[Large American Bookbinder / Bookseller Advertisement]. The Power of Religion on the Mind, in Retirement, Affliction, and At the Approach of Death

New York: Isaac Collins and Son, For John Murray, 1802. Tenth Edition, Corrected and Greatly Enlarged. Very good. 12mo in 6's. A-Z6, Aa-Bb6, COMPLETE. Two binder's leaves at front and back. Paginated: xi, [1], 280 pp. Bound in contemporary American tree sheep, single gilt roll along recessed bands and head and foot of spine, double gilt roll along edges of red spine label, blue speckled edges. Large bookbinder / bookseller advertisement affixed to front pastedown (see below). Minor foxing here and there as is true in all copies on account of the paper stock; some staining to the outer margins, binding extremities a little rubbed. This large American bookbinder / bookseller label measures 153 x 91 mm and is the largest we've seen. Five other copies of it are known, and unlike ours -- which remains completely in situ -- they were either removed from the books that originally contained them, or were preserved merely as trade-cards (see Census below). The label describes the broad array of goods that were available from the original seller (and binder?) of this book, Oliver D. Cooke, including -- but hardly limited to -- traveling trunks, walking canes, silk umbrellas, portable writing desks, ink-stands, quills, tooth brushes, whips and lathes, sealing wax, ivory and dressing combs, and of course many types of paper stock, ink, blank books, Bibles, literature and books of moral instruction, and much more.

Oliver D. Cooke (1766-1833) first went into partnership with his brother, Increase Cooke, under the name Increase Cooke & Co. In the 1799 Andrews Hartford Business Directory, he is listed as a purveyor of books, stationary, umbrellas &c. By 1804, Oliver had added "bookbinder" to his list of occupations, and in 1805 dissolved the partnership with his brother. From 1816-1819, Cooke was in business with Horatio G. Hale (1812-1853) and traded under the name Cooke & Hale. After this partnership was dissolved, Cooke formed his own firm, Oliver D. Cooke & Co., which he ran until his death. According to the American Antiquarian Society, the present bookbinder / bookseller label dates from 1802.

Our copy of Murray's "The Power of Religion on the Mind" was first owned by Horatio Nelson Chandler (1804-1873), and bears his inscription on the first blank leaf. Originally of Colerain, Mass., Chandler became a merchant in Brattleboro. The movement of this copy (New York --> Hartford --> Massachusetts) attests to the vibrancy of the early American book trade.

CENSUS: Three examples of this binder's label are held by AAS, none in situ: two are in the trading cards collection, and a third was inexplicably removed from the book that originally contained it; the other examples (University of Delaware and Connecticut Historical Society) were never affixed inside books.

This bookbinder's advertisement is not mentioned in Spawn and Kinsella, American Signed Bindings (Bryn Mawr); no examples of this binder appear in the Frederick E. Maser or Papantonio collections. The label itself is reproduced in the Archive of Americana, Broadsides and Ephemera as no. 19720.