Search Results: Americana from Reginald C. Williams Rare Books

Two volumes. Octavo, original blind-stamped DECORATIVE cloth. SECOND EDITION OR SECOND ISSUE, illustrated with over 300 engravings on steel and wood from sketches by the author, including 20 full-page plates and four maps (two folding). An about near-fine copy of a set which has now become difficult to find in the publisher's cloth. Now housed in a custom clamshell box with leather label. U.S. naval physician Elisha Kane s Arctic Explorations is an account of one of the last of the expeditions in search of Sir John Franklin and the Northwest Passage, the second such search and rescue financed by American philanthropist Henry Grinnell. These expeditions had no parallel in maritime annals, and which, while prosecuting the main object of the voyages, turned the map of the Arctic regions north of America from a blank void into a grim but distinct representation of islands, straits, and seas (DNB). Kane was a far better writer than explorer… It was Kane s graphic tale that fired the imagination of others… Read More

Octavo, original gilt-stamped navy cloth, top edge gilt, uncut. Text is very good, gilt on spine faded, lightest rubbing to gilt-stamped cloth cover, wear and rubbing to the tips. A good to very good copy. First edition of Dr. Sinclair's powerful 1905 indictment of America's history of slavery, the failures and hypocrisy of Reconstruction, the war on black suffrage, and the terror of ongoing public lynchings and burnings, asking "How long are these things to go on?" A rare copy in the original cloth. Born enslaved in 1858, Dr. Sinclair graduated from Howard University and earned his medical degree from Meharry Medical College before becoming a practicing physician. Serving as "the financial secretary of Howard University from 1888 to 1903, he participated in Du Bois' Niagara Movement, helped to launch the NAACP in 1909, and became a leading anti-Bookerite. Sinclair's Aftermath of Slavery broke with standard white interpretations, as he condemned slavery and the hypocrisy of Reconstruction and strongly… Read More

Large thick 4to. Pp [2] XXX 930 with a portrait of Lincoln as a frontis. Contemp. half black morocco, raised bands, black title label, gilt lettered spine, brown cloth bds. Marbled edges and eps, text slightly toned. An excellent copy. A thick volume of tributes from around the world to the late Abraham Lincoln.

FIRST EDITION of this first French translation, published in the Du monde collection. One of 110 numbered copies on pure Lafuma vellum (this being #91), the only printing on large paper. Black boy is one of the first novels written by blacks about their living conditions. The first American Edition was published by Harper s in 1945. This limited French Edition is the scarcest of all the issues. Housed in a cloth slipcase / chemise with leather label.

First edition of "the most complete record available" of the controversial Pennsylvania case on fugitive slaves, establishing a "precedent set in federal and state courts… and important cause célèbre for the antislavery movement," crucial in asserting a clear path for the following year's Dred Scott decision, and provoking a "legal crisis… that led to the Civil War," elusive in original cloth. An overall clean text with soiling on top of pages 1-16, & pgs. 161-191 and contemporary ink marginalia by Strawbridge on a few pages. John Strawbridge is inscribed in old ink on page prior to title page. A book which has become difficult to find in the original cloth.

Octavo, 5 x 8 in. xvi, 295 pp. Original publisher's green cloth boards with paper spine label, uncut with many pages unopened. First American edition. Text gathered by Jared Sparks, president of Harvard at the time. Scarce. Condition is VERY GOOD ; corners and spine ends slightly bumped, mild shelf wear. Small vertical slit to cloth at rear outer joint that doesn't affect the binding. Binding tight and text bright and unmarked. Some pages have light to moderate foxing. Unusually, only a few of the pages have been cut. Letters. RGR. First edition of this collection of Franklin letters and papers gathered by Jared Sparks in the course of his historical researches. An uncommon copy in the publisher s original cloth now Mylar protected.

The very scarce complete REVIEW COPY of Watson s controversial personal account of the DNA discovery. There is some light foxing at the top edge of the original dust-wrapper over wrappers with the review slip stapled by the publisher to the front wrapper. The dust-wrapper has some creases and is the same one used for the hardback first edition with the price intact on the front flap ($5.95). 8vo. xvi, 226, (6). Includes the rare 4x7 glossy photograph of the author laid in. With Francis crick, Watson described and elaborated on the structure of DNA in 1953. They together with Maurice Wilkins shared the 1962 Nobel prize in Medicine or Physiology for their work. This discovery is probably the most important in the biological sciences in the twentieth century. A most desirable format for this seminal work. Housed in a red clamshell box constructed by the Heritage Bindery with a black morocco label.

