Descriptions of new-to-AAS items recently acquired
The Comical Boys. Philadelphia: J.B. Keller, [ca. 1852] John B. Keller, like his New York counterparts Philip J. Cozans and Elton & Co., specialized in publishing cheap picture books with brashly hand-colored wood engravings. Comical Boys chronicles the misadventures of boys, as in the case of poor Christopher Crow, who ran into a pump handle. The ...
Dennie, Joseph. Papers, 1789-1790. Joseph Dennie (1768-1812) was born in Boston. After graduating from Harvard College, Dennie studied law in Charlestown, NH. Two years later he began contributing essays to newspapers in New Hampshire and Vermont. In 1796 he became editor of Isaiah Thomas’s The Farmer’s Weekly Museum and continued writing essays. In 1799 Dennie moved ...
Campaign Journal. Providence, RI. April 1, 1861. This rare campaign newspaper, published by the Providence Journal, supported a slate of Republican candidates for state office. One of the candidates was Sullivan Ballou, a successful lawyer and up-and-coming politician in Rhode Island, and a strong supporter of Abraham Lincoln. During the Civil War he dropped all political ...
An die freyen Erwa?hler von Berks County. Reading, PA, [ca. 1823] This German-language broadside from Berks County, PA, celebrates the life and achievements of Andrew Gregg (1755-1835). Gregg had served in the Delaware militia during the Revolutionary War and was elected a Congressman and Senator for Pennsylvania from 1807 to 1813. By 1823, Gregg had been ...
Egyptian mummy. To be exhibited at the house of [ ]. Ithaca, NY: Mack and Andrus, [between 1825 and 1828] Only known copy, previously unrecorded, of this 8-page promotional pamphlet. Early in 1826, two Egyptian mummies cleared customs in New York on their way to Peale’s Museum and Gallery of Fine Arts on Broadway. One mummy ...
Barbauld, Anna Letitia. Lessons for Children, from Two to Three Years Old. Boston: S. Hall, 1800. This is an unrecorded title, drawn from English writer Anna Letitia Barbauld’s series of Lessons for Children written for youngsters between the ages of two and six. They are written as a series of dialogs between a child (frequently a ...
Ashtabula Telegraph. Record Book, 1849-1853. The Ashtabula (OH) Telegraph was founded in 1846. The publisher was N. W. Thayer and the editor was W. E. Scarsdale. This ledger of nearly 300 pages covers the years 1849-1853 and details Thayer’s accounts with a large number of customers. Activities include subscriptions to and advertising in the Telegraph, job ...
Collection of amateur newspapers. One of our new members, Stan Oliner, is very active in the field of amateur journalism through collecting, writing articles, and serving in national organizations. A while ago, he mailed AAS a large gift of amateur newspapers that we are eagerly going through, selecting many issues for our collection. Illustrated here is ...
Abduction of Charlie Brewster Ross. Philadelphia: Wm. F. Murphy’s Sons, 1874. This broadside is an early example of the use of photography on public posters. Allan Pinkerton, founder of the famous Pinkerton Detective Agency, invented the photographic mug shot; during the 1860s and early 1870s, he often used small albumen photos on wanted posters for ...
Diario del Gobierno de la Habana. Aug. 11, 1812. One of the gems of the AAS newspaper collection is its Caribbean newspaper holdings. During the summer of 2009, we took advantage of an opportunity to purchase almost 130 issues of early Cuban newspapers. The titles, dates, and number of issues we acquired ...
The History and Adventures of Little Eliza. Philadelphia: William Charles, 1811. This imprint is among the earliest American editions of a book first printed in London accompanied by a set of paper dolls. The celebrated Philadelphia engraver and publisher William Charles integrated the images with the text as a picture book, complete with his subtle background ...
The Karl J. R. Arndt Collection of Charles Sealsfield Mrs. Blanca H. Arndt of Worcester has donated to AAS the remarkable collection of works by and about the German-American author Charles Sealsfield (1793-1864) formed by her late husband, Karl J. R. Arndt. Numbering some 250 volumes, with accompanying research files, the Arndt gift elevates AAS’s ...
Two titles were recently added to AAS's collection of Amateur Newspapers. The Orb. Portland, ME. 1838. 3 issues. Adopted by Jo Radner. The Liliputian. Canajoharie, NY. 1876, 1877. 22 issues. Amateur newspapers were printed usually by teenagers, and more for the pleasure and experience rather than profit. The Orb (recently "adopted" by Jo Radner during AAS's ...
Amateur city directory. Chicago: Warner Bros., 1876. This rare pamphlet chronicles Chicago’s amateur press community as of 1876. Its publisher was 15-year-old Frank Dudley Warner, editor of the recently established Amateur Monthly—one of a burgeoning number of amateur newspapers then being published nationwide by hobbyists on table-top presses. Included is a directory of nearly a hundred ...
Fate of the Rebel Flag. Painted by William Bauly, lithographed by Sarony, Major & Knapp. New York: William Schaus, 1861). Due to the approaching 150th anniversary of the American Civil War, several examples from AAS’s holdings of war images and broadsides will appear in loan exhibitions and as reproductions in upcoming publications. This chromolithograph from a ...
