Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - November - 2004 Issue
Travels And More From<br>The 19th Century Shop
One of Francis Frith's 1850s photographs of Egypt
No one would do more to save humanity from the atrocities of the aforementioned schoolboy than the author of The Second World War. That would be wartime British leader Winston Churchill. Churchill not only led his nation through that war, he then used his own knowledge plus the British archives to write one of the most important histories of it. This 6-volume set is signed by Mr. Churchill. $7,500.
Julia Ward Howe was an antislavery activist who, with her husband, served on the U.S. Sanitary Commission, trying to improve prisoners' conditions during the Civil War. At one point, she went to visit a Union army camp, and heard the soldiers singing "John Brown's Body," a Union rallying song. Feeling it needed a deeper set of lyrics, the next morning she wrote The Battle Hymn of the Republic, a poem to be set to the tune of "John Brown." In February, 1862, it was published in the Atlantic Monthly, and it would become the new rallying cry for the Union and the Civil War's most famous song. Offered is a copy of the song's first printing in the Atlantic. $500.
William Sydney Porter, better known to most of us as O. Henry, may be the most famous short story writer ever. Porter grew up in North Carolina, but headed to Texas as a young man, generating experiences which would provide material for many later works. He held a variety of jobs, including bank clerk, then publisher of the magazine "Rolling Stone" (not the current magazine of that title), and reporter for the Houston Post. However, while working as a reporter in Houston, charges of embezzlement from his time as bank clerk in Austin were leveled. Porter escaped to South America, but returned when his wife became very ill. Porter was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison. It was during this period he began writing his short stories, which he published in various periodicals under the name "O. Henry" to shield his identity. Once released in 1901, he moved to New York. He would write and publish around 300 of his stories before he died in 1910 at the age of 48. The 19th Century Shop offers an autographed manuscript of a story that is not one of those 300. The Charity that Ended at Home is an unpublished tale of Henry's. It is typical O. Henry in that it follows a plot of unexpected twists and turns and concludes with a surprise ending. $15,000.
Francis Frith was a British merchant who took a great interest in photography during its early days. He became so interested that he sold his business, and from 1856-1860, made several trips to Egypt and the Holy Land. His work provides us with some of the earliest photographic records of the wonders of this part of the world, in some cases preserving antiquities which since have disappeared or fallen to ruin. His Photographs of the Holy Land... is a three-volume work from 1863 containing 111 photographs. $27,500.
Christian Schultz provided one of the earliest comprehensive reports about the interior of America in Travels on an Inland Voyage through the States of...in the Years 1807 and 1808. Schultz crossed through upstate New York and western Pennsylvania before traveling down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, a journey of near 6,000 miles. It is regarded as one of the best sources of information about this area at the time. This copy is one of the few which includes all five of the original folding maps. $5,500.
The 19th Century Shop may be found online at www.19thcenturyshop.com or reached by phone at 410-727-2665.
