item number |
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| 26. | Ephemera. SONG SHEET. THE MONITOR AND THE MERRIMAC. NY n.d. (ca. 1862.) Eight four line stanzas by one Chas. A. Clark celebrate the epic battle. Interestingly, wood engravings of an African American minstrel, and dancing black babies (celebrating the prospect of freedom?) form the bottom part of the deocrative border. An unusual item in excellent condition. See Illustration$250 |
| 27. | Ephemera. SPEECH OF MR. GRINNELL, OF MASSACHUSETTS, ON THE TARIFF, WITH STATISTICAL TABLES OF THE WHALE FISHERY OF THE UNITED STATES. Wash. 1844. 16 pp. Grinnell was opposed to the Walker Tariff of 1846, and presents here a good deal of statistical information on the whaling industry to buttress his case. Removed from larger volume. Uncommon. $100 |
| 28. | Fisher, Joshua. A CHART OF DELAWARE BAY AND RIVER... Lon. 1776. Joined folio sheets. 23 x 30 1/2 inches. Revolutionary War era map showing the Delaware River from Cape May to Philadelphia. Engraved by Faden from a Philadelphia chart by Fisher. Uncolored copy. Slight tanning along center line else a clean copy $3000 |
| 29. | Flinders, Matthew. A VOYAGE TO TERRA AUSTRALIS; UNDERTAKEN FOR THE PURPOSE OF COMPLETING THE DISCOVERY OF THAT VAST COUNTRY ... IN THE YEARS 1801, 1802, AND 1803. Lon. 1814. Nine b/w engraved plates; twenty-eight maps and plates, many folding and double page. 2 vols. ix, (10), cciv, 269; 613 pp. Plus elephant folio atlas of nine folding charts, seven single-page charts, two double-page plates of coastal views and ten botanical plates. First edition of one of the key books in Australian exploration. Flinders was the first to circumnavigate Australia, and the first to give the continent its name, in preferrence to the older “Terra Australis.” His text is an authoritative summary of earlier discoveries, including Bligh’s second voyage in which Flinders himself took part, and a memoir of his own explorations and adventures, “with an account of the shipwreck of the Porpoise, arrival of the Cumberland at Mauritius, and imprisonment of the Commander during six years and a half in that island.” The work is also of utmost importance from a hydrographical standpoint. “This fine publication can be considered the first true ‘Australian atlas,’ recording details of his survey between 1801 and 1803... It took Flinders three years to produce and contained sixteen folding charts which were destined to become the basis of the British Admiralty’s folio of Australian hydrographic charts... The charts were used for navigation and as a reuslt many copies were destroyed.” Clancy, “Terra Australis,” pp. 141-2. See also Hill 614, Ferguson 576, Wantrup pp. 140-144. Texts are trade editions, lacking half titles but otherwise complete. Paper repair to outer edge of last leaf in second volume. A few marginal pencil markings, small circular stamp from Royal Geographical Society on backs of plates. Charts in the atlas are all first state, bearing the Nichol 1814 imprint. Light foxing and some offsetting to maps and plates. All three volumes bound in later calf over marbled boards. A clean, handsome set. $55000 |
| 30. | Granville, Arthur (editor), and Forbes Townsend. TRANSATLANTIC AND COASTWISE STEAMSHIP FUNNEL MARKS, HOUSE-FLAGS AND NIGHT-SIGNALS; ALSO, AMERICAN YACHTS, WITH THEIR CLUB FLAGS AND PRIVATE SIGNALS, TO WHICH IS ADDED A NEW CHART SHOWING THE STEAM LANES OF OCEAN STEAMSHIP ACROSS THE ATLANTIC, WITH THE DISTANCES OF THE SEVERAL COURSES, AND THE LINES OF TELEGRAPH CABLES. NY. 1874. color plates. 12mo. (4), 31 pp. 32-91 pp flag plates. Rare yacht signal book, the second annual issue. I have seen no other copies and believe it was discontinued after this publication. It contains a list of yacht clubs and officers as well as 60 color lithograph plates of yacht and club signals and flags, with multiple images per page. Flags on recto, advertising on verso. Folding steamship map on front pastedown, with tracks in color. Inscribed in pencil by David S.B. Chew, Germantown, 1875. Worldcat shows only two libraries holding copies. See Illustration $1750 |
