Search Results: Authors starting with A from Auger Down Books

Philadelphia, 1854. Ninth plate ambrotypes in a union case, measuring 2 ½ x 2 ⅛ inches (visible) in larger case. With the identification of (Isaac) Rehn, with his imprint and "Patented July 4 & 11, 1854" imprinted on the case. A fine pair. A striking pair of ambrotypes of Mary and Moses Pennock, who were members of the Kennett Square Underground Railroad network as well as active members of the Kennett Square abolitionist and Quaker community. Moses was one of the founders of the Longwood Progressive Meeting. In R.C. Smedley's History of the Underground Railroad in Chester and Neighboring Counties of Pennsylvania, (Lancaster, Office of the Journal, 1883), the Pennocks are mentioned on p. 301 as working as part of the network surrounding Isaac and Thamazine Meredity. Their son Samuel, who would go on to secure important agricultural patents, is also mentioned twice. The images are notable from a photographic history perspective as well, as being early examples of the ambrotype process that had… Read More

Brooklyn, 1893. Single page. Some tears at creases, else about fine, very good overall. Very Good. A letter written by Thaddeus Hyatt to the editor of the New York Tribune, in response to a letter written by Eli Thayer on William Lloyd Garrison entitled "Garrison and his Creed." Hyatt takes issue with Thayer's portrayal of Garrison. He writes: "I think it is a great pity that so practical a man in Eli thayer, and who confessedly did a great work for Kansas (for which I have alwqays honored him) - should end his days as a Don Quixote, for he might just as well hope to bring down Gibraltar with a pop-gun as to think that he can change the verdict which coming generations will surely take upon the men he so grossly misrepresents and defames.... I am not a non-resistant; but my heart was with Mr. Garrison always in all his burning utterances against Slavery. Garrison, Phillips and John Brown need no defenders. Mr Thayer only hurts himself, and I respect to add that the Tribune (in my judgment) ;;is… Read More

Boston: Anti-Slavery Bazaar, 1849. Small broadside measuring 7 ¾ x 4 ½ inches printed on green wove paper. Some creases and a small tear at margin, near fine. Near Fine. The American Anti-Slavery Society hosted annual bazaars, which served as fundraisers, with money going to supporting the National Anti-Slavery Standard newspaper. Many women were involved with the event, and sold abolitionist items. Offered here is one such piece of ephemera from the 1849 fair, a poem written by an unknown author with the pen name "M." The poem was featured in the poetry section of The Liberator (January 26, 1849, Vol. XIX. No. 4.) with the description "The two following poetical effusions were written for the Anti-Slavery Bazaar, In Faneuil Hall, by friends of freedom in the old world." It reads: Ye friends of liberty, all hail! May your endeavours never fail In freedom's sacred cause! May blessings e'er attend your course, In striving to uproot all force, And stern oppression's laws! Yours is a noble task, my… Read More

Cincinnati: Corey and Fairbank, 1834. First Edition. 47 pages, complete; 8 7/8" x 5 ⅜." Slight odor else near fine, very good minus overall. Very Good. The Lane Seminary debates were perhaps the most extended and famous of many colonization versus emancipation debates that happened in the 1830s. "Founded in 1829, Lane was bakrolled by Arthur Tappan and headed by Henry Ward Beecher. In 1831 a Rev. Samuel Crothers published letters against slavery in a local paper, and a year later Stanton, a student at Lane, held that the North should not help the South put down a slave rebellion. In 1834 Weld and his followers from Oneida became students at Lane. With the charismatic Weld leading off, students armed with literature from the ACS and AASS explored immediatism for eighteen days in two-hour-plus sessions... to the dismay of the administration, the students not only formed an anti-slavery society but also started teaching in Cincinnati's black community. Contact with African Americans made the Lane… Read More

New Britain, 1855. Letter measuring 8 x 5 inches, folded. Fine condition. Fine.

