Tag: Rare Americana

July 12, 2014

NEWLY DISCOVERED OLDEST SURVIVING AMERICAN CHECKBOOK

Sometimes, we are fortunate to buy a truly amazing historical artifact .   This checkbook , which dates from the 1790s, was recently discovered at the bottom of a  trunk of personal papers that had descended in a NJ family.   Research indicates that it is the oldest surviving American Checkbook from the Bank of New York, the oldest bank in the United  States  (established in 1784 by the American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton).   One check is even made out to Hamilton for legal services!   In a new digital age, when checkbooks are quickly becoming part of a bygone era,  it is an evocative object of early American banking and, with its yet unwritten checks, of raw New York capitalism in particular.

 PRICE ON REQUEST

[OLDEST SURVIVING AMERICAN CHECK BOOK] BANK OF NEW YORK.  NY, 179[-], some check stubs dated 1796  Folio. 38 x 24 cm.  [1 blank] [38 stubs] [82 unused pages of 3 check each; i.e. 246 unused checks] [1 leaf partially excised] [5 blank stubs] [1 blank].   Of the relatively used stubs one is particularly interesting and made out Alexander Hamilton (and James Kent) for legal services; another is for the purchase of land on Broad Street (possibly where the NY Stock Exchange sits).  Exceedingly Rare: while individual cancelled checks from the period survive (and are scarce by themselves), I been unable to trace another example of a full surviving check book from the period.  [Ref:  Domett, Henry W.  A history of the Bank of New York, 1784-1884. Putman, NY 1884]. [Price on Request] Provenance: From multiple appearances of Robt. Boyd on the used stubs-  Robert Boyd, sheriff of New York from 9 September 1787 to 29 September 1791.  Boyd helped organize Washington’s inauguration and “rode alone in state on horseback” during the procession. He erected the Iron and Scythe Works, one mile below Newburgh and inherited the estate of his Uncle Samuel. Binding: 18th century marbled paper over paste-boards and quarter calf. Despite loss to spine and the text-block being broken with some leaves detached, generally, in remarkable condition in its original unsophisticated binding.   WeBuyOldBooks_OldestAmericanCheckbook1 WeBuyOldBooks_OldestAmericanCheckbook2 WeBuyOldBooks_OldestAmericanCheckbook3 WeBuyOldBooks_OldestAmericanCheckbook4

posted in: Rare Books

June 2, 2013

William Duncan’s 1794 New-York directory with the Map intact

[EARLY NEW YORK HISTORY] [EARLY NEW  YORK MAP] [EARLY AMERICAN DIRECTORY] Duncan, William. The New-York directory, and register, for the year 1794. : Illustrated with a new and accurate plan of the city and part of Long-Island, exactly laid down, agreeably, to the latest survey … New-York : Printed for the editor, by T. and J. Swords, no. 167, William-Street., –1794.   Small 8vo., 16 x 10 cm.,  COMPLETE WITH MAP; i.e.  xii, 288 p., [1] leaf of plates: 1 map.  Some small loss to left margin of map as depicted, restorable tear to right margin, some general toning, a few folded corners, map detached. Early marble wraps partially preserved (and remarkably so), wraps detached, text-block without stitching (requires relatively easy resewing through the clean stab-holes present). Ref: Evans 26919.  An EARLY NEW YORK CITY DIRECTORY OF GREAT RARITY, ESPECIALLY IN PRIVATE HANDS.  $12,000

The Map present in this modest, ephemeral, and exceedingly rare directory is of great importance in American cartography.  It was engraved by the well regarded early American engraver Cornelius Tiebout (1777-1832) after John McComb Jr. (1763-1853 ), one of the most important architects of the period.  It was drawn primarily to depict the First Meeting of the Federal Government in New York.  “The federal government under the new United States Constitution first met in Federal Hall (formerly City Hall) in New York City during the spring of 1789. This plan of the city of New York by John McComb (1763–1853) shows the city and environs and indexes many important landmarks, including Federal Hall.” [LOC].  Additionally, according to Evans, “In this directory is given the changes from the early names of the streets.”

There is a wonderful blog post by Philip Sutton on the importance of early directories to researchers, historians and genealogists (in connection with  New York Public Library’s Direct Me NYC 1940 project)  here.

Auction Record:
The only copy actually sold at auction in the last 30 years was in 1986 Swann Galleries  for $650.00 (Thursday, April 3, 1986. lot 292) for an INCOMPLETE copy described as having “good portion of the engraved plan of the City and part of Long Island is lacking, tear at D2; lacks F5 and F6”  Please keep in mind that the copy for sale here is COMPLETE by comparison with the important map intact!

