Recent Aquisitions

(Agricultural Fair - Berkshire County.) Farmington Valley Agricultural Society. The Fifth Annual Cattle Show and Fair of the Farmington Valley Agricultural Society, will be held at Otis, Mass. On Wednesday, Sept. 23, 1868. Lee, Mass.: Chronicle Print, [1868.] Broadside, 24 x 18 inches, untrimmed. Folded, near fine. In a modern frame. $325.

Handsome broadside on mustard yellow paper, listing officers, committees, and entry divisions; varied type headline, text within double rule.
(Banking - Berkshire County, Mass.) First Agricultural Bank of Pittsfield, Mass. - Lot of Miscellaneous Manuscript Material - 1829-1870's. $875.

1. Document, docketed "State of the Affairs of The Agricultural Bank. 5 Jan. 1829." 2pp. folio with integral blank. Working copy of a committee report, with revisions and corrections. Lists bills in circulation, assets and liabilities, etc.

2. Interesting group of five letters written by Ezekiel R Colt, 1794-1860, clerk and cashier of the bank from its founding in 1818 to 1853, and afterwards State bank commissioner. The letters, dated Mar 16-27, 1836, are mostly written to State Representative John Haney, and concern the bank's petition to be allowed to increase its capital. One is written to H. L. Brown, urging acceptance of the petition. Good substance throughout. 11 pp. folio & foolscap, with integral address leaves.

3. "Dividend Book. No. 2." Folio volume so titled, 1852-1878. Lists stockholders, no. of shares,dividends paid and signatures of recipients. Approx 85 leaves, both sides; binding broken.

4. Ms. document, "Agricultural Bank 7th December 1849. The undersigned Directors of the Agricultural Bank having this day made a careful examination of the affairs of said Bank believe the following condensed statement of its condition to be correct." Brief reduction of assets and liabilities, 1 p. folio.

5. Same, August 1st 1853. 1 p. folio

6. [Book of Memoranda.] Folio, 14 pp. used, remainder blank. 1853-1864. Includes "Memorandum of Bills Issued and Bills Burned," and "Memo. of Bank Notes received from the President, with his Signature." The latter listing dates when received, number of sheets, denominations, by whom engraved, etc.

6. "Transfer of Stock." Oblong book so titled, of blue paper printed forms accomplished in ms., with no. of shares transferred, individual names, location, dates and signatures of officers. Ca. 160 leaves, in contemp. quarter calf. Dated 1854-1873.

The bank's printed printed Internal Revenue license, 1864. With eagle cut and ornamental border.

7. "Special Deposits." Folio volume so titled. 14 pp. 1866-1909. "Whereas we the undersigned, deposit, in the Vault of the Agricultural National Bank of Pittesfield, for safe keeping, valuables of various kinds..." Terms of agreement for safe deposit vaults, followed by pages of subscribers; for the first decade, each signature with date is preceded by Internal Revenue stamps, and followed by orange gummed seal. Visually striking.

BLITH, Walter. The English Improver Improved or the Survey of Husbandry Surveyed. The third impression, much augmented. London: for John Wright, 1653. 4to, early full calf, rebacked, later endpapers. Engraved title, folding plate, two full page illustrations. Spine rubbed, corners bumped; title cropped as usual; a very good copy. $750.
Third edition, second impression, of Blith's popular agricultural treatise. "His writings touch every branch of the industry, and he seems to have entertained the first systematic conceptions of the 'alternate husbandry.' " -McDonald, p. 97. With the oft printed illustrations of early ploughs and digging tools, and the attractive engraved title with its 'sword into plowshare' theme. Wing B3196; Perkins Cat 184.
Bound for Queen Victoria.

