Search Results: Titles starting with U from William Reese Company

Tuscaloosa and Londo: The University of Alabama Pres, 1988. xii,[2],202pp. Fine. In dust jacket. Illustrates the 19th-century conflict between the civilian and military components of government coastal research, while demonstrating the tenuous position of goverment-sponsored pure research in light of the constant demand for applied science.

New York: R.R. Bowker Company for the Newberry Library, 1988. 652pp. Brown cloth. As new. Later reprint of the most useful single volume Americana reference

San Francisco: C.B. Gifford del. et lith., Printed by L. Nagel, [ca. 1860].. Lithograph, 20 3/4 x 27 3/4 inches. Expertly cleaned and conserved, and with large margins. Near fine. A rare and attractive view of the naval base at Mare Island in San Francisco Bay, the first United States naval base on the Pacific Coast, and also showing the nearby town of Vallejo. The town of Vallejo, in the northeast part of the San Francisco Bay Area and on the east coast of San Pablo Bay, was planned in 1850 by the noted political and military leader, Mariano Vallejo, who hoped to attract the state capitol to that location. Located just across the Napa River from Vallejo, the long peninsula of Mare Island is well-situated strategically not only at the north end of the greater Bay Area, but also to guard the entrance to Carquinez Strait and the large network of inland waterways that constitute the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which was an important transportation route to the Central Valley of California, the… Read More

Philadelphia: Wagner & McGuigan, Lithographers, [1848].. Two folio lithographs, each 17 x 21½ inches, matted to 22 x 26 inches. First lithograph with several minor neatly repaired tears; expertly backed with heavier paper. Second lithograph with some very minor wear and soiling. Very good. This extremely rare pair of lithographs is one of the very few printed records of the first official American expedition to Japan, the diplomatic mission of Commodore James Biddle, which attempted to establish formal relations between the United States and Japan in 1846. Although overshadowed by the famous and successful mission of Commodore Matthew Perry seven years later, the Biddle expedition deserves far greater fame. It was, in fact, the first official contact between America and Japan, and certainly a necessary precursor to Perry's breakthrough of 1853. This graphic representation of the events of the visit, with the extensive textual gloss accompanying each plate, given the dearth of written accounts by the… Read More

[The Mediterranean], January to May, 1827.. [20]pp. Folio. Contemporary paper wrappers, stitched. Light wear and soiling to covers. Internally clean. Very good. A detailed record of consumable requirements of the U.S.S. North Carolina's four major departments during part of her time with the Mediterranean squadron. The North Carolina was laid down in Philadelphia in 1818 and fitted out in 1820. Carrying seventy-four guns, she was the most powerful ship of her day, and for a decade was the symbol of American naval might. In the Mediterranean she served as the flagship for Commodore John Rodgers from 1825 to 1827. Matthew Perry as "Captain, U.S. Mediterranean Fleet" has signed each of the twenty-eight entries, certifying them. A few entries may be signed by the respective department heads; however, most signatures other than that of Perry are in a clerk's hand.

Berlin, 1857. [2],[269]-285pp. plus folding plate. Quarto. Contemporary leather backstrip and cloth. Amateur tape reinforcement to spine, two tiny library stamps to verso of plate. Very good. First edition of this scarce report on the varieties of North American deer, demonstrating a keen interest in the natural history of the Americas in the mid-19th century. The author travelled widely as the curator of the Zoological Museum in Berlin. This brief is based on earlier reports from the likes of Lt. Whipple and the work of the museum's agent who dispatched specimens from St. Louis. The folding plate is a duochrome lithograph of twelve varieties of American deer antlers. OCLC locates about a dozen copies worldwide, with only five institutional holdings in the United States. OCLC 9625868

Boston [i.e. Breslau: Gutsch], 1783.. 72pp. Modern blue-green wrappers, all edges red. Light tanning, occasional foxing throughout. Ink stamp on titlepage verso. Very good. Rare first edition of a treatise on military service by an officer "formerly under the Prussian army and now serving under the Americans." Anonymously published, this was one of several works on military instruction and history by August Wilhelm Leopold von Rahmel (1749-1808), officer in the Prussian army at Breslau and later mayor of Schmiedeberg (now Kowary, Poland). Rahmel attended the cadet school in Berlin, and entered military service in 1767, and while we were unable to verify whether he actually crossed the Atlantic during the Revolutionary War, the false imprint of "Boston" (really, Breslau) highlights his interest in the cause. Nevertheless, several prominent Prussian officers did contribute to the revolutionary effort, most notably Baron Friedrich von Steuben, who is credited with helping teach the Continental Army the… Read More

