“He needs to do a lot of soul searching for he is the kind of guy we fear. His opportunity to spread his views and his cleverness will continue to be a stumbling block before we reach peace here at home.”

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).

This small collection of deeds is related to the transfer of ownership of the Roosevelt Family home on 20th Street in Gramercy Park, Manhattan, the birthplace of President Theodore Roosevelt. The site, though ravaged by fire, was renovated and restored. It now operates under the authority of the National Park Service.

The first deed, from October 1854, transfers the home from President Roosevelt’s grandfather and grandmother to his father and namesake, Theodore Roosevelt Sr. for $1. A second deed, from May 1884, transfers the home from the executors of Theodore Roosevelt Sr.’s estate to his oldest child Anna L. Roosevelt. The third deed, executed on the same day as the second, transfers any interest in the property of Anna L. Roosevelt’s siblings—future President Theodore Roosevelt, Elliott Roosevelt, and Corinne Roosevelt Robinson (and the spouses of the latter two)—to her.

The deeds mark important milestones in the Roosevelt family. The first made a wedding present of the home to Theodore Roosevelt Sr. from his parents after he married Martha Bulloch in December 1853. The second and third deeds are dated just months after the death in February 1884 of Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, future President Roosevelt’s mother.

“The American Sloop-of-war SARATOGA, Capt. Walker, arrived at this port on the 29^th 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.

Golda Meyerson (she would change her name to Meir in 1956), promotes the idea of Mapam (the Marxist United Workers’ Party) joining Sharett’s Mapai (Workers’ Party) government. Hazan, the recipient, was one of Mapam’s co-founders.

A very large letterpress broadside for three intramural Yale boat races on Lake Saltonstall in East Haven, Connecticut. Participants rowed in racing shells, double sculls, and wherries, contesting for cash prizes. Excursion trains from downtown New Haven cost 50 cents, and a band enlivened the afternoon.

This poster declared, “If You Want Women to Vote in 1920 Cast Your ($.10 1.00 10.00) Ballot Now.” This poster likely urged supporters of the National Woman’s Party to donate a dime, dollar or ten dollars to support their efforts to gain passage of the 19^th Amendment before the November 1920 presidential and congressional elections.

“I believe in suffrage…. I believe in the great awakening by the womanly soul a conscience which will rise up like a flood, & sweep away the petty & effete prejudices....”

This biography of Julia Ward Howe by two of her daughters, assisted by a third, is illustrated with plates and portraits, including a facsimile manuscript of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” It won the 1917 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. Special edition, including a page handwritten by Howe on women’s suffrage. Howe refers to her first interest in suffrage “about fourteen years ago.”  She helped found the New England Woman Suffrage Association in 1868, so we date it as ca. 1892, 14 years later. But she might consider her interest in suffrage to have started a bit earlier, right around the end of the Civil War.

“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.

Excerpts
“Amidst the darkness which surrounds the discovery of many of the arts, it has been ascertained that it is practicable to trace the Introduction and progress of Printing, in the northern part of America, to the period of the revolution. A history of this kind has not, until now, been attempted, although the subject, in one point of view, is more interesting to us than to any other nation. We are able to convey to posterity, a correct account of the manner in which we have grown up to be an independent people, and can delineate the progress of the useful and polite arts among us, with a degree of certainty which cannot be attained by the nations of the old world, in respect to themselves.” (p10)

“It is true, that in the course of fifty years, during which I have been intimately connected with the art, I became acquainted with many of its respectable professors; some of whom had, long before me, been engaged in business.” (p10)

“The history of printing in America, I have brought down to the most important event in the annals of our country—the Revolution.” (p15)

The central image has a full length Standing Portrait of George Washington as President with his sword, after the original painting by Gilbert Stuart painted for William Constable, better known as the “Landsdowne Portrait.” Washington’s portrait is framed by a portion of his farewell address on the left, and his epitaph on the right. The bottom bears three panels, including the Great Seal of the United States, a sailing ship scene labeled “Commercial Union,” and “The British Lion.”