Two volumes. Tall Quarto (9 by 11 inches), near-contemporary half-calf and marbled boards. pp. xiii, (21), (1) 2-378; (xxviii), (389) 380-895. With half-titles in each volume and errata leaf with directions to the binder. FIRST EDITION of Godwin' revolutionary masterwork "his passionate advocacy of individualism, his trust in the fundamental goodness of man, and his opposition to all restrictions on liberty have endured" (PMM) a profound influence on Thomas Jefferson, who had the first American edition in his library and is viewed as Godwin's "American born counterpart." Along with those of Burke and Paine, Godwin's Enquiry was one of the most influential English political books of the late eighteenth century. It was an equally important landmark in the development of Utilitarian thought, and on political thinking in general. Godwin-the husband of Mary Wollstonecraft-"saw no good in human institutions and sought to put an end to all organized politics, religion and society… The Enquiry was, and… Read More

An early American printing of the Whiston edition. Engraved frontispiece, folding map of Solomon s Temple. Large 8vo, bound in full contemporary diced calf, the spines in five compartments separated by wide raised bands with contrasting red and black morocco lettering labels gilt, the covers ruled in gilt, marbled edges. 572; 541 including appendices and index pp. A handsome and well preserved set in very good condition.

FIRST EDITION. Octavo, 270 pp., [1] leaf (ads) attractive contemporary paneled calf. No spine label. Half-title is present and the text is very fresh for its age with white pages. The rear hinge is a little weak and shaken, but an excellent contemporary copy usually found rebound or in later bindings. Housed and chemised in a quarter morocco slipcase with marbled boards and a green morocco label by the Heritage Bindery which will insure protection. British clergyman Francis Hutchinson was "the man who gave the coup de grace to the witch delusion in England" (Robbins), leveling "a final and deadly blow at the dying superstition" (Note stein). "Of most interest to him were the witchcraft accusations at Boston and Salem, and… [the case] of Jane Wenham (1712), which provoked intense passions and vicious politicking… Hutchinson's account of witchcraft is thoroughly modern a history book 'of the moment'… and his carefully modest appeal for reform of the laws on witchcraft was indeed heeded, although… Read More

4to. [290 x 225 x 50 mm]. [1]f, viii, [96] pp. Bound in contemporary (possibly publisher's) half olive goatskin with gilt fillet borders, marbled paper sides, smooth spine lettered in gilt, marbled endleaves, top edge gilt,the others untrimmed. Edges slightly rubbed as are all parts of the binding (which is still quite sound). The spine is currently being rebacked by the Heritage Bindery. Contents clean. An attractive bright very good copy. with a nice association with a Gift inscription in a small neat hand on blank leaf preceding title-page: "To my dearly beloved wife Lucy Ann Wetmore A Memorial of her life long affection from her husband Prosper M. Wetmore." Wetmore (1798-1876) was an author, legislator, and general in the New York State militia. He was one of the founders of the American Art Union and served as its president for three years as well as the Secretary of the New York Chamber of Commerce in 1843. Wetmore wrote for print frequently. He authored a book of poetry, Lexington with other… Read More

Octavo 7 ¼ x 4 ¾ inches, full period calf. First work THE LADIES CALLING engraved title, printed title with vignette, preface, 271 pages. Second work THE GOVERNMENT OF THE TONGUE- (xiv), 224 pages. Third work THE ART OF CONTENTMENT- engraved frontispiece, (viii), 218 pages, printed title torn at the bottom corner with slight loss. Fourth work THE LIVELY ORACLES GIVEN TO US- engraved title, 228 pages (numeration faulty but complete). A very attractive and very good contemporary binding. Ownership inscriptions from the 17th-19th century on the endpapers. Richard Allestree or Allestry was an English Royalist churchman and provost of Eton College from 1665.Early (fifth) edition of this classic instructional book for women, with engraved frontispiece, in beautiful contemporary calf-gilt. It s been bound with three other major works of the period.

Publisher's original olive cloth. 12mo. 338 pages A near-fine copy with no bookplates or previous ownership inscriptions. Some ink stains on the margins of the first several pages (and a little splash on the rear board) and moderate foxing on the rear endpaper and across the last several pages. Housed in a custom green custom cloth clamshell box by the Heritage Bindery. A beautiful copy with virtually no wear. Mann was the first great American advocate of public education, who believed that in a democratic society education should be free and universal, nonsectarian, democratic in method, and reliant on well-trained professional teachers.

FIRST EDITION of the French translation (The English edition was first published in NY in 1938), one of 60 numbered copies on vélin de Rives (vellum), the only grand papier (deluxe) copies. An excellent copy with edges preserved completely uncut. A fine mostly unopened copy. Housed in a custom slipcase with chemise and leather label. Uncle Tom's Children is a collection of novellas and the first book published by Wright, who went on to write Native Son (1940), Black Boy (1945), and The Outsider (1953). When it was first published in 1938, Uncle Tom's Children included only four novellas: "Big Boy Leaves Home," "Down by the Riverside," "Long Black Song," and "Fire and Cloud." "The Ethics of Living Jim Crow" and "Bright and Morning Star," which are now the first and final pieces, respectively, were added when the book was republished in 1940. The book's title is derived from Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, an anti-slavery novel published in 1852 (Wikipedia).