Botanical Society of Edinburgh. First Annual Report, Laws and Transactions, of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh. Instituted 17th March 1836. Edinburgh: Printed for the Society, 1837. Pp. 54. [with:] Second Annual Report and Proceedings of The Botanical Society. Session 1837-8. Edinburgh: for the Society, 1838. Pp. 89. [with:] A Catalogue of British Plants... Printed for the Botanical Society of Edinburgh. Edinburgh : Maclachlan and Stewart, etc., 1836. Pp. 15. 3 v. in 1. 8vo, elaborately bound in full green morocco by Robert Seton Mound of Edinburgh, with raised bands panelled in gilt, the boards ruled, with ornamental panels within which the medallion insignia of the Society; richly tooled inner dentelles, yellow brocade-textured endpapers, the paste-downs bearing the royal arms in gilt, the fly-leaves a vase of flowers; a.e.g. Mildly rubbed at extremities, occasional foxing, institutional stamp on title. $1200.
The Society's first three publications, handsomely bound for its royal patron Queen Victoria.

Scarce Businessman's Guide for German-Americans, Finely Bound
(Business - German American.) Der Geschaeftsmann in Amerika, wie er fehn was wissen muss, um in allen Geschaeftsweigen mit Vortheil zu arbeiten, Verluste zu vermeiden und Wohlstand zu erwerben. New York: Verlag von Friederich Gerhard, 1857. Thick 8vo, elaborately bound in full calf, tooled in gilt with ornamented five rule panel at center, fleurons at corners and sides, within wide ornamented border with block fleurons at corners, spine with raised bands, gilt compartments, morocco label, owner's name "M. Woock" stamped at foot of spine.; edges tooled, a.e.g. Pp. xii, 1 l., [7]-1002. Binding moderately rubbed, corners bumped; inner hinges split but cords strong; moderate foxing to text, clumsy bookplate removal. Overall a very good copy. $500.

First edition thus, based on Edwin T. Freeley's standard Treatise on Business, with additions. In a handsome custom binding, unusually classical for the period, with none of the expected embossed elements. The book is suprisingly scarce, considering its heft. NUC locates copies at UMich and CCNY; OCLC adds two more, at UChicago and KC, Mo. Public Library.

(Catholica - Canadian.) DOHERTY, Patrick John. Principle English Writings. Prefaced by a Sketch of His Life. Quebec: L. H. Huot, 1873. 12mo, contemp. 1/4 morocco, marbled boards, gilt morocco label. Pp. 237, (1). Frontis. port. Extremities rubbed, front hinge tender; a very good, copy. $250.
First edition. Consists mostly of Doherty's travel letters from Europe and the Holy Land.

Modern Illuminated Calligraphy

(Calligraphy.) HINDSON, Alice Maud Charlotte. Writing Practice, 1922-1926. Manuscript volume, so titled on spine. Large 4to, 3/4 brown calf, buff paper boards. 45 leaves of fine hand-made paper. Boards damp stained, paper cockled on rear board; contents clean and fresh. $1,500.

Neatly excuted volume of a miscellany of medieval-revival calligraphic texts in red, blue and black inks, with numerous illuminated initials, by a noted second-generation arts & crafts designer, calligrapher and illustrator. One text, "The Death of Cuchulainn," is accompanied by a full page tempera colored illustration of a medieval battle scene and stylized vignettes; an excerpt from Homer's Odyssey includes a watercolor landscape; a section of "Some Happy and Melancholy Poetry" includes historiated initials with a young woman. One leaf bears large and small exercises in gilding. All are meticulously and gracefully rendered. The sheets are variously dated in penciled notes from 1923-1926. One happily is signed "A M C Hindson, 84 Charlotte st. W. 1, May 1923."

Alice Hindson was born in 1896. After the World War I,she attended the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London where "she studied drawing, lettering and wood-engraving under Noel Rooke. She began to illustrate books and became a member of the Guild of Scribes and Illuminators, serving as its Secretary from 1928 to 1931. At the Central School she met Luther Hooper, the drawloom weaver, whose classic handbook Handloom Weaving (1910) fuelled the revival of this intricate subject. She studied with him in the second half of the 1920s and acquired a drawloom build by Eric Sharpe, the furniture maker from Martyr Worthy, near Winchester. Hooper's book The New Drawloom (Pitman, 1932) illustrates many examples of Alice Hindson's work, comprising neat woven designs in Chinese silk derived from her wood engravings." - on-line Visual Arts Data Service. This attractive volume is clearly from Hindon's period of training with Rooke at the Central School and amply demonstrates her developing talent for illustration and design.

