Binding:  Publisher's green-blue vertically striped ribbed cloth (predominantly seen in the 1840s, never common). Covers with gilt-stamped foliate and drawer pull frame, spine gilt extra with American eagle and portrait of Washington. All edges gilt.

•  For early eds.: Sabin 3097; Howes B86. On striped bindings, see: Krupp, Making a Case for Cloth, p. [11].   Binding as above, very lightly rubbed, most notably at corners. Front free endpaper with old, closed cuts/slashes and early inked presentation inscription. Plates browned; some signatures foxed, most pages clean. A lovely copy.  (26759)

Chapman, along with several of her sisters, founded the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society and was one of the staunchest supporters of the abolitionist cause, braving mob scenes and social condemnation to attend anti-slavery meetings, circulate petitions, organize the Anti-Slavery Fair, and publish the present annual. Not many solid, presentable copies of the Liberty Bell make their way to the market, and this one is especially notable for its having been inscribed by Chapman herself.

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with presentation inscription reading “Eunice Dorman [?] from her friend M.W. Chapman,” dated February, 1844 (“39 Summer St.”).

•  On Chapman, see: McHenry, Famous American Women, 68–69, and DAB, IV, 19.   Publisher’s brown cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped bell vignette, spine with gilt-stamped title and blind-stamped decorative bands; cloth worn along board edges and corners and chipped away at spine extremities, exposing underlying boards or support. Front cover and outer edge with a few small dents, back cover with line of light, unobtrusive staining. Pages lightly foxed, otherwise clean, with some corners dog-eared. A desirable copy. (21279)

Binding:  Publisher's red cloth, covers and spine gilt-stamped with avian and foliate designs; all edges gilt.

•  Faxon 786.   Spine and edges moderately rubbed with front hinge cracked; spots of staining to bottom part of front cover. Front free endpaper with portion torn away, back free endpaper lacking; waterstaining in varying degrees to lower outer corners after p. 120. One signature extruded.  (12944)

Binding:  Publisher's textured denim blue cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped vignette of Friendship, Love, and Truth personified within an architectural frame; back cover with Truth stamped in gilt within the same frame stamped in blind. All edges gilt.

•  Faxon 608.   Binding as above, front cover and spine lightened to an attractive dark robin's egg blue, gilt showing minor rubbing and oxidizing. Presentation leaf unused. Guard leaves foxed, pages and plates generally clean.  (26749)

Provenance: The front free endpaper bears a neatly inked ownership inscription dated 1860 (J.C.W. Kempe) and an additional inked “sold to” inscription dated 1871 (Aden Mc Bowman); Bowman also signed another blank, and the presentation leaf is made out to Kempe as “P.G.J.C.W. Kempe.”

Binding:  Publisher's deep blue/black diced sheep in imitation of morocco, covers with gilt-stamped vignette of Friendship, Love, and Truth personified within an architectural frame; spine gilt extra with column motif. All edges gilt.

•  BAL 6877; Faxon 609.   Binding as above, joints and extremities rubbed, spine gilt slightly dimmed. Inscriptions and presentation leaf as above. Poetry clippings, fabric swatch, and lock of hair laid in. Scattered staining, generally light, throughout; chromo very bright and nice.  (27041)

Binding: Publisher's red morocco, covers and spine gilt extra in foliate designs with cherubim at play. All edges gilt.

•  Faxon 457a.   Binding as above, front joint just starting at top and bottom, edges and extremities showing very slight wear, gilt slightest bit rubbed in spots; overall bright and handsome. Light age-toning and spotting throughout.In remarkably good condition, unusually bright.  (20886)

Provenance:  Frontispiece with early pencilled gift inscription: “Ada Dilworth / Pittsburgh, Pa. / From Mother”; front fly-leaf with additional inscription in the same hand, with German quotations.

Binding:  Publisher's scarlet morocco, covers framed in gilt double fillets containing decorative gilt-stamped title surrounded by holly wreath and arabesque motifs. Spine with gilt-stamped title and floral decorations. All edges gilt.

