26 503 résultats
1728A2RGD4WT38YEAmsterdam: Leonardus Schenk 1728. In black passepartout and gilt frame 82 x 121 cm. Large engraved wall print on 2 sheets together 58 x 97 cm the sheets overlapping each other slightly showing the traditional business centre of the city of Leiden. The title both in Dutch and French is printed in a banderole at the head with putti on each side supporting the arms of Leiden and Holland. Leonardus Schenk's name appears as engraver and publisher at the right tip of the banderole. A large engraved wall print in two sheets showing the trading and commercial centre of the city of Leiden at the convergence of the Oude Rijn and Nieuwe Rijn canals. Unlike most other Dutch towns Leiden had no central market square so that the waterways formed the major access routes for merchandise. On the banks of the canals there is a lively market that converges on the bridge central in the print. Market traders and customers come and go. Women from the coastal fishing villages of Katwijk and Noortwijk display fresh fish for sale. Right in the print we see the monumental "Waag" the weigh-house built in 1658 following a plan by the Dutch architect and engraver Pieter Post. The splendid relief designed by Rombout Verhulst that crowns the entrance is reproduced with a sharp eye for detail. In front of the building commercial goods are hoisted up from carts and a number of ships for transport to the weigh-house. Several other ships had moored and now continue to their destination. A boat flying the Dutch flag brings in a prominent party while a herald standing precariously at the bow trumpets for right of way. We know of several other wall prints by Schenk depicting local situations with almost photographic detail. Thanks to this detail important socio-historical aspects have been passed on to later generations giving these prints an important cultural meaning today. With some faint foxing otherwise in very good condition.l Overvoorde Catalogus van de prentverzameling der Gemeente Leiden 1906 no. 964; Waller Biogr. woordenb. Noord Ned. graveurs p. 287. Leonardus Schenk, unknown
1658ABC_47326Amsterdam 1658. Folio. Pieter Goos Contemporary vellum with a manuscript title on the spine. With a half-page engraving on the half-title a woodcut vignette on the title-page 6 folding engraved tables and numerous woodcut mathematical diagrams figures tables and other illustrations in the text. With woodcut tailpieces and woodcut decorated initials. 7 parts in 1 volume. 1 1 blank 8 39 1 blank; 2 4 45 1 blank 90 5-91 1 blank; 96; 86 2 blank; 39 1 blank; 60 18 2 blank; 96 7 1 blank pp. Rare first edition of Abraham de Graaf's mathematical work published for nautical experts studying navigation. The mathematical and astronomical theories are illustrated with countless woodcut diagrams and figures in the text and 6 additional folding engraved plates. Included are numerous incredibly detailed logarithmical and other mathematical tables mainly in the second book. "The tables are the first logarithmical tables in a Dutch navigation book. The tables are probably computed and computed and enlarged by Adriaen Vlacq and based on those of John Napier and Henry Briggs" Crone 210.The present work comprises 7 parts with individual title-pages each dated 1657 bound and published as one with two general title-pages and a comprehensive index. The subject of the "books" include for example: astronomy geometry calculations regarding compasses cartography concerning "paskaarten" a type of nautical chart and observation and navigation at sea.Binding browned and somewhat worn mainly the back board some mould spots on the pastedowns and flyleaves some light water staining to the head margin slight foxing throughout. With a tear in the 3rd and 4th folding plates. Overall in good condition.l Bibl. Nautica 2048; Cat. NHSM p. 666; Crone Library 210; STCN 09324195X 6 copies; WorldCat 1156962499 1 copy 993578800 1 copy 1154627661 8 copies; for the author: NNBW part 10 cols. 293-296. hardcover
17075C8G6MOZMOJ3Nuremberg Christoph Weigel; 1707. Folio. Würzburg Martin Frantz Hertzen Contemporary vellum with the manuscript title at the head of the spine and a paper shelfmark label at the foot. With an engraved allegorical title-page a letterpress title-page printed in red and black and 100 engraved emblems in the text measuring 10.5 x 12 cm. 10 200 4 pp. & 100 ll. First edition of a German emblem book addressing virtues and vices in 100 emblems compiled by the German preacher Abraham à Sancta Clara born Johan Ulrich Mergerle; 1644 - 1709. As the title states the book's purpose is to refresh the readers virtues and to deter from vices by way of emblems. The concepts are explained in well-known fables and accessible symbols and allegories like the sun moon fire sea weather seasons metals gems animals etc. Each concept is illustrated in an emblem accompanied by a motto in Latin and a poem in German and Latin. The emblems were engraved by Christoph Weigel after illustrations by Caspar and Jan Luyken from the Ethica Naturalis ca. 1700. Each emblem is followed by two pages of text explaining the emblem.With a library inscription on the flyleaf "villae epponis ad bibliothecam". The binding is slightly soiled. Some marginal thumbing occasional foxing and some occasional spots and smudges. Otherwise in good condition.l Landwehr German emblem books 11; Faber du Faur 1125; Goedeke III 25 240. hardcover
18638703<p>One partly-printed military commisssion on vellum signed by Lincoln as president and countersigned by Edwin M. Stanton as Secretary of War dated May 16th 1863. The document commissions Benjamin H. Geary as Second Lieutenant to the 13th Infantry Regiment on August 13th 1862. Accession note to top left.</p><p>The document measures 14.75 x 19.5 in</p>
169555736Amsterdam: Be-veit ha-meshutafim Asher Anshil ben Eliezer ve-Yisakhar Ber ben Avraham Eliezer/ Moses Wiesel 1695. First edition. Hardcover. g to near fine. Small folio 30 by 18.8 cm. Collation: aleph-vav4 zayin2 = 26 numbered leaves. Full period brown paper boards re-backed with a brown leather spine with raised bands.<br /> <br /> Letterpress title-page with ornate floral woodcut device; additional engraved title-page mounted depicting Moses and Aaron along with six small biblical scenes within round borders all against an architectural background. Engraved folding map at rear mounted; main title with woodcut vignette; 14 half-page engraved illustrations in the text.<br /> <br /> This gorgeously illustrated work is the first edition of the famous and highly influential Passover Haggadah printed in Amsterdam in 1695. Simply known as the Amsterdam Haggadah this edition stands as among the most imitated and copied haggadahs in history and was the first to be illustrated with copperplate engravings. Previous illustrated haggadahs had used woodcuts. The popularity of these illustrations can be attested by the huge numbers of reprint editions over the centuries. There are 14 finely printed large in-text engravings plus the full page engraved title page showing Moses Aaron and Adam in the Garden of Eden. Some of these images illustrate the traditional content of the Passover seder and/or the exodus story while some are other biblical stories less directly related. Images include: the Rabbis of Bene Brak discussing the Passover story the four sons Abraham smashing the idols of his father Abraham welcoming the three angels Moses slaying the Egyptian overseer the rescuing Moses from the river Moses and Aaron coming to Pharaoh w/ staves turning to snakes the ten plagues the Egyptian army drowning in the Red Sea the Exodus the receiving of the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai the eating of the Pascal Lamb King David composing his psalms and finally an exterior view of the Holy Temple with the cityscape of Jerusalem in the background. All images are captioned underneath with relevant passages in Hebrew. The engravings were all created by Abraham ben Jacob a German convert to Judaism who had moved to Amsterdam although some sources over the years misattributed them to financier Moses Wiesel 6 of which were adaptations and/or modifications of previous images by Swiss artist Matthäus Merian 1593-1650 from his original work "Icones Biblicae" 1625-30.<br /> <br /> In addition to the in text engravings there is famously a phenomenal fold-out engraved biblical map of the holy land. Measuring a total of 19.5x11.5" the map shows the land of Israel the Sinai desert and Egypt in landscape orientation looking eastward towards the top of the map. It traces the journey of the Israelites starting with the Exodus from Egypt through the desert and into the Land of Israel. The map is detailed showing the areas of the twelve tribes important locations and cities as well as geographic features including the Red Sea Mount Sinai the Dead Sea the Sea of Galilee and many others. The map is decorated with additional illustrations near the bottom and includes a key. This beautiful work also by Abraham ben Jacob is considered among the earliest if not the first map of its kind to be printed within a Hebrew publication. It is now known to have been heavily based on the previously printed 1620 map in Hebrew by Jacob ben Abraham Zaddiq and Abraham Goos 1590 - ca. 1643 which itself was based on the map of 1590 by Christian Kruik van Adrichom Adrichem printed in Latin.<br /> <br /> Text throughout is printed in Hebrew with smaller text in Rashi script underneath containing famous commentary on the Passover Haggadah by acclaimed Portuguese Rabbi and scholar Isaac ben Judah Abarbanel 1437-1508. The verso of the title page contains the order of the Passover seder with brief instructions in both Ladino Judeo-Spanish and Yiddish Judeo-German a nod to the subtitle of Haggadah which references the both Ashkenazi and Sephardic traditions.<br /> <br /> This copy with binding in beautiful condition with being professionally restored includining spine re-backed to style. Book block tight. Interior with some staining to pages throughout from use. Binding in very good to near fine inteiror in good condition overall. Hebrew title: סדר הגדה של פסח ×›×ž× ×”×’ ××©×›× ×– וספרד <br /> Alternate transliterations: Seder Hagadah shel Pesah Seder Hagadah sel Pesah<br /> <br /> References: Friedberg 278 Fuks HTN II 521; Yudlov Haggadah 93; Vinograd Amsterdam 627; Ya'ari no. 59; Laor 876 Map; Nebenzahl pp.138-1389 Map; Yerushalmi plate 59-62; Rosenau "Vision of the Temple" p.135 146-7. Be-veit ha-meshutafim [Asher Anshil ben Eliezer ve-Yisakhar Ber ben Avraham Eliezer]/ Moses Wiesel hardcover