(Charles II.) Autograph letter, unsigned. Docketed "21st Oct. 1680. King's Speech to ye H. of Commons." 1 p. quarto. Addressed on verso "M. Dennis Cooleing, Apoth in Newarke." $400.

Paraphrase account of Charles II's speech to the so-called "Exclusion Bill Parliament", mentioning Tangier, the Popish Plot, Protestant succession, the King's call for unity, etc. The report concludes "Yesterday the Duke of Y[ork] went by sea to Scotland," in reference to the Catholic brother of the King, who would shortly be excluded from the succession by the bill for which the Parliament is named. Interesting evidence of the dispersal of news in a tumultuous period.

DEARBORN, Henry, 17 -1829, Secretary of War under Jefferson. ALs to Archibald Roane, Governor of Tennessee, regarding federal road connecting the western and Atlantic states. $1,500.
3 pp quarto, War Department, July 9th, 1802. Slightly trimmed, hinge reinforced, inset mounted; on thin paper with verso show-through, else fine.

Fine letter of significant content. On behalf of Jefferson, Dearborn denies the Tennesee governor's request that the proposed road from the Atlantic states to Natchez, Mississippi be altered to include Davidson and Franklin counties, and gives reasons for doing so. He continues, "It is the ardent wish of the President of the United States to give every facility in his power to the communication between the citizens of Tennessee and Kentucky and the Atlantic states and to render the lade and navigation of the western states as convenient as possible-- he has it in contemplation to have a road opened from Tennessee to the boatable waters of Georgia... But wrought by all the means in our power to guard against any unnecessary extension of the distance, it ought not to be expected that a great public road made for the purpose of connecting two distant countries and national purposes should be directed from the shortest & best route merely to accomodate the inhabitants of a single county."

[DILLWYN, Lewis Weston.] A Review of the References to the Hortus Malabaricus of Henry Van Rheede Van Draakenstein. Not published. Swansea: Printed at the Cambrian Office, 1839. 4to, original stiff wrappers, cloth spine. Pp. viii, 69, (1). Neat tear to one leaf; very good, partly unopened copy. $275.
Privately printed. An identification key to plants illustrated in the Hortus Malabaricus, listing synonyms and all known botanical references, prepared with the help of plant hunter George Don. BMNatHist.

DUFIEF, Nicolas Gouin. Nature Displayed, in Her Mode of Teaching Language to Man: Or, A New and Infallible Method of Acquiring a Language, in the shortest time possible, deduced from the analysis of the human mind, and consequently suited to every capacity. Adapted to French. Second edition, with considerable additions and corrections. Vo. I [-II]. Phildelphia: Printed at the Press of John Watts, for the author [v. 2: Printed by T. & G. Palmer, for the author], 1806. 8vo, 2 vols. Original boards, printed label. Pp. xliii, [3], 460; [5]; 363, 152. Portion of paper spine missing at bottom of Vol. I, other moderate wear to spines, otherwise a fresh, uncut set, With engraved bookplates and signatures of early owner W. Sohier. $375.

Second edition, first published in 1804. The two vols. contain respectively with individual title pages Le Lecteur Francais, ou Choix de Morceau, en Prose et en Vers. Premiere [Seconde] Partie. Philadelphia: de l'imprimerie de J. Watts, 1806. Imprints 10322, 10324-25. A Spanish edition was published in 1811, along with a third edition. A nice set in original state, with early ownership signature of W. D. Sohier, and the engraved Sohier bookplate.

(Education.) BINGHAM, Caleb, 1757-1817, educator and pioneer writer of text-books. ANs, Boston, June 30th, 1802 To Hartfort publisher and bookseller John Babcock. Half-page foolscap. Folded, neat tears repaired. Addressed by Bingham on verso, and docketed by Babcock. $325.

