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Tag Archives: British

Memorial Day 2016

30 Monday May 2016

Posted by rarebooks in Uncategorized

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American, British, cemetery, conflict, drawings, engravings, General Assembly, Harrisburg, House of Representatives, James Smillie, Kaleidograph Press, Luise Putcamp jr, Memorial Day, Military Cemetery, Nehemiah Cleaveland, Pennsylvania, Soldiers' National Cemetery, Sonnets for the Survivors, troops

“Stones stand at stiff attention as sun nears”


MILITARY CEMETERY

Here stationed without trumpet, without tears
Are the unwilling dead. Days walk the rounds
Of sentry duty past the ordered mounds.
Stones stand at stiff attention as sun nears,
Inspects them and departs. On earthen ears
The volley from the silent rifle sounds
And the slow winds police the sterile grounds
Where seconds march of equal rank with years.
Look long and with your heart until you see
In place of stone the man he planned to be,
Uproot the useless grass and find in place
The sons he might have fathered, or erase
The bare, official words and read instead:
He laughed at dying, so he is not dead.

– Luise Putcamp jr., Sonnets for the Survivors, Kaleidograph Press, 1952
“Military Cemetery” published here with permission of the author


F129-B7-G756-BattleHill

“In that vicinity, — upon ground traversed in part by every visitor to the Cemetery, and lying immediately below and around it, — occurred the first serious conflict between the British and American troops, on the memorable 26th of August, 1776.”

Green-wood Illustrated
Nehemiah Cleaveland (1796-1877)
New York: R. Martin, 1847
First edition
F129 B7 G756 1847

Illustrated with engravings from drawings taken on the spot by James Smillie.


E475.55-P41-foldout

“These men came here from the east and from the west, stood side by side, and fought and fell in one common cause and for one common country…and their dust is now in common…”

Revised Report of the Select Committee Relative to the Soldiers’ National Cemetery
Pennyslvania. General Assembly. House of Representatives.
Harrisburg: Singerly & Myers, state printers, 1865
E475 .55 P41

 

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Book of the week – De rerum natura

04 Monday Jan 2016

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afterlife, Alexander Pope, biblical, blind-tooled, blindstamped, body, British, Cambridge, Church of England, classics, Constance, De rerum natura, decoration, engraved, Epicurus, fire, folio, French Revolution, frontispiece, Fulda, Germany, Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini, Gilbert Wakefield, gilt, gods, government, Greek, Hamilton, Homer, Horace, Jesus College, Londini, Lucretius, mathematics, ministry, morocco, mortal, nature, New Testament, pamphlets, poem, poet, portrait, punishment, rules, scholar, soul, Titus Lucretius Carus, tragedies, Tuscan, Unitarian, vicar, Virgil, Wa, Wakefield, world

PA6482-A2-1796-v.1-portraitPA6482-A2-1796-v.1-titlePA6482-A2-1796-v.1-pg1

DE RERUM NATURA LIBROS SEX, AD EXEMPLARIUM…
Titus Lucretius Carus (ca. 99 BCE – ca. 55 BCE)
Londini: Impensis editoris, typis A. Hamilton, 1796-7
PA6482 A2 1796 oversize

De Rerum Natura is the only surviving work of Lucretius. Only one manuscript copy of it is known to exist. This manuscript was found in 1417 in a monastery at Fulda in Germany by Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini, a Tuscan secretary to a church general council at Constance.

It is a didactic poem of 7,400 lines in six books, in which the poet expounds on the world view of the ancient Greek philosopher, Epicurus. The object was to abolish belief that the gods intervened in the world and that the soul could experience punishment in an afterlife. Lucretius demonstrated that the world is, instead, governed by mechanical laws of nature. He described the soul as mortal and posited that it perishes with the body.

This is the first edition of the “Wakefield” edition, the edition by Gilbert Wakefield (1756-1801). Wakefield was a biblical scholar. The son of a vicar, he entered Jesus College, Cambridge, through a scholarship. He studied mathematics and the classics. Although he took orders, he left the ministry and the Church of England and became a Unitarian. He earned his living as a tutor while writing controversial pamphlets attacking the government. He was imprisoned for two years for the publication of a pamphlet titled, “A Reply to some Parts of the Bishop of Landoff’s Address,” in which he defended the French Revolution. To support himself, he published a translation of the New Testament (1792), companion editions to Horace (1794) and Virgil (1796), an edition with commentary of Greek tragedies (1794), an annotated edition of Alexander Pope’s Homer (1796), and this, his Lucretius. He published his De Rerum Natura at his own expense.

