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Tag Archives: Philadelphia

Book of the Week — Movies as a Form of Reincarnation

05 Tuesday Jun 2018

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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Archie Rand, Caslon Antique, Evil of Frankenstein, Granary Books, hand-colored, Iris 3047, John Yau, Judith Ivry, Lyson Quad-Black Neutral ink, New York City, Philadelphia, photocollage, Silicon Gallery Fine Arts Prints, Somerset Book


“Because you thought I was given the key to that library, becoming in that regard its keeper, I was able to become a triumphant blur, an unmistakeable hum in the night. These are the corridors where I wandered, a shrouded, lightning haunted landscape at the edge of sight, a ruined world, that memory, that deceiver, cannot shake loose.” — John Yau

Movies as a Form of Reincarnation
John Yau and Archie Rand
New York City: Granary Books, 2004
PS3575 A9 M68 2004

Text by John Yau. From the colophon: “Images are digitally manipulated photocollages created and hand-colored by Archie Rand. The book was designed at Granary Books: the types used are Caslon Antique and Evil of Frankenstein; Silicon Gallery Fine Arts Prints in Philadelphia printed the book on the Iris 3047 using Lyson Quad-Black Neutral ink. The text stock is Somerset Book 175 gsm. Bound in cloth over boards by Judith Ivry in New York City during the summer of 2004.” Edition of forty copies (1-25 for sale; 26-40 hors commerce) each signed by the poet and the artist. Rare Books copy is no. 29.

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Stop and Smell the (Arctic) Flowers

30 Wednesday May 2018

Posted by rarebooks in Uncategorized

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19th century, Abraham Small, Alaska, American, animals, Arctic, Atlantic Ocean, bookplate, botany, British Royal Navy, Brooklyn, Canadian Arctic Archipelago, climate, Department of Botany, drawings, Elisha Kent Kane, Emily Dickinson, Europe, explorers, Exquimaux, fauna, flora, Fury, George Frances Lyon, Greenland, Gripper, Hecla, Henry Parkyns Hoppner, ice, icebergs, illustrations, Inuit, James Christie, James Clark Ross, James Walsh, John Ross, Keeper of the Herbaria, lichen, London, Lyuba Basin, moss, New York, Nicholas Polunin, North America, Northwest Passage, Norwegian, Oxford, Philadelphia, Roald Amundsen, scurvy, ships, Sir John Franklin, William Edward Parry, William Parry

As if some little Arctic flower
Upon the polar hem –
Went wandering down the Latitudes
Until it puzzled came
To continents of summer –
To firmaments of sun –
To strange, bright crowds of flowers –
And birds, of foreign tongue!
– Emily Dickinson

The Northwest Passage was the name given to the sea route which connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific along the northern coast of North America via the waterways in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Toward the end of the 15th century and into the 20th century, colonial powers from Europe sent their best explorers on countless attempts to discover a commercial route, with many failing and turning back and others ending in disaster. The first successful journey was made in 1906 by a Norwegian explorer named Roald Amundsen, completing the passage from Greenland to Alaska.

Prior to Amundsen, notable captains such as John Ross, Elisha Kent Kane, James Clark Ross and William Parry explored separate parts of the Northwest Passage in the first half of the 19th century.  Parry’s first voyage was, without a doubt, the most successful in the search for the passage and his second and third attempts continued to uncover new information about the mysterious archipelago, including research on climate, flora and fauna. In fact, the notes taken by Parry and his shipmates and recorded in three separate journals contributed to crucial research in botany, among other natural sciences.


Journal of a Voyage of the Discovery of a North-West Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific
William Edward Parry
Philadelphia: Abraham Small, 1821
First American Edition
G635 P3 A3 1821


Between 1821-1825 three ships from the British Royal Navy, the Fury, Hecla, and the Gripper, took three separate journeys into the Arctic under the leadership of Captain Parry and Captains John Ross and George Frances Lyon. While their expeditions proved to be successful, they were not without tragedy as scurvy became common and ships were often stuck in ice for weeks on end. Narratives of the journeys were published in London and Philadelphia, respectively, with detailed accounts of the days on board as well as their interactions with the Inuit, described as Esquimaux in the journals.


