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New York Banking — In Essence *&* at Point of Crisis

Click the images for enlargements.

•  First edition. This authoritative, interesting overview of the banking industry in the 19th century is illustrated with30 wood-engraved plates by Henry Herrick: expressive depictions of bank employees, customers, and their interactions. Gibbons, a financier by trade and a Quaker abolitionist, provides an excellent “picture of the banks of New York as they are” (p. v) — often by way of “you are there” conversations, including, on p. 95, a vigorous, decision-making interchange as to backinga house “too important . . . to be allowed to go down.”

Basic banking principles, procedures, and roles are carefully and memorably explained, as are the functioning of the (new) Clearing House; the author notes that covering the latter, and the Panic, has increased the length of his volume by a third.

•  Sabin 27289; not in Goldsmiths'-Kress.   Publisher's blind-stamped textured cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title and pictorial vignette; binding cocked, extremities rubbed, spine sunned. Ex–social club library: call numbers on endpaper, front free endpaper excised, pressure-stamp on title-page, two other pages rubber-stamped, no other markings. Some plates with small areas of staining to margins.  (26638)

This entry is repeated in the
“E–G” section of this
catalogue . . .

WHINE, Whine . . . !

•  The officials of the Royal Accounting Office in Buenos Aires have complained to the king of ill-treatment at the hands of other government officials, and the king here declares how the accountants are to be treated.

•  Folded as issued.

13th-Century Law Suit — 16th-Century Copy

•  Late-16th-century copy of a mid-13th-century legal decision in a law suit that pitched the town of Almudevar against Pedro Cornelio, Miguel de Gurrea, and others of the town of Gurrea over rights to wood cutting, pasturing, and other rural concerns. Click the image for an enlargement.

•  Written in a very clear legal notarial hand, in sepia ink. Very good.  (27071)

How Many? HODS were in a“Dale” of Coal?

[Anderson, Andrew].

•  Sheet of five identical printed slips meant to be used as receipts; the text provides space for recording the date, the payer, and the sum paid for an amount of coal (in “Dales”) furnished by the Laird of Wolmet, acting through his factor Andrew Anderson, here identified as a “Writer in Edinburgh.”Only one holding of this item, in Scotland, is reported by ESTC.

•  ESTC R172299; Wing (rev.) A3084B. Small portion of upper inner margin torn away. Tipped onto a leaf of 19th-century paper; now in a Mylar folder.

Volcanic Illustrations — Baily's Central American Survey

•  First edition of this evaluation of the commercial and agricultural potential of the Central American countries. An officer of the British Royal Marines, Baily lived in Guatemala for many years, and was the translator of Juarros's Compendio de la historia de la ciudad de Guatemala; he was also a proponent of the “Canal de Nicaragua.” Click the interior image for an enlargement.

The volume is illustrated with three engraved views, all three incorporating volcanos. As usual, this copy does not include the oversized map, which was printed and published separately.

•  Palau 21943; Sabin 2771; Nicaraguan National Bibliography 1476.   20th-century quarter red morocco and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; minor wear to corners and spine extremities. Plates with light waterstaining to lower portions; frontispiece, title-page, and plates backed with linen.  (25454)

How to CanJust About Anything

•  Edition T-2, bringing “summer freshness to winter needs.” In addition to the canning and preserving recipes, there are suggestions for other “practical uses for fruit jars.” The pamphlet is illustrated with attractive color-printed photographic images, including a striking portrait of an aproned housewife adding jars to a large, impressively organized and color-coded store of preserved foods.

•  Brown, Culinary Americana, 1033 (1938 ed. only).   Publisher's color photographically printed paper wrappers; booklet creased, corners bumped, edges and spine showing shelf wear. Pages age-toned, a few with small edge chips. Folded newspaper clipping on canning laid in. A nice example, in fact, of a booklet proffering an unusually fine sense of the housewife as engaged in Serious Business, a productive laborer in her métier.  (26066)

Money & Bank Paper — New York 1812–13

•  In addition to all promised in the title of this tract, the author examines the course of banking in New York state wondering if it is a paradigm for Pennsylvania and the rest of the nation. He studies the initial capitalization and ultimate failure, success, or mere existence of several banks. His analysis of specie versus paper money is detailed and takes into account the role each plays in internal and foreign trade.

