Significant and Unusual Americana
From David Lesser Antiquarian Books
David Lesser's catalogue of significant and unusual imprints.
By Michael Stillman
David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books has issued “A Catalogue of Significant and Unusual Imprints Relating to America.” That’s an appropriate title, as it covers many important events of 19th century and earlier America, yet few are books you are likely to come across anyplace else. Here are a few of the titles you will find inside.
Item 132 is a hauntingly prescient address from South Carolina, written almost 30 years before the Civil War (1832). It is An Address of the Washington Society to the People of South-Carolina. The Washington Society of South Carolina was a pro-Union southern group which supported President Jackson during the Nullification Crisis. That was when South Carolina first asserted its “right” to nullify federal laws, a right which if acknowledged, would have effectively destroyed the Union. This time, South Carolina, lacking support from the rest of the South, would back down, though things would be different 29 years later. In this pamphlet, the Society warns that an attempt to implement Nullification “must end in bloodshed, disgrace, and ruin.” Secession, they said, would result in “defeat and disgrace, or in the establishment of a military despotism in South-Carolina, and the road to either alternative lies through bloodshed and civil war.” Yes, yes, and yes. Priced at $450.
If it is today hard to understand how Southerners could miss the logic of the above argument, even if they didn’t like it, item 128 displays some of the blinding passions which clouded men’s reason. Also from South Carolina, but this time the year is 1860, is Rev. Thomas Smyth’s The Sin and the Curse; or, the Union, the True Source of Disunion, and Our Duty in the Present Crisis. In it, Smyth informs us that “the evil and bitter root of all our evils is to be found in the infidel, atheistic, French Revolution, Red Republican principle, embodied as an axiomatic seminal principle – not in the Constitution, but in the Declaration of Independence.” What was that consummately evil principle contained not in the Constitution but in the Declaration of Independence? That “all men are created equal.” $375.
The days just before the Civil War are fascinating because, from hindsight, we can see the train wreck towards which the nation was now barreling at full throttle. Here’s the Address of Hon. Albert G. Brown, before the Members of the Legislature of the State of Mississippi, November 8, 1859. Not surprisingly, Brown describes the Republicans as “a fanatical horde who trample without remorse on the Constitution.” However, he then goes on to criticize the Northern Democrats of Stephen Douglas for favoring popular sovereignty in the territories with respect to slavery, rather than recognizing it as a property right which must be enforced regardless of the wishes of the local population. Ultimately, it would be an unwillingness to bend on slavery in the territories, rather than the existence of the institution in the South itself, which would lead the South into a ruinous civil war. Item 13. $250.
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Significant and Unusual Americana
From David Lesser Antiquarian Books
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One more piece from this era before we move on, and it’s a comparably strong-worded document from the other side. On December 18, 1859, Rev. J.P. Gulliver preached before his Norwich, Connecticut, congregation The Lioness and her Whelps: A Sermon on Slavery… In it he profusely commends John Brown and describes his hanging as “the most significant…tragedy in our national history since the close of the war of Independence.” Gulliver says Brown’s only crime was trying to implement the doctrines of the Declaration of Independence (and remember what his southern counterpart said about that document) by encouraging some slaves to escape to freedom and providing them with firearms with which to protect themselves along the way. Item 63. $175.
While most items of debate have changed since those days, here’s an issue that’s as much in the forefront, and as much in dispute today as it was in 1848 when this piece was written. It’s The Divine Organic Law, Ordained for the Human Race; or, Capital Punishment for Murder Authorized by God and Sustained by Reason by George Duffield. Over a century and a half have passed since this was written, and we are still trying to discern what reason tells us, and what God’s opinion is, on the issue of capital punishment. Item 45. $250.
Item 97 is something of a sad piece. James Monroe was an extremely popular president. He was a nearly unanimous choice in the electoral college in the election of 1820. He presided over what is known as “the era of good feelings” because rarely has the country been as united as it was during his administration. So it is sad to see him struggling to get by financially less than four years after leaving the presidency. The Memoir of James Monroe, Esq. Relating to his Unsettled Claims upon the People and Government of the United States is his attempt to recover expenditures he personally made while serving his country long before he became president. $750.
Item 87 is an Address of the Louisiana Native American Association… If you think this 1839 publication comes from the people more commonly known as “Indians,” guess again. This is an attack on recent immigrants, Irish and German in particular, by the children of immigrants who threw the true Native Americans off of their land. Their aim was to prevent the “swarms of foreign locusts,” as they so tactfully put it, from entering the country. $375.
So what happened to the real Native Americans? Well here’s a run of 52 issues of the weekly The Indian Helper published in 1890-91 by the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, a Pennsylvania school created to teach Indian children the White Man’s way. At a last meeting, the Superintendent counsels “I advise you to flee away from reservations. Hold your heads up and be each his own master. Go into the business life of the country, where personal rights and the light of civilization will constantly invite and help you.” He obviously meant well, but did lack an understanding of traditional Indian society and culture. Item 24. $500.
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Significant and Unusual Americana
From David Lesser Antiquarian Books
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In the Proceedings of the Democratic State Convention of South Carolina from 1856, the party was in favor of renominating Franklin Pierce for president as he was a perfect example of a “northern man with southern principles.” This was the winning ticket that enabled the Democrats to carry elections in 1852 and 1856. Looking back, there’s some real irony here, as in the past 40 years, the only way the Democrats have been able to win the presidency has been by nominating southern men with northern principles. Item 133. $500.
The Pennsylvania Railroad was once the mightiest of rail carriers, back when this was the nation’s most important business. It carried more traffic than any other railroad through most of the 20th century, was once the largest public corporation, and offered its shareholders over a century of uninterrupted dividends. Item 109 takes us back to the very beginning. In 1847, a year after being formed, it issued this First Annual Report of the Directors of the Pennsylvania Railroad to the Stockholders. October 30, 1847. It was the start of a glorious run which would last until 1968, when a failing Pennsylvania Railroad would merge with another failing competitor, the New York Central. The merged survivor, the Penn Central, would last only eight more years before bankruptcy would send it into oblivion, or more exactly, the arms of the government-run Conrail. $250.
We can’t conclude this review without something for collectors of Texiana. Here are two from Sam Houston. Item 70 is the Speech of Sam Houston on the Nebraska and Kansas Bill… Houston opposed the expansion of slavery into the territories, not because he was an abolitionist, but because he saw it as a threat to the Union, and he was a strong Unionist. This position would eventually end his political career and Houston would go on to be the only major Texas political figure to oppose secession. $150. Item 71 is Remarks of Sam Houston in Favor of Volunteer Forces. This 1847 item pertains to forces fighting Mexico. $175.
David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books maintains a website at www.lesserbooks.com and can be reached at 203-389-8111.
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