Americana

New York: Lansingburgh, 1795. 2nd. Hard Cover. Fair. A handsome book outside in original full leather covers. 12mo., [8],159pp[1blank]. Contemporary full brown calf, and leather label on spine, rebacked at some time. Six plates, engraved frontispiece and five additional copper plates depicting the Boston Tea Party, the Battle of Bunker Hill. Stated "Second American Edition," after the Bennington, Vermont 1st American edition printing of 1793 with 4 copper-plate engravings only. Tear on page 53 and 06 affecting type. Pages upside down from 253 to 256. Inside pages fair only., Name the Original Owner in 1795...SAMUEL MARSHALLand a laid in note stating "This valuable book belongs to William E. Emery, Jr. Madison Heights Michigan. Note- the faded writing It was Aunt Lattie's 1882, The frontispiece plate (unsigned) is attributed by Rosenbach to Wightman. Other plates depict the Boston Tea Party, the Battle of Bunker Hill, the death of Montgomery, the destruction of the Randolph frigate, and the defeat of De Grasse. The preface states: "To point out the gradual steps by which America finally obtained independence, to describe those terrible scenes of rapine, blood and slaughter...are principally the objects of this epitome...We have endeavored to divest ourselves of every spark of national prejudice...."Evans 28480. Howes C761. Sabin 16583 Read More

Lord Durham Rare Books Inc. - Canada

New York: Miller, Orton & Mulligan, 1855. 1st. Hard Cover. Very Good. 5 1/2" x 7 7/16", xxi, [3, one engraving], [33]-406, appendix to 464, [4 ads]. 1855 - 1st Edition, Fifthteenth Thousand. Rebound with new leather spine and label, new brown cloth and end papers. Internally,aging of pages, scattered foxing, spotting - good only.Illustrated with engravings throughout, and Frontispiece Engraving of Frederick Douglass by J. C. Buttre from a Daguerreotype, with simulated signature., , His second autobiography, covers his childhood to his return to America from Britain. Sabin 20714 Read More

Lord Durham Rare Books Inc. - Canada

London: Longmans, Green,and Co., 1869. 2nd. Hard Cover. Very Good. 8vo, 8 1/2" x 6", xviii, [1]-271pp., Original orange embossed cloth (darkened) with elaborate blind stamped decoration to spine and beveled boards. Front board and spine lettered in gilt. Brown end papers. Bound by Edmonds & Remnants in the original cloth, blocked in blind and lettered in gilt, with red page edges. 1" vertical tear at bottom of spine. Inside pages are very clean and very good condition.  , , Contents include: Floor tiles by Mawe & Co and Wallpaper by Eastlake adapted from sixteenth century Italian designs. Black and white illustrations of lighting, furniture, ornaments, fabric design and much more. Eastlake was himself a pioneer in the design of "art furniture", based on sixteenth and early seventeenth century models, and he illustrates many of his own designs for furniture and wallpaper, as well as providing decisive guidance on how to furnish houses "with a sense of the picturesque that shall not interfere with modern notions of comfort and convenience". Read More