Octavo, contemporary calf boards. Half-title in vol-II, Gilt decorated spines with red and black leather labels. An attractive set. First edition of Hester Thrale Piozzi s significant selection of Dr. Johnson s erudite and entertaining letters the first publication and canonization of a large body of his correspondence uncut in original boards. Samuel Johnson once hailed Hester Thrale, later Piozzi, as "if not the wisest woman in the world… undoubtedly one of the wisest" (Allibone, 1601). She met him in 1765; he became a frequent houseguest, and she "was flattered by the attentions of this literary lion who took her sufficiently seriously as a poet not only to praise and criticize her efforts but also to suggest collaboration. With Johnson she was soon translating Boethius's Consolations of Philosophy… She assisted him in the preparation of his Journey to the Western Islands, and Johnson acknowledged that several of the lives in his Lives of the Poets… owed as much to her conversation as to her… Read More

Orig. tan calf. Slim 12mo. Raised bands, Contrasting red panel to compartment, small portion missing, gilt. Gilt dentelles. 1cm split at head of fold of spine/u.bd. Beautifully clean copy with some worm damage to second pamphlet, probably prior to binding. Dublin Quaker physician John Rutty wrote many medical and religious books (Campbell, 145), including Liberty of the Spirit, which he authored to bring into view the degeneracy from the simplicity of their forefathers which was then spreading amongst the Friends (The Friend Vol. XI: 46). It would be printed in America three years later by the firm of Benjamin Franklin and David Hall when, in 1759 the Society of Friends in Philadelphia ordered the publication of this piece in an edition of 4000 copies, and… directed that the treatise be distributed in the same proportion as the 1759 Yearly Epistle, i.e., 1000 to stay in Philadelphia, 2000 to be divided among the quarterly meetings in the Provinces of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and most of the… Read More

FIRST EDITION 1857. Gorgeous Set of This Important Biography of Our First President. Illustrated with high quality steel plate engravings. Three quarter deep brown morocco leather over pebbled cloth, beveled boards, raised spine bands, large quarto, 11.25 x 5.00. Near fine condition with a circular stain on the cover of volume one. Slight fading to the spines, a mild stain on the first 15 pages of volume 2, otherwise clean with strong hinges. An attractive set.

Octavo, Publisher's cloth. First edition, first printing of one of the most significant works on the philosophy of science. The Logic of Scientific Discovery was originally published in Germany in 1934, and Popper rewrote and republished it in English in 1959, with the New York edition preceding this much rarer UK edition. A fine copy in a near-fine unclipped dustwrapper which shows some light scattered foxing on the spine and a contemporary ownership inscription on the title page. The book is mostly unopened and looks mostly unread save for the ownership signature. A nice copy.

12mo, original cloth with decorative floral design, spine sunned a little, decorative endpapers, [xii], (7)-265pp. The free front endpaper is ink inscribed "Compliments of Harriet H. Robinson Feb. 1883." There are other provenance markings from the Berkeley Massachusetts Public Library, which apparently received the book as a gift from Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts Hon. Roger Wolcott. KRICHMAR 1944. First Edition. A bright, clean very good copy now Mylar protected & housed in a custom slipcase. Very uncommon signed with a noted provenance. "In 1881 Harriet Hanson Robinson became one of the founders of the Massachusetts chapter of the National Woman Suffrage Association, becoming the recording secretary with her daughter Hattie as President (to Harriet's dismay; she had hoped to fill the position). It was during this time that Robinson would write her acclaimed book Massachusetts in the Woman Suffrage Movement (1881), a largely personal account of the struggle for woman suffrage which largely… Read More

Publishers Cloth. 12mo. Stated third edition. 347 pp. + ads. Very good. Small repair at crown of spine. Some light foxing. SIGNED in ink by the author on the front free end paper: "presented by Mr. Wm. L. Stone." rare third edition of this unusual account, involving sojourner truth ('isabella'). In 1832, Isabella Baumfree, who had freed herself from bondage in upstate New York and later renamed herself 'Sojourner Truth,' met Elijah Pierson, prophet of a religious sect. She joined with her infant child and met Robert Matthias, another member of the sect, who vied for leadership, claiming to be Jesus Christ incarnate. Matthias was accused of killing Elijah Pierson with some poisoned blackberries. Isabella, his servant, was of course implicated. In the end, Isabella was not only cleared, but awarded a sum of money after she sued the court for slander--the first black person to win such a suit. Not in the Blockson Collection. A rare inscribed coy now housed in a custom clamshell box with leather label.… Read More