101. [Bristol.] Tales of an old seaport. A general sketch of the history of Bristol, Rhode Island, including incidentally an account of the voyages of the Norseman, so far as they may have been connected with Narragansett Bay: and personal narratives of some notable voyages accomplished by sailors from the Mount Hope lands. London, Oxford, & Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1917.
$175
First edition, 8vo, pp. [4], 292; 4 plates; fine copy in the first issue binding of red cloth stamped in gilt on upper cover and spine, and preserving the uncommon printed dust jacket with several shallow chips at the extremities.
Pertinent letters, ships' logs, Yankee privateersmen, Bristol sea captains and an extensive account of Nor'West John D'Wolf's voyage to the North Pacific and his subsequent trek west across Siberia.
102. [Bristol.] Plat of Bristol. [Bristol?]: n.d., [ca. early 1800s].
$1,500
Manuscript plat map of the town of Bristol (approx. 12¼" x 14¾") accomplished in sepia ink and green wash, showing downtown Bristol from the harbor east to Thames, Hope, High, and Wood Sts. to the "Back Road" (now Metacom Ave.), north to the "Road to Poppasquash," and south from Oliver, Franklin, Bradford, State, John, Church, Constitution, Union, Burton, and Walley Sts. to Ferry Road. The town commons central in green, and with keyed numbers to 11 buildings, including the school house, the Baptist Meeting House, and the Court House on the commons, and also the Methodist Chapel, the Congregational Church, St. Michael's Church, the town jail, and the armory. Small cup stain on a mostly blank portion, otherwise very good.
103. [Bristol.] Report from the Bristol, R.I. Public School Committee. [Bristol?: publisher not identified], April, 1838.
SOLD
16mo, pp. [8]; unopened; paper rather toned and splits starting at the folds, otherwise very good.
Not in OCLC, American Imprints, or Bartlett.
104. [Bristol.] Boat house on the shore: a history of the Bristol Yacht Club ... Foreword by Robert S. Hamel, Commodore. Ashland, Ohio: Bookmasters, Inc., [2011].
$50
First edition, 4to, pp. 350; profusely illustrated throughout; fine in a dust jacket that has a few scratches.
105. [Bristol.] Sketches of old Bristol. Providence: Roger William Press, 1942.
$75
First edition, 8vo, pp. [2], xiii, [3], 418; spine a but sunned else a very good, sound copy in original red cloth stamped in gilt; without a printed dust jacket, as issued.
Quaint, humorous and historical sketches of the D'Wolfs, Simeon Potter, John Howe, the town crier, the Bristol Phoenix, Hog Island, old burying grounds, the 1938 hurricane, the Herreshoffs, etc.
106. [Bristol.] Town Documents, Bristol, R. I. [spine title]. V.p., v.d., as below: .
$425
Death of General U. S, Grant. Funeral Memorial Service at Bristol. Providence: Reid, 1885. pp. 40; portrait and 1 full-page illustration;
Annual Report of the School of the Committee of the town of Bristol ... with historical sketch of the public schools, Providence: Reid, 1876, pp. 30, xxxviii, original printed front wrapper bound in;
Annual Report of the School Committee of the town of Bristol ... with reports of the superintendent of schools and the finance committee, and school statistics, Providence: Freeman, 1879, pp. 33, [1]; original printed front wrapper bound in;
Report of the Commission on Sewerage for the town of Bristol... Providence: Reid, 1888. pp. [2], 15, [1]; folding chart of the sewage system; original printed front wrapper bound in;
Annual Report of the School of the Committee of Bristol ... for the year 1879-80. Providence: Freeman, 1880, pp. 19, [1]; original printed front wrapper bound in;
Ditto, 1880-81. Bristol: Phoenix Job Print, 1881, pp. 17, [1]; original printed front wrapper bound in;
Ditto, 1881-82, Providence: Freeman, 1882, pp. 33, pp. 11, [1]; original printed front wrapper bound in;
Ditto, 1882-83, Providence: Freeman, 1883, pp. 33, pp. 11, [1]; original printed front wrapper bound in;
Ditto, 1883-84, Central Falls: Freeman, 1884, pp. 14, [2]; double-page chart and map; original printed front wrapper bound in;
Ditto, 1884-85, Central Falls: Freeman, 1885, pp. 20; original printed front wrapper bound in;
Ditto, 1885-86, Providence: Yankee Notion, 1886, pp. 16; original printed front wrapper bound in;
Ditto, 1886-87, Providence: Yankee Notion, 1887, pp. 16; original printed front wrapper bound in;
Ditto, 1887-88, Providence: Yankee Notion, 1888, pp. 18; original printed front wrapper bound in;
Ditto, 1888-89, Providence: Marion Printing, 1889, pp. 16; original printed front wrapper bound in;
Ditto, 1889-90, Providence: Snow & Farnum, 1890, pp. 20; original printed front wrapper bound in;
Ditto, 1890-91, Providence: Marion Printing, 1891, pp. 14, [2]; original printed front wrapper bound in;
A List of persons, corporations, companies, & estates as assessed in accordance with the [Bristol] town tax..., Providence: Reid, 1884, pp. 58; original printed front wrapper bound in;
Ditto, Providence, Reid, 1885, pp. 68; original printed front wrapper bound in;
Ditto, Providence: Freeman, 1886, pp. 68; original printed front wrapper bound in;
Ditto, Providence: Reid, 1887, pp. 72; original printed front wrapper bound in;
Ditto, Providence: Reid, 1888, pp. 76; original printed front wrapper bound in;
Ditto, Providence: Reid, 1889, pp. 72; original printed front wrapper bound in;
Ditto, Providence: Reid, 1890, pp. 75, [1]; original printed front wrapper bound in;
Ditto, Providence: Reid, 1891, pp. 75, [1]; original printed front wrapper bound in.
Together, 24 titles in half black calf lettered in gilt on spine; scuffed, but the binding is sound and the contents fine.
107. [Broadside Verse.] Handsome Harry, or the deceitful young man. Providence: printed and sold by J. S. Hayward, six rods east of the Market, n.d., [ca. 1830].
$250
Broadside (approx. 11½" x 9"), text in double column beneath the title and a wood engraving of the said Harry at a writing desk; large loss in the upper right corner barely touching the engraving, two or three other small holes affecting several letters, some old creasing; good, at best.
Not in American Imprints; Brown only in OCLC.
108. Aquidneck; a poem. Pronounced on the hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of the Redwood Library Company, Newport, R.I. August XXIV, MDCCCXLVII. With other commemorative pieces. Providence: Charles Burnett, Jr., 1848.
$225
First edition, small 8vo, pp. iv, [3], 8-63, [1]; original tan printed wrappers; back wrap loosening, but otherwise very good and sound.
Aquidneck is the largest island in Narragansett Bay on which Portsmouth, Middletown, and Newport at the south end. The Redwood Library was founded in 1747 as a private subscription library and still occupies its original building, now a National Landmark, designed in the Palladian style by Peter Harrison in 1750.
Brooks was pastor of the Universal Congregation Church in Newport from 1837-1871. He published several collections of verse but is best known as a translator of Schiller, Goethe and other German authors.
BAL 1368; Bartlett, p. 44; Hammett, p. 27; Sabin 78341.
109. [Brown Family.] Correspondence of attorney Thomas Drew Robinson, primarily to the Brown Family, 1855-1861, with some letters in response.. .
$1,800
Twenty-two (22) autograph letters, various sizes, totaling 71 pages, 9 with envelopes; folds, overall very good to fine. Bright ink and legible.
Thomas Drew Robinson was born in 1828 in Middleborough, Mass. of Dr. Morrill and Mary (Shaw) Robinson. He graduated with a law degree from Brown University in 1849 and set up practice in New Bedford, Mass. He later moved to New York City to set up a new practice there. It is likely that the Browns knew Robinson through the University.
The collection includes drafts of seven personal letters written by Robinson to relatives and friends: Caroline Colby (2), Averick Colby Kielblock (2), Mrs Coffin (1), Mrs C or H. (1), Rush Hawkins (1). The remaining letters were written to him by General Rush C. Hawkins (1) (Ann Mary Brown's husband), John Carter Brown (1), Ann Mary Brown (1) "C.M. Brown", very likely Caroline Mathilde Brown (6), and A.B. Hawkins, likely Albert B. Hawkins b. 1815 (1), and Caroline Colby (5). These letters were written when Robinson was about 28 years old and a bachelor.
Caroline Mathilde Clements (ca. 1809-1879) of Dover, New Hampshire, married Nicholas Brown III (1792-1859). Five letters in this correspondence were written to Robinson while she was summering at their home called "Choppequonsett"--affectionately "Choppi"- which was set on Gaspee Point in Narragansett Bay, and one letter was written from Florence, Italy. Robinson was sending gifts and there are other indications that she was purchasing items to add to his various collections--he was a known orchid collector and perhaps of antiques. Caroline was in her late 40s when she sent these rather flirtatious letters to Robinson.
In August of 1856, Robinson has apparently sent Caroline some sea shells and she thanks him: "Is it not strange these little delicate forms, preserve their rich tints, after being torn from their beds, and buried in sand, earth's most unstable foothold--and appear unsullied to deck a ladies cabinet?...many thanks for this precious gift..."
"Chappi Sept 15, 1856. My Dear Sir: The prints you sent me were very beautiful, thousand thanks--I have transferred them to the -ov [?] tho' as yet, I have not ventured to paint it, for fear it will turn out like the other, that you saw. I was in hopes to have seen you yesterday. I don't believe that you were in better company--Don't wound myself love by saying, with that meaning smile--'yes, but I was!' I know full well the charms of N-Bedford ladies yet I am not inclined to yield one iota even to 'sweet sixteen'--this question puzzles you I also know, but then remember Dame Nature has not made you an amateur of the fair sex, as I told you, with other faults of your cranium!....Lord of heaven! don't think me mad, I assure you I have as much sense now, as I ever had, that you will say is 'precious little'! I have just thought of it--do you ever read your letters to your friends? If so, pray tell me and I will be more dignified in future, as I am a little to be called a - no - no- not a blue! yet for the life of me, I cannot find another word to replace that--To be serious one moment- AM [her daughter Ann Mary] says 'Mama don't forget to send my regards... Carter enters College tomorrow--therefore will not go to N York with us--Did not you tell me you disliked long letters? then I will tell you...I am your very best friend CM Brown."
Two other letters to Robinson describe her travels to Quebec and then to Rome. The last letter is from 1860, addressed to Robinson in New York and asks him to call on her at the Newgate Hotel "about dinner time." Robinson married Mary Loomis Brooks sometime after 1863.
