1. (Abolition.) TRACY, William, of Andover, Mass. Autograph Letter signed, August 7, 1834. To his sister and brother-in-law Sarah & Henry Allen of Norwich, Ct. 4 pp. 4to, closely written. Two seal tears, loss of a few letters, else fine. $200.

An interesting letter, offering a cautious Yankee view of the abolitionist movement. Responding to his correspondent's report of an abolitionist speech by Mr. Dickinson, a Norwich pastor, Tracy writes "I differ from Mr. D. in some respects... In regard to the motives of most of those who have assumed the name of Abolitionists, I have no doubt. I consider them actuated by feelings of philanthropy... Still I think their measures are fitted to counteract the very end to which their benevolence points them." Tracy goes on to discuss Southern sentiments, and the effects of radical abolitionism in strengthening slave-holder's resolve: "these feelings are wrong but they exist, and thus the only door of deliverance for the poor slave is closed, and the rigor of his bondage increased..." He defends the American Colonization Society from its critics: "Than there have been things wrong in the society, no one can question, but we should consider him a foolish man, who, having invented an excellent and useful machine, should, on discovering a single mistake, break the whole machine in pieces...The fatal climate of Liberia is muched harped upon, and the colony is called the grave-yard of the African. But how is the fact? The mortality has only been 7 1/2 per cent, which is less than that of the state of Illinois..." Tracy's remarks on the subject take up more than a third of the letter, the rest with family and religious content, and mention of a young Javanese missionary, "an interesting young man... who has come to this country for an education..." (4062)

2. (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 Rockwell, 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. 

3. BARNUM, Phinehas Taylor, "P. T." Autograph letter, signed. Bridgeport, June 13, 1874. 2 pp, 8vo, on monogrammed Waldemere, Bridgeport stationary. Framed with portrait, 12 x 20 1/2 inches. Fine. SOLD

To "My Dear Cuyler." Barnum writes to a friend offering complimentary admission to his Roman Hippodrome, considered the first great circus. "My Hippodrome is well worth your family seeing. It is much more interesting at night than day on account of gas light and more people being present, but just the same exhibitions are given day as evening. Please show the enclosed to Mr. Hurd my son-in-law, & he will fix you out all right." Signed "P. T. Barnum." 

Love, Marriage and Death

4. BIXBY, Jasper H. and Sarah Elinor Holmes] [manuscript title:]. Our Love Letters. The Private Correspondence of J. H. B. & S. E. H. With some Memorials of Their Married Life...1852-53-54. 4to,contemp. morocco, scuffed, hinges split, spine worn. Pp. 440. SOLD

An extraordinary manuscript compendium of original letters, copied letters and diary entries, documenting a young couple's courtship, married life and death in a upstate New York. Jasper A. H. Bixby (1821-1863) was first a post master in Royalton, New York, near Rochester, and subsequently enjoyed a literary career as an editor of the Rural New Yorker, and and a contributor to the same and the Country Gentleman, both leading agricultural papers of the day. He met Sarah E. Holmes of Alabama, NY in the late 1840s and wrote his first letter to her on New Year's Eve 1851. She answered him two weeks later, and there followed a a chaste but deeply felt courtship by correspondence, which culminated in their marriage in April of 1853. The Bixby's happiness was brief. Eleven months after their marriage, Sarah died. Her illness and decline is described in somber and detailed daily journal entries, and following her death the volume continues with Jasper's memorial outpourings and related clippings. Some years later he remarried, and letters of the second Mrs. Bixby conclude the volume, including notice of Jasper's sudden death in 1863.The contents were lovingly gathered, arranged and bound up, preserving a powerful and fascinating record of quotidian married life and affection, and offering a kind of social history rarely documented. 

5. (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. 

6. (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. 

7. CURTIS, George William. ALs, to Charles Dudley Warner, Ashfield, Mass, 27 July, 1881. 12mo, 3 pp. Fine. $135.

Nice letter connecting two prominent literary figures of the time: "I am very glad to hear from Norton that you will honor our Academy festival with your presence, and we hope... that we may count upon the pleasure...of having you with us. It is the quietest of hill towns. At this hour, 10 1/2 pm, not the hum of a single insect disturbs the silence, and cows and men are asleep..."

8. 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."

10. (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. 