Lord Durham Rare Books Inc. - Canada

Philadelphia: Adam Waldie 1833 - 1837, 1833 - 1837. 1st. Hard Cover. Good. 9" x 11.5" each of the 12 volumes. Some loose boards, some chipping, complete 1l2 leather.  Vol. VII and Vol. III. have some chipping to the spines. The texts contain some foxing and a few loose signatures but generally solid. Overall rating would be good., Waldies Select Circulating Library was published from June 1832 - April 1842. _Waldie's Select Circulating Library_, furnishing the best popular literature, price five dollars for fifty-two numbers, containing matter equal to fifty London duodecimo volumes; printed and published weekly by Adam Waldie, No. 6 North Eighth Street, Philadelphia. It was begun January 15, 1833, and was edited by John Jay Smith (1798-1881). Smithhad been the editor of the _Saturday Bulletin_, 1830-32, _Littell'sMuseum_, _Walsh's National Gazette_ and the _Daily Express_. The magazine reprinted standard works and published original reviews and literary notes., With original Charles Dickens writings, etc. Scarce as a set Also included is the only publication of American naturalist John Godman's RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST, in its only publication.Wacousta novel by Major John RICHARDSON 1833. Important articles include introduction to science, 2pp. on travels in India, a column on the Indian mounds found in Ohio & Mississippi Valley, 1 1/2pg. on Capt. Foster's voyages in 1828 to South America & Africa, 2pp. of music score, 2pp. on heat & its production, nearly full pg. on cruise of US Frigate Potomac around the world 1831-34, a great explosion at a quarry in Scotland, Canadian society & Canadian winter climate & dress, education, 2 columns on the Coral Islands, nearly 2pp. on polar exploration in 1824, nearly 1 pg. on Jeremy Bentham, 1 1/2 column details of a murder, 2pp. on James Fenimore Cooper, 1/2 pg. on Sir Walter Scott & the Roxburghe Club in the 1820's, 2/3 pg. on the London newspapers & salaries of editors, reporters, clerks, errand-boys, etc., 2/3 column adventure w/ a bear, 1 column plus on character & habits of George Washington, a column on character of Napoleon, contin. article, "Sketches of the Literature of the United States", 1pg. on a tour of Washington D.C., over 1pg. on Connolly's overland journey to India, Russia, Persia, Afghanistan, 1/2 pg. on wintering in the polar regions, text on the Austrian salt mines, over 2pp. excerpt from Washington Irving's "A Tour Of The Prairies" with text on Indians & game, several columns on poets Charles Dana & Lydia H. Sigourney, over a page on animal magnetics & human anatomy, over 3 columns on Brisson's captivity in Africa, elephant hunting in Ceylon, another 2 1/2pp. continuation of a "A Tour On The Prairies", 1 pg. on meteorites, nearly a pg. on the shipwreck of the Isabella William Ireland's forgeries of Shakespeare's signature, over 1pg. on vision & optics, a column on the upper Mississippi Valley, 2 pgs. extraction from Murray's "Journal Of A Residence & Tour of The U.S. April 1833 to October 1834, nearly 1 pg. wanderings in South Africa, over 1pg. tour of New Orleans, 3 columns on sherry wine, 1 pg. on Humboldt, a page on a "Polish Jew boy", 1/2 pg. on volcanic eruption of Mt. Aetna, nearly 2pp. on Power's impressions of New Orleans, Mobile, the Mississippi swamps, over 1pg. on Hanna's visit to Haiti in January-February 1835, 1 pg. on Irish pride, the invention of a bright railroad lamp, Wix's missionary journal of a trip to Newfoundland, over 4pp. on Doeff's recollections of Japan, translated from the German, news of a ship disaster of H.M. ship Pique in the Atlantic Ocean, nearly 1 pg. from Walsh's "A Residence In Constantinople", over 1 column on Nathan Rothschild, a column on Cornish mines, nearly 1 pg. narrative on Blackbird, the Omaha Indian chief, 1 pg. on Captain Frederick Marryat, the sea novelist, 2pp. extract from Irving's just published "Astoria; Or, Enterprise Beyond The Rocky Mountains", much more. Read More