| 31. | Hassler, F. R. (Superintendent of the Survey). PRINCIPAL DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE SURVEY OF THE COAST OF THE UNITED STATES. NY. 1834-5. b/w fldg. map. 2 vols. 180, (iv), 156, iii pp. “Introducing the best European practice in surveying, Hassler forged a union of applied and theoretical science... He was solicitous about training his ‘assistants’ (their formal designation) so that there would be a uniform practice in mapmaking, and he initiated studies in such affiliated subjects as tides, currents, and magnetism.” (Manning. U.S. Coast Survey. p.1) These two volumes contain many of his letters and instructions from 1816-1835, and are a rare source of information on early U.S. Government cartography. Folding map at the back of vol. I shows triangulations for surveys made between 1817 and 1833. Attractively bound in recent blue backram with spine labels. $400 |
| 32. | Hosie, Alexander. ON THE TRAIL OF THE OPIUM POPPY. Bos. 1914. b/w plates. folding maps 2 vols. viii, 300 pp.; v, 308 pp. “A narrative of travel in the chief opium-producing provinces of China.” A modern classic, and still authoritative source on this period in the history of Opium production and distribution. Spines lightly faded, still VG in original green cloth with gold lettering $750 |
| 33. | Kelley, J.D. Jerrold. AMERICAN YACHTS THEIR CLUBS AND RACES.. NY. 1884 b/w plates. xv, 451 pp. A keystone yachting book, with 25 line drawings of yachts and races by Frederic Cozzens. Toy 307. Morris & Howland p. 76. Bound in half black morocco over marbled boards. Backstrip laid down, light cover wear, inner hinges reinforced. Withall, a tight clean copy. $300 |
| 34. | M’Kay, L. (Lauchlan McKay) THE PRACTICAL SHIP-BUILDER. NY. 1839. b/w folding plates. Oblong 4to. x-107 pp. plus plates. This is one of the legendary rarities in the literature of marine architecture, being the first American treatise on shipbuilding, and the most influential text until Griffiths published his works on clipper ships in the 1850s. Lauchlan wrote it as a young man, after a youth spent in the shipyards of New York, having served with his more famous brother Donald as an apprentice to Isaac Webb. (Later in life he would command some of his brother’s great clipper ships, including Soveriegn of the Seas.) This work is notable for its glossary of shipbuilding terms, its direct and detailed treatment of shipbuilding techniques, and its 7 folding plates illustrating, among other things, plans for a schooner, a pilot boat and, interestingly, a steam ship with ahull designed to resist the unique stresses on such a vessel. Scattered staining throughout, folding plates professionally laid down. Chipping to outer edges of a few of the plates, not affecting image. Bound in original mottled calf, spine laid down, with original label. Housed in a modern slipcase with a copy of the 1940 reprint, itself a scarce book, being limited to 250 copies. This reprint also includes as essay on M’Kay by historian and descendant Richard McKay. An excellent working set of the most important book in American marine architecture. Worldcat shows only four libraries holding copies. Not in Scott. Brewington, p. 95, who calls it “Rare.” See Illustration $12500 |
| 35. | Manuscript. ARCHIVE RELATING TO THE APPREHENSION OF A MURDERER IN THE FRIENDLY ISLANDS. Famous San Francisco detective Isaac Lees (subject of a recent book, which is included with this lot) sails to the Friendly Islands to take murderer Henry Carleton into custody. Carleton was captured by Aaron van Camp, supplier of whale ships, and US Commercial Agent in the Friendly Islands, after Carlton had killed another man and attempted to kill van Camp. Van Camp would go on to become a famous Confederate spy in the Civil War. Lees sailed out to the Friendly islands aboard the American ship Louisa, skippered by Elbridge Webster (after her first captain had committed suicide). This archive consists of signed letters by Lees and van Camp describing the situation, and by the log of Captain Webster as he sailed the Louisa from Australia to San Francisco, then back. The voyage was an adventure in itself, featuring storms, drunkenness, description of the crossing-the-line hijinks, a mutiny and a knife battle among other incidents. A lively and interesting archive. $2000 |