Journal of a Third Voyage of the Discovery of a North-West Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific
William Edward Parry
Philadelphia: H.C. Carey I. Lea, 1826
First American Edition
G650 1824 P31


A Brief Narrative of an Unsuccessful Attempt to Reach Repulse Bay
G.F. Lyon
London: J. Murray, 1825
First Edition
G 650 1824 L9 1825


In addition, the journals included spectacular illustrations of the ships amid the looming icebergs and intricate appendices which accounted for the varieties of animals and plants that they encountered along the way. Among one of the shipmates that helped with the drawings and collecting data was Henry Parkyns Hoppner, listed as ‘lieutenant’ on the Griper in the first journal’s roster. Hoppner accompanied Parry on all three expeditions, first as a lieutenant on the Griper and Hecla, and later promoted to second in command on the Fury in the last voyage. Although Hoppner never received the kind of international acclaim as his Captains, his creative and artistic role on board as illustrator and actor proved to leave an impression.

Collection of Plants Found in the Arctic Regions…
Henry Parkyns Hoppner (1795 – 1833)
Publisher not identified, 1821
QK 474 H66

Impressions are also what we find in this small and unassuming book. From each of the pressed flowers, a ghostly accompaniment is imprinted on the opposite page, hinting at traces of life as much from the colorful flowers as from the hands of the shipmate who collected them. Impressions are also present as the handwritten notes inked on the beginning and end pages of the book. With no bibliographic information, we can only look to a small note which describes the book as “a collection of plants found in the Arctic Sections … made by Captain Hopner … 2nd in command of H.M.S. “Fury” … The “Fury” and “Hecla” (Captain Lyon) sailed to discover the N.W. passage May 1821.” Following the description, the book is addressed to Hoppner’s friend James Christie.

Attached to a page, there is also a miniature envelope that holds “moss which Franklin and his party had as their only food.” It is possible that this note alludes to the failed overland expeditions in the Arctic lead by Sir John Franklin between 1819-1822. During this time, Franklin lost more than half of the men in his party to starvation and, in order to survive, the remainder of his crew ate lichen, with some attempting to eat their own leather boots. Furthermore, there were rumors of cannibalism and at least one murder reported.

In addition to the handwritten notes, a bookplate on the first page suggests that sometime during the mid-20th century the book was held in the Department of Botany in Oxford while Nicholas Polunin was the Keeper of the Herbaria, which is now almost four hundred years old. While lecturing at Oxford, Polunin traveled to the Canadian Arctic as a botanist on an expedition that discovered the last major islands to be added to the world’s map.

Polunin was well recognized for his research and publications, specifically Circumpolar Artic Flora which was published in 1959. This book helped inspire James Walsh’ modern herbaria, The Arctic Plants of New York City, which “combines personal letters, poetry, prose essay, scholarly research, botanical exploration and artistic investigation,” of plants gather in Brooklyn, New York. The bibliography includes a reproduction of the index from Polunin’s work, in which the author has marked in red pen the eighty-eight Arctic plants that occur in New York City.

The Arctic Plants of New York City
James Walsh
New York: Granary Books, 2015
QK177 W35 2015

From the publisher’s website: “The Arctic Plants of New York City […] ranges from the Doctrine of Signatures to the sleep of plants, and from Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Muir on mental travel to Giacomo Leopardi and Charles Baudelaire on the necessity of illusion for art and life. Interspersed throughout the book are a number of two-page spreads that focus on a single plant, such as Common Mugwort, with a mounted botanical specimen of that plant surrounded by texts drawn from earlier writers on botany and set in verse, creating a field of word-objects interacting with plant-objects. The letters that open the book lead into a prose essay that touches on the souls of plants, their use in medicine and as spurs to mental travel, their transience, their migrations, their meaning.” Written, designed, and letterpress printed by James Walsh, with eighteen botanical specimens pressed and mounted by the author. Bound by Daniel Kelm at Wide Awake Garage. Edition of forty copies, 34 of which are for sale.