Apparently a most scarce item: We trace only three institutional copies, two of which are in Philadelphia.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 32623; Sabin 60452. Removed from a nonce volume and inner margin irregular; six-digit number stamped on final, blank page; age-toning.

This PHILADELPHIA Bank's Articles of Association . . .

•  Sole edition and very rare. The bank was capitalized with $1,000,000, aimed at making loans to merchants and farmers, and drew its original 16 directors from the powers that were in Philadelphia at that time, both Christian and Jewish.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 4846. Sewn as issued. Waterstaining to lower margin of most pages; mildew damage to same areas.

. . . and Its Incorporation (Banking). Philadelphia [National] Bank. Pennsylvania. Laws, statutes, etc. An act to incorporate the Philadelphia Bank. Philadelphia: Pr. by W. W. Woodward, 1804. 8vo. 21, [1 (blank)] pp.
$800.00

•  The legislature enables the bank to come into existence and prohibits conflicts of interest by barring sitting governors and legislators from serving on the Bank's board of directors. This act of incorporation seems to be as rare as the Bank's Articles.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 7007. Original light boards covered with marbled paper. Back cover and two leaves gnawed by a rodent, with loss of paper.

A Signed Binding byHarry B. Matthews

•  First U.S. edition. Story of betrothal, with illustrations based on watercolors by Frank T. Merrill. Title-page with printed note, “The Sale of this book in New York and Philadelphia is confined to the stores of JOHN WANAMAKER.” Click the images for enlargements.

Binding:  Signed binding by Harry B. Matthews. Light brown cloth with an Art Nouveau spider web and spider in black and red on front cover, along with author and title in black.

•  Binding as above. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate and private ownership monogram, rubber-stamp on title-page, four-digit number in ink in one margin, charge pocket at rear, no other markings.  (26419)

Gold & Silver Conversion Tables
  fromthe Press of a Woman Printer

Click the images for enlargements.

•  Mining was one of the chief industries of colonial Mexico, and after a century of decline during the 1600s, the 18th century saw a renaissance in ore extraction, chiefly due to new technologies that made it possible to rework old ore and to achieve higher than previously imagined levels of silver and gold extracted from newly mined ore. Berdugo's work is a vade mecum of conversion tables of values for gold of different carats and for silver of different values of purity.

The work was absolutely essential for all merchants and other business people, and for government workers in the treasury department — for milled coins were the exception in Mexican commerce, cob pieces the norm, and raw gold and silver, including dust, were extremely common.

The volume ends with the “Reglas varias, para sacar juntos, o separados en pasta, o en moneda los reales derechos, que se pagan a S. Mag. De el oro y de la plata, y para reducir a toda su ley estos metales.”

An uncommon economic work: We trace fewer than nine copies in the U.S.

This was printed by Doña Maria de Rivera with a red and black title-page, and with woodcut arms on first dedication page. The charming cut of a herald cherub appears after the decima dedicated to the author at the end of the preliminaries.

•  Medina, Mexico, 4073.   Contemporary full Mexican calf, modestly tooled in gilt and with all edges red; recased, new endpapers. Final two leaves little ragged at edges costing a few letters and with small hole at center and short tears at inner margin; old staining and age-toning/browning throughout. There is every indication that this well-produced little volume saw time “in the field”!  (26850)

PIRATED! Thumb Bible

Click the interior images for enlargements.

•  Thumb Bibles were a favorite gift or reward for children during the late 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries, but they were enough of a curiosity that they also found audiences among other classes of readers and collectors as well. Miniature books, with page measurements not exceeding 2" x 1 1/2", their text is composed of paraphrased versions of famous Bible stories or passages. Because these books were most commonly owned, read, and played with by children, they suffered heavy and rough use and saw a great rate of destruction.