Brief, interesting note regarding the distribution of a major American text-book. "Dear Sir, I think I make no 'egregious mistake,' when I tell you that I have put on board Capt. Williams' Sloop, for you, 12 doz. Preceptor 21/D42.00; and that I am, Your humble servant, Caleb Bingham." Bingham's American Preceptor, an anthology of selected passages for reading first published 1794,. was the most popular book of its kind in the early 19th century.

(England - Civil War.) ALS, York, 24 January, 1643. 1 p. 4to, with integral address leaf, blank portion missing, a few small nibble holes along fold, no loss. $85.

A brief, unimportant but appealing avowal of friendship at the beginning of the first Civil War, addressed "for my worthy friend Richard Harker Esqr att Flyntham" : "Sir: Thoughe these unluckye tymes keepe us att a great distance and deprive me of my old visitts of your house, yett I cannott deny my self that pleasure to salute you with my penn. wishinge that I had power and opportunity to show you how much you are beloved and esteemed by him whoe whiles he has breath, is, [ ] in despight of all fortunes, your affeccionate friend to serve you, Ho: Butler[?]"

(German Guilds - 18TH c.) [ms. title:] Zunfft Articull der Schneider und Schumacher...1749. Germany, 1749. Folio, contemporary vellum, titled on front. 22 leaves on both sides, in a secretarial hand, with glosses. Soiled, gathering loose in binding. $875.

Interesting series of 37 articles regarding reforms of shoemaker, leather and other guilds in the mid-18th century. As indicated in the preamble, the articles were issued by Prince Wolffgang Ernst I of Ysingen and Budingen (1686-1754), and the manuscript bears his signature and seal. A letter from an earlier owner to Walter Schatzki describes the ms. in some detail, and relates it to the struggle at the time for power between rulers and the guilds.

(Jamaica.) Ms. "Deed of Trust... of Several Houses & Plantations in Jamaica. Dated ye 14th December 1769." Folded manuscript on vellum, 27 x 33 inches. Generally soiled, text rubbed at folds, with slight loss. $600.

Deed to Richard Jones Senior and Richard Jones Junior of Oswestry, Shropshire, and others, of the properties originally owned by William Cross of Kingston, Jamaica, including several "plantations or sugar works", e.g "a place called Old Woman Savanna, Clarendon", together with their slaves, outbuildings and equipment, as well as houses in Kingston, with their tenants named. Signed and sealed by the principals.

JAMES, Henry, American novelist. Autograph letter signed, [London] 3 Bolton St, Piccadilly W. March 5 [after 1885]. To the American artist Edwin Abbey. 2 pp, 12mo. Very slight wear at fold, very good and clean. $950.

A brief letter, arranging a time to dine with Abbey at the Savile. " I have been meaning to dine with you often of late - but am just back from a month in Paris. I shall have to wait to learn from you who Mr. John Speed is - I know him not - & also why you have fled from Campden Hill. I hope Parson's terrible temper has nothing to do with it!. Yours always, Henry James." Abbey formed what one biographer termed his "most intense friendship" with the English landscape painter Alfred Parsons, and derived much inspiration from their travels through the Enlish countryside. John Singer Sargent, Francis Millet, Parsons, Abbey and James were all part of the circle known as the Broadway Group, named after the picturesque village in the Cotswalds where they gathered for a time.

(Landscape Design.) HENDERSON, Charles. Henderson's Picturesque Gardens and Ornamental Gardening Illustrated. New York: Peter Henderson & Co., nd (1908). Oblong 8vo, ornamental wrappers, side-stapled under cloth spine. Pp. 168. Illustrated with halftone photos. A little dog-eared and marginally worn, a few marginal archival tape repairs; a very good copy. $150.
A scarce, cheaply produced but wide-ranging guide to ornamenting public and private grounds, issued by the succeeding generation of one of America's chief horticultural establishments; with brief, profusely illustrated chapters on statuary and fountains, lawns and elaborate bedding, topiary; aquatic, Japanese, wild and sunken gardens, rockgardens, rose gardens, herbaceous borders, etc. First published in 1901, this edition is the first to include eight full-page ornamental bedding diagrams at the end. Hedrick/Woodburn, p. 562.

