Search Results: Authors starting with L from 19th Century Rare Book and Photograph Shop

This important survival of American photographic history is a very early calotype of a water tower in Philadelphia. Paper photography from this era is a rarity and the image was created by two of America's great photographic pioneers, the Langenheim brothers.
A calotype (or talbotype) is a negative-positive photographic process in which a paper negative is produced and then used to make a positive print using exposure to light. It was introduced by William Henry Fox Talbot, from whom the brothers had obtained the rights to the process, soon after Daguerre's advancement in France.
The Langenheim brothers were some of the first entrepreneurs to utilize the calotype process in America. They began creating their own photographic images and revolutionizing the field of American photography soon after the process's invention. "In 1842 they made the first advertising photograph in history, a picture of the restaurant in the Exchange Building in Philadelphia" (Pennsylvania Arts and Sciences Society, 1940) and… Read More

One page. Beautifully presented in a spectacular 19th-century carved wood frame with surmounted eagle. Abraham Lincoln, writing at the outset of the Civil War, recommends that the Army admit three volunteers from the highly divided city of Baltimore. He advises Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas, "I hate to reject any [volunteers] offered from what is called a Southern State."Maryland's Southern sympathies were of paramount concern to Lincoln. On February 23, 1861, learning of a rumored assassination plot, president-elect Lincoln passed through Baltimore in secrecy to reach Washington. On April 19, 1861, just a week after the surrender of Fort Sumter, a mob killed four soldiers and wounded thirty-six more when the 6th Massachusetts Infantry passed through Baltimore en route to Washington. A week later Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus to maintain control in the state. Maryland's governor had ordered the militia to burn railroad bridges north of the city to prevent more federal troops from… Read More

Perhaps the most delightful of the Lincoln family photographs, this portrait shows an impish Tad leaning on a table as his seemingly bemused father sits on Gardner's studio chair. Thomas "Tad" Lincoln was the youngest of the Lincoln boys.
Abraham Lincoln, an indulgent father, let his children run wild at his law offices and at the White House. His law partner William H. Herndon recounted, "I have felt many and many a time that I wanted to wring their little necks, and yet out of respect for Lincoln I kept my mouth shut. Lincoln did not note what his children were doing or had done."
Lincoln sat for this portrait at Alexander Gardner's studio on February 5, 1865. Just a month later he delivered the Second Inaugural Address, and within weeks he was assassinated. It would be his final sitting for Gardner, who made five poses that day. This fine portrait does not show the heavy retouching evident in later prints
By this date the end of the Civil War seemed to be drawing near. The war years… Read More

Oval albumen print (8 x 6 in.), original printed mount, trimmed at bottom removing caption, signed "BRADY & CO. PHOTOGRAPHERS." Browning and offsetting to mount, light toning to image. Very good. Matted and framed.
The classic Brady $5 bill photograph. This celebrated portrait, the basis for the five-dollar bill engraving used for most of the 20th century, is one of seven poses taken by Anthony Berger at Mathew Brady's Washington, D. C. studio on February 9, 1864. The most prolific photographer of Lincoln, Brady himself did not actually operate his cameras during the war years, instead training and employing men like Alexander Gardner and his successor Anthony Berger, who took this picture, to operate the camera.
Lincoln's son Robert Todd Lincoln declared this famous portrait to be "the most satisfactory likeness" of Abraham Lincoln.

Mammoth albumen print (17 ½ x 22 in), mounted, oval gilt-rule mat. Retouched vignetted enlargement. A few spots, some toning. Very good condition.
This famous "Gettysburg portrait," with Lincoln looking directly into the camera, was made just days before he delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863.
A giant of American photography, Alexander Gardner is credited with introducing the large-format Imperial portrait to the United States while working as a staff photographer for Mathew Brady. Gardner left Brady's employ in early 1863, and his studio quickly rivaled Brady's for the quality and extent of its war and portrait photography. Gardner first photographed Lincoln as president-elect while working for Brady, and he went on to take Lincoln's portrait more than any other photographer.
Lincoln sat for Gardner on several occasions, usually visiting his studio on Sunday to avoid crowds. Lincoln sat for this splendid portrait on Sunday, November 8, 1863. His private secretaries John Hay and… Read More

Four-color lithographic poster designed by Lissitzky; 24 x 35 inches. Very good condition, some folds. Archivally framed.
El Lissitzky (1890-1941), one of the most influential avant-garde artists and designers of his time, developed suprematism with his mentor Kazimir Malevich. His work played a key role in shaping the constructivist and Bauhaus movements. After spending the postwar years in Germany, he returned to Moscow in 1925 and began to devote himself to graphic design. Lissitzky became one of the primary designers of an international, multilingual magazine, USSR in Construction, published by the Soviet government as a propaganda vehicle between 1934-1941. The magazine employed a technique of visual rhetoric sharing characteristics of Socialist Realism, a style which Lissitzky was instrumental in creating and for which he was a leading proponent.
This dramatic poster, similar in style to the Socialist Realist graphics found in USSR In Construction, exhorts the people to support MOPL,… Read More

FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE (with the integral Eliz. Holt title-page). An excellent, fresh copy of this classic of philosophy, the first modern attempt to analyze knowledge. "Few books in the literature of philosophy have so widely represented the spirit of the age and country in which they have appeared, or have so influenced opinion afterwards" (Fraser).
"The Essay has long been recognized as one of the great works of English literature of the 17th century, and one of the epoch-making works in the history of philosophy. It has been one of the most repeatedly reprinted, widely disseminated and read, and profoundly influential books of the past three centuries" (Nidditch).
"Locke is often classified as the first of the great English empiricists (ignoring the claims of Bacon and Hobbes). This reputation rests on Locke's greatest work, the monumental An Essay Concerning Human Understanding" (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).
Locke sold the copyright to the publisher Thomas Basset for… Read More

First edition, one of 100 copies of the Deluxe Estate Edition, signed and numbered by the author and accompanied by your choice of one of four 8 x 10 inch archival pigment photographs (Einstein, Freud, Shaw, or Kahlo).
This new book is the definitive work on Marcel Sternberger, a neglected giant of 20th-century portrait photography. Few photographers "matched Sternberger's determination to create what we might in retrospect call pathognomic portraits. Between the lively expressions he captured and the minimalist lighting he used to reveal them, one might argue that there is hardly a more recognizable portraitist in the history of photography" (Philip Prodger, Head of Photographs, National Portrait Gallery, London).
"It was the golden age of photojournalism, but [Sternberger's] photographs—including of some of the most celebrated political leaders, artists, and intellectuals of the time—were meant not only to document, but to tease out and capture his subjects' personalities: FDR looking elegant… Read More

Two pages. Traces of mounting and toning on blank last page, else very good.
Whittier poignantly writes, "Thy word of sympathy in view of the death of dear Longfellow was very welcome. It is a mighty loss to us all. It leaves me with a feeling of loneliness, as if I had outlived the world. …. All English-speaking people have a common interest in the great world-singer. I am very truly thy friend John G. Whittier."
A wonderful letter linking two leading New England poets.

Two volumes. 19th-century half brown morocco and marbled boards, nicely rebacked in matching morocco. Light wear and foxing. Very good. FIRST EDITION. Presentation copy inscribed by Longfellow: "Henry R. Cleveland with the affectionate regards of the author" and with Cleveland's signature and bookplate. Soon after he joined the Harvard faculty in 1836, Longfellow, Henry Cleveland, C. C. Felton, Charles Sumner, George Hillard formed an informal intellectual society they later called the "Five of Clubs." No other presentation copy of Hyperion appears in the auction records of the past thirty years. Although Longfellow was later generous with presentation copies for his increasingly wide circle of friends and admirers, in his early years he reserved presentation copies for his family and closest friends. As a result they are rare in the market.

4pp. ads at front dated 1 October 1847. Original boards, printed paper spine label. Joints cracked but secure, foot of spine chipped. An excellent copy, especially rare in original condition. Half morocco case.
First edition, first state. This is an excellent copy of the rare first issue of Longfellow's romance of the expulsion of the Acadians by the British during the French and Indian War. The idea for the poem came from Nathaniel Hawthorne, who had heard a story about tragic Acadian lovers. Longfellow did meticulous research on the historical setting of the poem, which paid off, literally—it earned him record royalty payments.
The earliest printed copies have Long on p. 61, line 1; "examination indicates that during the run of the first printing the reading became Lo…, due to an unknown, accidental, cause" (BAL). This is a particularly rare issue of an already rare book in original condition.
"It was not only Longfellow's first long poem, but the first long poem by an American to live beyond… Read More

8 letters comprising 26 pages. Beautifully presented in a fine crimson straight-grained morocco album with an engraved portrait of Longfellow by Hollyer, each letter mounted on a separate leaf. A lovely presentation.
This is a fine series of letter from Longfellow, the most celebrated and popular poet in America, and Paul Hamilton Hayne, the most famous southern poet of his era. In the first letter Longfellow tells Haynes that the promised volume of poems has not reached him. He assures the South Carolina poet that "this is of no great consequence, as you know already my opinion of your writings."
The main sequence of letters is connected with Longfellow's Poems of Places anthology. Hayne offered contributions of his own poems and suggested works by other southerners. Longfellow warns that "I could hardly use Mr. Simms' war poems" and will limit them in number. He observes that he will use Timrod's "Charleston" and Brownell's "River Right" because of their poetic merit. In a postscript he notes that… Read More

Original cloth-backed boards, remains of printed paper label on spine. A very good copy. Cloth case.
First edition of "the foundation stone in the development of native humor" and a landmark of Southern literature (DAB). This is the Bradley Martin copy of Longstreet's first book, preceded only by two short pamphlets. "A landmark in American literature, and among the earliest works of the tradition that led to Clemens" (Streeter).
Longstreet later wrote that, "the aim of the author was to supply a chasm of history which has always been overlooked—the manners, customs, amusements, wit, dialect, as they appear in all grades of society to an ear and eye witness of them." "Longstreet's colorful descriptions of horse swaps, dances, fights, gander pullings, horse races, and shooting matches made the work a popular success"(ANB).

