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Madison’s Optimistic First Message to Congress: A Prelude to the War of 1812
JAMES MADISON,
Special Session Message. National Intelligencer, May 23, 1809. Broadside. Washington, D.C.: Samuel Harrison Smith. Handwritten on the verso: “Presidents Message 1809” 1 p., 10¼ x 12½ in.
“it affords me much satisfaction to be able to communicate the commencement of a favorable change in our foreign relations....”
Item #30051.005, $2,400
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“John Bull and the Baltimoreans” Lampooning British Defeat at Fort McHenry in Baltimore Following their Earlier Success at Alexandria
[WAR OF 1812]. WILLIAM CHARLES,
Print. John Bull and the Baltimoreans. Satirical engraved aquatint cartoon. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania [October, 1814]. 1 p., 12½ x 9 in. Frame: 18¾ x 15 in.
“Mercy! mercy on me. What fellows those Baltimoreans are. After the example of the Alexandrians I thought I had nothing to do but enter the Town and carry off the Booty. And here is nothing but Defeat and Disgrace!!”
A masterpiece of design and composition.
Item #25448, $3,400
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Rare Important Declaration of Independence Linen Handkerchief
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE,
Printed Cotton Handkerchief, ca. 1821. 31 x 33 in.
The intricate design of this handkerchief features images of Washington, Adams, and Jefferson, beneath an eagle and flags. In the center appears the text of the Declaration of Independence, together with facsimiles of the signatures. An oak wreath with acorns surrounds the text and features images of the seals of the thirteen original states. An image at lower left depicts the Boston Tea Party with the caption, “The Patriotic Bostonians discharging the British Ships in Boston harbour.” An image at lower right depicts “General Burgoyne’s Surrender to General Gates at Saratoga.” Around the edge runs a stars and rope border with anchors at each corner and at the center of each side. The design was printed with red ink using a copper plate.
The design draws much from prints of the Declaration of Independence by William Woodruff, published in February 1819, and John Binns, published in October 1819.
Item #26474, $28,000
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President John Quincy Adams’ Remarks & Toast Commemorating William Penn’s Landing
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS,
Autograph Manuscript, Remarks and Toast to Penn Society, October 25, 1825, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 1 pp., 8 x 9¼ in.
“The Land of William Penn, and his ‘Great Town,’ the City of brotherly Love.”
In these brief remarks at Masonic Hall in Philadelphia in October 1825, President Adams proposed the above toast at the second annual meeting of the Penn Society and the 143rd anniversary of William Penn’s landing in America.
Item #27469, $6,800
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Unique Inscribed Set of John Marshall’s Life of George Washington, With Joseph Story Letter to the Daughter of the Late Associate Justice Henry Brockholst Livingston, Conveying Marshall’s Thanks and Noting That He Will Be Sending to Her These Very Books
JOHN MARSHALL,
Inscribed books, signed “The Author.” The Life of George Washington, Commander in Chief of the American Forces, During the War which Established the Independence of his Country, and First President of the United States, Compiled under the Inspection of the Honourable Bushrod Washington, From Original Papers Bequeathed to him by his Deceased Relative, 2 vols. Philadelphia: Carey & Lea, 1832. 2nd Edition, Revised and Corrected by the Author. Volumes I – II bound in red quarter leather spine and brown leather, each inscribed and signed, “For Mrs. Ledyard with the profound respect of The Author.” John Marshall’s magisterial biography of George Washington was originally a five-volume set. This 1832 publication was revised by Marshall and issued in two volumes, with a companion volume of Revolutionary War maps: Atlas to Marshall’s Life of Washington, Philadelphia: J. Crissy, [1832], 10 hand-colored maps, bound in red quarter leather with original blue boards. With scarce printed errata for Volume I laid in, and manuscript errata for Vol II. The letter requires conservation.
Item #26161, $27,500
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Andrew Jackson Signed Patent for Improvement in the Washing Machine
ANDREW JACKSON,
Partially Printed Document Signed as President, co-signed by Edward Livingston as Secretary of State, and Roger B. Taney as Attorney General. Patent for “new and useful improvement in the washing machine,” to South Carolina inventor Silvanus Minton, April 14, 1832. With Seal of the United States affixed. 2 pp., 11 x 14⅝ in.
Item #26760, SOLD — please inquire about other items
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John Marshall’s “Life of George Washington” and Companion Atlas with Hand-colored Maps
JOHN MARSHALL. [GEORGE WASHINGTON],
Books, The Life of George Washington Commander in Chief of the American Forces, During the War which Established the Independence of his Country and First President of the United States, Compiled Under the Inspection of the Honourable Bushrod Washington, From Original Papers Bequeathed to him by his Deceased Relative, 2nd edition, in two volumes. Philadelphia: James Crissy and Thomas Cowperthwait, 1840. 982 pp. plus index, 5½ x 9 in. Both have pencil inscription on blank fly leaf “A. Seeley 1851 Presented by T.C. Gladding.” Rebound; very good, some foxing toward the front. OCLC 183328030. With: Atlas to Marshall’s Life of Washington, Philadelphia: J. Crissy, [1832], 10 hand-colored maps. Ex-Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. of Massachusetts bookplate on front paste-down. Black cloth spine and corners, original green boards with label. Internally fine. OCLC 191237946.
