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• 1 • 01(JEFFERSON, Thomas and DICKINSON, John). The Declaration by the Representatives of the United Colonies of North America... Setting Forth the Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms. London, 1775. Octavo, 19thcentury three-quarter diced brown morocco. $15,000 First London edition, early issue of one of the greatest state papers of the American Revolution and the most important forerunner to the Declaration of Independence. Before issuing the Declaration of Independence, “Congress had produced some fifteen other state papers ... but it had issued only one other ‘declaration’ as a formal precedent for the Declaration of Independence: the ‘Declaration… [on] Taking Up Arms” of July 6, 1775… Like the Declaration of Independence, the ‘Declaration… [on] Taking up Arms’ marked a decisive turning point in the struggle between Britain and its American colonies: in this case, the move by the colonists to formal armed conflict” (Armitage, The Declaration of Independence: A Global History, 31-32). Within a month of the battles of Lexington and Concord, the second Continental Congress met in May 1775. John Hancock was chosen president, and George Washington was chosen as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. The majority of the delegates were unsure about what should be done about the ongoing crisis, and while some thought reconciliation with Britain was still possible, others strongly believed that war was inevitable. On July 5, Congress drafted the Olive Branch Petition, in which they appealed to their king to hear their grievances in order to avoid more bloodshed—but the next day, on July 6, Congress issued one of its most important documents, their Declaration… [on] the causes and necessity of their taking up Arms, written by Thomas Jefferson and John Dickinson. It is a strong statement of grievances against Britain (including taxation without representation, interference with commerce, and violation of their rights to trial by jury) as well as a plea for peace and reconciliation. Its purpose was to justify before the world their armed resistance to the British Parliament’s attempt to enforce an absolute authority over the colonies: “Our Cause is just: our Union is perfect: our internal resources are great… the Arms we have been compelled by our Enemies to assume, we will... employ for the Preservation of our Liberties, being with one Mind resolved, to die Freemen rather than to live Slaves.” The Declaration was issued by Congress on July 6, 1775, and there were contemporary newspaper, pamphlet, and broadside printings, all of which are very rare. Printed in the same year as the London first, with textual corrections from that issue; lacking the “Prefatory Address from the London Association to the Public.” ESTC T121380. Contents with minor spotting and toning with tiny area of worming in lower outer portions, touching a few letters; front inner hinge expertly reinforced, minor rubbing to binding. “OUR CAUSE IS JUST: OUR UNION IS PERFECT… BEING WITH ONE MIND RESOLVED TO DIE FREEMEN, RATHER THAN TO LIVE SLAVES”: ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS OF THE REVOLUTION
• 2 • 02 MINOT, George Richards. The History of the Insurrections, in Massachusetts, in the Year MDCCLXXXVI. Worcester, MA, 1788. Octavo, 20th-century half dark green morocco gilt, raised bands. $4500 Uncommon first edition of the earliest account of Shays’ Rebellion of 1786-1787, a turning point in the development and ratification of the U.S. Constitution, elegantly bound. When Continental Army Captain Daniel Shays launched a violent uprising in response to the debt crisis in Massachusetts, the subsequent calls for reforming the Articles of Confederation eventually resulted in the Philadelphia Convention of 1787, which then, rather than rewriting the Articles, drafted the first version of the United States Constitution. This description of the rebellion and the economic and political factors that led up to it—the first published account—was written by Minot, the clerk of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and secretary of the Massachusetts Ratifying Convention, as well as cofounder of the Massachusetts Historical Society. “George Washington spoke of the book’s ‘perspicuity and impartiality.’ John Quincy Adams commented on its ‘authenticity, impartiality, penetration and sagacity.’ The historian David Ramsey thought that it did the writer ‘great honor’ and that it had ‘the air of impartiality.’” (Feer, “Minot’s History of the Insurrections”). In a letter to Benjamin Lincoln dated August 28, 1788, Washington wrote: “I received with your letter of the 9th instant, one from Mr Minot and also his History of the Insurrections in Massachusetts. The work seems to be executed with ingenuity, as well as to be calculated to place facts in a true point of light, obviate the prejudices of those who were unacquainted with the circumstances & answer good purposes in respect to our government in general. I have returned him my thanks for his present, by this conveyance.” Evans 21259. Sabin 49324. Howes M651. ESTC W20463. Inked owner name on title page and a few tiny penciled annotations in margins. Minor toning and foxing; one leaf creased. A handsome copy. “THUS WAS A DANGEROUS INTERNAL WAR FINALLY SUPPRESSED, BY THE SPIRITED USE OF CONSTITUTIONAL POWERS, WITHOUT THE SHEDDING OF BLOOD BY THE HAND OF THE CIVIL MAGISTRATE”
• 3 • “THE MOST IMPORTANT POLITICAL WRITING OF THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD”: RARE FIRST ENGLISH EDITION OF DICKINSON’S LETTERS FROM A FARMER, 1768, ONE OF ONLY 500 COPIES 03(FRANKLIN, Benjamin) (DICKINSON, John). Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, To the Inhabitants of the British Colonies. London, 1768. Octavo, modern half red morocco gilt. $12,000 First English edition of the famed revolutionary work by John Dickinson, “Penman of the Revolution,” the work that helped spark repeal of the Stamp Act by calling it “pernicious to freedom,” one of only 500 copies, featuring the first appearance in print of Franklin’s prefatory British Editor to the Reader, not in the same year’s first American edition or the 1774 second English edition, with Franklin calling for restraint, urging Britain to never be “so angry with her colonies as to strike them.” Philadelphia patriot John Dickinson, a leading member of the Continental Congress, authored several of the most important political writings of the Revolution, especially this highly influential Letters from a Farmer, which fundamentally “helped to repeal the Stamp Act” (Langguth, 175). Here Dickinson singles out the 1765 Stamp Act as “pernicious to freedom” and contests “Parliament’s power with greater acuity than any writer had shown before” (Bailyn, 215). With this and his l775 Causes of Taking Up Arms, Dickinson became “known as the ‘Penman of the Revolution’… until 1776 his writings had made him better known by his fellow countrymen than any American except Franklin. His biographer writes: ‘By 1773 Dickinson was recognized as the leading champion of American liberty throughout the colonies… [the Letters are] the most important political writing of the revolutionary period… a critical source to understand if one seeks to comprehend the political thought of the American Revolution'" (Webking, American Revolution, 41-3). When first published anonymously in America in 1768, Dickinson’s Letters immediately «created a sensation… excepting the political essays of Paine, which did not begin to appear until nine years later, none equaled the Farmer's Letters in immediate celebrity and in direct power upon events» (Grolier, American 100:13). This rare first English edition was published “at the insistence” of Benjamin Franklin, then in London (Ford 303). On publication in London, the Monthly Review hailed Dickinson's Letters as “a calm yet full enquiry into the right of the British Parliament to tax the American colonies; the unconstitutional nature of which attempt is maintained in a well-connected chain of close and manly reasoning.” Dickinson’s “12 letters appeared first in the Pennsylvania Chronicle between November 30, 1767 and February 8, 1768» (Adams 54a), and were first issued separately in the virtually unobtainable March 1768 Philadelphia edition. Sabin 20044. Interior generally clean, with scattered light marginal foxing, shallow chipping to top edge of scarce half title. Handsomely bound.