11. (Female Education - Massachusetts.) [ms. title:] Constitution of the Young Ladies' Lyceum . Charlestown, Mass: Ca. 1840's?. Folio ms., pp. 3; in a neat secretarial hand. SOLD

Manuscript constitution for a society within the Charlestown Female Public School, to be composed of girls between the ages of ten and eighteen, for the purpose of promoting "moral and mental cultivation." The document comprises a preamble, followed by 6 articles in 18 sections addressing dues (3 cents per month), rules of conduct and expulsion, officers, board of managers, and the library , "called the Adams Library."

13. (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[?]" 

14. GALES, John and William W. Seaton, publishers of the Congressional record and the National Intelligencer. Autograph Letter by Gales, signed by Gales and Seaton. Washington, April 14, 1829. To Massachusetts jurist Joseph Story of Salem. 2 pp folio, with integral address leaf. Blanks pieces missing from address leaf, otherwise fine. SOLD

A long and urgent letter, seeking a loan to finance the continuation of Gales and Seaton's important journal "The National Intelligencer," following the finacial hardships imposed by the cancellation of their long-standing printing contract for the Congressional record. "We cherish the belief that, relieved for a time from connection with Congress, and bending our undivided attention to the National Intelligencer, we can extend its circulation, & make it yield a revenue such as to release us from difficulty. This however must be a work of time, and we are now pressed by the weight of incumbent oblgations to creditors, who are pressing in proportion to their distrust of our ability to pay." Story is approached as one of "twenty persons who would lend us a thousand dollars each, for five years..." In the final paragraph, Gales tells Story that "A copy of this letter is sent to Mr. Silsber, Mr. Webster, Mr. Everett, and Mr. Blake, and to no others. We hope you will oblige us by consulting with them for our good;" he closes by confessing that the alternative is liquidation of property and perhaps prison." The extensive publications of Gales and Seaton are widely recognized as crucial documentation of government affairs for the period, and this letter gives a frank and intimate picture of a desperate period in their history. 

15. (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.

16. HOWE, Julia Ward. Autograph letter, signed. 241 Beacon St, April 6th, 1882. 2 pp, 12mo. Folded, fine. $275.

A brief letter, arranging a visit. "Dear Mrs. Firkins (?), I write a line only to say I will surely come to you this spring, unless prevented by by some very serious obstacle wh[ich] I cannot now forsee. How will Saturday 29th April answer? Glad you are so well and so hopeful. Yrs cordially and in haste, Julia W. Howe." 

17. HOWELLS, William Dean, 1837-1920, novelist . ALs, 1 page, Nov. 15, 1919. To Corporal Ira J. Friedman, U. S. General Hospital # 41, Staten Island, NY. On The Saint Hubert Hotel stationery, with integral blank, and with original addressed envelope. $175.

A warm letter, written 6 months before Howells' death, to a wounded doughboy recuperating in a Staten Island military hospital. "I am sending you a book of mine which I hope you wil accept; but I am sorry I cannot give you a list of my hundred big and little books. You will find this with the dates of each in 'Who's Who,' English or American... It has greatly touched me to know that you like my books, or get any cheer from them. Yours sincerely, W. D. Howells." 

19. (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. 

20. 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. 

21. LIND, Jenny, "The Swedish Nightingale."  Signed ms. accounts regarding charitible donations from proceeds of her first Boston concert, October 10th, 1850. A group of three manuscript documents: Letter sheet, with conjugate blank, containing a list of twelve charities and amounts donated, boldly signed and dated by Lind at bottom, "Approved. Jenny Lind. Boston, 12th Oct. 1850."; Letter sheet , with conjugate blank, "The undersigned acknowledge to have received the sums set against their names respectively, being the appropriations made by Miss Jenny Lind to the several Charitable Associations herein stated, of the proceeds oof a concert given by her at Tremont Temple on Thursday evening the 10th October, 1850" , with a list and signatures of administrators of the various charities; a receipt signed by Amelia S. Bigelow, for $100 given by Lind "to be expended under my direction for relief of the poor." SOLD

Jenny Lind began her trimphal tour of America a month earlier in New York, under the managemnet of P. T. Barnum. Her first two concerts there were charity fund-raisers, beginning a practice that continued throughout the tour, with the result that her huge popularity in the United States was based as much on her philanthropic generosity as her stunning vocal talents. Here we have rare specific documentation Lind's donations within a month of her arrival in America, with accounts for over seven thousand dollars given to such groups as The Boston Port Society, Association for Aged and Indigent Females, Musical Fund Society, Farm School for Boys, Charitable Orthopedic Society, and Boston Female Asylum, with attendant signatures by Charles Henry Parker. J.Ingersoll Bowditch, Mary Otis, Artemas Simonds, and others. A significant group documenting the altruism of the most popular singer of the 19th century, in fine condition. 