| 36. | Manuscript. CARRIER PIGEON MESSAGE. Single sheet. This is a one page letter from D. H. Craig in Boston asking a Captain Allen if he has seen Craig’s carrier pigeon. The letter is accompanied by a newspaper article stating that Captain Allen was 3 miles offshore when a carrier pigeon landed on his schooner carrying a paper “72 inches in length, 4 inches wide, containing the news by the steamer Cambria.” Most unusual! $200 |
| 37. | Manuscript. COMMERCIAL LETTER REGARDING THE VOYAGE OF THE DOLPHIN, 1774. 4to. 1 1/2 pages manuscript. A member of the merchant firm Scott & Fraser write from Gothenburg to the Vernons of Rhode Island concerning the arrival of Captain Tanner and the Dolphin. The letter discusses the unfavorable commercial conditions then prevailing, and the disposition of chests of tea. The Dolphin was a slave ship run by the Vernons. She was probably carrying cargo to Europe enroute to West Africa. $250 |
| 38. | Manuscript. DOCUMENT CONCERNING GOLD FOUND BY CAPT VERNON ON NO MAN’S LAND. MARTHA’S VINEYARD, 1755. Single manuscript sheet. An affidavit concerning the ownership of a “purse of Gold” with the contents carefully described. It was found by a Captain Fortisque Vernon on Nomans Land. “the 20 of February A. 1754.” The purse evidently belonged to a Thomas Davis and from this affidavit, sworn by one Jeremiah Mayhew, the widows of Davis and Vernon are trying to claim the purse. However, as noted by Pain Mayhew at the foot of the statement, neither, party showed up at the time of the hearing. The Superior Court was at Barnstable, and “Susannah Gray Administratrix of the Estate of Thos. is Deceasd & Fortisque Vernon Dept. the sd. Jeremiah Mayhew living at Chilmark and more than thirty Miles from sd place of Tyral and the sd Fortisque Vernon the adverie living & being at Boston and not Within Twenty Miles was not notifyed or present.” More compications ensure. A fascinating old document proving Vineyard squabbles are not a modern invention. With a page of Mayhew family history. $500 |
| 39. | Manuscript. FOUR LANGUAGE SHIP’S PAPERS FOR THE WHALESHIP DANIEL WOOD. 1856. Folio. Printed form completed in manuscript. Ship’s passport for whaleship Daniel Wood, New Bedford, Thomas Morrison Master. Printed in four languages including English. Signed by Franklin Pierce. The Daniel Wood was a 345 ton whale ship. She departed New Bedford for the North Pacific October 2, 1856, and returned April 12, 1860 with 617 bbl whale oil and 6200 pound bone, having sent home 290 whale oil and 23,393 pounds bone. Old fold marks, with brown stain on one of the folds, and small holes at a couple of other folds. Pierce’s signature bold and clear. With US paper seal and notary’s blindstamp. $2250 |
| 40. | Manuscript. LETTER CONTAINING A MATE’S ORDERS. COAST OF AFRICA, 1768. Folio. One page manuscript. The letter, dated a Newport, 1768, and countsigned by the mate, Will Pinniger, orders Pinniger to take charge of the brigantine Royal Charlotte, “the late Master by whose death on his passage from the Coast of Africa; the command devolved on you.” With instructions as to “yr. prosecution of the voyage hence to Amsterdam.” Interesting! $200 |
| 41. | Manuscript. LETTER FROM CARDELL AND MAINWARING, JAMAICA, TO THOMAS HUTCHINSON, MERCHANT, BOSTON. 1734. 8vo. Two pages manuscript. “Sloop belonging to you arrived about a month ago... Capt. Welsh is taken ill of a violent fevor & we do not expect he will live... if such an accident should happen we will take care of yr. vessel & look out for a proper Master...” etc. Hutchinson became one of Boston’s leading merchants, and an important figure in the Revolution. It was his tea that was dumped into Boston Harbor during the infamous Tea Party. He later fled to England. He went to Harvard at age eleven, and was twenty-two at the time of this letter. A nice early document. $250 |
| 42. | Manuscript. LETTER FROM HAMBURG AGENT REGARDING SLOOP HARE, CAPT. PELEG BUNKER, 1757. Folio. 2 1/4 pages manuscript. Thomas Delaval, Hamburg agent, writes concerning the arrival of Bunker and the sloop Hare, noting her cargo. With this is a copy of a later letter giving the disposition of the goods delivered by the Hare, and the goods loaded for the return voyage. The Hare was a well-known slave ship operated by the Samuel and William Vernon out of Newport, Rhode Island. The previous year they had brought a cargo of slaves from Sierra Leone. $200 |