Caroline's daughter, Ann Mary Brown, married Rush Christopher Hawkins (1831-1920) in 1860. In 1861, General Rush C. Hawkins writes a rather amusing letter to Robinson from Camp Butler, Newport News, Virginia July 4, 1861, in the midst of the Civil War: "Dear Robinson How are you and how are you getting along? Tell me do the days of thinning still continue is the bank account low and my old friend mokeiferous [?] and frisky? ... I suppose at any rate my friend R is still oleaginous and still kind to his friends. With me all things are changed...I have laid down the crook and pruning fork for the sword. I have banished from my mind all thoughts of good dinners and I'm on salt horse and pork and beans, with E. Pluibus Unum written on all my baggage. From a poor miserable son of Themis I have become a willing follower of Mars; the last is more the name than the occupation at present, we do no fighting...On the opposite side of the river from us the Rebels have any number of batteries and today while we were firing the national salute, they were firing their salute of nine guns, we included their nine in our thirty three, so you see that although we are ready and willing to cut each other's throats, we still remember the day [July 4], and so do they."
Robinson's response to Rush is dated N.Y. July 10, 1861: "My dear Rush, hail most renowned & unapproachable warrior--I have smoked my pipe anew and by leave to report the pipe & the rest of the family in an E pluribus unum state. I should like to take one look at ye great unterrified so warlike in the melting heat, in fact I now see you through the waving curls of smoke of my new huge meerschaum...the great pulse [of the] beating heart of the North is with you. To your brave hands we betrust the Star Spangled banner & the 4th of July--let the vision of 160 acres of land in the perspective beyond Chicago rekindle your patriotism. Brothers in arms great deeds wait for you. Hurry your grub consume your whiskey & make the Palmetto state & any other man sing Hail Columbia...my good fellow take care of yourself--remember Ellsworth & also that bravery which is worth anything in a general must consort with prudence--recklessness is no adjunct of courage & too often imperils it."
Ann Mary and Caroline (Carrie) Brown (1841-1892) were granddaughters of Nicholas Brown, Jr., who had given Brown University $5,000 and his name in 1804, and were the daughters of Nicholas Brown III (1792-1859) of Providence and Caroline Mathilde Clements (ca. 1809-1879) of Dover, New Hampshire. This family lived in Tappan, New York, but in 1845, when Ann Mary was eight and Carrie four, President Polk appointed their father as US Consul-General in Rome, and the family moved abroad. Ann Mary and Carrie were first educated in convents in Rome and Geneva. After Ann Mary graduated from Madame Arlaud's School in Geneva in 1854, the family moved back to Rhode Island, where they kept a city home in Providence, Horace Mann Hall at George and Prospect Streets, now a part of the Brown University Campus.
"General Christopher Rush Hawkins often blamed these childhood sojourns in Europe for the continued respiratory ailments from which his beloved wife, Ann Mary Brown Hawkins, and also his sister-in-law, Carrie, of whom he was very fond, suffered during their lives. Carrie Brown married the Italian Count Bajnotti, a Foreign Affairs officer, and moved to Europe, living in St. Petersburg, Rome and Paris. She died in Palermo in 1892." [http://www.findagrave.com]
A letter from John Carter Brown II addressed to Robinson who was at the St. Nicholas Hotel in New York in 1856: "I shall not describe the pleasure your letter occasioned and the news of your (may be so called) miraculous escape from injury on board the E.S. and by which accident had the weather been favorable might have caused a frightful loss of life. Mother & Ann Mary are anxious that you should not misunderstand me so I shall repeat that I shall be at the City Hotel Sunday morning (while the good people are at church) in my own buggy & my new hoss. So drive you down here so we shall have the whole day before us to enjoy lawyer style..."
Other letters are apparent drafts to Caroline Colby (1831-1879) and her sister Averick (1835-1865). They were daughters of Hon. Harrison Gray Otis Colby and Jane Standish Parker. Harrison Colby was also a graduate of Brown University and became Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Massachusetts. The family lived in New Bedford. Averick later married Franz Kielblock, a professor of music who lived in Newport and New Bedford. Mrs. Coffin is likely a relative of the Colbys. One of the letters from Robinson states that he is not engaged to Caroline Colby and remaining letters seem to refer to similar emotional entanglements and misunderstandings.
110. [Brown University.] A catalogue of the officers and students of Brown University, 1852-53. First term. Providence: A. C. Green, printer, 1852.
$75
Small 8vo, pp. 47, [1]; removed from binding, wrappers wanting; near fine.
After a listing of the students and faculty, the latter half of the publication contains information on the organization of the university, curricula required for the 11 degrees offered, libraries, costs, scholarships, examinations, etc.
Bartlett, p. 63.
111. [Brown University.] A sketch of the history and the present organization of Brown University. Published by the Executive Board. Providence: Knowles, Anthony & Co., printers, 1861.
$450
First edition, 8vo, pp. 15, [1];
Bound with: A catalogue of the officers and students of Brown University, 1861-2, Providence: Knowles, Anthony & Co., 1861, pp. 32;
Bound with: Class of 1862. An oration and a poem delivered in the chapel of Brown University; on class day, June 12, 1862. Printed at the request of the class. Providence: Cooke & Danielson, printers, 1862, pp. 43, [1]; includes "Mnemosque; a poem," by Henry F. Colby, of Newton Centre, Mass. The class poem;
Bound with: A catalogue of the officers and students of Brown University, 1862-3, Providence: Knowles, Anthony & Co., 1862, pp. 31, [1];
Bound with: Class of 1863. The morality of beauty. An oration delivered in the chapel of Brown University; on class day, June 11, 1863, by F. F. Emerson. Providence: Knowles, Anthony & Co., 1863, pp. 26;
Bound with: A catalogue of the officers and students of Brown University, 1863-4, Providence: Knowles, Anthony & Co., 1863, pp. 28;
Bound with: Class of 1864. An oration and a poem delivered in the chapel of Brown University; on class day, June 9, 1864. Printed at the request of the class. Providence: Cooke, Jackson & Co., 1864, pp. 40; includes "Euterpe": the class poem, by J. Foster Ober, of Beverley, Mass;
Bound with: A catalogue of the officers and students of Brown University, 1864-5, Providence: Knowles, Anthony & Co., 1864, pp. 28;
Bound with: a printed bifolium: Brown University. Junior exhibition, April 29, 1865, pp. [3];
Bound with: a second bifolium: Positively for one day only. Return of the favorites, Dunn's Star Combination Troupe, pp. [4];
Bound with: Brown University. Class of '65. The oration and poem delivered in Manning Hall on class day, June 15, 1865. Printed at the request of the class. Providence: H. H. Thomas & Co., 1865, pp. 46; includes "The Inspirations of Memory." a poem by Reuben M. Streeter;
Bound with: a third bifolium: Brown University. Junior Exhibition. April 23, 1864, pp. [3];
Bound with: a fourth bifolium: Great Annual Exhibition of Automatic Puppets (printed in green), pp. [4];
Bound with: a fifth bifolium: Exercises of class day, Class of 1865 [2 copies present], pp. [3];
Bound with: a sixth bifolium: Private theatricals. The Old Brown Theatre, pp. [3];
Bound with: a seventh bifolium: The ninety-seventh annual commencement of Brown University, September 6th, 1865, pp. [4];
Bound with: a broadside titled "Old Hundred," a poem in 4 quatrains.
112. [Brown University.] At the General Assembly of the Governor and Company of the English Colony of Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, in New-England, in America; begun and holden by adjournment at East-Greenwich, within and for the colony aforesaid in the year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four ... An act for the establishment of a college or university, within this colony [drop title]. [Providence: printed ... by J. Carter, 1803.].
$200
8vo, pp. 12; stitched, as issued. An early 19th century reprint of the original charter to form Rhode-Island College, published here to commemorate the change of name to Brown University in 1804.
American Imprints 4972; Bartlett, p. 64; Sabin 70716.
113. [Brown University.] Brown class day '97 [cover title]. [Providence (?): 1897.].
$75
Lithographed throughout in blue; 16mo (approx. 6½" x 5½"), 8 leaves, gilt-embossed stiff card wrappers, string-tied. Adhesion marks on rear cover (likely once in an album), but otherwise fine throughout, with all tissue guards in place.
Includes a program, opening exercises, a class hymn, and a list of the members of the class of 1897.
114. [Brown University.] Memories of Brown. Traditions and recollections gathered from many sources. Providence: Brown Alumni Magazine, 1909.
$100
8vo, pp. [11], 10-495, [1]; frontispiece, mounted plate, plus many illustrations in the text throughout; original brown cloth gilt-stamped upper cover and spine; fine copy.
Nearly 100 reminiscences by Theodore Francis Green, G. W. Curtis, W. H. Munro, W. P. Bartlett, R. B. Comstock, and many others.
115. Catalogue of the officers and students of Brown University for the academical year 1828-29. Providence: H. H. Brown, printer, Market Square, 1829.
$100
8vo, pp. 15, [1]; original drab wrappers; lightly toned; very good.
American Imprints 37968; Bartlett, p. 63.
116. Catalogue of the officers and students of Brown University for the academical year 1830-31 senatus academici, eorum qui munera et officia gesserunt, quique alicujus gradus laurea donati sunt in Universitate Brownensi, Providentiæ, in Republica Insulæ Rhodiensis. Providence: H. H. Brown, printer, Market Square, 1830.
$100
8vo, pp. 24; original drab wrappers; lightly toned; very good.
American Imprints 668; Bartlett, p. 63; not found in Sabin.
117. Catalogus senatus academici, eorum qui munera et officia gesserunt, quique alicujus gradus laurea donati sunt in Universitate Brownensi, Providentiæ, in Republica Insulæ Rhodiensis. Providentiæ: typis H. H. Brown, 1830.
$125
8vo, pp. 30; original drab wrappers; lightly toned; very good.
"Republica Insulæ Rhodensis" appears on cancel slip affixed to title page. Ownership signature at the top of the front wrapper of J. L. Tilllinghast.
American Imprints 669; Bartlett, p. 61; not found in Sabin.
118. Catalogus Universitatis Brownensis. [Providence: Hugh H. Brown, printer, 1817.
$125
8vo, pp. 23, [1]; original self-wrappers; lightly toned; very good.
Not in American Imprints; Bartlett, p. 61; Sabin 8617.
119. [Brown University.] The virtues and services of Francis Wayland. A discourse commemorative of Francis Wayland delivered before the alumni of Brown University, September 4, 1866. Providence: Sidney S. Rider & Brother, 1866.
$100
8vo, pp. 51, [1]; old sticker on the upper wrapper, text slightly toned, else very good in original printed gray wrappers.
Stern and heavy handed, Wayland did bring about progressive ideas for discussion in the classroom, but lack of support for his progressive views led to his offer of resignation in 1849. Discussions with the Corporation resulted in the withdrawal of his resignation.
120. [Brown University.] Address delivered before the alumni of Brown University, Tuesday, June 20, 1882 ... Poem by Prof. T. Whiting Bancroft. Providence: Sidney S. Rider, 1882.
$75
First edition, 8vo, pp. 32; original printed brown wrappers; piece torn from the top corner of the back wrapper, spine with just a few cracks; very good.
