Search Results: Authors starting with A from McBride Rare Books

[Cleveland, 1927. Good.. Three serial works: 43,[2]; 51,[1]; 47,[1]pp. All bound in original printed wrappers, stapled. Mostly minor wear and dust-soiling to wrappers, some chipping. Middle work worn and chipped, with text block and both covers detached but present, and no loss of text. A trio of works recording the minutes of three separate annual sessions of the North Ohio Conference Branch Women's Mite Missionary Society of the A.M.E. Church between 1924 and 1927. The meetings were held in Youngstown, Cleveland, and Alliance, Ohio, respectively. Each work prints the officers and members of the N.O.C.B.W.M.M. Society, as well as each conference's daily activities, the minutes of the Executive Board meeting, various officer and committee reports, and more. One of the more interesting features of the works is the two-page table which concludes each work, listing the various societies throughout Ohio, their president and corresponding secretary, and detailed financial data. All three pamphlets also… Read More

Mexico City: Imprenta del Ciudadano Alejandro Valdes, 1833. Very good.. Broadside, approximately 12.25 x 8.5 inches. Two small wormholes at left margin. Light dust soiling and toning. Scarce devotional poem, attributed to Luis Abadiano, for the veneration of depictions of the Señor de Santa Teresa and Maria Santisima de los Dolores. This "Odita," or "little ode," is composed of twelve short, four-line stanzas, printed in double columns within a double border of printer's ornaments, and signed "L.A." at the foot of the second column. A nice copy of a handsome piece of ephemeral, devotional printing; we locate only one copy, at Brown.

New York: S. Tackaberry, 1864. Very good.. Carte de visite photograph, 3.25 x 2 inches, on a slightly larger printed mount. Minor soiling and spotting, light edge wear. One of a series of CDVs featuring recently freed slaves produced in 1863-64 as part of a fundraising effort in the American South. This image is noted as "No. 10" at the top of the verso. According to a notice printed on the verso: "The nett proceeds from the sale of these Photographs will be devoted to the education of colored people in the department of the Gulf, now under the command of Maj. Gen. Banks." The funds were used to establish schools for former slaves in southern Louisiana during the Union occupation of the region. The photograph was taken by Charles Paxson of New York, and copyrighted by S. Tackaberry in the Southern District of that state. The subject of the present photograph is Rosina Downs; she poses in a bonnet and jacket, with her arms crossed, looking left. A handful of photographs featuring Rosa were issued… Read More

Doniphan, Ks: Printed at the Crusader of Freedom Office, 1858. Very good.. Single sheet, 3.5 x 7.5 inches. Minor foxing, light edge wear. An uncommon form, printed at James Redpath's Crusader of Freedom office in Doniphan, Kansas. The Scottish-born Redpath originally worked for Horace Greeley's New York Tribune where he published a series of articles compiling Facts of Slavery. In 1855, he moved to the Kansas-Missouri border and reported on the slavery disputes for the Free Soil newspaper, the Missouri Democrat, before starting his own newspaper, the Crusader of Freedom. The motto of his newspaper was "I enroll myself a Crusader of Freedom until slavery ceases to exist." Redpath met John Brown immediately after the fateful Pottawatomie Creek incident and his interview with the fervent abolitionist was Brown's debut in the press with Redpath labeling him a warrior-saint. The journalist became Brown's most vocal supporter in the press, and his report of the Battle of Osawatomie helped… Read More

Emporia, Ks: March 12, 1859. Very good.. [4]pp. Original mailing folds, short separations along some folds, a couple of short closed tears, a few tiny nicks to edges. A rare correspondence from Kansas at the time of the free state - slave state tensions in the 1850s. Here, the most important early settler of Emporia, Kansas, John H. Watson sends a territorial paean to his father back home in Pennsylvania. In his densely-written letter, Watson ran out of room, and had to sign his name over previously written text along the right edge of its last page. Watson was a Quaker lawyer-physician from Pennsylvania, who moved his entire family west to Kansas in 1858 along with other abolitionists in an effort to ensure the territory entered the Union as a free state. Watson does not mention the bloody political battles taking place at the time, but rather bemoans the state of his inheritance, the cost of his travel, and more, while also providing a firsthand report of the unsettled territory's beauty,… Read More