| 43. | Manuscript. LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS PERTAINING TO THE BARK KATE HASTINGS AND THE CLIPPER SHIP HERALD OF MORNING, PORT. ST. LOUIS, MAUTITIUS, 1855. 11 pp. manuscript. Letter and agreement between Cyrus Hall, master of the bark Kate Hastings and Otis Baker, master of the clipper ship Herald of Morning. Baker agrees to loan several thousand dollars in Mauritius currency to Hall in order to repair and outfit the storm damaged Hastings. The loan is to be collateralized by the ship and cargo until the note is paid, and the debt would be forgiven if the Kate Hastings was lost at sea. Also, four master’s letters, four agent’s letters and 3 telegrams from the Herald of the Morning. The Herald was built by Samuel Pook in Medford, Mass. in 1853. This was her second voyage. She’d left New York February 5th, and arrived in San Francisco May 16h, only 100 days from port to port. Then she was 50 days to Callao and 56 days to Mauritius. $750 |
| 44. | Manuscript. NAVIGATION COPYBOOK OF ATHELSTAN W. SMITH. CIRCA 1836. Folio, unpaginated. 368 pp. Manuscript entries and drawings. Smith titles his exercise book “Navigation from Bowditch.” He covers plane, traverse, middle latitude. mercator sailing, and other aspects of navigation and astronomy. His penmanship and drawings are splendid. Nice example of a young navigator’s workbook. See Illustration $500 |
| 45. | Manuscript. PORTAGE BILL FOR MASTER AND CREW, SLOOP VENUS, 1768. Folio, 2 pages manuscript entries. Accounts of John Tanner and eight crewmembers detailing dates of shipping aboard and discharge, as well as wages and other monies owed and paid. On the verso are crewmembers’ statements of having received wages. There was a sloop of this name ported in Newport RI in 1765. $300 |
| 46. | Manuscript. POWER OF ATTORNEY FOR GORHAM F. BASSETT, SHIP CHILO, 1846. 4to. Two pp. printed forms accomplished in manuscript. Appointment of Gorham F. Bassett, Boston, “at present the Master of the Ship Chilo,” as attorney to handle all matters on a voyage to Batavia in the absence of Joseph Wee, agent. With a full page of manuscript stating the ship’s purpose in Java, etc. Signed, Witnessed and notarized, with seal, July 24, 1846. $100 |
| 47. | Manuscript. RECEIPT BOOK OF ALEX DODGE, PORTLAND OREGON, 1862-1868. Oblong 8vo. About 40 pp. manuscript entries. Book of receipts of one Alex Dodge as he paid for shipments of salt and lumber, rented wharfage, chartered schooners and steamers, and paid property and school taxes in Multnomah Co., Oregon. An interesting look at the commerce of the time. With some revenue stamps. Bound in a handsome full calf “Record Book” with printed rules and blotter pages interleaved. It bears the ticket of “Alta California Bookstore, Albany California. From the Library of Ed Grabhorn at the Grabohrn Press” on the front pastedown. See Illustration $500 |
| 48. | Manuscript. RECORD OF WRECK REPORTS. COLLECTOR’S OFFICE. CUSTOM HOUSE. (SPINE TITLE). MAINE, 1882-1886. Folio. (48) 176 pp. Alphabetical index of vessels followed by 176 pages of pre-printed forms accomplished in manuscript. Each form contains 30 categories of information to be supplied, such as date, destination, tonnage, age, value, and more subjective categories such as “Was she overladen?” At the bottom of each page is room for a brief narrative description, and a number of these reports contain such information, either describing circumstances of the wreck or extent of damage. Binding broken, but text clean. $1500 |
| 49. | Manuscript. SEAMAN’S WILL. MARBLEHEAD MASS., 1821. Folio. One pp. Edward Scores, Marblehead, “being bound to Sea and knowing the dangers thereof as well as the uncertainty of life...” shares his estate equally with a brother and five sisters, An attractive document signed by Scores and three witnesses. With seal affixed. $200 |
