Search Results: americana district of columbia

[10], 466, [6] ll.The first English edition of Ludovico di VarthemaÂ’s famous account of his travels to Arabia, Persia and India: a highly important and adventurous narrative, first published in Italian as Itinerario Â… nello Egypto, nella Suria nella Arabia deserta & felice Â… in 1510, here published in English with other accounts of travels in exotic lands. All of the early Italian editions of Varthema's Itinerario, separately published, are extremely rare. Varthema, a gentleman adventurer and soldier from Bologna, left Venice at the end of 1502 for the Middle East. Impressed and fascinated, he describes not only rites and rituals, but also social, geographical, and day-to-day details. "I determined, personally, and with my own eyes", he declares in the prefatory dedication, "to ascertain the situation of places, the qualities of peoples ... of Egypt, Syria, Arabia Deserta and Felix, Persia, India, and Ethiopia, remembering well that the testimony of one eye-witness is worth more than ten… Read More

Washington, D.C., 1943. Unbound. Near Fine. A remarkable collection of letters and limited edition books from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to his longtime friend and personal secretary, Marvin H. "Mac" McIntyre. The collection includes 10 Inscribed books (each issued in an edition of 100 copies or less), a large, early Inscribed portrait, nine Typed or Autograph Letters Signed, and several additional items related to their long friendship and professional relationship. The collection is overall near fine. McIntyre (1878-1943) was born in Kentucky and studied at Vanderbilt. While working as Special Assistant to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, he befriended then-Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt. McIntyre went on to work on Roosevelt's 1920 Vice Presidential campaign; this collection includes a striking 1920 portrait of Roosevelt warmly Inscribed: "For the only Mc [sic], in memory of our work together, past present, and to come. Franklin D. Roosevelt. August 3, 1920."… Read More

Montauk, Montauk Navy Yard, Wash D.C., 1865. 4pp. 8vo. Slight soiling and minor tears along old folds, otherwise in very good condition. 4pp. 8vo. The Surgeon of the 'Montauk' Gives an Eye-Witnesses Account. ...About 10:25 P.M. a man came in and walked slowly along the side ... A remarkably clear and dramatic eyewitness account of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln from a naval surgeon who was close to the President's box at Ford's theater on that fateful night of April 14, 1865. In this letter to his brother written the night after the assassination, while the details were still fresh in his memory, Dr. George B. Todd, surgeon aboard the U.S. "Montauk" at anchor in the Navy Yard that day, recounts the terrible event with a clarity of observation one might expect of his profession - a rarity among confused eyewitness accounts. The text of Todd's letter - one of only 7 eyewitness accounts written within 24 hours of the assassination - reads: "The few hours that have intervened since that most… Read More

Washington, D.C.: War Department, Adjutant General's Office, 1864-1869. Abraham Lincoln served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War, the country's greatest moral, cultural, constitutional, and political crisis, and in doing so preserved the Union of the United States of America, abolished slavery, and strengthened the federal government. Lincoln ran for President in 1860, sweeping the North in victory. The South was outraged by Lincoln's election, and in response secessionists implemented plans to leave the Union before he took office in March 1861. War began in April 1861 when secessionist forces attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina, just over a month after Lincoln's inauguration and, after years of deadly military conflict, officially ended on April 9, 1865, when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at the Battle of… Read More

Washington, D.C.: Gales & Seaton, 1868. Hardcover. Good. A collection of 62 bound large folio volumes consisting of 59 volumes of the *Daily National Intelligencer* (published daily except Sunday); and three volumes of the *National Intelligencer* (triweekly edition). Owned and edited by Joseph Gales, Jr., in partnership with his brother-in-law William W. Seaton, the *Intelligencer* provided the nation with accurate and detailed reports of governmental activities (including debates and speeches, President's messages, proclamations, etc.), along with daily articles, reports, editorials, etc, on the most important events and issues of the day. According to *The New York Times* (reporting on an incident during the War of 1812): "... so powerful was its influence that when Gen. Ross, in command of the British troops, entered the capital after the unfortunate affair of Bladensburgh, his first inquiry was not for the Capitol, the President's house, or the departments, but for the *National Intelligencer*… Read More