The 24 wood engravings illustrating the present example are identical to those found in the Phinney thumb Bibles (which Adomeit says are “distinctive as the majority of the cuts are portraits, which Stone suggests are portraits of neighboring farmers”) — and indeed, this entire offering appears to have been pirated from Phinney by Bolles, one of three New London publishers known for such practices.

•  Adomeit, Three Centuries of Thumb Bibles, A71; this ed. not in Rosenbach, Early American Children's Books.   Contemporary sheep, spine with gilt-stamped title; slightly sprung, covers each with one small spot of worming, minor wear. Frontispiece recto with early pencilled inscription. Pages with some light spotting and occasional edge nicks. A nice example of this sort of production.  (25201)

Coal Mining (or Lack Thereof?) in Scotland

(Biggar vs. Buccleugh).

•  Legal dispute over the worth of mining rights at Sheriffhall; the Duchess of Buccleugh and her husband, Lord Cornwallis, had sold the rights to William Biggar, but the latter found the seams not as workable as expected. ESTC records only one, imperfect holding of this item.

•  ESTC T37215. Tipped onto a leaf of 19th-century paper, now in a Mylar folder. Dust-soiling, creasing; repairs to tears in both leaves done some time ago, with some unrepaired closed tears resulting in loss of a few letters here and there.

ROMAN Political Science in itsOriginal State

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•  Sole edition, here unopened and uncut in the publisher's paper wrappers, of this treatise on ancient Roman government and economics. Bilhon also published Principes d'administration et d'économie politique des anciens peuples, appliqués aux peuples modernes and Éloge de J.J. Rousseau.

Uncommon: OCLC and NUC Pre-1956 find only eight U.S. holdings.

•  Goldsmiths'-Kress 19346.100.   Publisher's rose paper wrappers, rebacked in paper wrapper edges chipped and hinges (inside) reinforced. Half-title and title-page institutionally rubber-stamped, front pastedown with institutional bookplate and early inked numeral, half-title with small inked ownership inscriptions. Signatures unopened, edges untrimmed; pages age-toned throughout, some with a little foxing; a nice copy. Now housed in a neat rose-maroon cloth clamshell case with gilt-stamped leather title-label.  (25268)

Certo “Perfect Every Time”Jams & Jellies

•  Early printing. This promotional pamphlet advertising Certo, a pectin product for setting jams and jellies, is illustrated with a number of brightly colored chromolithographed images. There are no step-by-step recipes present — those were found in a booklet attached to the bottle itself — but rather numerous glowing descriptions of different types of fruit goodies to be made, and how to use them creatively.

This offers a number of “family at home” illustrations that are both quaint and charming.

•  Brown, Culinary Americana, 2284 (1924 ed.).   Publisher's printed paper wrappers, in pastels both strong and sweet; front wrapper with owner's name pencilled in upper portion. A clean, fresh copy.  (26050)

Curbing Contraband

Brazil

•  Document summary, found below "REY": "Alvará com força de Ley, porque V. Magestade he servido ampliar os Paragrafos quinto, sexto, e setimo do Capitulo decimo setimo dos Estatutos da Junta do Commercio destes Reynos, e seus Dominios, para mais efficazmente se evitarem os contrabandos. . . . "

•  Quarter green cloth with marbled paper sides, and red leather cover label with gilt-stamped title and gilt ruling.

A VeryStudyable Collection

•  The importance of Brazil to Portugal, brought home in a hard and dramatic way when the Dutch took over portions of the colony during the period 1630-54, was further enhanced by the discovery in the late 17th century of gold, and in the early 18th century of diamonds, there—in addition to the sugar and wood that had domininated the colony's earliest lists of exports. This collection of royal decrees (alvarás and other types) deals with treatment of black slaves, regulation of shipping, administration of sugar and tobacco monopolies, importing of wine and vinegar, and the constant and various problems of managing colonial administrators and distributing/limiting their perquisites and prerogatives.

