Rare books from William Reese Company

Philadelphia: Printed by William and Thomas Bradford, at the London Coffee House, 1774.. [4],132pp. Half title. Bound to style in three-quarter calf and marbled boards, spine gilt extra with raised bands, gilt leather label. Half title lightly soiled, contemporary ownership inscription ("Thos. Sinclair"). Light scattered foxing and soiling to text; p.15 torn at edge, not affecting text. Very good. The Journals of the first Continental Congress, describing its meetings from Sept. 5, 1774 to Oct. 26, 1774, and one of the most basic documents of the American Revolution. This is the first issue of 132 pages, preceded in publication sequence only by a very rare misdated state of the titlepage. Committees of Correspondence resolved to hold a Continental Congress in June of 1774, and delegates from twelve colonies (none from Georgia) gathered in Philadelphia in autumn. It included many of the most distinguished men in America: Samuel and John Adams, Roger Sherman, John Jay, Joseph Galloway, John… Read More

London: Printed for G.G. & J. Robinson and J. Edwards, 1798.. Four volumes including atlas volume of plates and maps. Quarto text volumes: [8],xxix,[8],432; [10],504; [10],505,[3]pp., plus eighteen plates. Folio atlas: Ten folding engraved charts, six engraved plates of coastal profiles. Text volumes: Contemporary mottled calf, gilt, expertly rebacked to style with richly gilt spines, leather labels. Internally very clean. Atlas: Bound in matching style in quarter calf and marbled boards, spine richly gilt, leather labels. Maps and coastal profiles mounted on guards, some slight soiling on a few margins. Very good. A cornerstone work on the exploration of the Pacific and the northwest coast of America. "This voyage became one of the most important ever made in the interests of geographical knowledge" - Hill. Vancouver was put in command of the expedition on the recommendation of his former commanding officer, Alan Gardner. He had served earlier with Admiral Rodney and on James Cook's second and… Read More

Philadelphia: Printed and sold by William and Thomas Bradford..., 1775. [4],iv,239pp. Half title. Antique half calf and marbled boards. Light tanning and foxing. Some staining in gutter margin of first half of text. Else very good. The journals of the second Continental Congress, covering its activities from convening on May 10, 1775 through adjournment on Sept. 5, 1775. The activities of this summer, against the background of open conflict in Massachusetts, are among the most dramatic of the Revolutionary era. Included are reports concerning Lexington-Concord, the address to the inhabitants of Canada inviting them to join the other thirteen colonies, numerous military matters, the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity for Taking Up Arms, the Olive Branch Petition, the American negotiations with the Six Nations, and other crucial material. Essentially this volume is the very crux of the beginning of the Revolution, convening a few weeks after open warfare had begun and recording the essential shift… Read More

Cincinnati, 1815.. 251,[4]pp. plus two folding maps. Contemporary tree calf, spine elaborately gilt, black leather label. A presentation binding, as this book was issued either in boards or in a plain sheep edition binding. Scattered foxing, else a fine copy. With a presentation inscription, as given below. In a half morocco and cloth box. One of the most notable and important early Ohio books, by one of Cincinnati's most famous residents, in a remarkable copy inscribed on the front fly leaf: "For the honorable Thomas Jefferson with the respects of his very obedt. servt. Dan. Drake." The book, modeled on Jefferson's own NOTES ON THE STATE OF VIRGINIA, covers the geography, antiquities, topography, medical conditions, and government of southern Ohio. "The work is almost entirely original, and has been drawn upon largely by all subsequent writers on the subject" - Thomson. The maps are a plan of Cincinnati and a map of Miami county. The author, Dr. Daniel Drake, was one of the first great physicians… Read More

Philadelphia: Wagner & McGuigan, Lithographers, [1848].. Two folio lithographs, each 17 x 21½ inches, matted to 22 x 26 inches. First lithograph with several minor neatly repaired tears; expertly backed with heavier paper. Second lithograph with some very minor wear and soiling. Very good. This extremely rare pair of lithographs is one of the very few printed records of the first official American expedition to Japan, the diplomatic mission of Commodore James Biddle, which attempted to establish formal relations between the United States and Japan in 1846. Although overshadowed by the famous and successful mission of Commodore Matthew Perry seven years later, the Biddle expedition deserves far greater fame. It was, in fact, the first official contact between America and Japan, and certainly a necessary precursor to Perry's breakthrough of 1853. This graphic representation of the events of the visit, with the extensive textual gloss accompanying each plate, given the dearth of written accounts by the… Read More