• 4 • “A POCKET VOLUME, TO BE CONSULTED ON ANY EMERGENCY”: STEVENSON’S MILITARY INSTRUCTIONS FOR OFFICERS, 1775 FIRST AMERICAN EDITION, WITH 12 FOLDING ENGRAVED PLATES 04 STEVENSON, Roger. Military Instructions for Officers Detached in the Field. Philadelphia, 1775. 12mo, contemporary full brown sheep rebacked with original spine laid down. Housed in a custom clamshell box. $22,000 First American edition of this important Revolutionary Warera military manual, illustrated with 12 engraved plates (seven folding) of diagrams and maneuvers. The first book dedicated to George Washington. From the family of Persifor Frazer, a colonel during the American Revolution and an associate of both Washington and “Mad Anthony” Wayne. A most important early military manual printed in America, preceding the celebrated works of Baron Von Steuben. Stevenson’s work is aimed at officers of lesser rank in charge of smaller detachments, and gives practical instruction in fortifying buildings and villages, conducting reconnaissance, secret marches, surprise attacks, ambushes and retreats— in other words, how to conduct guerrilla warfare, “petite guerre.” “That [the Militia] may long remain unpracticed in war is my fervent wish, but as we cannot foresee the events of future wars, it may be no misfortune to have advice, how to improve the advantage which their knowledge of the country gives them, if they should at any time have occasion to step forth in defense of their property, and all they hold dear” (v). Stevenson’s guerrilla tactics and their own superior knowledge of local terrain gave the Continental Army a significant advantage over the regimented fighting style of British Army—at the time, the best-equipped and best-trained fighting force in the world. Preceded by the first and second London editions of 1770 and 1774. Sabin 91607. Evans 14475. With owner signatures from the family of Persifor Frazer, a lieutenant colonel during the American Revolution who was a close associate of General “Mad Anthony” Wayne. Wayne and Frazer were friends and neighbors in Chester county, Pennsylvania from before the war. Frazer was captured at the Battle of the Brandywine, and there exists correspondence between George Washington and Frazer arranging for the exchange of prisoners with the British. The ownership signatures are all for “Persifor Frazer,” but they are from his descendants, including one on the title page dated 1823 (likely his grandson, as colonel Frazer died in 1792). Scattered foxing and dampstaining to text and plates, paper repair to preliminary blank. Contemporary calf boards handsome.
• 5 • “HOW IS THIS MODE MORE TOLERABLE THAN THE STAMP ACT?”: FIRST PRINTING OF THE 1774 QUARTERING ACT, ONE OF THE CATALYSTS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION CITED IN THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 05 (AMERICAN REVOLUTION) (QUARTERING ACT). An Act for the better providing suitable Quarters for Officers and Soldiers in His Majesty’s Service in North America. London, 1774. Folio, disbound. $5000 Uncommon first printing of the 1774 Quartering Act, expanding on the 1765 Quartering Act, one of the most important catalysts of the American Revolution, “the quartering of large bodies of armed troops among us” being specifically cited as a grievance in the Declaration of Independence. In the decade before the American Revolution, a series of Quartering Acts were passed by Parliament to provide for the housing and provisioning of British troops in the American colonies. The first, enacted in 1765, required each colonial assembly to provide for the basic needs of British soldiers stationed within its borders, including housing, food and drink, and numerous other staples. Colonial authorities were compelled to lodge British troops in any “uninhabited Houses, Outhouses, Barns, or other Buildings, as shall be necessary,” and supply the soldiers with “Diet, and Small Beer, Cyder, or Rum mixed with Water… and allow each non-commission Officers or Soldiers the use of fire, and the necessary Utensils for dressing and eating their Meat.” Like that to the Stamp Act, resistance to this 1774 follow-up—which expanded the authority of British officers to house soldiers on private property—was far-reaching and consequential. Colonial leaders such as Philadelphia’s John Dickinson expressed “the contradictory spirit of the period: loyalty to King and Empire, but growing American unity.” Dickinson, in his Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, wrote, “If the British Parliament has a legal authority to issue an order that we shall furnish a single article for the troops here, and to compel obedience to that order, they have the same right to issue an order for us to supply those troops with arms, cloths, and every necessary; and to compel obedience to that order also; in short, to lay any burthens they please upon us. What is this but taxing us at a certain sum, and leaving to us only the manner of raising it? How is this mode more tolerable than the Stamp Act?” Additionally, the New York Assembly would argue its state was unduly burdened because British commanders were headquartered there, and in a 1766 vote resisted fulfilling every parliamentary requirement. When the Assembly refused “to incur an additional ‘ruinous and insupportable’ expense, Parliament… declared all acts of the NY Assembly to be null and void until it fully complied with the Quartering Act” (Morison, Sources, xvi, 35-36). This second Quartering Act was enacted on June 2, 1774 by the British Parliament as one of a series of four acts in response to the Boston Tea Party that became identified as the Coercive (or Intolerable) Acts. Of these, three dealt specifically with Massachusetts but this fourth, the extension of the already contentious 1765 Quartering Act, applied to all 13 colonies and along with its explosive predecessor played a central role in prompting “the first inter-colonial Continental Congress since the Stamp Act Congress [to convene] in Philadelphia in September 1776 to consider a coordinated response” (Schama, History of Britain, II: 470). The quartering of troops in America was specifically cited as a grievance in both the 1774 Resolves of the First Continental Congress and the 1776 Declaration of Independence. Printed in Gothic type (blackletter, indicative of first edition), with a separate title page bearing the royal coat of arms. This first printing, from the Sessional Volumes of Parliament, is the earliest and most accurate contemporary source of the text and precedes all American printings. Fine condition.
