On offer is a sensational, original 1906 manuscript diary handwritten by a young man named Jasper W. O'Farrell, who we believe was the son or grandson of Jasper O'Farrell a famed early San Francisco resident, surveyor, land holder and Senator. [There are streets in San Francisco named after him and a chain of eateries!] All the more fascinating is the narrative by the young O'Farrell who lived through the notorious earthquake of 1906. Writing in fits and spurts throughout about a third of the book he does a good job detailing the tragedy of the earthquake and the wreckage it caused, even the d... View More...
On offer is a rather intriguing 1906 manuscript diary handwritten for the most part by 'Lady' [as identified by the other part time writer who is 'Mary']. Lady is a woman of means, having a number of members in her household who tend to and for her. Mary seems to do most of the writing in the first few weeks of the diary and then Lady takes over. It seems Lady is to marry shortly and is all consumed with preparations. Mary writes: 'sat in library and sewed while Estelle read the papers'; 'Lady' went places'. The diary begins in Staten Island and then for the wedding and thereafter identified a... View More...
On offer is a fascinating, typescript diary of a young woman’s (named Lou W. Smith) trip across the United States, touring the West coast for a few days, and then departing on a steamship and heading for a Hawaiian vacation. The diary consists of 24 typed pages, beginning on Monday, July 16, 1923 “En route Baltimore & Ohio. Washington to Chicago.” and ending August 25th. A letter is also included that is very interesting and shines some light on the diary. It is written on a letterhead that says, “Treasury Department Washington. Office of Chief Clerk and Superintendent.” It dates September 11,... View More...
On offer is a fascinating, concise and exceptionally detailed history and evaluation of the ‘Reconstruction and Development of Manila Harbor’ following the tremendous destruction and devastation of the population following the Battle of Manila (February 3 - March 3, 1945). The manuscript was created as a request sent by Civil Engineering for an article on the harbor on 5 July 1945. 2nd Lieutenant Martin M. Gross, Corps of Engineers, was the one who answered the call and the manuscript offered here was produced five weeks later. The report does not seem to have been published. In addition to th... View More...
On offer is a really wonderful diary of a young Victorian woman during the year of 1908 as she travels aboard a train from the West to the East coast and then back to the West coast again. As the diary starts out she is leaving her home in California on January 7th and spends most of 1908 traveling with her three sisters and parents. In fact Jo does most of the writing but there are also many times when her sisters write. Jo gets sick at one point then the sisters take over writing and they talk about family being sick and some are quarantined. Her entries are descriptively written telling all... View More...
On offer is an excellent collection of letters written by a U.S. soldier in WWII to his parents. The collection contains 84 letters. They are in good condition and the handwriting is legible. Arno Edgar Wallace Maurer was 23 years old when he enlisted in the U.S. army. Entering as a Private, he finished the war as a Staff Sergeant. Born in 1921 in Winnipeg, Canada, he lived until 2015, passing away at the age of 94. After the war he received B.A. and M.A. from the University of Manitoba and PhD from the University of Wisconsin, and was teaching English literature at the Ohio State University ... View More...
On offer is a super, historical manuscript pair [2] of diaries handwritten by A.C. Parker #8 BR Squadron RCAF originally of Toronto. Parker does a super job detailing his service beginning January 1st, 1944 with being trained and educated in the art of aerial warfare putting in hours and hours of flight time and on gunnery firing many 100s of rounds near daily in practice at Fingal Ontario. Flying over Lake Erie is a freezing cold experience he notes without complaining. Prior to posting to British Columbia he manages a visit to family and friends in Toronto for dancing at the Granite Club a b... View More...
On offer is a journal and diary of A. N. Nelson, a crew member on the U.S.S. Birmingham, the flagship of the Pacific Fleet’s Destroyer Squadron shortly after the end of World War 1. The diary is entitled above the first entry, “Cruise of U.S.S. Birmingham with Pacific Fleet on West Coast.” This is an accurate description of what takes place in the book. From July 17, 1919 to November 22, 1920, Nelson recounts the passage of the Birmingham as it leaves the Boston Navy Yard, goes through the Panama Canal, and then anchors in San Diego to serve as Flagship of the Pacific Fleet’s Destroyer Squadro... View More...
On offer is a 1952 diary that belonged to A.P. Chapman, an architect in England. This very unique journal was designed specifically for architects and builders in the UK. It contains an extensive reference section with notes regarding various materials such as concrete and brick, the tensile strength of steel, calculations, and much more. There is also a detailed cash record kept for the year. Casual research has not found any biographical information about Chapman, but references to some of his work projects suggest that he lived and worked in London. His wife’s name was Peg (Margar... View More...
On offer is a letter from a Mr. A.R. Shouse to a Mr. Lawrence Mossby, concerning the hiring of of Mr. Shouse to charter and pilot a ship to haul cargo for Mr. Mossby. The letter is written from Fort Sanders (spelled ‘Saunders’), in Tennessee, and was written in 1906. The ship appears to be hauling cargo to Port-aux-Basque in Newfoundland. Mr. Shouse answers a number of questions posed by Mr. Mossby in his last letter, giving 9 answers to his questions. It seems Mr. Shouse is a ship captain, being recruited by Mr. Mossby to pilot a ship that he has chartered. “Your letter of March 6th which I ... View More...
