Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - June - 2006 Issue
Southern Americana from William Reese
One of the few items printed in 19th century French Louisiana.
Meanwhile cash-strapped Napoleon needed money to carry on his European adventures more than he needed to defend territory in America, so he arranged for the sale of Louisiana to the United States. So, three weeks after finally regaining the territory, France transferred it to the U.S. Naturally, there were not many works printed in French Louisiana during the 19th century. Reese does have a few of them, broadsides printed by French authorities during this very brief period. For example, item 127 is a broadside headed Arrete, qui met le Sieur St.-Julien en Liberte... This was a decree ordering the release of one Louis St. Julien under bond. St Julien had been imprisoned for sedition, but was evidently a great French patriot. $12,500.
It proved all for naught, but in the late 1820s and early 1830s, there were some voices arguing against the forced removal of the Cherokees from their ancestral homeland in Georgia. Item 23 is an argument from Robert Campbell To the Honourable the President and Members of the Senate of the State of Georgia. This was an impassioned plea on behalf of the Cherokees made before the state senate by a white man. After two pages of Campbell's speech were given, the senate labeled him disrespectful and refused to hear any more. They referred his plea to a committee which also refused to listen. Campbell then published this speech in 1829. $5,000. Item 29 is An Address of the "Committee and Council of the Cherokee Nation, in General Council Convened," to the People of the United States. This is a circa 1830 plea by the Cherokees themselves to the American people, asking they uphold the treaties the U.S. had made with them. It, too, fell on deaf ears, and a few years later, the Cherokees were forced on their "Trail of Tears" to more desolate land in Oklahoma. $1,250.
Item 15 is an important book for collectors of Virginia. It is The History and Present State of Virginia, in Four Parts...By a Native and Inhabitant of the Place (that native was Robert Beverley). This was the first history of Virginia by a native, published in 1705. It was also the first account of the colony after John Smith, and is one of the best accounts of early settlers and the natives of the land published contemporaneously. $10,000.
The website for the William Reese Company is www.reeseco.com, phone number 203-789-8081.
