Items 51-75
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51. Howell, John. AN ESSAY ON THE WAR-GALLEYS OF THE ANCIENTS. Edinburgh. 1826. b/w plates. 61 pp. Based on classical sources, this work applies “modern” principles of mechanics to speculation on the design of ancient vessels. 10 lithographed plates and folding frontispiece. Not in Scott. Bound in handsome half calf over marbled boards with gilt spine decoration. $150 |
| 52. (Irving, Washington.) AN ACCOUNT OF THE FUNERAL HONORS BESTOWED ON THE REMAINS OF CAPT. LAWRENCE... Bos. 1813. 64 pp. This contemporary account of the battle between the Shannon and the Chesapeake and of Lawrence's funeral, etc. was rediscovered in the 1950s by bibliographer Jacob Blank. Irving’s biographical sketch of Lawrence was thought to have been first published in September 1813, but the copyright notice in this work makes it clear that the book was published in August of that year. (See Papers of the Bib. Soc. of Am. 1959) This discovery was made in time for inclusion in the BAL (item 10101). Light foxing to title and first few pages, else a very nice copy, handsomely rebound in calf over marbled boards with gold spine lettering. Rare! OCLC shows no libraries holding copies. $1500 | |
| 53. (Irving, Washington.) AN ACCOUNT OF THE FUNERAL HONOURS BESTOWED ON THE REMAINS OF CAPT. LAWRENCE AND LIEUT. LUDLOW, WITH THE EULOGY PRONOUNCED AT SALEM, ON THE OCCASION, BY HON. JOHN STORY. TO WHICH IS PREFIXED, AN ACCOUNT OF THE ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN THE CHESAPEAKE AND SHANNON, WITH DOCUMENTS RELATIVE TO THE SAME, AND BIOGRAPHICAL AND POETICAL NOTICES. “A NATION’S TEARS BEDEW THE HERO’S GRAVE.” Bos. 1813. b/w plate and tailpiece. 64 pp. This contemporary account of the battle between the Shannon and the Chesapeake and of Lawrence’s funeral, etc. was rediscovered in the 1950s by bibliographer Jacob Blank. Irving’s biographical sketch of Lawrence was thought to have been first published in September 1813, but the copyright notice in this work makes it clear that the work was published in August of that year. (See Papers of the Bib. Soc. of Am. 1959.) This discovery was made in time for inclusion in Blank’s Bibliography of American Literature. A wood engraving illustrating the coffins for the bodies of Captain Lawrence and Lieutenant Ludlow and positions and identities of the pallbearers is included on page 38 of the text. The biography on pages 17-32 is quoted from the Analectic Magazine for August 1813, and is the first separate printing of Irving’s Biography of James Lawrence, preceding the New Brunswick edition of the same year by exactly one month. Although Howes (I-82) lists Irving’s Biography of James Lawrence, and gives it an “aa” rating, he does not record this earlier account because it was unknown at the time. Moebs 61. BAL 10101. According to the BAL this is state B of two states. For what it’s worth, there exists a third, previously unrecorded state of this work, combining characteristics of states A and B. A rare account and part of a fascinating bibliographical puzzle. $1500 | |
| 54. (James Madison) LETTER FROM THE SECRETARY OF STATE... PURSUANT TO THE ACT FOR RELIEF AND PROTECTION OF AMERICAN SEAMEN... Wash. 1801. 10 pp. plus folding tables. Contains three folding charts showing seamen registered for protection by district, and protests filed by American Captains. Also reprints portions of testimonials on the severity of the problem. The cover title reports that the matters was “ordered to lie on the table.” Stab sewn pamphlet, untrimmed, self wrappers, VG $150 | |
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55. Jameson, Edwin. THE BLACK DEVIL OF THE BAYOUS. Upper Saddle River NJ (1970) b/w plates. 205 pp. Eventful history of the U.S. Steam Sloop Hartford, 1858-1957. She was Farragut’s flagship on the blockading squadron. VG, dj. $30 |
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56. (“John Brown,” i.e., Everett V. Abbott.)`. RECORDS OF THE BAR ASSOCIATION OF THE STEAMER WERRA. (New York) 1895. 4to. 30 pp. In 1894, during the course of a cruise from New York to the Mediterranean aboard the Hapag Lloyd passenger liner Werra, seven lawyers began gathering over drinks in the ship’s lounge. This is a humorous account, in the form of “minutes,” of their “meetings” at the “bar” (get it?). Two prose sections outline the voyage and how the group came to be, then follow 15 pages of doggerel verse describing each participant, his history, and his part in the foolery. A wonderful view of the manners of the day annotated in pencil by one of the participants - probably John Ropes, to whom “John Brown” has sent this copy, with a letter of explanation, tipped into the front blank. Apparently of some importance in the history of law. OCLC shows many copies in electronic form, but only a single library holding a hard copy. VG, in half morocco over marbled boards, with original wrappers bound in. $350 |