~Contributed by Lyuba Basin, Rare Books

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A Donation Highlights Jewish Contributions to Commerce in Early America

20 Monday Nov 2017

Posted by rarebooks in Donations

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abolitionism, advertisement, America, American, army, Bank of the United States, broker, Charleston, commerce, Congregation Mikveh Israel, Congress, Cornwallis, delegates, donation, Dr. Ronald Rubin, Dunlap's American Daily Advertiser, duty, England, financier, Frankfurt, George Washington, Germany, Haym Salomon, Isaac Franks, Jewish, levy, Levy Department Store, newspapers, Nones and Cohen, Philadelphia, Rhode Island, Solomon Lyons, South Carolina, Southern Union, stock brokers, The Charleston Mercury, The Independent Gazetteer, The Pennyslvania Packet

Dr. Ronald Rubin has donated four issues of early American newspapers highlighting Jewish contributions to commerce.


The Pennsylvania Packet, Philadelphia, October 9, 1781, features an advertisement by Haym Salomon, broker, considered the Financier of the American Revolution.

In the news that day, a report on the war from September 28:

“Gen. Washington sent in a flag to lord Cornwallis directing him not to destroy his shipping or warlike stores, as he would answer it at his peril. The early capture of the out-posts will greatly accelerate the future operations of our army.”


The Independent Gazetteer, or the Chronicle of Freedom, Philadelphia, February 4, 1783, contains an advertisement by Philadelphia stock brokers Isaac Franks, and Nones and Cohen.

In the news that day, a letter from the editor regarding vesting “power to Congress to levy, for the use of the United States, a duty of 5 per cent…on all goods, wares, and merchandise, of foreign growth and manufacture, etc….” to which the author against Rhode Island’s demurs: “If the Congress of America was a body of individual permanency, there might just cause of jealousy; but, when it is considered, that every member is annually nominated by assemblies, who are themselves also annually chosen by the people, I cannot perceive the least ground of danger; nay, I believe in most of the states, the delegates to Congress are revocable at pleasure: so that evil of misapplied power may be check as soon as it appears.”


Dunlap’s American Daily Advertiser, Philadelphia, May 9, 1791, features an advertisement by Solomon Lyons, a prominent Colonial-era broker and financier. Lyons was born in 1760 in Frankfurt, Germany and died in 1812 in Philadelphia, having raised a family of six children and being an active participant with Congregation Mikveh Israel.

In the news that day, an observation from a correspondent:

“The Bank of the United States may justly be considered as a proposition made to the monied interest, foreign and domestic — & in fact, appears to both in a very favourable point of light – the latter, from every information, are making great preparations to subscribe, and the terms are so advantages that no equal object of speculation is perhaps presented in any quarter of the globe to the former.


The Charleston Mercury, Charleston, South Carolina, February 13, 1856, contains a front page illustration of Levy Department Store.

In the news that day, a piece on abolitionism:

“…the Southern States shall become strong. Then, like the barons of England in similar circumstances, that they be able to demand their rights under the magna charta of the land, or, failing to secure these, to dissolve their connection with a hostile and lawless section. Glorious, indeed, according to our view, would be the result of Southern Union…”

Thank you, Dr. Rubin, for years of your wonderful gifts!

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The Risk of Being Less Free

04 Tuesday Jul 2017

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Alexander Hamilton, Articles of Confederation, Benjamin Warner, Charleston, Chief Justice of the United States, Constitution of the United States, Constitutional Convention, engravings, James Madison, John Jay, New York, New-York Packet, Philadelphia, portraits, President of the United States, Publius, Richmond, Ronald Rubin, Secretary of the Treasury, South Carolina, The Daily Advertiser, The Federalist, The Independent Journal, The New-York Journal, Virginia, war

JK154-1788-title
“The violent destruction of life and property incident to war, the continual effort and alarm attendant on a state of continual danger, will compel nations the most attached to liberty to resort for repose and security to institutions which have a tendency to destroy their civil and political rights. To be more safe, they at length become willing to run the risk of being less free.”
― Alexander Hamilton

The Federalist: A Collection of Essays…
Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804), James Madison (1751-1836), and John Jay (1745-1829)
New-York: Printed and sold by J. and A. M’Lean, no.41, Hanover-square, M,DCC,LXXXVIII (1788)
First edition
JK154 1788

Although written for the purpose of supporting New York state’s ratification of the Constitution of the United States, these essays were eventually published together as The Federalist and were soon recognized for their brilliant commentary on the new republican charter. The use of The Federalist as a tool for interpreting the Constitution began before it was officially ratified and has continued to the present day. The Federalist is the fundamental document left by the framers of the Constitution as a guide to their philosophy and intentions.