17183173London: W. Pearson 1718. First edition. Very Good. Small folio 240 x 200 mm. Collates 4 xiv 175 1 blank: complete with an engraved vignette on title-page numerous engraved head and tail pieces and initials and an engraved vignette headpiece on page 1. With a dedication to Sir Isaac Newton. Contemporary speckled calf rebacked to style. Boards double-ruled in gilt. Spine with a red morocco label lettered and ruled in gilt. All edges speckled brown. Some minor soiling to final two pages. Some light toning from glue on endpaper edges. Previous owner's armorial bookplate on front pastedown. Overall a very good copy. <br/><br/>Abraham De Moivre was a mathematician and a close friend of Sir Isaac Newton to whom he dedicated the first edition of this work. "His work on the theory of probability surpasses anything done by any other mathematician except Laplace" Cajori. "De Moivre's representation of the solutions of the then current problems of games of chance tended to be more general than those of Montmort. In addition he developed a series of algebraic and analytic tools for the theory of probability like a 'new algebra' for the solution of the problem of coincidences which foreshadowed Boolean algebra the method of generating functions or the theory of recurrent series for the solution of differential equations. In the Doctrine de Moivre offered an introduction which contains the main concepts such as probability condition probability expectation dependent and independent events the multiplication rule and the binomial distribution" DNB. Very Good. W. Pearson unknown books
1864WRCAM55254N.p. perhaps Virginia 1864. 3pp. on a single folded sheet. with: OATH OF ALLEGIANCE. N.p. perhaps Harper's Ferry Va. 1864. Single sheet 3 x 7 3/4 inches. The OATH affixed to a partial manuscript ledger report recording lost military stores for an unidentified unit in 1863 which is itself glued to the verso of the last blank page of the Amnesty Proclamation. Minor toning light foxing some wrinkling. Overall very good. In a cloth chemise and green half morocco and cloth slipcase spine gilt. An exceedingly rare separate printing - perhaps by a military field press - of President Abraham Lincoln's December 1863 presidential proclamation offering amnesty to citizens of the Confederacy providing they take an oath that they "will abide by and faithfully support all proclamations of the President made during the existing rebellion having reference to slaves" i.e. the Emancipation Proclamation. When the number of persons in any state taking the oath reached ten percent of the number of voters in 1860 this group of loyal voters could form a state government that could be recognized by the President. The Amnesty Proclamation was issued with President Lincoln's third Annual Message to Congress i.e. State of the Union Address on December 8 1863. It was appended per the language in the title here to the official printing of that address but also printed separately. <br> <br> The present printing almost certainly executed in the weeks after Lincoln's State of the Union was likely hastily composed from the text of the official printing of the proclamation. The work carries no imprint information of any kind and bears the hallmarks of a military field press printing. <br> <br> Toward the close of 1863 with the Confederate Army in full retreat discussions in Congress centered on how to restore the Southern states to the Union. "The crisis which threatened to divide the friends of the Union is past" announced Lincoln. Now it was the duty of Congress to ensure that all citizens in the South regardless of race were guaranteed the equal protection of the law. A number of competing proposals emerged from deliberations but in the end during his message to Congress on Dec. 8 1863 Lincoln declared reconstruction of the South a wholly executive responsibility and "offered 'full pardon.with restoration of all rights of property except as to slaves' to all rebels who would take an oath of future loyalty to the Constitution and pledge to obey acts of Congress and presidential proclamations relating to slavery" Donald p.471. <br> <br> Those excluded from taking the oath were the highest ranking members of the Confederacy - government officials judges military and naval officers above the rank of army colonel or navy lieutenant former congressmen and "all who have engaged in treating colored persons or white persons otherwise than lawfully as prisoners of war." Lincoln further encouraged the southern states to make provisions "in relation to the freed people of such State which shall recognize and declare their permanent freedom provide for their education and which may yet be consistent as a temporary arrangement with their present condition as a laboring landless and homeless class." <br> <br> "Lincoln indicated that this was only one plan for reconstructing the rebel South and while it was the best he could think of for now he would gladly consider others and possibly adopt them. He might even modify his own classes of pardons if that seemed warrantable. Afterward almost everybody but die-hard Democrats seemed happy with the plan" Oates p.371. <br> <br> The proclamation is accompanied by a partially-printed OATH OF ALLEGIANCE dated 1864 and datelined Harper's Ferry Virginia. The oath requires the taker to "solemnly swear that I will support protect and defend the Constitution and Government of the United States against all enemies." It is signed in type by Henry A. Urban Lieutenant and A.D.C. Aide-de-Camp. The oath is printed with a blank space for the name of the person taking the oath and the date. There is also a space for people who know the oath-taker and "certify on honor that we know Mr. blank to be a true and loyal man to the Federal Government." The OATH is affixed to a partial manuscript ledger report recording lost military stores for an unidentified unit in 1863 <br> <br> This printing of the Amnesty Proclamation is just as interesting as the government broadside printing or the first pamphlet printing as this edition would have also been used in the field by Union troops encountering Confederate rebels. The composition of the beginning of the seventh paragraph is consistent with the first pamphlet printing of the Amnesty Proclamation Monaghan 191 and not the broadside printing. The text here begins "Therefore I Abraham Lincoln."; in the broadside printing the "Therefore" is present at the end of the preceding paragraph. The simple and somewhat loose execution of the composition seen here is consistent with field press printings as is the lack of an imprint of any kind. Perhaps this simple production was intended for Union troops to literally hand to Confederate soldiers to read. The presence of the portion of the ledger and the Oath of Allegiance lends credence to the notion that this edition of the Amnesty Proclamation was produced for use by the military. <br> <br> This printing of the Amnesty Proclamation is not in Monaghan OCLC nor in any reference work we could find. In fact we could find no other three-page editions of the Amnesty Proclamation at all. Surely printed in small numbers to begin with it is perhaps a unique surviving example. MONAGHAN 191 ref. SABIN 41162 note. David Herbert Donald: LINCOLN New York. 1995 p.471. Stephen B. Oates: WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE: A LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN New York. 1977 p.371. hardcover books
1865WRCAM53482Washington D.C. 1865. Broadside 13 x 8 1/4 inches. Faint dust-soiling minor edge wear with a few short marginal tears repaired on verso. Very good. A rare first broadside printing announcing two of President Lincoln's three final proclamations "Closing Certain Ports" and "Port of Key West to Remain Open" both issued on April 11 1865. President Lincoln issued these proclamations just three days before he was cut down by assassin John Wilkes Booth. Both proclamations are signed in type by Lincoln and Secretary of State William H. Seward. <br> <br> The first proclamation "Closing Certain Ports" shut down a large number of Confederate ports all listed on the proclamation and indicates that "all rights of importation warehousing and other privileges shall in respect to the ports aforesaid cease until they have again been opened by order of the President; and if while said ports are closed any ship or vessel from beyond the United States or having on board any articles subject to duties shall attempt to enter any such port the same together with its tackle apparel furniture and cargo shall be forfeited to the United States." It was President Lincoln's 126th proclamation. <br> <br> The second proclamation "Port of Key West to Remain Open" was issued to amend the previous proclamation. It states that "the port of Key West in the state of Florida was inadvertently included among those which are not open to commerce" and declares that "said port of Key West is and shall remain open to foreign and domestic commerce." It was President Lincoln's 127th proclamation. <br> <br> These two documents constitute the antepenultimate and penultimate proclamations issued by President Lincoln; his last entitled "Claiming Equality of Rights with All Maritime Nations" was promulgated the same day. An important pair of proclamations among the last acts of the Great Emancipator before his untimely demise. unknown books
