Search Results: AMERICANA from Antipodean Books, Maps & Prints

Masssachusetts, 1731. Otherwise very good condition. A debt agreement between Isaac Bond, cordwainer of Sherbourn, county of Middlesex and Joseph Cuzzens of the same location, Massachusetts Bay Colony. "Know all men by these presents that I, Isaac Bond of Sherbourn in the County of Middlesex...Province of Massachusetts Bay in New England, Cordwainer [shoemaker], am held and do stand firmly bound and obliged unto Joseph Cuzzens of said Sherbourne...Yeoman, in the sum of 24 Pounds in good an lawful money of ye said Province, to be paid to the said Joseph Cuzzens or his heirs, executors, or administrators.... I bind myself my heirs, executors, and administrators and assigns firmly by these presents." Signed in the presence of John ? and Wm. Rider. "Sealed with my seal dated the Fourteenth Day of June Anno Domini 1731 and in the 5th year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord, King George The Second by the Grace of God of Great Britain,etc." An interesting reminder that in 1731, Massachusetts was a… Read More

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1841. Very good condition. This deed for the transfer of 240 acres in Graves County, Kentucky, from Samuel C. Atkinson and his wife Marion R. and Samuel Tiller and his wife Christiana to Anthony Kelty, identified as a "paper maker of Chester County, Pennsylvania." (Samuel C. Atkinson, who identifies his occupation as "editor" is listed with his wife Marian and family in the 1850 U.S. census in Burlington, New Jersey.) The land had been sold to Atkinson and Tiller by David Smith, a "merchant of Paducah," and his wife Lucretia, to Atkinson and Tiller on May 8, 1839. The deed contains the bold signature of Sam C. Atkinson, who was cofounder in 1821 of the Saturday Evening Post, which set up its Philadelphia offices in the two-story brick building at 53 Market where Benjamin Franklin once published the Pennsylvania Gazette. In 1826 Atkinson also introduced the hugely popular magazine, The Casket, and the National Atlas. He became sole proprietor of the Post in 1828 and… Read More

Washington DC: Bureau of Engraving & Printing, 1872. Very good condition. A beautiful engraved American passport on watermarked paper, the watermark consisting of a large banner titled 'Department of State', above the American eagle and "E Pluribus Unum". Signed by Fernando A. Yznaga (1850 - 1901) at the lower left, and by Hamilton Fish as Secretary of State, at the lower right. Yznaga was a Cuban American businessman based in New York, who became the brother in law of William K. Vanderbilt, and conducted much brokerage business for the Vanderbilt family. Hamilton Fish served as the 16th Governor of New York from 1849 to 1850; Senator from New York from 1851 to 1857 and 26th Secretary of State from 1869 to 1877. Under "Description", Yznaga is recorded as 22 years of age, and 5 feet 10 inches. Folded, 12 x 18", printed on two sides. Period folds flattened, splits along folds.

Washington DC: Bureau of Engraving & Printing, 1881. Very good condition. A beautiful engraved passport on lavishly watermarked paper, the watermark consisting of a large banner titled 'Department of State', above the American eagle and "E Pluribus Unum". The first US passports were issued during the American Revolution, and the early ones were modeled after the French passports of the period. This French style was used from 1789 until 1900, with a large format and elegant watermark. The left side provides a physical description of the bearer including age, height, and facial features; there is a passport number, but no explicit expiration date is given. Made out in period hand to John L. Livingston, and dated the 21st of June, 1881. Under "Description", Livingston is age 59, 5 feet 10 1/2 inches; gray eyes; mouth: "mustache"; hair "white"; complexion "dark". Signed at the lower left by Livingston. Number 6537 stamp. 24 x 18". Period folds flattened.

New York: Printed for John Reid, No. 106 Water Street, by M. L. & W. A. Davis, 1799. Wraps. Scarce American account of the state of Egypt, published during Napoleon's Egypt Campaign, with an ownership inscription of the Green Press of New London, Ct., the second printing press in existence in the American colonies. The Green family was one of the earliest printing families of the American colonies, Samuel Green (ca.1614 - 1702) having taken over the first American printing press around 1649 from Stephen Day (Daye) and his son, Matthew, who began printing about 1639 in the Massachusetts Bay colony. At the first blank leaf of this volume, written in contemporary hand, is "Green's Press, Mr. Hart's". The topic of war in Egypt and Napoleon's invasion was an important one to the newly formed United States. As Remmey states, "at a time when the nations of Europe are engaged in a destructive and ruinous War, and one of them has actually transported a numerous army to the shores of Egypt, and made that… Read More

London: The Roxburghe Press, 1893. Hardcover. Good - condition. The author, a member of the Arts Society and a British manufacturer, traveled to the Chicago World's Fair of 1893. Much content on travels up the Hudson River to Niagara Falls, with interesting observations and poems. Also examines American industry and wages, and travels to Montreal, Chicago and Washington DC. This volume was privately printed as a souvenir of the trip for the members of the Arts Society. 8vo, (xii), 305pp uncut, teg. Pale blue cloth covers with gilt title on front cover and on spine. Covers are dusty and spine is rubbed at top and base; corners are rubbed.