Alexander Hamilton was the principal force behind the pro-ratification pamphlets, enlisting fellow New Yorker John Jay and Virginian James Madison as coauthors of the essays. The individual responsible for each essay is not clear. The first essay by “Publius” (the pen name for all three authors) appeared in the 27 October 1787 issue of The Independent Journal, and all or some of the subsequent numbers were also printed in the New-York Packet, The Daily Advertiser, and The New-York Journal. The first thirty-six Federalist essays were collected and published by the M’Lean brothers in March 1788 and the final forty-nine, along with the text of the Constitution, followed in a second volume in May. The last eight essays were printed in book form before they appeared in newspapers. In all, the essays represent one of the most important American contributions to political theory.

The first edition of the collection was of five hundred copies, fifty of which were purchased by Hamilton and sent to Virginia. The sale of the others was poor. The publisher complained in October 1788, long after New York had ratified the Constitution, that they still had several hundred copies unsold.


The Federalist, On the New Constitution, Written in 1778, by Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Jay, and Mr. Madison
Philadelphia: Published by Benjamin Warner, No. 147, Market street, and sold at his stores, Richmond, Virginia, and Charleston, South Carolina, 1818
Fifth Edition
KF4515 F4 1818

Despite the poor sales of the first edition, The Federalist was published again and nearly continuously to the present day. The fifth edition of The Federalist contains an appendix of the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution of the United States with Amendments, not found in the fourth edition. The Philadelphia imprint contains revisions by Madison, along with his claims of authorship of some of the essays previously attributed to Hamilton. This is the second single-volume edition printed, complete with full-page engraved portraits of Hamilton, Madison and Jay. It was published the same year as a Washington, D.C. imprint.

Federalist1818-JamesMadison

James Madison became the fourth President of the United States.

Federalist1818-AlexanderHamilton

Alexander Hamilton, who had represented New York at the Constitutional Convention, became the nation’s first Secretary of the Treasury, holding the post until he resigned in 1795.

Federalist1818-JohnJay

John Jay became the first Chief Justice of the United States in 1789, stepping down in 1795 to become governor of New York, a post he held for two terms, until retiring in 1801.

Rare Books copy of fifth edition is gift of Dr. Ronald Rubin.

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Boom!

04 Monday Jul 2016

Posted by rarebooks in Uncategorized

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American, Benjamin Franklin, Bill of Rights, Boston, Boston Gazette, Boston Massacre, British, colonial, colonies, David Hume, Dunlap, Edmund Burke, England, Great Britain, independence, John Adams, John Wesley, Josiah Quincy, London, monarchy, pamphlet, Philadelphia, Richard Price, Stamp Act, tuberculosis, William Pitt

“…that sacred blessing of Liberty, without which man is a beast, and government a curse”

E263-M4-Q7-1774-title

“No free government was ever founded or ever preserved its liberty without uniting the characters of the citizen and soldier in those destined for the defence of the state…such are a well-regulated militia…who take up arms to preserve their purposes, as individuals, and their rights as freemen.”

OBSERVATIONS ON THE ACT OF PARLIAMENT…
Josiah Quincy (1744-1775)
Boston, N.E., Printed for and sold by Edes and Gill, 1774
First edition

Attorney Josiah Quincy, a Boston native, wrote a series of anonymous articles for the Boston Gazette in which he opposed the Stamp Act and other British colonial policies. His evenhandedness, however, in his approach to the troubles between the American colonies and England, served him and the colonial stance well. He, along with John Adams, defended the British soldiers in their trial after the Boston Massacre. That act aside, in Observations, Quincy urged “patriots and heroes” to “form a compact for opposition…For, under God, we are determined that wheresoever, whensoever, and howsoever we shall be called to make our exit, we will die free men.” In the same year as this publication, Quincy went to England to argue the colonial cause. He died of tuberculosis on the way home in sight of land.