The book established Wakefield as a leading British scholar. The large paper, folio edition was mostly destroyed by a fire in the printing-office in which they were stored.

Engraved portrait of Gilbert Wakefield on frontispiece. Bound in contemporary straight-grained black morocco, panelled covers with broad blind-tooled borders and gilt edges, spine with broad gilt rules and blindstamped decoration. Edition of fifty copies.

 

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Book of the Week – The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club

21 Monday Dec 2015

Posted by scott beadles in Book of the Week

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British, Chapman & Hall, Charles Dickens, drawings, Hablot K. Browne, London, novel, novels, Phiz, serialized

PR4569-A1-1836-CoverPR4569-A1-1836-TitlePR4569-A1-1836-pg132PR4569-A1-1836-pg254

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club…
Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
London: Chapman & Hall, 1836-37
First edition
PR4569 A1 1836

With the publication of his first novel, the Pickwick Papers, twenty-five year old Charles Dickens became famous overnight. It was published in monthly parts and the author supplied the installments as they were needed. The humorous tale was so successful that the print run had to be increased from four hundred at first to forty thousand by the fifteenth part. “Phiz,” Hablot K. Browne (1815-1882), illustrated many British novels in the 1830’s and 1840’s. For the serialized edition of Dickens’ Posthumous Papers he made detailed and vivacious drawings of both comic and dramatic scenes in nos. IV-XX.

 

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Book of the Week – A Fairy Garland

14 Monday Dec 2015

Posted by scott beadles in Book of the Week

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art, banknotes, book, British, Brontë, Cassel & Company, Charles Perrault, d'Aulnoy, designer, Ecole des Beaux Arts, Edmund Dulac, English, fairy, fairy tales, French, illustrator, law, London, magazine, novels, postage stamps, Puss 'n Boots, Queen Elizabeth II, sisters, stamp, twentieth century, University of Toulouse, University of Utah, World War II

PZ8-F1658-1928-TitlePZ8-F1685-1928-P&BPZ8-F1685-1928-bootsimagePZ8-F1685-1928-BluebirdPZ8-F1685-1928-BlueBirdImage

A FAIRY GARLAND, BEING FAIRY TALES…
Edmund Dulac (1882-1953)
London: Cassel & Company, Limited, 1928
PZ8 F1685 1928

A collection of fairy tales translated from French into English, including Charles Perrault’s “Puss ‘n Boots,” d’Aulnoy’s “The Blue Bird,” and Hamilton’s “Mayblossom.” Edmund Dulac was a French-born, British-naturalized magazine illustrator, book illustrator and stamp designer. While studying law at the University of Toulouse, he took courses from the Ecole des Beaux Arts. He chose art over law. He moved to London early in the twentieth century. In 1905, he received his first commission to illustrate the novels of the Brontë sisters. He designed banknotes during World War II and postage stamps, most notably those heralding the beginning of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign. Edition of one thousand copies. University of Utah copy is no. 653, signed by the author.

alluNeedSingleLine

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Continental Paper Currency, 1776

02 Thursday Jul 2015

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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American Congress, Benjamin Franklin, British, Chester County, colonies, colony, Congress, Continental Congress, Continental paper currency, Counterfeit, currency, Elisha Gallaudet, FUGIO, gold, Hall & Sellers, independence, Ivy Mills, pence, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, political revolution, pounds, shillings, silver, sovereignty, Spanish, sundial, war


CONTINENTAL PAPER CURRENCY, 1776
Philadelphia: Printed by Hall & Sellers, 1776

Loosely united in the midst of political revolution and war, the British colonies had no unity whatsoever in currency. Each colony began printing its own paper currency valued both in British-style pounds, shillings, and pence and in the universally familiar Spanish milled dollar. Each colony valued the Spanish dollar at wildly different rates.

In the early flush of independence, the Continental Congress decided to use currency as one indication of sovereignty by launching a standard currency for all the colonies. An emission totaling $4,000,000 payable in Spanish milled dollars, or the equivalent in gold or silver, was authorized by the congressional resolution of February 10, 1776. Of this, $1,000,000 was reserved for the first national fractional currency.

