Search Results: Authors starting with A from McBride Rare Books

Mexico City: Imprenta del Ciudadano Alejandro Valdes, 1833. Very good.. Broadside, approximately 12.25 x 8.5 inches. Two small wormholes at left margin. Light dust soiling and toning. Scarce devotional poem, attributed to Luis Abadiano, for the veneration of depictions of the Señor de Santa Teresa and Maria Santisima de los Dolores. This "Odita," or "little ode," is composed of twelve short, four-line stanzas, printed in double columns within a double border of printer's ornaments, and signed "L.A." at the foot of the second column. A nice copy of a handsome piece of ephemeral, devotional printing; we locate only one copy, at Brown.

New York: S. Tackaberry, 1864. Very good.. Carte de visite photograph, 3.25 x 2 inches, on a slightly larger printed mount. Minor soiling and spotting, light edge wear. One of a series of CDVs featuring recently freed slaves produced in 1863-64 as part of a fundraising effort in the American South. This image is noted as "No. 10" at the top of the verso. According to a notice printed on the verso: "The nett proceeds from the sale of these Photographs will be devoted to the education of colored people in the department of the Gulf, now under the command of Maj. Gen. Banks." The funds were used to establish schools for former slaves in southern Louisiana during the Union occupation of the region. The photograph was taken by Charles Paxson of New York, and copyrighted by S. Tackaberry in the Southern District of that state. The subject of the present photograph is Rosina Downs; she poses in a bonnet and jacket, with her arms crossed, looking left. A handful of photographs featuring Rosa were issued… Read More

Playford Hall, Suffolk, England: May 8, 1844. Very good.. [1]p., totaling about 325 words. A few handling creases and spots, original smudging. Tipped to a backing and framed, with a mat window cut out on the back of the frame to allow the manuscript docketing on verso to be seen. Not examined out of the frame. An informative manuscript letter from prominent English abolitionist Thomas Clarkson (1760-1846) to fellow anti-slavery activist John Scoble on the interesting subject of duties to be paid on "Slave grown sugar" (also referred to by Clarkson as "colonial sugar") reaching England from Cuba and Brazil, two fo the last countries to outlaw the institution. Despite being just one page, the letter is quite lengthy in content due to Clarkson's small, pinched handwriting, totaling twenty-seven lines in his hand with some corrections and underlinings. The letter opens with the 84-year-old Clarkson asking Scoble to send a copy of his letter on sugar duties that is to be read at Joseph Sturge's public… Read More

Boston: Isaac Knapp, 1836. About very good.. xvi,[13]-238pp. 12mo. Original publisher's blue boards with black sheep spine, gilt. Boards rubbed, corners and spine moderately worn. Text lightly foxed. Scarce work addressing the anti-slavery work of George Thompson following his visit to America. Thompson (1804-1878) was British lecturer and reformer who worked as a commercial clerk. "Thompson first came to prominence in 1831, when he was recruited by the London Anti-Slavery Society's Agency Committee as an itinerant lecturer. In the run up to the Emancipation Act of 1833 he became the most effective British anti-slavery lecturer since Thomas Clarkson.... With the struggle against British slavery apparently won, Thompson was instrumental in reorienting anti-slavery effort towards the Americas and particularly the United States. ... In 1834 he encountered the charismatic American abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. Recognizing Thompson's talent, Garrison invited him to travel to the United States… Read More

Emporia, Ks: March 12, 1859. Very good.. [4]pp. Original mailing folds, short separations along some folds, a couple of short closed tears, a few tiny nicks to edges. A rare correspondence from Kansas at the time of the free state - slave state tensions in the 1850s. Here, the most important early settler of Emporia, Kansas, John H. Watson sends a territorial paean to his father back home in Pennsylvania. In his densely-written letter, Watson ran out of room, and had to sign his name over previously written text along the right edge of its last page. Watson was a Quaker lawyer-physician from Pennsylvania, who moved his entire family west to Kansas in 1858 along with other abolitionists in an effort to ensure the territory entered the Union as a free state. Watson does not mention the bloody political battles taking place at the time, but rather bemoans the state of his inheritance, the cost of his travel, and more, while also providing a firsthand report of the unsettled territory's beauty,… Read More

