Search Results: Titles starting with O from David M. Lesser, Fine Antiquarian Books LLC

[London]: Printed for J. Wilkie, St. Paul's Church Yard; G. Robinson, Pater Noster Row; H. Parker, Cornhill, near the Change; J. Swan, opposite Norfolk-Street, Strand; J. Fox, Westminster Hall; and to be had of Mr. Eugene Allen, Grocer, No. 136, White Chapel. N.B. The pulpit was refused at eight of the most capital Churches in the City. - Above a thousand copies were ordered before it was sent to press; and two hundred more by a Gentleman for one of our North American Colonies. Entered at Stationers Hall, [1773]. xvi, 32 pp. Disbound, blank inner margin stab holes, lightly toned and lightly worn. Good+. The Sermons are preceded by a long dedication to Lord North, dated 'New Year's Day 1774' at page x. ESTC records two other London editions, one in 1774 and the other in 1775. In America, printings issued from Philadelphia and Norwich CT in 1774. Ours is evidently the first. Scott's dedication charges Lord North with "all those evils, distresses, grievances, and oppressions, which have befallen this… Read More

Springfield, Ill.: March 29,, 1849. [4] pp. Caption title [as issued]. Folded [some separation at inner margin], printed in double columns. Very Good, with minor wear. Francis Taylor lived in "Round Prairie, Sangamon county, Illinois." He was the son of the Rev. Phillip W. Taylor, of Spencer County, Ky., and whose essay entitled 'A Parent's Advice to His Children' Francis caused to be republished in 1839. It comprises pages 3-4 of this offering. Not in Byrd, Sabin, AI, Eberstadt, Graff, NUC.

Austin: Printed by John Marshall & Co., State Printers, 1857. 32pp, disbound. Persistent spot to bottom blank margin of pages 13-32. Good+. This scarce pamphlet reviews Hamilton's extremely interesting and unusual career. He became Governor of South Carolina during the Nullification Crisis. As a staunch, indeed "almost fanatical" [DAB] anti-tariff man, he had sought to put into practice Calhoun's Doctrine of Interposition ever since passage of the hated Tariff of 1828. Earlier, as "intendant" of Charleston, he had put down the Denmark Vesey Rebellion. Hamilton became an enthusiast for Texan independence, was offered command of its army in 1835, and secured its recognition by France and the Netherlands. He moved to Texas in 1855, having received a large land grant. In 1857, Hamilton was a passenger on the steamship Opelousas, traveling from New Orleans to Galveston. There was a collision in the Gulf of Mexico. "Hamilton gave his life preserver to a woman for her child. His right arm was injured and… Read More

[Philadelphia: William Dickson, 1807. 12pp, caption-title [as issued], untrimmed, uncut, stitched. Lightly tanned, else Near Fine. A rare item, rebutting concerns about the special privileges that legislatively-granted Charters provide. The objection "that Charters are generally dangerous, and tend to create an Influence foreign to Republican Institutions," may have some force when it comes to banks or other government-created for-profit monopolies. It has none as applied to this Society, whose purpose is to benefit the entire polity by publicizing scientific advances and new discoveries. Such dangers are unworthy of serious consideration in a democratic society, where people govern themselves. AI 13272 [2]. OCLC 8700555 [3]. Not in Sabin, Eberstadt, Decker, Rink.

London: Printed for T. Cadell, in the Strand, 1772. [xv], [1], 404 pp. Institutional rubberstamp on blank verso of title page, and in blank lower margin of page 404. Else a clean text. Bound in attractive modern quarter calf and marbled boards. Very Good, with separate deaccession slip accompanying the book. Price's work, first printed the previous year in 344 pages, established his pre-eminence in insurance, annuities, mortality data, actuarial studies, and probability theory. This second edition includes his supplemental report, with statistics, on "the much greater difference between the probabilities of life in great country towns and in country parishes, than is commonly suspected." It also contains his essay on the "Schemes of the Societies for providing Annuities for Widows, and for Persons in Old Age." His Introduction states, "Upon the whole, A great part of this work is, I believe, new; and I am in hopes also, that it will be found to contain some improvements in those branches of… Read More

London: Printed for Gale and Curtis, 1812. 50pp, disbound. Minor occasional soil, Very Good. The "commercial treaty with France arose out of the peace of 1783." London Merchant complains that no "fair degree of reciprocity, between Great Britain and France, was embraced by its stipulations." Post-Treaty events, particularly those deriving from the French Revolution, "have tended to estrange us further" from successful efforts "to restore the balance." He urges steps to maintain peace with France, arguing that British naval superiority, as well as the strength of British institutions, will encourage trade and a peace advantageous to England. OCLC 31517031 [3- Lib. Cong., U. Wales, Cambridge U.] [as of 7/12].

