Descriptions of new-to-AAS items recently acquired
Gill, Augustus.Penmanship Book [1830s]. A new addition to our ever growing Penmanship Book Collection is a volume kept by a student named Augustus Gill, who was probably born in Canton, Massachusetts around 1820. What is most striking about this particular item is its cover, which features an African leopard and the phrase “Be just and fear ...
Van Etten Bros., Manufacturers, Importers and Jobbers of Novelties, Notions, Books, Photographs, Chromos, Stereoscopic Views, and a Full Line of Goods Adapted Especially to the Wants of Canvassing Agents. Chicago: Birnery Hand &Co’s Steam Printing House, 1876. The Van Etten Bros. catalog is like a nineteenth-century SkyMall catalog, only instead of reading it while on ...
Sartain, Samuel after Christian Schussele. Clear the Track! Philadelphia: Samuel Sartain, for the Art Union of Philadelphia, 1854. Founded in 1844, the Art Union of Philadelphia issued six engravings to its subscribing members between 1847 and 1854 in an attempt to promote and disseminate American art in the region. With generous support from the Richard ...
New-York Clipper (New York, NY). Apr. 13, 1863 – Apr. 8, 1865. At a recent book fair, AAS was offered two bound volumes of this extremely rare sporting and entertainment periodical. It began in 1853 as a periodical covering sporting events. By the time of the Civil War the New-York Clipper included coverage of the theatrical ...
Fitch's Geography for Beginners, [1850-1858]. This handwritten textbook of geography is something of a mystery. Heavily illustrated with original drawings and images clipped from publications, the text is divided into lessons with topics such as “About Travelling,” “About the Surface of the Earth,” “About Animals,” and “About Trees and Plants.” The title, Fitch’s Geography… suggests that ...
Buell, Jonathan S.The Cider Makers’ Manual:a Practical Hand-Book, Which Embodies Treatises on the Apple; Construction of Cider Mills, Cider-Presses, Seed-Washers, and Cider Mill Machinery in General; Cider Making; Fermentation; Improved Processes in Refining Cider, and its Conversion into Wine & Champagne. Revised edition with additions.Buffalo:Published by Haas, Nauert& Co., 1874. Perhaps the best of 19th-century American ...
Brown, Frances. Sketches from Nature, for My Juvenile Friends.Cleveland: Mrs. H.F.M. Brown; Cincinnati: Longley Brothers; Boston: Bela Marsh, 1858. This is a remarkable collection of short stories that were clearly the product of the reformist press that flourished in Boston, Cincinnati, and Cleveland shortly before the Civil War. Although the wood-engraved illustrations look quite conventional--here is ...
Booth, T.D. after William T. Ranney. Trapper’s Last Shot. Cincinnati, Ohio: T. D. Booth, for the Western Art Union, 1850. Based on a painting by the American artist William T. Ranney, who was well-known for his images of Texas pioneers, woodland trappers and rugged landscapes, this engraving was originally offered as a members’ premium by ...
"Aunt Abbie." The Fairy Grotto. [Green Bay, Wisconsin: Advocate Press. Robinson Brothers & Clark, 1877] This charming volume is a true orphan, apparently the sole survivor of its kind. Printed by the local newspaper in Green Bay, Wisconsin, it presumably was meant to be decorated by the purchaser. The hand-done illuminations in this copy are only ...
Blossom and Fruit. A Choice Collection of Hebrew Texts for Jewish Public and Private Instruction=Tsits u-Feri. Compiled and published by Julius Katzenberg. New York: Industrial School, Hebrew Orphan Asylum, 1882. AAS certainly has Hebrew texts geared to Christian divinity students, but this text is geared to the needs of Jewish children and youth. AAS has just ...
Aristotle’s Master-piece, Completed. In Two Parts.The First Containing the Secrets of Generation… The Second Part being a Private Looking-Glass for the Female Sex. New-York: Printed for the Company of Flying Stationers, 1812. Aristotle’s Masterpiece is a fascinating hybrid text. It used the veneer of a supposed classical author (Aristotle really had about as much to ...
Beal, Thomas.Account Book, 1809-1810. Thomas Prince Beal (1785-1852), son of David Beal and Lydia Prince, was a lawyer in the coastal town of Kingston, Massachusetts. He married Betsy Sampson, and the couple had seven children. His account book, although short, reflects his professional life from 1809 through 1810. Arranged by customer and listing debts and credits, ...
Bible Characters, Instructive and Entertaining Compiled for the use of Young Children (3rded) on a sheet with History of Haman and Mordecai compiled by a Friend to Youth. New York: Mahlon Day, 1837. This single sheet printing shows the way in which multiple-page books were laid out (or composed) during the nineteenth century. Such sheets ...
Archive of American Publishers’ Ephemera, 1840-1900, 216 pieces. The American Antiquarian Society’s collection of American ephemera includes much material related to the book and printing trades, including bookplates, binders’ tickets, and trade cards for printers and publishers. A recent donation in honor of long time ephemera dealer and collector Joseph Freedman (who passed away in January ...
Captain Gregg and His Dog.Providence: H.H. Brown, 1831. This is a scarce copy of an adventure story about an injured soldier and his loyal dog who survive the perils of the American Revolution in upstate New York. I was able to successfully bid on this book at a recent Swann auction through the kind assistance of ...