• 6 • HISTORY OF THE WAR IN AMERICA, 1779-1785, COMPLETE WITH THE EXCEPTIONALLY SCARCE THIRD VOLUME 06 [GORDON, Patrick]. The History of the War in America, Between Great Britain and Her Colonies. Dublin, 1779-1785. Three volumes. Octavo, contemporary full tree calf rebacked. $15,000 First edition, including a folding map of North America, a folding table listing the British forces “killed and wounded” at the battles of Concord, Lexington and Bunker Hill and the exceptionally rare third volume, which is often missing. This uncommon history of the American Revolution, derived in part from the Annual Register, is attributed to Patrick Gordon by Lowndes and (possibly) to Edmund Burke by ESTC. The first volume, based on the Rev. T. Ferguson’s Complete History of the Present Civil War Between Great Britain and the United Colonies of North America, traces the sequence of various conflicts between Great Britain and the colonies from 1774 to 1778; the second contains political papers relating to the Stamp Act and other controversial legislative measures, and the third continues the history until 1783. The work expresses a strong pro-American sentiment throughout. “The third volume, which continues the history to 1783, was a subsequent publication, and is seldom found with the other two… The folded table, giving the names and rank of the killed, wounded, and missing of the British forces at the battles of Concord and Bunker Hill, is frequently wanting” (Sabin 32226). Adams 79-56b, c and d. ESTC T45609, T45610. Sabin 27992, 32226. Howes G-254. Lowndes, 915. A few inoffensive repairs to folding table. A fine, crisp copy in contemporary calf boards.
• 7 • “THE GUN THAT WON THE WEST”: 1866 FIRST EDITION OF ARMSMEAR, A TRIBUTE TO SAMUEL COLT, INSCRIBED BY COLT’S WIFE 07 (COLT, Samuel) BARNARD, Henry, editor. Armsmear: The Home, the Arm, and the Armory of Samuel Colt. A Memorial. New York, 1866. Quarto, publisher’s full green morocco gilt. $5800 First edition of this handsome volume on the influence and inventive brilliance of Samuel Colt, whose Colt .45— the “Peacemaker”—is known as the gun that tamed the West, profusely illustrated with steel-engraved frontispiece portrait and over 80 steel-engraved maps and illustrations, presentation copy inscribed by Mrs. Samuel Colt—the dedicatee—on the front flyleaf: “Rv. J. F. Young DD. with the sincere regard of Mrs. Samuel Colt / Armsmear–Jan. 10th 1867.” The name of Samuel Colt is most famous for his Colt .45, popularly known as the “Peacemaker… the gun that won the West.” It was Colt who “introduced the concept of interchangeable parts to large-scale gun manufacturing.” His Armory, built in 1855, was “the first large-scale industrialized weapons plant in the world.” While the Colt .45 remains the revolver most associated with his name, “Colt had been dead for about ten years by the time the Colt .45 was taming the West. Probably the most important revolver Colt did live to see bear his name was the one he developed for use in Texas… The Walker Colt revolver resulted from the collaboration between Colt and Captain Samuel Walker of the Texas Rangers… the largest and most powerful black powder handgun ever created” (Schellinger in Inventors and Inventions, 302-11). Armsmear, published posthumously, pays tribute to this “daring and successful entrepreneur… More than anyone, Colt created international markets for American machine tools and made the world aware of the remarkable accomplishments of the Yankee innovators who created the American system of manufactures” (ANB). Howes B618(b). Spine rubbed in two places; foxing and light dampstaining to first 50 pages. A very good copy, inscribed and presented by the wife of this remarkable inventor, who was also the dedicatee of this work. Scarce.
• 8 • “ONE OF THE BEST ACCOUNTS TO BE FOUND ANYWHERE OF THE BRAVE BLACK REGIMENTS”: FIRST EDITION OF THE BLACK PHALANX, 1888 08 WILSON, Joseph Thomas. The Black Phalanx; A History of the Negro Soldiers of the United States in the Wars of 1775-1812, 1861-’65. Hartford, 1888. Octavo, original gilt-stamped red and black pictorial cloth. $4000 First edition of one of the earliest and most compelling histories of African American soldiers, “must reading for students of the Civil War era” (John Hope Franklin), featuring 57 fullpage engraved illustrations, in original gilt-stamped cloth. Written by Joseph Wilson, a former Union soldier, The Black Phalanx is “one of the best accounts to be found anywhere of the brave black regiments. Must reading for students of the Civil War era” (John Hope Franklin). It traces the heroic record of African American soldiers from the Revolution to the Civil War. Wilson’s Black Phalanx is “a significant work… full of official dispatches and lengthy essays” (Nevins I:216), drawing upon eyewitness narratives, overlooked military reports, correspondence, anecdotes and reportage such as this Civil War account from the New York Tribune: “The more I see of our colored regiments, and the more I converse with our soldiers, the more convinced I am that upon them we must ultimately rely as the principle source of our strength in these latitudes. It is perfect nonsense for any one to attempt to talk away the broad fact, evident as the sun at noonday, that these men are capable not only of making good soldiers, but the very best of soldiers.” The 180,000 former slaves who fought for the Union “crippled a crucial Southern resource for waging war and added a powerful resource to the Northern strategic effort” (Foner & Garraty, 188). With frontispiece portrait of Wilson and 56 full-page illustrations. Dornbusch III:332. Blockson 2403. Nicholson, 936. See Work, 397. Usual mild embrowning to contents; spine slightly toned, cloth with a touch of rubbing to extremities. A near-fine copy.