Pittsburgh, Pa: August 2, 1838. Good.. [2]pp., on a single folded sheet, integral blank addressed on verso. Original mailing folds, somewhat tender along fold lines, a small panel of integral blank chipped away along fold lines, short tear and small area of loss from removed wax seal to first leaf costing or affecting a few words, top edge bumped. An informative manuscript letter written by a notable abolitionist during his travels through Pittsburgh in the summer of 1838. Elias Richards (1802-1887) writes from the United States Hotel to his wife Elizabeth Hunt Richards (1804-1892) in Massachusetts while on a trip intending to locate a place he could settle in business. Both Elias and Elizabeth Richards were prominent abolitionists based in Weymouth, Massachusetts. Richards details his travel from Philadelphia through Pennsylvania, mentioning several towns on the road to Pittsburgh. Richards then provides a description of the Steel City: "This is a very busy city, situated on a point of land,… Read More

Washington, D.C.: Buell & Blanchard, 1858. Good.. Twelve issues, each 4pp., printed in seven columns. Large folio. Old folds, varying levels of chipping, fold separations, foxing, and edge wear. Occasional minor loss of text from wear at crossfolds and in one case a tobacco burn. Some issues with ink notations at top left or in the top margin. A dozen issues, published over the course of a decade in the mid-19th century, of the abolitionist newspaper The National Era, edited by Gamaliel Bailey and John Greenleaf Whittier. The National Era was an important source of news and debate over the issue of slavery during its thirteen-year run, and continuously argued for the abolition of the peculiar institution until it ceased operations in February 1860. The most lasting legacy of the newspaper is its serialization of Uncle Tom's Cabin in forty-one weekly installments between June 1851 and April 1852, the first appearance of the novel anywhere.  The present collection of issues includes number 81, 97,… Read More

Boston: Isaac Knapp, 1836. About very good.. xvi,[13]-238pp. 12mo. Original publisher's blue boards with black sheep spine, gilt. Boards rubbed, corners and spine moderately worn. Text lightly foxed. Scarce work addressing the anti-slavery work of George Thompson following his visit to America. Thompson (1804-1878) was British lecturer and reformer who worked as a commercial clerk. "Thompson first came to prominence in 1831, when he was recruited by the London Anti-Slavery Society's Agency Committee as an itinerant lecturer. In the run up to the Emancipation Act of 1833 he became the most effective British anti-slavery lecturer since Thomas Clarkson.... With the struggle against British slavery apparently won, Thompson was instrumental in reorienting anti-slavery effort towards the Americas and particularly the United States. ... In 1834 he encountered the charismatic American abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. Recognizing Thompson's talent, Garrison invited him to travel to the United States… Read More

[Providence: Hiram H. Thomas and Co., late December, 1865. Good plus.. Letterpress broadside, 17.5 x 12 inches, printed in double columns, with decorative floral border. Old folds, two folds neatly strengthened on verso, other folds tender, bottom third darkened. A rare newspaper carrier's address closing out the fateful year of 1865 and looking forward to the transition of the next year. The author personifies the year 1865 as "bent and wrinkled and gray" but also "in excellent health for his age." The end of the Civil War is recounted: "Then thought we how, during the mild reign of Spring, The wrong gave no check to the arms of the free, But only with 'Vict'ry' we made the streets ring, Till so wildly we cried, 'The Surrender of Lee!'" The text also mentions Sherman, Grant, and the assassination of President Lincoln. The tone is celebratory, as the author continues: "'To God give the praise!' for our nation is free! No longer a slave is contained by its shore! No longer the carnage of battle we… Read More

Cedar Rapids, 1894. Very good.. Small broadsheet, 10.5 x 6.75 inches. Previously folded. Minute closed tear at top edge. Light tanning. With accompanying transmittal envelope. Ephemeral, illustrated broadsheet advertisement for two agricultural machines for sale by the Hamilton Bros. company of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in the mid-1890s. The "Sweep Feed Mill" promises to efficiently grind all types and qualities of corn, while the "Mammoth Feed Steamer" promises to save the farmer thirty percent in feed costs. Examples of both are shown on either side of the sheet. With the original transmittal envelope, postmarked 1894.