The title of Bancroft's poem is: "Memnon, or the Youthtide."
BAL 4342
121. Exercises of commencement. Providence: Jones & Wheeler, printer, September 7th, 1808.
$150
Broadside, approx. 17¼" x 10½", text within a medley of type ornamental border; the lower half rather stained, previous folds with neat, professional repair on verso.
Program of day's events with names of participants and titles of orations, poems and disputes, "Salutary Addresses in Latin," by Bradford Summer; "Oration on the Patronage of American Literature," by Jeremiah Mayhew; "An Essay on Mathematics," by Abiel Bolles; "An Oration on Bigoted Cruelty, the Product of Monkish Ignorance," lots of music, the conferring of degrees, and "An Oration on Science, with the Valedictory Addresses," by John B. Wight.
Not in American Imprints; AAS and Brown only in OCLC.
122. [Brown University.] William Herbert Perry Faunce, President of Brown University MDCCCXCIX - MDCCCCXXIX. Addresses at the memorial service in Sayles Hall, February 22, 1930 with the tribute given over the radio by President Clarence A. Barbour. Providence: published by the University, 1930.
$45
8vo, pp. 32; original brown cloth stamped in gilt on the upper cover; some dampstaining in the gutters of the endpapers, else fine.
Addresses by Norman S. Case, governor of Rhode Island, Rev. Frederick Lynch of the N.Y. Peace Society, Fred T. Field, Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, Harry Koopman, chief librarian at Brown, and one other.
Issued as no. VII in the Brown University Papers series.
123. [Brown University.] A sermon, delivered in the Baptist Meeting-House in Providence, July 31, A.D., 1791. Occasioned by the death of the Rev. James Manning, D.D. President of Rhode-Island College. Providence: J. Carter, [1791].
$250
First edition, 8vo, pp. 40; original black mourning wrappers (chipped and becoming loose). Brown University bookplate (withdrawn), the gift originally of Prof. William Gammell, class of 1831.
Manning was the first president of Rhode-Island College, now Brown University.
Alden 1240; Evans 23380; not in Bartlett.
124. [Brown University.] Early history of Brown University, including the life, times, and correspondence of President Manning, 1756-1791. Providence: [printed by Snow & Farnham], 1897.
$100
"Published by subscription, edition limited," small 4to, pp. [4], 631, [1]; 10 portraits and 3 plates; very good in original tan cloth, gilt lettering on spine.
The work originally appeared in two separately published works in 1864 and 1867, and are now here combined with revisions.
125. [Brown University.] A true and candid statement of facts relative to the late affairs and proceedings of the government of Brown University. New Haven, Conn.: January, 1826.
$350
8vo, pp. 15, [1]; later half maroon calf over marbled boards, gilt title on spine; some dampstaining to tops of boards, extending into outer margins of text, rear hinge cracked. Previous owner's signature on title page.
“An anonymous publication, written, it is said, by the Rev. John Holroyd of the Class of 1802. This pamphlet had much to do with the removal of President Messer" (Bartlett).
American Imprints 26248; Bartlett, p. 56.
126. [Brown University.] History and laws of the library of Brown University [wrapper title]. Preface to the catalogue of the library of Brown University, with the laws of the library. Providence: 1843.
$125
First edition, 8vo, pp. 26; original printed brown wrappers; fine.
American Imprints 818; Bartlett, p. 58.
127. [Brown University.] A year at Brown ... Illustrated by Sydney R. Burleigh. Providence: Snow & Farnham, 1903.
$100
First edition, 8vo, pp. 178; frontispiece and 4 plates; original pictorial brown cloth, gilt-lettered spine; some wear at spine ends, title a little spotted and the tissue guard more so; very good and sound.
An uncommon novel about college life in Providence.
Smith J-181.
128. [Brown University.] The John Carter Brown Library. The dedication of the Library building…with the addresses by William Vail Kellen and Frederick Jackson Turner. Providence: [John Carter Brown Library], 1905.
$20
First edition, 8vo, pp. [4], 68, [2]; title-page with heraldic crest; original black cloth-backed mauve paper-covered boards, gilt-titled spine, near fine with only head and foot of spine worn.
Handsomely printed at the Merrymount Press.
Smith-Bianchi 229.
129. [Brown University.] A sermon, delivered in the Baptist Meeting-House in Providence, on Lord's Day afternoon, October 14, A.D. 1798. Occasioned by the death of Welcome Arnold, Esq; one of the trustees of Rhode-Island College, and member of the General Assembly of this state, who departed this life September 29, 1798, in the 54th year of his age. Providence: Carter and Wilkinson, 1798.
$129
First edition, 8vo, pp. 15, [1]; uncut; original blue wrappers loosening, else very good.
Early ownership signature at the top of the wrapper of Mary Cornelia Talbot, a daughter of the American Revolution, born in Providence.
Alden 1566; Bartlett, p. 183; Evans 34086.
130. [Brown University.] The old back campus at Brown. A chronicle of student life and activities at Brown University in the latter half of the last century. Replete with anecdote. Providence: [Haley & Sykes], 1929.
$35
8vo, pp. 47, [1]; text in double column; photographic frontispiece, 3 plates and 10 drawings in the text; very good in original brown cloth lettered in gilt on the upper cover.
One of the plates shows the champion baseball team from 1870.
131. [Brown University.] Order of exercises and theses for commencement. September 1, 1813. Providence: printed by H. Mann and Co., 1813.
$125
First edition, 12mo, pp. 26, [2]; removed from binding; trimmed close and touching the pagination on several leaves; otherwise very good.
American Imprints 28025; Bartlett, p. 55; not in Sabin.
132. [Brown University.] Eulogy, delivered in Brown University, on Mr. Jonathan Wheeler, a member of the sophomore class; who died, December 11, 1817. Providence: printed by Miller and Hutchens, 1818.
$100
First edition, 8vo, pp. 14, [2]; removed from binding and trimmed.
Presentation copy from the author to "Mr. Snell from his fri[end] W. S. Pa[tten]" trimmed as indicated; all else very good. This is apparently Patten's first book; he was just 18 years old at the time of publication.
American Imprints 45213; not in Bartlett.
133. Photographs Class of seventy-six. [Providence: 1876.].
$1,500
Heavy folio, with a title leaf, contents leaf, and 97 mounted salt and albumen photographs of administrators, faculty, and the graduating class, all but three with signatures affixed; original heavy brown morocco, gilt-stamped covers with panel enclosing the title, gilt-lettered direct on gilt decorated spine, a.e.g.; some of the salt prints a bit spotted, the covers moderately rubbed, but the binding is sound.
134. [Brown University.] Address delivered before the alumni of Brown University, Tuesday, June 15, 1880 ... Poem by Rev. S. F. Smith. Providence: Sidney S. Rider, 1880.
$45
8vo, pp. 45, [1]; removed from binding, wrappers wanting; all else very good.
Pierce's address focuses on the public and social duties of the college graduate.
135. Proceedings of the corporation and of the alumni of Brown University, in reference to the resignation of President Wayland, and the induction of President Sears. Providence: Knowles, Anthony & Co., printers, 1856.
$75
8vo, pp. 23, [1]; neatly rebacked; lightly chipped, text slightly toned, else very good in original printed gray wrappers.
Ownership signature at the top of the upper wrapper: "Judge Merrick."
Stern and heavy handed, Wayland did bring about progressive ideas for discussion in the classroom, but lack of support for his progressive views led to his offer of resignation in 1849. Discussions with the Corporation resulted in the withdrawal of his resignation. He died shortly thereafter.
Bartlett, p. 58.
136. [Brown University.] Report of the Committee of the Alumni of Brown University, presented at a meeting held on Tuesday, August 31, 1869. [Providence: publisher not identified, 1869.
$25
8vo, pp. 17, [1]; original self-wrappers, stitched, as issued; covers soiled else very good.
The committee consisted of Alexis Caswell, Samuel G. Howe, La Fayette S. Foster, Francis W. Bird, William Gammell, and John L. Lincoln.
137. Report of the Committee of the Corporation of Brown University, appointed to raise a fund of one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars. Providence: Knowles, Anthony & Co., printers, 1851.
$100
8vo, pp. 16; original tan printed wrappers; some soiling else near fine.
At the top of the list of donors, John Carter Brown who gave $20,000.
Bartlett, p. 58.
138. [Brown University.] Season '96 '97. Brown University Glee, Banjo and Mandolin Club ... Edwin Arnold Bush, 2d., manager. Providence: [1896].
$35
Oblong bifolium (approx. 6" x 7½"), full-page illustration of the club members, decorative title page, programme, and officers are listed; the back is soiled, else very good.
139. [Brown University.] The Brunonian. Edited by students of Brown University. Nos. 1-4. Providence: H. M. Brown, printer, July - October, 1829.
$400
8vo, pp. 128 (continuous pagination through all 4 issues), original brown printed wrappers preserved; generally fine in 20th century three-quarter brown calf over marbled boards, red morocco label on gilt-paneled spine.
The periodical ran to 12 issues in all, ceasing in March, 1831.
Not found in Bartlett; Sabin 8757.
140. [Brown University.] The laws of Brown University ... enacted by the Corporation. Revised edition, 1835. Providence: H. H. Brown, 25 Market Square, 1835.
$100
8vo, pp. 20; original printed green wrappers; soiled, else very good.
Laws of admission, the library, bills and expenses, vacations and absence, lodging, discipline, commencement, etc.
American Imprints 30693; Bartlett, p. 66.
141. [Brown University.] The laws of Rhode-Island College. Enacted by the fellows and trustees. Providence: printed by J. Carter, 1803.
SOLD
8vo, pp. 29, [1]; signed in ink at the end by Asa Messer as president of (Rhode-Island College crossed out and inserted in holograph:) Brown University, admitting Horace Mann as a student, and dated Sept. 25,1816; Mann graduated in 3 years (in 1819) and was class valedictorian.
American Imprints 3891; Bartlett, p. 66; Sabin 8625.
Bound with: Supplement to The laws of Rhode-Island College, Providence: Carter, 1803, pp. 6, [2]. Margins a little chipped, first title page slightly darkened; all else very good.
American Imprints 3892; Bartlett, p. 66; Sabin 8633.
142. [Brown University.] Triennial catalogue of the library and the members of the Philermenian Society in Brown University. Founded A.D. 1794. Providence, R.I.: [publisher not identified], 1849.
SOLD
8vo, pp. 92; original cream glazed wrappers printed in blue; back wrapper neatly reattached, a few small chips; all else very good. On the verso of the title: "Boston: Demrell & Moore, printers, 16 Devonshire Street."
Includes a 48-page catalogue of the Society's library.
OCLC locates only 2 copies: AAS and National Library of Education. Not in Bartlett.
143. [Brown University.] Catalogue of the library and members of the United Brothers' Society, Brown University. Instituted A.D. 1806. Providence: A. Crawford Greene, printer, 1853.