• 9 • “I WAS NOT BORN WITH A HUNGER TO BE FREE. I WAS BORN FREE”: SIGNED BY NELSON MANDELA 09 MANDELA, Nelson. The Illustrated Long Walk to Freedom. Boston, 1996. Quarto, original half black morocco gilt, clamshell box, cardboard box. $8200 Limited edition, number 172 of 425 copies specially bound in South African Wassa goatskin, with publisher’s tipped-in photographic portrait of Mandela by Benny Gool, signed and dated (“28.10.96”) by Mandela. The photo-illustrated autobiography of one of the towering figures of 20th-century African history. First published in 1994, this signed limited edition has been abridged and extensively illustrated. Fine condition.
• 10 • SIGNED BY BEN-GURION IN HEBREW 10 BEN-GURION, David. Israel: Years of Challenge. Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem, 1963. Octavo, original orange cloth, dust jacket. $3500 First edition of this history of modern Israel, signed on the half title in Hebrew by David Ben-Gurion. “Foremost among the founding fathers of modern Israel,” David Ben-Gurion drafted Israel’s Declaration of Independence, serving afterwards as the new nation’s first Prime Minister and subsequently as Minister of Defense (Encyclopedia Judaica). “Considered one of the most scholarly heads of state in human history,” Ben-Gurion was also a prolific author; few were better qualified to write a “personal history” of Israel (New Jewish Encyclopedia, 48). This history precedes Ben Gurion’s Israel: A Personal History, and thus focuses on the period prior to the Six Day War, when Israel was still in the process of defining itself. Of particular interest is Ben-Gurion’s discussion of the southern desert lands and their fate as well as his hopes for international relations with Asia and Africa. Institutional sticker on front pastedown. Book fine, dust jacket with a bit of rubbing to spine. A near-fine signed copy.
• 11 • ONE OF THE HIGHLIGHTS OF 20TH-CENTURY PHOTOGRAPHY: 1933 SIGNED LIMITED FIRST EDITION OF DORIS ULMANN AND JULIA PETERKIN’S ROLL, JORDAN, ROLL, WITH 90 SUPERB HAND-PULLED PHOTOGRAVURES AND EXTRA PHOTOGRAVURE ADDITIONALLY SIGNED BY ULMANN 11 ULMANN, Doris and PETERKIN, Julia. Roll, Jordan, Roll. New York, 1933. Large quarto, original giltlettered three-quarter linen. Housed in a custom clamshell box. $25,000 Signed limited first edition, number 115 only 350 copies (327 of which were offered for sale) signed by both photographer Doris Ulmann and writer of the text Julia Peterkin. With 90 superb tissue-guarded full-page copperplate handpulled photogravure plates—this copy with the scarce extra photogravure plate signed in pencil by Ulmann laid in. “Ulmann’s photographic collaboration with Julia Peterkin… focuses on the lives of former slaves and their descendants on a plantation in the Gullah coastal region of South Carolina… Peterkin, a popular novelist who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1929, was born in South Carolina and raised by a black nursemaid who taught her the Gullah dialect before she learned standard English. She married the heir to Lang Syne, one of the state’s richest plantations, which became the setting for Roll, Jordan, Roll… Ulmann’s soft-focus photos— rendered as tactile as charcoal drawings in the superb gravure reproductions here—straddle Pictorialism and Modernism even as they appear to dissolve into memory” (Roth). This deluxe edition should not be confused with the trade edition which was issued in a significantly smaller format and with fewer plates which were printed in half-tone as opposed to photogravure. The extra signed photogravure plate that was issued only with this deluxe edition replicates the image that appears opposite page 28. Few copies of this deluxe edition had been distributed at the time of Ulmann’s death in 1934; most were donated by her heirs to the Tuskegee Institute to be sold for that school’s benefit. Without scarce original slipcase. Plates and text fine, minor foxing and staining to boards. A nearly fine copy of this beautiful work.
• 12 • “MY OWN VOICE AND THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE”: FIRST EDITION OF TO DIE FOR THE PEOPLE, INSCRIBED BY BLACK PANTHER CO-FOUNDER HUEY P. NEWTON 12 NEWTON, Huey P. To Die for the People. The Writings of Huey P. Newton. New York, 1972. Octavo, original black cloth gilt, dust jacket, custom clamshell box. $8200 First edition of this early collection of writings by Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, whose “flamboyance, vision and passion came to symbolize an entire era,” boldly inscribed by him, “For R— my own voice and the voice of the People finding the clarity of our situation, From Huey,” with 16 pages of illustrations, in original dust jacket. Newton, who co-founded the Black Panther Party in 1966 with Bobby Seale, was “one of the most charismatic symbols of black anger in the late 1960s” (New York Times). Newton’s “flamboyance, vision, and passion came to symbolize an entire era” (ANB). At news of his death in 1989, Seale recalled how the Party was formed. “’It came right out of Huey Newton’s head,’ he said. ‘Huey was the theoretician. And I’m the one who stayed on Huey, egging him on to get something going’” (Washington Post). Their defining “Ten-Point Program,” featured herein, demanded prison reform, “education that teaches us our true history,” and called for the “end to police brutality.” The Black Panther Party was early targeted by the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover, “who in 1968 declared that the Panthers were the number one threat to the internal security of the nation, and then set out to devastate them in a series of sudden raids” (Rolling Stone). “First Edition” stated on copyright page. With introductory essay by Franz Schurmann. Includes over 30 speeches, mandates, resolutions, eulogies and public statements, along with 16 pages of black-andwhite photographic illustrations. Blockson 4198. Book with mild offsetting to endpapers, a few slight marks to cloth; dust jacket fresh and bright with very mild wear to spine ends. A nearly fine copy.
