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The Acquisitions Table: Lewis Bradford Letters

August 10th, 2011, by Tracey Kry and Tom Knoles

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Bradford, Lewis. Letters, 1817 – 1829 Lewis Bradford, a descendant of Governor William Bradford, and son of Levi Bradford and Elizabeth Lewis Bradford, was born in Plympton, Massachusetts in 1768.  Lewis lived his entire life in the town of Plympton, working as the town clerk for forty years.  In addition to his work, Bradford was [...]


The Acquisitions Table: The Boy’s Treasury of Sports, Pastimes, and Recreations

August 3rd, 2011, by Laura Wasowicz

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The Boy’s Treasury of Sports, Pastimes, and Recreations. Fourth American edition. New York: Clark, Austin & Co., 1850. Striped publisher’s cloth bindings are rare, and such a binding on a children’s book in good condition is even rarer. The charming gilt vignette of boys at play puts an added layer on an already delightful binding.


The Acquisitions Table: The Life of George Washington the Soldier

July 21st, 2011, by Lauren Hewes

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Regnier, Auguste (after a painting by Junius Brutus Stearns). The life of George Washington the soldier. New York & Paris: Goupil & Co., 1854. Printed by Lemercier, Paris. This print is one of four in a set depicting the life George Washington—the other prints include renditions of Washington as a citizen, a farmer, and a [...]


The Acquisitions Table: The Map of Man’s Misery

July 12th, 2011, by David Whitesell

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Ker, Patrick, fl. 1691. The map of man’s misery. Or, The poor man’s pocket-book. Being a perpetual almanack of spiritual meditations … Boston: Printed by T. G. for B. Eliot, [ca. 1710?] The only known copy of a newly discovered early American imprint. Patrick Ker’s collection of meditations, arranged in a seven-day “week” extending from [...]


The Acquisitions Table: Cassandra Swasey Stevens Diary

July 11th, 2011, by Tom Knoles

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Stevens, Cassandra Swasey. Diary, 1856-1858. Cassandra Swasey (1818-1901) was the daughter of John B. and Alice Ladd Swasey of Meredith, NH. After her first husband died, Cassandra married Col. Ebenezer Stevens, a merchant in Meredith in 1846. This diary, which covers the period between 1856 and 1858, covers her daily activities. A recurring theme is [...]


The Acquisitions Table: A Sermon on the Trinity

July 6th, 2011, by David Whitesell

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Phillips, John. A sermon on the Trinity. [New York]: Sold by Mr. Mitchel, book-binder, Maiden Lane, New-York; Mr. Pike, store-keeper, John Street; and Mrs. Mary Davis, store-keeper, New-Brunswick, [1794] Third known copy of an unusual American imprint, as yet unreported to the North American Imprints Project (NAIP) or the English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC). John [...]


The Acquisitions Table: The New Pretty Village

June 29th, 2011, by Laura Wasowicz

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The New Pretty Village. Church Set. New York: McLoughlin Bros., 1897. The McLoughlin Brothers dominated both the picture book and game markets in late 19th-century America, and The New Pretty Village is a wonderful example of McLoughlin’s halcyon era. This segment of the ideal suburban village includes cardboard models of a church, a stately house, [...]


The Acquisitions Table: No Rose Without a Thorn

June 22nd, 2011, by Lauren Hewes

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No rose without a thorn. New York: Nathaniel Currier, [1838-1856] Shown with “My Master’s Wife” When he started his business on Nassau Street in New York City, Nathaniel Currier offered for sale lithographs of news events, historic images, local views, and pretty women. He also occasionally produced narrative genre scenes such as this curious depiction [...]


The Acquisitions Table: The First German-American Cookbook

June 15th, 2011, by David Whitesell and Elizabeth Watts Pope

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David Whitesell, curator of books, reports on a recent acquisition: Die Wahre Brandtewein-Brennerey, oder Brandtewein- Gin- und Cordialmacher-Kunst:  wie auch die ächte Färbe-Kunst, Blau, Roth, Gelb und Grün zu färben, auf Baumwalle, Leinen, und Wolle … [Reading, PA?: Gottlob Jungmann and Carl Andreas Bruckmann?], 1802. Very rare third of four recorded editions of what might [...]


The Acquisitions Table: Sophia Morgan’s Poetry Journal

May 30th, 2011, by Tom Knoles

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Morgan, Sophia.  Poetry Journal, 1824-1827. This small volume belonged to Sophia Morgan of Somers, CT. It is a collection of poems, both original and copied, entered into the volume by Morgan’s friends and relatives. Among the titles are “Withered Violets,” “Friendship,” “Time is Short,” and “Contentment.” Purchased from Shelf Life Antiques.  John Thomas Lee Fund.