E211-P9625-1776-title

“Our own people, being unwilling to enlist, and the attempts to procure armies of Russians, Indians, and Canadians having miscarried; the utmost force we can employ, including foreigners…This is the force that is to conquer…determined men fighting on their own ground, within sight of their houses and families, and for that sacred blessing of Liberty, without which man is a beast, and government a curse. All history proves, that in such a situation, a handful is a match for millions.”

OBSERVATIONS ON THE NATURE OF CIVIL LIBERTY…
Richard Price (1723-1791)
London printed 1776; Philadelphia, Re-printed and sold by J. Dunlap, 1776?

Richard Price, radical in his religious and political views, was well-known in Great Britain as a writer on economic and political issues. A close friend of William Pitt, David Hume, and Benjamin Franklin, he became one of Britain’s most vocal supporters of American independence. Several thousand copies of Observations were sold within a few days. The pamphlet both extolled the rights of the American colonists and excoriated the British crown. Harshly criticized by John Wesley, Edmund Burke, and others, the controversy quickly made Price a celebrity. Price argued that governments held their power in trust from the people and were not instruments of divine authority. The monarchy of England, he said, was only legitimate because it ruled by consent of the people under England’s Bill of Rights. The revolutionaries in the American colonies were merely asserting the same principle. His pamphlet played no small part in encouraging the colonists to declare independence. In 1778 he was invited by Congress to go to America and assist in the financial administration of the states. He refused the offer, unwilling to quit his own country.

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Rare Books receives donation of historic issue of Independent Chronicle and Universal Advertiser

13 Wednesday Jan 2016

Posted by rarebooks in Donations

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abolition, American, Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Boston, citizens, congregation, Court-house, December, donation, Dr. Ronald Rubin, Ebenezer Rhoades, eulogy, Farewell Address, freedom, George Washington, gift, Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser, pastor, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, President, Printing-House, proprietor, rare books, Richard Allen, Ronald Rubin, sermon, slaves, Sunday, The University of Utah, Underground Railroad, Whipple

Independent-Chronicle

THE INDEPENDENT CHRONICLE AND THE UNIVERSAL ADVERTISER
Boston: Ebenezer Rhoades (for the proprietor) at the Printing-Office opposite the Court-House, Court-Street, vol. XXXII, number 1964, Monday, January 13 to Thursday, January 16, 1800

The front page of this issue begins with a eulogy for George Washington by the Rev. Richard Allen, pastor of the Bethel (Pennsylvania) African Methodist Episcopal Church. This church, founded by Allen and others in 1797, was the first Methodist church in the United States opened specifically for African Americans. Richard Allen was born into slavery in 1760. Benjamin Chew, a Quaker attorney, owned the Allen family, then sold the family to Stokeley Sturgis, a planter in Delaware. Allen was converted to Methodism by an itinerant preacher. Sturgis, apparently influenced by Allen, also became a Methodist. After his conversion, Sturgis offered to let his slaves buy their freedom. After working odd jobs for five years, in 1783, Allen purchased his own freedom for $2000. Through Methodist connections, he was invited to Philadelphia in 1786, where he joined a church and became active in teaching and preaching. A growing congregation of African Americans caused the white congregation so much discomfort that they began segregating seating and services. Allen and several others formed their own church in 1787. Allen opened a day school for African Americans and worked actively for abolition of slavery. His home was a stop in the Underground Railroad. Allen died in 1831. In his eulogy for George Washington, believed to be the first by a black minister for an American president, Allen wrote, “We, my friends, have a peculiar case to bemoan our loss. To us he has been the sympathizing friend and tender father. He has watched over us, and viewed our degraded and afflicted state with compassion and pity – his heart was not insensible to our sufferings.” This was part of a sermon he delivered on Sunday, December 29, 1799. Allen referred to the fact that Washington freed his slaves and asked that his congregation adhere to the “laws of the land” as Washington asked of United States citizens in his Farewell Address, “Your observance…will…greatly promote the cause of the oppressed…” Our copy inscribed by “Col. Whipple.” University of Utah copy gift of Dr. Ronald Rubin.