 

posted in: Rare Books

April 7, 2012

The First Major Account of Discoveries and Invention in the NEW WORLD

PRINTED 1646:  2 VOLS in 1:   “The history of many memorable things lost”

The Book:

[SCIENTIFIC INVENTION] [THE NEW WORLD] [EARLY ENCYCLOPEDIA] Pancirolli, Guido ;  Salmuth, Heinrich];  Guidonis Pancirolli rerum memorabilium sive deperditarum pars prior[-liber secundus] : commentarijs illustrata, et locis prope innumeris postremum aucta, Publisher: Francofurti : sumptibus Godefridi Schonwetteri, 1646.   The title-page is engraved.Title of v.2 reads: Nova reperta sive rerum memorabilium recens inventarum, & veteribus plane incognitarum … liber secundus. The second part completed by Heinrich Salmuth. 2 vols in 1.  COMPLETE. 2 vols in 1.  Small 4to, 21 cm.   Contemporary vellum with yapp edges, some chaffing to inner front board, small hoel to blank flyleaf, minor upper inner marginal stain to first few leaves, t.p. lightly browned, some light browning throughout,  last few leaves with some wear to l.r. margins.  Overall an attractive copy that contains the often missing second volume on the New World. [SOLD]

Guido Panciroli of Reggio, was a professor of law at Padua and a scholar with immense antiquarian interests.  This treatise, which was translated into Latin with copious annotations by Henry Salmuth, is considered the second most important book on “inventions” and the first to really touch upon the new world in any detail.  It follows in the footsteps of  the Italian humanist Polydore Vergil (1470-1555) whose popular and oft-reprinted work, On Discovery (De inventoribus rerum, 1499), was the first comprehensive account of discoveries and inventions written since antiquity.  Here Panciroli and Salmuth treat many diverse subjects, including the New World  (“De Novo Orbe”- Panciroli was in fact one of the first to use the term new world), alchemy, spectacles, tournaments, clocks, porcelain, falconry, as well as many particulars including  “[Indian] knives made of stone, pictures made of bird feathers, and the famous Benzoar stone- that universal antidote for any poison.

 

posted in: Rare Books

August 1, 2010

VERY RARE 1868 ROYAL OCTAVO EDITION OF MCKENNEY’S HISTORY OF THE INDIAN TRIBES

One of the most famous and magnificent colored plates books issued in the United States up to its publication.

McKenney,Thomas L. History of the Indian tribes of North America : with biographical sketches and anecdotes of the principal chiefs. Philadelphia : Rice, Rutter & Co., no. 525 Minor Street, 1868. THREE (3) VOLUMES. Royal Octavo. approx, 26 x 18 cm., Publisher’s original brown blind-stamped morocco bindings, edges gilt, some light rubbing as depicted, plates with some occasional minor staining, light spotting and soiling. Overall, a VERY GOOD, HANDSOME AND COMPLETE COPY with 16 more plates than called for by the title page. See: Howes M-129; Sabin 43411   [Sold]

McKenney’s History of the Indian Tribes stands as one of the most famous and magnificent colored plates books issued in the United States up to its publication.

Thomas Loraine McKenney (1785–1859) was a United States official who served as Superintendent of Indian Trade from 1816–1822, under Presidents Madison, Monroe, John Quincy Adams, and Jackson, until Jackson dismissed him for maintaining a belief that “the Indian was, in his intellectual and moral structure, our equal.” The hand-colored prints are almost entirely portraits painted from life after Charles Bird Kig, who painted Native American delegates coming to Washington D.C. as commissioned by government’s Bureau of Indian Affairs. Rice & Hart published the first royal octavo edition in 1848–1850, and the firm, after the subsequent addition of Rutter, continued to produce lavish Royal octavo editions, some very slightly redacted, to satiate the demand of wealthier American customers in the economic boom following the Mexican War and the the California Gold Rush.

This particular edition of 1868 appears to be among the rarest of all the Royal Octavo editions with WorldCat citing only 1 Institutional copy (OCLC 85518)

posted in: Rare Books

February 7, 2010

The first work to give formal expression to the notion of an “English Empire”

PRINTED 1685: COMPLETE WITH BOTH MAPS AND THE PLATES

B[URTON], R[obert]. The English Empire in America: Or a Prospect of His Majesties Dominions in the West-Indies. Namely, Newfoundland New-England New-York Pennsylvania New-Jersey Maryland Virginia Carolina Bermuda’s Barbuda Anguilla Montserrat Dominica St. Vincent Antego Mevis, Or Nevis S. Christophers Barbadoes Jamaica With an account of the Discovery, Situation, Product, and other Excellencies of these Countries. To which is prefixed a Relation of the first Discovery of the New World called America, by the Spaniards. And of the Remarkable Voyages of several English-men to divers places therein. London: Printed for Nath. Crouch, 1685. 12mo., 15cm x 8.5 cm., with publisher’s advertisements on last leaf, engraved frontispiece map depicting Newfoundland to Florida, engraved plates of “the Caribee Islands,” and two showing “Strange Creatures in America” (armadillo’s, alligators, etc.). Map of east coast of North America from Maine to Georgia, with ill. Old Calf boards, heavily worn as depicted, boards broken, flyleaf and t.p. loose but present, some browning and chipping, minor loss to front map as depicted, COMPLETE. Old 1909 Bookseller’s label pasted to inner front board for the 1698 edition for the high price $15.00, and noted as “excessively rare.” Ref: Howes B1034; Sabin 9499.   $5500

This work, by R.B., the pseudonym of Nathaniel Crouch, was the first work to give formal expression to the notion of an “Empire”; understood to be the assertion of dominion over foreign places and people, the introduction of whites and slaves, and the creation and maintenance of settlements as well as trade monopolies. It advanced an economic notion of the American Dominions as being an important economic entity, in the national interest to cherish, nurture, protect, and defend, and therefore did much to raise the importance of the colonies in the English consciousness. [Ref: William Roger Louis, Alaine M. Low, Nicholas P. Canny., The Oxford History of the British Empire]    

The work includes fascinating passages from the Indian Captivity of Quentin Stockwell to the founding of New York. A copy of the the famous map was exhibited by the NYPL in “American Shores”.

posted in: Rare Books