173014402Amsterdam c1730. 565 by 935mm. 22.25 by 36.75 inches. Engraving with etching on two sheets joined. View of the Plantage Muidergracht and the Jonas Daniël Meijerplein. The view shown from the present day Mr. Visserplien the busy intersecti.on in central Amsterdam depicts the Portuguese Synagogue on the left and the High German or Great Synagogue. These momumental buildings now house the Jewish Historical Museum. The first Jews to settle in Amsterdam were the Sephardim who had been expelled from Portugal and Spain in 1493. They were joined in the following decades by the Ashkenazi from Central and Eastern Europe the first of whom had come from Germany in 1600. In those years the only available land for them was at the outskirts of the eastern side of the Centrum the island of Vlooienburg surrounded by the Amstel River and the canals so they settled along the island's main street Breestraat which quickly became known as Jodenbreestraat. The Great Synagogue now the Jewish Historical Museum and the Portuguese-Israelite Synagogue were opened in 1671 and 1675 respectively. The Portuguese Synagogue was the place where Spinoza was placed under the ban by the Sephardic Jewish community in 1656. Pieter Stevensz. van Gunst 1659-1732 also known as Pieter Stevens van Gunst or Petrus Stephani was a Dutch draughtsman copperplate engraver and printmaker active in Amsterdam London 1704 and the Dutch town of Nederhorst 1730-1731. Abraham Rademaker 1677 21 January 1735 was an 18th-century painter and printmaker from the Northern Netherlands. Rademaker was born in Lisse. According to the RKD he was a versatile artist who painted Italianate landscapes but is known mostly for his many cityscapes and drawings of buildings that were made into print. R.W.P. de Vries auction 1925: 295. unknown
17271510220001Amsterdam: Michel Charles Le Cene 1727-01-01. Hardcover. Very Good. Folio. 2 12 439 pp.; 2 pp. 445-808p pagination continuous 43 of 44 plates. 2 Volumes in One Bound in contemporary vellum. 7 raised bands. Leather spine label. Good binding and cover. Spine and hinges restored. Faint soiling to vellum. Pages tanned with a several pages with some offsetting and foxing. Lacks frontis and added title. All 27 plates & 16 maps are present. Brunet IV 178; Cordier Japonica 367-68; Cordier Sinaca 2077; Lust 342 <br><Br> Jean Albert Mandeslo set out in 1636 with the Embassy that the Duke of Holstein sent to Russia and Persia. He visited India Ceylon Madagascar West Africa Congo and returned four years later. His story gives a very vivid picture of luxury vices curiosity and absolute disregard for life under the despotic tyranny of the Moghul Empire under Shah Jahan. In the port of Surat he arrived in April 1638 after he went to Ahmedabad and Agra. Although his observations of life in the capital are useful he apparently did not hear anything about the Taj Mahal which at that time was in the sixth year of building. Amsterdam: Michel Charles Le Cene hardcover
175214421Amsterdam c1752. 565 by 935mm. 21.5 by 36.75 inches. Engraving with etching on two sheets joined. View of the Plantage Muidergracht and the Jonas Daniël Meijerplein. The view shown from the present day Mr. Visserplien the busy intersecti.on in central Amsterdam depicts the Portuguese Synagogue on the left and the High German or Great Synagogue. These momumental buildings now house the Jewish Historical Museum. The first Jews to settle in Amsterdam were the Sephardim who had been expelled from Portugal and Spain in 1493. They were joined in the following decades by the Ashkenazi from Central and Eastern Europe the first of whom had come from Germany in 1600. In those years the only available land for them was at the outskirts of the eastern side of the Centrum the island of Vlooienburg surrounded by the Amstel River and the canals so they settled along the island's main street Breestraat which quickly became known as Jodenbreestraat. The Great Synagogue now the Jewish Historical Museum and the Portuguese-Israelite Synagogue were opened in 1671 and 1675 respectively. The Portuguese Synagogue was the place where Spinoza was placed under the ban by the Sephardic Jewish community in 1656. Pieter Stevensz. van Gunst 1659-1732 also known as Pieter Stevens van Gunst or Petrus Stephani was a Dutch draughtsman copperplate engraver and printmaker active in Amsterdam London 1704 and the Dutch town of Nederhorst 1730-1731. Abraham Rademaker 1677 21 January 1735 was an 18th-century painter and printmaker from the Northern Netherlands. Rademaker was born in Lisse. According to the RKD he was a versatile artist who painted Italianate landscapes but is known mostly for his many cityscapes and drawings of buildings that were made into print. R.W.P. de Vries auction 1925: 295. unknown
18622923Washington D.C.: War Department 1862. Calf marbled boards. Very Good. FIRST OBTAINABLE PRINTING OF THE PRELIMINARY EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION setting a date for the freedom of more than three million enslaved in the United States and reframing the Civil War as a fight against slavery. Issued by the War Department to regimental commanders in the field during the Civil War in the week after the completion of President Lincoln’s official manuscript version. Contained is a set of three volumes of General Orders covering the full year 1862 July-Dec 1863 and the full year 1864. History of the Emancipation Proclamation:<br /> <br /> “The proclamation has been called by responsible persons one of the three great<br /> documents of world history ranking with Magna Carta and the Declaration of<br /> Independence†– Eberstadt<br /> <br /> “From the first days of the Civil War slaves had acted to secure their own liberty. The Emancipation Proclamation confirmed their insistence that the war for the Union must become a war for freedom. It added moral force to the Union cause and strengthened the Union both militarily and politically. As a milestone along the road to slavery’s final destruction the Emancipation Proclamation has assumed a place among the great documents of human freedom†– National Archives<br /> <br /> Following the Seven Days Battle and General McClellan’s retreat from the Peninsula at the end of June 1862 President Lincoln realized that there would be no early end to the war and found himself “as inconsolable as it was possible for a human to be and yet live.†Anxious for news from the army and needing to escape the constant interruptions at the White House he frequently visited the telegraph office in the War Department building to await dispatches. It was during one such visit early in July that he asked the chief of the telegraph staff Major Thomas Thompson Eckert for some paper to “write something special†and began the first draft of the Emancipation Proclamation completing it in a few weeks. Lincoln had long hoped to resolve the slavery issue through a congressional act of emancipation compensating slave owners for their loss of “property†but that approach was roundly rejected by representatives from the border states leaving the President who had decided upon the necessity of emancipation with a presidential proclamation as the only option. The extraordinary document he conceived would announce the liberation on January 1 1863 of all slaves in those states still in rebellion against the Union and promised compensation to slave owners in those states that returned to the fold before that time if they adopted “immediate or gradual abolishment of slavery.†This proclamation would be followed by a final proclamation issued on the 1st of January identifying those states still in rebellion and confirming the liberation of all slaves therein.<br /> <br /> On Tuesday July 22 Lincoln presented his draft to the Cabinet telling them that he had resolved firmly upon the course of action it specified and asking them not for advice but suggestions. The only observation he had not anticipated came from Secretary of State Seward who proposed that it might be best to wait for a military victory before issuing the Proclamation as it could otherwise seem like “the last measure of an exhausted government.†Immediately recognizing the wisdom of the suggestion Lincoln held back. On September 17 after an anxious wait of nearly two months he received the victory he needed at the bloody Battle of Antietam. Completing his final draft Lincoln presented it to his cabinet for refinement on September 22. Following the meeting Seward took the amended draft with him to the State Department where a formal manuscript copy was made then signed by Lincoln and Seward. The formal official “Emancipation Proclamation†was of course issued on January 1 1863 the day it became the law of the land.