SOLD
8vo, pp. 84; original glazed yellow front wrapper, spine and rear wrapper perished; the front wrapper a little spotted; all else very good.
With the ownership signature at the top of Robert H. Ives, Jr.
The library catalogue occupies 30 pages, the balance consisting of membership rolls, annual orators and poets, regulations, etc.
AAS only in OCLC; Bartlett, p. 60; see Sabin 97867 for earlier editions.
144. [Brown University.] Complete series of four pamphlets on the objectives of the university. Providence: printed by the Collegiate Press, Menasha, Wisconsin, and Akerman-Standard Press, Providence, 1946.
$50
First editions, 12mo, fine in original printed wrappers.
1) The Structure of Brown University; 2) Educational Housing; 3) The University College; 4) The Size of Brown University.
Wriston (1889-1978) was the 11th president of Brown University, serving from 1937 to 1955. Previously, he had been president of Lawrence College.
145. [Brown, Joanna.] Manuscript memorandum of the state of mind & sum of circumstances of [the death of] Joanna Brown. [Newport?]: 1785.
$950
Three-page folio manuscript (approx. 13" x 16"); previous folds, paper toned, considerable dampstaining, but the text remains legible; several short splits at the folds; good.
Joanna Brown was the daughter of Nicholas and his wife Rhoda (Jenckes) Brown. Sadly, Joanna died at the age of nineteen, apparently of a flu-like illness. Nicholas Brown, Sr. (1729-1791) was a Providence merchant who co-founded the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, which was renamed Brown University after Brown's son Nicholas Brown, Jr. in 1804. Brown was a active supporter of both the College and of the First Baptist Church in America, throughout his life. Upon his death in 1791, Rev. Dr. Samuel Stillman, of Boston, gave his eulogy.
This manuscript opens with: "Memorandum of the state of mind & sum circumstances of Joanna Brown Daughter of Nicholas Brown & Rhoda his whife (sic). In her last Illness. She Departed this Life January the 18th at abt 4 after two in the morning aged nineteen years wanting five Days--with a Consumption. On [blank] day of June being Sunday & a remarkably hot day Joanna was out that afternoon to meeting, abt 3 OC there came up a Hard squall of wind & sum rain, after meeting she went up to her Aunt Pages and is said she wet her feet, however in the evening she went with sum of her young company Sat out under Capt Pages buttonwood trees in his yard and caught such a cold as not to be able to go out of chambers the next day, the next day had sum complaints of pain in her side with a fever..."
Joanna was taken to Newport "for a Sea Upland air" and had an herbal medicine prescribed by Dr Stiles of New York ("called by them boneset"), but after a visit to "Uncle John B and his wife Nabby" in "Popersquash" [in Bristol] for several days in July she was no better. "She had taken the P. herb according to direction with such others means as thot advisable while in Newport by Drs Eyers & Easton during which time we had many letters from Dr Eyers & herself most of which rather gave her case to be mending tho with no grait Incouragement at any time, However in my own opinion, she was no better when returned..."
Joanna's illness lasted over six months before she died and the writer gives much detail concerning both her illness and the question of how to relay to her that she was likely to die. "About the 22nd of December I wrote a friend that she was very low & as to her state of body could not continue but a little while...Was much wasted and could not sit at the table by herself. She was ready for Gods call & expected grait Love for Christ & Trusting in God...she died with great tranquility of mind...yet Satan was busy about her often darkning & discouraging her tho' afterwards for sum weeks before her end, was much more releaved from the influence of the Adversary--see copy of 2nd letter to Mr Stillman (?)." Presumably Rev. Samuel Stillman had been contacted concerning her imminent demise.
The manuscript is unsigned but it was probably written by someone very close to her in her last illness--possibly either a nurse or housekeeper or perhaps some lower level Baptist preacher--not James Manning, then pastor of the First Baptist Church-- judging by the spelling. The provenance, according to Dan Seigel, is "from William Goddard's papers" but the handwriting is not his, nor her father's or step-mother's.
146. Three-page autograph letter signed to Abby Francis. Saratoga Springs, N.Y.: July 31, 1840.
SOLD
3 pages, 4to, addressed by Brown on the verso of the integral leaf: "Nicholas Brown, Esq. for Miss Abby Francis, Providence, R.I." and with a Saratoga Springs round-stamp. This letter to Abby was sent in care of Nicholas Brown, JCB's father. Previous folds and the folds showing a few splits; all else very good and legible.
Abby Francis was the niece of Nicholas Brown, Jr. (1769-1841), the namesake of Brown University, and John Carter Brown was her uncle, and Nicholas's son. The letter was written while Brown was on a business trip visiting not only business associates but also friends and family throughout New York. Brown makes many interesting observations in his letter, especially concerning Providence's elite socialites on their summer holidays upstate. He specifically mentions the Carrington family, who were visiting Saratoga Springs so that Mrs. Carrington could bathe in the healing waters there. Brown also notes that "The company at the Springs this season is not so numerous as the last--there are not so many great characters here as then, in short, people have not so much money to travel with as heretofore." Brown intimates that he would enjoy the company of his niece on his next visit to New York.
John Carter Brown (1797-1874) was the youngest son of the well-known manufacturer and philanthropist, Nicholas Brown, Jr. He graduated from Brown in 1816 and went to work in the family's concern, Brown & Ives, which came to control most of the waterpower on the Blackstone River, where his great uncle, Moses Brown, and Samuel Slater had pioneered in the cotton textile industry. After his father's death in 1841 he withdrew from Brown & Ives and spent much of the rest of his life collecting books and manuscripts, using Henry Stevens as his agent. He also hired a full-time librarian, John Russell Bartlett, to manage the collection and produce its first catalogue. This collection became the basis of the famed John Carter Brown Library at Brown University.
147. Rhode Island in verse. [Providence: Roger Williams Press, 1936.].
$20
12mo, pp. xiv, 244; spine a little spotted else very good in original blue cloth stamped in gilt on upper cover and spine.
Compiled as a tribute to the Tercentenary Year of Rhode Island's settlement in 1636.
Contributions by James Russell Lowell, M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Edward Everett Hale, Caroline Hazard, Philip Freneau, John Hay, Edgar Allan Poe, and many others.
148. [Brown, Moses.] Moses Brown: his life and services. A sketch read before the Rhode Island Historical Society, October 18, 1892. Providence: Rhode Island Printing Co., 1892.
$75
8vo, pp. 47, [1]; original printed tan wrappers; very good.
149. Manuscript inventory of the estate of James Angell. [Providence: 1786.].
$1,250
Folio sheet approx. 15" x 12", docketed on the verso; previous folds, with splits (no loss); overall toning; good.
Brigadier General James Angell (1723-1785), descendant of one of the first settlers of Providence, died February 2, 1785. This inventory was taken by Moses Brown (1736-1838), executor of the will and both a friend and relative. The Angell's daughter, Abigail, married a Goddard, relatives of the Brown family. Among assets listed are Angell's Johnston farm lot, 160 acres of Vermont land, a third of an acre lot in North Providence; "we to give James and Jacob a Deed of the Whole of remd of Johnston farm & North Providence lott."
James Angell was town clerk of Providence until 1775 and Theodore Foster said of him, "I became intimately acquainted with the said James Angell and many of his Family Connexions, among whom was the Honorable Stephen Hopkins Esq. whose Sister married the said James Angell" (Documentary History of Rhode Island). Angell was also appointed chairman of the committee to revise laws of the state.
150. Minutes of the early proceedings of the Baptist Society; also the charter of incorporation, and by-laws of the Charitable Baptist Society, in Providence, R.I.. Providence: H. H. Brown, printer, March, 1828.
$125
First edition, 8vo, pp. 16; original printed blue front wrapper, rear wrapper perished, the whole rebacked with gray library cloth; good copy, or better.
Rhode Island College was re-named Brown for Nicholas Brown II in 1804 in the wake of large gifts from him. Brown also co-founded the Providence Athenaeum and was active in various Baptist and literary causes.
AAS, Texas and Brown only in OCLC; American Imprints 34928; not in Bartlett.
151. The late Nicholas Brown [wrapper title]. [Providence: publisher not identified, 1841.].
$125
First edition, small 8vo, pp. 16; self-wrappers, with mourning border on front an back; stitching loosening, else very good.
Notices taken mainly from the Providence Journal.
Nicholas Brown was a far-sighted scion of a merchant family who made a fortune, first in the maritime trade, then through the control of water-rights in the Blackstone Valley, and later by large-scale investments in Ohio lands. His gift of $5,000 to Rhode Island College in 1804 "resulted in the change of the college's name to Brown University as a recognition of the beneficence of himself and of other members of his family" (DAB).
American Imprints 2994; not in Bartlett.
152. [Brown, Nicholas.] Writ for the Arrest of Edward Thurston and Nicholas Brown. [Providence]: United States District Court, July 18, 1797.
$800
Pro-forma document (approx. 8" x 11¾"), accomplished in ink, signed Edmund T. Ellery, Clerk, docketed on verso with notice of the arrest of both men. Official embossed seal of the R.I. District Court, docketed on verso; toned, previous folds, small breaks; all else very good.
Defendants Edward Thurston and Nicholas Brown, for whom Brown University was named, were well known merchants of colonial Providence and Newport. The complainants in this case were Robert Murray and Stephen Tillinghast, New York merchants, who alleged that Edward Thurston and Nicholas Brown of Rhode Island have "taken and converted for their own use one half part of the Sloop Liberty and her Cargo the property of the plaintiffs of the value of Eight Thousand Dollars."
Both Stephen Tillinghast and Robert Murray, although based in New York, had Rhode Island connections. Robert Murray was the brother of John Bowles Murray, who had worked in the counting house of Clark & Nightingale in Providence and in 1783 formed a partnership with John P. Mumford and Oliver Bowen, which established two commercial houses, one in New York City and the other in Alexandria, Va., and dealt heavily in teas. The Brown (Brown & Benson Co.) family traded frequently with the firm of Murray, Mumford, & Bowen in New York.
Stephen Tillinghast (1768-1841) was born in RI of Daniel and Lydia (Hopkins) Tillinghast. The resolution of this particular case has not been found in the Federal Court Archives in Waltham, Mass., although it may be a continuation of a case involving Edward Thurston who was complained against by William Mackay in a case from June 30, 1797 involving the Sloop Juliet for $1600. Thurston, whose problems also included being searched as a Loyalist in 1776, went bankrupt in New York in 1805. Other cases involving Nicholas Brown (1769-1841) appear from 1805 and 1809. The case in 1805 involves a $200,000 dispute for non-performance with shipper and slave trader Pedro DuVal of Buenos Aires.
The docket on the verso reads: "Rhode Island District July 19 I have arrested the bodies of the within named Edward Thurston and Nicholas Brown as commanded," signed "W. Perkins, Marshall."
