First editions, rare books, and manuscript material from Columbus to the modern era. Specializing in works on African American history, the Civil War, the American Revolution, presidents, the Ivy League, slavery & abolition, Indians and New York City.
Greenfield, Mass: Ansel Phelps, 1825. First American edition, reprinted from a London edition. The first furniture finisher's manual... Read More about The Cabinet-Maker's Guide: or Rules and Instructions in the art of varnishing, dying, staining,...
Price: $5,000
Ocean City, N.J: Ocean City Fishing Club [printed by Eakins, Palmer & Harrar, Philadelphia], 1918. Ocean City Fishing Club. Founded in 1913, the Ocean City Fishing Club is the oldest continuously operated fishing club in the country. Extensively illustrated club book, with portraits and anecdotes of many members (Bruns notes..... Read More about 1918 Year Book. Ocean City Fishing Club
Price: $750
American Autographs. Signatures include: Henry James, Sr. Wm.E. Russell, Mayor of Cambridge Sara C. Bull Ellen M. Stone R. N. Johnson Louise Imogen Guiney Paul H. Hayne George S. Hillard On the back of the sheet onto which the signatures are laid down is a note identifying each of the..... Read More about 9 signatures attached to a card
Price: $250
Philadelphia: Printed for the Author, 1814. His intention in this pamphlet is to show that the seat of earthly magnetic power comes from the center of the earth. The author was from Washington, Georgia. Read More about An Essay on the Central Influence of Magnetism
Price: $250
New York: [Privately Printed], 1919. First edition. Inscribed on the flyleaf, “Christmas Greeting, Henry Abbott”. Abbott’s little birchbark books, tales of hunting and fishing in the Adirondacks, were privately printed between 1914 and 1932. "All the series rare and expensive”, according to Bruns. Read More about Fish Stories
Price: $275
New York: Underwood & Underwood, ca. [1920?]. Signed by the famous Congregationalist minister who took over Henry Ward Beecher’s congregation: “Yours sincerely / Lyman Abbott.” Provenance: C.N. Thomas of Underwood and Underwood. Read More about Photographic portrait of Abbott, seated at his desk
Price: $150
Cambridge: Printed at the Riverside Press for Private Distribution, [October], 1897. First edition, number 41 of 100 copies. RARE — One of 100 Copies. Read More about Myopia Songs & Waltzes With Winchester and Hamilton Chat
Price: $500
Boston: T. R. Marvin, 1845. The American Missionary Society was amongst the leading advocates in the fight to denounce slavery. This text gives an informative insight into one of the most influencial anti-slavery organization, in additin to an historical statement of previous proceedings. Read More about Report of the Committee on Anti-Slavery Memorials
Price: $100
Boston: Benjamin B. Mussey & Co, 1854. First edition. Printed mostly from the "Phonographic report of Messrs. Yerrinton and Leighton" No Slavery in Nebraska! A strong speech on the issue of whether slavery be permitted in Nebraska or not. The author gives a history of slavery, especially as relates to..... Read More about The Nebraska Question. Some Thoughts on the New Assault upon Freedom in America, and the General...
Price: $150
Boston: William Carter and Brother, 1863. Second edition (?). Parsons (1797-1882) was a professor in the Harvard Law School. Secession came as a rude shock to his belief that the work of the constitutional fathers was "near to the perfection of republican government." Here, he argues that he can "discern..... Read More about Slavery. Its Origin, Influence, and Destiny
Price: $75
Brattleboro: Printed for the Author, 1826. First edition. An early American anti-slavery lecture prepared for the Independence Day celebrations of the Windham County Bible Society who requested it's publication. Phelps gives a brief synopsis of the history and development of man, his influence and also the progress introducing the Bible..... Read More about A Lecture Delivered at Marlborough, VT. July 4th, 1826
Price: $75
Philadelphia: Printed by John Richards, 1839. First edition. The Quakers’ long and honorable opposition to slavery — from as early as the 17th century — is well documented. Read More about An Address to the Quarterly, Monthly and Preparative Meetings, and The Members Thereof, Composing...
Price: $85
Washington, D.C: Buell & Blanchard, 1852. This is the great abolitionist’s first major speech (a Boston edition appeared in the same year) in the Senate, attacking the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. ”Sumner entered the Senate on Dec. 1, 1851. By that time, the compromise measures of 1850 had been..... Read More about Freedom National; Slavery Sectional. Speech of Hon. Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts, on His...
