Search Results: Authors starting with A from Ian Brabner, Rare Americana (ABAA)

Lancaster, Pa. and Washington, D.C.: The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Incorporated, 1924. pp241-380 and pp381-602. 8vos. Publisher's wrappers with light wear; both issues are near fine. First edition (preceding its publication in book-form) of this important monograph on the role of African Americans during South Carolina's Reconstruction-era. In 1922 Taylor [Alrutheus Ambush Taylor (1893-1954)] "became the first young black scholar to join [Carter G.] Woodson's research staff at the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, where he served as a full-time investigator. Taylor's research on blacks in the Reconstruction of South Carolina after the Civil War was published in Woodson's journal in 1924 and brought out in book form the same year. Taylor's later interpretations of the Reconstruction-era were largely echoed in W. E. B. Du Bois's masterly interpretation, Black Reconstruction (1935), as well as in subsequent studies of the period..." (ANB)

New York: Oliver & Brother, Steam Printers, [c. 1850s]. Yellow paper broadside with ornamental border. Approx. 8 x 9 inches. Corner margin loss; various creases two short tears expertly tissue-mended. Proto-Tide laundry detergent. Magical and astonishing, Perlee's fluid, by his account, practically washed your clothes for you. The soap wasn't that magical -one had to soak their clothes overnight and blue them and boil them- but "colored goods" were promised to be rendered brighter, and woolens were less likely to shrink.  Perlee also declared that his fluid could clean just about anything: "In short, it is beyond a precedent, as its use is universal in the washing world." Online in 2022, the American Cleaning Institute (yes, they do exist) provide a "Timeline of Cleaning." They award the Germans as the first inventors in 1900 of non-soap detergents, but perhaps Perlee has a not-so wishy-washy claim here. The broadside was printed by Isaac J. Oliver and his brother. They were actively printing in New… Read More

New York: Henry Seibert & Bro. Co., 1890. Printed certificate. 17 x 12¼ inches. Printed recto and verso. Blind seal. Previous folds; very good. Large and graphic. A five-percent bond issued by The Metropolitan Cross-Town Railway Company of New York City. The railway opened in 1891, offering surface transportation in Manhattan connecting ferries on the East and Hudson Rivers. This certificate with a rubber stamp endorsement referring to the railway's refunding mortgage of 1902. A vignette illustration depicts one of the railway's horse-drawn cars with buildings and a church in the background.

St. Paul: W.W. Price & Co., Printers, [1887]. 11, [1]pp. 7 x 4¼ inches. Printed wrappers. Author's hand-corrections. Wrappers with splitting, chipped at head and tail of spine; else very good. Presentation copy, inscribed by Whipple to Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-1894), former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, who was active in the Episcopal church in Boston. A very scarce ordination sermon preached in 1887 by Henry Benjamin Whipple (1822-1901), the first Episcopal bishop of Minnesota. Bishop Whipple spoke on the occasion of Rev. Elisha Smith Thomas' consecration as Assistant Bishop of Kansas. In 1899, Thomas became the second Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas. Whipple describes Kansas as "not a whit behind the fairest portion of our [nation's] goodly heritage. It will be the home of millions. If the entire population of the Eastern and Middle States was placed within its borders it would not be as densely populated as England is to-day. In the life of our brother the fortunes… Read More

New Jersey: Rutgers, 1967. 363pp. First Edition. Signed by the Author. Publisher's cloth. Fine in a dustwrapper in like condition. "This volume brings into full perspective the sequence of historic events in the Delaware Valley, and shows how King James's buffer zone had far-reaching influence, affecting the fortunes of Lord Baltimore, Sir Edmund Plowden. the Duke of York, William Penn, and the Puritans of New Haven"

Philadelphia: American Sunday School Union, (1842). 12mo.  vi, [3]-94pp. Quarter cloth, marbled boards. Good. A scarce biography recounting the true-life crime of Jacob "Jack" Hodges (1763?-1842), a free-born African American who was deceived by white conspirators in a plot to murder Richard Jennings in New York in 1819. (See Michael J. Worden's The Murder of Richard Jennings: The True Story of New York's First Murder for Hire.) Originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Hodges was shipped off at ten years of age on the schooner Lydia of Philadelphia to the West Indies. On board, he served as a waiting boy. Sea life abroad lead Hodges to pick up evil habits ("And who is more reckless and abandoned than a homeless, African sailor!") and eventually he returned to America in sorry circumstances where he lived in New York City before moving to Orange County, New York. Hodges was then manipulated into murdering an old man for his money, and pages 7-44 of this text chronicle his journey from murderer-his… Read More

[San Francisco]: Second Coming Press, [1973]. Unpaginated. 8½ x 5½ inches. Softcover. Closed tear at fore-edge of upper cover with crude tape mend on verso; an otherwise very good copy. This copy appears to have a forged signature of Bukowski on the Acknowledgments page. A faint tracing of his last name is underlaid beneath "Charles Bukowski" which is written above it.

