Rare books from David M. Lesser, Fine Antiquarian Books LLC

Boston: Printed for, and Sold by Nathaniel Coverly, opposite the sign of the White Horse, in Newbury Street, 1783. Twelve leaves, as issued. With the full-page woodcut of Washington preceding the title page, as described in the title. Stitched and untrimmed. Uniformly toned, lightly foxed; a short, expertly repaired, closed corner tear [no loss]. Very Good. Evans attributed authorship to Rittenhouse; but NAIP says, "The actual author was Daniel George." This is one of the three Weatherwise almanacs printed in Boston for the year 1784. The woodcut illustration is captioned, 'Washington- Victory doth thy Trumpets sound, Who are with Laurals cover'd round!' The illustration was "a sort of lifetime memorial that reflected Washington's legendary status among his countrymen by the time the Revolution was over" [Wick]. Evans 18163. Drake 3335. NAIP w036458. Wick, George Washington An American Icon 18.

New York: Hugh Gaine, 1774. Folio, two volumes in one, continuously paginated. Pages iv, 420; [4], 421-835 [i.e., 833], [1 errata] [as issued]. Title vignette of the State Seal [Reilly 941]. Some spotting, generally in the margins; occasional toning. Small square cut from blank bottom section of the last text page. Very Good, in modern blue buckram, with gilt spine title. With a typed letter, signed by M.J. Walsh of Goodspeed's, taped to front pastedown, dated August 6, 1952. Peter Van Schaack, the editor, signs the Preface in type. This comprehensive compilation of laws commences with the First Assembly in 1691. It ends with the Sessions of the Twenty-Ninth Assembly in 1773, which passed a statute making defacing statues of the King a crime. The Acts encompass the broad spectrum of the requirements of a developing society, including a number of laws regulating the behavior of slaves and the institution of slavery. Evans 13467.

Philadelphia: Thomas Dobson, 1796. 412; 430; 387, [1 blank], [55] pp. Contemporary tree calf [some chipping], rebacked with remnants of original spines laid down. Toned, scattered foxing, lightly worn. Good+. The second American edition, the first having issued in 1789, also published by Dobson. 'Printing and the Mind of Man' describes this work as "the first and greatest classic of modern economic thought." Evans 31196. PMM 221 [London, 1776]. Kress 3288.

New York: Published by O. Halsted, 1830. [2], vi, [2], 508; viii, 528; viii, 413; viii, 550 pp. Title leaf of each volume with an old rubberstamp. Otherwise, light foxing and a Very Good text. Bound in matching modern, bright cloth, with gilt-lettered morocco spine labels. The first edition of a classic American legal work. "England has only furnished one Blackstone, and the American rival equals him in classic purity and elegance of style, and surpasses him in extent and copiousness of learning. What do Sir William Blackstone's Commentaries contain... which are discussed with such richness and accuracy by Chancellor Kent? Scarcely nothing, and a comparison... shows the American author to have surpassed his rival in comprehensiveness of research, and fulness of illustration, and to have equalled him in clearness and cogency of reasoning" [Marvin]. Larned calls it a "great work... marked by a firm grasp of essentials, by explicit statement of fundamental principles, and by a clear, unaffected,… Read More

Albany, 1801. Folio printed Broadside, 9" x 16." Mildly toned, lightly worn, old mailing folds, two tabs on blank verso from prior mounting. Addressed in ink on blank verso: "Mr. Benjamin Warren | Augusta." Very Good. The broadside is signed in type by nearly forty worthy Federalists who urge the election of Lieutenant-Governor Stephen Van Rensselaer to replace John Jay, who had become New York's second Governor after resigning as the first Chief Justice of the United States. Van R is praised for his private and public character, his integrity and patriotism. "At a time when personal animosity and party spirit prevail, we have a peculiar pride and satisfaction in recommending to your support a man distinguished for his disinterestedness and moderation." Our research does not disclose any other copies of this unusual imprint. Not in American Imprints, Sabin, Eberstadt, or on OCLC or the online sites of AAS, NYPL, NYHS, Harvard, Yale as of May 2023.

