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N.Y. “Sons of Freedom” Pull Down Statue of King George III
[Revolutionary War],
Large Engraving, “Pulling Down the Statue of George III, By the Sons of Freedom, At the Bowling Green City of New York July 1776,” 34” x 25,’ uncolored, titled after a painting by Johannes Adam Simon Oertel and engraved by John C. McRae, 1859.
After the Declaration of Independence was read to the Continental Army in New York on July 9, 1776, a boisterous crowd of soldiers, sailors and citizens headed to the huge gilt lead equestrian statue of King George III which had been installed on Bowling Green only six years earlier. The crowd toppled his Majesty, who then made his first Broadway appearance before being carted to Connecticut. The head was rescued by Tory sympathizers, and later spotted in the home of Lord Townshend. The rest of the King and the horse he rode in on was melted down. In a truly epic burn, Ebenezer Hazard remarked that the redcoats “will probably have melted majesty fired at them.” Indeed they did; the sculpture was used to make 42,088 bullets.
Item #24461, $1,600
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June 1776 Charles Thomson Signed Continental Congress Resolution Defining Treason
CHARLES THOMSON,
Manuscript Document Signed, Copy of Resolution Extracted from Minutes Journal as Secretary of Confederation Congress, June 24, 1776, Philadelphia. 2 pp., 6⅜ x 8 in.
This resolution of the Second Continental Congress, approved days before it adopted the Declaration of Independence, defines a person as guilty of treason if they “levy war” against any of the united American colonies or give “aid and comfort” to any of their enemies. This resolution was the first public act to declare King George III the enemy and was a de facto declaration of independence.
Item #27107, $32,000
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A Rousing Call to Freedom from England That Points to the Later Declaration of Independence
[John Adams],
The Essex Gazette. Newspaper. March 7-14, 1775 (Vol. 7, No. 346), Salem, Massachusetts: Samuel Hall and Ebenezer Hall. 4 pp., 9½ x 14¾ in.,
3/1/1775.
“publish a Manifesto to the World, shewing the necessity of dissolving their connection with a nation whose Ministers were aiming at their ruin....”
Item #30007.052, $1,250
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Pennsylvania Deputy Governor Urges General Assembly to Resist French Expansion in North America in Early Stages of the French and Indian War
[BENJAMIN FRANKLIN],
Pennsylvania Gazette, October 24, 1754. Newspaper. Philadelphia: Benjamin Franklin and David Hall. 6 pp., 9¼ x 14½ in.
This issue of Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette reports the speech of Deputy Governor Morris of Pennsylvania to the General Assembly, urging them to prevent the French and their Native American allies from gaining control of the colony’s western border. The General Assembly responded that they were eager to assist but lacked any “Instructions from the Crown how to conduct ourselves on this important Occasion” and requested a recess until called together again.
Item #22426.07, $1,500
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In Benjamin Franklin’s Paper, Colonel George Washington Reports as Positively as Possible on the Surrender of Fort Necessity, Which Sparked the French and Indian War
[GEORGE WASHINGTON],
Pennsylvania Gazette, August 1, 1754. Newspaper. Philadelphia: Benjamin Franklin and David Hall. 4 pp., lacking the advertising half-sheet, 9¼ x 14½ in.
Item #22426.03, $4,500
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Turtle Bay Lease for Use by the Royal Navy, 1741
[NEW YORK CITY],
Manuscript Document Signed. Fifty-year lease on Turtle Bay from Captain Robert Long to Peter Warren. Signed by Peter Warren (with his wax seal), his father-in-law Stephen Delancey, and two other witnesses. New York, March 2, 1741. 1 p., 13 x 16 in. Docketed on verso, with later notes on payment through 1750 signed by Long.
A future hero of the French and Indian War leases Turtle Bay for fifty years of use by the British Navy. From the beginning of European settlement, it offered sailing vessels refuge from the East River’s treacherous currents and winter storms. Today, it helps weather different kinds of storms: it was filled in and is the site of the present United Nations complex.
