Montgomery, (AL): Press of the Alabama Journal, 1846. First edition. 12mo. 260 pp. A high-spot (if such a thing may be said to exist) of antebellum pro-slavery literature. Historian John Ashworth finds in Estes “the fullest expression” of the menial theme in pro-slavery literature: “[Estes] was prepared to ‘state it..... More
Baton Rouge, (LA): Baton Rouge Gazette, December 29, 1827. Printed broadside extra, 21 1/8 x 14 3/4 inches, headline in large bold type. The first notice is a long advertisement for a slave, 'Negro woman, named Annis, 18 years old, a good house servant" and other property; included thereafter are..... More
(New Orleans: Privately Printed (for Charles Heartman, Heartman's Historical Series No. 50), 1936. First edition, "limited" (without a statement of number). 8vo. (6), 9-77 pp. Illustrated from photographs, title pages, ephemera, advertisements, etc., plates. Describes 13 of the "Blue Books," directories and advertising works for New Orleans "houses of ill..... More
[Washington DC: A. & G. Way, 1811]. Printed broadside, 16 1/2 x 11 1/8 inches, untrimmed, as issued, with wide margins all around, folded to 3 5/8 x 7 3/4 inches. This is a statement of payments due to eight different craftsmen and tradesmen for their work in furnishing the..... More
Urbana, OH: 1812. Folio manuscript document, one-page, approximately 250 words, a deposition to be "red in evidence in a suit ... in Mason County, Kentucky," apparently over ownership of property, including the "Negro woman," John Phillips as plaintiff, the descendants of Moses Phillips as defendant. Pinckard, as a justice of..... More
(Washington, DC): 1829. Autograph letter. 4to. 4-pages on a bifolium sheet of paper (watermark “Amies Philada.” with their dove mark), approximately 250 words, in part: “My Dear General, I entreat you to send me word of hope or comfort, for my situation is mortifying and distressing beyond all expression! After..... More
New York: Harper & Brothers, 1878. [printed later, an attempted forgery; the first edition requires a title page dated 1879]. With the first issue point of 79 titles listed in the publisher's Half-Hour Series at the front, but this copy issued without a printed date on the title page ("1878"..... More
Windsor (VT): Vermont Republican & Yeoman, November 25, 1818. Monroe's second State of the Union address. Printed broadside, 20 x 12 inches, the title printed above the first column of the message's text, with no other news or advertisements. A rare printing, in fine original state, from the American provincial..... More
New York: nd [ca. 1850]. Beautiful painted trade sign, 11 7/8 x 14 inches, watercolor and gouache in gold, black, and several shades of blue, with some remaining traces of pencil outlining, all enclosed within an embossed gilt border. Signed by the artist in lower corner: "I. L. Lazarus /..... More
Richmond, (VA): West & Johnston, 1862. First Confederate edition. 8vo. viii, 220, (4, publisher’s ads) pp. Sabin 97374. Howes T-394: “Original edition suppressed on its publication in 1836; date 1856 was fictitious. A prophetic foretelling of the Civil War.” Parrish & Willingham 6586. Outer quarter of blank front endpaper excised..... More
NP: np, nd [but 1889 or 1890]. 16mo (15 cm.). 16 pp. Title page wood engraving (repeated on the front wrapper). Dudley Foster was born in Nova Scotia in 1877 (text gives 1871) and died in 1894. Touted as the smallest man alive, he weighed five pounds at age five;..... More
Pocono Manor, PA: 1916. Oblong 8vo (5 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches). 45 photographically reproduced cartoons of couples, a few children, and several unaccompanied men, plus two original cartoons mounted to leaves of black paper making up a small album ("Photographs" embossed on front wrapper), each with the name of..... More
Maine: 1928-1938. Photograph album, 7 3/8 x 11 1/2 inches, 44 [of 48] leaves employed, both sides used for either mounting photographs or describing them, or both, with short narratives about trips occasionally interspersed; affixed to two leaves are reproduced copies of a 1937 manuscript map, executed by Erastus Haring..... More
[Birmingham, AL]: May, [1939]. Printed broadside, 17 ½ x 11 ½ inches, employing several sizes and styles of type. Jones was mayor of Birmingham, 1925-1940. Connor, overseeing the police and fire departments as Commissioner of Public Safety and a leader of the Democratic party, often used his power to deny..... More
Woodstock, Ontario: R. Whitelaw (A.H. Garrell & Co., Proprs., Toronto Lith. Co.), Advertising poster, 5 7/8 x 17 inches, featuring a full color lithographic image of the Climax and Economizer at work, with a third large agricultural machine in use, all manned by six rather well-dressed workers, feeding the machinery..... More
Pinehurst, NC: nd [ca. 1910]. Photographs. The ten photos include: (1) "Uncle Jerry (an old slave) / Father of the family" (ink caption on verso), an older man standing next to a tree in a grove, holding a double-barrel shotgun (with the Merrow studio blindstamp on mount); (2) "Uncle Jerry's..... More
On the Mississippi River between Memphis and Vicksburg: as recorded in a series of four large photographs, each with penciled captions on verso, more fully described below. nd [ca. 1900]. Four large photographs, three 7 3/4 x 9 3/4 inches, one 7 x 12 1/4 inches, on thick card mounts..... More
Utica, MS: The institute, 1911. 8vo. 8 pp. Table of receipts and disbursements on final page. Accompanied by a one-page typed letter, signed by Holtzclaw 24 January 1912, on institute letterhead, to a past donor in Buffalo, N.Y., soliciting a further contribution. Holtzclaw (1870-1943), an Alabama native and Tuskegee graduate..... More
[Tallahassee, Florida Territory?]: nd [1835]. Printed broadside, 19 1/4 x 11 1/2 inches, three contemporary manuscript corrections or additions. Not in Servies’s exhaustive Bibliography of Florida, Hummel, Sabin, or American Imprints. Not recorded on OCLC. However, we sold another copy in 2003 and know of one other that has passed..... More
New Bern, NC: 1864. Autograph letter. 4to, on ruled paper, in ink in a neat hand; with a full typed transcription. 6-pages, approximately 850 words, fully half of which is devoted to a plan to raise a regiment of African-American soldiers in Florida, in part: "I would desire an independent..... More
NP: nd [1930s?]. Minor wear in the margins, but very good. (9722). More
St. Helena Island, SC: 1862. 8vo. 7-pages, approximately 600 words, in part: "I went today to see General Mitchell [sic] to give him some information he desired about the plantations. He said that he considered the success or failure of our undertaking a matter of very great importance to the..... More
[Baltimore: Brown Chemical Co., nd] [ca.1882?]. Chromolithograph trade card, 11 x 7.5 cm., on stiff card stock. Printed by Burrow-Giles Lith. Co. 20 & 22 Gold St., NY. Pictorial image of Mrs. [Lily] Langtry, The Jersey Lily, on recto, wearing an apron and holding a pail. On verso is a...... More
NP: np, nd. Two chromolithograph trade cards, 9.5 x 5.5 cm. each, on stiff card stock. Image of Agnes Evans on one, image of Marini on the other. Both were stage actresses in the 1890s. Small ink spot on the caption title of the Evans card, signs on verso that..... More
[Rutland, Vermont: Higgins Greene & Hyde, nd] [ca.1884]. Chromolithograph trade card, 15 x 9.5 cm., on stiff card stock. Printed by Mayer, Merkel & Ottoman Lith., NY. Illustration on recto shows a winged cherub whispering in the ear of a young girl with a basket of flowers over her arm..... More