Vicksburg, Mississippi, March 3, 1838. [1]p. Document Signed. 10 x 8 inches. Partly printed; contemporary docketing. Folds; minor wear; some foxing; good. Legal instrument of protest signed by Alexander H. Arthur, Notary Public for the Office of the Planters' Bank of the State of Mississippi at Vicksburg. Arthur declares that he presented a bank note for $267.73 to the Planters' Bank and that the teller there "...refused to pay the same, saying that the drawers not accepted [sic] had made no deposit of funds for that purpose." Arthur's formal protest was made on behalf of "Robert Riddle, Esq., Cashier and holder of the original Note." A copy of this note, signed by H.G. Bankston and Wm. Burton, is copied out at the bottom of the document. The note had been originally issued to the firm Jennings & Drone. Docketing on the verso mentions "Damages $214.23." In addition to being a notary, Alexander H. Arthur was, at some point, the editor of the Vicksburg Tri-Weekly Whig a director of the Southern Railroad… Read More

Rochester, New York; Boston, Mass. C. 1877-1881. 12 Items, described below, comprising 1 Trade Catalog, 2 Trade Cards, 7 Oversized Pattern Sheets, and 2 Leaves of Mechanical Drawings; all Very good. Diverse group of mid-Victorian scroll saw-related material including trade literature, marketing materials, and oversized pattern sheets for creating fretwork designs in the Queen Anne Revival style. In addition to a scarce 1881 trade catalog of scroll saws and lathes from A.H. Shipman of Rochester, there are two large 1880 chromolithographic trade cards with descriptive texts for scroll saws manufactured by Perry Mason & Co. of Boston, and seven large, oversized scroll saw pattern sheets, four of which appear to have been issued c.1877 by Perry Mason & Co. and one from Adams & Bishop. • The Amateur Mechanic's Manual and Catalogue of Scroll Saws and Lathes Manufactured by A.H. Shipman, Rochester, N.Y. [Rochester, New York: A.H. Shipman, 1881]. 32pp. Trade Catalog. 9¼ x 6 inches. Numerous wood-engraved… Read More

[Washington, D.C.]: The Service, 1962. 201 pages. Profusely illustrated, folding plate. Spiral comb binding, as issued. Near Fine. An exhaustive study of the history of Hawaii, studying the years between 1778 to 1910, as undertaken by the National Park Service. An excellent reference.

Philadelphia: Published and sold by G. E. Blake, No. 13 South 5h. Street. [1820s]. "New Edition." Folio, engraved sheet music. [1(blank), 2-3, 4 (blank)]pp. Removed. Foxed; two short separations along spine; Very Good. Rare c.1820s "New Edition" of this Southern woman composer's patriotic composition dedicated to the United States Marine Corps.¹ "Lady of Charleston" Eliza Crawley Murden's March Composed & Dedicated to The United States Marine Corps was first published by G.E. Blake in 1814-1815 [Wolfe 6360]. It has been described as being likely the first published composition of sheet music by a Southern woman [see Bailey below].  The occasion of this composition's origin was the heroic part the Marines played in the final major battle of the War of 1812, the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815. Blake, one of Philadelphia's biggest music publishers, was no stranger to capitalizing upon the young nation's patriotic fervor. In 2010, author Candace Bailey provided an incorrect publisher… Read More

New Orleans: Graham, Print[er], 127 Gravier St., [1879]. Printed in multiple columns. 11 x 17¾ inches.  Folds, as issued, light wear; near fine condition. A rare and ephemeral New Orleans-printed broadside advertising this Reconstruction Era lottery. The commissioners are identified in the broadside as "G.T. Beauregard" and "J.A. Early", i.e., the famed former Confederate Generals P.G.T. Beauregard and Jubal A. Early. As early as 1877 these two men profited from the dubiously-legitimate Louisiana State Lottery. Included with the broadside is an 1883 lottery ticket, The Louisiana State Lottery Co., The Monthly Five Dollar Drawing. This ticket is signed in type by Beauregard and Early. Unrecorded in OCLC.