• 13 • “THE FOUNDATION OF MODERN INTERNATIONAL LAW” AND AN IMPORTANT INFLUENCE ON THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: 1654 FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH OF GROTIUS’ MASTERPIECE 13 GROTIUS, Hugo. Of the Law of Warre and Peace with Annotations. III Parts. And Memorials of the Author’s Life and Death. London, 1654. Thick octavo, contemporary full speckled calf. Housed in a custom clamshell box. $14,500 First edition in English of this cornerstone treatise on law and government, with engraved frontispiece portrait, in contemporary calf. “The name of Grotius must always be pre-eminent when we speak of the establishment of the law of nations as a distinct body of doctrine” (NYU, 569). De Jure Belli ac Pacis, first published at Paris in 1625, “was the first attempt to lay down a principle of right, and a basis for society and government, outside of Church or Scripture… Grotius’ principle of an immutable law… was the first expression of the ‘droit naturel… the foundation of modern international law” (PMM 125). This then-radical notion later played an important role in the build-up to the American Revolution, as colonial leaders cited Grotius as the first and greatest authority on international law. “No legal work ever enjoyed a more widely extended reputation, and none ever exercised such a wonderful influence over the public morals of Europe” (Marvin, 23). This first edition in English, somewhat abridged from the original Latin, was translated by Clement Barksdale; the first complete English translation, by Evats, was published in 1682. With separate title page for Memorials of the Author’s Life and Death. Without four leaves of publisher’s ads at rear; text complete. Revolutionary America 170. See Sowerby, Library of Thomas Jefferson 1404. CBEL I:844. Lowndes, 950. Street & Maxwell I:361. Wing G2119. Early owner signature of “John Mouliot at Queen Hithe, 1762” on frontispiece; occasional early ink marginalia. Contemporary calf binding with expert restoration, especially to spine and joints, but still quite attractive. A very good copy of this landmark.
• 14 • CREASY’S CLASSIC FIFTEEN DECISIVE BATTLES, FIRST EDITION 14 CREASY, Edward S. The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World; From Marathon to Waterloo. London, 1851. Two volumes. 12mo, 20th-century full scarlet morocco, gilt-decorated spine with drum motifs. $4000 First edition of Creasy’s influential military history, including the Defeat of the Spanish Armada, Joan of Arc’s victory at Orleans, and America’s victory over the British at Saratoga during the American Revolution, handsomely bound in full red morocco by Bayntun. British historian Sir Edward Shepherd Creasy “is best known for his Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World [which] has met with the approval of those learned in military matters” (DNB). This authoritative work has as its focus key military conflicts that proved a turning point in history. Included are: the Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C., the Victory of Arminus over the Roman Legions, the Battle of Hastings in 1066, Joan of Arc’s victory over the English at Orleans in 1429, the Defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, the 1777 American victory at Saratoga in the Revolutionary War, and the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. In this definitive work “Creasy wrote so stirringly that he surely influenced at least as many military historians and analysts as did… even Karl von Clausewitz” (New York Times)—and he made an impact on Gilbert and Sullivan, whose Major-General Stanley boasted of his ability to “quote the fights historical; from Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical.” Contents generally clean and bright with marginal paper clip stain to first two leaves of text in Volume I and expert marginal paper repairs to contents page of volume II. Bayntun binding fresh and fine.
• 15 • “AH! BOURRIENNE, YOU ALSO WILL BE IMMORTAL!”: DE BOURRIENNE’S MEMOIRS OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, BEAUTIFULLY BOUND AND EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED WITH HUNDREDS OF ENGRAVINGS, WITH A DOCUMENT SIGNED BY NAPOLEON 15 (NAPOLEON) DE BOURRIENNE, Louis Antoine Fauvelet. Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte. By… His Private Secretary. To Which Are Now First Added, An Account of the Important Events of The Hundred Days, of Napoleon’s Surrender to The English, And of His Residence And Death at St. Helena. London, 1836. Four volumes bound in eight. Octavo, late 19th-century full red morocco gilt, custom slipcase. $25,000 Expanded edition of de Bourrienne’s classic biography of Napoleon, with 27 plates, a facsimile of Napoleon’s abdication, and a folding map depicting the Battle of the Nile, expanded from four volumes to eight and abundantly extra-illustrated with about 300 engraved plates, including portraits, scenes, views and maps, with a document signed by Napoleon bound into the front of the first volume. Beautifully bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe in full morocco with Napoleonic emblems in gilt. “Bourrienne, a French statesman, studied at the military school of Brienne, where he was on friendly terms with the young Napoleon. In 1797 he became Napoleon’s secretary,” an appointment which “continued during all the most brilliant part of Napoleon’s career” and afforded him the intimacy upon which the Memoirs are based (CBD:189; preface). “The fame of Bourrienne rests, not upon his achievements or his original works… but upon his Memoirs” (Britannica). First published in French in 1829; in English translation in 1830. Bound into the first volume is a manuscript document from 1799 signed by Napoleon (as “Bonaparte”). The document, a manuscript letter, concerns the operations of the French Army in Egypt; it reads in part: “Take advantage… of the days when… General Dugua can stay at Damietta to disarm the army there, arrest suspect men and send them to Cairo. Disarm the villages, take hostages and take complete control of Lake Manzala. As long as you are not master of this lake, you cannot be sure of controlling Damietta. I am writing to General Dugua that he is to reconnoiter the shores of the sea… Try to learn the name of the English frigate and if you should learn that they are disembarking somewhere to get provisions, let them disembark for a few days in order to have the time to take them in an ambush. The Province of Damietta should already have supplied the horses that it has to supply. I salute you. [signed] Bonaparte.”” General Dugua was in charge of the the fifth division of the French Army during the Egypt Campaign, serving as commander of Cairo from February of 1799 until March of 1800, when he returned to France. With a typed index to all of the extra illustrations. Napoleon document with unobtrusive evidence of glue removal along one edge; joints to beautiful bindings expertly repaired.