On offer is a remarkable original 1911 handwritten manuscript diary by a young Jewish boy named Aaron Glassberg [later Aaron Glassberg Volpe] living in Toronto Canada. All the more remarkable is the clear, articulate and fluent manner this 16 year old, who born in Rostov Russia in 1895, writes after having only lived in Canada for 5 years. Our writer is a smart, tough, mannered kid who experiences a young raw Toronto. Anti-semitism is a reality of the time and the city and this young Zionist is not a stranger to it. He so identifies with his Jewishness he identifies all his contacts by religio... View More...
On offer is a significant, original 1928 through 1930 manuscript diary and scrapbook created, maintained and handwritten by British seaman Reginald Sands who provides a super almost day-by-day account of the maiden voyage of the storied British warship HMS Suffolk and its critical deployment to the China Station patrol covering the period Feb 7th 1928 to July 19th 1930. Adding tremendous depth to the narrative there are numerous original photographs, newspaper cuttings, postcards, stamps, other ephemera and hand drawn maps that record everything from the mundane routine of daily exercises and ... View More...
Manuscripts; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 365 pages; On offer is a fine 5-year diary written by a woman in the years leading up to America's entry into WWII. The author is Addie E. Podransik. She was born in 1876 in Illinois and married Wallace Wilson Robinson on October 28, 1903 in Chicago. They had one child together. She later married Joseph Nikolaus Podransik. They had no additional children. Addie passed away in 1951 at the age of 75, and was buried in Brookfield, New Hampshire. Informal research has discovered no additional biographical information about Mrs. Podransik. Her diary is writte... View More...
On offer is an interesting, original circa 1927 manuscript diary of a research trip to the Netherlands and a 1929 trip to Belgium by children's author, travel writer and biographer [Edith Cavell, Amelia Earhart] Adele de Leeuw who over her career wrote 75 books. The 4 x 6 inch flip style notepad is filled with 55 or so pages the majority about 35 pages regarding Holland include: notes on the sights, culture and history of all the cities and towns she visited. These notes undoubtedly ended up published and as identified by her handwritten inscription the title of the book she is working was ... View More...
On offer is a super, historically significant manuscript artifact of early Soviet Russia and American relations being the handwritten journal of Adele Rice [Mrs Owen R. Rice Oak Park Illinois], dated April 10th 1929 titled "Our Trip to Russia"; a member of the American Delegation sent on an educational and fact finding mission to Russia a mere 12 years after the Russian Revolutions. The findings and observations of this group are, research suggests, what the book "Russia and the United States" was based on. The book's first entry of the 185 or so pages of narrative was April 3r... View More...
On offer is a superb, fascinating original soft bound 1902 China Station diary and personal log handwritten by Admiral Frederick W. Rodgers (1842 - 1917). Rodgers was a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy. He fought in the American Civil War and ascended to be the last commander of the Asiatic Fleet. He was a grandson of U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew Perry. In May 1901, Rodgers became Senior Squadron Commander within the Asiatic Squadron. On March 1st 1902, he became the commander of the entire Asiatic Squadron, which was engaged in combat during the Philippine-American War at the time. He wa... View More...
On offer are two, original, small diaries dating from the 1920's. The first diary has 52 pages full of extensive memoranda pages and is 100% complete. The second has 365 pages plus memoranda. It too is 100% complete. The cover and pages of the first diary is in good condition but the cover has separated from the spine. The second diary is in very good condition. The handwriting in both is very very small but very neat. The diaries belong to Alan Maurer of Orwigsburg, PA. He was born in 1892, was a graduate of Valparaiso Law School in Indiana and Indianapolis Law School and admitted to practice... View More...
On offer is an original 1914 - 1918 manuscript journal handwritten by Albert E. George of Wellesley, Massachusetts. It appears that Mr. George was a clergyman as he writes about many religious topics, mentions giving sermons and speaks of others as "other clergyman". Entries paint a detailed picture of the times as he writes about many topics including the bad economy, poor living conditions, socialism, insane hospitals and he mentions the women in the church being involved in suffrage plus much, much more. Albert also does a good job as a diarist outlining his visits: Jamaica Plains, ... View More...
On offer is a very interesting, original manuscript diary handwritten by the noted author Albert Shaw, who did the Review of Reviews, and many other works in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Of the 35 pages of entries including his noteworthy trip to visit American educator and the founder of Berry College in Rome, Georgia Martha Berry at her school in Mt Berry, Georgia in 1941 there are a number of pages of literary and scholarly commentary. It says in part: Dated June 1941 Trip to Mt. Berry - Cincinnati. "Left Winter Park 5:28 PM in Jacksonville for Rome Georgia to spend day at Berry Scho... View More...
On offer is a charming, original 1919 manuscript diary handwritten by Alden A. Potter of Bethesda, Maryland. Alden is a dedicated diarist having entries almost every single day of the year providing a rich and detailed picture of his life and times. Alden seems active in small commercial and finance and as the bio notes below from the obituary of his brother it is evident that Alden was part of a very large, prominent extended Maryland family. While Alden may not have shone as brightly as Zenas, we understand Alden did run for the State Senate of Maryland on the Democratic ticket and he was ou... View More...