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57. Keating, Laurence J. THE GREAT MARY CELESTE HOAX. Bos. 1929. Color frontis. folding diagram. 240 pp. A violence and bloodshed theory about the origin of the famous abandoned ship. First ed. VG, chipped dj. $50 |
| 58. Kendall, Edmund Hale. THE WONDERFUL ADVENTURES OF ABEL SAMPSON, RELATED BY HIMSELF; WRITTEN BY EDMUND HALE KENDALL. Lawrence City (MA). 1847. b/w engraved frontis. 12mo. 91, (4) pp. First edition of a rare account by an American seaman. He was born in Maine in 1790 and first went to sea on a merchant schooner in 1808. The next year he was pressed on board a British Man of War. He escaped and worked on a slaver for a time, then shipped on the privateer Saratoga in 1812, then did a second, more successful tour on the Yorktown before being captured by the British. These adventures were followed by tours in the European, India, and West Indies trades. He swallowed the anchor in 1820, and went back to his original trade as a carpenter. Howes S-59. Not in Smith. Bound in original pictorial wrappers. Some chipping and old sewing loose, but still a good copy of a book that is quite scarce in the trade. The last copy for which I can find a record sold in 1979. $1250 | |
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59. Laighton Bros. & Ramsdell. OCEANIC HOTEL. STAR ISLAND. ISLES OF SHOALS. n.p. n.d. (circa 1915?) b/w photo ills. Unpaginated (16 pp.) Brochure for the hotel, with panoramic photo view and an earlier envelope from the Laighton Brothers Appledore & Oceanic Hotels, with a wood engraving of the old Appledore House. Two items, $75 |
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60. Lee, Ida. (Mrs. Charles Bruce Marriott). COMMODORE SIR JOHN HAYES. HIS VOYAGE AND LIFE (1767-1831) WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF ADMIRAL D’ENTRECASTEAUX’S VOYAGE OF 1792-3. Lon. 1912. b/w plates, map. xvi, 340 pp. Hayes was an interesting and little-known figure - there is no entry for him in the DNB - possibly because he spent most of his career in the employ of the Bombay Marine traveling in far flung locations in the East. By the 1790s he was in Tasmania, New Caledonia and New Britain, exploring parts of the coast missed by Cook and D’Entrecasteaux. He then traveled to Canton and Calcutta, by way of Timor and Java, but was unsuccessful in finding support for the publication of his travels from the East India Company. Through all these adventures he managed to find time for several engagements with pirates and French privateers. He was finally knighted for his service, but remained an under-appreciated figure. The last part of the book recounts D’Entrecasteaux’s voyage to that part of the world. This is the first and only biography of Hayes. It is quite scarce. VG $150 |
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61. Leonard, Henry C. PIGEON COVE AND VICINITY. Boston, 1873. 193 pp. b/w ills. History and description of this part of the coast, dating from its early days as a tourist Mecca. Information on other parts of the Cape as well. With chapters on fishing, yachting and sailing, and charming illustrations. A near-Fine copy in original binding. $100 |
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62. Lillie, Frank R. THE WOODS HOLE MARINE BIOLOGICAL LIBRARY. Chicago. (1944). b/w photos. 284 pp. The founding and early operations of this Cape Cod lab, including information on the community, research and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. VG, chipped dj. $50 |
| 63. Lydon, James G. PIRATES, PRIVATEERS, AND PROFITS. Upper Saddle River, NJ. (1970). 303 pp. Piracy in colonial America. First Edition. VG, dj. $35 | |
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64. Manuscript. AUTOGRAPH LETTER, SIGNED, FROM SAMUEL BRADSTREET TO AN UNNAMED RECIPIENT, BOSTON, 1752. Folio sheet, 2 pp. manuscript. Terrific content regarding the fisheries and Cape Ann, from a time long before Gorton’s, when fishermen there were viewed as disreputable ruffians. “Captain Pritchard tells me he never knew such a time for fish at Cape Ann; said people are come from the Island & Nantucket & from Salem & pay the cash down for it & those who promised fish to others don’t care for their word, so that they caught the cash of others: Capt. Storer says he has a great deal of money due at Cape Ann which was promised to be paid in fish, but they don’t care to pay with fish and what to do with them he don’t know... You will see from this that it is high time we had a fishery out of Boston, which I find will be pushed pretty strongly another year, as Mr. Apthrop, Mr. Hancock... & a great many more are determined upon it.” Also, shipping and commerce with West Indies, small pox, and other Boston gossip. $200 |