• 16 • “THE GREATEST HISTORICAL WORK EVER WRITTEN”: GIBBON’S LANDMARK DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, 1804 FIRST AMERICAN EDITION 16 GIBBON, Edward. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Philadelphia, 1804-05. Six volumes. Octavo, contemporary full brown tree calf gilt. $9800 First American edition set, of one of the greatest classics of Western thought, with three folding engraved maps, in a beautiful contemporary binding. “This masterpiece of historical penetration and literary style has remained one of the ageless historical works… Gibbon brought a width of vision and a critical mastery of the available sources which have not been equaled to this day; and the result was clothed in an inimitable prose” (PMM 222). “For 22 years Gibbon was a prodigy of steady and arduous application. His investigations extended over almost the whole range of intellectual activity for nearly 1500 years. And so thorough were his methods that the laborious investigations of German scholarship, the keen criticisms of theological zeal, and the steady researches of (two) centuries have brought to light very few important errors in the results of his labors. But it is not merely the learning of his work, learned as it is, that gives it character as a history. It is also that ingenious skill by which the vast erudition, the boundless range, the infinite variety, and the gorgeous magnificence of the details are all wrought together in a symmetrical whole… It is still entitled to be esteemed as the greatest historical work ever written” (Adams, Manual of Historical Literature, 1467). The first edition was published in six volumes from 1776 to 1788. This first edition includes Gibbon’s Memoirs of My Life and Writing at the end of the last volume. Norton, 102. Scattered foxing to text, a bit of damstaining to first few leaves of Volume I and last few leaves of Volume VIII; expertly repaired closed tear to last leaf of Volume III, affecting text but not readability; expert paper repairs to G1 and G2 in Volume V, affecting side notes but not readability. Folding maps with offsetting and light embrowning, as is typical of the era. Beautifully bound.
• 17 • “AN EXTRAORDINARY RICHNESS OF COLOR”: FIRST EDITION OF PYNE’S HISTORY OF THE ROYAL RESIDENCES, BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED WITH 100 HAND-COLORED FOLIO AQUATINTS, ELEGANTLY BOUND 17 PYNE, William Henry. The History of the Royal Residences of Windsor Castle, St. James Palace, Carlton House, Kensington Palace, Hampton Court, Buckingham House and Frogmore. London, 1819. Three volumes. Folio (11 by 13-1/2 inches), contemporary full straightgrain dark navy morocco gilt. $17,500 First edition of this beautifully illustrated work on the design and history of eight royal residences, with 100 hand-colored aquatint plates after the works of Charles Wild, James Stephanoff and others—a lovely copy in full straight-grain morocco-gilt. Artist and author William Pyne began his career as a watercolorist, but following several successful collaborations with well-known publisher Rudolph Ackermann, he “became enamored of book production” and undertook this ambitious, “large and costly work entitled The History of the Royal Residences…a very sumptuous book for which author, artist, engraver and publisher alike did their best” (Prideaux, 143). Pyne wrote the text and called upon some of his day’s most prominent artists to produce this invaluable record of such palatial residences as Carlton House, demolished in 1827, and the luxurious rooms within Windsor Castle, Kensington Palace and other royal homes, many of which were later redesigned. Accomplished watercolorist Charles Wild contributed 59 of the 100 illustrations, displaying an “extraordinary richness of color” (Ray 42). Bound without single-leaf list of plates at rear of Volume III. Abbey Scenery 396. Tooley 389. Early bookseller tickets from Foyle. A few instances of light foxing to text, plates fine, coloring rich and unfaded; contemporary bindings in excellent condition with discrete repairs to inner paper hinges. A beautiful example of this impressive production.
• 18 • PUFENDORF’S HISTORY OF SWEDEN’S KING CHARLES XI, 1696, LAVISHLY ILLUSTRATED WITH ALMOST 130 ENGRAVINGS, ONE ALMOST FIFTEEN FEET LONG 18 PUFENDORF, Samuel. De rebus a Carolo Gustavo Sveciae rege gestis commentariorum libri septem. Norimbergae, 1696. Large, thick folio, contemporary full blindstamped white leather. $15,000 First edition of this history of the reign of Sweden’s King Charles XI, providing a detailed account of the Swedish wars with Poland and Denmark in the 17th century, lavishly illustrated with 12 engraved portraits and 115 large engraved maps and views, all at least double-page in size and including the exceptional panorama of Stockholm depicting the funeral procession of Charles X measuring almost 15 feet in length. In a striking binding with armorial devices in metal of Leopold 1st, Holy Roman Emperor, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Bohemia and Archduke of Austria (1640 - 1705) on the front board and those of the Archduchy of Austria Above the Enns on the rear board. Samuel Pufendorf, best known as a political and legal philosopher and the author of On the Law of Nature and Nations (1672), was appointed the official court historian of Sweden in 1677 by Charles XI; he spent 10 years working on a 33-volume history of Sweden. De rebus a Carolo Gustavo Sveciae rege gestis commentariorum gives a detailed account of his reign and in particular of Sweden’s wars with Poland and Denmark in the 1650s; the extensive and sumptuous illustrations by Erik Dahlberg provide an extensive visual record of the Baltic region in the 17th century, with views of Bremen, Christianstad, Danzig, Frederiksborg, Königsberg, Copenhagen, Krakow, Malmö and Warsaw among other places. The plate of the naval and land procession at the funeral of Charles X presents a stunning visual panorama of Stockholm almost 15 feet in length. Text in Latin. Shelf label. Plates beautiful and fine, faint offsetting from text to portrait of Pufendorf; a bit of marginal wormholing to first and last few leaves, not touching text; some text embrowned. In a beautiful contemporary pigskin binding with title on the spine in contemporary ink, boards with metal armorial double-eagle centerpieces, and metal clasps.