[Albany, Or, 1880. About very good.. Broadside, 12.5 x 9 inches. Light wear and minor creasing, a few small chips to edges and small areas of loss near center. Minor foxing. Broadside advertisement for "Water Proof Oil Blacking," sold by W.J. John of Albany, Oregon, a small town near Corvallis. The broadside lists seven reasons why this product is the best, beginning with "It is Cheap." Other reasons include durability, waterproofness, and its ability to keep leather soft and prevent cracking. Reason 8 is perhaps the most interesting: "You get a receipt and make it yourself so that you know what it contains, and that every ingredient is a Leather Preserver, as it contains nothing injurious, such as varnish, naptha [sic], benzine or turpentine." Not in OCLC.

Chicago: Hays & Thompson, 1854. Very good plus.. Broadside, 15 x 6 inches. Minor soiling. A rare and unusual broadside newspaper extra advertising Evarts' Shingle Mill, with a handsome woodcut illustration of the mill itself occupying a third of the sheet. The Christian Times was a Baptist newspaper published in Chicago from 1853 to 1865. Evarts & Butler herein advertise themselves as "proprietors and manufacturers" of the machine, claiming it "makes better shingles, and more of them than any other mill, from any kind of wood," capable of producing "ten thousand in ten hours." Testimonials as to the machine's efficacy and quality of the mill and its shingles occupy the lower third of the broadside. An unrecorded Pre-fire Chicago broadside advertisement.

[St. Louis, 1955. Very good.. 52; 40pp. Original pictorial wrappers, stapled. Minor wear and light soiling to each. Internally, both clean. A pair of programs for consecutive years documenting the famous Pine Street YCA's "Y Circus" in St. Louis. The Y Circus was a fundraising event hosted by the Pine Street branch of the YMCA in an attempt to raise money for a children's camp for Black youth in Bourbon, Missouri. Normally the Y Circus involved performances of gymnastics, music, and dance by the youth members of the Pine Street YMCA. Eventually, prominent artists from the African-American community performed at the Y Circus in order to raise the profile of the event. The present programs are wonderful examples of this, covering the Y Circus for 1954 and 1955. The 20th Annual program features headliner Pearl Bailey; the following year, Nat "King" Cole was the featured performer, with the latter featured on the cover of the 21st annual program. The day's program for each year's celebration is featured… Read More

Dix Hills, N.Y. [i.e., Seattle, Wa.]: Fitzgerald Publishing Company, Inc. [i.e., Bill R. Baylor], 1983. Very good.. Sixteen issues, each [32]pp., all retaining illustrated front cover and bound together. Contemporary black cloth with gilt titles to front cover and spine. Minor edge wear. Text of later issues occasionally trimmed close along fore edge. A complete run of all sixteen issues of the fraudulently pirated reprint of Golden Legacy, a series of comic books first produced in the 1960s and '70s by African-American accountant Bertram Fitzgerald and devoted to African American history. In 1983, Seattle Publisher Bill R. Baylor falsely claimed to have purchased reprint rights from Bertram Fitzgerald, and commissioned Fitzgerald's printer to produce additional copies of the series from the original printing plates and negatives. Fitzgerald sued Baylor, and after a five-year legal battle won back the publication. Baylor then disappeared without paying any of the damages assessed to him. Each issue… Read More

Utica, Ms, 1911. Very good.. 8pp., accompanied by a single-page fundraising typed letter, signed, and original transmittal envelope. Original mailing folds to pamphlet and letter, minor wear and toning. A very rare annual report from the Utica Normal & Industrial Institute of Utica, Mississippi, issued by the school's founder and principal, William Henry Holtzclaw. In his report, Holtzclaw includes passages on a recent "cyclone" that hit the school, the construction of Booker T. Washington Hall, enrollment stats, the "work of our graduates," the "religious training" and "farming industry" at the school, information on the endowment fund, summer school, and other subjects. The last page is a financial update on the school in their "Statement of Receipts and Disbursements." The only photographic illustration in the work appears on the front cover, and depicts "students cultivating corn" in the fields of the Utica campus. In addition to the pamphlet, Holtzclaw includes a typed letter, signed to one of… Read More