[N.p., but likely Chicago], 1903. Two-color map on thin paper, approximately 18 x 31 3/4 inches. Original folds. Slight separations at a few crossfolds, few short closed marginal tears. Very good. An interesting promotional map produced by Chicago oil and real estate speculator Charles O. Richardson, highlighting the oil- producing areas of Uinta County, Wyoming at the dawn of the 20th century. Uinta County is located at the extreme southwestern corner of Wyoming, on the border with Utah. At the time this map was produced, crude oil was vitally important to both the Standard Oil Company and the Union Pacific Railroad - for the former to refine into gasoline and for the latter to lubricate locomotives. Both entities appear on the present map. The "Index" or key of the map references the first two wells of the Standard Oil Company, other oil & gas wells, the lands of the Standard Reserve Oil Company, the lines for the Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad (red dashed line), the Union Pacific Railroad… Read More

New York: Baker & Goodwi, 1880. 200pp. Extra illustrated titlepage. Steel- engraved frontispiece portrait and many woodcut plates and in-text illustrations. Quarto. Original pictorial cloth, stamped in black and gilt, spine gilt. Edges of spine lightly scuffed. Author inscription on front pastedown and fly leaf. Mild toning, light foxing to preliminaries. Very good plus. In a black cloth slipcase. Dr. McLean, a prosperous patent medicine huckster from St. Louis, here sets forth his revolutionary weapon designs in the form of a remarkably elaborate propaganda piece. Most of his plans are based on the classic idea of inventing weapons so powerful that no enemy could withstand or even consider resisting them. Included are portable forts, impregnable fortresses (both fixed and floating), modular metal shield blocks, indestructible "Hercules Guns," rapid-fire battery guns, inescapable magnetic torpedoes; 48-shot pistols, and the like. Dr. McLean goes so far as to compare himself to Napoleon, Wellington,… Read More

San Francisc: Printed for the Book Club of Californi, 1962. [8]pp., followed by twenty-eight full-page colored prints, each print preceded by a leaf identifying the artist and a leaf of explanatory text. Folio. Original half cloth and patterned paper boards, paper label. Fine. In a plain red dust jacket, slightly faded. One of 400 copies printed by the Grabhorn Press, with the prints culled from the private collection of Edwin and Marjorie Grabhorn. The Grabhorns produced three such books, the first focusing on figure prints and the second on landscape. This final volume in the trilogy centers around portrait prints, or prints with people as their main subject. GRABHORN BIBLIOGRAPHY 638.

Kingston, N.Y.: Samuel Freer and son, 1860. 4pp. Folio. Old folds. Minor foxing and soiling. A few slight tears at some folds. Very good. In a half morocco and cloth folder, spine gilt. A reprint of the special funeral edition of the ULSTER COUNTY GAZETTE announcing the death of President George Washington. The columns on pp.2-3 are edged in a thick black border. Includes a dirge entitled "On the Death of General Washington," by "A Young Lady." The story of this oft-reprinted Washington memorial issue in told in R.W.G. Vail's article, cited below. R.W.G. Vail, "The Ulster County Gazette and its Illegitimate Offspring", New York Public Library Bulletin, April, 1930

Mexico: Imprente de Ignacio Cumplido, 1846.. 22pp. Tall octavo. Original printed yellow wrappers. Front wrapper detached but present. Wrappers a bit soiled, chipped at edges. Very light age-toning to text. About very good. This pamphlet discusses the Slidell mission to Mexico and its attempt to improve the situation between Mexico and the United States, especially as relates to Texas. The Eberstadts describe this as a basic document of the Mexican-American War, as it "was the final effort in the negotiation to preserve peace, after which war became inevitable." This document served as a final and public repudiation of the United States' attempts to quietly annex Texas and maintain peace with Mexico after encouraging its rebellion a few years earlier. Indeed, herein it is stated: "The Mexican nation does not recognize the American flag on Texas soil...and shall never permit new territorial advances by the United States...." The Streeter copy sold to Dawson's Book Shop for $120 in 1966. PALAU 212780.… Read More

Pari, 1917. [9],350,[5]pp. Illus. Original printed wrappers. Front wrapper detached, bottom margin torn with loss. Else good. First French edition. Includes material regarding Ohio, Illinois, Lincoln, Debs Rebellion, football, social life and customs, etc.