The Acquisitions Table: Old England

May 16th, 2011, by David Whitesell

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Old England: a pictorial museum of regal, ecclesiastical, municipal, baronial, and popular antiquities. Ed. by Charles Knight. Boston: Samuel Walker and Co., [186-?] A fine copy of a most unusual salesman’s sample book. This two-volume large folio (36 cm. high) history of England, profusely illustrated with hundreds of wood engravings and 27 full-page color-printed wood-engraved [...]


The Acquisitions Table: Snow White and Red Rose

May 9th, 2011, by Laura Wasowicz

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Snow White and Red Rose. New York: McLoughlin, 1899. This magnificent chromolithograph of “An Exciting Donkey-Ride at the Seashore” is taken from this collection of fairy tales and poems. It is an excellent example of McLoughlin’s turn-of-the-century idealized portrayals of children at play. Purchased from Christopher Holtom. Harry G. Stoddard Memorial Fund. More information: Read [...]


The Acquisitions Table: Donation Book of the Oakland Female Institute

May 2nd, 2011, by Tom Knoles

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Young Ladies Library and Literary Association of Oakland Female Institute. Donation Book, 1853-1855. The Oakland Female Institute was opened in Norristown, PA in 1845. By 1853 the Institute had 186 students and a library of “over 500 volumes of standard value—all trashy literature being contraband,” as an 1853 circular states. The school closed in 1880. [...]


The Acquisitions Table: Catalog of the Mobile Circulating Library

April 18th, 2011, by David Whitesell

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Mobile Circulating Library. New and revised catalogue of the Mobile Circulating Library … established November, 1874. Mobile [AL]: Shields & Co., 1879. Only recorded copy (in any edition) of this catalog of a substantial southern lending library. Rates began at $6 per year and up, for which subscribers had access to over 2,000 volumes (including [...]


The Acquisitions Table: The New Tale of a Tub

April 11th, 2011, by Laura Wasowicz

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The New Tale of a Tub. London & New York: George Routledge and Sons, [ca. 1870] The Routledge firm was a popular transatlantic picture book publisher and a direct competitor of McLoughlin Bros. The New Tale of Tub is a humorous poem about two Bengalese gentlemen whose picnic feast is interrupted by the approach of [...]


The Acquisitions Table: Game of Pictures from the Civil War

March 28th, 2011, by Lauren Hewes

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Pictures from the Civil War in North America – Bilder aus dem Bugerkriege in Nordamerica – Des tableaux de la guerre-civile en Amerique du Nord.  Nuremberg: G.W. Faber, [c. 1864] Puzzle blocks in box, with six hand-colored lithographs showing the solutions. This German game was produced for the European and American markets and includes six [...]


The Acquisitions Table: A Sketch of the Life and Public Services of William Henry Harrison

February 21st, 2011, by David Whitesell

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Jackson, Isaac R., d. 1843. A sketch of the life and public services of William Henry Harrison. Philadelphia, Jan. 1836. The Making of the President, 1840 style. By the 1824 presidential election, the printed campaign biography had become a key component of any serious presidential run. Hence when William Henry Harrison consented to run against [...]


The Acquisitions Table: Sophia May Tuckerman Letters

February 7th, 2011, by Tom Knoles

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Tuckerman, Sophia May. Letters, 1841-1857. Sophia May (1784-1870) was the daughter of Col. John May (whose jaunty portrait in military uniform hangs in the AAS reading room) and his wife Abigail, who was also his cousin. Sophia May married Edward Tuckerman (1775-1843). AAS has a business letterbook of Edward Tuckerman’s firm of Tuckerman and Rogers. [...]


The Acquisitions Table: How ’tis done

January 31st, 2011, by David Whitesell

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How ‘tis done; or The secret out. An exposure of the tricks and deceptions practiced by professional gamblers with cards and dice … 22nd ed. Carthage, IL: D. C. Cutler, [ca. 1869?] From a small Illinois town 10 miles east of Keokuk and the mighty Mississippi, D. C. Cutler ran a mail-order business for cheap [...]


The Acquisitions Table: Day-Dawn

January 24th, 2011, by Laura Wasowicz

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Day-Dawn. New York: American Tract Society, [ca. 1860] Devotional books containing brief Bible passages for daily reading were frequently printed in two-inch miniature format so as to easily fit in a pocket. The American Tract Society was a major 19th-century publisher of these pocket devotionals. This title is new to AAS, and features a splendid [...]




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