Philadelphia: Robert Bell, 1783. 28, [4 advt] pp. Scattered spotting, Good+ The author, one of the Society's founders, calls a free press "the PILLAR that supports the whole fabric of freedom." But, he observes, "The fairest blossom is the reptile's food," and a licentious press has gorged itself on a slander of the noble Society. That slander was a pamphlet published anonymously by Aedanus Burke earlier in 1783, attacking the Society. The Plan for Establishing the Society or Order of the Cincinnati, created in the year of this publication, is reproduced here; and the author defends the Society with skill and wit. FIRST EDITION. Howes O9. Evans 18073. Hildeburn 4330. ESTC W6697.

New York, 1804. 32pp, disbound. Good+. The author excoriates Jefferson for "debas[ing] the negro to an order of creatures lower than those who have a fairer skin and thinner lips." Even in praising certain alleged qualities of Blacks, e.g., their bravery and spirit of adventure, Jefferson describes them as "not superior to a war-horse, or a trained elephant." Although Jefferson is "extolled by the majority of our people as a profound philosopher," the Notes "contains so much infidelity, conveyed in so insidious a manner." Howes ascribes authorship to Nicholas Rogers, but notes the possible attribution to Moore. Sabin records this item under both. Streeter considered Moore the author, and writes: "Moore's animadversions on the Notes are interesting as showing the intellectual climate at the turn of the 18th into the 19th century, but he will always be remembered as the author of 'Twas the Night before Christmas,' published almost forty years later." FIRST EDITION. Howes R416. Streeter Sale 1722.… Read More

Amsterdam: J.F. Rosart & Comp., 1784. [2], 213, [1 blank] pp, as issued. Contemporary plain wrappers [worn, some chipping]. Untrimmed and uncut. Early leaves dusted. Else Very Good. In an attractive modern folding case, with the bookplate of James Copley, gilt-lettered spine title. Howes calls this the first edition, but his conclusion has been questioned. Ours is one of two issues of this edition: Page 159 is numbered correctly and leaf G7 is signed C7. "In four letters dated between 24 July and 20 August 1783, the Abbe Mably comments on the American approach to government as reflected in the constitutions of the thirteen states, and, more specifically, in those of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. Replying to John Adams 'in accordance with your desire,' he offers advice on a national constitution, urging a loose federation rather than a strong central government and warning against excessive democracy. The work is dedicated to Adams, who was then minister plenipotentiary at the Hague"… Read More

London: Printed for M. Cooper, 1759. [2], 72pp. Bound in modern marbled wrappers. Lightly dusted, Very Good. Shirley describes, from a proud Englishman's perspective, the legal proceedings against the conspirators who sought to overthrow "his Portugueze Majesty", and "the punishments consequent thereon." He is thus enabled to "point out to my countrymen the great blessings and advantages of our most happy constitution." The conspirators were convicted in "Star-Chamber" trials on wholly unsatisfactory evidence. The convictions were based on "confessions... extorted from them by tortures." The civil liberties which Englishmen take for granted were unavailable to these Portuguese alleged conspirators. "We are wise, from these and many other fatal examples, in not trusting too much power in the hands of any men," especially "those who may have particular temptations to an abuse of it." ESTC T96344. OCLC records eight locations under several accession numbers, as of June 2016.

Detroit: Temperance Advocate Office, 1853. 29, [1 blank] pp. Disbound and loosening with scattered foxing. Good+. On the diversity of opinions and perceptions that characterize all eras, even though "the external sense is, undoubtedly, ever the same: the most skillful anatomist cannot detect the minutest shadow of diversity between the eye and ear that informed the intellect which towered highest, and the eye and ear which sought no further than the exterior of lowest objects.." OCLC 33167692 [8]. Not in Sabin, Eberstadt, Decker, or Greenly.

Boston: Norman & White, 1783. 15, [1 blank] pp. Modern paper wrappers. Trimmed contemporary ownership inscription on titlepage. Margins trimmed closely, but not taking text, light scattered spotting. Good+. Thacher's pamphlet advocates due process and fairness in religious institutions. He observes, "The first planters of New-England" were "jealous of entrusting their ministers with a power which had no controul, or of giving them an influence which might in time grow up to such a power. They made them dependent upon the people, not only for their first election, but also for their after support." Certainly, Thacher concedes, Clergy ought not be treated as a privileged elite; but he worries that the Revolution, especially with the depreciation wrought in the value of paper currency, "has been peculiarly unfortunate for the clergy. The people, having emancipated themselves from the British government, have been too ready to suppose that their declaration and authority were sufficient to dissolve the… Read More

London: Printed for J. Almon, 1773. 4to. 28, xx pp. Disbound, title page lightly toned with light foxing. Else Very Good. An anonymous critique of Dalrymple's 'Memoirs of Great-Britain & Ireland from the Dissolution of the Last Parliament of Charles II,' printed as volume 1 in 1771. This is the only edition. Dalrymple's "cunning," the author says, "Lend[s] a lie the confidence of truth." The Memoirs, purportedly relying on previously undiscovered documents, placed Lord Russell and Algernon Sydney in an unfavorable light. The final xx pages print letters supporting the pamphlet, "From the Public Advertiser. March 5, 1773," and a "List of books printed for J. Almon." ESTC T12257.