[Nashville, 1937. Very good plus.. 16pp. Original self wrappers, stapled. Light soiling to outer wrappers. Internally clean. A very rare souvenir program issued by the Sunday School Publishing Board, an African American publisher located in Nashville, relating the organization's history, key figures, and describing in detail (floor by floor) the board's headquarters at the Morris Building at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Cedar Street. The work concludes with a passage describing "The National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., and For What It Stands," along with three pages of officers and statistics on the convention's activities. The work is illustrated with numerous photographs, including the building itself and some of the group's notable officers. One page reproduces a photographically-illustrated broadside of the Building Committee of the Morris Memorial Building in 1925. The publishing board still operates today. "The Sunday School Publishing Board of the National Baptist Convention, USA,… Read More

Eureka Springs, Ar: Thoro Harris, 1932. Very good.. [192]pp. Original yellow wrappers printed in black, with photographic group portrait on front wrapper, stapled. Moderate soiling to wrappers, old coffee mug stain on front wrapper, short tear to top joint of rear wrapper. Short closed tear to fore edge of first several leaves, textblock toned and mildly brittle along edges. A rare edition of this African American songbook previously published with fewer songs by the same compiler in Chicago; this edition was printed in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Thoro Harris was a noted music publisher and former student at Howard University who was noted as "mulatto" on the 1880 census. Harris was known to carry around a bag of his songbooks wherever he went; he spent the final twenty-plus years of his life in Eureka Springs, moving there in 1932 and passing away there in 1955. The text contains the words and music to 230 songs, including "Balm in Gilead," "Rock of Ages," "Swing Low," and "What a Friend We Have in… Read More

[High Point, N.C., 1910. Good.. Six leaves, illustrated with two small tintypes and eleven photographs on paper, plus two ephemeral items pasted in. Contemporary brown padded cloth over boards, metal fore-edge clasp. Spine perished, corners worn. One photograph chipped, moderate wear to remainder, a few faded. A mysterious but absorbing surviving record of a handful of African American men and women who all presumably lived in or near High Point, North Carolina in the late-19th and early-20th century. Two photographs and one ephemeral item all indicate High Point as their location of origin. Specifically, the photographs are stamped "C.W. Rochelle Photographer High Point N.C." and "Rochelle & Utley High Point N.C." respectively. C.W. Rochelle operated a photographic studio on Washington and College streets in High Point, North Carolina for almost forty years before he died of a heart attack in early 1913. The ephemeral item relating to High Point is a handbill touting a "Special" presentation by… Read More

[Atlanta, Ga, 1970. About good.. Three-color photographic portrait broadside, 11 x 28 inches, respectively. Left edge chipped and stained into the image area, old folds and creases. A campaign broadside touting the candidacy for J.O. Wyatt, Jr. Wyatt attended Morehouse College, earned a law degree from Emory, and worked for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission before running successfully for County Commissioner in Fulton County, Georgia in the late-1970s. His father, Dr. J.O. Wyatt, instilled in him a sense of civic duty; the elder Wyatt had previously run unsuccessfully for school board in Amarillo, Texas in 1955, resulting in the burning of a cross on his front lawn.

San Antonio, 1938. Near fine.. Two black-and-white photographs, each 2.75 x 4 inches. Light edge wear. Developer's stamp on verso of each. A pair of contemporary photographs featuring a neatly-dressed young Black woman with eight of her pupils. The first pictures the teacher and her students seated on the steps of a white clapboard building, with a man in the shadows of the doorway. The second photograph pictures the group in front of a line of shrubbery, perhaps a garden. The glossy photographs were printed by the Fox Company in San Antonio, with the images printed on light paper stock with ornamental borders.