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65. Manuscript. BONDS FOR IRISH IMMIGRANTS. SHIP PHOEBE, NEW YORK, 1837. Folio. 26 pp. printed forms accomplished in manuscript. This is a book of perhaps 200 identical forms, printed on two sides of each sheet. Twenty six of them were filled out in 1837. They guarantee that each immigrant brought by the ship Phoebe from Liverpool to New York, and then to Perth Amboy, NJ, will not be sick, infirm, or incapable of work. The men making the guarantee are Henry Rattrey and Douglas Robinson. The people for whom they are posting the bonds have names like Eliza Connor, Michael Coleman, Thomas McKenna, Elizabeth Kelly, etc. If the immigrants fail to meet the standards imposed by the township of Perth Amboy, Rattrey and Robinson agree to “truly provide and pay for the support and maintenance” of the immigrant. Quite unusual. A moving document. $400 |
| 66. Manuscript. CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY AND HIS COUSIN MATTHEW MAURY, AND BETWEEN MATTHEW MAURY AND HIS FRIENDS AND FAMILY, 1819-1872. This is an archive of more than 450 letters from Matthew Fontaine Maury to his cousin Matthew Maury, and to and from Matthew Maury and his friends and family. Of these, about 120 are autograph letters, signed, (a few are signed secretarials) by Matthew Fontaine Maury. They touch on family matters, science, Maury’s work at the Naval Observatory, his books and publications, and his observations on politics. Most importantly they reveal his deep bitterness at his treatment by the Navy, who he felt did little to support his scientific work, and to the Navy Board, which questioned his fitness for active duty. Secondly, they suggest the degree to which M.F. relied on his cousin Matthew for informational, moral, and financial aid. Aside from being a sympathetic advisor, these letters make it clear that Matthew handled M.F.’s investments which, in turn, helped M.F. support a large family on Navy pay. The letters of cousin Matthew and his family are fascinating in their own right. Matthew was a prominent merchant in New York City for at least 40 years. He was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, an associate of A.A. Low, and clearly a man of some power in New York. Judging by these letters, his influence and guidance were of great help to M.F. in gaining an audience for his ideas and publications, and during his struggle with the Navy Board. The letters to such luminaries as H.D. Gilpin and Admiral DuPont demonstrate Matthew’s connectedness. Those to and from friends and family members reveal deep roots in American culture. These would be tested in 1861 when Lincoln’s Secretary of State, W.H. Seward, impounded Matthew’s correspondence with England and arrested his nephew Fontaine. (Fontaine had previously worked for M.F., who had just left his navy post to join the Confederacy.) Seward suspected Matthew’s cotton trading of circumventing the blockade. The charges ultimately came to nothing, but Matthew’s correspondence regarding them is here. Additionally Matthew jousted with the Blunts on his own and his cousin’s behalf, and spent years trying to get the Chamber to erect a weather and time observatory on the Battery for the adjustment of chronometers. M.F. was a great help to Matthew in this regard, even advising him as to which instruments he should procure. All of this correspondence reveals aspects of M.F. Maury’s biography that are unknown to his biographers. Matthew, Rutson and Ann Maury get scant mention in the Williams biography and even less in Lewis. Similarly, Matthew’s role in helping M.F. respond to the Navy Retiring Board - as well as M.F.’s financial and intellectual dependence on Matthew - is unmentioned anywhere. I suspect this is because these letters have been kept in Matthew’s family from the time they were written until now. For whatever reasons, they have never been shared with scholars or historians. Details and a list of contents on request. $50000 |
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67. Manuscript. DAY BOOK FOR BRIG SUSANNAH & RUTH, DAMMASCOVE (DAMARIS COVE), 1810. 16 pp. manuscript. Entries record labor of loading the brig, victuals for the workers, amount of timber loaded, work on the rigging, stores put on board, plank, staves, and other articles loaded on board, and repairs made to the vessel. A tidy window onto a mercantile voyage of the Susannah & Ruth. In paper wrappers. $200 |
