More Historic Americana from David Lesser Antiquarian Books
David Lesser's 98th catalogue of Rare Americana.
By Michael Stillman
David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books has issued their 98th catalogue of Rare Americana. Here are 124 new items pertaining to American history, primarily from colonial times to the First World War. The issues of the day are once again debated before our eyes in a David Lesser catalogue. We hear the arguments over slavery, pro and con, along with witnessing the disintegration of the Union, each side blaming the other. We hear revolutionaries calling out for independence from Britain, and theologians arguing the theological issues of the day. And, of course, there are the politicians, their supporters slandering each other with a vehemence that resembles politics today. If you are fascinated by American history, you will want to see this catalogue, and perhaps, own a few of the intriguing documents within its pages.
Here is something you didn't know about Lincoln, courtesy of the New York Minute Guard in October of 1864: "there is not an intelligent man in America who believes him fit for the Presidency of this Republic." Apparently, Lincoln was re-elected entirely by stupid people. The Minute Guard favored the election of General George McClellan, as Lincoln had changed the "War for the Union to a war for forcible Emancipation, Conscription, and Miscegenation." Unfortunately for the Minute Guard, McClellan proved no more successful as a political candidate than he was as a general. Item 77. Priced at $850.
Item 29 is one of those documents that signified the end of any hope of holding the Union together through compromise. From 1860, it is Breckenridge and Lane Campaign Documents, No. 9. Reply of Hon. Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, to the Speech of Senator Douglas, in the U.S. Senate, May 17 and 18, 1860. Stephen Douglas was still trying to push his policy of Popular Sovereignty, an anathema through much of the North as it allowed territories once barred from having slavery to choose to permit the hated institution. However, Davis attacked from the other side, claiming the national government was obligated to enforce slaveholders' "property rights" in the territories regardless of the locals' opinions. When Breckenridge and the southern Democrats bolted from Douglas' national party, the stage was set for Lincoln's election and the secession of the southern states. $250.
Item 28 includes twelve issues of The Eclaireur, published by Augustus Cowman (a grown-up cowboy?). Contrary to my initial expectation, this is not about bakers of those wonderful, cream-filled pastries. No, Colonel Cowman explains that an "eclaireur" is a mounted military scout who collects intelligence. This publication ran from 1853-1857, and was published in Franklin D. Roosevelt's hometown of Hyde Park, New York, though long before FDR was born. $500.
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More Historic Americana from David Lesser Antiquarian Books
William Gibbs McAdoo and Eleanor Wilson McAdoo.
One does not expect to hear a passionate attack on slavery from North Carolina, but that's just what Peter Clemmons provided in 1812 in Poor Peter's Call to his Children, and to All Others who can Hear and Believe. Clemmons was a Quaker from North Carolina who freed his slaves and denounced others who "live in luxury on the labour of the poor black people..." He gets even more blunt in his criticism by noting "...many of these proud delicate beings [slaveholders], will go to the bed of the despised negroes, both male and female, and commit adultery, whoredom, and mingle their seed with those they will not suffer to set down at their tables and eat bread with them." Item 21. $3,500.
Lesser has several letters that were sent to Democratic political leader William Gibbs McAdoo. McAdoo was an attorney involved in high finance at the turn of the century, and was instrumental in building tunnels under the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey. He was appointed by President Wilson to serve as Secretary of the Treasury in 1913. McAdoo led the country through the financial difficulties arising from the First World War. In 1914, he married Wilson's daughter, but his offer to resign as a result was turned down by the President. In 1918, McAdoo did resign to return to private practice, but in both 1920 and 1924, he sought the Democratic nomination for president. In each case, he led on the first ballot, but eventually lost to others. However, he would be elected Senator from California during the 1930s. In 1935, he divorced the former Miss Wilson and married a 26-year-old nurse, probably not a good political move, but a wise personal one as he was 71 at the time. A nurse might come in handy. William McAdoo died in 1941.
Item 94 is a letter McAdoo received in 1919 from John D. Rockefeller, Jr. "Junior" was the son of the founder of Standard Oil, and a very successful businessman, financier and developer in his own right, who is even better remembered as an enormously generous philanthropist. He was John Senior's only son, and father to the five Rockefeller brothers, including former Vice-President Nelson Rockefeller. In this letter, Rockefeller notes that he is sending McAdoo a copy of a speech given by the Canadian Premier at a recent industrial conference. $400.
Item 95 is a typed, signed letter from 1911 from Theodore Roosevelt to McAdoo. In the letter Roosevelt promises to read a speech McAdoo recently gave. The connection is interesting since McAdoo would work for Wilson's campaign the following year, while Roosevelt would bolt from the Republican Party to run for president as an independent. In doing so, he split the Republican vote, enabling Wilson to be elected. $750.
David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books is found online at www.lesserbooks.com, telephone 203-389-8111.
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