 1905 and, by the final diary in 1912, he is an accomplished secondary-school physics teacher in Worcester, MA, with a master’s degree from Clark University, and he is taking additional (presumably doctoral) courses at Columbia University during a teaching sabbatical.
Each volume here opens with a printed section offering calendars, postal rates, almanac facts, etc.; usually, George has used the back pages for personal accounting, addresses of friends, and other memoranda. For space reasons, his entries must be laconic, but he has filled most space there is. Only the final few diaries have significant unused sections.
A long descriptive analysis is available on request.
Virtually all diaries are bound in leather or leatherette, a few with the lower third of the rear covers removed neatly, and the “set” lacking only the volume for 1906. Some volumes are written in pencil, later ones mostly in ink, in a legible hand.
Very good. (39290)

A Cookbook Collector's Own
PERSONAL Recipe Collection
Schofield, Eloise. Manuscript on paper, in English. U.S.: [1950s–60s]. 8vo (19.7 cm, 7.75"). 59–181, [1] pp.; illus.
$450.00
Click the images for enlargements.
A remarkable culinary florilegium compiled by prominent cookbook collector Eloise Schofield. Recorded mostly by hand on
122 well-filled pages of a ledger book, these 19th- and 20th-century recipes cover a very wide range, opening with an “Orange Pie” recipe given in verse and including local specialties such as fried eel from Provincetown, “State of Maine Mincemeat,” and Nantucket corn pudding; quirky historical dishes and home remedies (for earache, weeping eyes, burns, etc.), often with their sources and dates attributed; and more general everyday items, passed on by family members and friends (“My mother's Harlequin Cake”). Annotations offer Schofield's thoughts and recollections: “This isn't at all bad”; “Bob's grandmother always had it [lemon conserve] on hand”; “Here is a very old recipe — waste not want not”; “My father loved to eat; he always lifted each cover off the pots every evening to see what was cooking”).
Interspersed among the recipes are clippings and artwork affixed to the pages, including an advertisement for the “Anna Held” carnation petticoat for sale by John Wanamaker, as well as a number of other color-printed or black and white advertisements; several cat photos taken from periodicals or other sources; “Hints for Housekeepers,” from an 1865 magazine; a recipe for “Gertie's Christmas Cake,” written in Schofield's hand on an old-fashioned holiday greeting card; a color reproduction of a portion of a 1799 embroidery sampler; a recipe for “Spong Cake” in an older hand, labelled by Schofield “Found in an 1887 Cook Book”; ETC.
Schofield's delight in culinary history is clear on every page — for instance, “Tripe was a favorite around 1900 and the Parker House became famous for its tripe besides the rolls. Here is a Tripe Batter highly recommended by an old lady” (p. 114).
Contemporary half roan and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; binding cocked, worn and scuffed overall, spine leather split and chipping. Pp. 1–58 excised, very likely having been the ledger's contents before repurposing; gutter of first signature present reinforced some time ago. Pages age-toned with scattered smudging and offsetting. A gift of densely packed pleasure in terms of both aesthetics and domestic content, this is
the most endearing example of such a book that we have ever seen. (41503)

Behind the Scenes: Shaw vs. Chesterton — Postcards Signed by Shaw
Shaw, George Bernard. ALS: Two postcards sent to Richard Mealand. Ayot St Lawrence: 1933. (14.2 x 9.2 cm & 11.3 x 8.8 cm). 2 cards.
$650.00
Click the images for enlargement.
Two handwritten cards from Shaw to Mealand, regarding “this proposed G.B.S. – G.K.C. page.” At the time, Mealand was editor of Nash's Pall Mall Magazine (owned by the National Magazine Company, to which these cards are addressed); G.K.C. was Gilbert Keith Chesterton, famously one of Shaw's favorite philosophical sparring partners and possibly his most beloved enemy. The first card, from 15 May 1933, takes a lightly ridiculing tone in stating that the author cannot possibly interrupt his “serious work” to engage in such commercial business unless paid “an enormous sum” — whatever Mealand is paying Chesterton, to be specific; the second, from 21 June 1933, notes that Shaw's reply to Chesterton has already run long and “too heavy for the occasion,” and suggests his plans for revising it.
Sent from Shaw's home in Ayot St. Lawrence and postmarked in Hertfordshire, both cards are
inscribed in Shaw's distinctive hand and signed with his initials.
Cards crisp and clean, one with pair of staple holes.
Delightful and characteristic Shavian ephemera. (37045)