• 19 • “GIVE LIBERTY TO WHOM LIBERTY IS DUE, THAT IS, TO EVERY CHILD OF MAN”: FIRST AMERICAN EDITION OF THOUGHTS UPON SLAVERY, 1774, BY FOUNDER OF METHODISM JOHN WESLEY, THE FIRST EDITION FEATURING ABOLITIONIST ANTHONY BENEZET’S KEY ADDITIONAL TEXT 19(BENEZET, Anthony) WESLEY, John. Thoughts upon Slavery. IN: A Collection of Religious Tracts. London, Printed: Re-Printed in Philadelphia, 1774. Small octavo, early full brown sheep. Housed in a custom chemise and clamshell box. $12,000 First American edition, preceded only by the same year’s much shorter English edition of Wesley’s influential and controversial early attack on slavery and the slave trade, the first to contain abolitionist Anthony Benezet’s expansive notes and afterword not in the English edition, bound with a separate title page with four other works in publisher Joseph Crukshank’s A Collection of Religious Tracts. Wesley, a “founder of Methodism…was noted not only for outstanding powers of leadership, but also for practical holiness, social concern and immense courage” (Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, 1037). He first witnessed the horrors of slavery as a missionary in Georgia and South Carolina. “By the time he published his Thoughts upon Slavery, he clearly opposed the cruelties and violations of the slave trade… It is striking that in this attack on slavery Wesley explicitly does not use the Bible as the basis for his position. Instead he argues that slavery cannot be reconciled with justice and mercy, and derives his understanding of justice from natural law… Jennings reports that Wesley went even further in moving from protest to transformation” (Sample, Future of John Wesley’s Theology, 58-9). Wesley's work also stands out in that he was a political conservative who rejected democracy and “strongly criticized mass action… here, however, he legitimated slave resistance and rebellion as an expression of natural liberty in contradiction of biblical injunctions to slaves” (Field, 6). This edition was issued at the urging of Benezet after reading the same year›s much shorter English edition. Benezet quickly "arranged with Philadelphia printer Joseph Cruikshank to reprint Wesley's pamphlet, but not before he added five expansive footnotes and a lengthy afterword… the general tenor of these additions was to clarify and amplify points Wesley had made" (Crosby, ed. Complete Antislavery Writings of Anthony Benezet, 197). In England “the public response to Wesley’s Thoughts upon Slavery… would soon be so great that 229,000 people signed petitions against the slave trade to be presented to Parliament” (Jackson, Let This Voice Be Heard, 126). Sabin 4671, 102699. Small early ink notation to the title page. Minor marginal dampstaining to last leaves of final title (Sermons or Declarations); expected age-wear to early sheep binding. Very scarce.
• 20 • “ONE OF THE FEW BOOKS THAT HAVE PROFOUNDLY AFFECTED THE COURSE OF HISTORY”: 1634 EDITION OF CALVIN’S INSTITUTION OF CHRISTIAN RELIGION, THE “MOST IMPORTANT DOCTRINAL WORK OF THE REFORMATION” 20 CALVIN, John. The Institution of Christian Religion, Written in Latine by M. John Calvin, Translated Into English according to the Authours last Edition… By Thomas Norton. London, 1634. Folio (7-1/2 by 11 inches), 19th-century full olive calf gilt. $7500 1634 edition of Calvin’s magnum opus—”a comprehensive theological system rivaling those of the Middle Ages, particularly Thomas Aquinas”—of paramount importance in ultimately supporting a global “movement for liberty and independence” (PMM). This seminal work “is considered by many to be one of the finest systematic theologies ever written… John T. McNeill argued that Calvin’s Institutes is ‘one of the few books that have profoundly affected the course of history’” (Haykin, To the Ends of the Earth, 29). His first theological publication, it initially appeared in Latin in a draft of six chapters in 1536. Calvin constantly revised and expanded it until 1559 with publication of the final revised edition of 80 chapters. Institutes “provided a comprehensive theological system rivaling those of the Middle Ages, particularly Thomas Aquinas’… Calvinism is the `Reformed’ as distinct from the `Lutheran’ Church… Its cardinal point was the absolute rule of God in the natural and spiritual world… by whose grace only is man relieved of the consequence of sin… [Its] most important role, despite Calvin’s authoritarian influence, was to support the movement for liberty and independence in many parts of the world. Outside Switzerland its most potent influence was exercised in Holland and Britain. Puritanism and the ruling theology of the late 16th and early 17th century in England was Calvinistic; the Scottish Reformation was Calvinistic throughout. Through these countries Calvinism exerted considerable influence on the recognition of the liberal rights of the individual as eventually expressed in the Constitution of the United States of America” (PMM 65; emphasis added). “Norton’s gifts were such that Calvin was fortunate in his English translator” (McNeill, ed. Calvin, xliii). “Latin editions prior to that of 1559 had been circulated in England and Scotland, but only the chapters on the Christian life (Book III, chapters vi-x, in the final order of the work) had been put into English.” First published in English in 1561 after the 1559 Geneva edition. With extensive series of Tables at rear. Woodcut-engraved title page; with ornamental initials, head- and tail-pieces throughout. Occasional mispagination as issued without loss of text. ESTC S107163. STC 4425. Bookplate. Text with occasional marginal wormholing, not affecting text, marginal faint dampstain to last few leaves of Tables, one small burn mark affecting a few letters on FF2. Beautifully bound.
