A Look into America's Unusual Past from David Lesser Antiquarian Books
Catalogue 85 from David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books.
By Michael Stillman
David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books has released their 85th catalogue of "Significant and Unusual Imprints Relating to America." Another appropriate adjective for the collection is interesting, as Lesser's books usually provide a fascinating look into the times in which they were published. The political and religious arguments of early America come to life again, and for those who think the vitriolic politics of today is something new, a Lesser catalogue is an eye-opening look at history. Here are just a few of these unusual and intriguing items Lesser Antiquarian Books has to offer.
Reverend Samuel Spring, a Congregational minister from Newburyport, Massachusetts, published A Thanksgiving Sermon, Preached November 29, 1798... This may be a sermon of thanksgiving, but what the good reverend seemed to be most thankful for was that he wasn't French. He speaks of "...that Gallic, disorganizing poison which has proved more fatal to Europe than a thousand plagues." He then states that the toxin has been imported to the United States, where "...it has actually seized some of our towns, counties, districts, and even Congress itself; and strangely deranged the minds and bewitched the hearts of many Americans. For, the subjects of the infection refuse information, court disorder, despise government, speak evil of dignities, and disregard the public interest." Spring then urges military readiness to combat this threat, and provides statistics on the number of American ships available and under construction and their number of guns. This is certainly an unusual Thanksgiving speech for a minister. Item 117. Priced at $250.
Albert Brown was a Mississippi senator who was bitterly opposed to California's constitution. Why would a Mississippi senator care about California's constitution? The year was 1849, and California had outlawed slavery. To add insult to injury, California wanted to join the Union. The South was ardently opposed to adding more free states, and Brown was particularly upset that President Zachary Taylor, a southerner and slave owner himself, supported California's petition. Despite those attributes, Taylor did not see a future in expanding slavery further. In his Letter of Albert G. Brown, to his Constituents, the Mississippi senator urges rejection of the California constitution, states that the territory is well-suited for slavery, and challenges Californians to set up an independent republic. Item 13. $250.
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A Look into America's Unusual Past from David Lesser Antiquarian Books
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As long as we are speaking of California, here is a most unusual item pertaining to the Golden State: Report of the Committee of Internal Improvements, on the Use of Camels on the Plains. May 30, 1855. This state report discusses "...introducing camels and dromedaries into California and employing them for transportation across the deserts intervening between California and the Eastern States." Ultimately, Californians had to settle for the Pacific Railroad instead as a means of transportation to the East. Item 15. $150.
Franklin Pierce was the epitome of the "northern man with southern principles," the favorite of Democrats as they tried to hold together as a national party in the 1850s while others fell apart. Pierce was elected in 1852 by being sympathetic to southern interests, despite being a resident of New Hampshire. That didn't stop this Whig pamphleteer from claiming Pierce was a closet abolitionist. While admitting there was no clear incidence of these abolitionist tendencies, Frank. Pierce and His Abolition Allies claims that lots of isolated events shows these sympathies. Pierce would undoubtedly have been astonished to learn that he was really pro-abolition. Item 101. $175.
John Fremont, the first Republican presidential candidate, was attacked from the opposite side by the "Know-Nothings" in 1856. Fremont, they claimed, was actually pro-slavery. The pamphlet is Fremont. Only Seventeen Working Days in the U.S. Senate. His Whole Civil Life. Twice Voting Against the Abolition of Slavery, in Washington - the Federal Capital. The "Know Nothings" were anti-immigrant, and particularly anti-Catholic, and yet surprisingly they were mostly against slavery as well. In 1856, they were battling the Republicans for the antislavery northern vote, and the evident strategy here was to attempt to make the Republicans appear proslavery. The two parties did split the northern vote, helping Democrat James Buchanan carry the day, but by 1860, the "Know-Nothings" had disappeared as a force, allowing the second Republican presidential nominee, Abraham Lincoln, to carry the day. Item 49. $175.
If the slavery issue was something of a side attack by the "Know Nothings," this one was more head on: Fremont's Romanism Established. Acknowledged by Archbishop Hughes...Hughes, Seward, Fremont, and the Foreigners. In 1856, the "Know Nothings," having quickly moved to a position of power, were already trying to hold on to their gains, as the slavery/abolition, North/South confrontations were increasingly dominating the scene, pushing their nativist agenda to the backburner. This piece was an attempt to push that quickly fading issue back to the forefront. Item 47. $175.
If you think that all leaders of the Confederacy went off to spend their golden years sipping bourbon together on the veranda, item 33 is a surprise. From Jubal Early, it is A Correspondence Between Generals Early and Mahone, in regard to a Military Memoir of the Latter. General Mahone had written an article in 1870 glorifying his own conduct in the war, and accusing General Early of incompetency. He had also charged that Early had backed out of a duel. In this publication, Early expounds his version of this old argument among old soldiers. While mostly forgotten today, Mahone would go on to play an important, if brief, role in politics. In the early 1870s, he was something of a railroad magnate, but economic issues of the 1870s would lead his business to collapse. He turned to politics instead.
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A Look into America's Unusual Past from David Lesser Antiquarian Books
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Mahone would split from the Democrats to lead a third-party movement in Virginia, the Readjuster Party, whose major thrust was to cancel certain state debts, including many incurred prior to the Civil War when West Virginia was still part of the state, and a tax was placed on slaves. The Readjusters would sweep to victory in 1880, carrying the governorship and the state assembly, and Mahone would be elected U.S. Senator. He would become the deciding vote in a split senate. Mahone chose to align his party with the Republicans. It was a mistake, the party of Lincoln being despised in the Old South. A race riot shortly before the 1883 election sealed their fate. Although the Readjusters brought the state some popular reforms, it was impossible to even appear to be on the wrong side of the race issue and win elections in Virginia, and despite his being a Confederate General, Mahone was seen as the moderate on this incendiary issue. He died in 1895 with few friends left. $275.
Item 93 may be the earliest American work on comets. It is An Essay on Comets... by Andrew Oliver Jr. Oliver was the son of a loyalist lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts, and a nephew of the despised Governor Thomas Hutchinson. Nevertheless, the loyalist Oliver stuck around after the Revolution and became a founder of the American Academy of Sciences. In this book, he wisely rejects the notion that comets are penal worlds for evil-doers, "condemned to be frozen and burned alternately, at their aphelia and perihelia." If you didn't intuit the meaning of those last two words from the context, they refer to when the comet is farthest, and closest, to the sun. However, Oliver was probably wrong when he concluded that comets are "inhabited Worlds, provided with every necessity for the comfortable subsistence of inhabitants...like the Earth." Marshall Applewhite call home. $1,750.
David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books may be found online at www.lesserbooks.com or reached by phone at 203-389-8111.
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