(Marriage.) HENRY, George W. The Marriage of the Lamb, or Wedlock and Padlock, Temporal and Spiritual. Oneida: By the author, 1856. 8vo, original cloth, pictorial leather spine stamped in gilt and blind. Pp. viii, [9]-461; frontis. portrait. Slight spotting and rubbing to binding, occ. foxing within; a very good sound copy. $85.
First edition. A lengthy treatise on courtship and marriage, by the Oneida preacher and prolific author. With a fine daguerrian engraved portrait of the author and his son.

Early Watercolor Folk Art View

(Medical History - Massachusetts.) Berkshire Medical Institution. Pittsfield, Mass. Pencil and gray washes, 11 x 12 inches. On Whatman paper watermarked 1826. Lightly age browned, moderate marginal stains. $1500.
Fine naive view of buildings, with two figures beneath tree in foreground. The Berkshire Medical Institute was founded in 1823, and for a time was associated with Williams College. In its 44 years of existence it graduated 1138 doctors, with a nationally known reputation of excellence. In 1830, it was the center of a body-snatching controversy. The view here is of its earliest setting in the converted Pittsfield Hotel, with what is probably the famed Pittsfield Elm featured in the foreground.

(Murder - NY City - Brother Jonathan Extra.) Pictorial View of The Mysterious Murder in Bond St., New York - Portraits of Accused Parties. [New York: Brother Jonathan Office, 1857] . Broadsheet, 19 x 24 inches, untrimmed. $750.

Rare broadsheet, combining promotion for Brother Jonathan, a popular sensational weekly, with illustrated details of a notorious New York City murder trial. Dr. Burdell, a dentist, was found murdered in his office. His intimate aquaintance Mrs. Cunningham claimed to have been secretly married to the doctor and pregnant with his child and heir, which she delivered. The pregnancy was exposed as a a fraud, the baby having been kidnapped and slipped into a sham delivery by accomplice Dr. Uhl, who ultimately told all, and identified the murderer as John J. Eckel, a boarder in Mrs. Cunningham's house. Both Mrs. Cunningham and her boarder were ultimately acquitted. The sheet provides details of the pre-trial investigation and witness accounts, ending with Cunningham and Eckel awaiting trial. With seven illustrations, four of which depict the murder, two are portraits of Cunningham and Eckel, and the last shows Dr. Burdell in his coffin. Two other sections are blurbs for the weekly, and "The Mammoth Double Pictorial Brother Jonathan For the Fourth of July." On the verso is a seven-column "List of Cheap Books For Sale By B. H. Day, at the Brother Jonathan Office, New York." McDade records two pamphlets regarding the Burdell murder (nos. 142-143), but not this or any other single sheet ephemera.

An Early American Suite of Marches for Wind Ensemble
(Music.) RICKSECKER, Peter, 1791-1873. [manuscript title:] IV Marches. 1. Washington's March 2. A Prussian ditto 3. General Harrison's (di P.R.) 4. Genl. Hiester's March (di P. R.) Dedicated to Mr. John Ricksecker, by Peter Ricksecker. 1820. Manuscript, probably Lancaster, Pa., 1820. Large 4to, on heavy laid paper. 10 leaves, including title leaf and final blank. Title a little fly spotted, one letter abraded, other wise in fresh untrimmed condition. $2,500.