1973. Unbound. Near Fine. The working manuscript of an article published in The Observer of London in 1973 documenting Alex Haley's research into the writing of Roots, along with a Signed program from a dinner in Haley's honor, two edited drafts of a letter by Haley to an English editor, as well as a letter from the editor and Haley's literary agent. The Manuscript consists of 43 typed quarto sheets, with more than half heavily edited by Haley in his trademark green pen, and the remaining pages with scattered corrections, words crossed-out, and a few with notes in the margins. Nine of the sheets have the earlier edited draft neatly stapled at the rear of the corrected copy; the lone exception is page one, which is stapled to the first three edited pages. Overall near fine with minor scattered edgewear, mostly to the large envelope that originally housed the material. The manuscript begins with Haley recounting how he first heard the stories of his family as a young boy from his grandmother and her… Read More

Washington, D.C., 1804. 1 page plus integral address leaf. 4to, on a folded folio sheet. Old fold lines. Minor wear and soiling. Strip of later paper on left edge verso, where letter had been tipped into an album. Very good. In a brown half morocco clamshell box, spine gilt. 1 page plus integral address leaf. 4to, on a folded folio sheet. President Thomas Jefferson Swears "On my sacred honor...." A remarkable letter written by President Thomas Jefferson to his Secretary of War, Henry Dearborn, in which Jefferson swears "on my sacred honour" that he gives no credence to slanderous gossip circulating relating to Gideon Granger, Samuel Hunt, and the Payne sisters (i.e. including Dolley Madison). Dearborn (1751-1829), a soldier and politician, was appointed by Jefferson to the post of Secretary of War in 1801, a position he held throughout Jefferson's terms in office.  He was moderately successful in most of his life's endeavors, excepting his command during the War of 1812, in which he lost Detroit… Read More

Lithographic title-page plus 52 plates.Very rare and beautiful album containing 52 tinted lithographs of South American scenes with interior and exterior views showing people (of European, indigenous American and African ancestry), buildings, animals and landscapes in Argentina (44), Brazil (4), Chile (2), Bolivia (1) and Uruguay (1). Many show street, shop and household scenes, many others show rural, ranching or itinerant life in the plains, forests or mountains, several show Argentinian gauchos. Each has a lithographed caption in Spanish. With very minor foxing in a couple prints but otherwise fine. Head and foot of spine damaged, but binding otherwise very good. An impressive and very rare album capturing 19th-century daily life in Argentina, Brazil and elsewhere in South America.l Borba de Moraes, p. 648 ("very rare"); KVK & Worldcat (1 copy described without location, lacking 1 plate); Palau 211114 (lacking 1 plate); not in Sabin.

Springfield, IL, 1849. Rare autograph letter signed by and entirely in the hand of the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. One page, the letter reads in full, "Springfield May 7, 1849 Hon G. W. Rives Dear Sir, You overrate my capacity to serve you. Not one man recommended by me has yet been appointed to any thing, little or big, except a few who had no opposition. Besides this, at the very inauguration I commenced trying to get a Min[n]esota appointment for Dr. Henry, and have not yet succeeded; and I would not now, lessen his chance, by recommending any living man for any thing in that Territory. It is my recollection that you sent me an application to be P.M. at Paris. Am I mistaken? Very truly yours A. Lincoln." Over a decade prior to his election as the 16th President of the United States in 1861, Lincoln served a single term in the House of Representatives between 1847 and 1849. A self-professed 'old line Whig', he was assigned to the Committee on Post Office and Post Roads and… Read More

[7], [1 blank], 178, [4] ll.First edition of the first significant account of the 1625 campaign by the combined Portuguese and Spanish forces to recapture the Brazilian city of Salvador de Bahia, which the Dutch had taken from the Spain in 1624. Several accounts of the retaking of Bahia were published, this one, by the royal chronicler, was the official one, so that the author had unrestricted access to military and eye-witness accounts."The fall and recapture of Salvador can be briefly summarized. The Dutch West India Company, formed in June 1621, sought a profitable and convenient way to wage war against Spain. Salvador, because of its location and sugar industry, offered a suitable target, and the Dutch hoped that the Portuguese dislike of Spanish rule might even cause the defenders to welcome to Dutch arrival. A powerful fleet was organized in 1623, but Spanish agents learned of its objective, and warnings were sent to the governor at Salvador. His efforts to prepare a defense were frustrated by… Read More

