On offer are 18 beautiful and fascinating hand drawn naval charts done on the H.M.S. Britannia in 1882 and 1883. The H.M.S. Britannia was initially called the H.M.S. Prince of Wales and was originally one of six 121-gun screw-propelled first-rate three-decker line-of-battle ships of the Royal Navy. In 1869, she was renamed the H.M.S. Brittania and under that name served at Dartmouth as a cadet training ship until 1905. As Britannia, she was a hulk, and only had her foremast. The drawings were done by a man named H.W. Armstrong. Research shows that he had only recently graduated out of Stubbing... View More...
On offer is an interesting original relic of the Civil War being a handwritten account of a postal and tax collector and perhaps Justice of the Peace as he notes judicial orders and enforcement, H.W. Howard, records on 36 unnumbered pages taxes and tolls received, orders enforced and of other specific interest are the sale of boy and the incarceration of a man judged insane to the lunatic asylum and the disposal of his possessions to cover the costs of treatment: "December 31, 1863: Took Ambrose Disbro to State Lunitick Obsillum took property belonging to him one cow sold for 30.00, one st... View More...
On offer is an original autograph manuscript quote, written, signed and dated London, 16 June 1860 by Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe a mere year before the onset of the American Civil War. Beecher Stowe is revered as the author of 'Uncle Tom's Cabin or Life Among the Lowly' and by doing so created the final wave that swept slavery from America. A woman whom Abraham Lincoln was quoted as saying "so you were the little woman that started this great war." This is a unique 50 word excerpt, a gem of a quote full of true insight and wisdom, penned on one of her trips, in this case to London... View More...
On offer is an original handwritten manuscript letter, exceedingly scarce autograph of Harry (Henry William) Gordon [1854-1870] a British navy man who drowned on the HMS Captain when it sank in the Bay of Biscay in 1870. He was the nephew of C.G. "Chinese" Gordon [1833-1885] of Khartoum fame. Extremely Rare Autograph Letter Signed, no date, 2pp. in pencil on mourning stationery. This is written to his mother when he was a child or very young. "I hope you are well. I know you are so sorry about dear little Enderby and I am so unhappy about him. I loved him so I used to have him to p... View More...
On offer is a modest archive of eight [8] civil war era letters from 1860 to 1861. At the heart of this archive are letters by and between Hendry, McCaull and Frazee family members; a cousin, an aunt, a sister and a brother. The letters begin in February, 1860 from Enterprise, Illinois and details health, crops, the hogs in the potatoes and the schoolhouse. The next letter, still in February, is from Chicago and talks about a court trial. Another letter is from April 1860 and the author is on a trip to Paris and New York. Other letters detail railroad train travel, that Hamilton, New York is a... View More...
[SATAN] Henri Antoine Jules-Bois - wrote Le satanisme et la magie, a book about Satan . Otherwise known as simply 'Jules Bois' he has been described as a 'Notorious Satanist' and was a noted friend of McGregor Mathers, the founder of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. SIGNED real-photo postcard. Very nice, the image is dark and as such suitably sinister. On the verso says "Returned to M.M. Marshall", the journalist. View More...
On offer is an original manuscript letter handwritten by Henri Georges Stephane Adolphe Opper de Blowitz [1825-1903] the noted Bohemian journalist. He was born to a Jewish family at Blovice [Blowitz] in Bohemia, and left home at the age of fifteen to travel, acquiring a wide range of languages in the process. He became famous, both as a journalist and for his insights into diplomacy. In 1875, the Duc de Decazes, the Minister of Foreign Affairs , informed him of a confidential dispatch from the French ambassador to Berlin, discussing German plans to attack France, and requested Blowitz publish ... View More...
On offer is a wonderful copy of 'Etretat: Hamlet of the Setting Sun - a Norman Village and its Surroundings' by Henry Bacon (1839-1912) the American Impressionist artist. This smallish utterly charming book published by Brentano's in 1895 uniquely contains eleven original watercolor illustrations by Bacon as evidenced by his initials on a number of the drawings. This is a very unusual relic of Bacon's work beautifully executed. Overall VG. View More...
[DEAD SEA EXPEDITION] HENRY BEDLOW - member of the 1849 United States Expedition to the River Jordan and the Dead Sea. This naval expedition was led by Lieut. W.F. Lynch plus 13 naval men. Henry Bedlow, Esq., and Henry J. Anderson, M.D., were with the Expedition as volunteers. Lynch wrote in his Narrative "More zealous, efficient, and honourable associates could not have been desired. They were ever in the right place, bearing their full share of watching and privation. To the skill of Mr. Bedlow, the wounded seaman was indebted for the preservation of his life; and words are inadequate to... View More...
On offer is a super 3-1/2 pp handwritten manuscript letter [ALS], dated Harvard University, Oct. 8th, 1843, having a stampless cover addressed to Sam. F. Jarvis at Washington College in Hartford, Conn., with a red Cambridge postal cancel, reading in part: "... Frequent the company of females, well informed & of your rank in society... pay some attention to married ladies, whose conversation is not only improving, but will also raise the sex in your estimation... My Aunt Clara writes me that they think in Middletown that they have caught the wretches [Hall, Roberts, & Bell were all implicat... View More...
On offer is a super, large archive of circa 1861 - 1896 historical manuscript letters, documents and ephemera all providing an interesting and intimate look into the work, life and academic affairs of Francis Amasa Walker (1840-1897) noted Civil War general, Yale economist, Superintendent of the 1880 census, and President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT]. He was the son of renowned economist Amasa Walker. (A brief biography is at the end of this listing.) The archive is comprised 76 autograph letters signed [ALSs] received and 14 Civil War documents, most signed as follows: A... View More...