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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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Curiosity Killed the Cat

16 Thursday Apr 2015

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Ben Jonson, Cambridge, Christmas, Church of England, E. Brewster, Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, England, English, Every Man in His Humour, G. Conyers, George Wither, H. Herringman, Henry Altemus, Horace, Innominate Press, James I, Kentucky, London, Louisville, M. Wotton, Much Ado About Nothing, Philadelphia, R. Chiswell, Robert Allot, T. Bassett, The New Inn, Thomas Cotes, Thomas Hodgkin, Trinity Hall, William Shakespeare


“Helter skelter, hang sorrow, care’ll kill a Cat, up-tails all, and a Louse for the Hangman.”

THE WORKS OF BEN JONSON WHICH WERE FORMERLY PRINTED IN TWO VOLUMES…
Ben Jonson (1573?-1637)
London: Printed by Thomas Hodgkin for H. Herringman, E. Brewster, T. Bassett, R. Chiswell, M. Wotton, G. Conyers, MDCXCII
Third folio

The Works of Ben Jonson was first published in 1616 in folio. It was reprinted in 1640. Both of these editions appeared in two volumes. This, the third folio, is the first Works to appear in one volume. The 1692 edition includes a comedy, “The New Inn,” appearing in the Works for the first time. Ben Jonson was a friend of William Shakespeare. In 1616, James I granted Jonson a pension, giving him a stature close to what might be termed the first Poet Laureate of England. That same year, the publication of his collected works, in folio format, helped elevate the acceptance of drama as literature. The 1692 folio contains Jonson’s plays and poetry, translations of Horace, and a collection of leges convivales, or rules of the house, used in the tavern where Jonson spent much time, this last also added to the Works for the first time. In the third folio, the “care’ll kill a Cat” line is in Act I, scene 4 of “Every Man in His Humour,” written in 1598. William Shakespeare acted in its first performance. The line in its earliest printed iteration uses the word “pox,” not “Louse.”


PR2751-A2-1632-pg-122

“What, courage man! what though care killed a cat, thou hast mettle enough in thee to kill care.”

[MR. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S COMEDIES, HISTORIES, AND TRAGEDIES: PUBLISHED…]
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
London: Printed by Tho. Cotes for Robert Allot, 1632
“The second impression”

About one year after Jonson wrote and produced “Every Man in His Humour,” William Shakespeare used a similar quote in his play, “Much Ado About Nothing.”



“Care killed the Cat. It is said that ‘a cat has nine lives,’ yet care would wear them all out.”

DICTIONARY OF PHRASE AND FABLE: GIVING THE DERIVATION, SOURCE, OR ORIGIN OF…
Ebenezer Cobham Brewer (1810-1897)
Philadelphia: Henry Altemus Co., 1898
New ed., rev., corrected, and enl., to which is added a concise bibliography of English literature
“Altemus edition”

Ebenezer Cobham Brewer attended Trinity Hall, Cambridge where he received his degree in law in 1835. He was ordained as a reverend in the Church of England in 1838. In 1856, he began putting together his “dictionary of phrase and fable.” Among many sources, he used correspondence with readers of his previous work, Guide to the Scientific Knowledge of Things Familiar (1841). Dictionary was first published in 1870, with a first revised edition in 1894. The work became so well-known that it is referred to simply as “Brewer.”

Since we are as curious as cats, here are a few more cat references from “Brewer:”

Cat I’ the Adage (The). The adage referred to is, the cat loves fish, but does not like to wet her paws.
– Letting I dare not wait upon I would,
Like the poor cat I’ the adage
Shakespeare, Macbeth [Shakespeare, again!]

Cat Proverbs.
A cat has nine lives. A cat is more tenacious of life than other animals, because it generally lights upon its feet.


And one more makes nine:


A CHRISTMAS CAROL

George Wither
Louisville, KY: Innominate Press, 1971
PR2392 .C4 1971

Shakespeare is coming! The First Folio will arrive at the City Library in October.