The front design on the fractional notes included the first use of the “FUGIO” (I fly) legend and sundial as well as the “Mind your Business” legend. The back showed the thirteen linked rings representing the colonies and the legends “We are one” and “American Congress.” These designs were created by Benjamin Franklin. The devices and border designs were cut by Elisha Gallaudet. On the fractional bills the dots in the corners of the front design reflected the denomination.

The first four emissions of Continental paper currency from May 10, 1775 through May 6, 1776, included a dollar bill. There was one signer, in red ink, on the fractional bills and two signers, using red and brown ink, on the dollar denominations. Counterfeit detectors for the dollar denominations were made on blue paper. The paper, made at Ivy Mills in Chester County, Pennsylvania, contained blue fibers and mica flakes.

On this bill is printed, “This bill entitles the bearer to receive three Spanish milled dollars, or the value thereof in gold or silver, according to a resolution of Congress, passed at Philadelphia, Nov. 2, 1776.”

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Book of the Week – Articles of Peace Between the Most Serene and…

18 Monday May 2015

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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British, Charles II, Christopher Barker, Francis Morison, Great Britain, Henry Hills, John Bill, John West, London, Nancymond Indians, Nottoways, Pamunkey, Rt. Hon. Herbert Jeffries, Sir John Berry, Thomas Newcomb, treaty, Virginia, Waonoke


Articles of Peace Between the Most Serene and…
Great Britain. Treaties, etc., 1660-1685 (Charles II)
London: Printed by John Bill, Christopher Barker, Thomas Newcomb and Henry Hills, printers to the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, 1677
First edition
E191 G78

For the signing of this treaty, the British government was represented by Rt. Hon. Herbert Jeffries, esq., lieutenant-governor of His Majesties colony of Virginia. Present were Sir John Berry and Francis Morison, esq., commissioners, and the Council of state of the colony. The treaty was signed, by marks, by the Queen of Pamunkey, the Queen of Waonoke, the King of the Nottoways, the King of the Nancymond Indians, and John West, son to the Queen of Pamunkey. University of Utah edition bound later by Riviere & son.

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Forty Years, in memoriam

30 Thursday Apr 2015

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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American, aquatint, Boulder, British, Buddha, C. David Thomas, China, Cochin China, collage, Colorado, communists, Cornwall, Daphne, Dong Ho, drawings, Earl of Macartney, Edinburgh Review, Emperor of China, English, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Fred Siegenthaler, French, Fulbright Scholar, George Schneeman (1934-2009), GI Bill, Granary Books, Hanoi, helicopter, Hermetic Press, Ho Chi Minh, HP Photosmart Pro B9180, Huu Mai, Indochina, injet printer, International Volunteer Services, Italy, J. Willard Marriott Library, Jeff Branin, John Balaban, John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, Kawabata Press, Korea, Lancashire, letterpress, London, love, magnesium plates, Massachusetts, Millbrook, Minneapolis, Muttenz, National Book Award, National Poetry Society of America, Nepal, New York, Norman Morrison, North Carolina State University, North Vietnam, Orient, Oxford, paper, papermaking, Phan Ke An, Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, philately, Philip Gallo, Pleiku, poems, portfolio, postage stamps, President, propaganda, puzzle, Raleigh, Rhamnoneron blansae, Rhode Island School of Design, Richard Nixon, Rives 300 gm, Robert McNamara, Robert W. Chandler, Sir John Barrow (1764-1848), South Hinksey, South Vietnam, Strand, Switzerland, T. Cadell, Ted Berrigan (1934-1983), Tet Offensive, Torpoint, United States, University of Minnesota, University of Tulsa, University of Utah, US Army, Verona, Vietnam, Vietnam War, Vietnamese, W. Davies, Walter Jones, wars, Wellesley, Westview Press, William Alexander, William Carlos Williams Award, woodblock printing



A Voyage to Cochinchina, in the Years 1792 and 1793: containing a general view of the valuable productions and political importance of this flourishing kingdom, and also of such European settlements as were visited on the voyage: with sketches of the manners, character, and condition of their several inhabitants…
Sir John Barrow (1764-1848)
London: Printed for T. Cadell and W. Davies in the Strand, 1806
First edition
DS506 B37 1806