153. Hail Columbia! Historical, comical and centennial. Providence: [printed in New York by the Graphic Co.], 1876.
$200
First (i.e. "Author's edition"), oblong 4to, pp. 48; 24 full-page illustrations by the author and artist; original pictorial red cloth stamped in red and black; some wear at the spine ends, but generally very good.
Water Francis Brown was born in Providence, RI. He was a painter and illustrator whose specialty was scenes of Venice. He graduated from Brown University in 1873 and studied in Paris. He was a member of the Providence Art Club, and he was one of the illustrators for A Tramp Abroad by Samuel Clemens. Hail Columbia! is apparently the only book he both wrote and illustrated.
154. Freaks of the Jagüey, from nature [envelope title]. Providence: [the author], 1871.
$850
4to (envelope approx. 9½" x 7¾") containing 6 lithograph illustrations (each present in 2 copies on 2 different types of paper), and accompanied by a sheet of letterpress (approx. 6½" x 8¼") descriptive of the jagüey tree, "known in Jamaica as 'The Scotchman hugging the Creole;' also as the 'Parricide-Tree.' It is a species of Banyan, or Indian Fig ... The accompanying sketches were taken on the Island of Cuba."
Only edition of this botanical work. Brownell was a Rhode Island-born lawyer turned artist. He worked out of New York City and Hartford painting Connecticut Valley scenes. His family owned a sugar plantation in Cuba where he was a frequent visitor to paint landscapes. The envelope is torn and spotted; the plates and letterpress are fine.
OCLC locates the Brown copy only.
155. Ephemeron, a poem. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1855.
$100
First edition, 12mo, pp. 58; odd dampstains (?) or foxing (?), mostly towards the back; all else fine in original glazed white paper wrappers lettered in gilt.
Brownell was born in Providence in 1820 and is primarily known for his poetry during the Civil War. This is his second book.
Not in Bartlett. BAL 1572.
156. Hints to the farmers of Rhode-Island. By a Freeman. Providence: Office of the Republican Herald, John S. Greene, printer, 1829.
$150
8vo, pp. 18; self-wrappers, stitched, as issued; lightly spotted and toned, else very good.
Burges served as Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, professor of oratory and belles lettres at Brown University, and as a U.S. Congressman. He was a staunch Federalist who was who elected five times (1825-1835) to Congress on an anti-Jackson platform.
Here, he addresses a controversy over the Act providing for the use of broad-rimmed wheels, an example of his rhetoric claiming that farmers are not well-served from a tax standpoint by the current (Jackson) administration, and used as a campaign document for James Fenner of Providence then running for governor.
Not in Bartlett; American Imprints 37997; Sabin 31986.
157. Fellow-Citizens of Rhode Island, Mr. Pearce and myself have been your public agents and Representatives for the last four years.... [Providence?: publisher not identified] August 22d, 1829.
$750
Broadside, square folio (15½", 39 cm square); printed in triple columns separated by single rules, signed in type by Burges. Sheet toned with age stains, previous folds in eighths; some wear to margins with loss at corners, small loss of a few letters along the folds. Still, a decent copy with wide margins.
A campaign document. The incumbents Burges and Dutee Jerauld Pearce were nominated at the Democratic convention at Newport but rump gatherings have nominated Judge Eddy and Job Durfee (at East Greenwich) and Elisha R. Potter and John D'Wolfe (at Bristol). Burges is particularly at pains to combat insinuations regarding his health raised by Eddy and Durfee, and slanderous claims regarding his loyalty to the party.
Burges represented Rhode Island in Congress for five consecutive terms, 1825-1835, and Pearce for six, 1825-1837.
Not in American Imprints; not in Bartlett; OCLC locates a single copy, at Brown; that copy (34 cm. x 31 cm.) is considerably cut down.
158. An oration delivered before the Providence Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers, at their annual election, April 11, 1796. Providence: printed and sold by Bennett Wheeler, 1796.
$125
8vo, pp. 18, [6]; uncut; self-wrappers, stitched, as issued; some edge-wear and foxing; all else very good.
The final four pages contain "Hymns, Performed at the Anniversary Election of the Officers of the Providence Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers, on Monday, April 11, 1796."
Alden, 1462; Bartlett, p. 69; Evans 30145; Rink 2963.
159. [Business Directory.] New-England mercantile union business directory. Part 5. - Rhode Island. Containing a new map of Rhode Island, an almanac for 1849, a memorandum for every day in the year, and a business directory for the state ... To which is appended a short advertising register. Carefully collected and arranged. New York: Pratt & Co. ... Providence: L. F. Baker [et al.], 1849.
$175
16mo, pp. [3]-90, [18], 15, [1]; folding map of R.I.; original brown blindstamped cloth lettered in gilt on the upper cover; top of spine with a small chip out, remains of small sticker on spine, otherwise very good.
Sabin 52704 (for the complete series in 6 parts - Rhode Island plus 5 other New England states).
160. [Cabinetmaker's Papers.] Loose receipts and miscellaneous papers . V.p.: 1802-1833.
$175
A dozen or so items, over half of which seem inconsequental.
Ezbon or Esbon Sanford (1765-1846) was born in Newport, worked in Washington County. He was a storekeeper, innkeeper, and cabinetmaker and is cited in various articles about Rhode Island furniture making. One receipt is from the "estate of Abigail Congdon" (his mother-in-law) which details payment for molasses and gin as well as a coffin for herself at $6.00. A detailed inventory (May 15, 1833) is included of the estate of Anna Buckingham of North Kingstown, Washington County. All her belongings are listed including furniture: "eleven old fiddleback maple chairs" at $5. This type of chair is described in an article by Kathleen E. Johnson in Art & Antiques Magazine (Sept/Oct 1981) as "an intentional translation of the elements of the carved mahoghany or walnut, cabriole legged, Queen Anne- style chair into the vocabulary of the turned chair tradition."
A large floor plan for a house with its footprint neatly laid out is one of the more interesting documents, with a detailed list of supplies (joists, ranging timber, furing, laths, doors & frames, roof boards, shingles and nails) each with prices. Ezbon Sanford held a local court office as Judge of the Court of Common Pleas and nother interesting document is dated 1830 from the state to the sheriff concerning the warrant for the arrest of George Young charging him as the father of Margaret Mitchel's "bastard child." The paper was signed by John H. Green, Deputy Sheriff.
Other names mentioned in his storekeeper receipts are Robert Hosford, Robert Northrup, Charles Douglas, Weighty Underwood, and Paul Austin.
161. The early history of Rhode Island. Boston: Thomas H. Webb & Company. New York: Bartlett & Welford. Leeds, England: John Heaton, 1843.
$450
8vo, pp. viii, [1], 270; facsimile frontispiece; comprising the third edition of John Callender's An Historical Discourse, on the Civil and Religious Affairs of the Colony of Rhode Island ... with a memoir of the author, biographical notices of some of his distinguished contemporaries, and annotations and original documents illustrative of the history of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, from the first settlement to the end of the first century, by Romeo Elton. Original blindstamped brown cloth, gilt-stamped spine; fine.
With a nice presentation from Elton: "For the library of the Theological School of Geneva, Switzerland. Care of Rev. J. H. Merle d'Aubigné, D.D. from Romeo Elton, Brown University, August, 1843."
Merle d'Aubigné (1794-1872) according to Wikipedia was a Swiss Protestant minister and a historian of the Reformation. As Merle d'Aubigné is not known to have visited America, and Elton not known to have visited Switzerland, it is unclear how these two would have known each other.
This edition not in Bartlett; American Imprints 931; Sabin 10076.
162. An historical discourse on the civil and religious affairs of the colony of Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations in New-England in America. From the first settlement 1638, to the end of the first century. Boston: printed and sold by S. Kneeland and T. Green in Queen-Street, 1739.
$2,750
12mo, pp. [2], 14, 120; advertisement leaf wanting; woodcut headpiece and initial.
Bound with: Callender, John, A Sermon Preach'd at the Ordination of Jeremiah Condy, to the Pastoral Care of the Baptist Church in Boston, Feb. 14th, 1738,9. Boston: printed by S. Kneeland and T. Green in Queen-Street, 1739, pp. [4], 32.
Together in 20th-century red morocco backed boards, gilt-lettered direct on spine; occasional foxing and toning; generally very good and sound. With early ownership signatures of Josias Byles, likely the Boston shopkeeper (c. 1682-1752).
Bartlett, p. 71; Evans 4347 & 4348; Howes C-74; Sabin 10074 & 10077; Streeter Sale 677.
163. [Carpenter Family Archive.] Job and Earl Carpenter: family documents; deeds, plats, wills, letters, receipts, etc. Cranston and Providence: 1814-1891.
$850
A 56-page archive of documents that relate to the Carpenter family in Rhode Island, who date to the early settlement of the state in the 1600s. Job Carpenter, born in Cranston, (1778-1845) was the son of Nathaniel Carpenter (1744-1828) and Deliverance Greene (1751-1821). Job Carpenter married Mary Westcott in 1804 and operated a large variety store in the Arcade in Providence. His brother, Earl, (1794-1863) operated the family ice business among other enterprises.
Job Carpenter bought and sold a significant amount of property, and the first deed in this collection is dated 1814 and is signed by Arthur and Anstis Greene and witnessed by Joseph Battey and the famed surveyor Benoni Lockwood. It refers to a lot originally owned by the Lockwood family in Cranston. The plat papers include a lengthy description of the Sabin lots which refers to the street in downtown Providence near Mathewson Street and mentions James Sabin's holdings back to 1805.
Several papers in the legal group evidence a problem Job was having with trespassers on his land; one document from 1828 states that he "forbid Warren Batcheldor, Daniel Giles, Samuel Thayer, and Owen Hartnell from laying any Wall, carting any Sand on, or Scoring any Mud or taking anything...from a lot of land...in a range with George Coultons shop...to the north line of Capt. Charles Stewarts Barn...."
A witnessed document from 1825 states that "Daniel Cleveland has this evening in my Store in the presence of Capt. Rud. West of New Bedford and William Greene of Johnstown that he was a tearing my land all to pieces and taking the turf of any where he could find it...he said Mr. Baldwin gave orders." This was signed by Richard West and "Wm Greene".
The archive includes:
(1) Fifteen deeds totaling 24 pages, 1814-1845, most 13" x 15", holograph, and printed and holograph;
(2) Plat drawings, 7 pages in all: Sabin lot 1808, Dean Street 1844, Lot on Cove Street in Providence, n.d., Angell Lots nearing Dean's Slaughter House, n.d., Lots for sale by Job Carpenter, 1833, various sizes 12" x 15";
(3) Holograph wills, 8 pages in all: Mary Carpenter of Providence 1834 and 1854, Sarah Davis widow of Providence, (unfinished) n.d., List of expenses in settling estate of Job Carpenter, 1833. Most 8" x 14".