Philadelphia: Henszey and Co, 1860. Albumen photograph measuring 3 ½ x 2 ½ inches on mount. Excellent condition with clipped corners and minimal wear. Near Fine. Rachel Wilson Moore, a Quaker from Philadelphia who had strong anti-slavery views, traveled to the Caribbean and South America in the 1860s to try to save her ailing health. She published her journals from the trip under the title Journal of Rachel Wilson Moore, Kept During a Tour to the West Indies and South America, in 1863-64 With Notes from the Diary of her Husband; together with His Memoir. The book described the conditions of the enslaved people in the Caribbean, which she considered to be worse than the conditions in the American South. Offered here is a photograph of Moore, identified on the verso, from the Philadelphia studio Henszey & Co., likely from the late 1860s, showing an elderly Moore in a bonnet. We find no other records of the image.

Various Publishers. A collection of books from the library of Earnest Elmo Calkins, who had the twin distinctions of being a pioneer in the design of the modern advertising agency and also being one of the first prominent American deaf businessmen. Highlights of the collection include a copy of The Advertising Man inscribed to his business partner Ralph Holden, and his own personal revision copy of Modern Advertising. Also included are Calkins' On the Technique of Being Deaf and two other works by Calkins. Calkins, born in Illinois, was fully deaf by the time he was an adult. After a first failed stint in New York, he managed to get a job in advertising for a firm in Peoria and eventually made his way back to New York City, landing at the Bates agency after studying at the Pratt School of Design. Calkins, with another Bates employee, Ralph Holden, launched the immensely influential Calkins and Holden firm in 1902. "With Ralph Holden, a fellow employee at Bates, Calkins launched in 1902 the… Read More

Boston: John P. Jewett and Company, 1858. First Expanded, Second Overall. 8vo, publisher's blue cloth, xii, 212 pp. Some foxing and light wear, very good. Very Good. This is the first expanded and the second overall edition and first edition thus of Benson's autobiography, expanded by Henson from the 1849 edition after Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin led to an increased interest in Henson's life. Henson would expand his work further and publish another edition in 1876 as interest in his life continued. A nice copy in the original publisher's binding, also included is a custom open-top clamshell case made of boards and marbled paper, overall very attractive and well preserved.

Chicago: International Labor Defense, 1936. Flier measuring 8 ½ x 11 ½ inches, with ticket measuring 4 x 2 inches. Some light wear and toning, near fine. Near Fine. A pair of items relating to Angelo Herndon and the International Labor Defense's efforts on behalf of the Scottsboro Boys in 1936 in Chicago. The flier advertises an appearance by Herndon at the Metropolitan Community Church at 4100 South Parkway. The flier urges readers to send protest telegrams to President Roosevelt and Governor Bibb Graves of Alabama demanding the Scottsboro Boys' release. It adds" The United Action of all people, black and white will stop Jim Crowism, lynching and frame-up of innocent workers." The second item, a ticket for a separate event involving Herndon on Sept 14th, where he appeared alongside Clarence Norris and an unidentified speaker with the last name Moore at a mass meeting. The ticket gives free admission to "Unemployed Marcher to Neighborhood." An interesting pair of items documenting Herndon's… Read More

New Orleans and Environs, 1880. Includes the following images: Picking Cotton. 7 x 4 in. on cardstock mount (sunned at lower edge). Outdoor view showing many African Americans harvesting cotton. -- Outdoor view of 2 paddlewheel steamships with a crowded dock. 7 1/4 x 4 in. unmounted albumen. -- Cotton Steamer on the Mississippi. 7 x 4 in. on partially-tripped cardstock mount. -- New Orleans. Cotton Wharfs. On paper mount (small tear at mount edge. -- Together, 4 photographs, each 7 x 4 in. Overall near fine. Near Fine. The Swiss-born photographer George Francois Mugnier immigrated to New Orleans in 1868 and apprenticed under his father as a clock-maker before beginning a career in photography. He is best known for his views of New Orleans and the surrounding countryside in the 1880s. Offered here are four well preserved examples of his work, showing the New Orleans cotton industry in the 1880s, when roughly a third of American cotton production went through the city. A near fine collection with some… Read More