[Moyamensing Prison, Philadelphia, 1886]. Watercolor on paper, mounted to cardboard backing. Painting: 7¾ x 10 inches; overall, 8 x 10 inches. Signed by artist at lower right, "A. Onofri." Contemporary manuscript provenance and notes on verso of backer. Touch of faint, possible water-staining to the artist's name at the bottom right corner (it is still completely legible). In very good condition. Italian-American Achille Onofri, was an acrobat and contortionist who had met trapeze artist Millie Cook in Havana, married her, and then moved to Philadelphia with her and her 9-year-old daughter, Carlotta "Lotta" [sometimes seen as Lotti] Cook. On May 11, 1886, Onofri was teaching his step-daughter Lotta to walk the tightrope, but she was unable to do it. Apparently, in a fit of anger, he beat her viciously with a shovel, and she died within a few hours. The stepfather had also horrendously beaten her Lotta's siblings. After his trial and conviction for second degree murder, Onofri was sentenced to twelve… Read More

Glen's Falls [Glens Falls], N.Y.: A. Orr, Jr., Photo., ca. 1870s. 4½ x 7 inches. Card stock mount. Caption within negative. Small bump to upper right of mount; very good, sharp image. View of the west side of Luzerne Falls today known as Rockwell Falls, the narrowest point of the Hudson River. The falls are located near Lake Luzerne, west of Glens Falls where this stereoview was published. Orr appears as a photographer in an 1871 Glens Falls directory; he was succeeded in that business by 1878. Ref. Forgotten Faces and Long Ago Places: Fashionable Friday - Early 1870's Glens Falls, NY Woman accessed online.

[Np: Hugh Bancroft, Publisher, (1929). [16]pp. Pamphlet. 7¾ x 5¼ inches. Printed wrappers. Brief handling; some creasing to lower wrapper; very good. 1929 pre-Crash stock market investing tips from noted financial adviser A. Vere Shaw (1887-1970). Shaw was "...a founding member of the Investment Counsel Association of America, was a political conservative, but nevertheless was an early advocate of some of the stock market reforms later enacted in the first two terms of Franklin D. Roosevelt's Administration."¹ The booklet functions here as a prospectus for Barron's magazine, "The National Financial Weekly." Subscription information is given and the magazine's coverage of the stock market, the business world, and its investment suggestions are touted. Note. 1. A.VERE SHAW DIES; FINANCE ADVISER - The New York Times accessed online. OCLC: Yale, Northwestern, University of Minnesota, Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton.

Manchester, N.[ew] H.[ampshire. Novely Advertising Co., Printers. [ca. 1890s]. Decorated Enveloped. Letterpress with illustrations from lithography. General foxing; never postally used. A clever bit of advertising. A.W. Cushman creates an appealing and eye-catching illustrated envelope to earn more business. The envelope's design program is reminiscent of encaustic tiles, popular in the Victorian period. Turning the envelope ninety-degrees, a concise vignette shows Cushman's offerings: beds, bureaus, side tables, mirrors, chairs and a fainting couch.

[Providence:] John Miller, Printer, 1825. 2 x 5¾ inches. Near fine. Tickets for this lottery were issued in Cumberland, Providence County. Signed by A. White Jr.

New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, (1982). 242 pages. Hardcover. Near fine in a lightly-soiled dustwrapper in like condition. First edition, firs printing. Inscribed to New York gossip columnist Liz Smith: "To Liz Smith from Abbie Hoffman."  Review copy with publisher's slip, two-page press released, and a publicity photograph of Hoffman loosely inserted.

Philadelphia and New York: J.B. Lippincott Company, (1950). 254pp. Two stray ink marks on bottom edge; very good in a good dustwrapper. Scarce first edition, first printing. Romance novel by prolific writer Jane D. Abbott set in Lake Erie country along the Canadian border during the War of 1812.

New York and Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, (1955). 223pp. Publisher's cloth. Near fine in lightly-soiled dustwrapper in like condition and designed by Charles John. First edition, first printing and very scarce. Wholesome juvenile novel for girls by prolific writer Jane D. Abbott. Publisher's file copy with their rubber stamp on endpaper and dust jacket's front panel.