Price: $50
Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1851. First Edition. Reprinted from the North American Review, October, 1851. The author carefully issues that include “how far and how fast is the institution of slavery susceptible of change and amelioration - what are the prospects of its being removed - and..... Read More about Slavery In The United States: Its Evils, Alleviations And Remedies
Price: $250
New York: R. G. Williams, 1836. First Edition. Deals exclusively with the effects of the British Abolition Act on the colonies in the West Indies. Read More about The Anti-Slavery Record Vol. 11. No. X1
Price: $150
New York: John A. Gray, 1860. In 1860, abolitionist, Gerrit Smith, brought a libel suit against several prominent northern Democrats of the “Vigilant Association,” for publishing accusations that Smith had full knowledge of John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry beforehand and that he was a member of what became known..... Read More about Gerrit Smith and the Vigilant Association of the City of New-York
Price: $75
Boston: Press of T. R. Marvin, 1845. Read More about Report of the Committee on Anti-Slavery Memorials, September, 1845. With a Historical Statement...
Price: $150
Boston: A. T. Hotchkiss & W. P. Fetridge, 1853. Reprints the famous debate between Webster (“most famous American oration of the nineteenth century” — Howes) and Hayne over protective tariffs, in which issues of wide-ranging significance (States’ rights, slavery, the Constitution, etc.), were debated with the kind forensic brilliance rarely..... Read More about Speeches of Hayne and Webster in the United States Senate, on the Resolution of Mr. Foot,...
Price: $100
Haddam Neck, CT: 1825-1856. A Connecticut Shoemaker's Account Book 1825-1856. A wonderful look at a craftsman's life in early 19th century Connecticut. Most of Clark's trade came from mending shoes, for which he averaged 40 cents a pair, his steadiest customers being members of the Brainerd family, an old and..... Read More about Manuscript Account Book of Edward R. Clark, Shoemaker
Price: $850
Washington, D.C: October 23, 1969. Former Secretary of State Dean Acheson writes to Targ, thanking him for sending a copy of The Establishment is Alive and Well by Art Buchwald. "My preoccupation with the activities surrounding the publication of my own book has kept me from the immediate enjoyment of..... Read More about Typed note signed ("Dean Acheson"), 1 p, to William Targ, Editor-in-Chief at Putnam's
Price: $125
San Francisco: Sierra Club, [1962]. First edition. Read More about These We Inherit. The Parklands of America
Price: $150
London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., Ltd, 1895. First edition. Signed on ffep: "H.C. Lodge/ 1765 Mass Avenue/ Dec. 1895." Brooks Adams (1848-1927), American historian, b. Quincy, Mass.; son of Charles Francis Adams (1807–86). His theory that civilization rose and fell according to the growth and decline of commerce was first..... Read More about The Law of Civilization and Decay. An Essay on History
Price: $250
Washington: [Privately printed at the Press of J. H. Furst Co., Baltimore.], 1910. First edition. Signed by Adams at the end of the introductory letter, as it seems that most copies were. Adams, historian and a direct descendant of John Quincy Adams, published and disseminated widely this present work. It..... Read More about A Letter to American Teachers of History
Price: $750
Boston: Press of the Boston Daily Advertiser, L. L. Lewis, Printer, 1829. First edition, with a period in imprint at end of “Congress-street”. The previous October the National Intelligencer had contained a statement made by the President denouncing “certain citizens of Massachusetts as having been engaged in a design to..... Read More about Correspondence between John Quincy Adams, Esquire President of the United States and Several...
Price: $200
Boston: Published by Oliver and Munroe, 1808. First edition. Page 4 unnumbered though comparison of the issue with the page numbered shows no differences. Commenting upon American co-minister in Great Britain Pickering's pamphlet on the Embargo and the the controversy between England and the United States. Adams felt the need..... Read More about A Letter to the Hon. Harrison Gray Otis...on the present State of Our national Affairs: With...
Price: $225
Boston: Published by Oliver and Munroe, 1808. First edition. Page 4 numbered though comparison of the issue with the page unnumbered shows no differences. Commenting upon American co-minister in Great Britain Pickering's pamphlet on the Embargo and the the controversy between England and the United States. Adams felt the need..... Read More about A Letter to the Hon. Harrison Gray Otis...on the present State of Our national Affairs: With...
Price: $250