<br /> <br /> Printing History:<br /> <br /> This printing in the War Department’s official “General Orders†is the fourth printing overall but realistically the first obtainable printing. It is preceded by:<br /> <br /> -The first printing Eberstadt #1 a small three-page circular intended for distribution within the government and to the local press likely printed on September 22. At the time that Charles Eberstadt published his study of the Proclamation 1950 he was able to locate only one copy which he himself owned and as nearly as we have been able to determine no other copies have come to light since then.<br /> <br /> -The second printing Eberstadt #2 may be a phantom printing. Charles Eberstadt was not able to locate a copy but he inferred its existence from the standard State Department practice of printing a folio edition consisting solely of the text of the proclamation followed by another printing consisting of the text of a letter of transmittal from the Secretary of State as well as the text of the proclamation. While there may be a copy of Eberstadt #2 in the National Archives as he speculated it is not recorded in their online catalogue nor have we been able to find a copy in any other online catalogue including OCLC the Library of Congress and the Abraham Lincoln Library.<br /> <br /> -Eberstadt’s third printing is of legendary rarity. It consists of Secretary of State Seward’s one-page letter of transmittal addressed “To the Diplomatic and Consular Officers of the United States in foreign countries†and the text of the proclamation. Eberstadt located a total of only five copies in institutions at the Library of Congress the National Archives Yale the Clements Library and Brown. OCLC does not record any additional copies nor is it recorded in Monaghan. There has been one copy at auction $400000 in 2021 and that was described as the only copy in private hands. <br /> <br /> -The present copy General Orders No. 139 is Eberstadt’s fourth printing of the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation dated in print on September 24. Eberstadt surmises that this field order printing could have been accomplished as late as September 29 or 30. Although it may have been printed in as many as 15000 copies it is very rare in commerce likely due to the ephemeral nature of the printing and distribution.<br /> <br /> Additional General Orders and Provenance:
<br /> <br /> The three volumes once belonged to John G. Haskell A.Q.M. Chief Quartermaster and contain the General Orders for the year 1862 July-December only for the year 1863 and for the full year 1864. John Gideon Haskell 1832-1907 was a resident of Kansas and joined the Union Army when the war broke out. He enlisted with the 14th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry Regiment and later served as Assistant Quartermaster General of Kansas as quartermaster of the Third Kansas and the Tenth Kansas Volunteers as Captain and Assistant Quartermaster on the staff of General James G. Blunt and as Chief Quartermaster of the Army of the Frontier. After the war Haskell was named official state architect and worked on the state house the capitol the State University and more.<br /> <br /> In addition to the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation the three volumes also contain the Acts of Congress on many other subjects including pay discharge recruitment handling of troops etc.<br /> <br /> Washington D.C.: War Department Adjutant General’s Office 1862-64. Three volumes. Small octavo contemporary three-quarter brown morocco two volumes with cloth boards one with marbled boards. Some rubbing and wear to bindings pencil notations on endpapers with collation and highlighting certain orders and some internal pages. Dampstaining to general title of 1862 volume; internal text and Emancipation Proclamation generally fine. RARE AND IMPORTANT.<br /> <br /> References:<br /> <br /> Charles Eberstadt. “Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.†New York: 1950. War Department unknown
CBS-9781119530305John Wiley Np Exclusive. New. John Wiley Np (Exclusive) unknown
CBS-9781119530305John Wiley Np Exclusive. New. John Wiley Np (Exclusive) unknown
1839373003Vandalia Illinois 1839. First edition. 3 1pp. 8vo. Disbound. Housed in a morocco backed slipcase. First edition. 3 1pp. 8vo. Abraham Lincoln had yet to join the bar when he began his first stint in politics in the Illinois legislature in 1834 serving four consecutive terms in the Assembly through 1841. "This rare printing has the prestige of being the first occurrence of Lincoln's name as the sole author of a work. As a Whig lawmaker he was devoted to his party's program of public works through government financing. After the Panic of 18376 the spending he had advocated for had resulted in massive state debts. To relieve the budgetary burden Lincoln proposed that Illinois acquire land within its borders which the federal government still possessed and then sell the land at a fourfold profit to settlers and speculators resulting in both increased revenues and self-determined land ownership" Boroujerdi. Very rarethoma. Monaghan 1; Boroujerdi et. al. Abraham Lincoln: His Life in Print p. 29 unknown
1733004823Amsterdam 1733. The panorama or concertina was made we believe in 1732 or 1733 or close to that date. The silver "shraubthaler" or outer casing we assume was made separately at a later date but not long afterward. unknown
17745615Leipzig: Siegfried Lebrecht Crusius 1774. First edition. <p>First edition rare of Werner's first published work. "This book in which Werner develops a completely new scientific description of minerals is actually the first modern textbook on mineralogy. He was the first to recognize that a true and final classification of minerals should be based on their chemical composition and that it would be possible to identify the various minerals with certainty by their external characters and physical properties" Carozzi. </p>. THE FIRST MODERN TEXTBOOK ON MINERALOGY". <p>First edition rare of Werner's first published work and the first modern textbook of descriptive mineralogy the 'fossils' in the title refer to anything removed from the ground. "Although Werner is best known for his contribution to the founding of geology as a science he first achieved recognition as a mineralogist. He considered mineralogy to be the basis for all study of the earth dividing it into five branches of which geognosy historical geology was one and oryctognosy descriptive mineralogy another. And during all the years in which his theories on geognosy were arousing so much interest and controversy he continued to work on his mineral system the final version of which appeared after his death in 1817. His first important mineralogical work however Von den äusserlichen Kennzeichen der Fossilien was not a mineral system but a classification of external characteristics of minerals designed to aid the worker or the student in the field. In it Werner gave an unprecedented number of external characteristics with definitions usually accompanied by homely examples which could be understood by both the layman and the natural philosopher. He also attempted to establish some standards of quantification and thus to clear away the vagueness in the terminology then in use. As chemistry and crystallography developed mineralogists came to rely more on chemical analysis and less on external characteristics but Von den äusserlichen Kennzeichen der Fossilien published when Werner was twenty-five years old continued to be an important work into the nineteenth century . Werner remained convinced of the importance of external characteristics not only in the identification of minerals but also in the study of their composition. He reasoned that since the appearance of a mineral changes when its chemical composition is changed there should be a correlation between chemical composition and external characteristics" DSB. "Werner was the champion of a geological theory known as Neptunism in which he believed that all minerals precipitated out of water. Neptunists were opposed to believers of Vulcanism a theory that espoused the igneous origin of rocks" Dibner </p> <br /> <p>This book is "one of the most influential writings in the development of the mineralogical sciences. It is the first successful attempt at describing systematically determinative mineralogy. Werner who wrote this book his first as a student at the youthful age of 24 had been around minerals and mining his entire life. He had practical experience in what was needed by the miners to identify minerals and the reasons for identification. Werner had originally intended to publish an annotated translation of the dissertation written by Johann Carl Gehler titled: De Characterivs Fossilivm Externis Lipsiæ 1757. After showing the completed translation to his scientific circle he was advised to that it was better to write a book that was wholly his own. The result was Von den äusserlichen Kennzeichen der Fossilien which took the young Werner only a few months to complete. Based upon this book's merits Werner was appointed to the staff of the Freiberg Bergakademie where he stayed the remainder of his professional life.