Vizcaino & Serra Letters in
Extremely Good 19th-Century Facsimiles
(Spanish-era California). Three excellent photographic copies of autograph letters in the Archivo General de Indias. [copies made in Seville: Establecimiento Tipografico y Litografico “El Porvenir”, 1884]. Folio (31 cm, 12.5"). [1], [2], [3] pp.
$275.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Each facsimile has this note on it: “Photographed from the original preserved in the 'Archivo General de Indias' de Sevilla, under Royal Order dated Madrid December 26th, 1883 for Aldoph Sutro, Esq. of San Francisco, California,” and the typographic imprint above.
One is a letter of Junipero Serra dated Monterey, 7 October 1779, reporting that he has made a copy of Fr. Crespi's diary and is sending it via the ship that has just arrived; a second Serra letter dated Monterey, 9 September 1779, reports on the various missions and states that he hopes to establish one in San Francisco. The third letter is by Sebastian Vizcaino, dated Monterey, 8 December 1602, reporting on his voyage of discovery along the California coast.
The facsimiles are on laid paper and in sepia ink and are great replicas of the originals with a great backstory as to their creation.
Provenance: Adolph Sutro; later for sale by E. B. Sterling, Historical Print Seller, Trenton, NJ (1851–1925).
Overall very good: Some age stains, one corner repaired, some dust-soiling. In a light paper folder with E.B. Sterling's faint rubber-stamp. (41011)

True or False?
[Stophel, Georg]. Manuscript on paper, in German. “Schlüssel zu Irrthum [sic] und Wahrheit.” No place [Germany]: 1788. 8vo (19.5 cm, 7.7"). xi, [5 (blank)], 153 [i.e., 154] pp.
$875.00
Click the images for enlargements.
A German dictionary of philosophy called the “Key to Error and Truth,” with copious numerical references (to another text?) and occasional Latin, this is written in a single cursive hand in black ink with red underlining. The text is divided into alphabetical sections with corresponding letters at the top middle of each page, and pagination in the upper outer corner; the title-page is written in neat gothic letters. The preliminary leaves are an index.
The paper has a clear watermark dated 1787, showing a man sawing a tree, with the countermark reading “Rethenbach Beys Wolfgang” (?).
Provenance: Now missing bookplate (see below) read “Aus der Büchersamlung von Georg Stophel”; acquired by August Neander; later in the Colgate University Library (the Rochester Theological Seminary, later the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, deaccessioned 2005).
Modern black moiré cloth, gilt leather spine label; damaged in a fire and its aftermath, losing its previous binding, this also lost its previously recorded bookplate and other provenance indicia with only one line of a shelfmark remaining. Translucently waterstained throughout in a W pattern across each opening, handwriting and reading almost miraculously unaffected; now restored to strength and safety for use. (30159)
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Gilt Vellum Binding with
the Papal Coat of Arms
[Tagliaferri, Johannes Baptista]. Manuscript on paper, in Latin. “De executiva et inspectiva ecclesiae potestatibus disputatio.” [Rome?: ca. 1831–44?]. Folio (32 cm; 12.5"). [7] ff., 371 pp.
$1275.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Gregory XVI (pope, 1831–46) was a fervent ultramontanist and so sought to strengthen the papal prerogatives and powers, and through them the religious and political authority of his papacy. This manuscript on the
executive and investigative powers of the Church, a topic dear to his heart, dovetails nicely with ultramontanism and was dedicated to him. Signed by Tagliaferri at the end of the dedication, it is written in a single easy-to-read hand on a single stock of high quality wove paper with a watermark bearing the date of 1822.
An extended text apparently unpublished, at least separately.
Provenance: Gilt supra-libros of Pope Gregory XVI. Circa 1930 acquired by John Howell, bookseller in San Francisco, and added to his personal library (bookplate on front pastedown). He later sold it to the Pacific School of Religion (bookplate on front pastedown; stamps).
Binding: Full vellum over boards, round spine, no raised bands; spine richly gilt using a variety of tools. Papal coat of arms in the center of each board. All edges gilt.
Binding as above, spine darkened as are the boards, front joint repaired; gilt faded but still attractive and “legible.” Small stamp on a blank page and another in upper margin of the first page of the dedication; charge pocket on rear pastedown.
An impressively bound copy of an interesting and very nicely produced manuscript. (35975)