• 21 • “THE IMPACT UPON 20TH-CENTURY SCIENCE AND THOUGHT CAN HARDLY BE OVERSTATED”: EINSTEIN’S SPECIAL AND GENERAL RELATIVITY, FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH 21 EINSTEIN, Albert. Relativity. The Special & The General Theory. A Popular Exposition. London, (1920). Octavo, original red cloth. $3800 First edition in English of Einstein’s own explanation of his special and general relativity theories, including the first appearance of “The Experimental Confirmation of the General Theory of Relativity” written by Einstein specially for this translation. Einstein’s theories are the most important discoveries of 20th-century physics. “The theory’s impact upon 20thcentury science and thought can hardly be overstated” (Norman, 252). “From the general theory of relativity issues all of 20th-century cosmology—from an explanation of the ‘red shift’ that indicates the universe is expanding, to the notion of black holes” (Simmons, The Scientific 100). In this “Popular Exposition,” Einstein endeavors to present “in the simplest and most intelligible form,” the revolutionary ideas he revealed to the scientific community in his famous Annalen der Physik articles of 1905 and 1916. An especially noteworthy feature of this first English language edition is “Appendix III, on ‘The Experimental Confirmation of the General Theory of Relativity’…written [by Einstein] specially for this translation” (from the Translator’s Note). Also includes “Considerations on the Universe as a Whole.” Originally published in Germany in 1917, under the title Über die spezielle und die allgemeine Relativitätstheorie, Gemeinverständlich. Translation by Robert Lawson; frontispiece portrait of Einstein by Hermann Struck. Without the rare dust jacket; with eight-page publisher’s catalogue at rear. Inked owner name dated Aug. 25, 1920. Text clean, offsetting to endpapers; minor toning and spotting to spine. An extremely good copy.
• 22 • ENGAGING 1946 TYPED LETTER SIGNED BY ALBERT EINSTEIN, WARMLY THANKING HIS FRIEND, DR. ISADORE HELD, FOR BIRTHDAY WISHES AND FOR SENDING AN “ENLIGHTENING” BOOK 22 EINSTEIN, Albert. Typed letter signed. Princeton, April 3, 1946. Single sheet of gray letterhead, measuring 8-1/2 by 11 inches; p. 1. Matted and framed with a portrait, entire piece measures 19 by 15-1/2 inches. $9500 Original typed letter signed by Albert Einstein, thanking his friend, Dr. Isadore Held, for his birthday wishes as well as for sending a new book that Einstein found both “extraordinarily enlightening” and humorous. Text in German. The letter, typed on Einstein’s personal letterhead with his name and Princeton address blindstamped at the top, reads in full translation: “3 April 1946. Dear Mr. Held: I would like to express my sincere thanks for your birthday wishes and for the sending of the last work of this wonderful contemporary. I have already read quite a bit and find that it is extraordinarily enlightening. His penetration into the mentality of far-off times and attitudes toward thinking is most remarkable and his humor no less. With fond greetings to you and your dear wife. Yours [signed] Albert Einstein.” This letter was written to Austrian-American (medical) Dr. Isadore Held, who was friends with Einstein since at least 1938. Held and Einstein shared numerous interests, particularly related to Jewish humanitarian relief and Israel. At Held’s death, Einstein wrote to his widow that, “True goodness emanated from this man, who alleviated the harshness of human relations and who understood and forgave all weaknesses… As a role model for his fellow men he was the best that a human being can be.” Einstein was not a huge fan of birthdays, though he happily acknowledged well wishes from friends. Just before turning 65, Einstein crankily said to a New York Times interviewer: “What is there to celebrate? Birthdays are automatic things. Anyway, birthdays are for children.” In a 1954 letter to physicist Hans Mühsam, Einstein described his birthday as “a natural disaster, a shower of paper, full of flattery, under which one is drowned.” Einstein was generally quite shy and did not like to be the center of attention, particularly from strangers obsessed with his accomplishments and fame. However, well-meaning letters and small gifts like the book given by Held were always welcomed and graciously accepted by Einstein. Original mailing creases and a few pinpoint holes along top edge possibly from stapling. About-fine condition.
• 23 • TWO-VOLUME QUARTO CAMBRIDGE KING JAMES BIBLE, 1768, BEAUTIFULLY BOUND 23 (BIBLE). The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments. Cambridge, 1768. Two volumes. Tall quarto, contemporary full morocco gilt. $8800 Richly bound Cambridge King James Bible, illustrated with copper-engraved frontispiece by Francis Hayman, “the most proficient English illustrator of his time” (Ray, 5). Beautifully bound in contemporary full red morocco gilt. The King James Bible, first published in 1611, is described as “the only literary masterpiece ever to be produced by a committee and was the work of nearly fifty translators… [who] lived at a period when the genius of the language was in full flower… [Macaulay praised it as] “a book, which if everything else in our language should perish, would alone suffice to show the whole extent of its beauty and power” (PMM 114). This 18th-century edition, with Apocrypha, contains a chronological Index and Tables, with a separate title page for the New Testament. Darlow & Moule 881. This copy was bound for the Liverpool merchant John Sparling (1731-1800). Sparling had interests in privateering and land speculation and served as the Mayor of Liverpool; he was also a trader of enslaved persons. Both volumes are lettered in gilt on the front cover “John Sparling, Esqr.” with black morocco labels lettered “St. Domingo House, 1790. Lancashire.” The first volume records a brief family genealogy to 1815 on the verso of the front free endpaper, and the second bears the armorial bookplate of his son, William Sparling (1777-1870). William was infamous for his involvement in the murder of Edward Grayson, a ship builder, in a dual in 1804. The subsequent trial attracted much public attention and was recorded in The Trial at Large of William Sparling and Samuel Martin Colquitt (1804). St. Domingo House was first built in the 1750s by George Campbell (d. 1769). Like Sparling, Campbell was a trader of enslaved persons and named the property after his capture of a ship near the island of St. Domingo in the Caribbean. Sparling purchased the property in 1773. Faint marginal dampstaining along top edge to some leaves in Volume I; contemporary binding with light edge-wear, stains to front boards of Volume II. A beautiful pair of volumes.
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