</p> <br /> <p>"The book is written not as a mineralogical classification system as was then typical but rather as a compendium of external characteristics of a large number of minerals. Werner intended it to be used as a practical guide for mineral identification and proposed that this study be given the name 'oryctognosy' - a term previously applied in a wider sense such as Bertrand's Dictionnaire Oryctologique Universalle Paris 1763. For his book Werner precisely defined an unprecedented number of external characteristics that could be used to accurately identify specimens through hand examination. Included in the distinguishing features identified for use are color luster form streak hardness and specific weight. Werner claimed that determining all of these qualities for a given mineral specimen was enough to identify its species. In fact these same characters are readily found in modern handbooks of determinative mineralogy because in most cases they are enough to distinguish the common species. The landmark character of Werner's work rests on the fact that no one before had so precisely defined the properties used to test minerals and the effect on mineralogical science can be described as revolutionary with many of his former students writing their own texts to spread Werner's theories in a multitude of other languages" Schuh.</p> <br /> <p>"This book in which Werner develops a completely new scientific description of minerals is actually the first modern textbook on mineralogy. He was the first to recognize that a true and final classification of minerals should be based on their chemical composition and that it would be possible to identify the various minerals with certainty by their external characters and physical properties . Upon its publication in 1774 Von den äusserlichen Kennzeichen der Fossilien created an immense scientific interest all over Europe and inspired increased investigations in the particular field it had so brilliantly renovated that is the determination and classification of minerals according to external characters" Carozzi pp. 554-555.</p> <br /> <p>"Werner 1749-1817 was born into a family with a mining tradition; therefore it was expected he should enter the profession. In 1774 as a student at the Freiberg Bergakademie he wrote his first book Von den äußerlichen Kennzeichen der Foßilien and based upon its merit in 1775 Werner was appointed professor of mineralogy at that institution. He remained there the rest of his professional life. He was by accounts an electrifying teacher who devoted himself to developing the sciences of mineralogy and geology. His students many of whom became famous instructors in there own right spread his theories throughout Europe and North America. However Werner's idea that basalt was aqueous in origin sparked the great controversy between his theory and that of Scottish geologist James Hutton 1726-1797. Werner accumulated an extensive personal mineral collection of over 10000 specimens which he sold for 40000 talers to the Freiberg Bergakademie. Today it is together with Werner's library among the earliest of the great collections that still remains intact" Schuh.</p> <br /> <p>Dibner Heralds of Science 81; Norman 2205; Sparrow Milestones of Science 196; Ward & Carozzi 2299. Carozzi 'A Study of Werner's Personal Copy of Von den äusserlichen Kennzeichen der Fossilien 1774' Isis 51 1960 pp. 554-557.</p> <br/> <br/> 8vo 176 x 103 mm pp. 302 2 with 8 folding tables. Contemporary boards a little frayed at head. A fine copy. Custom half leather clamshell box gilt spine. Siegfried Lebrecht Crusius unknown
18641142051864. Rare Civil War era military endorsement signed by Abraham Lincoln as President. Two pages the appointment is dated July 26th 1864 addressed to Secretary of War Edward M. Stanton and contains a request from J.M. Francis of Hudson County New Jersey that Edward Z. Laurence be appointed Secretary of Subsistence in the Volunteer Army of the United States. The request is approved and endorsed at the conclusion by Lincoln "Let the appointment be made if his service can be made useful A. Lincoln Aug. 17 1864." Framed. The entire piece measures 27 inches by 9.5 inches. In very good condition with a bold inscription from Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He led the United States through its Civil War and in doing so preserved the Union of the United States of America abolished slavery and strengthened the federal government. Lincoln began constructing his cabinet on election night and sought to create a cabinet that would unite the Republican party. His eventual cabinet would include his primary rivals for the Republican nomination and although his appointees held differing views on economic issues all were opposed to the expansion of slavery into the territories of the United States. The most senior cabinet post of Secretary of State was appointed to William Seward who had recently failed to win the 1860 Republican presidential nomination and Lincoln's choice for Secretary of the Treasury was Ohio Senator Salmon P. Chase Seward's primary political rival and the leader of a radical faction of the Republican party that sought the immediate abolition of slavery. unknown books
1718327872London England: W. Pearson for the Author 1718. First edition. Hardcover. Acceptable. London: "Printed by W. Pearson for the Author" MDCCXVIII 1718. Rare first edition of the first textbook on probability. Original boards endpapers and spine. Tooled boards are whole but detached and rubbed heavily at corners. Spine is missing 2 1/2 panels of 6 lightly treated with leather preservative to mitigate flaking. Endpapers are present front endpaper is chipped at front edge. Text block is sound light darkening to edges of pages top and front edges from use- else good copy paper and print quality. Artists engraved creative 'armorial' bookplate of Josiah M.Montague Goodall 1828-1893 of Charles Goodall and Son Card Maker Master Employing 500 People. The book's title came to be synonymous with probability theory and accordingly the phrase was used in Thomas Bayes' famous posthumous paper "An Essay Towards Solving a Problem in the Doctrine of Chances" wherein a version of Bayes' theorem was first introduced. W. Pearson for the Author hardcover
18065649Philadelphia: Samuel F. Bradford and Murray Fairman and Co. Fair. 1806. Leather Bound. Complete set of 41 volumes plus 6 illustrated volumes published between 1806 and 1820 in half-volume jobs. This is the US edition of the British original published between 1802 and 1820. All books appear to be complete except for some blank endpages of Illustrated Volume I. Covers are quite worn and four front covers are detached Volumes I VI X and Illustrated I and two more noticeably loose Volume VIII and Illustrated II. Illustrated I has tapemarks from poor repair work and the title page is torn. On most volumes the title pastedowns on spine have fallen off. Three volumes have a little water damage most extensively on Volume XV -- but even that is isolated mainly to cover and endpages. Volume XVI has child's drawings on one blank endsheet. On Illustrated III the foldouts are worn on the edges but still intact. Some foxing but no mold. Occasional creases and waviness. Ex-owner plate in each volume "The property of Phineas J. Miller bequeathed to him by his uncle Phineas Janney and his aunt Sarah S. Janney. 1852-3." All in all despite the wear to the covers the set is nicely preserved. ; Vol. 1/1/2047 . Samuel F. Bradford, and Murray, Fairman and Co. hardcover
1659ABC_47611Amsterdam: J. Rieuwertz 1659. Contemporary overlapping vellum. Small 8vo. With a woodcut title-vignette showing a witch on a broomstick leaving a house through the chimney 4.3 x 5.2 cm 13 etched full-page illustrations on 8 plates by Salomon Savry. An exceptionally rare first edition of a book focusing on the subjects of witchcraft sorcery demonology and black magic. The author passionately expresses his dissatisfaction with the brutalities inflicted upon individuals accused of being witches using vivid and disturbing illustrations as evidence. Notably the book features a captivating woodcut title vignette depicting a witch's daring escape through a chimney. In the image her legs hang from the opening inside the house while she simultaneously rises on her broom outside the chimney creating a striking visual effect. Abraham Palingh is a somewhat elusive figure in Early Modern Dutch literature and his book provides a fascinating insight into the attitudes of an educated man toward witchcraft. He claims that his 't Afgerukt Mom-aansight Der Tooverye is based on firsthand accounts. Information regarding the occurrence of harmful sorcery and attitudes towards sorcery in Amsterdam and Haarlem has been documented from the initial witchcraft trials to the point where such crimes were no longer a concern for the judiciary. Between 1542 and 1566 trials for harmful sorcery took place in Amsterdam while Haarlem witnessed similar trials in 1549. Historical accounts of both cities as well as Jacobus Scheltema's History of Witch Trials published in Haarlem in 1828 make mention of sorcery trials in Amsterdam. However these references often provide only superficial details despite the potential for valuable insights found in the actual procedural documents. Conversely little information about witchcraft in Haarlem can be gleaned from existing literature. Abraham Palingh author of 't Afrukt Mom-aansight der Tooverye published in Haarlem in 1659 briefly mentions a few cases of sorcery accusations that he claims to have personally known yet his accounts remain vague.The fine and copperplate illustrations were made by Salomon Savry 1594-1683. He was a recognised engraver of his time highly involved with the Amsterdam book industry of the seventeenth century. Some wear to binding. Ex libris from the library of Leontine Buijnsters-Smets. Light browning and foxing. Otherwise in very good condition.l Bibl. Med. Neerl. I p.150; Muller 539 1725 edition; Scheepers I 552; STCN 841091951 12 copies; Waller 1315 1725 edition; WorldCat 56854247 3 copies. J. Rieuwertz, hardcover