New York: National Committee to Secure Justice in the Rosenberg Case, 1952. Eight volumes, bound in original printed yellow title wrappers. 1715, [3 Index] pp. Each page printed in two columns, each column numbered as a page. Oblong 8vo, 7-1/4" x 5-1/4". Stapled as issued, Near Fine. Housed in original box. Nearly seventy years after they were executed for espionage, even after the opening of the USSR's secret Venona files, the guilt or innocence of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg remains a subject of controversy. A National Committee to Reopen the Rosenberg Case, the successor to the National Committee to Secure Justice to the Rosenbergs, is active to this day. The trial, like that of their contemporary Alger Hiss, was enveloped by the early years of the Cold War. Added to the mix was the fact that the Rosenbergs were Jewish, as were their prosecutors [Irving Saypol and Roy Cohn] and the trial judge [Irving Kaufman]. There is little doubt that significant prejudicial conduct occurred at trial,… Read More

[New Haven? New York?: Frontispiece and portraits by F. Michelin of New York, 1853. Bound in original black pebbled leather, ornate gilt designs on boards and spine, raised spine bands, gilt spine title [light rubbing, ex-library marks]. Boards decorated with gilt image of trees, Yale buildings in the background; "Edward W. Seymour, Class of 1853" engraved in gilt within the scene. Decorative title page, frontis lithograph of Yale College, 116 lithographic portrait plates [14 of administration and faculty, about 102 of students], each with protective tissue guard. Each portrait followed by a blank leaf, most of which contains the signature and sentiments penned by that student. Additional plate illustrations: New Haven from the South East, Yale Library, Public Square New Haven, Undine list, Presentation of the Wooden Spoon depicting a Coat of Arms. A A handful of lithographic illustrations of monuments of deceased students are laid in loosely among the pages. "Song for Presentation Day, June 15,… Read More

Boston: N.E.: Printed and Sold by S. Kneeland & T. Green, 1738. [4], 26 pp, lacking the final blank. Stitched as issued, scattered foxing, Good+, with death's head ornamentation at the head of the title. ESTC records this as Coollidge's only printed Sermon. He dedicates it to Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor ["and Commander of the Castle"] Spencer Phips. Coollidge says that "there is something in the conduct of divine Providence, which at the first view appears puzzling even to good Men." But, after "Persons of this Character" contemplate further, "the divine Proceeding is unexceptionably just, righteous, and equal, tho' they don't always see the Grounds and Reasons of it." He counsels "the profoundest Submission under all our Trials and Sorrows." "Castle William" was originally built on Castle Island in Boston Harbor in 1634; it was rebuilt and given its name in 1692. Abandoned by the British during the Revolutionary War, it was renamed Fort Adams and then [and now] Fort Independence. King… Read More

Single leaf, in neat ink manuscript on recto and half the verso. Signed, "JJ Crittenden." Very Good plus. Crittenden held nearly every office Kentucky could bestow upon him: State legislator, Governor, Congressman, U.S. Senator; he was also U.S. Attorney General in the Harrison, Tyler, and Fillmore Administrations. As an influential Border State man, he sought to avoid Secession and Civil War with his elaborate Crittenden Compromise, but it was doomed to failure. Crittenden stayed with the Union until his death-- but one son was a General in the Confederate Army, and the other a General in the Union Army. His Letter: "My Dear Sir, | The death of my excellent friend, Mr. Barrow, of the Senate, has so divided my attention as to prevent me from attending as soon as I otherwise should have done to your letter of the 26th of the last month. "The principles & views you have expressed in your published letter, seems to me to be altogether just & sound. It is not so easy to determine what is the exigency… Read More

New York, 1796. 8-1/2" x 13" printed broadside, completed in manuscript [manuscript additions indicated by parentheses]. "584" written in blank left margin. Light tanning, old horizontal folds [repairs to several short closed tears at blank outer margin]. Very Good. Signed boldly by Mayor Varick at the end. This rare imprint, specially designed for Varick's mayoralty during 1796, granted a tavern-keeping license to John Ruthven, an inhabitant of the Lower West Side's Third Ward and a turner by trade. "Whereas the said John Ruthven on the Day of the Date hereof hath obtained a Licence to keep an Inn or Tavern for retailing strong or spirituous Liquors in his Dwelling-House, in the said City, from the Date of the said Licence until the first Day of March next," promises, upon pain of forfeiting his recognizance of fifty dollars, that he shall not "keep a disorderly inn or Tavern, or suffer or permit any Cock-fighting, Gaming, or Playing with Cards or Dice, or keep any Billiard-Table, or other… Read More