Highly interesting American musical manuscript of four marches, including two composed by Ricksecker, all scored by him for wind ensemble of flute, 2 cornets, clarino, 2 clarinets and 2 bassoons. Peter Ricksecker was Moravian composer born in America. He was a student and later a teacher at the Nazareth Seminary before leaving to live in Lancaster, Pa. He later became a missionary in the West Indies, and retired to Bethlehem.The only published composition of his we can trace is "The Battle of New Orleans, For the piano forte," Philadelphia, 1816. As here, he seems to have specialized in works commemorating American military heroes. There survives a manuscript register of weekly concerts given by the Moravian community at Nazareth from 1796 on; an entry there records a Sept. 3, 1815 performance of Ricksecker's "General Brown's and Gen. Harrison's March for 6 part wind ensemble." The Moravian music community was very active, and their output constitutes a distinctly important contribution to formal composition in early America. In particular, their characteristic use of wind instruments forms a significant chapter in the early history of those instruments in this country. See Jane Elizabeth Ellsworth's on-line dissertation, The Clarinet in Early America (Ohio State, 2004); and Rau & David, A Catalogue of Music by American Moravians, 1742-1842.

(Music.) EASTCOTT, Richard. Sketches of the Origin, Progress and Effects of Music, With an Account of the Ancient Bards and Minstrels. Bath: S. Hazard, 1793. 8vo, contemp. mottled calf, morocco label, spine and boards ruled in gilt. Top of spine worn, front hinge split but secure, clean and tight within. Engraved armorial bookplate of Garbett Watsham, Knill Court. $375.
First edition. The historical aspects largely derivative of Burney and others, Eastcott's book is usually cited for its argument against fugal treatment of church choral music, a notion which took hold in America. The volume is also notable as having James Boswell among its subscribers; he is omitted from the official list, but the error corrected in the errata.

OSBORN, Henry Stafford. The Prospector's Field Book and Guide. In the search for and the easy determination of ores and other useful minerals. Philadelphia: Henry Carey Baird & Co., 1892. Sm 8vo, original cloth. Pp. 175; illus. Trifle wear at extremities, a very good copy. $150.

Folk Art Penmanship
(Penmanship - West Stockbridge, Mass.) SMITH, Cecilia A. [manuscript title:]. The Art of Penmanship. Miss Cecilia A. Smith, West Stockbridge, Mass. Oct. 10th, 1856. Manuscript, oblong 8vo. 6 1/4 x 8 inches, Hand stitched, with ribbon bow. Title + 13 leaves, one side only, in pen & ink, with hand-colored ornamentation. Light soiling and edge wear; in very good condition. $1,200.

A fine penmanship and folk art exercise book from western Massachusetts, with ornamental title, numerous winged angel heads, Holy Bible, an eagle, colored bird, heart's ease, floral garland and roses, banners hearts and flourishes.

(Penmanship.) HUNTINGTON, Eleazer. The American Penman, Comprising the Art of Writing, Plain and Ornamental. Designed as a standard work, for the use of schools. Second edition. Hartford: Eleazer Huntington, 1825. Oblong 8vo, original illustrated paper boards, calf spine. Pp. 14; 20 engraved plates, including extra engraved title, dated 1824. Paper on boards, chipped at edges, rear board detatched with paper half gone. $225.
Scarce work, a worn but complete copy, with the the handsome cover woodcut intact, showing a classroom scene with a tutor and his pupils. Nash 97.

(PERCIVAL, James Gates.) Scheme of the Exercises, at the Publick Commencement of Yale College, September 13th, 1815. [New Haven:] Hudson & Woodward, printers, [1815]. Broadside, 11 3/4 x 7 1/2. Text within ornamental border. Lightly browned, a little residue from album mounting on verso; folded. $375.

Rare program for Percival's Yale commencement. His name appears twice: giving an oration "On the comparative value of Scientifick and Military reputation"; and participating in a dialogue on "The Effects of Jealousy and Revenge." Not in Imprints; not in BAL Percival-ana; OCLC, Brown copy only.

(Pomology - New Hampshire.) Group of Ten Mounted Photographs of Maplehurst Fruit Farm, Pittsfield, New Hampshire. Ca.1900-1910. $650.