Pari: E. Plon et Cie, 1876. [1],iv,233pp. Half title. 12mo. Original printed wrappers. Small tear in front wrapper at lower edge of hinge. Occasional fox mark, very light browning on a few pages. Else very good. The author declares himself to be neither a besotted admirer of Americans, nor an unfair critic; he admires the "magnificent energy" of certain aspects of the American character, but deplores the "prodigious absence of morality." Arriving in New York after a tour in Asia, Toutain draws comparisons between the "ancient world" there and the "new world" of America. He travelled across the continent as far as Utah, and then back to New York, and discourses upon New York City, Niagara Falls, American women (not omitting Indian women and "negresses"), Chicago, the terrible American cuisine, Indians of different tribes, the educational system, the variety of peoples in America (comparing it to Palestine), Joseph Smith and the Mormons, and the Shakers, among other topics. MONAGHAN 1410. FLAKE 8980

[Buenos Aire: Niños Expòsito, 1811. [3]pp. Self-wrappers. Minor staining. Old library stamp on recto of first leaf and verso of last leaf. Very good. A charged political pamphlet lamenting conditions in Buenos Aires, particularly the alienation of the surrounding towns from the bustling port city. The independence movement in Buenos Aires had stalled with the installation of an executive triumvirate led by Bernardino Rivadavia in 1811. Though the triumvirate's centralist policies benefited the city, the surrounding towns were quickly marginalized. In the present pamphlet Funes (identified as the author by OCLC) does not recognize the legitimacy of the government and encourages a regime change. Such early Argentine imprints are extremely rare. OCLC locates only two copies, at Yale and the Bancroft Library. Jay Kinsbruner, INDEPENDENCE IN SPANISH AMERICA (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1994), p.59. OCLC 14769931.

Pari: Garnier Frére, 1858. [4],344pp. Half title. 12mo. Original printed wrappers. Minor staining and chipping to wrappers, expertly mended along the joints. Scattered foxing to text, else clean internally. Very good. Untrimmed. In a half morocco and cloth clamshell box, spine gilt. A captivating account of the failed socialist utopian community at Reunion, written by the group's physician. "In 1853 Victor Considerant and Albert Brisbane journeyed by horseback through Texas, and Considerant returned to Europe full of plans for creating a utopian socialist colony there. He raised over a million francs and purchased 47,000 acres in Texas. In 1855 he returned with colonists and established the settlement of La Reunion near Dallas. Subsequently, close to 500 colonists settled there. These included writers, musicians, artists, artisans, and free spirits, but only two farmers. As might be expected, a couple of years of utopian bickering and successive Texas droughts brought the experiment to a speedy… Read More

Pari: Librarie Plo, 1893. [1],321pp. plus folding map. Half title. Original printed wrappers. Wrappers slightly soiled, spine sunned. A few scattered fox marks, heavier on front and rear free endpapers and outside edges of pages, but generally quite clean internally. Very good. A sympathetic and thoughtful portrait of Hawaii. Sauvin arrived in New York and journeyed overland, admiring Niagara Falls, Chicago, and the Rocky Mountains before reaching San Francisco. The majority of the book is devoted to the islands of Hawaii, however, and includes information about history, native culture, social development, natural wonders, and the leper colony on Molokai. The folding map depicts the archipelago, with the principal towns and geographical features marked. FORBES 4500.

[New York: American Anti-Slavery Society, 1855].. 36pp. Gathered signatures, stitched as issued. Minor edge wear, spotting, and soiling. Very good. The scarce second edition of this anti-slavery pamphlet, printed in New York by the American Anti-Slavery Society from the same "stereotype plates...without alteration" as the first edition printed in Hartford earlier the same year. The text focuses on an appeal to the American Tract Society to take a more vocal and concerted stand against slavery. The authors of the text accuse the American Tract Society of "suppression" of anti-slavery sentiment by censorship of certain works it publishes that speak against the institution, and an overall sin of "studied and persistent omission" by not itself issuing "a direct condemnation of the most giant iniquity of our land." The text is signed in print at the conclusion by "The Members of the Fourth Congregational Church, Hartford, Conn." The work was issued as the sixteenth entry in the American Anti-Slavery… Read More

Boston: Rogers and Fowle, 1741. [3]-30pp. Lacks half title. Tipped into Gaylord binder. Later ownership inscription on verso of titlepage. Moderate wear and soiling. Lower portion of fore edge torn away on p.13, affecting last letters in nine lines of text. About good. Chauncy, great-grandson of the second president of Harvard, was pastor of the First Church of Christ in Boston for sixty years, beginning in 1727. "He was undoubtedly the most influential clergyman of his time in Boston, and, with the exception of Jonathan Edwards, in all New England, becoming the acknowledged leader of the liberals of his generation" - DAB. EVANS 4689. ESTC W28464. SABIN 12331.

New York, 1842. 209pp. Half title. 18mo. Later half morocco and marbled boards, spine gilt. Small portion of leather on rear board scuffed. Very faint dampstain along upper and lower edge of text, barely discernable. Near fine. Stone, a noted biographer of Indian chiefs, delivered the bulk of this discourse in Norwich, Connecticut on July 4, 1842 on the occasion of the dedication of a monument to Uncas. Uncas was the first chief of the Mohegans encountered by British settlers in Connecticut. An appendix contains a general history of the Indians of New England, including the Pequots. Stone also composed biographies of Joseph Brant and Red Jacket. FIELD 1506. SABIN 92153.