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Book of the Week/ Donation – Independent Chronicle and Universal Advertiser

16 Monday Feb 2015

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week, Donations

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"Light-Horse Harry" Lee, A. C. Hanson, Baltimore Federal Republican, Boston, Cambridge, Confederate, Congress, Continental Army, Dr. Ronald Rubin, Ebenezer Rhoades, George Washington, Henry Lee, Independent Chronicle and Universal Advertiser, John Adams, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Robert E. Lee, Salem, The Essex Gazette, The New-England Chronicle, Uniform Monday Holiday Act, United States, University of Utah, War of 1812, Whiskey Rebellion

Independent Chronicle, 1800Independent Chronicle and Universal Advertiser
Boston: Ebenezer Rhoades, 1800

“First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen, he was second to none in the humble and endearing scenes of private life: pious, just, humane, temperate and sincere; uniform, dignified and commanding, his example was as edifying to all around him, as were the effects of that example lasting.”

George Washington’s death, late in 1799, evoked hundreds of funeral orations from all over the United States. Of these, that of Henry Lee, delivered before Congress on December 26, 1799 in Philadelphia, is the most memorable. His eulogy was re-printed in newspapers throughout the nation, and in pamphlets printed on the continent and overseas. The eulogy covered nearly the entire front page of newspapers.

As in many newspapers, this issue included “A Proclamation” signed by then-President John Adams setting aside February 22, Washington’s birthday, for the public to “testify their grief for the death of General George Washington.” In 1885, February 22 was declared a federal holiday. The date was changed to the third Monday of February in 1971 following Uniform Monday Holiday Act.

“Light-Horse Harry” Lee had been summoned by Washington in 1776 to join the Continental Army. In 1778, Washington promoted Lee to the rank of major and gave him command of a small corps of irregulars. Lee’s leadership of these troops earned him his nickname. In 1794 Washington sent him to command the suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania. From 1799 to 1801 he served in Congress.

Lee helped his friend A.C. Hanson, editor of the Baltimore Federal Republican which opposed the War of 1812, resist a mob attack. In the melee he received injuries from which he never recovered. Lee served a year in debtor’s prison. He was the father of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

The Independent Chronicle (1776-1840) originated in 1768 as The Essex Gazette in Salem and The New-England Chronicle in Cambridge which joined forces in Boston. In 1820 it had the distinction of being Boston’s oldest running newspaper.

University of Utah copy gift of Dr. Ronald Rubin.

alluNeedSingleLine

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Book of the Week – Notes on the State of Virginia

19 Tuesday Aug 2014

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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Comte de Buffon, deportation, education, emancipation, Enlightenment, geography, Georges-Louis Leclerc, Indian tribes, liberty, map, Mathew Carey, nature, New World, patriotism, Philadelphia, Samuel Lewis, slavery, slaves, Thomas Jefferson, United States of America, Virginia


Notes on the State of Virginia
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
Philadelphia: Printed for Mathew Carey, 1794
Second American edition

The second American edition of Notes included a large folding map of Virginia made by Samuel Lewis not in the first edition and a folding chart listing Indian tribes. Written in the form of answers to questions about Virginia, Notes contains information about the geography and social and political life of Virginia. Jefferson also used it as a forum for patriotism, expressing great optimism in regard to the future of the fledgling United States of America.

He supported this argument with a dissertation about the nature of the good society as reflected in his home state of Virginia. He discussed constitutional principles such as the separation of church and state, the importance of the system of checks and balances in a constitutional government and the need and right for individual liberty.

Jefferson passionately refuted a theory posited by the contemporary French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788), who stated that nature – plant life, animal life and human life – degenerated in the New World.

In two different chapters, Jefferson discussed slavery, with tortuous attempts to explain and justify American slavery. Jefferson, in fact, held sway with contemporary Enlightenment belief that blacks were inferior to whites (whites were more beautiful and more intelligent). He argued for the mass deportation of slaves toward the common good of whites and blacks, slavery being demoralizing to both races. He suggested education and emancipation for slaves, and then colonization of emancipated slave children outside of the United States. Very outside, in fact. He did not suggest that they colonize any part of the North American continent.

 

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