In all, an interesting sampling of the types of decrees that the kings and queens of Portugal issued in order to maintain order and discipline in the ever-increasingly important colony of Brazil. The value of the documents sold individually totals $6325.00, and the collection price represents a savings of above 20%.

•  The vast bulk of these decrees are bound in faux morocco and faux mottled calf; those that are in wrappers or as issued are carefully noted. All are in very good condition.

For details, please e-mail us.

Hands OffOur Guano!

•  The Isla de Aves was a matter of contention between the U.S. and Venezuela, as Venezuela claimed sovereignty over the island and thus the exclusive right to exploit the large amount of guano there. (The dispute was eventually decided in favor of Venezuela.) Briceño was envoy extraordinary to the U.S. and minister plenipotentiary of Venezuela.

•  Not in Palau. Original yellow printed wrappers, removed from a nonce volume with stab holes in the inner margins; inside wrappers with a short closed tear and a little shallow chipping, light soiling and a few stray marks. Fold mark down the center and traces of soiling on the top edges.

“Northern Liberties”

•  By this legal instrument William Tyson “of Northern Liberties [now a part of the city of Philadelphia] in the County of Philadelphia and state of Pennsylvania, Dealer” agrees to pay Thomas Walton “of the same place” two hundred pounds “current money of the said state of Pennsylvania in specie” of 100 pounds is payable with interest. The rate of interest is unstated but is six percent per annum.

Tyson and Walton signed the document on 24 August 1791.

An excellent display piece.

•  Old folds with a few short tears. Residue of mounting tape at two points on the left margin. (14729)

The World — As It Was in1766

Click the interior images for enlargements.

•  Stated “second edition, with great additions and improvements,” of this standard reference work. Industriously compiled by Richard Brookes, it went through numerous editions, the first being published in 1762. Sieges, battles, commerce, fair days, and the “Customs, Manners, and Religion of the Inhabitants” are briskly covered; this is not geography as mere topography. Opening at random places, we see from the entry on the Mississippi River that Louisiana is “a delightful country inhabited by savages”; that Prague, “a handsome, large, famous town or city” can “send 50,000 men into the field, without meddling with artificers, or perceiv[ing] any great loss of them”; and that the trees are always green in the Philippines.

The book includes eight folding maps, respectively, of the world, Africa, North America, South America, England and Wales, the Empire of Germany, and Europe.

•  ESTC N7888.   Contemporary calf, covers framed in double gilt fillets, rebacked in recent calf; raised bands defined by gilt rules above and below each band, and gilt-stamped title on a red leather label. Significant wear to corners and edges of front and rear covers; shallow chip at top edge of front cover. Title-page mounted, with upper, outer, and lower edges reinforced; early inked ownership notation (“His Book” but without a name attached!) on title-page. Some instances of mild foxing and the odd spot; light waterstaining to a number of early and later leaves, mostly in margins; offsetting from leather affecting only first three and final three leaves, at edges. First map with two repairs at top and bottom edge; closed tear at bottom and creases down center. A couple of maps with very shallow edge tears. All maps generally clean and overall in very good condition, excepting the map of Europe of which the right portion has been torn away along the fold and is now missing. Much interest and pleasure here.  (23789)

Corruption Trial & Ultimate Vindication

•  The Earl of Buchan (1742–29) writes convincingly in defense of Warren Hastings (1732–1818), the former governor of Bengal, against charges levelled against him by Burke. Buchan was impeached on several charges, others were added in later months, and the trial dragged on from 1787 to 1795, when he was ultimately found not guilty of all charges. What a nightmare!

Attributed to the Earl of Buchan by Halkett & Laing (vol. 9 [1962 ed.]).

•  Goldsmiths’-Kress 13204; ESTC T143537.   Recent full brown speckled calf, covers gilt-tooled in the Cambridge style. Raised bands on spine accented with gilt beading on bands and defined by gilt rules above and below each band. Title-page printed aslant or trimmed somewhat askew, and with a few small old inkspots; pamphlet otherwise clean, with occasional light instances of foxing.  (21735)

HAMBURG — Its History as Trade Center

•  First edition: Economic history of trade in Hamburg, written by the author of Grundriss einer Geschichte der merkwürdigsten Welthändel neuerer Zeit in einem erzählenden Vortrage.
Click the interior image for an enlargement.