112501Antwerp Christopher Plantin for the author 1598. . Double-page copper engraved map with later hand-colouring centre fold as issued cartouches for title and dedication French text to verso: sheet size: 41.8 x 54 cm. Very minor staining to fold. <br />Mounted size: 52cm by 65.5cm.<br /> Well-preserved example of Ortelius' map of the Pacific taken from the fifth final and most complete French edition of Theatre de l'Univers. Enriched with decorative cartouches and ships.<br /><br /><br />Abraham Ortelius 1527-1598 was a cartographer and publisher he was born and died in Antwerp.<br /> Koeman III Ort 32. Antwerp, Christopher Plantin for the author, 1598. unknown
18841562Various places in South Africa Botswana 1884. Overall very good. 295pp. plus five additional letters totaling 60pp. altogether more than 38000 words. Composed mostly on small octavo sheets. Some wear to edges of initial and final few leaves slightly affecting text. Light even tanning. Written in a consistent legible script. An extensive and outstanding manuscript account of travel and exploration in southern Africa during late 1883 and early 1884 by Abraham Anscher a Polish Jewish immigrant to Chicago. The manuscript is composed in the form of a letter addressed to Edith Delia Rogalski but really comprises a travelogue or diary with entries written from September 1883 to mid-January 1884. Five additional letters accompany this account addressed to Edith's later husband Israel Jackson Roe; her parents Samuel and Sarah Rogalski; and her brother Benny. <br/><br/>Anscher's descriptions of his experiences in Africa cover a wide variety of topics including big game hunting; interactions with local indigenous peoples and their rulers; encounters with white missionaries traders and other hunters; ethnographic botanical geological and zoological observations and much more. His account is by turns dramatic and amusing interspersed with personal recollections of family and home cultural and religious notes his addressee was also a Polish-speaking Jewish immigrant to Chicago and reminiscences of earlier adventures in Colorado Utah the California gold fields and elsewhere.<br/><br/>Little can be readily discerned of the details of Anscher's biography beyond the pages of this manuscript. He was born in Mariampol then a part of Poland and today in Lithuania but clearly came to the United States at an early age and was well-educated. He was an adventurer at heart and spent several years in the West perhaps in the U.S. Army for part of this time and partly as a solo fortune seeker. At some point during the mid- to late-1870s he decided to take his adventuring talents to South Africa in order to satisfy his own wanderlust and to create a business of organizing guided African exploration and hunting. The stakes of his chosen profession are mentioned several times throughout his narrative such as when a party member dies of an unspecified illness "My lot is a very hard one just now and my position as promoter and chief adventurer is anything but enviable". From the additional letters present it is apparent that the young Ms. Rogalski was a former love interest of Anscher who spurned his affections and became engaged to a mutual friend. Indeed a letter here addressed to the fiancé offers an apology for presumption of writing to Edith in such a lengthy and cordial manner; at one time all of the individuals addressed by Anscher were a part of the same immigrant community in Chicago.<br/><br/>This absorbing account follows a lengthy excursion organized and led by Anscher across the Transvaal through Bechuanaland Matabeleland and beyond to a settlement he calls Tatti probably Francistown on the Tati River traveling through parts of modern-day South Africa and Botswana. They contain many details of great interest and his vignettes are well-written and dramatically delivered. An immense boa constrictor drops out of the treetops strangling a springbok before his eyes. He finds a five-year-old girl with a broken leg the only survivor of a village massacre; he sets her leg nurses her for a month and eventually conveys her to a missionary station. A young zebra joins the traveling party incurring the jealousy of the team's dogs. A large lizard is trained to sleep in a tent but only after his teeth are removed for safety. <br/><br/>His missive begins in medias res with his party already underway in South Africa near the Orange River in what he calls the "Tarka bush" during mid-September 1883. Anscher decides having missed his last opportunity to send mail "Now to put myself on guard against mischance and not be like the traditional foolish virgins who did not keep their lamps properly trimmed.to have a so-called running letter always open and ready" for his recipient. The group first traveled northeast near and along the Orange allowing Anscher to wax discursive concerning the river's wildlife:<br/><br/>"The wanderings of the river sometimes flowed through immense chasms over hung with stupendous precipices and then like a translucent lake with beautiful towering mimosas and willows reflected from its bosom and a rich variety of fine plumage though without a song; wild geese ducks snipes flamingoes in perfect security feeding on the banks beneath the green shade or basking in the sun's rays on the verdant islands far from the fowler's snare. The swallows also mounting aloft or skimming the surface of the mirror of the stream; while the ravens with their hoarse note might be seen seeking their daily food among the watery tribe or cawing on the bending tops of the weeping willows."<br/><br/>The party leaves the river and skirts the southern edge of the Kalahari to reach Lattakoo modern-day Dithakong a traditional departure point for excursions deeper into the interior of Africa during the 19th century. Thence they headed north again stopping often to hunt for food and sport:<br/><br/>"When on the Kama plains I went one night accompanied by Tytler and Winsloe and one native to a pool of water about two miles from camp. We did not wait more than about half an hour when we heard loud lapping at the water. The natives told me 'Ronimala ' be silent 'There is a lion.' Our next visitors were two buffaloes but we did not fire lest we attract the attention of the lions. Next came three giraffes and one we knocked over on the spot and wounded another but who got away. I have seen plenty of game in my time. I saw and hunted antelope and elk on the Laramie plains and in the Meek Mountains in America before the Union Pacific RR was built. I saw quite enough of buffalo in the Smokey Hills and Montana as well as south of the Green Horn Mountains between California and Arizona but such a variety of game big game and in such number as I saw some years ago in the Transvaal & Swaziland and hereabouts now I never saw anywhere."<br/><br/>As the excursion proceeds further into the interior their encounters with native tribes increases and Anscher observes them keenly and reports with a detailed if somewhat jaded 19th-century eye:<br/><br/>"The town of Kalabeg is already in the Matabele country. Of course they have no religion of any kind for there is no such thing as natural religion. Men acquire knowledge good or bad from instruction of men with more fertile brains. This holds good all the world over. The rainmakers here hold the position of prophets and divines of the so-called civilized countries. These rainmakers who are also the doctors and sextons have great influence over the minds of the people and are held in great estimation by them superior to that of their king who is likewise compelled to yield to the dictates of this personage the rainmaker. Nothing can exceed the freaks of fancy and the adroitness with which the rainmaker can awe the public mind and lead thousands captive at his will. Each tribe has one or more of them and they generally come from other countries for a prophet is seldom honored in his own country."<br/><br/>Arriving in Shoshong in what is now central Botswana Anscher meets some missionaries and witnesses a tribal gathering which leads him to remember the religious theories of a familial acquaintance back home:<br/><br/>"Was present at a Pitsoh or native congress this forenoon held by the natives about some tribe affairs. About 12000 natives present and wound up the proceedings with a war dance. As these tribes are considered by some religious enthusiasts to be of the lost tribes of Israel not your own but ours and as your uncle once spoke to me about them while at Chicago I would therefore request you to kindly tell him to disabuse his mind on this point and that the only peg whereon the so-called lost tribe maniacs hang their argument in favor of their hobby is that the natives practice a certain custom which history attributes to our father Abraham. But this ceremony takes place instead of at the age of 7 days old when they are about fourteen years old and even when older. But they have no tradition as to why it is done. If this simple custom entitles them to be call Jews why for my part they are quite welcome to the honor. But this is about all there is to build the theory on." <br/><br/>Despite his occasionally sarcastic and somewhat disparaging demeanor toward the natives he encounters Anchser seems overall to have a decent connection with them at a personal level and to understand a basic sense of shared humanity. In one particularly poignant episode Anscher meets a mother and father who have walked 300 miles to ransom their two teenaged sons enslaved by a local chief: <br/><br/>"Neither the man's looks nor ornaments excited the smallest emotion in the bosom of the chief and when he was solicited by one who felt something of a father's love to pity the old man who had walked so far and brought his all to purchase his own children he at last replied with a sneer that one of the boys died last year and for the other he wants an ox at least. 