Massachusetts, 1926. Ink on paper, 18 ½ x 23 ½ inches. Excellent. Alexander Johnson, an African-American musician from New Bedford, enlisted in the army at age 16 and was believed for some time to be the first African-American musician in the Union Army. He mustered into mustered into Company "C" of the Massachusetts 54th Infantry under Colonel Shaw. The 54th Massachusetts was the second African-American regiment in the Union army, formed only after the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry. New Bedford had a large population of escaped slaves, and African-Americans from the city enrolled heavily. Johnson had been orphaned at a young age and his adopted father, William Henry Johnson, strongly advocated for African-American enrollment in the Union army, a factor which most likely played a part in the young Alex's enrollment at age sixteen. Johnson served in the 54th for the duration of the war, including the bloody charge of Fort Wagner on Morris Island on July 18, 1863. The 54th lost 272 of its… Read More

London, 1890. Small cabinet card photograph measuring 3 ½ x 2 ½ on larger mount. Slight fading, excellent condition. Near Fine. A portrait of Ambrose Clairmont of Bridgetown, Barbados, taken in London at the J.L. Huntly studio in Highbury. Clairmonte was a tailor and graduate of Harrison College in Bridgetown, Barbados. His father was also a tailor, and according to his brief biography in his Harrison College graduation program, he visited London at some point, when this picture may have been taken.

New Haven: Black Panther Party, 1970. Double sided broadside on newsprint measuring 17 ½ x 11 inches, with horizontal fold. Small closed tears and foxing to margin, light tanning, very good overall. Very Good. An uncommon Black Panther imprint printed during the 1970 New Haven trials surrounding the death of Alex Rackley. The front shows Eldridge Cleaver's Black Panther Manifesto surrounded by photographs, the other shows Emory Douglas's classic image of Bobby Seale in an electric chair with the text "IF THE FASCISTS ATTEMPT TO MURDER CHAIRMAN BOBBY IN THE ELECTRIC CHAIR... THERE WON'T BE ANY LIGHT FOR DAYS." At the bottom is the information for the New Haven Chapter of the Black Panther Party, with the Manifesto showing the address for the San Francisco-based legal defense fund. Uncommon on the market, with one defective copy appearing at Swann galleries in 2019 being the only example in the auction records.

Vickburg: M.T. Frederichs, 1890. Cabinet card photograph measuring 5 ½ x 4 on larger mount. Some light wear to mount, very good. Very Good. A portrait of an African-American woman in a dress, holding a parasol and with a hat curiously perched on a prop branch nearby. We find a record of an M.T. Frederichs operating from a different address in Vicksburg in 1895, but are unable to identify the subject of this photograph.

Boston: JE Farwell, 1863. Single sheet 16mo programs, double sided. Fine condition. Fine. Two programs for performances by Morris Brothers Pell and Trowbridge shows in Boston, advertising Saturday afternoon performances at their Opera House before the fire of 1864 which led to their move to St. Louis. The performances feature Thomas Dilward performing The Prima Donna and Uncle Snow, as well as Eph Horn, Billy Morris, R.M. Carroll and others. From information online our best guess to the date is in 1863 when Dilward was performing with the group. We find a handful of programs from the company's Boston period printed by Farwell in OCLC though none of these specific examples.