(4) Misc. receipts, 4 pages;
(5) Various legal documents, 13 pages in all: Deposition of David Cleveland 1825, Power of Attorney Sylvester Westcott to Job Carpenter 1825, Complaint of Trespass (two), Providence 1828, Contract with Smith Slocum 1830, Rent of Farm to Henry Greene 1830, Indenture of Trust Job Carpenter to Earl Carpenter and William E. Richmond 1833, Job Carpenter appointed Measurer 1842, most 8" x 14";
(6) Two letters totaling 4 pages: Women's Centennial Executive Committee of Rhode Island, Providence June 15, 1875 to Mr. John Salisbury from Eliza S. Manchester thanks for the rigging of the Gaspee; and, Mrs. William Prestwich, sister of John H. Salisbury, writes to her sister regarding husband's (?) illness and death of washerwoman Mrs. Hazard, Westerly, February 19, 1891, 4" x 7". inches.
Overall good to very good, browning, small holes and tears at folds.
164. South County neighbors. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1888.
$20
12mo, pp. vii, [4], 12-272, 16 (ads); original blue cloth stamped in gilt and red; very good.
Homespun stories about Washington County in Rhode Island. The book is dedicated to Oliver Wendell Holmes.
165. [Carrier Broadside.] Address of the news-carrier, to the patrons of the Rhode-Island Republican. Newport, January 1, 1827. [Newport: Atkinson & Read?, 1826.].
$450
Small folio broadside (approx. 12½" x 7¾"), text in double column beneath the running head, the whole within a fancy typographical border; old pencil doodles on the verso, neat, professional repair to folds on verso; otherwise fine. First line: "Deemed ye sweet inspiring maids, / And wake once more the sleeping strings!"
James Atkinson and William Read had purchased the Republican from the printer William Simons in 1825.
Not in OCLC, Hammett, or American Imprints.
166. [Carrier Broadside.] Annual New Year's address of the carriers of the Providence Evening Press. January 1, 1863. [Providence: 1862.].
$325
Folio broadside (approx. 15¾" x 10¼"), text in double column beneath the running head, the whole within a typographic border; previous folds, top margin slightly defective touching border and a small hole in the left margin; all else very good. First line: "Old Year dies; from tower to answering tower..."
N.Y. Historical and Brown only in OCLC, noting a Cooke and Danielson imprint, not present here.
167. [Carrier Broadside.] Carriers' address of the Providence Journal. January 1, 1853. [Providence: 1852.].
$350
Folio broadside (approx. 16½" x 11"), text in double column beneath the running head, the whole within a typographic border; small piece torn from a corner (no loss of any letterpress), otherwise very good. First line: "Good morning Sir - quite well I hope, - I merely stopped to say..."
N.Y. Historical and Brown only in OCLC, noting a John Miller imprint, not present here.
168. [Carrier Broadside.] New Year's address from the carriers of the Providence Journal. January 1, 1852. [Providence: 1851.].
$350
Small folio broadside (approx. 11¾" x 8½"), text in double column beneath the running head, the whole within a typographic border; previous fold, some toning, especially in the bottom half, otherwise very good. First line: "When hid in fleecy blankets to the nose..."
Brown only in OCLC, noting a John Miller imprint, not present here.
169. [Carrier Broadside.] New Year's address of the carriers of the General Advertiser. [Providence: 1868.].
$275
Folio broadside (approx. 21½" x 15½"), text in triple column beneath the running head which incorporates a wood-engraved vignette, the whole within a typographic border; previous folds, large piece missing at the top left corner touching the "New" in "New Year's Address," and the 1869 date at the top; margins chipped but no other loss of letterpress; all else good or better. First line: "Best to its shade! The old year's gone; ..."
Brown only in OCLC, noting a C. Dyer, Jr. and C. S. Jones imprint, not present here.
170. [Carrier Broadside.] New Year's address of the carriers of the Providence Journal. January 1, 1858. [Providence: 1857.].
$375
Folio broadside approx. 15" x 11", text in triple column beneath the running head, the whole within a typographic border; previous folds, but near fine. First line: "My dear, kind friends, whom yearly I salute..."
Brown only in OCLC, noting a John Miller imprint, not present here.
171. [Carrier Broadside.] New Year's address of the carriers of the Providence Journal. January 1, 1859. [Providence: 1858.].
$325
Folio broadside (approx. 18¾" x 11½"), text in double column beneath the running head, the whole within a typographic border; previous folds, a few chips in the margins; very good. First line: "Once more the carrier greets you. May the year ..."
AAS and Brown only in OCLC, noting a John Miller imprint, not present here.
172. [Carrier Broadside.] New Year's address of the carriers of the Providence Journal. January, 1865. [Providence: 1864.].
$400
Folio broadside (approx. 19" x 13¼"), text in double column beneath the running head, the whole within an elaborate typographic border; previous folds, but generally very good. First line: "Kind friends and patrons! At this New Year's time..."
Brown only in OCLC, noting a John Miller imprint, not present here.
173. [Carrier Broadside.] New Year's address. Carriers of the Providence Journal. January 1st, 1856. [Providence: 1855.].
$325
Folio broadside (approx. 15½" x 11"), text in double column beneath the running head, the whole within a typographic border; some wrinkling, but generally very good. First line: "Who knocks? a stranger, open let him in!"
N.Y. Historical and Brown only in OCLC, noting a John Miller imprint, not present here.
174. [Carrier Broadside.] New Year's address of the carriers of the Providence Daily Post, to its patrons. January 1, 1858. [Providence: 1857.].
$375
Folio broadside (approx. 9½" x 13"), text in double column beneath the running head, the whole within a typographic border; previous folds, very good. First line: "Twelve months of mingled hopes and fears..."
Brown only in OCLC, noting a Sayles and Miller imprint, not present here.
175. [Carrier Broadside.] The carrier of the Providence Gazette to his patrons. January 1, 1824. [Providence]: 1824.
$275
Folio broadside (approx. 14¾" x 8¾"), text in double column beneath the running head, the whole within a typographic border; some wrinkling, tear across the lower quarter repaired with paper tape and causing the loss of several words; good. First line: "Patrons and friends! I hail the new-born year..."
Not in American Imprints. Brown only in OCLC, noting a Brown and Danforth imprint, not present here.
176. [Carrier Broadside.] The carrier's New Year's address to the patrons of the Providence Daily Evening Press. January 1, 1867. [Providence: 1866.].
$400
Folio broadside (approx. 19¾" x 12"), text in triple column beneath the running head, the whole within a typographic border; previous folds, near fine. First line: "Carrier boy goes his round to-day..."
Brown only in OCLC, noting a Hiram H. Thomas and Co. imprint, not present here.
177. [Carrier Broadside.] The Original - for 1837. Dedicated to the good citizens of New-Port, by their obedient and humble servant, Pieraizanghsikghi Bohgamjavouleniskogghe, K. D. G., graduate of T.N.P.S.A.P.C.O.R.S. [Newport?: 1837.].
$675
Folio broadside (approx. 20" x 15"), a poem with 99 quatrains in 4 columns beneath the running head, the whole within an interlocking Greek key border; the verso silked, small loss at the beginning of 8 lines in the middle, other minor losses and misalignments due to the backing; light spotting and staining; in all, a good copy of a rare broadside.
OCLC (locating the AAS and Delaware copies only, the latter merely a photocopy of the former) provides some clues to this enigmatic broadside: "Carrier's address in ninety-nine stanzas for unidentified or fictitious newspaper. References to Thames Street and to Mr. Swan, the "artist" at the Gothic church who "refused to longer play," suggest that this is Newport, R.I. where Richard Swan resigned as organist of Trinity Church in August of 1835.
Other references, however, cannot be identified with Newport, R.I. Mention of Dupont's Powder Mill in the forty-ninth stanza, for example, suggests instead Newport, Del., near where the Du Pont family operated a gunpowder mill on Brandywine Creek. Still other textual references indicate that the address was not printed late in 1836 as might be expected, but sometime after the first of the new year."
178. [Carter, Amey.] Two-page itemized invoice to Mrs. [John] Carter for making clothes. [Providence]: 1787-90.
$950
Folio (approx. 12¼" x 7½"), in ink and a clear hand; previous folds, light wrinkles, very good.
Itemized bill from Amey Carter's dressmaker, covering 21 sewing jobs from Nov. 5, 1787 to March 19, 1790, itemized, with prices for each, including "mending a frock & thread," "making body and sleeves to a jam & thread," "altering and making sleeves to a gown," "making a gown and frock for [her daughter] Becky," "altering & mending a pair of stays," "making a slip," etc. The verso records several payments made and the balance carried over as of March 19, 1790 is 2 pounds, 8 shillings, and 9 pence.
179. [Carter, Amey.] The Book of Common Prayer and administration of the sacraments and the other rites and ceremonies of the Church, according to the use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America: together with the Psalter, or Psalms of David. New York: George Forman, 1803.
$750
12mo, pp. 394; [2], 225, [3]; The Psalms with separate title page; bound in is an Additional hymns set forth in the General Convention of 1808 [drop title], publisher not identified with its own marbled paper wrappers, paginated in manuscript [1], 225-245, [3], and collating X6, Y6; signed at the top of the first leaf "William Carter, May 4, 1815"; full calf; rebacked in calf at an erly date; lower joint cracked, boards rubbed, ownership slip of William Easton Louttit tipped to lower pastedown, contemporary printed hymn pasted onto upper pastedown.
With a gift inscription from Amey Carter, to her son William: "Presented him by her, on his departure for China in the ship Arthur of Providence, August 1806." Amey was the wife of John Carter, Rhode Island printer and apprentice to Ben Franklin. Her son William was a merchant involved in the China trade.
American Imprints 3819 for Psalms, 4925 for the Book of Common Prayer, the Additional Hymns not noted in either record but with 2 holdings in OCLC at AAS and Northwestern. A variant copy at the Library Company has a collation B9.
180. Manuscript contract signed, being an agreement between Carter and Angell for establishing a potash business. [Providence]: March 4, 1784.
$1,250
Folio (approx. 12" x 7"), 2 pages on integral leaves, approximately 40 lines, signed by both Carter and Angell, wax seals intact, the top of the first page scalloped, as usual; very good condition, or better, and quite handsome.
John Carter was the famed Providence printer and publisher of the Providence Gazette, and the great-grandfather of John Carter Brown, founder of the library of that name at Brown University. Angell, a descendant of one of the original settlers in Providence, was a Continental Army officer in the American Revolution.
"John and Israel have mutually agreed to erect and build, and have, at their joint and equal Expense, built works, upon the land of said Israel ... for the Business of making Pot-Ash, for their equal Profits and Advantage." Witnessed by James Marryott and Samuel Cole.
181. Manuscript petition to General Assembly in Newport against "Exorbatent interest". [Newport: "second Monday of September A.D.", 1766.
$600
(Folio sheet approx. 11½" x 7¼"), in ink; some staining, the right margin erose with a few dropped letters, small hole at the intersection of previous folds; good.