Attractive group documenting a turn-of-the-century New Hampshire orchard, probably prepared for display or promotional purposes. Each of the photos is mounted on heavy card board and titled in elaborate calligraphic script. 5 of the photos are identified as by Charles H. Flood, Brookline, Mass., and 5 by Henry W. Osgood, Pittsfield, N.H. The photos include a view of the entire orchard, the homestead, various varieties in bloom, a woman picking apples, a fruit-laden branch, etc.

(ROMNEY, George). Manuscript receipt for payment for a portrait of James Wilson, [Kendal] July 17th, 1764. 5 1/2 x 7 3/8 inches. $375.

In the hand of the artist's brother Peter Romney, and signed by him: "Mr. Wilson to Geo. Romney. For Painting his Portrait �8s8d0. Received the above contents in full for George Romney by Peter Romney. July 17, 1764." The receipt is for Romney's portrait of James Wilson of Kendal, a member of a family responsible for several of his earliest commissions. See Chamberlain, George Romney (1910), pp. 27-28. The painting was last sold at Sotheby's in 1996 (Sale 6200, lot 69), to the Pathmore Corp.

The State of the Reconstructed Union
(South Carolina - Reconstruction.) Charleston Daily Courier --- Extra. President's Message. Charleston: Tuesday, December 3, 1867. Folio broadsheet, 26 1/2 x 22 1/4 inches. Lightly browned, narrow 3/4 inch hole affecting several words, wear along folds. $325.

Andrew Johnson's state of the union speech at the height of Reconstruction, printed in a Charleston newspaper extra, where it would have been read with particular interest. Predictably, the speech is largely taken up with Johnson's opposition to the punishing strictures imposed by the northern Radical Republicans and their efforts in his view to "Africanize the half of our country." The broadsheet also includes former Sec. of Treasury Robert J. Walker's long letter on the state of national finances. An early owner has pencilled a few comments in the margins, including "The message and Walker's letter... are worthy of preservation."

(Texas - Railroad.) St. Louis, Texas and Gulf of Mexico Railway Company. Sub Contract for Works. This indenture made the 13th day of June, One thousand eight-hundred and eighty-one between Josiah Caldwell of London England...and Alfred Sarell of New York City. Manuscript document, folio, stapled in wrapper. 13 pp. in neat secretarial hand. Wrapper worn and stained with piece missing; outer leaves soiled, with mild damp-bleed of red underlining. $350.00

Interesting contract, signed by both principals, hiring Caldwell to build a railway "from a point at or near the town of Marshall in the County of Harrison and State of Texas where a junction can most conveniently be made with the Texas and Pacific Railway, thence in a southerly direction to a point or points at or near Sabine City and at Galveston City on the Gulf of Mexico as the Main Line, and also a railway from some point on the Main Line in either of the counties of Shelby, Panola or Rusk to a junction with the International and Great Northern Railway." The detailed specifications are lined out in eighteen articles and address such issues as time and payment schedules, liabilities, defaults, quality of buildings and bridges, and the "rolling stock" (i.e. engines and cars). The Englishman Josiah Caldwell was from the 1850s on a major figure in Western railroad expansion. Most notably, it was Caldwell's testimony by telegraph that exonerated subsequent presidential candidate James G. Blaine in the 1876 investigations into Blaine's shady railroad finances.