Chief Justice John Marshall’s magisterial biography of George Washington was originally a five-volume set. This 1840 publication, revised and issued in two volumes, also includes the 1832 companion atlas of maps relating to the Revolutionary War.
Item #22477, $1,250
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Whig Presidential Nominee William Henry Harrison to Daniel Webster
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON,
Autograph Letter Signed, to Daniel Webster, February 16, 1840, Cincinnati, OH. 2 pp., 7½ x 9¾ in.
“My friends are preparing for a convention at Columbus on the 22d whichwill be the largest assemblage of citizens & otherwise the most interesting ever held in the Western Country…”
Harrison asks U.S. Senator Daniel Webster for assistance on the sale of land in Vincennes, Indiana, and mentions an upcoming Whig convention in Columbus, Ohio. After his election, Harrison appointed Webster as his Secretary of State.
Item #26779, $5,400
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Rich 1845 Letter on the State of American Art to Hudson River Artist Jasper Cropsey
JOHN MACKIE FALCONER,
Autograph Letter Signed, to Jasper Cropsey, Washington, D.C., January 15, 1845. 4 pp., 7⅞ x 9⅞ in. Includes envelope.
Relates a conversation with Peter Rothermel on the need to nurture an “American School of Design,” with sharp criticisms of the deleterious effects of European study on budding talent as seen in Emanuel Leutze’s latest work.
“[Rothermel] during the evening suggested one thing as tending peculiarly to build up an American School of Design without the extraneous influences that all young men going abroad are subject too. it was that an embargo to prevent the leaving of artists for abroad, for a space of 50 years, be put in operation, thus causing their productions to be pure emanations of their own early & intuitive feeling…”
Item #25492, $1,250
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Ohio Reformers Use Rhode Island’s Dorr Rebellion to Justify Their Own Behavior
[DORR WAR],
Pamphlet. The Dorr Movement in Ohio; Being an Examination into the Causes, Progress and Probable Effects of the Revolutionary Course of Locofocoism in the Organization of the General Assembly of This State, for the Session of 1848-49. [Columbus, Ohio]: Legg & Murray, Columbus, [1849]. Disbound. Inscribed in pencil on the title by H.A. Swift, the author, in presentation.
Item #22543, $550
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Masonic Documents: James P. Kimball archive of master Mason, geologist, and Director of the United States Mint - with superb engravings
JAMES P. KIMBALL,
Archive. Approximately fifteen ornate Masonic documents, many relating to James P. Kimball and his family. Kimball was a noted geologist and one-time Director of the United States Mint. Plus over sixty related letters, documents, and ephemera most of which concern Kimball’s Masonic activities.
Item #22108.13, $9,500
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Mark Hopkins, Famed Educator and the Longest Serving President of Williams College, Preparing to Lecture at the Smithsonian Institute
MARK HOPKINS,
Autograph Letter Signed, as President of Williams College, [perhaps to Joseph Henry, Secretary of the Smithsonian], November 13, 1851. 1 p., 5 x 6 ¼ in.
“What they may turn out to be I cannot say, but should like the liberty of choice when the time comes…”
Item #21553.08, $450
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Nine Months of a Hawaiian Missionary Newspaper, With the First Report of King Kamehameha III’s Death and Perry’s Mission to Japan
[HAWAII],
Newspapers. Bound volume of The Friend (Honolulu, HI) containing 22 consecutive issues dated from Feb 1, 1854 through Oct 25, 1855.
“The American Sloop-of-war SARATOGA, Capt. Walker, arrived at this port on the 29th ult., in 25 days from Japan, which is the shortest passage ever made. The S. brings Capt. H.A. Adams, U.S.N., as bearer of despatches to the Government at Washington. The point of interest in this intelligence is the fact that Com. Perry concluded a TREATY OF AMITY AND FRIENDSHIP with the EMPIRE OF JAPAN...”
The Friend was the mouthpiece of Congregational missionaries and reported everything from important local Hawaiian issues to international news reprinted from eastern sources. The nine months covered here feature a great deal of the news of the day, ranging from war between England and Russia to lots of whaling and maritime news including shipping arrivals and departures, the discovery of new sperm whaling grounds, naval intelligence, all peppered with a liberal dose of good old fashioned conservative proselytizing.
This particular volume was sent from Sag Harbor, New York to Thomas Spencer, a Rhode Island sea captain who went native, opening a successful ship’s chandlery and marrying a local girl.