The political unrest preceding the American Revolution is exemplified in this document which complains of the high rates of interest charged by the depreciation of old tenor in the Colony of Rhode Island. John Case petitioned the General Assembly of September 1766, then sitting at Newport, for the introduction of a Statute law, then in effect in Great Britain to regulate interest rates. Although the exact date of the actual writing of this petition is unknown (the Stamp Act was officially repealed March 18, 1766), it was written during a period when the colonists were severely rankled, mostly over excessive taxation and the uncertain value of money.
A report in 1766 by the Committee to revise the laws of the colony debated "whether the several acts relating to the emitting and sinking of paper bills shall be inserted into the new law book." There were many problems relating to paper money and "old tenor and new tenor," which were worth different amounts.
In February of 1764 an act had expired for putting a final end to old tenor, yet there were a considerable amount of such bills still outstanding. John Case writes: "As our oblegation are for the most part in a lawfull Currancey still the same is axacted which is not only to the utter Ruen of all Debters, Butt a Stagnation to all trade and Commerce and will Finally Depretiate the prime value of Land Down to allmost nothing and furthermore be the means of weakning of his Sovereign Majesty to Putt itt in the Power of a small number of letters of Money to graspe a Large number of estates from the Debters by an Exorbatant Interest Leaving them dispossessed...."
Carefully choosing the impact of his words, Case changes "Wee your Cheerful Potetioner" to "Wee your Humble Potetioner" in the document, mindful that he is an unhappy subject of the King's laws.
It is difficult to pinpoint John Case as there were several of that name in the time period, but he may be the John Case born in 1724 of John Case and Anne Greene. He had ten children and lived primarily in West Greenwich, R.I. (Note: A similar petition on the same topic was heard before the May 9, 1766 General Assembly--R.I. State Archives; Petitions to the General Assembly, Vol. 13, part 2, #19 - signed by 30 to 40 petitioners including one "John Case III"). No petitioners are listed here.
182. Smithsonian lectures on astronomy, by Prof. A. Caswell, of Brown University [wrapper title]. General appendix to the [Smithsonian] report for 1858 [half-title]. Lectures on astronomy [drop title]. [Washington, D.C.?: Smithsonian Institution?, 1858?] .
$175
8vo, pp. [5], 86-137, [1] (i.e. 58 pages); 21 figures in the text; original printed tan wrappers; fine.
With an inscription on the front wrapper and the first leaf: "Providence Athenaeum with the respects of A. Caswell."
Caswell (1799-1877) "was professor of mathematics and natural philosophy in Brown University from 1828 to 1850, and of mathematics and astronomy from 1850 to 1864. [He] was president of Brown University from 1868 to 1872.
183. [Census.] Census of the city of Providence, January 1, 1893. Taken under the direction of Charles V. Chapin, M.D., superintendent. [Providence]: J. A. & R. A. Reid, city printers, Dyer and Pine Streets, 1893.
$125
First edition, issued as City Document, no. 24; 8vo, pp. 6, [2]; original printed blue wrappers, slightly chipped.
Signed at the end by Chapin, and by Wm. E. Clarke of the Board of Aldermen.
No tangible copies that I can see in OCLC.
184. Lectures on geology. By Prof. George I. Chace, Brown University, Providence, R.I.. Providence: c. 1864].
$450
Manuscript lectures on geology, 8vo, 111 pages, plus blanks; limp black roan, upper cover loose, text neatly written in ink and pencil; sound and legible.
The full text of multiple lectures by George Chace, at the time professor of Geology at Brown University. The lectures cover a variety of topics, including the geologic makeup of North and South America and the Old World, prehistoric geological ages, the "Nebula Hypothesis," cosmogony, glass, ocean currents, climate, and natural disasters. There are also number lists of topics for heat and electricity. Laid in are 5 slips of paper in pencil containing notes on German grammar. The lectures cite the work of Hitchcock, "Guyat" and [James Dwight] Dana.
Chase graduated from Brown in 1830 at which time he delivered a commencement address on "The Results of Improvements in the Science of Education." and then entered as a professor in 1833. He was appointed adjunct professor of mathematics and natural philosophy in 1833, professor of chemistry in 1834. became professor of chemistry and physiology in 1859, professor of geology and physical geography in 1864, and professor of chemistry and geology in 1865. He served as president ad interim for six months in 1867 after the resignation of Barnas Sears, adding the teaching of metaphysics and ethics to his regular classes.
"He was one of the few men who could talk well while conducting an experiment... Walter C. Bronson 1887 wrote of Chace: Yet with all his gifts Professor Chace was not a popular man. His manner was reserved, almost to coldness, and in class he was severe and sometimes caustic; although in his later years he cultivated closer and more friendly relations with his pupils. A man of deep convictions and a lifelong member of the Baptist denomination, he yet was disliked by religious conservatives: to the zealous he seemed cold and to the rigidly orthodox dangerously rationalistic, although in his later years, like his friend Agassiz, he withheld assent from the doctrine of evolution. His supposed theological unsoundness and the fact that he was not a clergyman were the main reasons, it is said, for the opposition to him as a candidate for permanent president. Despite his disappointment he remained loyal to the college, and in his will left $9000 for two scholarships which bear his name." (Encyclopedia Brunoniana)
185. Owners and occupants of the lots, houses, and shops in the town of Providence, Rhode Island in 1798. Located on maps of the highways of that date. Also owners or occupants of houses in the compact part of Providence in 1759 showing the location and in whose names they are to be found on the map of 1798 . Providence: [printed by Livermore & Knight Co., 1914].
$150
First edition, square 4to, pp. 28 plus 19 pages of plat maps; original green cloth; near fine.
Henry Richmond Chace (1838-1916) was born in Fall River ... and came to Providence in his 16th year. He first obtained employment as a bookkeeper for Potter & Denison, furniture dealers, and later for Greene & Cranston, brokers. Shortly thereafter, he entered the employment of the Fourth National Bank, and later became cashier. In 1890 he formed a partnership with a Mr. Butts, establishing Chace & Butts, a banking and brokerage firm.
Upon retiring from the firm in 1902, Chace became interested in the study of Rhode Island history, and was considered among the best authorities on maps and charts showing the location of the early dwellers of Providence. His two most notable contributions which demonstrate his skill as an amateur cartographer, as well as an historical researcher, are Owners and Occupants of the Lots, Houses and Shops in the Town of Providence, Rhode Island, 1798 and Maps of Providence, R.I.: 1650, 1765, 1770, both published by the Rhode Island Historical Society in 1914" (R.I. Historical Society).
186. Lovers' lyrics, and other songs. Philadelphia: A. Edw. Newton & Co, 1012 Walnut Street [E. A. Stillman, printer, Westerly, R. I.], 1888.
$800
First edition, slim 12mo, pp. iv, [1], 6-38; near fine in original brown cloth stamped in gilt and black on the upper cover.
Champlin (1854-1927) was born, raised, and died in Westerly, Rhode Island. He was by turns a journalist, author, and poet. A slim volume of verse which were it not for its publisher would likely have been forgotten. "This scarce book is noted by Winterich in his article on Newton imprints (no. 4) and states there are two different cover colors. Winterich believed that the fact Newton published this book was some indication that his publishing firm was more than just a vanity press and actually had some reputation in the field of publishing" (Oak Knoll Catalogue 86, no. 403).
187. [Channing, William Ellery.] An essay on the philosophical character of Channing. Boston: James Munroe and Co., 1845.
$125
First edition, 8vo, pp. 40; original gray printed wrappers; minor foxing, back wrapper partially separating; all else very good.
With the ownership signature at the top of the front wrapper of "Miss Philadelphia Ellery."
Hazard (1801-1888) was a native Rhode Islander who spent most of his life at the family business manufacturing woolens. He served three terms as a member of the R.I. House of Representatives. "His underlying interests were philosophical. When on his business trips, while travelling on packets and stage-coaches, on boats and trains, he made notes for later books" (DAB).
He immediately attracted the attention of William Ellery Channing with his book, Language: Its Connexion with the Present Condition and Future Prospects of Man. Of Hazard Channing wrote, "I have known a man of vigorous intellect, who had enjoyed few advantages of early education, and whose mind was almost engrossed by the details of an extensive business, but who composed a book of much original thought, in steamboats and on horseback, while visiting distant customers."
Channing, himsef a Rhode Islander and Unitarian minister in Boston was one of the great liberals of his day, writing and preaching against slavery, and promoting philanthropic endeavors.
188. One-and-one-half-page letter signed to his uncle, Reverend Henry Channing. Newport: October 12, 1836.
$250
4to, address panel on verso of integral leaf with a docket in Rev. Henry Channing's hand: "W. E. Channing Oct. 12 - received Oct. 15th with copies of his Dedicatn. Sermon for such of my sons. Ansd. Nov. 11th, 1836." Old folds, some foxing and brown stains, small hole where sealed but without significant loss.
Enclosing four copies (not present) of his Discourse at the Dedication of the Unitarian Congregational Church in Newport ... July 27, 1836, as gifts to the recipient's sons. The letter begins by recounting a bout with the flu that has rendered Channing incapable of work for the previous five weeks. He thanks his uncle for the kind words regarding the enclosed Discourse, but "cannot agree with you on the estimate you formed of it. I wrote it under great debility, when every page exhausted me & though I felt the importance of the Truths, was conscious of my inability to bring them out with the energy they needed...."
189. A series of five autograph letters signed to Webster Knight. Providence & New York: 1876-79.
$400
All 12mo (approx. 7¾" x 4¾"), 23 pages in all; previous folds; generally fine.
A personal, very youthful and friendly body of correspondences from Charles Value Chapin (1856-1941) to his friend Webster Knight when Chapin was just beginning his career as a physician. All letters, except the first, are from Bellevue Hospital in New York where he had moved to continue his education at the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
In the first letter, Chapin describes a yacht race at Brown University: "Providence, July 17, '76. Dear Webster...as he [Hazard] was on the port tack he should have given way as I expected but instead kept right on and we had to bear away...almost wished we had hit him amidships and sunk the old tub...but I suppose it is more high-toned not to have drowned them...we had a small hop at Warwick...had a delightful time flirting with Helena and Miss Rhodes whom you remember I used to apply your expressive phrase 'pill garlic'."
The next letter names some mutual acquaintances - also well-known Rhode Island names; Bill Gammell, Prescott, the Bowens, speaks of Webster's flirting with the girls, foreign language studies, his autopsy studies; "making hash and sausage out of a lot of half rotten corpses--their ghastly faces grinning up...under the dim gaslight."
Topics of the remaining letters include friendly banter associated with the boyhood escapades of the two, reminiscences of Rhode Island, and he wonders if the medical field will be as lucrative as the cotton business. In the last letter from 1879, which Chapin instructs Knight to burn "as soon as you have read this," he speaks of finishing his morning rounds at Bellevue, his "rottenest boarding house...shanty is no name for the house and the table is poor and the people are idiots except me."