WETUMPKA, ALABAMA. Good. 1834. On offer is a super group of five [5] manuscript letters, eight pages or so, four [4] dated 1834 Wetumpka Alabama and one [1] dated 1827 Columbia Texas though referencing Alabama, handwritten by H. G. Bliss [Henry Guest Bliss (1807-1837) b. West Springfield, Massachusetts, d. Texas, 1837] to his brother Luke. The young, 26 in 1834, ill-fated Mr. Bliss lives, works and wishes to invest in Wetumpka during the authorship of these letters but he proves a restless sort and by 1837 he has relocated to Texas only to meet his early death. While in Wetumpka he appears to ... View More...
TALLADEGA, ALABAMA. Good+. 1888. On offer is an original, interesting manuscript letter handwritten by H. S. DeForest, noted president of Talladega College in Talladega Alabama, Alabama's oldest private historically black college. The two page letter dated Jan. 5, 1888 on letterhead is addressed to Rowland Mather of Hartford, [he of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions we believe] with some significant school related content. Here are some snippets: "We are very full, and never before have had as many day or boarding pupils. Last year we enlarged the School House, wh... View More...
On offer is a superb relic of the international Abolitionist movement being an autograph letter [ALS] completely handwritten and signed by French poet Hippolyte de Saint-Anthoine who was Secretary-General of the Institut d'Afrique, an abolitionist society in Paris and on whose letterhead this letter is written. This one page letter dated Paris, September 13, 1856 to "Monsieur & ami" U.S. Congressman and abolitionist Joshua R. Giddings who represented Ohio in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Whig from 1838 until March 22, 1842, when he resigned, after a vote of censure had been pa... View More...
On offer is an original 1866 manuscript letter handwritten by US Navy Engineer Hiram Parker Jr. while serving aboard the USS Dacotah. The 14 page diary like letter was written over a period from February 7th 1866 to the 22nd of February. He starts out writing while at sea and describes one instance when one of the marines while asleep on deck had his skull fractured by a sheet block while the sail was being shortened and died. He later goes to Fuchal Portugal and describes the country in great detail fully using the paper. BIO NOTES: one online source provides: Birth: Oct. 4, 1841, Death: Fe... View More...
On offer is an original 1867 manuscript letter handwritten by US Navy Engineer Hiram Parker Jr. while serving aboard the USS Dacotah. The 12 page diary like letter was written over a period from January 26th to February 2nd 1867 from Talcahuano Bay Chile. The very interesting letter makes mention of ex Civil War General Kilpatrick while he was the American Minister in Chile was onboard along with the secretary who was seasick onboard during the trip and describes the city of Talcahuano Bay in detail along with the city of Valparaiso and the insides of a church there. He mentions that minister ... View More...
On offer is an original 1844 manuscript diary handwritten by Horace G. Chase of Boston Massachusetts. Mr. Chase is 16 years old when he starts detailing his daily life on July 2nd turning 17 only six days later on the 9th. In a half ream, 22 leaves, 'Quarto Post' purchased in New Hampshire, Chase writes densely even using the rear endpaper his observations, travels and opinions. Horace keeps his sailboat at Liverpool Wharf and in one of his early entries proves himself to be a charming fellow for the most part given how eruditely he writes of being thankful for a very fine and pleasant day tha... View More...
WETUMPKA, ECLECTIC, MOBILE ALABAMA AL. Good. 1897. On offer is a super, modest archive of manuscript letters, ledger/invoice sheets and poetry relating to the Howle family of Wetumpka Alabama. The small but fascinating group is an interesting peek at life in rural Alabama from the late part of the 19th Century to early in the 20th. All told there are five letters: three postmarked Eclectic Alabama, 1897 - 1898 to Mr. Howle, one from Mobile, 1910, to Mrs. Howle [from her sister] and the fifth letter, Oct. 1901, being a forlorn multipage letter from a bereft Mrs. Howle to her husband in E... View More...
On offer is a remarkable letter from a loving husband to his wife, written from a man travelling in Toronto back to his wife in England. The letter is a fascinating snapshot of a foreigner in Toronto in the mid-19th century. Obviously far from home, the sender, Mr. Hugh Smith, finds the city beautiful and amazing, and shares it ecstatically with his wife. The letter, however, begins on a somber note. “You have no doubtedly before this time read a letter from George informing you of your father’s death.” He suffered greatly he explains, of an ulceration of the stomach, and was “miserable for a ... View More...
On offer is a unique and gorgeously written letter from an lawyer, by the name of Isaac G. Barnet,who has recently relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio from England. He is writing to a friend, Garret D. Wall, in Trenton, New Jersey. Garret Wall was at the time just a practicing attorney in New Jersey, however, he would go on to serve a long illustrious life, first as a clerk for the New Jersey Supreme Court, then as the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, then being elected a New Jersey Senator from 1835 to 1841, and finishing his life as a high court judge. In language that is often elegant and very obvio... View More...
![Image for 1834 + 1837 ORIGINAL GROUP OF FIVE [5] LETTERS HANDWRITTEN BY A YOUNG MASSACHUSETTS MAN SEEKING INVESTMENT AND EMPLOYMENT IN ALABAMA ONLY TO MAKE AN ILL ADVISED MOVE TO TEXAS](/assets/images/product/0002422_65b964b66a1673b45479e89c9a793a4d.jpg)
