The First Florida Retiree

244152 (FLORIDA) Spinner, Francis E.  Autograph Letter, Signed (“F.E. Spinner”) to Angling author George Dawson, dated Jacksonville, Florida, Feby. 19, 1876, discussing Dawson’s book of “fish letters” (Pleasures of Angling … [1876]), recounting a fish tale, and praising Florida winters.  4 pp., pen and ink on a single folded sheet.  12mo, Jacksonville, Florida:  February 19, 1876.  Old folds. Fine.  $1,000

Francis E. Spinner (1802-1890) served as Treasurer of the United States under Presidents Lincoln, Johnson, and Grant. During the Civil War, “he was the first governmental administrator to turn to women. He vigorously defended their employment against critics, hired over one hundred, paid them well by the standards of the time, and insisted on their continued employment after the war. [...] When a new secretary of the treasury in 1875 assumed control over the appointment of clerks, however, Spinner feared that dishonest people might be hired and he would be held responsible. He resigned and moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where he enjoyed a vigorous outdoor life until his death in that city” (ANB)

In the angling world, Spinner is notable as the recipient of letters from Oliver Gibbs, Jr., published as Lake Pepin Fish-Chowder (1869). In retirement in Florida, he writes to George Dawson, editor of the Albany Evening Journal and a noted American angling author, whose Pleasures of Angling with Rod and Reel (1876) is the first American book devoted to fly fishing.  Spinner writes, “I am so glad to learn that you have been persuaded to publish your fish letters, in book form … when yours comes out, it will be read with pleasure.” He then goes on to describe fishing for trout on McGirt’s Creek, a tributary of the St. Johns River, and catching a cat fish of 18-1/2 pounds “on one of Chapman’s ‘No. 4 Minnow bait’ … I mention this, because I cannot learn from anyone, that a cat fish was ever known before to strike at artificial bait.”

Spinner concludes lyrically, “The orange, and other of the citrus family, are in bloom now … Whoever, at the North, that can afford to, and who has nothing else to do, and that does not spend his winters in this Elysium, is to be pitied. Do come.”

An excellent letter with outstanding content.

We have been busy at James Cummins Bookseller since the New York Fair, with many interesting new acquisitions coming into the shop. Our Catalogue 109 is at the printers now and will be mailed in mid-June. Please send us a note if you would like a copy and are not already on our mailing list.

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The Sporting Department marks the beginning of the warm season with a charming little book from the north country. How many of us leave such a record of our vacation activities ?

219454 SHIBLEY, Fred Warner.  Aspinwall Island.  With 12 photographic plates. 167, [1] pp.  8vo, New York:  Privately Printed [printed by the De Vinne Press], 1916.  First edition.  Red cloth titled in gilt, pictorial onlay to upper board. Faintest bit of toning to the spine, fine.  Bruns S140.  $500

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The firm will be exhibiting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Tuesday 21 June, at the ABAA Booksellers Showcase at “In the Hurricane’s Eye: Challenges of Collecting in the 21st Century”, the 52nd Annual Preconference of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries. To our friends in the library world, this is an invitation to come say hello. We will be bringing a selection from our inventory and some great new arrivals. [HWW]

Center-piece bindings, named for the large oval or lozenge single stamp tooled in the centers of a book’s boards, were a popular binding style at the end of the 16th century through the beginning of the 17th. The central stamps, made up of just one large tool, show abstract designs of interlacing strapwork and arabesques. The style originated in medieval Persia, and shows the deep indebtedness that Renaissance European binding had to the incredible craftsmanship and inventiveness of Islamic binders.

We offer two early examples of the center-piece style, both Latin translations of Aristotle, bound ca. 1570, probably in Paris or Lyon:

42458. ARISTOTLE. Ars disserendi ex comparatione omnium interpretum, et accurata observatione sententiæ, de integro facta, per Jac. Carpentarium…Secunda Edita, Longe Emendatior.  ff. 14; 48; 156; 130.  4to, Paris:  Jacques Du Puy, 1572.  Second edition, revised and enlarged, of the Latin translation by Jacques Charpentier of the 6 Treatises on Logic constituting the Organon.  Contemporary calf with large gilt arabesque on both upperand lower covers, back joint expertly repaired. Some minor waterstaining to preliminaries, otherwise very good.  Not in Hoffman; not in Adams; not in RLIN.  $2,000
Contains Charpentier’s Latin verison and commentaries of CATEGORIAE; DE INTERPRETATIONE; ANALYTICA PRIORA; ANALYTICA POSTERIORA; ARS TOPICA; and DE REPREHENSIONIBUS SOPHISTICIS.

42461. ARISTOTLE. Aristotelis eorum quae physica sequuntur, sive Metaphysicorum, ut vocant, libri tredecim.  160 leaves.  4to, Paris:  Dionysius à Prato, 1568.  Contemporary calf with large gilt arabesque centerpiece on both upper and lower covers, additionally stamped in gilt IEHAN (front cover) and MARCHIAND (lower cover). Rebacked preserving original spine. Fresh, fine copy.  Not in Adams; not in RLIN or OCLC; one copy in Bibliothèque Nationale (FRBNF30027525).  $2,000
Rare Latin translation of the Metaphysics by a French Benedictine Scholar, Joachim Perion, (1499-1599), first published in 1554. An interesting copy, with ownership inscription on title of “Philiberti Amadeo Machet”, and the very unusual covers, gilt-stamped with the owner’s name in gilt.
Amédée Philibert Machet was the canon & dean of Notre-Dame in Annecy, and librarian to the Duke of Savoy in Turin in the late 17th century.