22. (Lincoln - Emancipation Proclamation.) Printed letter of support, "To Abraham Lincoln, The President of the United States:- We, the undersigned, hereby express to you our cordial approval of your late Proclamation of Prospective Emancipation, as a measure intrinsically right and necessary to secure for the country a righteous and permanent peace... Signed by Edwart Everett Hale, James Freeman Clarke, Rufus Ellis, Frederic Henry Hedge, Almanza S. Ryder, William Rounseville Alger, George Hughes Hepworth, Cyrus Augustus Bartol, and William P. Tilden. [Boston?: 1862]. Printed half-sheet, 7 1/8 x 7 7/8 inches. Text in 5 lines of small type at top, with signatures below. Fold creases, very good. SOLD

An ephemeral printed endorsement of Lincoln's Proclamation signed by nine prominent Massachusetts Unitarian clergymen and authors; all but two are noticed in Appleton's. Edward Everett Hale and James Freeman Clarke are the best known of the group, both ardent abolitionists and members of the Boston-Cambridge circle of writers and reformers. Probably printed and signed shortly after Lincoln issued the proclamation on Sept. 28, 1862. 

23. MANN, Horace, 1796-1859, American educator. Autograph letter signed, Yellow Springs, Oct. 3rd, 1854. 1 page, 4to, on illustrated Antioch College letterhead. Folded, 2 small spots. SOLD

Written to C. B. Campbell, regarding Patrick Edward Dove's "The Theory of Human Progression," a highly regarded treatise on political economy and land reform published anonymously in Edinburgh and London in 1850, and in America the following year. Mann's letter is a succinct evaluation of the work, evidently in response to a solicited opinion: " 'The Theory of Human Progress' (sic) is anonymous, I do not know that its author name has ever been conjectured. It was republished in this country by B. B. Mussey & Co., Boston. Its ideas are profound; its style is bad. It is worth reading for its substance, notwithstanding its form. Yours very truly, Horace Mann." An attractive letter sheet dominated by a large vignette of the Antioch College campus. Mann was president of the college at the time. 

24. (Music.) Anon. "Piano Score of O'Neil". Manuscript, so titled, ca. 1879. Oblong folio, half-morocco, marbled boards. 42 leaves, both sides. Binding worn; very good. $400.

A working manuscript of an Irish historical cantata based on Francis Xavier Rizy's O'Neil the Great. Dramatic Poem in two parts. (Hartford: 1879.) We can find no evidence that the musical version was ever published, and no clue to the composer's identity. The work is written for various solo parts and chorus, and was apparently performed with full orchestra. The libretto is faithful to Rizy's text, with only minor variation. There are numerous pencil notes (occasionally in German script), revisions, and paste-overs.

An Early American Suite of Marches for Wind Ensemble

25. (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. 

26. (Music - Psalmody.) TOUSEY, Philo, of Newtown, Connecticut, 1750-1824. Philow Tousey, His Book. Gamit of Rule. [or, Gamit of all sorts of Musick] 1771. Manuscript hymnal, Newtown, Ct., 1771. Oblong 8vo, crude limp leather, hand-stitched. Pp. 72, on laid paper. Browned, dog-eared, outer leaves soiled with marginal wear, final leaf detached, chipped with loss.. SOLD

A choice pre-Revolutionary New England manuscript hymnal. Comprises twenty-five hymns set for one to four parts, preceded by musical instructions and explications. The preliminary leaves are written within blocked and multi-ruled ornamental borders, and the whole is executed in a confident secretarial hand. The spelling shows provincial phonetic liberties, combined with sophisticated text, seeming to indicate that this is not simply a transcription of a printed text. Comparing the musical content with the first printings of core repertoire charted in Lowens, we find that the single most common printed source might be James Lyon's Urania, Philadelphia, 1761, which contains at least eight of the tunes included in our manuscript. The preliminary material, however, seems not to correspond to a single printed source. It consists of "An Alphabet of the Book," providing an index of tunes; a musical vocabulary, with definitions of the classic Italian terms - largo, adagio, allegro, - and the ideals of Discord -"cartin intervals of sound which being heard at the same time do offend the ear, yet when intermitted with concord makes the best of musick"- and Concord "certain intervals between sounds which delight the ear when heard at the same time." There is an intricate chart , "The Gamut or Scale of Musick," showing notes by letter and fa-sol- la designation; various notated scales, "The Fourpart Separate," "The Eight Notes," "Ascending and Descending," "The Leaps," etc., followed by the collection of tunes.

