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)

“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)

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)

•  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)

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)

Provenance:  Ex–Allyn K. Ford Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, recently deaccessioned.

•  Very good condition. Docketed on verso.  (33398)

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)

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)

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 ofDoña 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)

Balli (fl. 1574–1600), originally from Salamanca, Spain, and of French and Spanish decent, arrived in Mexico as a bookseller butby 1574 was operating a printing shop.

Provenance:   Discreet ownership stamp in an inner margin of Michael Mathes.

Related to Edwin A. Carpenter, A Sixteenth-Century Mexican Broadside (i.e., The Valtón Collection), types 31– 35??

•  Edwin A. Carpenter, A Sixteenth-Century Mexican Broadside, Los Angeles: Dawson’s Book Shop, 1965; Not in Szewczyk & Buffington, 39 Books and Broadsides Printed in America before the Bay Psalm Book; María Isabel GraZén Porrúa, Los Grabados en la obra de Juan Pablos, Mexico: Apoyo al desarrollo de Archivos y Bibliotecas de Mexico & Fondo de Cultura Economica, 2010.   Removed from a bound volume, very irregular in inner margins, worming in lower margin and into last line of text, costing portions of two printed words and six manuscript words, but not impairing ability to understand the text; otherwise, ordinary age-toning only. Laid in, as issued, to a copy of the Carpenter leaf book (Los Angeles: Dawson’s Book Shop, 1965; limited to 140 copies, printed by Saul & Lilian Marks at the Plantin Press). A good and visually striking example of a Mexican incunable broadside and of Mexican, specifically Balli job printing — and, one with evocative manuscript completions. (41754)

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)

It is difficult to identify the owner; a slip with the signature of Johan Daniel Scheiffele is laid in, but that hand does not appear to match the primary entries here, many of which are invery small but decorative script. Items are written for the most part in German, with Italian and Latin also making appearances. One inscription of friendship is signed “Helveto-Gluronensis,” i.e., Glarus, Switzerland, and another Sċhasburg (Sighi?oara, Romania). Closer study will likely be rewarding.

•  Original case covered in calf and fastened with ornate clasp, covers with gilt-stamped foliate frames partially colored in pink and green, front cover with gilt-stamped title; box with moderate rubbing overall, clasp in perfect working order. A few scattered spots of light foxing; leaves overall in clean, fresh condition. Evocative and eminently worthy of further investigation.  (41539)

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 aboutmilitary 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 ofmurders 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 withexcellent 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)

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)

Sent from Shaw's home in Ayot St. Lawrence and postmarked in Hertfordshire, both cards areinscribed 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)

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)

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)

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 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.”

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)