'But I have not even a goat' pleaded the old man 'the Matabele have taken all I had and destroyed my hut.' A sigh it was a heavy sigh burst from his bosom one dead and the other not permitted to see anymore. The chief walked off while the man sat leaning his head on the palm of his hand and his eye fixed on the ground apparently lost to everything but his grief. On taking up his trinkets to retire I told him to keep up a good heart that I would try to get him his boy. He started at the sound of my voice kneeled before me and laid down his trinket saying 'take all this but get me back my boy.' I got him his boy for a colored blanket and 1 lb. of tobacco."<br/><br/>When sad and homesick Anscher recalls his time in Chicago and in the West but it is often insufficient comfort. After departing Shoshong for Tatti Anscher must leave his group to "pioneer" a trail to the settlement:<br/><br/>"On the evening of my first day's journey I had to off-saddle a term used here on a waterless plain picketed my horse and went to bed minus my supper or dinner. I awoke suddenly by something touching me on my forehead like the cold nose of a dog but I could see nothing in the dark except my horse who was laying down poor fellow. After this occurrence I could sleep no longer. My head was hot my lips parched and had no taste even for a cigarette. I daresay some of you have experienced waiting for a train early in the morning in some out of the way small RR station where moments appear like days. Well waiting there is not a patch to lying in the dark in Africa's solitude waiting for daylight to come. I tried to divert my mind and think of anything but water but I could not do it! I tried to cool myself by thinking of Chicago in the month of Feb. but that only led me to snow and from snow to water. One may as well try Ovid's 'Remedia Amoris' to cure him from hankering after the girl he loves as to try Chicago in my case as a remedy when thirsty." <br/><br/>The difficulties of obtaining food and water establishing safe camp and finding routes through minimally charted territory evident in this final passage are an ever-present theme of the expedition but Anscher eventually guided his group to their destination where they intended to stay for a month or two before heading further north to Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River. The final entries describe life at the settlement and how a Portuguese colonial explorer and administrator Alexandre de Serpo Pinto whom they met in camp would be entrusted with the present manuscript as he traveled to Namaqualand on the west coast of Africa in the hopes that it would eventually find its way aboard a ship bound for America. Pinto was a fascinating figure in his own right -- he explored the interior of Africa for Portugal in the 1860s and 1870s and after this meeting with our author became the Portuguese Consul in Zanzibar.<br/><br/>Anscher's trail goes somewhat cold after January 1884 when he relinquished control of this massive "running letter." An additional fragment of a later letter to Edith Rogalski included here forwarded via a mining acquaintance in Kimberly contains a few tantalizing details of his onward expedition including an attack on their party near Victoria Falls by a group of slavers led by "an American Negro." He was also working on a journal and taking photographs which are mentioned several times throughout this account but the survival of this other material as well as the ultimate conclusion of this expedition are not known. A wonderful unpublished account of African exploration by a seemingly unlikely and apparently otherwise unknown American character. A complete transcription of the manuscript is available upon request. unknown books
18843195451884. 295pp. plus five additional letters totaling 60pp. altogether more than 38000 words. Composed mostly on small octavo sheets. Some wear to edges of initial and final few leaves slightly affecting text. Light even tanning. Written in a consistent legible script. Overall very good. 295pp. plus five additional letters totaling 60pp. altogether more than 38000 words. Composed mostly on small octavo sheets. An extensive and outstanding manuscript account of travel and exploration in southern Africa during late 1883 and early 1884 by Abraham Anscher a Polish Jewish immigrant to Chicago. The manuscript is composed in the form of a letter addressed to Edith Delia Rogalski but really comprises a travelogue or diary with entries written from September 1883 to mid-January 1884. Five additional letters accompany this account addressed to Edith's later husband Israel Jackson Roe; her parents Samuel and Sarah Rogalski; and her brother Benny. <br/> <br/>Anscher's descriptions of his experiences in Africa cover a wide variety of topics including big game hunting; interactions with local indigenous peoples and their rulers; encounters with white missionaries traders and other hunters; ethnographic botanical geological and zoological observations and much more. His account is by turns dramatic and amusing interspersed with personal recollections of family and home cultural and religious notes his addressee was also a Polish-speaking Jewish immigrant to Chicago and reminiscences of earlier adventures in Colorado Utah the California gold fields and elsewhere.<br/> <br/>Little can be readily discerned of the details of Anscher's biography beyond the pages of this manuscript. He was born in Mariampol then a part of Poland and today in Lithuania but clearly came to the United States at an early age and was well-educated. He was an adventurer at heart and spent several years in the West perhaps in the U.S. Army for part of this time and partly as a solo fortune seeker. At some point during the mid- to late-1870s he decided to take his adventuring talents to South Africa in order to satisfy his own wanderlust and to create a business of organizing guided African exploration and hunting. The stakes of his chosen profession are mentioned several times throughout his narrative such as when a party member dies of an unspecified illness "My lot is a very hard one just now and my position as promoter and chief adventurer is anything but enviable". From the additional letters present it is apparent that the young Ms. Rogalski was a former love interest of Anscher who spurned his affections and became engaged to a mutual friend. Indeed a letter here addressed to the fiancé offers an apology for the presumption of writing to Edith in such a lengthy and cordial manner; at one time all of the individuals addressed by Anscher were a part of the same immigrant community in Chicago.<br/> <br/>This absorbing account follows a lengthy excursion organized and led by Anscher across the Transvaal through Bechuanaland Matabeleland and beyond to a settlement he calls Tatti probably Francistown on the Tati River traveling through parts of modern-day South Africa and Botswana. They contain many details of great interest and his vignettes are well-written and dramatically delivered. An immense boa constrictor drops out of the treetops strangling a springbok before his eyes. He finds a five-year-old girl with a broken leg the only survivor of a village massacre; he sets her leg nurses her for a month and eventually conveys her to a missionary station. A young zebra joins the traveling party incurring the jealousy of the team's dogs. A large lizard is trained to sleep in a tent but only after his teeth are removed for safety. <br/> <br/>His missive begins in medias res with his party already underway in South Africa near the Orange River in what he calls the "Tarka bush" during mid-September 1883. Anscher decides having missed his last opportunity to send mail "Now to put myself on guard against mischance and not be like the traditional foolish virgins who did not keep their lamps properly trimmed.to have a so-called running letter always open and ready" for his recipient. The group first traveled northeast near and along the Orange allowing Anscher to wax discursive concerning the river's wildlife:<br/> <br/>"The wanderings of the river sometimes flowed through immense chasms over hung with stupendous precipices and then like a translucent lake with beautiful towering mimosas and willows reflected from its bosom and a rich variety of fine plumage though without a song; wild geese ducks snipes flamingoes in perfect security feeding on the banks beneath the green shade or basking in the sun's rays on the verdant islands far from the fowler's snare. The swallows also mounting aloft or skimming the surface of the mirror of the stream; while the ravens with their hoarse note might be seen seeking their daily food among the watery tribe or cawing on the bending tops of the weeping willows."