Pittsburgh, Pa: August 2, 1838. Good.. [2]pp., on a single folded sheet, integral blank addressed on verso. Original mailing folds, somewhat tender along fold lines, a small panel of integral blank chipped away along fold lines, short tear and small area of loss from removed wax seal to first leaf costing or affecting a few words, top edge bumped. An informative manuscript letter written by a notable abolitionist during his travels through Pittsburgh in the summer of 1838. Elias Richards (1802-1887) writes from the United States Hotel to his wife Elizabeth Hunt Richards (1804-1892) in Massachusetts while on a trip intending to locate a place he could settle in business. Both Elias and Elizabeth Richards were prominent abolitionists based in Weymouth, Massachusetts. Richards details his travel from Philadelphia through Pennsylvania, mentioning several towns on the road to Pittsburgh. Richards then provides a description of the Steel City: "This is a very busy city, situated on a point of land,… Read More

Doniphan, Ks: Printed at the Crusader of Freedom Office, 1858. Very good.. Single sheet, 3.5 x 7.5 inches. Minor foxing, light edge wear. An uncommon form, printed at James Redpath's Crusader of Freedom office in Doniphan, Kansas. The Scottish-born Redpath originally worked for Horace Greeley's New York Tribune where he published a series of articles compiling Facts of Slavery. In 1855, he moved to the Kansas-Missouri border and reported on the slavery disputes for the Free Soil newspaper, the Missouri Democrat, before starting his own newspaper, the Crusader of Freedom. The motto of his newspaper was "I enroll myself a Crusader of Freedom until slavery ceases to exist." Redpath met John Brown immediately after the fateful Pottawatomie Creek incident and his interview with the fervent abolitionist was Brown's debut in the press with Redpath labeling him a warrior-saint. The journalist became Brown's most vocal supporter in the press, and his report of the Battle of Osawatomie helped… Read More

Washington, D.C.: Buell & Blanchard, 1858. Good.. Twelve issues, each 4pp., printed in seven columns. Large folio. Old folds, varying levels of chipping, fold separations, foxing, and edge wear. Occasional minor loss of text from wear at crossfolds and in one case a tobacco burn. Some issues with ink notations at top left or in the top margin. A dozen issues, published over the course of a decade in the mid-19th century, of the abolitionist newspaper The National Era, edited by Gamaliel Bailey and John Greenleaf Whittier. The National Era was an important source of news and debate over the issue of slavery during its thirteen-year run, and continuously argued for the abolition of the peculiar institution until it ceased operations in February 1860. The most lasting legacy of the newspaper is its serialization of Uncle Tom's Cabin in forty-one weekly installments between June 1851 and April 1852, the first appearance of the novel anywhere.  The present collection of issues includes number 81, 97,… Read More

[Providence: Hiram H. Thomas and Co., late December, 1865. Good plus.. Letterpress broadside, 17.5 x 12 inches, printed in double columns, with decorative floral border. Old folds, two folds neatly strengthened on verso, other folds tender, bottom third darkened. A rare newspaper carrier's address closing out the fateful year of 1865 and looking forward to the transition of the next year. The author personifies the year 1865 as "bent and wrinkled and gray" but also "in excellent health for his age." The end of the Civil War is recounted: "Then thought we how, during the mild reign of Spring, The wrong gave no check to the arms of the free, But only with 'Vict'ry' we made the streets ring, Till so wildly we cried, 'The Surrender of Lee!'" The text also mentions Sherman, Grant, and the assassination of President Lincoln. The tone is celebratory, as the author continues: "'To God give the praise!' for our nation is free! No longer a slave is contained by its shore! No longer the carnage of battle we… Read More

Cedar Rapids, 1894. Very good.. Small broadsheet, 10.5 x 6.75 inches. Previously folded. Minute closed tear at top edge. Light tanning. With accompanying transmittal envelope. Ephemeral, illustrated broadsheet advertisement for two agricultural machines for sale by the Hamilton Bros. company of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in the mid-1890s. The "Sweep Feed Mill" promises to efficiently grind all types and qualities of corn, while the "Mammoth Feed Steamer" promises to save the farmer thirty percent in feed costs. Examples of both are shown on either side of the sheet. With the original transmittal envelope, postmarked 1894.