| 68. Manuscript. DOCUMENTS PERTAINING TO THE DRUMMONDS, A FAMILY OF MARINERS BASED IN OR AROUND PHIPPSBURG, MAINE. A rather loose gathering including - partial log kept by John Drummond, of voyage of brig Polly from Boston to Liverpool, 1801, and schooner Georgetown from Bermuda, 1802, folio, 6 pp.; receipts for payments made on Sloop Chistina 1814-15; handsome blank printed cargo manifest, half folio sheet; letter of instruction to Capt. A. Drummond, referring to his brother (John?), 1810; A. Drummond’s settlement for the voyage of the brig John Marshall, folio sheet, 1824; Accounts for voyage of schooner Mary, folio sheet, two sides, 1818, A. Drummond; account book of A. Drummond, 1807-1834, folio, approximately 50 pp. This last item may tie up the strands. The lot, $50 | |
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69. Manuscript. FOUR GOLD RUSH LETTERS, 1854-1856. Four letters from Lorin Pullen at Michigan Bar, CA (a mining town about 30 miles east of Sacramento) to his parents, 14 pages. Apparently he has left them, and a wife and children to go west to strike it rich. He recounts his journey from New York to San Juan del Norte (Nicaragua), then overland to the San Francisco steamer. On the voyage to San Francisco the 2nd mate was killed and the 3rd mate stabbed. Then to Sacramento, and by stage to "within four miles of this place" where a relative owns half a claim. A few months later he reports that his health is good and that he likes mining, "although it is pretty hard work, as hard a haying in Maine at least." He then goes into a page of detail about the mining, and how hard it actually is. He has not yet paid for his claim. In December he reports that a drought has slowed the mining down. By January of 1855 he writes with satisfaction that he and his relative have dug a mile-long ditch to convey water to the claim, and gotten paid for it. In the last letter, March 13, 1856, he writes, "Two years have passed since I left home for the purpose of making a fortune, and doubtless you would like to know what has been the result thus far? I will answer you in one short sentence - a succession of bitter disappointments." The rest of letter elaborates on these disappointments - including the fact that he had sufficient money the year before to repay the person who staked him, but he kept it, thinking he could do better, and now has lost it all. He regrets it will be another year before he can return. A wonderfully informative series of letters from Gold Country. With a manuscript list of "Prices of Provisions at Michigan Bar, Cal." and an apparently unrelated letter from a man in Minnesota. $750 |
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70. Manuscript. LEDGER COMMENCING OCTOBER YE 6TH, 1767. Folio, about 150 pp. manuscript entries. A fascinating old book documenting accounts of vessels “Ship Affrica” and “Briggantine Dimond,” from two trading voyages, for rum, molasses, sugar, spermaceti candles, and all sorts of staples and dry goods. Accounts of several dozen people, presumably investors, are kept, with the type, quantity and price of goods meticulously recorded. Where in the colonies all this commercial activity was taking place is not clear. There is a nice typed note, circa 1934, referring to this book, from a Newport lady, but I think it originates from New York. Early in the book is an entry, “Advertisement in Hugh Gaine’s Paper, of Jan 30th 1769. - The possessors of the bills drawn by John Watts, Deputy Commissary at Pennsacola, on Robert Leake Esq. Commissary General are desired to apply to Hugh & Alexander Wallace, Merchants in New York in order to have them settled and paid.” Bound in old vellum, clean and quite legible. Rich in detail and still a puzzle $850 |
| 71. Manuscript. LETTER COPY BOOK OF FRANCIS W. BRINLEY, PUERTO CABALLO, VENEZUELA, 1827-1828. Folio. 