The Chiswell Grant of Arms — A Scion of
BOOKSELLERS Armigerous
Vanbrugh, John. [Grant of arms to Richard Chiswell, “Turkey merchant.”]. Illuminated manuscript in English, on vellum: “To all and singular...” [London]: 1714. Folio (document: 39.37 cm x 52.07 cm; 15.5 x 20.5"). [1] f.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
A splendid illuminated heraldic document preserved in its original 18th-century custom-made decorative case. Confirming the grant of arms to Richard Chiswell the younger (1673–1751), this letter patent is ornamented with both Chiswell's coat of arms (Argent, two bars of nebuly gules, overall on a bend engrailed sable, a rose between two mullets or) and that of Queen Anne, with
the arms and the borders on three sides being richly painted in red, gold, silver, blue, and black.
The grant was signed on 16 April 1714 by Sir Henry St. George as Garter Principal King of Arms and by
playwright and architect Sir John Vanbrugh as Clarenceux King of Arms, and it is accompanied by their wax seals, each seal (having been removed from the original ties) housed in a tin box.
The rolled document and seals are protected in a contemporary box of gilt- and blind-tooled leather over wood, lined in marbled paper and having twin compartments attached along one edge for the seals' separate, safe keeping.
Chiswell was the oldest surviving son of the famed London bookseller of the same name and his wife Mary Royston, daughter of another prominent bookseller, Richard Royston. He earned his own wealth as a member of the Levant Company trading with Turkey, making several journeys through the Middle East (and writing at least three never-published travelogues), eventually serving terms as the director of the Bank of England and as an M.P. Vanbrugh (1664–1726) is remembered for several successful comedies including The Relapse, The Provok'd Wife, and The Country House, as well as for having designed Blenheim Palace, Castle Howard, the original Haymarket Theatre, and many other notable buildings.
In the original box as above, housed in a modern buckram case with hand-inked spine label; the original box, lacking three of four closure hooks, has been expertly restored and is now safely strong. One of the two seals is cracked across, but wholy present; the grant, rolled and slightly darkened, is overall clean and striking.
A proud and obviously treasured survival. (41231)

Wise, WARM Advice to a
Young Philadelphia Woman
V[aux], R[oberts]. Autograph Sentiment Signed (with initials) for Isabella Walsh. [Philadelphia]: 18 January 1828. Small 4to. 1 p.
$75.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Inscribed on a page of Walsh's autograph album is this wonderful sentiment and advice:
“The affectionate interest which I have always entertained for the welfare & happiness, of the eldest daughter, & proper representative, of one of the most estimable, and accomplished ladies who ever adorned the society of Philadelphia, induces me to comply with a request of the possessor of this volume, to inscribe some lines upon one of its pages.
It were impossible to contribute wiser counsel, or more excellent lessons, than those already recorded in this Album, by her honoured Father, & several of his, & her Mothers [sic] friends.
I will only commend her to the most faithful observation of that advice, and to the strictest imitation of the pure & bright example, furnished in the character of her departed & lamented Mother, whose unostentation piety, gave especial grace & dignity to her life, and has no doubt yielded for her immortal spirit, a precious & enduring rest, in Heaven.”
Vaux was a noted lawyer, philanthropist, abolitionist, and civic leader. Miss Walsh (b. 8 July 1812) was the daughter of Robert Walsh (lawyer and abolitionist) and Anna Maria Moylan Walsh (who died in 1826).
Provenance: The Walsh album sold at Anderson Galleries 28 November 1921 (sale 1609) as lot 60. Later in the Allyn K. Ford Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, recently deaccessioned.
Very good condition. (34490)
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