Lord Durham Rare Books Inc. - Canada

London: H. Bonwicke, 1703. 1st. Hard Cover. Good. [24], 280, [13]; [2], 302, [1] pp 7.75" x 4.75". Two volumes. Contemporary leather binding with raised bands, joints cracking. Total of 22 plates including the frontispiece in Vol. 2, which is often missing. 2 plates are missing are Indian Canoes p26 Vol.1 and Lake of Hurons p89 Vol.1 . A 2" x 1/2" section cut out on front fly leaf and title page of Vol. effecting w in New. First edition in English of Lahontan's important account of Indian life in Canada, especially in the Great Lakes region. Baron Lahontan (1666-1713), entered the French military and arrived in the New World in 1683 as a teenage soldier. He spent most of the next 20 years exploring the Great Lakes region, and he became adept in the Indian languages., Amorial bookplate of "A & EY" on front endpapaper of both volumes, Volume I (11 plates)Map from the Lakes to New England - opposite title page Map of New France call'd Canada (folding) p1Map of large River Morte or River Long (folding) p1Plan of Msr. De la Barres Camp on Lake Frontenac p42 Hunting elk using snow shoes p54 Hunting animals p65 Battle plan (short folding) p74 Beaver & Buffalo p106 Battle Plan of Quebec p160Map of Palcentia Bay New Foundland p184Map of New Foundland (short folding) p225Volume II (11 plates)Titlepage frontis pieceVillage & savages of Canada p4Sun worship p29Marriage & courting rituals p36Funeral rituals etc p51Map of Outgamis lake & beaver hunting (folding) p58Beaver pool (tear 3" bottom right into map) p58Treatment of prisoners p80Peace pipe etc p82Coats of Arms of Various Tribes p84Hieroglyphics p86The present volume, comprising the description of his experiences and observations, largely of Indian life but also of the colonists and the landscape, was published in French in 1703, with the first English translation in the same year. A writer for the North American Review (quoted in Sabin) states "the Baron seems to have been an ardent and enterprising character, with more wit than discretion, but that his accounts bear every mark of authenticity, and are quite confirmed by contemporary as well as subsequent writers on the same country." Howesstates "Lahontan's narrative [is] of considerable value when confined to his actual sojourneyings in the Lake region." DAB comments that Lahontan's account "in many particulars is the best account of New France in the late 17th century," but that the otherwise quite authentic material is marred by an account, apparently fabricated, of the baron's travels west of the Mississippi, where he encounters a number of native tribes and discovers the "River Long."One of the most important features of the book is Lahontan's portrayal of the ways of the natives as more appealing than his own culture. This, in part, accounts for his being acknowledged as perhaps the person most responsible for inventing the idea of the "noble savage." Sabin 38644;Howes L-25. Bookseller  Read More

Lord Durham Rare Books Inc. - Canada

Boston : Ticknor and Fields, 1855. 2nd. Hard Cover. Good. iv, 316, [4 (blank)] + 1-[12] ad pp. inserted between rear endpapers. 7x4 , original embossed brown cloth, gilt-lettered spine. Leaning a bit, light shelf wear and rubbing, small black ink spot to lower spine; hinges tender, mild foxing. Previous owner's bookplate on inside front endpaper, Small newspaper clipping affixed to top of page 3 above the type. Good+ condition.First American Edition, Second printing.Second printing, with "heron /" on p. 27, line 9; "To the melancholy" on p. 32, line 11; "Wahonowin" on p. 39, line 11; "Dived" on p. 96, line 7; "Cooed the pigeon" on p. 278, line 4 up. Also, has the "n" in "one" on p. 279, line 5 up. BAL states that "the word 'one' occurs with the letter 'n' present or absent. The advertisements at rear are dated November, 1855. BAL 12112., Engraved armorial bookplate from the Stott family.,    Read More