90 pp manuscript entries. About 18,000 words. Brinley was a commission merchant in Venezuela during the final years of the South American super-state known as “Gran Columbia.” He worked from “Porto Cavallo” on the northern coast of Venezuela, and did business with merchant firms in New York, Boston and Baltimore, trading primarily in indigo and coffee as well as domestic agriculture products such as soap, candles, raisins and lard. This was a time of political upheaval, and Brinley writes of the “revolution” in Columbia. He mentions Bolivar by name several times and describes towns being under siege. At the same time he claims that Bolivar has the situation under control and that business is booming. By various trading vessels - the Gertrude, the Rehoboth, the Tampico, etc. - he sends letters north to his merchant friends describing cash crops and their harvest times, prices realized, and political conditions affecting trading. Many of his letters deal with business practices and mores of the time. In one long 750 word letter he writes to a Mr. Winslow, who has wronged him. At the end of the letter is the note, “on receipt of the above letter Mr. Winslow came up & appologized (sic).” There are a few letters in Spanish, cordial letters to a former partner and, in the last months, letters describing a situation that ultimately undid him. One of his merchant vessels, the Gertrude, was seized by customs officials because the cook and two sailors were smuggling tobacco. Brinly had already complained about the unfairness of Bolivar’s taxes - “The British Consul ordered the British merchants to refuse (the tax)... but as for our Consuls, I am certain that a stick with USA (?) marked on it wd. answer as well as they.” - and now he was required to exhaust his resources getting the Gertrude out of trouble. By the end of 1828 he writes a long letter to Dunham & Co. in New York explaining why he went bust, and the role of the Gertrude affair in it all. “I am a very poor man, reduced to such by the knavery of others.” The letter book ends there. Some tears in the lower corners of first few letters, but no loss. Bound in old reverse calf with backstrip perished. Clean and legible. $1750 | |
| 72. Manuscript. LETTER, SIGNED, FROM COMMODORE JOHN RODGERS TO COMMODORE WILLIAM BAINBRIDGE, 1831. A letter between two naval heroes regarding timber for Navy ships. Rodgers writes from Washington to Bainbridge in the Philadelphia Navy Yard. “You will be pleased to purchase on the most advantageous terms they can be obtained, such white oak knees suitable for Navy purposes, as may from time to time, be offered for sale at the yard under your Command, to be received and paid for, on account of Gradual Improvement. Semi annual returns of such purchases, you will please forward to this Office, showing the number, size & cost of the same.” In secretarial hand with Rodgers’ signature. With Rodgers’ free frank signature on the integral address leaf. $200 | |
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73. Manuscript LIST OF VESSELS BELONGING TO SALEM & BEVERLY, 1829. Folio. 10 pp. manuscript entries. Ships, Barques, Brigs, Schooners and Sloops.Arranged alphabetically in columns listing name, tonnage, when built, where built and owner. Obviously a contemporary listing, and a lovely thing. I’ve never seen its like. $350 |
| 74. Manuscript. LOG BOOK OF THE “HALF CLIPPER” VERSAILLES, BOSTON - SYDNEY - CALLAO. 1854-1855. JOHN HENRY, MASTER. Small 4to., approximately 125 pp. manuscript entries. The Versailles was a Medford built ship of 547 tons, classed as a clipper ship by some. Fairburn (VI, p.3819) refutes this, calling her a “reputed ‘half’ clipper, but evidently a rather full and heavily sparred ship.” She sailed in the China trade for much of the early part of her career. On this voyage she departed India Wharf in Boston on August 24, 1854 and reached Callao Feb. 27 of the following year. This excellent captain’s journal is written in the first person and kept in narrative rather than “abstract” style. It is chatty and descriptive, concentrating mostly on nautical matters, but giving a good account of their five week stay in Sydney. Clean and legible, with a typed note from Carl Cutler from Mystic Seaport about the ship’s history. $750 | |
| 75. Manuscript. LOG OF BARQUE WASHINGTON ALLSTON FROM PORTLAND FOR CALCUTTA VIA BUENOS AYRES BY ARTHUR GOODWIN. 1857-1858. Folio. Unpaginated (about 200 pp. manuscript entries). This is a complete log of the voyage, from departing Portland January 20, 1857 to approaching Boston January 22, 1858. Her captain was Edward Graves. They arrived in Calcutta July 10 and departed Sept. 12. The 10 page port log is quite detailed regarding cargo, ship repairs, activities of coolies, etc. I can find no mention of this vessel in Fairburn, but the Marine Intelligence newspaper for Jan. 23, 1858 notes her arrival in Boston on Jan. 22. In the back of the book Goodwin has kept some astronomical notes - the observed distance of the moon from Jupiter and Venus at various times between June and October 1857 - as well as an abstract log of the bark’s passage. Quite possibly, Goodwin was a carpenter, since he also appended a list of hand tools carried aboard the ship. Binding broken, text clean and legible. $850 |
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