Rare American Books and Manuscripts from The 19th Century Shop
American Books & Manuscripts from the 19th Century Shop.
By Michael Stillman
The 19th Century Shop has published its 104th catalogue, American Books and Manuscripts. It offers an interesting mix of familiar and obscure material. Items are as diverse as a Washington letter and a photograph of the first Brooklyn fire station. What is common is that all is first-rate material appropriate to a quality collection. Now for a few items you will find.
That Washington letter was an introduction for Count Luigi Castiglioni, an Italian nobleman touring the United States in 1785. If you're looking for an "in" with people of the U.S., who better to provide such as introduction than General Washington? This letter was addressed to "Gov. Moutree" (actually, Governor William Moultrie) of South Carolina. In the letter, Washington explains that Castiglioni is on a tour and sends his good wishes to the Governor and his wife. The letter is dated January 27, 1785. Priced at $24,000.
Moving quickly from our most famous president to our most famous ballplayer, we have a signed photograph of Babe Ruth. Domenico Facci was an artist who had been commissioned to produce a statue of the Babe. Small reproductions of his statue were used to promote the film "The Babe Ruth Story." According to Facci, Ruth presented him with this photograph, inscribed to Dominic Facci, on a visit to his home. Evidently Ruth must have had some personal warmth toward Facci as it was signed on Christmas Day, 1947. It is unlikely just anybody would have been invited to Ruth's house on Christmas. The picture displays Ruth after a swing of his mighty bat, eyes lifted upwards, presumably watching the ball go into the stands. This was either a great home run or a foul ball. Facci said Ruth told him it was the famous "called shot." On a sad note, this would be the Babe's last Christmas. Less than eight months later Ruth died at the age of 53. $6,500.
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Rare American Books and Manuscripts from The 19th Century Shop
General George Washington provides a letter of introduction for an Italian visitor.
Great writers, artists, politicians and such of the 19th century and earlier times are still famous today, their words and images preserved in print or on canvas. Orators, musicians, actors, magicians and the like usually don't fare so well. In the time before moving pictures and phonograph records, there was no way to preserve their life's work. No matter how great a singer or orator's delivery, we are unable to hear its sound today. We can hear the great speakers of the 20th century, preserved on record and tape. Martin Luther King and his "I have a dream...," FDR and the "Day of Infamy," JFK and his "Ask not..." But what about Edward Everett? Perhaps most readers haven't even heard of him. Edward Everett was one of the greatest orators of the 19th century. His great speaking ability propelled him to many important offices, Governor, Representative and Senator from Massachusetts, Secretary of State, Ambassador to England, and President of Harvard University. It was Everett who gave the main address at Gettysburg, two hours long. Lincoln's speech was barely an afterthought at the time. But the delivery that made Everett a great speaker has been lost to time. The 19th Century Shop offers an Everett association item that ties this great speaker to an earlier generation of leaders. It is a copy of Everett's Address of His Excellency Edward Everett, to the Two Branches of the Legislature...January 2, 1839, inscribed by him to former President John Quincy Adams. The two would serve together as representatives of Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1830s, Everett when his career was moving up, Adams when his was winding down. $1,200.
Next is an association between one of America's greatest presidents and one of her greatest authors. It is Theodore Roosevelt's personal copy of Mark Twain's The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. This tale of betting on jumping frogs, one of which had been loaded down with shot, is a classic piece of American humor. Roosevelt would become president in the last decade of Twain's life, and the two are known to have met on several occasions. This copy includes the Roosevelt family bookplate. It is an 1869 edition of a book first published in 1867. $5,000.
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Rare American Books and Manuscripts from The 19th Century Shop
The Babe parks one in the stands.
Here's a title that will bring you back to the days of your youth: Ten Nights in a Bar-Room and What I saw There. As I recall, by the second night you couldn't have remembered what you saw there, but evidently author T.S. Arthur exercised greater self-control. It is a story of his trip to Cedarville, where a kindly old miller has opened up a new tavern, the "Sickle and Sheaf," which he runs with the assistance of his dutiful, responsible son. In ten days, their world is turned upside down by John Barleycorn and his friends. By the ninth day, the two are engaged in a drunken stupor over a bottle of liquor. The son bashes the bottle over his dad's head, killing the old man. And sadly, there are others in this little town who suffer similar depredations on account of these spirits. While there can be no happy ending to such a sad tale, at least the townspeople decide that no more liquor shall be sold in Cedarville, and the supply at the "Sickle and Sheaf" shall be destroyed. Today, few people remember T.S. Arthur, but he was a very popular author in his day, and a strong voice for the temperance movement. This book has been referred to as the "Uncle Tom's Cabin of temperance." And while his story is melodramatic and stretches credibility, it is powerful nonetheless and helped to mobilize the forces of temperance. This copy is a first edition, first state, from 1854. $950.
Louisa May Alcott based the character "Marmee" in Little Women on her own mother, Abba May Alcott. She obviously had deep love and respect for her mother, which was translated into this character. In her mother's later years, Louisa May took care of her. A stanza in her poem "Transfiguration" pays tribute to Mrs. Alcott: "Oh noble woman! Never more than a queen / Then in the laying down / Of scepter & crown / To win a greater kingdom yet unseen." A handwritten copy of these lines, complete with her autograph, "L. M. Alcott," is offered. $2,500.
The Brooklyn, New York, Fire Department was established in 1869. It started with 13 engines and a crew of most professional firemen (they were all men then). Around 1870, someone put together a poster containing twelve photographs of these firemen and the Brooklyn firehouse, engine number one parked outside. Today, the Brooklyn Fire Department has gone the way of the Brooklyn Dodgers. No, not to Los Angeles, but out of existence. It was merged into the New York City Fire Department in 1898, a successor fire company that became the most famous in the world for its bravery on a dark day a few years ago. The display of 13 photographs is priced at $4,800.
One of the more important collections of American poetry was published in 1845. This is a first edition of Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven and Other Poems. They were described by Poe as thirty of his best poems, but even his best didn't seem to impress Poe that much. "I think nothing in this volume of much value to the public, or very creditable to myself," he states in the preface. Whatevermore. $15,000.
The 19th Century Shop may be reached online at www.19thcenturyshop.com or by phone at 410-727-2665.
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