Good+. 1815. On offer is a fascinating, historically significant journal handwriten by Joel Cadbury, on his journey to post War of 1812 America. The journal sees Cadbury travel from England to the United States, travel south to Washington D.C. discussing many of the prescient questions of the early 1800s in America, including seeing the U.S. Senate debate the 'Missouri Question'. He travels to Virginia, where he sees and is disgusted with the state of slavery and African-Americans on plantations. He visits Mount Vernon and George Washington's tomb, and meets, by chance, the Vice President of the United States, Daniel D. Tompkins. While the cover of the journal says "Joel Cadbury's Account of his Voyages to and From American and from its shore from 1815 to 1820," the years of 1815 appear to have been cut out of the book. 4 pages are missing from the very beginning, and the journal's first entry is in 1816. The journal begins with Cadbury's journey on the… Read More

vp [Washington, D.C.; Dublin], 1811. 5 vols. Thick 8vo. Bound in contemporary AMERICAN half calf and marbled boards, red leather labels titled "Politics" and "American Papers"; spines cracked and worn; boards loose or detached, text generally very good with foxing in some places. 5 vols. Thick 8vo. Early 19th century American and Irish political library of Maryland Congressman Alexander McKim. Alexander McKim (1748-1832) fought in the Continental Army, serving under Lafayette. He was elected to the Maryland Senate and the United States Congress as a Democratic-Republican in the 11th through 13th Congresses (1809-1815). (See the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress). Irish-born Campbell P. White (1787-1859) was elected to represent New York in the 21st through 24th Congresses. He is most likely related to the Irish-born John Campbell White (1757-1847), a successful Baltimore banker whose signature also appears in some volumes. In all, the 5 volumes contain 51 political pamphlets from… Read More

[Washington, D.C.]: United States Printing Office, 1937. First edition, one of 75 (but probably one of only 7 in this binding). 97, [3] pp. 1 vols. 4to. Bound in full light bown pigskin, with metallic plaque of the Seal of the United States inset into the upper cover, now with a fine patina, pigskin doublures and silk endpapers. Fine. In quarter leather and marbled boards pull off slipcase. First edition, one of 75 (but probably one of only 7 in this binding). 97, [3] pp. 1 vols. 4to. Inscribed to Morgenthau in the Deluxe Binding. A sumptously produced White House Christmas book, commemorating FDR's nearly month-long diplomatic mission to promote "hemispheric solidarity" with South America. The book was issued in an uncertain, though undoubtedly strictly limited, number, with two issues--in full pigskin, as seen here, and half pigskin and marbled boards. The colophon calls for 75 copies, with the more desirable full pigskin binding scheduled to run to 50 copies for distribution to South American… Read More

[Arizona and New Mexico; Baltimore and Philadelphia, 1892. Hardcover. Good. Commercial album in decorative cloth over boards. Measuring 10" x 13". Contains 118 photos mounted on paper leaves and 23 loose prints laid-in, a total of 141 original photographs, including numerous cyanotypes. Most of the photos measure from about 3" x 4" to 5" x 8", but included are some larger format cyanotypes measuring up to 8" x 10". Most are captioned, sometimes a bit sloppily, but mostly readable with only modest effort. Additionally mounted in the album are over 100 original freehand sketches and caricatures by Arthur in pen & ink, pencil, wash, and watercolor. The sketches and caricatures are mounted after the photos on the rectos and versos of ten leaves; six are laid-in. Both boards and several leaves are detached, else about very good overall: most leaves have short tears and fraying at the edges with occasional modest creasing and short tears to the edges of some of the mounted prints and drawings, and some… Read More

Washington, D.C.: National Woman Suffrage Association / Rufus H. Darby, Printer, 1888. Hardcover. Near Fine. First edition. Tall octavo. 471pp. Decorated endpapers. Frontispiece engraving of Lucretia Mott. Orange cloth stamped in gilt. Gilt a trifle tarnished but still easily readable, a snug and tight very near fine copy. Full-page Inscription by Susan B. Anthony to Dr. Cordelia A. Greene: "To Dr. Cordelia A. Greene, Castile, Wyoming Co, N.Y. in grateful recognition of her generous gift to the N.Y. State and the National Woman Suffrage Association, Jean Brooks Greenleaf - Susan B. Anthony Presidents, to help along the great work for the enfranchisement of the Women of New York and all of the states of the Union - from her sincere friend & co-worker. Susan B. Anthony. Rochester, N.Y. Oct. 14, 1895." The entire inscription is in Anthony's hand. Dr. Cordelia A. Greene was born in 1831. She pursued a teaching career but turned to nursing when her father opened a water-cure sanitarium in Castile, New… Read More