•  BAL 3965. Not in Faxon.   Binding as above; spine somewhat darkened, joints and extremities lightly rubbed, a few very unobtrusive spots of discoloration. Inside, occasional light smudges; pages generally clean. A bright and appealing copy.  (26758)

•  Faxon 108. Binding as above, paper scuffed and joints a touch rubbed. Front free endpaper with owner’s name; front pastedown and fly-leaf with pencilled notations. Frontispiece with small chip to outer margin, repaired. Some instances of offsetting surrounding plates and illustrations, pages otherwise clean. An attractive, engaging little book.

Click the images for enlargements.

The volume is illustrated with an added engraved title-page and three steel-engraved plates, done by O. Pelton after designs by T.B. Read and Beaume, and by Charles Phillips after Sir Joshua Reynolds.

Signed binding: Hunter green embossed morocco, covers with cherub vignette in foliate frame; the embossed panel was designed by Francis N. Mitchell and engraved by Alex C. Morin, and the binding was done by Benjamin Bradley, with all three names stamped in panel. All edges gilt.

•  Faxon 713. On binding, see: Wolf, From Gothic Windows to Peacocks, 178; Spawn & Kinsella, American Signed Bindings, 53.   Binding as above, extremities with very minor rubbing; frontispiece lacking. Offsetting from plates, two pages with offsetting from now-absent laid-in item, scattered light spotting elsewhere. A gorgeous example of the binding, with interesting reading inside.  (26737)

Click the images for enlargements.

The volume is illustrated with four steel-engraved plates and an additional engraved title-page by various hands.

Signed binding: Hunter green embossed morocco, covers with cherub vignette in foliate frame; the embossed panel was designed by Francis N. Mitchell and engraved by Alex C. Morin, and the binding was done by Benjamin Bradley, with all three names stamped in panel. All edges gilt.

•  Faxon 714. On binding, see: Wolf, From Gothic Windows to Peacocks, 178; Spawn & Kinsella, American Signed Bindings, 53.   Binding as above, showing virtually no wear. A few light spots, pages mostly clean. Dried flower laid in. It is hard to imagine a better copy of this lovely annual.  (26743)

Click the interior image for an enlargement.

Binding:  Publisher's red cloth, covers embossed and gilt-stamped, each cover with chromolithographed paper illustration affixed; spine gilt extra. All edges gilt.

•  Faxon 259.   Binding slightly dimmed overall, scuffed at edges and joints. Front free endpaper with owner's inscription dated 1869. A few spots of foxing, mostly in proximity to plates.  (12931)

Click the images for enlargements.

Signed binding:  Black sheep in imitation of morocco, covers framed in heavy gilt borders surrounding gilt-stamped arabesque designs, spine gilt extra; front free endpaper with bookbinder Bradley's small pressure-stamp. All edges gilt.

•  Faxon 224. Not in Hamilton, Early American Book Illustrators. On binder's stamp, see: Spawn & Kinsella, American Signed Bindings, 55f.   Binding as above, minor wear to corners, spine with tiny scuff towards foot; binding clean and bright. Pages with varied degrees of foxing/staining and age-toning. Very spiffy.  (26673)

The work was also published in the same year under the title The Romance of American Landscape, and bears that running title here. This copy has an intriguing early pencilled inscription: “The 1st book my Father gave me came out of his book store - C.L.”

Binding:  Publisher's brown sheep in imitation of morocco, covers with embossed grapevine and latticework border stamped in black and with decorative gilt-stamped title (“LANDSCAPE ANNUAL”); spine with same gilt-stamped title and gilt- and black-stamped decorations. All edges gilt.

•  Sabin 70958; Wright, II, 2030. Not in BAL.   Binding as above, light wear to edges and extremities. Hinges (inside) starting. Front fly-leaf with inscription as above; additional engraved title-page with vignette of Mt. Vernon, lacking. Intermittent light to moderate foxing, mostly to margins of plates. Lovely book, lovely copy.  (26679)