Plano, Illinois: Printed at the True Latter Day Saints' Herald Steam Book Office, 1870. 8pp, as issued with caption title. Signed at the bottom of page 8, in type, by Joseph Smith as President; and by Joseph Smith, Alex. H. Smith, Mark H. Forscutt, Wm. W. Blair, and Josiah Ells as Committee on Memorial. Very short closed tear at blank upper margins. Very Good, in later half tan morocco and marbled paper over boards, with gilt-lettered title stamped on spine [front cover detached but present] Very Good. "Approved by the annual conference of the Reorganized Church on April 11, 1870, and signed by Joseph Smith as chairman of the committee, and also as President, it claimed the right of the Reorganized group to be considered the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and denounced the doctrine of polygamy advocated by the Utah church at the time. It was inspired by the opposition of the latter body to the Cullom bill, directed against that practice" [Sabin]. The Reorganized Church's Founder,… Read More

Boston, 1871. Single leaf, folded to [4]pp, bifolium. Each page 5" x 8-1/8." The two leaves separating along the spine. Sumner's signature at the end has an ink smudge partially affecting the "C" in his first name. Because Sumner's handwriting was terrible, we have made a couple of leaps of faith in our translation. Very Good. Sumner [1811-1874] would die in office as a leading Republican Senator devoted to equal rights for Blacks, and to preventing the former Rebels from reversing the results of the War. Thus Sumner sought to diminish their political influence by delaying the return of the Rebel States to full participation in the polity. Writing from his Boston home, he seeks information related to his Reconstruction policies. His note reads, in full: "Please send me " [1] Mr. Harlan's Bill of Dec. '61 on Provg civil Govts for the rebel States. "[2] Mr. Sumner's bill or substitute for Confiscation Bill. April or May '62. "[3] Mr. S___s bill for arming negroes. "Much oblige | Yours truly, |… Read More

New Haven, 1859. Massive, thick 4to class book for Yale University Class of 1859, inscribed by most of its members. 11" x 8-3/4," original gilt pictorial morocco with gilt portrait of Elihu Yale on front board and University seal on rear board, with spine title "Class Book, Yale, 1859." Binding rubbed at edges with short separation at ribbed spine extremities, front board detached but present. All edges gilt, attractive and clean contents. Original tissue guards, 128 engravings, two lithographs, one photograph; approximately 97 signed manuscript leaves, as follows: three engraved campus views (Yale College, Alumni Hall, and Library); 23 engravings of past and present presidents and faculty members, five with accompanying autograph leaves (President Theodore Woolsey and professors Chauncey Goodrich, William Larned, Noah Porter, and James Hadley); 100 engravings of Class of 1859 classmates (about 90 of them accompanied by autograph leaves) plus three autograph leaves for classmates without engravings;… Read More

[4]pp bifolium, text written on recto of first leaf, folded for mailing and addressed [with red seal] to Colonel Webb at "Head Quarters Morristown." Small tear to left margin from seal [text unaffected]. Very Good. The Massachusetts Federalist Otis [1740-1814], the first Secretary of the U.S. Senate, served as such until his death. He was an ally of John Adams, the father of Harrison Gray Otis, collector of clothing for the Continental Army, and a member of the Continental Congress. Here he writes in familiar and colloquial fashion to his friend Webb, who had been captured by the British in December 1777: "So you are going for the Camp - I am determined to make an excursion upon Henleys return who is the bearer of this, help him to wipe off some impressions that hurt him, every hope is vain from that quarter. You talk of being here in April. I lay you 2 to one I see you unless blind with both Eyes. I think you will have a curious Journey Colo. W, W E, & G L. In short, I am distressed 3 young Men… Read More

[Philadelphia: John Binns, 1828. Folio Broadside, 11" x 19." Printed in three columns, each separated by a rule. Macabre relief cuts of six black coffins within the title. Repaired horizontal and vertical closed tears on blank verso; several small holes have slight effect on several letters. Light toning. Good+ copy of a rare, dramatic broadside. "As we soon expect to have official documents in relation to the SIX MILITIA MEN, arrested, tried, and put to death, under the orders of General Andrew Jackson, this may not be an improper time to give to the public some of the particulars of the execution..." The source of those "particulars" is the account in John Binns's 'Democratic Press.' The primary weapon of the anti-Jackson forces was his alleged impetuous, unrestrained, martial personality, utterly unsuitable for the presidency of a democratic republic whose success required respect for constitutional checks and balances. Jackson's indefensible shooting of the six militia men after the Battle of… Read More