More Uncommon American Imprints from David Lesser Antiquarian Books
Catalogue 96 of Rare Americana from David Lesser Antiquarian Books.
By Michael Stillman
The 96th catalogue from Connecticut bookseller David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books has recently been released. Like other Lesser catalogues, this one is headed Rare Americana. No need to change a title that is perfectly descriptive. David Lesser further describes his material as "significant and unusual imprints relating to America" and this, too, is true. Once again he has put together a collection of the obscure and unusual, and yet many relate to some of the most important events and debates in American history. This is a catalogue for anyone with a love for Americana, great for reading, and great for collecting. Here are just a few of the items offered.
Lesser's catalogues always seem to start with something from John Adams. They are alphabetical in order, and Adams must be the first significant American alphabetically. Item 1 is a Message from the President...Relative to the Requisition for and Delivery of Jonathan Robbins... Robbins was a British seaman who participated in a mutiny in which some other Brits were killed. He landed in South Carolina where he was seized by federal authorities. Robbins argued that he could not be held accountable as he was an American who had been illegally impressed into service by the British. The former colonial masters still maintained at the time that those born in the old colonies could be impressed into the service of the British Navy, which they forcibly did to many American seamen. It did not make the British popular in America. When President Adams turned Robbins over to them, it created quite an uproar. It was likely one of the factors in Adams' loss in the 1800 election. In Adams' defense, Robbins was a liar, an Irishman not an American, and there was an extradition treaty in place. Nevertheless, Adams turning him over to a nation with whom America was in something of a cold war, without going through a court or impartial judge, did not set well with many Americans. As for poor Robbins, he was quickly hanged by the British. Adams' message is priced at $275.
Item 95 was an ignored Speech of [William Pitt]... to His Majesty, to Give Immediate Orders for Removing His Troops from Boston Forthwith, in Order to Quiet the Minds and Take Away the Apprehensions of His Good Subjects in America. Pitt called for the removal of British troops from Boston, the repeal of taxes implemented without the consent of the colonists, and the display of a friendlier attitude towards them. This 1775 speech before the House of Lords was quite ignored, as King George had his own response for the rebellious colonists. It didn't work that well. $2,500.
Edward Rushton was a remarkable English humanitarian of two centuries ago. As a young man, he went to sea, a man noted for his skill and courage. However, a trip on a slave ship appalled him. Unlike most sailors who simply did their jobs, he was horrified by the conditions of the slaves. He became an outspoken opponent of slavery and the impressment of sailors, as well as a supporter of the revolutions in America and France. His role in bringing food to slaves on a ship suffering from the disease of opthalmia led to his own blindness, but not even this inhibited his tireless efforts on behalf of those less fortunate. He became humanity's conscience, challenging even those with the greatest reputations, such as radical reformer Thomas Paine.
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More Uncommon American Imprints from David Lesser Antiquarian Books
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Item 105 is a 1797 printing of a letter he wrote chastising one of the greatest statesmen of all, George Washington. Rushton wrote Washington a private letter, which was returned to him with no reply. Rushton in turn published this open letter, Expostulatory Letter to George Washington...on his Continuing to be a Proprietor of Slaves. Pointing to Washington's ownership of slaves, Rushton writes, "...a man who, notwithstanding his hatred of oppression and his ardent love of liberty, holds at this moment hundreds of his fellow beings in a state of abject bondage." One can only imagine the pain this contradiction must have inflicted on Washington, who once again failed to respond to Rushton, but who did free his slaves after his (and his wife's) death. Item 105. $2,500.
One of the unresolved issues of slavery during the 1850s concerned the transit of slaves. The passage of the Fugitive Slave Acts established a right of slaveholders to recapture runaway slaves from hiding in free states. However, this did not directly address the issue of slaves willingly taken into free states by their owners. Since there were no federal laws specifically dealing with this issue, did they become free by virtue of the laws of the state into which they were taken? Item 92 is a Report of the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania, in Relation to the Rights of Transit of Slave Property Through This State, published in 1856. The majority states that rules of comity compel that the property rights in slaves be recognized, but the minority report argues that slavery is only a local institution "not recognized by the law of nature" nor the law of nations. $450. Item 67 is the Report of the Lemmon Slave Case from the New York Court of Appeals, published in 1861, but dealing with a case that began in 1852. The Lemmon family of Virginia had traveled to New York with eight slaves to catch a ship to New Orleans, but a free New York black man filed a writ of habeas corpus to liberate them. The New York court decided for freedom, a decision that undoubtedly would have wound its way to a hostile U.S. Supreme Court had Virginia not seceded from the Union. $1,250.
Union forces were quite magnanimous toward their Confederate foes when the Civil War concluded, but there were a few exceptions. E.S. Rouse, a Justice of the Peace from Mount Vernon, Ohio, penned a poem in 1865 to celebrate the Union triumph, The Soldiers' Welcome! A Poem Read at the Celebration in Mount Vernon, July 4th, 1865. Writing of Jefferson Davis' attempt to escape Union forces dressed as a woman, Rouse rhymes, "Of all the strange and funny sights / Of the rebel great downfall, / Jeff. Davis with petticoats o'er his boots / Was the funniest sight of all." Rouse is a little less humorous when he states, "And Lee, and Longstreet, Cobb and Clay, / And Bragg and Maury too, / Ewell and Forrest, all must swing, / Ere Justice gets her due." Item 104. $850.
The website for David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books is www.lesserbooks.com. The phone number is 203-389-8111.
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