New York: Mark H. Newman, 1850. First edition. Hardcover. Good + condition. Oblong 8vo, 304pp. Orig. green blind stamped boards with black calf spine, gilt title. Spine a little rubbed 1st 10pp with light watermark o/w a clean & firm copy. Not in Muller. Songs included The California Gold Hunter p141; "The Star-spangled Banner. American Song. Newly Harmonized for this work." p118; The True American Gentleman, p73, America (by Franz Abt, Switzerland (?)p 218. Approx 160 songs.

New York: Underwood & Underwood, 1915. Ephemera. Good + overall. Proof sheet of photographs of Boy Scouts of America in its infancy. The Boy Scouts in America started in 1910. Camp Archibald Butt (named in one of the photos) ran from 1914 to 1916 on the shore of Chesapeake Bay. Underwood & Underwood were founded in 1887 and were an American firm that made and sold stereo views and later rented images to newspapers and other publications. In 1895 they were the first to enter the education field with the production of stereo views and, in 1898, they began marketing the Underwood Travel System - boxed sets of views of a particular country with descriptions of the scenes printed on the back in 6 languages. They then began to hire photographers and buy images from all over the world. These proof sheets were used to choose the particular view selected for the stereo card. The numbers on the sheet were used to locate the negatives (mostly glass plate), which were kept in large files. The majority of the… Read More

New York: Orange Judd Company, 1875. Hardcover. Good + condition. The volume of 12 complete numbers includes a series of articles by the architect S. B. Reed, of Corona, New York, with the following titles, " A House Costing $1,500 to $2,000"; "A Farm House Costing $2,800" (p. 372); "A Farm House Costing $3,000" (p.415); and "A Brick House Costing $4,000" (p.453) . Other articles pertain to a wide range of subjects such as "Valentine's Morning" (p.67), baseball ("About Ball Covering", p27), "Standard Architectural Books for Carpenters and Builders" (p397), an advertisement with charming illustration for a toy set called C. M. Crandall's Menagerie of Animals (p.443), and instruction on fowl shooting, "The Winged Duck Game" (p.457-458). Large 4to, 476pp, b&w illus throughout. Dark red library binding with gilt title on spine. Pages evenly toned; slight staining to pages 473 through 476; a little insect activity at the very top edge of the last pages not affecting text.

London: A. Millar & J. & R. Tonson, 1762. First edition. Hardcover. Good + overall. Volume 1 of a 3 volume set. xxiv, unpaginated, introduction and text. Complete with the 2 folding maps that are engraved by John Gibson: 1. America, North and South; 2. Carolina, Georgia and Florida, both folded and in very good original condition. An extremely rare work completed at the conclusion of the French and Indian war. Rare Book Hub has the last copy (of the set) on the market in 1963. OCLC: 1629178 (3 vols) 12 mo, bound in full period calf with spine present but the book is split into three parts with covers detached. Evenly toned, some fox spotting that does not interfere with text.

London: Simpkin, Marshall, 1870. First edition. Hardcover. Good +. The Civil War and anti slavery book is dedicated to the author's sister, Mary May, wife of Samuel May, one of the great social reformers who worked for freedom and civil rights for blacks, voting rights for women, and workers' rights. The volume is made up of letters written by goddard to the various newspapers around Britain commenting on events and background to the civil war. 8vo, xvi, 583pp, half title has been removed; all edges red. Gilt stamped maroon buckram, gilt title at spine. Spine slightly sunned, back cover has a narrow faded strip. Internally, tight and bright with some very light scattered foxing at end papers.

Dublin: Printed by Thomas Walker at Cicero's Head, 1783. Good + condition. Complete monthly number, with copper engraved portrait of "The Irresistible Captain", a British captain whose regiment was ordered to America and who served under Burgoyne at Saratoga, from 'Histories of the Tete a Tete annexed. (p285). The Hibernian covered news and politics in Ireland, Britain, Europe and North America, as well as theater and book reviews, original prose and poetry, and business, marriage and death notices. The printed illustrations included important personages, music & practical items such as sewing patterns. 8vo, pp281 - 336, plus index. Single issue, extracted from yearly volume.