Chicago: Hays & Thompson, 1854. Very good plus.. Broadside, 15 x 6 inches. Minor soiling. A rare and unusual broadside newspaper extra advertising Evarts' Shingle Mill, with a handsome woodcut illustration of the mill itself occupying a third of the sheet. The Christian Times was a Baptist newspaper published in Chicago from 1853 to 1865. Evarts & Butler herein advertise themselves as "proprietors and manufacturers" of the machine, claiming it "makes better shingles, and more of them than any other mill, from any kind of wood," capable of producing "ten thousand in ten hours." Testimonials as to the machine's efficacy and quality of the mill and its shingles occupy the lower third of the broadside. An unrecorded Pre-fire Chicago broadside advertisement.

[Albany, Or, 1880. About very good.. Broadside, 12.5 x 9 inches. Light wear and minor creasing, a few small chips to edges and small areas of loss near center. Minor foxing. Broadside advertisement for "Water Proof Oil Blacking," sold by W.J. John of Albany, Oregon, a small town near Corvallis. The broadside lists seven reasons why this product is the best, beginning with "It is Cheap." Other reasons include durability, waterproofness, and its ability to keep leather soft and prevent cracking. Reason 8 is perhaps the most interesting: "You get a receipt and make it yourself so that you know what it contains, and that every ingredient is a Leather Preserver, as it contains nothing injurious, such as varnish, naptha [sic], benzine or turpentine." Not in OCLC.

[Atlanta, Ga, 1970. About good.. Three-color photographic portrait broadside, 11 x 28 inches, respectively. Left edge chipped and stained into the image area, old folds and creases. A campaign broadside touting the candidacy for J.O. Wyatt, Jr. Wyatt attended Morehouse College, earned a law degree from Emory, and worked for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission before running successfully for County Commissioner in Fulton County, Georgia in the late-1970s. His father, Dr. J.O. Wyatt, instilled in him a sense of civic duty; the elder Wyatt had previously run unsuccessfully for school board in Amarillo, Texas in 1955, resulting in the burning of a cross on his front lawn.

Mostly Marshall, Tx, 1942. Good.. Approximately 320 typed letters, handwritten notes, and other documents, almost all a single page, plus a matted photograph, and over 130 personal invoices and receipts. Significant tanning to the majority of letters, resulting in noticeable brittleness, with mild to substantial chipping, occasionally costing text from a small percentage of letters. Occasional creasing, soiling, staining, and toning, as well. An extraordinary surviving collection of correspondence and personal papers by, to, and relating to Dr. Matthew W. Dogan, president of Marshall, Texas HBCU Wylie College (now Wylie University) for almost fifty years during the first half of the 20th century. The material in the present archive emanates from the last few years of Dogan's long and distinguished career at the school. The majority of Dogan's letters (and those sent by his secretary Ruth Brownlee) are retained, unsigned file copies of outgoing correspondence to a variety of recipients including… Read More

San Diego, 1966. Good.. 16pp. Oblong quarto. Original pictorial self wrappers, stapled. Printed entirely in blue ink. Some staining and wrinkling to covers, waterstain and minor chipping at bottom of gutter throughout, occasionally affecting a few words. A seemingly unrecorded and ephemeral souvenir program published to coincide with the dedication ceremonies for the Refuge Church of God of the Apostolic Faith in San Diego, California. The work contains a biography of the pastor, Bishop John Harry Cannon, along with portraits of him and his large family, as well as a couple dozen photographs of fellow parishioners and the church itself. The final six pages of the work are comprised of advertisements for local businesses, including gas stations, auto shops, a record store, laundry services, markets, and more. The proposed date for the program comes from an ad for Ed Taylor Chevrolet who offers a 1966 Impala for the low, low price of $2566. We could locate no copies of this informative program from an… Read More