Item #23647, $4,400
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Brooklyn Ferry in 1666 - British Royal Governor Confirms Dutch Owners Land Grant for the Brooklyn End of the Ferry
RICHARD NICOLLS,
Manuscript Document Signed, March 12, 1666, to Egbert van Borsum. 2 pp. with attached wax seal, 12¾ x 16¼ in.
“Whereas there is a certaine Plott of Ground, with a House or Tenement there upon, Scituate and being at the Ferry, within the Bounds of the Towne of Brucklyn, in the west Riding of Yorkeshire upon Long Island…”
Item #23988.12, $8,750
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1607 Cornelis van Wytfliet’s Norvmbega et Virginia
CORNELIS VAN WYTFLIET,
Norvmbega et Virginia. 1607, Second state. 9 x 11 ½”.
Taken from the first atlas devoted entirely to America, this is only the second map to use ‘Virginia’ in its title, after the White-De Bry of 1590 [AL 09], on which this is partly derived. Despite major inaccuracies – such as the labeling of the Chesapeake’s latitude near present-day Maine, and the depiction of the mythical city of Norumbega – this map was the most accurate map of the east coast until de Laet (1630).
Item #21001.99, $4,800
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Earliest Known Printing of “Tikvatenu” [Our Hope – the origin of “Hatikvah”] Inscribed by Author Naftali Herz Imber to Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, the “revivalist of the Hebrew language”
NAFTALI HERZ IMBER,
Sefer Barkai [The Morning Star], book of poems. Jerusalem: M. Meyuhas Press, 5646 [1886]. Hebrew and some German.
Dedicatory inscription on verso of title page (partly cropped by binder), handwritten in Hebrew by Imber: “To my wise friend, the linguist... of the periodical HaZvi in Jerusalem. [...] The renowned wordsmith from the ranks of the Jewish sages [...], Ben-Yehuda. This booklet is a memento from the author.”
Inked stamps on title page and on several additional pages (Hebrew): “House of Reading and [Home of] the Book Collection, Jerusalem, may it be rebuilt and reestablished” / “Beit Sefarim Livnei Yisrael... Yerusahalayim…” [House of Books for the Children of Israel in the Holy City of Jerusalem]. The library known as “Beit Sefarim Livnei Yisrael” was established in Jerusalem by a group of scholars led by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda in 1884 (upon its closing in 1894, its book collection was transferred to the Midrash Abarbanel Library, which eventually evolved into the National Library of Israel.)
In 1886, prior to the publication Barkai, Imber published the following advertisement in Eliezer Ben-Yehuda's Hebrew-language newspaper, HaZvi (2nd year, Issue No. 36): “There is a book with me among my writings [to] which I have given the title ‘Barkai’ [...] Any printer who wishes to purchase it from me in order to publish it should contact me...” An editor’s note follows the advertisement: “We have seen these poems which have been written by Mr. Imber, and [regard them] in keeping with the principle to which we adhere, ‘Look upon the vessel and relate not to its creator' [in a play on words on the chorus of the well-known liturgical poem for the Day of Atonement, ‘Ki Hineh KaHomer’]. It is incumbent upon us to state that the spirit of lofty poetry hovers over them; their thoughts are pleasant and desirable. The language in them is pristine and clear, and the ideas are exceptional. Many of these poems are worthy of becoming national songs. In general, these poems are faithful national songs, writings of a distinguished poet.”
VI, [2], 127, [1] pp., 15.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains, mostly to first and last leaves. Tears, some open and some long, to title page and to several other leaves, mostly restored with paper or mended with adhesive tape. Handwritten notations to some pages. New binding and endpapers.
Item #26582, $75,000
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Masonic Apron, Neck Sash & Medal of U.S. Mint - California Gold Refiner James Booth, with a Lithograph of Him
[JAMES CURTIS BOOTH],
Collection.
Item #23610, $1,600
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