JOLTS AND SCRAMBLES; OR, "WE UNS AND OUR DOIN'S."
Philadelphia: (Printed for private circulation [by] Times Printing House, Philadelphia), 1884. Oblong 4to. 93, (1) pp. Illustrated, 14 photographs mounted on card stock, 8 original etchings by Strickland L. Kneass, each captioned by him in pencil. Original gilt-stamped green cloth (rubbed, corners and spine ends a bit frayed); marbled endpapers, a.e.g.; hinges cracked. Somewhat shaken, contemporary newspaper clipping, describing the trip, affixed to front pastedown, otherwise a good copy of a rare book. (Item ID: 51638)
$8,500.00
First edition. The illustrator's own copy, with his ownership signature, dated "Nov. 1884" on the front endpaper and his important manuscript notes on a rear endpaper, identifying the author of each day's activities. The illustrated narrative of a trip from Philadelphia through the mountains of western North Carolina and the return home by a group of 11 Philadelphians: Mr. and Mrs. Richard H. Downing, their daughter and a cousin, Debbie and Mattie Downing; Ben T. Longstreth and his sister Mary; John G. Bullock, the photographer, and his sister Mary; W. Henry Grant and his sister Sophia; and Kneass, the illustrator. The group disembarked from its train in Marion, North Carolina, and travelled by buggy and horseback through the Linville gorge area to Cranberry, enjoyed a side trip into Tennessee with visits to Hampton and Roan Mountain, and continued from there to Asheville by way of Burnsville, some of the group climbing Mt. Mitchell on the way, the rest taking an easier route through Weaverville. Along the way, they stayed with local families and wrote at length on rural mountain life and scenery. The photographic images include homes, buggies, mountain views, the tour group picnicking and fording a river, and an African-American family; Kneass's etchings are primarily scenes of the group's lodgings, both interior and exterior. RARE. Not in Thornton, Clark New South, or Truthful Lens. OCLC locates five copies (George Eastman House, the Clements Library, and the three major institutional collections of North Caroliniana: North Carolina, Duke, Maryland-Baltimore County). The North Carolina copy has but 13 mounted photographs; the Clements and Duke copies have but 11 mounted photographs. OCLC and other reference sources describe "18 plates," but we have encountered no copy with such a number.