New York: Howard Lockwood, 1879. Very good condition. A pamphlet with 2 pages from the Australian press; others quoted are New Zealand, Hong Kong and India press reactions to American enterprise. Newspapers named include: Daily Press, Hong Kong, China; Bacchus March Express, Victoria ("[The American Mail & Export Journal] contains descriptions and illustrations of many novelties which the Americans are always producing, but which cannot be got in these colonies ....") p11; The New Zealand Press News, Dunedin; Deccan Herald, Poona, India ("Our English merchants had better look sharp, otherwise they will find the foreign market contested with them by American merchants") p19; Benalla South Australia Standard; and The Week, Brisbane, Queensland. Pamphlet also includes table showing export values 1876-1878 for raw materials as compared to manufactured goods; and a section of advertising for the American Mail & Export Journal. Small 8vo, 62pp, original pale pink printed wrappers pictorially stamped with… Read More

New York: Long & Brother, 1849. Stated 4th. Hardcover. Good + overall. It appears that the first edition was published by Burgess, Stringer & Co of New York in 1845 and was issued yearly by them till the 4th edition which was published by Long. Large 12mo, frontispiece "Trout Fishing in Sullivan County", xii, 224pp, 2 plates of fish hooks, 5pp advertisements for the Angling Depot on Fulton St, (11pp) blank, black bordered pages for notes. Original blue gilt & blind stamped cloth. Light foxing throughout, slightly rubbed foot of spine, otherwise a very bright copy. OCLC: 7942430 records 11 copies.

Indianapolis: The Bobbs Merrill Company, 1909. Hardcover. Very good +. 4to, color frontis, 20 color plates; text with decorative borders. Decorations by E. Stetson Crawford. Brick red cloth cover, stamped, with gilt title in decorative gilt frame. Stamped title on spine. Cover very slightly rubbed at corners. Second ffep has small chip approximately one quarter inch by one inch on right hand edge. All color illustrations clean and bright.

Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1886. First printing. Pamphlet & Map. Good + overall. Printed for the House of Representatives: 49th Congress 2nd Session. Mis. Doc #52. Pamphlet 8vo, printed paper wraps, 64pp with a large folding map. Covers dusty, spine worn, corners chipped. But a clean, uncut copy with a very good and large scale folding map of the West Point campus measuring 24 x 32"

Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office,, 1886. First printing. Hardcover. Good + overall. The main article being the George Catlin Indian Gallery description. Complete and broken into chapters starting with Indian Portraits ( 219pp), Landscapes (152pp), Customs, Dress, Habits & Manners ( 33pp), Catlin's Itinerary (277 pp), Memoir of Catlin ( 17pp), and various other reports covering India Matters (197pp). George Catlin was an American painter and traveller. Part I. xii, 264pp, part II. viii,939 pp. Index.140 plates, 4 folding maps 1 large, folding with color showing the extent of Catlin's travels. (closed tear on 1 fold functionally restored with document repair tape) does not include a map of Indian Territories some times included. Black cloth covers gold title on spine indicating this is part 2 (faded with small chip. Top outer edges have been affected by damp which does not go into the text. A very thick volume holding together well in original binding.

New York: John Bradburn, 1863. First edition. Hardcover. Otherwise good condition. The autobiography of Robert Seymour Symmes Tharin, a southern lawyer who left the south at the beginning of the Civil War. 12mo, 245pp [1 ad], black embossed cloth covers, front board detached but present. Ex-library with book plate and deaccession stamp on the inside cover. Would benefit from a reback, sold as is. A scarce volume.

Philadelphia, 1843. Paperback. A stunning color engraved portrait by Asher Durand titled 'Mr. Macready as Macbeth', from a painting by J. Neagle, published 1827, in this issue of Graham's Magazine. Portrait bust depicting the actor with Scottish plaid at his shoulder. Asher B. Durand (1796 - 1886) was an American painter of the Hudson River School and one of the most highly regarded American engravers. Disbound issue, complete, pp61-144. Front leaf detached, slight damp stains top edges, otherwise very good.

Boston: Fields, Osgood & Co, 1869. Hardcover. Very good condition. Important writers and poets of the day, with articles including: Autobiography of a Shaker I, II, (F. W. Evans); Birds'-Nests (John Burroughs); Birth of the Solar System; Consumption in America I, II, III (H. Bowditch, M.D.); Pacific Railroad - Open I, II, III, (Samuel Bowles); Spring in Washington, (John Burroughs); and poetry, including Proud Music of the Sea Storm (Walt. Whitman), Small Arabs of New York. 4to, 772pp. Quarter burgundy leather with black buckram boards. Spine ends a bit rubbed; internally, bright and clean.