John Barrow traveled with the Earl of Macartney to Cochin China, now known as Vietnam; Madeira; Jamaica; Rio de Janeiro; Java; and Djarkarta as part of the first British embassy to China, from 1792 to 1794. Barrow acted as official interpreter to the Emperor of China, who was contemptuous of the entire mission and dismissed it almost immediately. The Edinburgh Review, October 1806, was as underwhelmed with the Barrows book as the Emperor was with the British: “His views are often narrow, and oftener unsound…deceived by imperfect information.” Barrow had published a work on his travels to China in 1804 and was known as an expert on the Orient. His work evinced a belief in the superiority of British civilization. His extensive notes on Cochin China range from its history to particulars about its art, architecture, and religious ceremonies. According to Barrow the substance of his writings were taken from a manuscript memoir by Captain Barissy, a French naval officer who had commanded a frigate in the service of the King of Cochinchina. Barrow was the son of a Lancashire tanner, educated in the local grammar school. He became a teacher of mathematics to young men headed for a career in the navy. Illustrated with nineteen aquatint plates taken from drawings by William Alexander who also traveled with Macartney. This is the first illustrated English work on southern Vietnam.




The Beacon Banner: Short Stories about the War of Resistance in Vietnam
Huu Mai, et al.
Hanoi: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1964
First edition
PZ1 B356 PL4382 E2

Illustrations by Phan Ke An.




Vietnam Poems
John Balaban (b. 1943)
South Hinksey, Oxford: Carcanet Press, 1970
PS3552 A44 V5 1970

During the Vietnam War, John Balaban performed alternative service as a conscientious objector. He went with the International Volunteer Services to Vietnam where he taught until the Tet Offensive during which he was wounded in the shoulder by shrapnel. Balaban has been awarded The Academy of American Poets’ Lamont prize, a William Carlos Williams Award from the National Poetry Society of America, a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship and was twice nominated for the National Book Award. He was named the 2001-2004 National Artist for the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. In addition to writing, he is a translator of Vietnamese poetry. He is Poet-in-Residence and Professor of English in the creative writing program at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. Edition of six hundred copies.




Nam
Jeff Branin
Millbrook, Torpoint, Cornwall: Kawabata Press, 1981
PS3552 R318 N35 1981

Jeff Branin served a tour of duty in the Vietnam War in 1968 and 1969, building bunkers and latrines and serving as a replacement commanding officer. In these poems Branin writes of rocket attacks, casualties, atrocities against civilians and sexual misadventures using the jargon of the Vietnam-era US soldier.




War of Ideas: the U.S. Propaganda Campaign in Vietnam
Robert W. Chandler
Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1981
DS559.8 P65 C45 1981

This book focuses on advertisement techniques used as propaganda by the United States during the Vietnam War. Many of these pieces were taken by American anti-war campaigns for use in their own material. Chandler writes that US propaganda in Vietnam was targeted toward three groups: communists and communist supporters in South Vietnam, masses and elite in North Vietnam, and non-communists in South Vietnam. University of Utah copy gift of Walter Jones, as part of his Collection on the Vietnam and Indochina Wars, donated to the J. Willard Marriott Library in 2011.




In the Nam What Can Happen?
Ted Berrigan (1934-1983) and George Schneeman (1934-2009)
New York: Granary Books; Minneapolis: Hermetic Press, 1997
PS3552 E74 I656 1997

Ted Berrigan was a poet at the epicenter of the sixties literary underground. He served in the US Army, sent to Korea in 1954, where he did not see action. He earned a BA in 1959 and an MA in 1962 from the University of Tulsa under the GI Bill. George Schneeman received a BA in Philosophy and English Literature from St. Mary’s College, began graduate work in English Literature at the University of Minnesota and then enlisted in the US Army. Posted in Verona, Italy, Schneeman began painting. From the colophon: “First made as a one-of-a-kind collaborative book in 1967-68…The present edition is a simulation of the original…” From Granary Books: “The original was passed back and forth between Ted Berrigan and George Schneeman for about a year, remaining in the hands of one or the other for weeks or even months at a time – poet and artist each adding, subtracting, working over words and images. The material used were pen and ink, white acrylic paint and collage…The ‘finished’ project languished in a drawer in Schneeman’s studio on St. Mark’s Place for thirty years. Produced when the Vietnam War was rapidly escalating, this work is by turns surreal, incisive, hip, outrageous, cartoon-like, flip, sinister, humorous, dreamy, sarcastic, witty – always right on target – a vivid evocation of the times and the broad range of emotional responses to the War.” Letterpress printed in several colors from magnesium plates on Rives 300 gm paper by Philip Gallo at The Hermetic Press. Unbound gatherings in a plexiglass case. Edition of seventy copies, twenty lettered (a-t), hors de commerce. University of Utah copy is no. 42, signed by Berrigan and Schneeman.




