On offer is a fascinating, original manuscript relic of mid 19th Century meteorological occurrence of note being a handwritten eyewitness account of what the Harvard College Observatory, Annals, Vol. 19 described as a "Parhelia of the usual form, but of remarkable brilliance." The account which includes a pen and ink drawing signed A.S. describes the observation which occurred in Brookline Massachusetts on April 2, 1859. The notes in part: "About one fifth of the distance between the first circle and the Zenith was a faint hole with the sun in its centre without its points..." ... View More...
On offer is a super, original 1849 - 1860 financial and investment diary and ship owner's ledger handwritten by A.W. Kennedy one of many share owners and likely the 'Chief Operating Officer' in two stated ships; The "M.R.Ludwig" and the "Brig Darien". The many intimate details of the investors, costs related to ship building, supplies etc., are finely detailed and within the 136 pages a wealth of mid 19th century marine commerce is revealed. There are a few pieces of ephemera tucked in, one as early as 1821. The 13½ x 8½ inch folio sized book features a typed slip stating 'Plym... View More...
Superb early pre Civil War letter in lovely hand by ABDIEL & JANE - ALS, GIRAED, ILLINOIS, 1858, 4 full pages, 4to. Wonderful letter to cousin urging him to come west, buy a farm and be their neighbor. Super snapshot of early life and family warmth. Fine. View More...
On offer is a super manuscript relic of early 19th century New Hampshire government and judicial proceedings and some legislative acts and even a protest being the original manuscript daybook of Abel Brown of Southampton, New Hampshire. He identifies himself as a witness to proceeding and recorder of such. There are a number of signatures and initials of other witnesses, signers to Abel's writings etc. Handwritten notes dating from 1813 through 1824 over 24 pages of writings includes military matters, building roads, an apprenticeship agreement, a protest over land taken from the town of South... View More...
On offer is an interesting, original later 19th Century Municipal Record book from North Oxford, Ontario dated 1886-87. Titled: Township of North Oxford, Debenture Accounts, Henderson Creek Drain under By Law No. 176. 1886 & 1887. The treasurer is an Abraham John Hillsdon, and the accounts are written in his hand ~ lists of income received and expenditures for this Henderson Creek Drain project in 1887. There are 29 written pages, starting in 1887, with the last entry in 1895. They are sporadic in the book, some at the front, some in the middle, and some right at the end of the book with blank... View More...
On offer is a very mysterious, enigmatic, perhaps incomplete as it is an unsigned, letter dated July 12, 1861 from the Executive Mansion. As evidenced on the first page in the hand of an old archivist or perhaps auction house this letter is written "During Lincoln's administration the man writing this was Lincoln's Secretary." This would have been written within months of Lincoln taking the Presidential office and moving into the White House. Lincoln had several secretaries including Hay, Nicolay, Stoddard and others. This letter we safely assume must have been written by one of them. ... View More...
On offer is a fascinating, historic, original manuscript letter written by an unknown elderly Baltimore man and likely a member of the Adams family and related to Thomas Boylston Adams (September 15, 1772 - March 13, 1832), the third and youngest son of John and Abigail (Smith) Adams in response to a request he write of his life and times in New York City. [The letter was part of a greater group from the Thomas Boylston Adams papers.] The writer relates what an active, involved and intelligent teenager and young man experienced in the heady historic days of New York City from 1791 to the turn ... View More...
On offer is a super, original 1823 manuscript letter handwritten by Admiral Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, Marquess of Maranhão, GCB, ODM (Chile) (1775-1860), styled Lord Cochrane between 1778 and 1831, was a senior British naval flag officer and radical politician. He was a daring and successful captain of the Napoleonic Wars, leading the French to nickname him 'Le Loup des Mers' ('The Sea Wolf' or 'The Wolf of the Seas'). Cochrane was the model for Patrick O'Brian's 'Master and Commander' Captain Jack Aubrey Series of books. He was also believed to be the model for Horatio Hornblow... View More...
On offer is a letter from an isolated and small community in 19th Century Nova Scotia. From the Catholic Glendale, River Inhabitants mission, this letter is dated January 11th, 1886 and details the recent events in the life of one of its members. The author of the letter is one “Alexander C. Chrisholy” to his friend “Allan McLean”. The letter concerns Mr. Chrisholy and the events leading up to the holidays and New Year of 1886. “I would have written two you long since,” Alexander writes, “only Christopher was taken sick the day ou was over yourself and I was four weeks with him at the strate b... View More...
On offer is a fascinating original, 'pressed copy*' U.S. Post Office department letter dated March 10, 1890. It is written to Chief Postal Inspector E.G. Rathbone by one of the U.S. Post Office's most renowned Postal Inspectors Alonzo G. Sharp. This letter is in reference to dismissing African-American Postmaster Monroe B. (Pink) Morton of Athens, Georgia for blowing the cover of undercover Postal Inspectors to other Postal Officials. (Postal Inspectors act as the Detectives and Police of the U.S. Post Office). Alonzo G. Sharp Ex-Mayor of Chattanooga, Tennessee, once issued City-Backed script ... View More...