Contents of tunes: New York, Canterbury, Standish (bis), Portsmouth, The Angels Hymn, St. Humphrey's Tune, Wells Tune, The New Tune for the 100th Psalm, Crowle Tune, St. David Tune, Old 100 Psalm Tune, Woodbury Tune, The 4 Psalm Tune, Plymouth, Newtown, Newbury, Walsal, Richmond, The 12th Psalm Tune, An Anthem Taken Out of the 16th Psalm, The 15th Psalm Tune, An Anthem Taken Out of the 34 Psalm, An Anthem Taken Out of the 148 Psalm, and Chrismas Carroll, the last the old English carol "A Virgin Unspotted," with variant text. 

27. (Music - Songster - Revolutionary War.) Manuscript songster of T. Larned. American [prob. New England], ca. 1780s? Oblong 12mo, 6 leaves laid paper, stitched. Moderate wear, very good. SOLD

Interesting manuscript containing the words for five songs. Two of these are of Revolutionary War interest: Francis Hopkinson's "A New Song," beginning "In infancy our days was blest with peace & liberty;" a naval ballad in which "Our seas with George's pirates swarm," and "A Parody on the Watry Gods," a song in nine stanzas on British oppression and the triumphs of Generals Washington, Warren and Lincoln," which appeared in a 1779 songster. The remaining three songs are English ballads - "Contentment," "Guardian Angels" and "Delia and Strephon" - all of which appear in 18th c. American sonsters. The manuscript is signed 'T. Larned in two places, along with a inked monogram "TL," with a small profile caricature inserted. 

Folk Art Penmanship

28. (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. 

29. POMEROY, Rufus, 1784-1867, minister of western Massachusetts. Manuscript Sermons, 1829-30. 2 vols. Sm 4to, marbled boards, calf spines. Pp. 168; 162. Spines chipped; sheets moderately soiled, with occasional staining. Very good, sound condition. SOLD

Pomeroy's manuscript copybook collection of 34 of his sermons , many on revival themes, preached in western Massachusetts, and neighboring Connecticut and Vermont from 1815-1829. Each volume bears Pomeroy's ownership signature, and most of the sermons are notated at the conclusion indicating when and where they were preached. One of the sermons, noted as "Printed", later appeared in Pomeroy's Encouragement for the Church to Expect and Seek for Often-Repeated and Long-Continued Revivals, published by subscription in 1853. The remainder appear to be unpublished. Pomeroy was born in 1784, and graduated from Williams College in 1808. He was ordained pastor at Salisbury, Vt . in 1811, preached for two years in South Deerfield, Mass., and was installed at Chester, in 1819, where he served until 1827. His last pastorate was in Otis, where he lived until his death in 1867. He served a wide and rigorous circuit that included Hadley, Easthampton, Northampton, Hinsdale, Otis, New Boston, Pittsfield, Granby, Sunderland, Whately, Deerfield, Buckland, Chicopee, and many other towns in the region. 

30. (Early American Nursery.) PRINCE, William, 1766-1842, prominent horticulturist and nurseryman of Flushing, NY. Manuscript "List of Trees for Mr. Jno. Jones." New York, undated, ca 1800? 1 p. folio, on laid paper. Docketed "William Prince's Acct. of Trees." $650.

Highly interesting manuscript list of fruit and ornamental trees and shrubs, from the famous early American nursery. John Jones had in 1796 purchased the Louvre Farm of 92 acres on the East River at Hell's-gate, running roughly from 65th to 75th streets and from Third Ave. to the river. There he built a large estate with a grand mansion and other buildings. Later on the property, known as Jones' Woods, would be remembered as the last piece of original forest land on Manhattan.

