UTILITARIAN, / [large cut, 5 x 8 1/2 inches, of a beautiful stallion being held by a groom with three horses and farm buildings amidst rolling hills and a stand of trees in the background] / By Eclipse, out of a thorough-bred Roebuck mare, possessing all the useful quali- / ties, and fine action for the road … / [followed by 11 lines of text describing the horse and setting out terms for him to stand at stud]. Signed in type at the end "John H. Cocke."

[Bremo, Fluvanna Co., Virginia]: John H. Cocke, nd [1837, determined by the horses named in the text]. Broadside, 17 1/4 x 11 inches, employing a large bold type for the one-word head and printed on course brown paper; the wood engraving is signed in the image "Anderson." The horse stood at Cocke's Fluvanna County, Virginia, plantation, Bremo, on the James River. Not in American Imprints through 1846. Not in Hummel or his "More Virginia Broadsides." OCLC locates one copy (Virginia). Unusually and rather uniformly freckled with tiny spots of foxing, an attractive Virginia stud broadside. (#5354). Item #58325

John Hartwell Cocke (1780-1866), whose ancestors first appeared in Virginia shortly after the settling of Jamestown "inherited a fortune as well as refinement and native ability from his forebears, and after attending William & Mary College (1794-99), he chose the life of a country gentleman at 'Bremo' in Fluvanna County, to which he removed about 1803 … progressive and prescient in all things, he promoted new agricultural mehods, the founding of agricultural societies, the development of waterways and steam navigation, and various public improvements. During the War of 1812, [as a newly minted brigadier general] ... he commanded the Virginia soldiery guarding Richmond … slavery he denounced as a curse to commonwealth and nation … a friend to popular education, he sponsored sounder primary and secondary school systems ... his contribution [to the development of the University of Virginia] was subordinate only to that of of Thomas Jefferson and Joseph C. Cabell … conscientious, tenacious of opinion, boldly independent, and devoid of partisanship, sectarian or regional … he was a zealous reformer … the causes which he supported indicate him to have been one of the most remarkable Virginians of his generation in power of foresight, a pioneer of modern social reform" (DAB). For amplification of Cocke's military service, see the "War of 1812" item in this list.

Price: $2,500.00