Vietnamese Hand Papermaking and Woodblock Printing
Fred Siegenthaler
Muttenz, Switzerland: Paper Art, 2003
TS1095 V53 S54 2003

Fred Siegenthaler writes on the nearly extinct traditional manufacture of paper in Vietnam: processes of making inks, paper, and printing. The book includes paper and print samples from Dong Ho, a village famous for its woodblock printing, located just outside of Hanoi. Included are fourteen different original hand papers and six colored original woodcuts. From the colophon: “The text of this book is printed on paper made of Rhamnoneuron blansae…handmade multilayered Daphne paper from Nepal was used for the cover of the book.” Edition of fifty copies, signed by the author.


N7433.4-T478-C4-2009
Christ Meets Buddha
C. David Thomas
Wellesley, MA: C. David Thomas, 2009
N7433.4 T478 C4 2009

In 1968, C. David Thomas joined the US Army and was sent to Pleiku, South Vietnam as a combat engineer and artist. Thomas drew a picture of a fellow soldier’s girlfriend. In lieu of payment for the drawing he asked his friend, who worked in personnel, to change his records and shorten his stint in Vietnam from twelve to eleven months. Thomas was able to return to the United States weeks earlier than originally scheduled. The helicopter on which he routinely rode was shot down during what would have been the twelfth month of his tour of duty. There were no survivors. Thomas holds an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. He was a recipient of a Fulbright Scholar Grant to Vietnam. Thomas describes Christ Meets Buddha as autobiographical and a metaphor for his life. The digitally-created puzzle pieces contain religious imagery, war imagery, and family photographs. From the colophon: “These artist’s puzzle books are comprised of the six separate images…Each image is presented in its own linen box made by craftsmakers in Hanoi, Vietnam. All assembled puzzles are 29×23 inches made from twenty individual pieces. Each puzzle piece is printed using archival paper and ink by an HP Photosmart Pro B9180 inkjet printer. The pieces are then mounted on black felt and handcut…” Edition of ten copies. University of Utah copy is no. 1, signed by the author.




Postage Due: Forever Stamps
C. David Thomas
Wellesley, MA: C. David Thomas, 2009
N7433.4 T478 P67 2009

A series of unofficial postage stamps inspired by people and events from the Vietnam War era. From the introduction: “I never really thought about the importance of how we chose what images to place on our stamps until one day in 1995, when I went to the post office and asked for an interesting stamp. The woman behind the counter handed me a sheet of the recently issued Richard Nixon stamp. This stamp was issued only twenty years after he was forced to resign in disgrace as the 37th President of the United States. Needless to say, I handed them back to her with some choice words…in 1996 I went to the philately society in Hanoi, Viet Nam while doing research for a book on President Ho Chi Minh. I found dozens of stamps of Ho Chi Minh…and…a 1966 stamp depicting the shooting down of the 1,500 US aircraft brought down over North Viet Nam and one with the image of Norman Morrison, the man who immolated himself outside Robert McNamara’s office at the Pentagon. Just a few days before the US Post Office issued Robert Indiana’s LOVE stamp in 1973, the US heavily bombed the densely populated city Hanoi killing hundreds of innocent Vietnamese civilians…I have begun to understand the real power of this little jewel which may be the smallest form of propaganda available to all governments. These miniature posters travel all over the world…” Portfolio of unbound folded leaves issued in black linen box. Edition of twenty-five copies. University of Utah copy is no. 12, signed by the author.

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Book of the Week – The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

08 Monday Sep 2014

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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advertisements, American, bookstores, British, California, Canada, copyright, England, frontispiece, Hartford, London, manuscript, Mark Twain, piracy, prospectus, royalties, Samuel Clemens, San Francisco, subscription, Tom Sawyer, typewritten, United States, unpublished


The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
Hartford, CT: American Pub. Co.; San Francisco, CA: A. Roman, 1876
First American edition, first printing
PS1306-A1-1876

Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) wrote three different versions of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer between 1872 and 1875 before it was first published in London in June, 1876.