Item #23745, $3,750
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Oval Salt Print of Famed Abolitionist John Brown
[JOHN BROWN],
Oval Salt Print, with a printed signature, “Your Friend, John Brown” affixed at bottom, ca. 1858-1859. No studio mark. 1 p., 5¼ x 7¼ in. oval on 7-x-9-in. mount affixed to a 9¾-x-11¾-in. scrapbook page.
In May 1858, Martin M. Lawrence (1807-1859) took a photograph of John Brown at his studio at 381 Broadway in New York City, where he had worked as a daguerreotypist since 1842. He took it at the request of Dr. Thomas H. Webb (1801-1866) of Boston, Secretary of the New England Emigrant Aid Company. In November 1859, shortly before Brown’s execution, an engraving based on this photograph appeared on the cover of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper.
Item #26463, SOLD — please inquire about other items
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Civil War “The Union Forever” Flag Made by Philadelphia Sailmaker, ca. 1861
[U.S. FLAG - CIVIL WAR],
Large (204 x 150 in.) 34-Star Flag of the United States with an applied fabric piece across approximately three-quarters of its width, with printed motto, “The Union Forever.” Philadelphia: J. Chase, ca. 1861.
According to museum records, original owner James W. Pancoast was a farmer in Accomack County on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. He flew this flag at the outbreak of the Civil War, but was compelled to take it down, and fled back to the North.
The flag’s date is based on the 29 months that the United States officially consisted of 34 states. Kansas was admitted to the Union on as the 34th state on January 29, 1861. West Virginia (50 trans-Allegheny counties that had been part of Virginia) were admitted as the 35th state on June 20, 1863.
“The Union Forever” was a common slogan in the North on the eve of and during the Civil War. It was the theme of poems, songs, and campaign slogans, and was printed on envelopes, campaign and recruiting broadsides, ballots, textiles, and other materials.
Item #26743, $20,000
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Prang & Co. Broadside with Maps of Early Civil War Hotspots
[Civil War],
“Maps of the Atlantic States, Forts Sumter, Pickens, Monroe and McHenry, in Connection with Norfolk and Gosport Navy Yard. Plans of Washington, Its Vicinity, Baltimore and Harper’s Ferry.” Boston: L. Prang & Co., 1861. 1 p., 26½ x 20½ in.
This bold broadside, published in Boston, consists of an overview map of the entire eastern United States, with free states hand-colored red; maps of Baltimore; the District of Columbia; Norfolk Harbor and Hampton Roads with Fort Monroe. The largest maps, extending half the width of the broadside each are of Charleston Harbor with details of its fortifications and of the Pensacola Navy Yard and Fort Pickens. The broadside also includes images of Andrew Jackson with the quotation, “The union must & shall be preserved”; Abraham Lincoln; Winfield Scott, with the quotation “Please God, I will fight many years for this Union, and that too, under the protective folds of the star spangled banner”; and Major Robert Anderson, “The Hero of Sumter” and Routes and Distances by both steamboat and railroad from Boston and Washington to various parts of the nation.
Item #25740, $3,500
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Same-Day Broadside Extra Printing of Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address
ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
Inaugural Address. Chicago Tribune Extra, March 4, 1861. Chicago: Joseph Medill, Charles H. Ray, Alfred Cowles. 1 p., 8½ x 24 in.
“In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressor. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it.”
“The mystic chords of memory stretching from every battle field and patriot’s grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, as surely as they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
Extremely rare same day broadside. Only one other copy of this edition is presently known.
Item #26966, SOLD — please inquire about other items
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J.E.B. Stuart Writes to Legendary Confederate Spy Laura Ratcliffe
J.E.B. STUART,
Autograph Letter Signed “S”, to Laura Ratcliffe. April 8, 1862. 3 pp., 3⅞ x 6 in.
Full of braggadocio, Confederate cavalryman J.E.B. Stuart gives early mistaken reports of the Battle of Shiloh to an informant, the famous Confederate spy Laura Ratcliffe.“We are here quietly waiting for the yankees and if they ever come we will send them howling.”
Item #27574, $7,800
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George F. Root’s Autograph Sheet Music for “The Battle-Cry of Freedom!”
GEORGE F. ROOT,
Autograph Manuscript Signed twice, handwritten music and lyrics for “The Battle-Cry of Freedom.” Root penned this fair copy later, mistakenly dating it 1861, though he composed “Battle Cry” in July 1862. 2 pp., 10¼ x 13⅜ in.
“Yes, we’ll rally round the flag boys! we’ll rally once again, Shouting the Battle-cry of Freedom!… The Union forever! Hurrah boys, Hurrah! Down with the traitor, up with the star! While we Rally round the flag boys, rally once again, Shouting the Battle-cry of Freedom!”
Item #27458, $39,000
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The Army of the Potomac Arriving at Yorktown from Williamsburg
[HARPER’S WEEKLY],
Newspaper. Harper’s Weekly, September 6, 1862.
Item #H-9-6-1862, $250
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