Richmond: N.A.A.C.P., 1957. 8vo, wraps, 30 pp. Some light wear, staple holes to edge, original owner's address and postage mark on back cover, overall very good plus. An uncommon NAACP publication, published right after the Brown vs. Board of Education decision, with a range of articles on racism and segregation in Virginia and the efforts to desegregate schools there. The pamphlet is made up of several essays, entitled "Behind the Segregation Curtain," "The N.A.A.C.P. - Defender of Constitutional Freedom," "The Truch about what led to School Cases," "Lookng at Work of the NAACP in the Fight for Integrated Schools in Virginia," "Integration - An Avenue to Liberty for Both Groups," "The Way to Genuine Good Race Relations in Virginia," and "Our Way of Life in Virginia." The essays are all written anonymously. The pamphlet argues for the use of reason in reversing racial prejudice and suggests appealing to the intelligence of people as a means for combating the problem. Uncommon, with four copies held… Read More

Tuskegee, 1914. Oblong 8vo, decorative pebbled cloth over thin boards, 8 x 5 inches. With fourteen pages of inscriptions from fellow classmates. Some pages detached, wear and toning, good condition. Good. An interesting book of dedicatory verse to a student in the Tuskegee Institute class of 1915, from his classmates, all written in May of 1914. Stewart writes on the front pastedown, " Myb album is open, come and see, for you to waste a line or two upon me, so when the summer days make us part, I shall always remember you in my heart." Stewart was from Taylorsville, Illinois. The inscriptions from his classmates - mostly sentimental verse- are an interesting document in the Tuskegee coeducational model and more broadly shed light on the culture of the African-American student culture during the time. "Dear Stewart," his roommate Emmit Strode writes, "This summer you and I may be far apart, but I hope that you will bear in mind that I am with thee in heart each day avoe all things do the right, and… Read More

American, 1910. Tintype measuring 8 x 6 inches with an African-American portrait, laminated at borders with a decorative frame with the insignia of the Prince Hall Masons. Some chips to lamination at corners, very good. Very Good. An interesting portrait of an African-American man with a decorative masonic border bearing the distinctive shape of the Prince Hall Masons emblem. Prince Hall Freemasonry stands as the earliest officially recognized and consistently operational organization established by individuals of African descent. Its inception occurred on March 6, 1775, when Prince Hall (ca. 1748-1807), a proponent of abolition and a civil rights activist, alongside fourteen other free black individuals, underwent initiation into freemasonry. They established African Lodge No. 1 on July 3, 1775. In 1784, a formal request for a charter was submitted to the Grand Lodge of England, and upon approval, African Lodge No. 1 was redesignated as African Lodge No. 459 in Boston, Massachusetts. By the time… Read More

Cincinnati / St. Louis: George H. Jung Co, 1930. Four panel fan measuring appx. 4 x 7.5 inches. Staining to front panel, some chips and wear, good plus overall. Good. A fan produced by the George F. Jung Co. of Cincinnati for the Price & Walker Funeral Home of St. Louis. Fans, often featuring prominent African-Americans, have been used by African-American-owned businesses for several decades, with a collection held at the Auburn Avenue Research Library in Atlanta. The two inner panels list some of Washington's accomplishments, with the second entitled 'Tuskegee's Creed,' which is actually a reprint of Alpha Phi Alpha pledges.

Ohio, 1918. Silver gelatin photograph in glass-fronted frame, image measures 24 ¼ x 6 ⅞ inches. Matted and framed, not examined out of frame. The 317th Engineer's Band was a part of the 317th Engineer Regiment, an element of the 92nd Division, which was composed of over 15,000 African-American soldiers from across the country. The 92nd was one of two African-American regiments to fight in the war, the other being the 93rd, and was unique in that it was under the command of the United States. The 317th Engineer Regiment was organized in November 1917 at Camp Sherman, Ohio, several months before this photograph was taken, and saw action in Europe as part of the 92nd. Camp Sherman was the third largest training camp in the country at the time, with over 2,000 buildings capable of housing 40,000 men and 12,000 horses. As well as being the training site for units of the 92nd (also known as the Buffalo Division), it served as the training site entire 83rd, 84th, 95th and 96th divisions. It later became… Read More