Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - November - 2004 Issue
All Kinds of Americana <br>From Almagre Books
Schlitz made Milwaukee famous, but can it do the same for San Antone?
Item 199 is a serious volume for those who collect documents related to Native Americans. It consists of seven Indian Treaties Recently Ratified, from 1867, bound together in one volume. The original owner was Secretary of the Interior Orville Browning, who served under President Andrew Johnson. The set is inscribed to Browning by Charles Mix, who served as Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Browning was an Illinois colleague of Lincoln who stood by Johnson during his impeachment. While lands returned to the Navajos in Arizona and New Mexico at this time remain in their hands today, much of the land granted other tribes was later taken away by the U.S. in violation of these treaties. $2,850.
Item 4 is Alaska: Interesting and Reliable Information Relating Thereto. Writer B.K. Cowles represented Alaska at the World's Cotton Exposition in New Orleans in 1885. This leads to the question, what was Alaska doing exhibiting at a cotton exposition? $100.
For some people, Alaska just isn't cold enough, so John Barrow decided to focus on the area to the north. Item 18 is a first edition of his A Chronological History of Voyages into the Arctic Regions...published in 1818. Barrow was Secretary of the British Admiralty and directed several explorations which tried (unsuccessfully) to find a Northwest Passage. Fittingly, Point Barrow, at the northern tip of Alaska, is named for him. $750.
Here's a test. Who explored the interior lands of America from 1804 to 1806? If you said "Lewis and Clark," you are, of course, right. But, an alternative correct answer would have been "Robert Sutcliff." Robert Sutcliff? Mr. Sutcliffe was a British merchant who was perhaps more of a tourist than explorer, but he traveled through various parts of the country long before there were motels and restaurants at every stop. He crossed through upstate New York visiting with some of the Indian tribes, and eventually all the way to Niagara Falls. He also visited the South, met Thomas Jefferson, and spoke approvingly of the region with one exception: he considered the existence of slavery a disgrace. Sutcliff never intended to write about his travels, but did so after encouragement from his friends. The book is Travels in Some Parts of North America, in the Years 1804, 1805, & 1806. This is the first American edition and was published the same year as Lewis and Clark's official report, 1812. Item 417. $350.