Original printed wrappers. Light spotting, small chips to backstrip ends. An excellent copy. Half morocco case.
First edition. A rare association copy of the pamphlet which began Lowell's career as an author. Lowell had been elected class poet and scheduled to read his composition on Harvard's Class Day in July 1838. However, he was suspended from the college due to his neglect of studies and general obstreperousness and was consequentially unable to perform this office. Instead, his classmates subscribed for the printing of the poem and it was ready by August of 1838, in time for commencement. The front wrapper is inscribed by one of Lowell's classmates. Within just a decade, he would be one of the most distinguished and influential men of letters of letters of his time.

Five pages (17 x 11 cm). Headed "Let me see proofs" in Lowell's hand. Ink smudge to first leaf.
[With:]
LOWELL, JAMES RUSSELL. Autograph letter signed. Westminster, [1888]. Two pages. Lowell's letter of enclosure for his "Apology": "I send back the Ms. as you wish. I have corrected a clip[?] or two here & there, for I was so hurried in order to keep my word with you that I did not read it over after writing it."
Lowell's original revised manuscript for "An Apology for a Preface," which appeared as a preface in his volume of collected lectures, The English Poets, The Camelot Series in 1888.
Lowell observes in part, "all prefaces may be said to have one valid excuse for being—namely, that the judicious reader can, and generally does, skip them, thus securing one pleasurable emotion at least from his book—a success beyond the average, if I may trust my own experience. And yet, feeling as I do my incompetence for this species of literature, in which I have no more practice than one has in dying,… Read More

27 pages (24 x 19 cm), with additional revisions on the versos. Contemporary ink marks, a closed marginal tear to first leaf. Morocco case.
A rare and important manuscript of one of Lowell's most famous essays, "On a Certain Condescension in Foreigners." "The foremost American man of letters of his time" (DAB), Lowell was uniquely positioned to comment on foreigners' attitudes towards Americans. He spent many years living and travelling in Europe starting in 1850, ultimately serving as the Minister to the Court of St. James in 1880-1885.
American authors from Cooper and Irving to Poe and Melville commented on—and sometimes seemed even obsessed by—English attitudes towards America, and this essay received considerable attention in its time. It remains among Lowell's most significant and most enduring essays. "It was for the cultivated men and women of these villages [of New England] that Lowell wrote. They of all persons delighted in his essay On a Certain Condescension in Foreigners, with its… Read More

Quarto. Original boards, paper printed label, light green coated endpapers. Front free endpaper with abrasion and small hole where the presentation recipient's name was rubbed out. Slipcase.
The privately printed, limited edition of Lowell's celebrated Harvard Commemoration Ode. This is, after the Gettysburg Address, the foremost Civil War tribute to the war dead. In it Lowell declared Lincoln to be the "New birth of our soul, the first American." Century observed that "Lowell was the first of the leading American writers to see clearly and fully and enthusiastically proclaim th greatness of Abraham Lincoln." Into this work Lowell "poured a conception of Lincoln which may justly be said to be today the accepted idea which Americans hold of their great president" (Horace Scudder).
Lowell recited this poem at Harvard on 21 July 1865. Many of his classmates served in the Civil War and a number died. When the Ode appeared in print in the September issue of Atlantic Monthly it became famous.
This is copy… Read More

Two pages. Trace of tissue mounting along left margin.
Sending a poem for publication in for publication to the literary and music editor of The Harbinger at Brook Farm, Lowell writes, "In writing the poem [not present] which I send for the Harbinger I said to myself – J.S.D. would like this …The images are perhaps a little too bold for our close clipped American public who, nevertheless, would be willing to sit quietly once a week under the reading of the book of Job, thinking all the while that, for inspiration, it compares rather unfavorably with Pope …"
Lowell continues at length about having shown botanical drawings by Dwight's sister to Dr. Gray, and Gray's appraisal of her talents, and Lowell's appraisal of Gray. He concludes with a paragraph about the publisher Evert Duyckinck's lack of enthusiasm about the prospects for publication of some of Dwight's essays on music, and makes arrangements for subscribing to The Harbinger for himself and another.
Albert Brisbane moved his periodical,… Read More