Chapin speaks of his current lady love but "when she goes I have another girl I am going to make up to. She comes from Elizabeth, N.J. and is more or less of a naughty girl and a d.f. but at the same time they have a first rate billiard table at the house...and also a good dinner." After visiting a saloon and taking a nap, Chapin goes back to the hospital where "...they were awfully glad to see me and the death rate immediately fell off by 25%."
In 1879, upon graduating with his M.D., Chapin worked at Bellevue for a year. He was also a Professor of Physiology at Brown University from 1883 to 1896. 1884 was the year in which Chapin was appointed as Superintendent of Health and he served in that capacity until his retirement in 1932. Chapin was well known, nationally and internationally, for his public health work related to contagious diseases, such as diphtheria, scarlet fever, and typhoid. His research showed that contagious diseases were not airborne, but were spread through contact. He was also a prolific writer and lecturer and was a member of many associations and societies. He was the president of the American Public Health Association in 1926 and 1927 and was the first president of the American Epidemiology Society in 1927. He also received the Sedgwick Medal in 1930.
His correspondent Col. Webster Knight (1854-1933) was of the B. B. & R. Knight (Fruit of the Loom) cotton manufactory barons. He graduated from Brown in 1876, married Sarah Waldo Lippitt (of the Lippitt mill dynasty), became director of several banks, assistant quartermaster general of the Rhode Island National Guards, and a member of the Warwick Town Council.
190. The seal, the arms, and the flag of Rhode Island. Providence: printed for the [Rhode Island Historical] Society, 1913.
$25
8vo, pp. [16]; 3 pages showing 10 illustrations; old accessions sticker on the upper cover, otherwise very good in original printed blue wrappers.
191. A journal of the voige in the sloop Union Elisha Mahew, master in an expedition against Cape Briton 1745. Printed from the original manuscript in the library of Paul C. Nicholson, with an introduction by Howard Chapin. Providence: [privately printed], 1929.
$125
Edition limited to 100 copies, 8vo, pp. 26; 2 folding maps, 2 plates, 1 illustration in the text; fine copy in original brown cloth-backed boards, gilt-lettered spine.
"Mr. Paul C. Nicholson, the son of the founder of the Nicholson File Company, formed an outstanding collection that now includes over 750 manuscript logbooks describing 1,000 whaling voyages, as well as several thousand printed books on whaling. His collection also contained scrimshaw, a narwhal tusk, three harpoons, a harpoon gun, prints and photographs and ship models.
At the suggestion of Mr. Stuart C. Sherman, then librarian of Providence Public Library, Mr. Nicholson bequeathed the collection to the Library. After Mr. Nicholson’s death in 1956 Mr. Sherman compiled a catalog of the logbooks and wrote an account of the collection that was published by the Library in 1965 with the title The Voice of the Whaleman. The book was handsomely printed by the Stinehour Press of Lunenberg, VT. The Nicholson Whaling Collection is the second largest whaling logbook collection in America" (Providence Public Library, Nicholson Whaling Collection).
192. Newport, Block Island and Narragansett Pier. Illustrated. A brief history, and tourists' guide to points of interest, containing also maps of Newport and Block Island. Boston: The Botolph Press, 1895.
$150
16mo (approx. 6¼" x 4⅜"), pp. 111, [1]; 2 folding maps, wood-engraved illustrations in the text; original pictorial brown wrappers; corners of front wrapper chipped away; all else very good.
NUC attributes the authorship to Chase.
193. Whatcheer, a story of olden times. One of Sister Rhody's collection of historical facts, for the amusement and instruction of young people. Providence: Knowles, Anthony & Co., printers, 1857.
$125
First edition, 16mo, pp. ix, [3], 104; original brown blindstamped cloth lettered in gilt on spine; spine ends chipped else very good and sound.
The story of Roger Williams, based in part on Hon. Job Durfee's poem, entitled 'Whatcheer, or Roger Williams in Banishment.' At the top of the title page an ownership signature in pencil of "Mrs. Dorr."
Bartlett, p. 75; Sabin 12694.
194. Daily diary. Providence: 1881-83.
$200
Pocket diary (approx. 6" x 3"), 136 pages, mostly in pencil, and mostly legible - the entries in ink are occasionally blurred; limp calf; light wear.
Diary of a twenty-two-year old man who worked part time for his brother and also as a machinist for Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Company in Providence. Brown & Sharpe, founded in 1853, was instrumental in the development of machine tools and machining technology.
Arthur Throop Church was born October 2, 1859, in Chelsea, Massachusetts, to ship carpenter Samuel Throop and Clarissa (Clark) Church. His brother was Frederick Prescott Church (1856-1941), a bookkeeper and town clerk in Barrington, Rhode Island.
Church was a very pious young man of the Congregational faith, sometimes visiting church several times a day. He notes sermons by "Rev. Vose" who was Rev. James G. Vose of The Beneficent Congregational Church at 300 Weybosset Street. In part of the diary he appears to be working for his brother. He also notes that he began working for Brown & Sharpe February 5, 1880, until the 24th of February in 1881. "Tools bought were one pair of calipers one scale one small one the hole cost were $200 dollars present from D. B&S was a nice book and a kind word hoping the next year that I would get greater knolledge."
His entries include the day he commenced to work for Brown & Sharpe. "Feb. 23, 1881, Providence, R.I. Arthur F. Church began to work for Brown & Sharpe on the first day of February, 1880 and closed at the firm by the forth day of February, 1881. That was for the first year. Time lost during that year was two hundred and fifty hours, which was made up at the end of the year. Time served the first year was two thousand, nine hundred and fifty hours which covers the entire year. Money received D. R. & S. in this year was $116.20 and for job work, $15.55, for a total of $131.75. Presents from Mr. Phillips was $3.00. Tools from him included one 3 Inch Square, a Gage and Vises (sic)."
The average work day for Arthur was 10 hours long and in the back of the book there is a home-made chart as to hours and days worked and the totals. He writes about working on the milling machine and boring holes and the oil holders. He includes tools he had to buy for the job.
A September 16, 1881, entry in his diary noted that he had gone to see the body of Union war hero General Ambrose Everett Burnside (May 23, 1824 – September 13, 1881) which was lying in state in Providence. "He looked natural as life then we went to see Macbeth at the Providence."
Church married Elizabeth S. Earle and moved to Worcester. They had a child Arthur Earl Church who was born in 1892 in Worcester. Arthur Church died in 1923.
195. [Circular Letter.] Dear Sir - Will you please read the following statement: The Church in Pawtucket, generally styled Independent Baptist, under the pastoral care of Elder Ray Potter, would respectfully represent to their Christian brethern abroad, that about four years since, the Universalists in this village, erected a large and commodious meeting-house, which they occupied about three years, after which some of their number turning Athiest, and their Universalist minister, for want of support being obliged to leave, the house was occasionally occupied by Abner Kneeland and others of kindred sentiments, and holding forth to crowded congregations the demoralizing, blasphemous and soul-destroying sentiments of Atheism.... [Pawtucket, R.I.: Independent Baptist Church, 1833.].
$175
Bifolium, 4to, printed on the first page, the others blank save for the address panel ("To Hon. Joseph Bowman, Boston") on the verso of the integral leaf; previous folds, break at the wax seal; all else very good.
Requesting contributions towards the purchase of the abandoned and mortgaged Universalist Church at Pawtucket, signed: Samuel R. Potter, clerk, and followed by six brief signed statements of concurrence and a second letter concerning financing signed in manuscript by Ray Potter who states as part of his appeal: "The Church and Congregation to whom I preach and for whom I am trying to obtain this house ... are poor - they are made up of the laboring class entirely - and mostly those who work in the cotton mills. I have preached for them thirteen years without a stated salary; though poor, they are near my heart..."
Not in American Imprints. AAS only in OCLC.
196. [City Directories.] Leading manufacturers and merchants of Rhode Island. Historical and descriptive review of the industrial enterprises of the city of Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls, Woonsocket, Westerly, and Newport. New York, Boston, and Chicago: International Publishing Co., 1886.
$250
Large 8vo, pp. viii, [1], 34-213, [1]; numerous wood-engraved illustrations throughout, some full-page; original ochre cloth stamped in black and gilt; very good.
International Publishing Co. made a number of directories for states and cities around the U.S. including Baltimore, Cincinnati, Brooklyn, Ohio, Pennsylvania, etc.
Only 3 in OCLC: Brown, Salve Regina, and LC.
197. [City Directory.] The Providence directory, containing names of the inhabitants, their occupations, places of business and dwelling houses with lists of the streets, lanes, wharves, &c. Also, banks, insurance offices and other public institutions; likewise, the municipal officers of Providence, &c. &c. The whole carefully collected and arranged. Providence: H. H. Brown, 1836.
$350
12mo, pp. vi, [1], 8-144; original heavy printed paper wrappers, loosening, and dampstained and with a scorch mark on the front; some browning, corners curled; good and sound.
AAS only in OCLC. American Imprints 39797; Bartlett, p. 216; Spear p. 306 (adds Providence Public, LC and RI Historical).
198. [City Directory.] The Providence directory, containing names of the inhabitants, their occupations, places of business and of residence, with lists of the streets, lanes, wharves, &c. Also, banks, insurance offices and other public institutions; likewise, the municipal officers of Providence, &c. &c. The whole carefully collected and arranged. Providence: H. H. Brown, 1838.
$400
12mo, pp. viii, [9]-153, [3] ads; original heavy printed paper wrappers (soiled and a little worn), name clipped from top of front wrapper and title page without loss of text; some browning and foxing, corners curled; good and sound. Later owner's signature in pencil on verso of front wrap.
AAS only in OCLC. American Imprints 52550; Spear p. 306 (adds Providence Public and RI Historical).
199. [City Directory.] Providence street directory, giving the location of each street, and showing what other streets and places run from or across it, with the numbers at which they intersect, with a complete list of buildings, blocks, halls, hotels, banks and savings banks, fire alarm and post office street-boxes, etc. Price 30 cents. Published by E. S. Metcalf & Co.. Providence: J. A. & R. A. Reid, printers, 1879.
$275
16mo, pp. 96; pastedowns and free endpapers on yellow paper with advertisements, last 5 pages also with printed ads in display type; original green cloth-backed pictorial gray-green paper-covered boards; ownership signature in pencil at the top of the front free endpaper and p. 3, hinges cracked, else very good.
Not in OCLC.
200. [City Directory.] The Apponaug, East Greenwich and Wickford directory, Rhode Island ... Containing a complete house and business directory of the towns of North Kingston and East Greenwich, and also the villages in Warwick of Norwood, Lincoln Park, Jefferson Park, Hills Grove, Greenwood, Apponaug, Cowesset, Chepiwanoxet.... Providence: C. D'W. White, publisher, 1907.
$100
8vo, pp. [11], 10-184; 9 inserted leaves on pink paper with local advertisements, ads also on blue endpapers; original printed boards bearing more ads, black cloth spine; very good and sound.