Caragoca: Por Angelo Tauano, 1601.. [180] leaves. 12mo. Original limp vellum, contemporary ink title on spine. Contemporary ink signature on titlepage, mild tanning. An internally clean and bright copy. In a half morocco and cloth box. A rare early 17th-century Spanish edition of Marco Polo's description of his journey across Asia in the late 13th century, one of the most significant and resonant travel accounts in the history of human endeavor, and a key text in the perception in Europe of the East during the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. This edition, printed in Zaragoza in 1601, is the first edition of the Spanish translation by humanist Martin Abarca de Bolea y Castro of Marco Polo's travel narrative, which replaced the antiquated Spanish version first printed by Cromberger in Seville, 1503. Bolea y Castro, the son of the vice-chancellor of Spain under Charles V and Phillip II, was a scion of one of Aragon's leading families. A lover of literature and humanist ideology, with a… Read More

Lyon: Chez Guillaume Rouille, 1554.. [6],115 leaves plus folding engraved map. Ninety woodcuts, chiefly diagrams but including a scene of ships at sea. Folio. Contemporary calf, rebacked to style, gilt leather label. Corners rubbed. Bookplate on front pastedown. Slight loss at edges of titlepage, neatly repaired; lightly soiled. Minor soiling and (repaired) worming to lower margin throughout. Final two leaves expertly restored. Map with closed tear in gutter margin and two small areas of loss at top margin, neatly repaired; lower margin reinforced. Very good. First edition in French, second issue with the 1554 imprint on the titlepage. Medina's work, first published in Spanish in Valladolid in 1545, was the first practical treatise on navigation. It was also the first work to give reliable information on the navigation of American waters, as Medina - said to have been one of Cortes' captains - based his information on the firsthand experiences of pilots and masters of the ships using the West Indies… Read More

London, 1753. Four folio sheets, each approximately 24 x 30 inches, and approximately 48 x 60 inches overall. Original hand-coloring of borders. Minor wear and a few short closed tears at edges. Light tanning and scattered faint foxing. Very good. A remarkable example of this rare, important, and mammoth map of the island of St. Christopher, now known as St. Kitts. This copy is preserved as printed, with the sheets untrimmed and unjoined. This highly detailed and well-executed chart depicts the island divided into its parishes, and contains a wealth of early information relating to houses, churches, forts, sugar mills, and individual properties. The borders of each parish are outlined in contemporary hand color, and the shores of the island, with bays, ports, shoals, and soundings are delineated with great accuracy. The map is also noteworthy for the level of its inland detail. Beyond the island's capital, Basseterre Town, located at the lower center of the image, the map plots individual houses… Read More

Leyden: Pieter Vander Aa, 1707. 127 parts in twenty-eight volumes (with volume 13 in two), with 107 engraved folding maps and 505 folding plates. Later calf, spines gilt, gilt morocco labels. Some hinges cracked, spines chipping lightly, boards rubbed in places. Some toning and light foxing internally. Still a very good, handsome set. A complete first octavo edition of Pieter Van der Aa's comprehensive collection of memorable voyages translated into Dutch, which includes over 500 engraved views, as well as 107 engraved maps. Van der Aa's spectacular production gathers travel accounts of voyages from 1246-1696 from reputable sources such as De Bry, Hakluyt, Herrera, de Barros, Thevenot, and includes all of the earliest voyages to the Americas such as Columbus, Vasco de Gama, Cortes, Drake, as well as all other major and minor European voyages. A folio edition was also planned and begun simultaneously, but then abandoned and eventually completed in 1727. Pieter Van der Aa was an accomplished Leiden… Read More

Mexico: Antonio de Espinosa, 1566.. [4],404,[16] leaves, with several woodcut illustrations and woodcut initials throughout. Small, thick quarto. Contemporary vellum, with yapp edges, remnants of vellum ties at fore-edge. Light wear and soiling to vellum, endpapers renewed. Small marca de fuego on top edge. Moderate wear to initial leaves, moderate worming in lower corner and occasionally along lower margin, all expertly repaired, slightly affecting only a few printed marginalia and catchwords. Light tanning and occasional foxing. A very good copy, overall. A very rare, complete, and substantial example of early Mexican printing. This work was produced and published by Antonio de Espinosa, the second printer in the New World after Juan Pablos, and is one of the most considerable efforts of his career in Mexico. Espinosa was brought to Mexico by Juan Pablos as an assistant and type cutter in 1550, and he eventually broke Pablos' monopoly and began printing for himself in 1559. The present work,… Read More