(Texas.) MEYRICK, Edward. The Texian Grand March for the Pianoforte. Respectfully Dedicated to Genl. Houston and His Brave Companions in Arms. New York: Firth & Hall, 1836. Sheet music folio, removed. Pp. 7. Litho illustration signed "Swett", touched with color. Moderately browned and foxed, paper repair to final leaf, old song pencilled on blank verso of final leaf. $1200. See illustration:
An attractive piece of early Texana, one of three issues, all known by a handful of copies. The illustration shows Santa Anna surrendering his sword to the wounded Sam Houston after the battle of San Jacinto. In this copy Santa Anna's hat and military braids have been colored. The earliest issue has an 1835 copyright date, prior to the battle. The present issue has the 1836 copyright. Streeter 1171b.
(Textile History - Lowell.) APPLETON, Nathan. Introduction of the Power Loom, and Origin of Lowell. Printed for the Proprietors of the Locks and Canals on Merrimack River. Lowell, Massachusetts: Printed by B. H. Penhallow, 1858. 8vo, original limp blind stamped cloth, titled in gilt on front. Pp. 38, a.e.g. A little worn at extremities, close to fine. $185.
Sole edition. Rare privately-printed autobiographical reminiscences, by a founder of cotton manufacture in the Merrimack Valley, an associate of Francis Lowell. OCLC lists only a single copy bound up with related pamphlets. A bright copy.
(Textiles.) Constitution of the Philadelphia Society, for the Encouragement of Domestic Manufactures. Adopted March 14, 1806. Philadelphia: D. Hogan, 1806. 12mo, original plain wrappers. Pp. 10. Upper wrapper and initial blank partly separated, near fine. $200.
Only recorded publication of an early manufacturing cooperative (not to be confused with similarly titled groups of later decades), regarding "the manufacturing of Woolen, Cotton, and Flaxen Wares, which have not hitherto arisen to any degree of perfection for want of pecuniary assistance"--preamble. Shares were sold, and the collective funds used for advances of cash or raw materials. Scarce. Not in Sabin; Imprints 11157 (Antiquarian Society and Pa. Historical copies); Rink 2969, adding the Eleutherian Mills copy.

TULL, Jethro. The Horse-Hoing Husbandry: or, An Essay on the Principles of Tillage and Vegetation. Wherein is shown a method of introducing a sort of vineyard-culture into the corn-fields, in order to increase their product, and diminish the common expence; by the use of instruments described in cuts. London: for the author, 1733. Bound with, A Supplement to the Essay on Horse-Hoing Husbandry. The second edition. London: for the author, 1740. Folio, early polished calf, neatly rebacked, raised bands, gilt morocco labels. 6 folding engraved plates; 1 plate (supplement). Moderate foxing and soiling; neat repair to tear in title; a very good copy. With ownership signature of Goning Walker, August 12th 1742, and his marginal notes and underlinings. $1600.
Second (first folio) edition. Perhaps the only book that ever sparked a revolution in agricultural practice, the 'new husbandry' based on Tull's seed drill and his advocacy of tillage over manuring. Perkins 1782 (this ed.); Fussell II, p. 4.
TUSSER, Thomas. Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. With an introduction by Sir Walter Scott and a benediction by Rudyard Kipling, incorporated in a foreword by E. V. Lucas. London: James Tregaskis & Son, 1931. Thick 4to, full reverse calf, raised bands. Pp. xii, (1), 336; half title. Uncut. Slight discoloration at head and foot of spine, else fine copy. $325.
One of 500 copies, printed on Batchelor hand-made paper, printed at the Caxton Head and Raven Presses, and bound by Bain and Co. A handsome edition of Tusser's classic, printed from the text of 1580.

(Victorian England.) Manuscript Book of Personal Expense Accounts. London, 1859-1875. Sm 8vo, contemp 3/4 green straight-grained morocco, marbled boards. Approx 140 pp. ruled paper, majority one side. Paper on front board abraded, else very good and sound. $375.

Personal accounts of a wealthy Victorian gentleman, with daily entries for local and continental travel, amusements and entertainments (theater, Crysrtal Palace, conjuror, concerts, flower show), gifts of jewelry , purchases of stocks, cigars, whiskey, books, dining, gloves and neckties, clothing, doctors, coffin for mother, etc., etc. His income from salary, stocks and inheritance is recorded on facing pages. Excellent content for a fifteen year period. Anonymous but perhaps decipherable from personal references.

WEBB, Daniel. Remarks on the Beauties of Poetry. London: for R. & J. Dodsley, 1762. 12mo, early full calf gilt, raised bands, gilt compartments; later label. Pp. 123; half-title. Top of spine a little worn, front hinge just beginning to crack; a very good copy, fine within. $350.

First edition. Webb resided at Bath, and was the author of several works of criticism. The present work is a dialogue on versification, using Pope, Milton and most extensively Shakespeare for example.