London: Sold by J. Budd..., 1808. [4], 2, 75, [1] pp. With the half title, on which is inscribed, "With Mr. T. Courtenay's Compliments." Disbound [spine remnant present], some dusting, Good+. The Treaty, though signed by the authorized American and British ministers, was never ratified. Having rejected it, President Jefferson never submitted it to the Senate. James Monroe and William Pinkney negotiated for the United States, Lords Holland and Auckland for England. The failure probably contributed to the War of 1812. Extracts are printed, with Courtenay's withering criticism of the "concessions... made to America," and the British ministers' "lofty assertions which they countenanced of their own superior skill." The American goal was to end the British practices of impressment and "vexatious seizure" of American vessels; and for unhindered trade with the West Indies and other British colonies. The British sought to end "the interference of America in our Enemy's Colonial Trade," and to ratify their… Read More

Philadelphia: Bradford, 1796. 64pp, disbound. Scattered foxing. Good+. Cobbett pillories the Francophile Priestley in this piece, first printed in 1794, a "bitter attack on Priestley because he was representing himself as a victim of English persecution. Priestley's home, manuscripts, and apparatus had been burnt by a mob in Birmingham, England. Cobbett felt that Priestley got his just deserts, having attacked hereditary monarchy, praised the French revolutionaries, claimed that trinitarians were idolatrous, and advocated that dissenters should share in tithes. Cobbett asserted that Priestley's scientific reputation was founded on plagiarism and his writings were below mediocrity." Gaines 2a. Gaines [Cobbett] 2j. Gaines [Concealed Authorship] 96-42. Evans 30217. Sabin 13899.

London, 1798. viii, [5]-109, (1) pp [as issued]. Disbound, generally clean with occasional minor soil. About Very Good. The stated third edition of this popular piece, printed in a variety of locations in the U.S. and England in 1797 and In demand in England for Harper's pro-British, anti-French stance. Howes H209. Sabin 30433.

Philadelphia: Rakestraw, 1848. 16pp, Disbound, some dustsoil and light wear, Good+. As God, being Omniscient, takes "notice of our words," the modern oath profanes "the sacred Name." Is not calling upon God "to witness the truth of our declarations, even when they are sincerely and unequivocally true, taking his name in vain?" Lewis reviews "the numerous trifling, not to say frivolous occasions on which oaths are legally required" and concludes that they "inevitably impair, if not totally annihilate, the sense of reverence..." Lewis lists the 'Measures of the British Government for the Abolition of Unnecessary Oaths.' The piece was first issued by Rakestraw in 1846. 330 NUC 0319886 [6]. BEAL 5084. Not in Marke, Harv. Law Cat., Decker, Eberstadt.

New York: Printed for the Publisher, and for sale by the Booksellers Generally, 1846. 16pp. Original printed front wrapper [detached], illustrated with a sketch of an initiate surrounded by exotic Pashas, Mullahs, and Kings armed with spears. Closed tear to title page [no loss]. Scattered foxing, some corners turned. Good or so. A rare revelation of this secret Order's sordid and nefarious rituals, by an expelled member who believes that exposure is "my duty to my God, my country and myself." 426 NUC 0019573 [2- DSI, RPB]. Not in Sabin, Eberstadt, Decker, American Imprints. OCLC 191322330 [2- AAS, Deerfield], 476589257 [1- Mus. Nat. Heritage].

[Charleston?, 1861. Broadside, 8-1/4" x 10-1/2". Verse printed in two columns, separated by a double rule. Four stanzas. Blank corners with light spotting suggest prior matting on verso. Very Good. BAL's photograph depicts this broadside poem in poor condition, with much chipping, and thus does not do it justice. Timrod's poetic efforts lauding the southern Confederacy earned him the title, 'Poet Laureate of the South.' Here he waxes rhapsodic on the birth of the new nation. "...At last, we are / A nation among nations; and the world / Shall soon behold in many a distant part / Another flag unfurled!" The poem was reprinted throughout the War in southern newspapers, magazines, and anthologies. This, its first separate printing, is the paradigmatic example of Confederate romantic nationalism. The poem celebrates the convening of the Confederate Congress in Montgomery, Alabama, in early February 1861. "In early 1861, Henry Timrod was a promising young poet and critic from South Carolina. He had just… Read More

Boston: Eastburn, 1830. Disbound, scattered foxing. 22pp. Good+. FIRST EDITION. AI 3568 [many locations].