Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York, 1865

New York: Edmond Jones & Co, 1865 12mo (19 cm), xiv, 879 pp, folding map, 2 folding plans, 3 portraits, 2 folding facsimiles of autographs, 1 black and white view, 18 chromolithographs (2 folding). Publisher's brown cloth, tooled in gold and blind (spine slightly sunned, binding somewhat dusted, cloth frayed at the head and the tail of the spine, inscriptions on the title page, small tears to the map and plan). David T. Valentine (1801-1869) was a New York public official and publisher. In 1841, he compiled and published the first edition of his "Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York," an illustrated compendium of official and historical material. The book proved popular, and Valentine published annual editions until 1867 (Encyclopedia of New York). The 1865 edition, apart from the wealth of official information and the New York directory (508 pp), included historical studies: "History of Broadway," "Conveyances of Lots in New Amsterdam from 1659 to 1664," "Honorable Sir Van Dam," "The City of New York 1737-1749," and "The History of Tammany Society or Colombian Order." Illustrated with numerous vignettes of bindings and 18 beautiful chromolithographic views, including "The Audubon Estate," "Harlem Lane from Central Park to Manhattanville," "Stewart's House, 54th Betw Broadway and 7th Ave.," "Old Dutch Farmhouse, 7th Ave & 50th St.," "Grocery & Tea Store Cor. Spring & Crosby St, 1826," "Twin Frame Houses 33rd & Lexington," "Oldest House Foot of Murray Hill, 3rd Ave & 34th St.," and "Tammany Hall, 1830."