Uncommon: Fewer than nine copies located in U.S. libraries.

•  Goldsmiths’-Kress 16971. Period-style speckled paper, spine with printed paper title and publication labels. Title-page and one other rubber-stamped by a now-defunct institution (being a “mercantile” library, intereting provenance for this work; title-page with short tear from upper margin (touching one word of title) repaired some time ago. Pages age-toned; first few leaves with inner margins waterstained.

What’s Going on Here?

Click the image for an enlargement.

•  Deed from the Hon. Thomas Burnside to Benjamin Patton, transferring the rights to a 559-acre property in western Pennsylvania previously owned by David Curry, deceased, which land became the property of the county upon default of payment of taxes. Two years later Patton sold the same tract to the George Curry, executor of David Curry’s estate. Patton had paid $14.65 in 1811 and sold in 1813 for $200.00.

The Irish-born Burnside, then treasurer of Clearfield, Pennsylvania, was later a justice of the Pennsylvania state supreme court.

A notary’s seal is affixed to the document, which was signed by both Burnside and Patton.

•  Creased and slightly age-toned, with the folios separated and some offsetting from seal; a few small holes, touching text without notable loss.

Japan during theYears of Seclusion, for an American Audience

•  First U.S. edition, printed in the same year as the London first, here part of Harper's “Family Library” series. The volume was edited by Mrs. William Busk (Mary Margaret Busk), an author and literary critic; Busk nicely summarized what was then known of Japan via the Dutch traders at Dejima, using as her sources not only the writings of von Siebold, but also those of Engelbert Kaempfer, Hendrik Doeff, Germain Felix Meylan, and Overmeer Fischer. The additional title-page bears a steel-engraved vignette depicting a Japanese man courting a fan-wielding lady, and there are chapters on “Social and Domestic Life,” “Language, etc.,” and the “Religion of Japan.” Click the images for enlargements.

Binding:  Publisher's olive-brown vermiform embossed cloth of Krupp's style Mis1, spine with gilt-stamped series and individual title.

•  American Imprints 41-3339; Cordier, Bibliotheca Japonica, 475–76.   Binding as above, cocked and front board slightly warped, sides with light discolorations; spine faded and head with strip of dark cloth tape extending onto sides. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate and call number on front pastedown, first three leaves pressure-stamped, no other markings. First half of volume with pages faintly waterstained in upper portions and cockled; a sound book and as good a “read” as it was for the club members.  (26428)

First German-Language Edition
Social & Economic Causes
   of SLAVERY

•  First German-language edition: A translation of Buxton's African Slave Trade and Its Remedy, published in English in two parts in 1839 and 1840. Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, 1st Baronet, was an influential humanitarian and evangelical who campaigned against capital punishment, promoted prison reform, and (most famously) supported the abolition of slavery; Allibone called him “one of the noblest examples of philanthropic zeal of modern times.” In the present work, he first analyzes the slave trade in depth, then proposes means of addressing both the economic factors and the African “Superstitions and Cruelties” enabling the continuation of slavery. The British government sent a mission to Niger as a result of the author's advocacy of diplomatic efforts, but recalled it after numerous members of the party died of fever, much to Buxton's dismay; that expedition is described here in a preface by Carl Ritter.

The volume is illustrated with an oversized, folding engraved map captioned in English.

Uncommon: OCLC and NUC Pre-1956 find only nine U.S. holdings (one deaccessioned).

•  Goldsmiths'-Kress 32415.2; Sabin 9688. On Buxton, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online and Allibone, 317.   Boards covered with German-style black-flecked brown paper, spine with printed paper label. Pages slightly age-toned, with a very few scattered instances of light spotting; map with faint offsetting and short tear along lower inner margin, not touching image. An attractive copy.  (25325)

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