Frankfurt: Johannes Wechel for Theodor De Bry, 1590.. 34,[6]pp., one plate and one double-page map followed by twenty-two plates (two of them folding, five of them with accompanying text leaves), [3]pp., five plates with accompanying text leaves, [7]pp. Folio. Engraved titlepage. Antique-style paneled dark brown calf, boards tooled in blind, front board gilt, raised bands. Minor worming at upper right center of text block with no loss of text, plate 12 trimmed close at top edge, repair to right edge of plate 13 with some loss of image, a few spots of foxing, and some mild tanning throughout. Ink inscription in a 17th-century hand on front blank, ink inscription in a contemporary hand on titlepage. Very good. A foundation work on the early exploration and delineation of America, describing and illustrating the first British colony to be established there. This volume is the first issued by the publisher, Theodor De Bry, in his extraordinary series, GRAND VOYAGES, describing the exploration of the New… Read More

Greenwich, May 29, 1568.. [1]p. manuscript on an 11 3/4 x 16 1/4-inch sheet. Verso with embossed paper seal and address panel. Oblong folio. Previously framed, old folds, old expert repairs to two tears along center vertical fold (no text affected). Light tanning. Very good. An important letter from Elizabeth's court, written to Charles IX of France, with a wonderful example of her distinctive signature with flourishes and the words, "Vostre bon[n]e soeur & cousine..." (your good sister and cousin). The letter discusses the tenuous Peace of Longjumeau between the French Crown (engineered by Catherine de Medici) and the Huguenots: "...And we pray to God, the Giver of Peace, that this pacification may be ratified in such a way that no future malice may be able to affect it. All this we have more amply stated to the said Sieur de Beaumont, who after having declared his mission has with our permission and passport, gone towards Scotland....As well as this he has also heard from our own mouth the… Read More

[New York: J. Bien], 1866.. Titlepage, preface leaf, and [12]pp. letterpress descriptions, plus thirty-six scenes on twenty-three tinted and lightly colored lithographed plates. Oblong folio. Publisher's russet cloth, front board stamped in gilt. Bookplate on front pastedown, new endpapers. A bit of light spotting or soiling, mostly confined to the margins, with the images very clean. A very good copy. In a red half morocco and cloth clamshell box, spine gilt. An exceptional book, and one of the half- dozen major illustrated works on the American West produced in the 19th century, ranking with Bodmer, Catlin, Moran, and Warre as an illustrated depiction of the opening of the West. It is the only one of these to show scenes of mining, so vital to the development of the West, and of the evolution of towns and cities, notably Denver. Alfred Mathews was a pioneering creator of city and country views in the American West. This is his first and most lavish view book, using multiple tint stones on each… Read More

Columbia, Tx: Printed by G. & T.H. Borden, Public Printers, 1837.. [4],iv,[3]-68pp. Modern three-quarter green morocco and marbled boards by Bennett, spine gilt, t.e.g. Very light shelf wear. Bookplate on front pastedown. Light tanning, a bit of light foxing. Trimmed close along fore-edge, but not affecting any text. Very good. In a black morocco clamshell case, spine gilt. First English language edition of one of the great Texas books. "General Filisola wrote this vindication of his actions only four months after the Battle of San Jacinto. The 'Documents' (pp.37-68) which follow the exposition are as important as his account of Santa-Anna's failure...one of the earliest books printed in the Republic of Texas" - Graff. "The classic account, the first in book form, of the retreat of the Mexicans through Texas after the battle of San Jacinto and a masterly defense by Filisola of his acts in ordering and conducting the retreat....The account was, of course, of great interest to all Texans, and there is… Read More

[San Francisco]: Morse's Gallery, 1877.. Albumen photographic panorama mounted on eleven panels, the entire panorama measuring a total of 7 1/2 x 87 1/4 inches. Caption title, photographic credit, and publisher's imprint printed on center panel. [with:] PANORAMA OF SAN FRANCISCO FROM CALIFORNIA-STREET HILL. KEY. San Francisco: Morse's Gallery, 1877. Albumen photograph, 7 3/4 x 10 1/2 inches, mounted on slightly larger printed card reading "Muybridge, Photo., Morse's Gallery. San Francisco" at the foot. PANORAMA: Each panel backed by cloth and tipped into original burgundy cloth portfolio, front board stamped in gilt. Cloth a bit rubbed and stained, worn at the edges, corners, and spine ends. The images themselves are very clean and bright. KEY: Some light soiling to the margins of the card mount, trimmed close along the right edge. Overall, the panorama and the key are in near fine condition. One of the landmarks of 19th-century American photography, and an iconic panoramic image of San Francisco,… Read More