The present list is particularly interesting not only for the list of named varieties of peaches, cherries and ornamentals, but for the marginal addenda which records where on the property they were planted. Thus we find that 16 "Snowball trees," or hydrangea were contemplated for the "back pole fence, or near coach house, or south side of house," the two willow trees for the front of the house, "20 good plumbs different sorts... near & round house," flowering almond trees for the "corner Piaza," 2 "Althea frutex" or Rose of Sharon, "in line to coach house," etc. Altogether a rare documentation of landscape plantings for a prominent Federal-era Manhattan estate. 

31. RALPH, Julian. Ms. title: "Lucia's Madness. By Julian Ralph, Author of 'People We Pass," 'Alone in China,' etc." Original corrected typescript of a complete novel. Ca 1890s. SOLD

226 pp foolscap, on one side, together with 116 further pages, comprising the final 10 chapters again, in a slightly different version, all with ms. corrections throughout.

A full length novel in hand-corrected typescript by one of the most famous journalists of his day, the story of a naive and inexperienced New York City bachelor who sets out to find a wife and falls in love with a beautiful and intelligent flower-maker haunted by a tortured past. A psychological novel of sorts, the drama is relieved by humorous scenes centered on immigrant street life, and portraits from New York low-life, of a type previously explored in Ralph's collection People We Pass (1896).

Now virtually forgotten, Julian Ralph (1853-1903) was in his own time one of the first "star" reporters, initially gaining attention by his coverage of the Henry Ward Beecher trial. He was long associated with the NY Sun, and subsequently the NY Herald, the Brooklyn Eagle and the London Daily Mail, for which he covered the Boer War, at which time he associated with Rudyard Kipling and Conan Doyle. He travelled extensively, writings several books on his American and far-Eastern experiences. He wrote other novels, and fictional sketches of immigrant subjects. His reputation was that of a picturesque stylist and master of descriptive detail. See the DAB for an overview of Ralph's interesting and varied career.

34. (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. 

35. (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. 

36. (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. 

37. WATSON, Elkanah. 2 ALs, Providence, Jan. 1st, and Jan. 27th, 1774. 2 pp and 1 page 4to, signed "Elka. Watson" and "E.W. junr.", both to an unnamed correspondent in New Haven, a close friend who then drafted a further letter on the verso of the second letter to Thomas Davis, Jr., evidently a mutual friend of Watson's. Folded, wear at edges touching a few letters, no loss; neat tears at folds. SOLD

Two very fine and remarkably early letters, written just before and after Watson's 16th birthday, and only a few months after the fifteen-year old had arrived in Providence to indenture himself as apprentice to wealthy merchant John Brown, marking the beginning of a relationship that would assume national historical importance.

In the first letter, Watson describes his happy circumstances in Providence: ""By what little experience I have had of the business, I make no doubt but what I shall content myself here. Mr. Brown has given me a great deal of encouragement since I have been with him; I think I can freely & with great propriety say that I never enjoyed a more happy & contented life than I have since have lived with Mr. Brown." He then goes on to smooth out a misunderstanding with his correspondent, expressing himself in highly emotional fashion, referring to "that dismal hour that I parted with you at the bridge, such an hour I'm sure I never underwent in all my life... I was very anctious to have a little conversation with you before we parted, but when I drew near you as we were taking our long farewell of each other, my heart & tongue failed me, was I [to] have gained the whole world, I could not have entered into any conversation with you..."

The second letter is written as a cover letter and continuation of the first, which Watson delayed in sending. and includes news of goings on at Brown's store, tea sales, prices of goods ("Fish is exceeding low in the market, price for good Jamaica fish is only 9/lb."), and mentions the Boston tea party: "The tea affair makes a great Noise in these parts, I have not the time to aquaint you the particulars..." and family news: "I was visited by cousin John Watson and Mr. Russell... and by them I had the unexpected news of your sisters Lothrop's being delivered of a girl." In a cramped post script in the margin, he writes of his eminent employer: "Perhaps you may want to know Mr. Brown's circumstances, which I shall communicate to you a few words, viz. he owns more navigation than any two merchants in the colony, we have four sloops & a Leary ship abt. 250 tons now on the stocks. There is four of us that attends the store." His friend has drafted a letter on the verso, mentioning Watson, his letter and those to whom he wished to be remembered.

In the ensuing year, Brown would embrace Watson as a trusted confidant and emissary in Brown's crucial secret role as naval and munitions supplier to the Revolution. Watson's services on behalf of Brown would continue for nearly a decade, and his missions would take him throughout the colonies and across the Atlantic. Altogether rare and fascinating survivals from the very beginning of a distinguished and influential career.

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