<br/> <br/>The party leaves the river and skirts the southern edge of the Kalahari to reach Lattakoo modern-day Dithakong a traditional departure point for excursions deeper into the interior of Africa during the 19th century. Thence they headed north again stopping often to hunt for food and sport:<br/> <br/>"When on the Kama plains I went one night accompanied by Tytler and Winsloe and one native to a pool of water about two miles from camp. We did not wait more than about half an hour when we heard loud lapping at the water. The natives told me 'Ronimala ' be silent 'There is a lion." Our next visitors were two buffaloes but we did not fire lest we attract the attention of the lions. Next came three giraffes and one we knocked over on the spot and wounded another but who got away. I have seen plenty of game in my time. I saw and hunted antelope and elk on the Laramie plains and in the Meek Mountains in America before the Union Pacific RR was built. I saw quite enough of buffalo in the Smokey Hills and Montana as well as south of the Green Horn Mountains between California and Arizona but such a variety of game big game and in such number as I saw some years ago in the Transvaal & Swaziland and hereabouts now I never saw anywhere."<br/> <br/>As the excursion proceeds further into the interior their encounters with native tribes increases and Anscher observes them keenly and reports with a detailed if somewhat jaded 19th-century eye:<br/> <br/>"The town of Kalabeg is already in the Matabele country. Of course they have no religion of any kind for there is no such thing as natural religion. Men acquire knowledge good or bad from instruction of men with more fertile brains. This holds good all the world over. The rainmakers here hold the position of prophets and divines of the so-called civilized countries. These rainmakers who are also the doctors and sextons have great influence over the minds of the people and are held in great estimation by them superior to that of their king who is likewise compelled to yield to the dictates of this personage the rainmaker. Nothing can exceed the freaks of fancy and the adroitness with which the rainmaker can awe the public mind and lead thousands captive at his will. Each tribe has one or more of them and they generally come from other countries for a prophet is seldom honored in his own country."<br/> <br/>Arriving in Shoshong in what is now central Botswana Anscher meets some missionaries and witnesses a tribal gathering which leads him to remember the religious theories of a familial acquaintance back home:<br/> <br/>"Was present at a Pitsoh or native congress this forenoon held by the natives about some tribe affairs. About 12000 natives present and wound up the proceedings with a war dance. As these tribes are considered by some religious enthusiasts to be of the lost tribes of Israel not your own but ours and as your uncle once spoke to me about them while at Chicago I would therefore request you to kindly tell him to disabuse his mind on this point and that the only peg whereon the so-called lost tribe maniacs hang their argument in favor of their hobby is that the natives practice a certain custom which history attributes to our father Abraham. But this ceremony takes place instead of at the age of 7 days old when they are about fourteen years old and even when older. But they have no tradition as to why it is done. If this simple custom entitles them to be call Jews why for my part they are quite welcome to the honor. But this is about all there is to build the theory on." <br/> <br/>Despite his occasionally sarcastic and somewhat disparaging demeanor toward the natives he encounters Anchser seems overall to have a decent connection with them at a personal level and to understand a basic sense of shared humanity. In one particularly poignant episode Anscher meets a mother and father who have walked 300 miles to ransom their two teenaged sons enslaved by a local chief: <br/> <br/>"Neither the man's looks nor ornaments excited the smallest emotion in the bosom of the chief and when he was solicited by one who felt something of a father's love to pity the old man who had walked so far and brought his all to purchase his own children he at last replied with a sneer that one of the boys died last year and for the other he wants an ox at least. 'But I have not even a goat' pleaded the old man 'the Matabele have taken all I had and destroyed my hut.' A sigh it was a heavy sigh burst from his bosom one dead and the other not permitted to see anymore. The chief walked off while the man sat leaning his head on the palm of his hand and his eye fixed on the ground apparently lost to everything but his grief. On taking up his trinkets to retire I told him to keep up a good heart that I would try to get him his boy. He started at the sound of my voice kneeled before me and laid down his trinket saying 'take all this but get me back my boy.' I got him his boy for a colored blanket and 1 lb. of tobacco."<br/> <br/>When sad and homesick Anscher recalls his time in Chicago and in the West but it is often insufficient comfort. After departing Shoshong for Tatti Anscher must leave his group to "pioneer" a trail to the settlement:<br/> <br/>"On the evening of my first day's journey I had to off-saddle a term used here on a waterless plain picketed my horse and went to bed minus my supper or dinner. I awoke suddenly by something touching me on my forehead like the cold nose of a dog but I could see nothing in the dark except my horse who was laying down poor fellow. After this occurrence I could sleep no longer. My head was hot my lips parched and had no taste even for a cigarette. I daresay some of you have experienced waiting for a train early in the morning in some out of the way small RR station where moments appear like days. Well waiting there is not a patch to lying in the dark in Africa's solitude waiting for daylight to come. I tried to divert my mind and think of anything but water but I could not do it! I tried to cool myself by thinking of Chicago in the month of Feb. but that only led me to snow and from snow to water. One may as well try Ovid's 'Remedia Amoris' to cure him from hankering after the girl he loves as to try Chicago in my case as a remedy when thirsty." <br/> <br/>The difficulties of obtaining food and water establishing safe camp and finding routes through minimally charted territory evident in this final passage are an ever-present theme of the expedition but Anscher eventually guided his group to their destination where they intended to stay for a month or two before heading further north to Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River. The final entries describe life at the settlement and how a Portuguese colonial explorer and administrator Alexandre de Serpo Pinto whom they met in camp would be entrusted with the present manuscript as he traveled to Namaqualand on the west coast of Africa in the hopes that it would eventually find its way aboard a ship bound for America. Pinto was a fascinating figure in his own right -- he explored the interior of Africa for Portugal in the 1860s and 1870s and after this meeting with our author became the Portuguese Consul in Zanzibar.<br/> <br/>Anscher's trail goes somewhat cold after January 1884 when he relinquished control of this massive "running letter." An additional fragment of a later letter to Edith Rogalski included here forwarded via a mining acquaintance in Kimberly contains a few tantalizing details of his onward expedition including an attack on their party near Victoria Falls by a group of slavers led by "an American Negro." He was also working on a journal and taking photographs which are mentioned several times throughout this account but the survival of this other material as well as the ultimate conclusion of this expedition are not known. A wonderful unpublished account of African exploration by a seemingly unlikely and apparently otherwise unknown American character. unknown books
1864175101864. Abraham Lincoln and Civil War Figures Album of pasted oval portraits with signatures underneath each image. 1861. Features most notably Abraham Lincoln with a pasted signature below his image. This mid-nineteenth-century photographic album assembles oval portraits of political and military figures during the Civil War era including a pasted signature beneath an engraved portrait of Abraham Lincoln on the 15th page. Dated inscriptions from 1861 situate the compilation at the outset of national conflict. The inclusion of Lincoln Henry Clay and numerous uniformed figures reflects contemporary practices of collecting and memorializing political leadership through photographic reproduction and autograph acquisition.<br /> <br /> Photographic album measuring approximately 4.5 x 7 inches. Dark green morocco boards with gilt "Photographs" title. Contains 93 black-and-white and sepia portraits most approximately 2.5 x 2.25 inches mounted on pages. Lincoln portrait with separate pasted signature "A. Lincoln"; Henry Clay portrait with pasted signature; additional signatures written directly on album leaves. Spine chipped at head with separation; rubbing along margins; binding intact; photographs generally clear with minor age toning. Overall condition very good. he album reflects nineteenth-century commemorative culture preserving images and autographs of national figures during a transformative political moment. unknown