Many American authors preferred to have their books published first in England, since that was the only way to secure British copyright. First printings in England, and then the United States, usually occurred only a couple of months apart. In the case of Tom Sawyer, the delay was longer, frustrating Twain. Too much of a delay often resulted in piracy, which is exactly what happened in the case of this work. At least one pirated edition surfaced in July in Canada.

Twain believed that the delay and the piracy caused him loss in royalties. Tom Sawyer was reviewed unfavorably in the London Examiner, the day it came out. A July review in the literary magazine, The Atheneaum, was more kindly.

In December 1876, Tom Sawyer was printed in the United States and sold by subscription only. This was a common method of book distribution in the United States during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Book agents would cross the country with a publisher’s prospectus, selling and placing orders for as yet unpublished titles. Once the title was released the books would be delivered directly to subscriber’s homes. Only later editions were available in bookstores.

Tom Sawyer was not an immediate success. The American publisher sold only 24,000 copies in its first year. The pirated edition was not the only reason for poor sales. One book agent in California complained that the story, at only 274 pages, was not long enough. Potential subscribers apparently felt the same way.

Twain typed the manuscript for Tom, and later claimed that it was the first typewritten manuscript. Historians, however, believe that this distinction goes to Twain’s Life on the Mississippi. The frontispiece of the first American edition was drawn by Twain. Publisher’s advertisements, dated Dec. 1, 1876 on two leaves in back.

 

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Donations feature American Judaica

14 Wednesday May 2014

Posted by rarebooks in Donations

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advertisements, Ahitophel, American history, American Judaica, American Revolution, Barbados, bookstore, British, chocolate, Christian, Christianity, coffee, colonial British America, Congregational Church, Continental Army, Cork, economy, Europe, fig, France, genealogy, George Washington, ginger, goldsmith, Halle, Haym Solomon, Hebrew, Isaac Franks, Jewish, Jews, King David, King of Sweden, Long Island, Maine, Manhattan, molasses, Moors, Moses Cohen, Napoleon, New Jersey, New York, newspapers, Paris, Philadelphia, Poland, Portland, prunes, Prussia, Prussian, raisins, Rare Books Division, Ronald Rubin, rum, runaway apprentice, sherry, sugar, Talleyrand, tea, treaty, United States, vinegar, Yorktown

Dr. Ronald Rubin has donated five newspapers to the Rare Books Division with notices that depict American Judaica in late colonial British America and the early United States.

Dr. Rubin, with his frequent and diverse gifts to the Rare Books Division, helps add to the breadth and depth of our collections. Thank you, Dr. Rubin, for each of these important pieces of American history.

The Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser
Philadelphia
Saturday, April 26, 1783

Two Jewish brokers ran advertisements in this issue. Haym Solomon (1740-1784) informed readers that he arranged for Bills of Exchange with France. Isaac Franks (1759-1822), on George Washington’s staff during the American Revolution, invited the public to his office on Front Street where he bought and sold Bills of Exchange. Also advertised in this issue are a goldsmith, a bookstore, the sale of raisins and figs, and a reward for the return of a runaway apprentice. The lead story was the signing of a treaty between the King of Sweden and the United States, signed at Paris.

Haym Solomon immigrated to New York from Poland in 1772. In 1777, he married Rachel Franks, sister to Isaac. Solomon helped convert French loans into ready cash, aiding the Continental Army. Completely short of funds, George Washington is said to have made this direct order for help: “Send for Haym Solomon.” Solomon quickly raised $20,000 to help Washington conduct his Yorktown campaign, the final battle of the American Revolution.

Solomon’s obituary in the Philadelphia newspaper, Independent Gazetteer, described him as “an eminent broker of this city…a native of Poland, and of the Hebrew nation. He was remarkable for his skill and integrity in his profession, and for his generous and humane deportment.”

Although Isaac Franks was Jewish, he married into the Christian faith. At the age of 17, he joined the Continental Army and fought the British in the battles of Long Island. Captured in Manhattan, he escaped to New Jersey where he joined Washington. The Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser was founded in 1767.

The Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser, 1783
The Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser,1783
The Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser,1783

The Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser
Philadelphia
Tuesday, August 8, 1786

In an advertisement on the front page of this issue of The Pennsylvania Packet, broker Moses Cohen informed his readers that he had moved his office. Also advertised in this issue were voyages to Cork, Barbados, and other ports; the sale of a schooner; a lost and found notice; the lease of homes; the sale of a Negro; the services of a private tutor; the lease of a forge; the sale of sugar, rum, port wine and sherry; groceries such as molasses, tea, coffee, chocolate, ginger, vinegar, prunes and raisins; cotton cloths including chintzes, calicos, and jeans; and the burglary of a store.

Moses Cohen opened one of the first employment agencies in the newly formed United States. For 18 cents, Cohen would contact workers about job openings. Through his brokerage, Cohen also sold cloth.

The Pennsylvania Packet was founded in 1771 as a weekly. In 1784 the paper became a daily publication, adding “and Daily Advertiser”to its title. This was the first daily newspaper printed in the United States. On September 21, 1796, it was the first to publish George Washington’s “Farewell Address.”

The Pennsylvania Packet, 1786

The Pennsylvania Packet, 1786

United States Gazette for the Country
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
December 11, 1806

An article, in the form of a translated letter, enthusiastically reported what Jews in Europe felt about Napoleon’s recent triumph over Prussian troops, including a genealogy connecting Napoleon to King David: “From him is our emperor and king descended, of this doth he now make his boast, and called us together, to prove his high descent and restore Sion. And he has also vouchsafed to inform us that the great Talleyrand is no less a personage that the sage Ahitophel resuscitated, to regulate the world by his counsels; who hath in his turn made known unto us, that the emperour and king with his whole court will in grand gala, in presence of the empress, and queens, and all the princesses of his august House, submit to the operation enjoined by our holy law; and moreover he hath commanded the pope and cardinals in full conclave, together with all the kings of his creation, to submit to a curtailment, which will secure to us a complete triumph over the uncircumcised!”

The United States Gazette for the Country was published between 1823 and 1847.

United States’ Gazette, 1806
United States’ Gazette, 1806

Salem Gazette
Salem, Massachusetts
June 12, 1817

A front page report by an anonymous writer described an ancient battle to the death between six Jews traveling with loaded donkeys and a group of Moors in a place called, for this reason, “The Jews Leap.” “It is,” said the writer, “enough to produce dizziness, even in the head of a sailor, and if I had been told the story before getting on this frightful ridge, I am not certain but that my imagination might have disturbed my faculties, and rendered me incapable of proceeding with safety along this perilous path.”

The Salem Gazette was founded in 1790. Other front page news included a report on the European economy and an essay on courage.

Salem Gazette,1817

Salem Gazette,1817

Christian Mirror
Portland, Maine
November 28, 1828

The Christian Mirror was published between 1822 and 1829 on behalf of the Congregational Church in Maine. Its focus, as the name suggests, was Christianity. In this issue, a front page article, in the form of a letter written from Halle, discussed the problems facing the American Society for Meliorating of the Jews in Prussia and Poland.

Christian Mirror, 1828

Christian Mirror, 1828

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Fighting Words: American Revolutionary War Pamphlets

10 Friday Aug 2012

Posted by rarebooks in Physical Exhibitions

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Alison Conner, American, battles, Benjamin Franklin, British, colonists, Concord, exhibition, fight, imperialists, J. Willard Marriott Library, Lexington, pamphlet, pamphleteers, pamphlets, print, revolution, revolutionary, Special Collections Gallery, Thomas Paine, William Pitt

Fighting Words, 2012

Fighting Words, 2012

August 10–September 23

Exhibition: Fighting Words: American Revolutionary War Pamphlets

Curator: Alison Conner

Location: Special Collections Gallery, J. Willard Marriott Library, level 4

Gallery hours: Monday–Friday, 8:00–6:00; Saturday, 9:00–6:00; Hours differ during University breaks and holidays.

The exhibition is FREE and open to the public.

Before the first shots were fired at the battle of Lexington and Concord, American colonists and British Imperialists had already begun to fight in print. Words could not win physical battles but they could fight on the ideological front. American and British pamphleteers struggled to determine the meaning of the revolution and what winning meant. Ultimately they would define what it meant to be an American. Fighting Words chronicles the pamphlet war from both sides of the Atlantic, and includes pieces by Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, William Pitt, and many more.

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