| 50. | Manuscript. (SHUFELDT, MASON A.) [COLLECTION OF ILLUSTRATED MANUSCRIPT LETTERS COMPOSED ON A TRANSATLANTIC VOYAGE OF THE U.S.S. ENTERPRISE. ABOARD SHIP BETWEEN VIRGINIA AND CAPETOWN, SOUTH AFRICA. DECEMBER 27, 1882 - MARCH 31, 1883. Numerous illustrations and maps hand-drawn and hand-colored in ink, pastel, and watercolor, one albumen photograph, and one painting on plant leaf. Three illustrated booklets totalling 57 pp. of manuscript entries. Plus 7 pp, manuscript letter. An extraordinary collection of letters, bound into three well-illustrated pamphlet volumes, by Mason Abercrombie Shufeldt, the first known explorer to traverse the island of Madagascar. Mason Shufeldt (1852-1892) was the son of the important naval officer, Robert Wilson Shufeldt, who played a major role in opening trade with Korea and China in the early 1880s. Mason Shufeldt served as an officer under his father’s command aboard the Ticonderoga during its around-the-world voyage in the late 1870s and became deeply interested in the largely uncharted island of Madagascar during an extended stop there. He wrote to Washington requesting permission to explore the island’s interior and waited months for a reply. In the meantime, Shufeldt spent time in Ohio, where he developed skills in photography and became engaged to a Miss Elise Buckingham of Zanesville. On December 27, 1882, Shufeldt returned to the sea, boarding the USS Enterprise at Cape Henry, Virginia, bound for a three-year voyage around the world on a hydrographic survey. On that date, Shufeldt began the series of letters to Miss Buckingham bound here into three pamphlet volumes and composed in the form of a daily journal. The entries describe Shufeldt’s travels in detail and his devotion to his “far-off sweetheart” in depth. Shufeldt decorates each of the three volumes with an elaborately hand-drawn and colored cover of nautical themes and incorporates a series of hand-drawn maps and views throughout. In the first volume, Shufeldt describes his role in the Enterprise’s mission, which includes creating a photographic record for the trip, describes his hopes of exploring Madagascar (for which he draws a map of the island and his intended route), and charts his progress from Cape Henry to Porto Grande, Cape Verde, where port was made on February 2, 1883. A full-page map, noting the location of Zanesville, traces this portion of the voyage. Both the first and second volumes are signed, “Mace,” at Porto Grande, and are dated on the covers February 2 and 7, respectively (although the second volume ends with a Feb. 8 entry). The second volume describes the stop at Cape Verde and contains an albumen photograph of Porte Grande. The third volume of letters is dated March 31 from Capetown and includes a full-page map of the route of the Enterprise from Cape Verde to South Africa, three nautical views, and a whimsical drawing of a bird, all drawn and colored by Shufeldt. Also included is a handsome miniature view of the Capetown harbor, painted (presumably by Shufeldt) on the silky underside of a silver-tree leaf. Volume three covers the weeks from February 10 to the arrival of the Enterprise at Capetown on March 31 and offers daily descriptions of the voyage, a discussion of photographic processes, and, as in the earlier letters, long, and often impassioned and poetic, professions of Shufeldt’s love for Elise. He mentions at one point that he looks forward to the letters that will be waiting for him in Capetown. However, when the letter arrives, it brings unexpected - and terrible - news. Dated March 7, Elise’s letter to Shufeldt explains that she is breaking their engagement. Records show that Elise Buckingham married another man the following October. In November, aboard the Enterprise in Korean waters, Shufeldt finally received permission to explore the Madagascar interior, which, despite warnings of it being a suicidal venture, he chose to undertake, beginning the journey in May 1884. According to a contemporary account in the New York Times, Shufeldt narrowly survived the expedition from the east coast to the west coast of the island, losing all five of his white companions and arriving with only 153 of his original native army and staff of several hundred. He later moved to Capetown, where he died in 1892 at the age of thirty-nine. A remarkable archive. See Illustration $7500 |