Stampless cover from the Contractor for the care of paupers for the State of Connecticut, Alvira Merriam writes the Selectmen of Plainfield, Connecticut regarding an inhabitant, Samuel Harvey, and his status. Alvira takes a very imperious tone interestingly enough. Dated North Granby, August 14th, 1851. VG. View More...
1846 AMANDA F. KELSEY - ALS [STAMPLESS FOLDED LETTER], Westbrook, Ct., 1846, 3 pages, 4to, plus integral address leaf. Writing to her nephew about the family's concern that he was on board the Shipwreck of the Schooner Lydia. Ms. Kelsey writes of the many nights of missed sleep by her mother, sick with worry over the reports of the Lydia's sinking. Very touching description and familial connection. Manuscript PAID postal marking. Overall in good shape though a bit fragile and some creases to the folds in one or two spots but still quite legible. View More...
On hand is a rare and valuable medical formulation notebook from the mid 19th Century. Measuring 8 inches by 6.5 inches, the notebook contains 54 pages which are approximately 60 % complete. Also included are a number of newspaper clippings and ephemera. The front cover has separated but all pages are bound together. The handwriting is a graceful copperplate and is for the most part legible. Americus Miesse was an American physician of note. He was also an inventor with a number of patents to his name. Born in 1848, he became a prominent physician in Lima OH. He had a creative mind and certain... View More...
On offer is a small archive of 3 manuscript letters handwritten by Amos B. George, Co. A 48th Regt. Mass. Volunteers, two written in 1862 from Camp Lander in Wenham, Mass. and one written in 1863 from Camp Banks, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 5 x 8 (folded sheets), 10 pages total; with two original transmittal envelopes (postal cancel/ stamp removed from one envelope), with fine Civil War era content: [10/8/1862] "... We have got our uniforms now so that we are all ready for visitors, and I want you to be sure and come... I hope that we shall come down to Newburyport as a company, before we go, ... View More...
On offer is the original 1874-75 autograph, poetry and memory album of a 13 year old Quebec girl "Anna Gethings / Quebec / '74" as stated on the inside front cover. In all there are about 27 pages with manuscript writing, most filled in completely. Most of the writing is romantic poetry: love, kissing, constancy, autumn, love, yearning and more kissing. The poetry is most likely hand copied from other books but collectors and historians of the era will nonetheless appreciate what was in the heart of this young French-Canadian girl of 1874. Here are some snippets: "The double Pain /... View More...
On offer is a simply fascinating original 1887 to 1905 manuscript journal and scrapbook of the young Annie Oakes Huntington. Annie has an absolutely amazing history, especially given the era during which she writes: Huntington was born in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, in 1875. She was from the famed Boston Quincy family on her mother's side (Elizabeth Quincy Huntington) , and her father, Elijah Hunt Mills Huntington, was a grandson of Senator Mills of Massachusetts. Huntington had an ambitious and seemingly happy childhood, a sick young adulthood, and then a few happy decades in a farmhouse wi... View More...
On offer is an original handwritten autograph letter, ALS, by Anthony Butler (1787?-1849?) lawyer, soldier, politician and rogue. This is a stampless cover, no postal marks dated New Orleans, 1839, 1p, 7-3/4 x 12-1/2 in. To Lewis Daniell at New Orleans. Penned above the letter is a signed promissory note promising to pay Daniell $1060. The letter that follows illuminates the scheming nature of the man: "If you could only find it convenient to receive Land in payment. I would give a Tract that in a very short time would be worth Twenty thousand dollars, and as one only makes money for his ... View More...
Incredible, anti-patriotic French document calling for an end to violence and calling for "L'Humanite". France was considered by most Prussians as being very aggressive regarding the loose coalition of states prior to the formation of the German Empire. The conflict led to the end of the Nalpoleonic era and to France becoming the only republican great power. The document is headed - TUER EST TOUJOURS UN CRIME! - To Kill is Always A Crime. View More...
On offer is a great, original stampless/folded autographed letter [ALS] handwritten by Ashbel Steele an early Episcopal minister and missionary to Indiana. Dated July 9, 1840 Lafayette, Indiana and sent to his wife Clarissa Steele in New Albany, Indiana. In this letter, he describes his stage coach journey from New Albany via Terre Haute - having just arrived in Lafayette. The Bishop of their church is also in Lafayette on a trip and soon heading to Chicago. Ashbel is contemplating a trip to the Chicago area to visit relatives. The postmark is a red Lafayette, Ia (Indiana, not Iowa) CDS with ... View More...
On offer is an original 1842 handwritten receipt wherein B.E. Boney writes that he has received his artificial leg as per agreed terms from John Shaw of Cincinatta [Cincinnati Ohio]. 8 x 4 in. VG+ View More...
