WASHINGTON, D.C. [This “shelf” offers 20th-Century General Reading & Reference — as well as Rarities]
WASHINGTON, D.C. 
A National Trust Publication
(Decatur House). Beale, Marie. Decatur House and its inhabitants. [Washington, D.C.: National Trust for Historic Preservation,] 1954. Small 4to. [4] ff., 156 pp., illus.
• Publisher's cloth.
A Practical Yet Picturesque View of
the U.S. & Canada De Roos, Frederick Fitzgerald [a.k.a. De Ros, John Frederick Fitzgerald]. Personal narrative of travels in the United States and Canada in 1826 ... with remarks on the present state of the American Navy. London: William Harrison Ainsworth, 1827. 8vo (21.8 cm, 8.55"). xii, 207, [1] pp.; 14 plts. (1 fold.).
Click the images for enlargements. 
Washington
and Baltimorebefore heading back north through Philadelphia
and Boston to reach Nova Scotia and Canada; in his travelogue, the author proves
himself a curious yet gentlemanly observer not only of America's shipbuilding,
marine affairs, and naval strength, but also of her customs, culture, women,
and interactions with “the conquered Indian” (p. 165).
The volume is illustrated with
an
oversized, folding panoramic view of Quebec along with 13 other plates,
including two maps of the Niagara Falls region; views of Bristol, DE, and
Chester, MA; and a bucolic depiction of the “Water Works of Philadelphia
on the Schuylkil,” all engraved after De Roos's own designs.
Binding: Contemporary hunter green diced calf, covers framed in gilt double fillets and an interior blind rule with small gilt-stamped corner fleurons; spine gilt extra in five compartments. Board edges and turn-ins decorated with gilt rolls; rich blue marbled endpapers; all edges marbled.
• Howes D268; Sabin 19677. Binding as above, corners/joints
scuffed and back joint starting from head; spine a little sunned, evenly and
attractively. Scattered light foxing, pages and plates otherwise clean. 
An
admirable book in a nice copy. (26665)
A
Literary “Washington'ianum”Dinmore, Richard. Select and fugitive poetry. A compilation. With notes biographical and historical. Washington City: Pr. at the Franklin Press [by James Lyon & Richard Dinmore], 1802. 12mo (16.3 cm, 6.4"). 288 pp. 
Click any image where the hand appears on • Wegelin 932; Shaw & Shoemaker 2148. Period-style quarter tan cloth over light blue paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label. Title-page torn, with outer corner chipped, resulting in loss of four letters from end of title; now mounted. One contents leaf with edge tear extending into text; last leaf with short edge tears. Some light to moderate foxing, with pages age-toned; final page with shadow of pencilled “Finis” and p. 80 with pencilled comment as above.
Printed D.C. 1901
— Purchased Y.T. 1907 Dunham, Samuel C. Goldsmith of Nome and other verse. Washington: Neale Publishing Co., 1901. 8vo. 80 pp.
• Publisher's cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title and landscape vignette, spine with gilt-stamped title; binding worn over extremities, with gilt showing some rubbing. Pages clean. (5701)
Wonderful to Leaf Through
Gill, Brendan. John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. New York: Harry N. Abrams, ©1981. 4to. 160 pp., illus.
• Publisher's cloth and original dust jacket.
A Dry Dock for Washington?Jefferson,
Thomas (President, 1801–1809). Message from the President of the United States, transmitting plans and estimates of a dry dock, for the preservation of our ships of war. 28th December, 1802. Referred to the Committee appointed on the 17th instant, on so much of the Message of the President of the United States, as relates to our navy yards, and the building of docks. Washington City: Pr. by William Duane & Son, 1802. 8vo (21.2 cm, 8.4"). 25 pp.
Benjamin Henry Latrobe on the subject of constructing a dry dock in the city of Washington, and two
additional letters. P. 19 is a folding table (verso blank).
Click the image for an enlargement. • Shaw & Shoemaker 3361. Recent paper wrappers. Title-page darkened, with small chip at upper margin, two short tears at lower margin, and an early inked annotation. Short edge tears to some outer margins, not touching text. Outer edge untrimmed, bottom edge unevenly trimmed.
Maggs AMERICANA!
(Library of Congress). Maggs Bros., London. An illustrated catalogue raisonné of one hundred and six original manuscripts, autographs, maps, and printed books illustrating the discovery & history of America from 1492 to 1814. Loaned by Maggs Bros., of London. 
Exhibited at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., Spring, 1929. Folio. 233 pp., [1] p.; illus.
The Trent Affair
Rush, Benjamin. Letter on the rebellion, to a citizen of Washington from a citizen of Philadelphia. Philadelphia: John Campbell, 1862. 8vo. 23, [1 (blank)] pp.
• Sewn as issued. Once folded in six parts. Long 2 1/2 inch tears extending from fore-edges, to first three leaves. Two dog-eared corners, a few short tears to final leaf, two small holes with loss of a few words of text. (557)
“A
Haven of Peace in a Distracted
World”
Spaulding, Thomas M. The Literary Society in peace
and war. Washington; Menasha, WI: Privately printed by George Banta Publishing Co., 1947.
8vo. 37, [1 (blank)] pp.
150 copies; our caption quotation
appears on p. 1. With a list of members on pp. 23–37.
• Publisher's cloth, lettered in gilt on the front. Near fine. (26702)
“The
Details of the Late War”
Subaltern
(Georg Robert Gleig, attrib.).
A subaltern in America; comprising his narrative of the campaigns of the British
army, at Baltimore, Washington,
&c. &c. during the late war. Philadelphia: E.L. Carey & A. Hart;
Boston: Allen & Ticknor, 1833. 12mo (18.3 cm, 7.25"). 266 pp.
Click the images for enlargements. 
A pencilled annotation in one margin of this copy reads “The author is not aware that the people in the Southern States are not called Yankees”; one particularly anti-American remark later in the volume has been lined through in pencil.
• Sabin 27570; Howes S1115. Publisher's speckled sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; covers sunned unevenly, edge/extremities rubbed, head of spine showing traces of now-absent label. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate on front pastedown, front free endpaper lacking, pressure-stamp on title-page. Title-page with supposed author's name inked in upper margin. Waterstaining to lower outer corners of first few leaves; scattered spots of foxing and staining; one signature much browned, showing the different effects of time and “life” on different papers. (26376)
A
Capital
Crimes Mystery Novel
Truman, Margaret. Murder at the National Cathedral. New York: Random House, 1990. 8vo.
• Publisher's cloth. Very good condition, in a very good dust jacket.
Convention Constitution Membership United States Railway Mail Service Mutual Benefit Association. Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Convention of the United States Railway Mail Service Mutual Benefit Association, held at Washington, D. C., September 4th and 5th, 1878, with the constitution and by-laws as amended thereat, and list of members of the association. Washington: Pr. by J. F. Sheiry, 1878. 16mo. 175 pp.
• Original printed wrappers, chipped at spine and edges and corners without loss of printing; darkened. A shallow chip or two to title and following page, shallow dog-earing and faint waterstaining to initial leaves including title-page; otherwise, clean and free of chips or tears. (21257)
See also, perhaps, GENERAL READING — where there are a good many
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