Chicago: Atwell Printing and Binding Co, 1907. Good.. 540pp., including fifty-six plates. Original blue cloth stamped in black with oval engraved portrait of Sojourner Truth inset on front cover. Edges and corners scuffed, moderate staining and soiling, spine sunned. Front hinge cracked, rear hinge tender, dampstain to fore-edge of first several leaves, light overall toning. An elaborately-produced compendium of biographical entries of important African-American men and women, short histories of Black-owned businesses and institutions, and brief passages on subjects important to the African-American community in the early 20th century, complemented with over fifty plates of mostly photographic portraits but also images of important African-American institutions. Among the hundreds of men and women featured here, including the compiler Reverend D.D. Buck, are important historical figures such as Crispus Attucks, William Wells Brown, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Touissant L'Ouverture, Nat Turner, Booker T.… Read More

Washington DC, 1961. Very good.. 88pp. Quarto. Original textured padded cloth printed in gilt and black with calendar designs on front cover. Minor edge wear, rubbing, and abrading to covers. Ink gift inscription on front free endpaper, toning to endpapers, but otherwise internally clean. A rare yearbook from Veterans High School Center - an segregated academic and vocational training high school for American servicemen and other non-traditional male African-American students in the District of Columbia. Veterans High School was started in the old Armstrong Manual Training High School building in 1946, and operated until 1964, at which time it became an adult education center. During its run, Veterans High School Center graduated around a hundred students a year, trained in various academic and vocational specialties. The range of study is reflected in the senior class section here, noting that each student is graduating on an "Academic" track, or gaining a diploma in such vocational avenues as… Read More

[N.p., perhaps Pine Bluff, Ar, 1978. Good.. 58pp. Original wrappers printed in black, stapled. Wrappers rubbed, creased, and soiled, top edge bumped, circular stain on front wrapper, ownership inscriptions from same person on front wrapper, inside front wrapper, and inside rear wrapper. A seemingly unrecorded Arkansas imprint from an African American Masonic organization which once belonged to a member of the Prince Hall Masons in Lonoke, Arkansas. The work includes the group's articles of incorporation, constitution, by-laws, information on electing and the duties of officers, instructions for conducting services, information on masonic burial services and other rituals, instructions for subordinate lodges, and more. According to the last page, this is the third printing of the 1964 revision, which includes an extra leaf inserted as page 20A. OCLC is silent on any copies of any edition of this work.

[N.p., probably Oklahoma City: Langston University, 1948. Very good.. 16pp. Original pictorial wrappers, stapled. Some abrading to the edges, minor soiling, some discoloration to rear wrapper, later three-hole punch throughout. Internally clean. An informative pamphlet touting the educational opportunities at Oklahoma's first and only HBCU, Langston University. The text opens with lists of Oklahoma's regents, state board for vocational education, and the Langston administrative staff, a letter from Governor Roy Turner praising the school for its Trade & Industrial Education program, and a Foreword by Langston President G.L. Harrison. The preponderance of the pamphlet is comprised of photocollages illustrating the various aspects of academic and campus life at Langston, including various campus buildings, classes on the building trades, brick laying and tile setting, a centerfold of over two dozen photos showing "Constructive Activities at Langston That Go Into the Making of Good Citizens," the auto… Read More

San Antonio, 1938. Near fine.. Two black-and-white photographs, each 2.75 x 4 inches. Light edge wear. Developer's stamp on verso of each. A pair of contemporary photographs featuring a neatly-dressed young Black woman with eight of her pupils. The first pictures the teacher and her students seated on the steps of a white clapboard building, with a man in the shadows of the doorway. The second photograph pictures the group in front of a line of shrubbery, perhaps a garden. The glossy photographs were printed by the Fox Company in San Antonio, with the images printed on light paper stock with ornamental borders.