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“BY FAR THE BEST BOOK EVER WRITTEN ABOUT AMERICA, AND THE MOST PENETRATING BOOK EVER WRITTEN ABOUT DEMOCRACY”

TOCQUEVILLE, Alexis de. Democratie en Amerique. Paris, 1835. Two volumes.

First edition presentation copy in the original French of the first two volumes of Tocqueville's classic work, one of no more than 500 copies published, inscribed by Tocqueville in Volume I "Donne par l'Auteur, 1836." "One of the most important texts in political literature" (PMM 358). Accompanied by the two volumes of the second edition of Part II in a contemporary binding. $62,000.

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SLOANE'S ILLUSTRATED LIFE OF NAPOLEON, SUMPTUOUSLY BOUND WITH A HAND-PAINTED COSWAY-STYLE PORTRAIT IN VOLUME I, LAVISHLY EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED WITH OVER 550 ENGRAVINGS—MANY HAND-COLORED—AND WITH A MANUSCRIPT DOCUMENT ENDORSED BY NAPOLEON BOUND IN

(NAPOLEON) SLOANE, William Milligan. Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. New York, 1896. Four volumes bound in eight.

First edition of Sloane's monumental account of Napoleon's personal and military life, issued with over 300 illustrations, portraits and maps, many in color. This splendidly bound and extra-illustrated set has been extended from four folio volumes to eight by the inclusion of 553 additional portraits, views, and battle scenes, many hand-colored and many folding, with a manuscript document from 1810 signed by Napoleon bound into Volume I. Beautifully bound by Bayntun-Riviere in full morocco-gilt, decorated with Napoleonic emblems, and with a large (5-3/8 by 3-3/4-inch) and fine hand-painted Cosway-style portrait of Napoleon on ivory, signed A. Guillon, inset into the morocco doublure of Volume I. $49,000.

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“THE FIRST AMERICAN ARMY AND AN ARMY OF EVERYONE”

COOPER, John. Revolutionary War Diary. New York, 1776. Rare 1776 Revolutionary War Diary of John Cooper, a 24-year-old enlisted man in New York’s First Regiment, Naval Service, containing over 30 handwritten pages interspersed throughout a first edition of Gaine’s Universal Register (1776), an almanac whose blank leafs were used by Cooper in this remarkable account of the year America declared its independence, with frank details of an enlisted man’s life and vivid accounts of skirmishes with Indians and British troops as Cooper’s regiment fought throughout the spring and summer of 1776 to maintain crucial American command of Lake Champlain and the upper Hudson River Valley. In contemporary calf. $38,000.

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“DE LA BIBLIOTEQUE [SIC] DE MON FRERE L’EMPEREUR NAPOLEON”

(MARIE ANTOINETTE) (NAPOLEON BONAPARTE) GONDI, Jean François Paul de, Cardinal de Retz. Memoires du Cardinal de Retz. Geneve, 1777. Six volumes altogether. Rare 1777-79 editions of the four-volume Mémoires of Cardinal de Retz and the 1771 two-volume Mémoires de Guy Joli and Madame la Duchesse de Nemours, possessing an exceedingly rare provenance in association with two of the most legendary figures in French history— Marie-Antoinette and Napoleon Bonaparte. Five volumes (I, III-VI) are from the library of Marie-Antoinette, bound in contemporary calf gilt and displaying her distinctive gilt-tooled armorial coat of arms on the boards, along with her gilt-stamped crowned cipher “CT” on the spines. Volume II, bound in contemporary mottled calf gilt, contains a lengthy gift inscription on the front free endpaper by Joseph Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon Bonaparte—“de la biblioteque [sic] de mon frere l’ Empereur Napoleon” (from the library of my brother the Emperor Napoleon)— to Baron Claude Francois Méneval, Napoleon’s trusted private secretary and his “only really close friend and confidant.” $38,000.

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BOLDLY INSCRIBED BY DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

KING Jr., Martin Luther. Stride Toward Freedom. New York, 1958. First edition, first printing, of Dr. King's first book, an account of the Montgomery bus strike, a superb association copy inscribed by the civil rights leader across the entire front free endpaper to local activists central to the success of the strike, "To: Mr. & Mrs. A. L. Campbell With best wishes and warm Personal Regards. Martin L. King Jr." $32,500.

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"PENNSYLVANIA WAS A PORTENT OF THE AMERICA TO BE"

(FRANKLIN, Benjamin). Charters of the Province of Pensylvania. Philadelphia, 1742 [i.e. 1743]. One volume.

First edition of this folio volume of colonial Pennsylvania’s Charters and Laws, documents in which "English concepts of liberty and self-government had been planted," published by Franklin per order of the Pennsylvania Assembly, one of only 120 copies printed, an especially rare association copy signed by William Pidgeon, dated by him on the title page. The Trenton home of Pidgeon was "occupied by the Hessians" in the Battle of Trenton, and this copy's distinctive provenance is heightened by a separate inscription noting purchase by leading Revolutionary-era publisher Zachariah Poulson, a key "printer for the State Senate," whose Philadelphia print shop was around the corner from Franklin’s. $32,000.

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“THE VERY BEST AMERICAN BATTLE SCENES IN EXISTENCE”

KENDALL, George W. and NEBEL, Carl. War Between the United States and Mexico. New York and Philadelphia, 1851. First edition of one of the most important and impressive pictorial chronicles of the Mexican-American War, boasting 12 superb folio hand-finished full-color lithographic plates. $27,500.

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BEAUTIFUL LARGE FOLIO, WITH 76 HAND-COLORED AQUATINTS OF SCENERY ALONG THE THAMES

(BOYDELL, John and Josiah). [COMBE, William]. An History of the River Thames (Principal Rivers of Great Britain). London, 1794-96. Two volumes.

First edition, first issue, of this wonderful visual record of the River Thames, with 76 lovely folio hand-colored aquatints by Stadler after Farrington of prospects along the banks—including three very large folding plates—and a large folding map by John Cooke of “The Course of the River Thames from Its Source to the Sea.” An excellent copy in contemporary calf. $23,000.

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ONE OF ONLY SEVEN SETS WITH THE ILLUSTRATIONS IN QUADRUPLE SUITE: WONDERFULLY BOUND 16-VOLUME SET OF STRICKLAND'S LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND, WITH HAND-PAINTED PORTRAITS INSET INTO THE FRONT COVER OF EACH VOLUME

STRICKLAND, Agnes. Lives of the Queens of England. Philadelphia, 1902-03. Sixteen volumes.

Beautifully bound and richly illustrated "Alexandra Edition" of Strickland's detailed history, number 6 of only 7 sets copies printed on Japan vellum, with each of the approximately 250 illustrations printed in quadruple suite: one on Holland handmade paper and hand-colored, on on India paper, one on papier de Chine, and one on Japanese vellum, including portraits, scenes and views. Each volume bound in full morocco, with a hand-painted portrait of one of the queens set into the full morocco doublure inside the front cover. $22,000.

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PICTORIAL DOCUMENTATION OF THE BRITISH NAVY’S DEFEAT OF NAPOLEON: THE NAVAL ACHIEVEMENTS OF GREAT BRITAIN, 1793-1817, WITH 55 SPLENDID LARGE HAND-COLORED FOLIO AQUATINTS

JENKINS, James. The Naval Achievements of Great Britain. London, 1817.

First edition, first issue, of this dramatically illustrated record of British naval action during the Napoleonic Wars, with vignette title page and 55 vividly hand-colored aquatints of battle scenes by Thomas Sutherland after drawings by William Heath. A beautiful production in attractive contemporary morocco-gilt. $21,000.

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