Lord Durham Rare Books Inc. - Canada

London: Printed for G. and T. Wilkie, 1787. 1st. Hard Cover. Very Good. Rare book relating to the American Revolution by John Graves Simcoe in 1787 8vo (212 x 130 mm). 80pp. Contemporary calf, rebacked to style. Condition: Very good, foxing; minor wear, recased. A very rare response to Chastellux, correcting his account of the American Revolution. Simcoe commanded a Loyalist corps during the American Revolution and is best known for his 1787 Journal of the Operations of the Queen's Rangers. This rare 80pp. pamphlet, issued the same year, is a response to statements made relative to military engagements and criticism the British Army made by the Marquis de Chastellux in his 1786 Voyages ‹ dans l'Amerique septentrionale. Among the more controversal statements is a defense of Benedict Arnold's treason. A rare tract, with no copies appearing in the auction records for the last twenty years. Sir John Graves Simcoe, 1752-1806, was the first Governor of Upper Canada. A career army officer, he had served with , Simcoe's Remarks "accuses the Marquis of misrepresentation and exaggerations, and calls his translator an 'incendiary, a lurking spy, and an avowed rebel to his country [England]'" (Rich 1787:5). Containing a defense of Benedict Arnold; for many years it was thought to have been written by him. Howes S462. Sabin 81137. , great distinction during the American Revolution, in the Long Island campaign; the capture of New York; and, the New Jersey campaigns of 1776-1777, being wounded at the Battle of Brandywine. In 1777, Simcoe commanded the Queen's Rangers, a loyalist corps composed of light infantry and cavalry that served throughout the war as reconnaissance and outpost troops. They were in the Pennsylvania Campaign of 1778, and subsequent retreat to New York; in Benedict Arnold's raid on Richmond; and in the Yorktown Campaign. This rare work is a natural companion volume to Simcoe's A Journal of the Operations of the Queen's Rangers, published in the same year. In it Simcoe takes issue with the many statements and observations on the Revolutionary War made by the Marquis de Chastellux, which were published in English translation in 1787, in which the Marquis condemns the British incompetence, their wanton destruction of property, villainous crimes against the Americans, and use of the Indians in the war. From his own first hand knowledge, Simcoe refutes each and every charge made by the Marquis, defends the integrity of the British Army, condemns the atrocities of the Rebels, and points out the treachery and manipulations of the Rebel leaders inflicted on their own brothers, the Loyalists. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and the Marquis de Lafayette particularly, come under severe criticism from Simcoe. Read More

Lord Durham Rare Books Inc. - Canada

Philadelphia: Mathew Carey, 1812. 1st. Hard Cover. Very Good. New leather rebacking, marbled boards and new end papers. Title page with writings and markings including a previous owner in 1837, William Ward of New York (April 17, 1837). Ex Libris State Library markings on title page, contents page and page 1. p.15 missing paper at edge not effecting text. Page 429 tear down page through text but readable. viii, 488pp. (with pp. 173/174 omitted as issued and no break in the continuity of text) , On title page an inscription " The property of W. F. P. Ward - presented to him by W.A. Garland Esq. N.Y. April 17, 1837. On the preface page previous owner's attractive signature "William F. P. Ward New York April 17, 1837", This work is one of the classic early descriptions of upper and lower Louisiana, based on the author's service there in the previous decade as civil and military commandant. Stoddard took possession of Louisiana for the United States under terms of the Treaty of Cession. Using records, public documents and manuscripts, he tried to diminish enemies of the cession by educating the public about Louisiana. His book is one of the earliest historical treatises concerning the regions extending to the Pacific, including descriptions of the Indian tribes, of this virtually unknown wilderness. As the western boundary of Louisiana had not yet been established, there is some material of relevance to Texas. Chapters include information on the "Extent and Boundaries of Louisiana;" "Of the Country between the Mouth of the Chafalia and the Arkansas; between Red river and the Rio Bravo;" "Upper Louisiana;" "Commerce and Manufacturers " (with information on the fur trade); "Of the Rivers of Louisiana;" "Mineral Riches" (with information on the lead mines); and "Of the Aborigines." Howes S1021. Graff 3994. Field 1505. Clark II:168. Raines, p.196. Sabin 91928. Rader 2984. Wagner-Camp 10c. Read More

Lord Durham Rare Books Inc. - Canada

Albany: J. Munsell, 1865. 1st. Hard Cover. Very Good. 2 Volumes First US Edition 555, 544pp including an index and appendicies. Original publishers brown cloth re-backed, foxing to endpapers . Light and scattered foxing on some inside pages Tissue-guarded frontis in Volume 1. Tight. Overall a very good set., , Johnson ( 1715-1774) was '' prominently connected with colonial affairs' and 'he more than anyone else opened up the Mohawk Valley and central New York to English settlement....'' Literature Of American History 1076. Johnson was supt. of Indian Affairs in New York, fought and led expeditions against Crown Point, capturing Baron Dieskau and under General Prideaux commanded the troops against Niagara. At the end of his life Johnson was a member of the Canadian Parliament.  Read More

Lord Durham Rare Books Inc. - Canada