Washington DC, USA, 1909. On offer is a superb early archive of 450+ U.S. Patents, from Washington DC, beginning 1909. All regarding aviation, aeronautics, airships, flying machines, blimps, dirigibles etc., all different, 6" x11", four or more pages each, some as many as nine pages with exact reproductions of the inventor's drawings and specifications. This archive even with cursory glance will find many familiar names in early aviation including Orville and Wilbur Wright, G.H. Curtiss and many, many hundreds more [see a partial listing at the end of this description]. The largest category is flying machines, but also patents steering, propeller, parachutes, helicopters, dirigible hanger, etc., etc. Overall in very good condition save for some age-toning and rust from old pins and staples. The small number have folds, crunches and rips and tears. All patents include very detailed drawings of the invention. Names of inventors include: Timmons, Hendrickson, Whitlach, Rydberg, Bourdelles,… Read More

Various publishers, c. 1861-1865. Extensive collection of over fifty first edition Civil War era pamphlets on topics including politics, battles, foreign relations, debt, and the draft. Octavo, 52 volumes, original wrappers. The collection includes first editions of: Memorial to the Hon. Secretary of War, or, How to Strengthen our Army and Crush the Rebellion, with a Saving of Life and Treasure [Dodge, W.C. Washington DC: McGill & Witherow, 1864. From the collection of James W. Grimes (1816-1872), Governor of Iowa and United States Senator from Iowa with his ownership inscription]; Correspondence between John H. Gilmer and Honorable Hugh McCulloch, Secretary of the Treasury [Richmond: V.L. Fore, 1869]; The Constitutionality and Rightfulness of Secession. Speech of Hon. Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, in the Senate of the United States [Johnson, Andrew. 1860]; Rebel Brag and British Bluster [Owls-Glass. New York: The American News Company, 1865. Sabin 58028]; Southern Hatred of the American… Read More

Washington, D.C., 1857. Unbound. Very Good. Poster-size composite photograph (13" x 20") consisting of 72 images on two albumen prints mounted side-by-side on one single sheet of card stock, with captions stamped in gold on mounted glossy black paper strips. The edges of all four margins have been partly trimmed, else near fine with modest toning. A large composite of portraits of every member of the Charlestown City Guard dating from their march in the inaugural parade of President James Buchanan on March 4, 1857. There are 68 portraits of the soldiers in their distinctive uniforms and two in civilian clothes. Also included are obverse and reverse images of the Washington Medal. The City Guard was organized in Charlestown, Massachusetts in 1850 and became Company H of the 5th Massachusetts Infantry during the Civil War. A scarce image of the entire Company taken to commemorate their participation at James Buchanan's inauguration, the first inauguration ceremony known to have been photographed.

Washington, D.C, May 8, 1945. "On the day before Hitler’s suicide, all German troops in Italy laid down their arms. On May 4th, German forces in Holland, Denmark and northwest Germany surrendered to British Field Marshall Montgomery. On the 6th, Donitz authorized General Alfred Jodl to ‘conclude an armistice agreement’ with General Eisenhower. The Germans wanted a separate peace with the allied troops in the West in order to continue their battle with the Russians in the East. Eisenhower would have none of it. He ordered the Germans to surrender unconditionally the next day. The Germans acquiesced, signing the surrender document on May 7th The cessation of fighting took effect at 11:01 P.M. on May 8th" (Georges Blond).

Washington DC, 23 February 1835. Letter. Creases, small tape repair, chipping to edges, small hole at center above red wax seal with no loss of text. Very Good. Superb two-page AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED "John Tyler" to his son on one integral 15-3/4" x 9-7/8" sheet of stationery folded to make four 7-7/8" x 9-7/8" pages with one page serving as the Free Frank envelope SIGNED "J. Tyler." Addressed to "My Son" (Robert Tyler), he encourages Robert about making a public speech in order to graduate, discusses the recent assassination attempt against President Andrew Jackson, and concludes with remarks about personal and professional success. In part: "I am sorry to learn through your last letter that you entertained difficulties about graduating in consequence of the necessity which it would impose on you to make a speech publickly.... The undivided honor is certainly calculated to render it the more distinguished-- It affords you also an opportunity for a more elaborate essay.... I hope therefore that you… Read More