AN ELDERLY JEFFERSON ACKNOWLEDGES WRONGS AGAINST OTHER RACES JEFFERSON, THOMAS. Letter Signed, written in the hand of his granddaughter Virginia, to the poet Lydia H. Sigourney, thanking her for her letter and for her notice of the part he played in the Revolution, agreeing with her views regarding the advocacy of "Indian rights," and expressing the wish that these wrongs were "the only blot in our moral history, and that no other race had higher charges to bring against us." 1 1/2 pages, 4to; with integral address leaf, detached; addressed in his hand and with franking signature. Small hole at fold of address leaf with loss to "J" of signature, seal tear, and minor soiling; docketed. Monticello, 18 July 1824
an important and oft-quoted letter which encapsulates his ambivalent attitude toward slavery and suggests how his conviction that blacks and whites could not coexist equally paralyzed him from taking effective steps against slavery.
Jefferson was of two minds about slavery. He viewed the institution as a crime, an abomination, and a wasteful, dangerous, and immoral system of labor. Yet at the same time, he feared that emancipation, in the absence of colonization, would result in race war. In his 1783 draft of a new Virginia constitution, he called for freedom for all slave children born after 1800; and in 1784 and again 1800 he called for excluding slaves from the western territories. But he never defended the Northwest Ordinance prohibition on slavery; he failed to oppose those who wanted to take slaves into Louisiana or even into Indiana; and late in life, when younger Virginians sought his blessings for liberating their slaves, he refused to encourage them.
In 1820 [in a letter to Senator Holmes of Maine] he had expresed this thought in more famous wording: "We have the wolf by the ears; and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other." He also presented his only detailed plan for abolishing slavery. He proposed emancipating slave children, "leaving them, on due compensation, with their mothers, until their services are worth their maintenance, then putting them to industrious occupations, until a proper age for deportation" to the west coast of Africa, Haiti, or some other asylum. He suggested that the cost of this plan could be paid for by selling lands taken from the Indians. "The separation of infants from their mothers," Jefferson wrote, "would produce some scruples of humanity. But it would be straining at a gnat, and swallowing a camel." [adapted from Steven Mintz, Digital History website, https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/]
Now, in 1824 at the age of 81 he writes, "I am not apt to despair; yet I see not how we are to disengage ourselves from that deplorable entanglement, we have the wolf by the ears and feel the danger of either holding or letting him loose. I shall not live to see it but those who come after us will be wiser than we are, for light is spreading and man improving. To that advancement I look, and to the dispensations of an all wise and all-powerful providence to devise the means of effecting what is right."
KENNEDY, JOHN FITZGERALD.
Typed Letter Signed ("John"), 1 p, 8vo, Washington, DC, August 15, 1951, to John Mahanna, on Congressional letterhead, regarding a bill Kennedy is planning to introduce into the House, leaf creased at left margin, mildly toned, a few chips to margins, stain from paper clip to upper left. Together with Mimeographed Manuscript, 8 pp, 4to, n.p., n.d., being an article by Kennedy entitled "Something is Wrong with West Point and Annapolis Selection Methods," pages toned, three holes punched at left margin, plus Mimeographed Manuscript, 3 pp, legal folio, n.p., n.d., being the text of a bill "To establish a Commission on Improvement of Methods for the Selection of Candidates to the United States Military Academy and the United States Naval Academy," leaves creased and toned, four holes punched at left margins.
In 1951 West Point expelled 90 cadets for cheating in the worst academic scandal ever to hit the academy. Critics pointed a finger at the school’s football program, which actively recruited star players, but Congressman Kennedy felt that the problem went deeper, and introduced legislation to establish a commission to improve the candidate selection process. Kennedy writes Mahanna: "I think that our present method of picking cadets and midshipmen has been extremely haphazard, and I think that we have paid and will continue to pay a heavy price for our failure to modernize our techniques." Kennedy also sends Mahanna the text of an article to be published in the New York Times Sunday Magazine, arguing strongly for open admissions with standardized testing and against political preferment, as well as a copy of the bill itself.
HENRY LEE JR. (DATES UNKNOWN) STRAIGHT THROUGH / THE WRONG WAY IS HARDEST. 1929. 44x36 inches, 111 3/4x91 1/2 cm. Mather & Company, Chicago. Condition B+: tears and light time-staining at edges; creases in margins and image; pin holes in corners; punch holes in top margin. Paper. - 900
17 pieces. Movie Posters. (Noir & Crime Dramas, mostly 1940s): "Grand Central Murder." MGM, 1942. * "Dangerously They Live." Warner Bros., [1942]. Without copyright or code markings. * "Secret Enemies." Warner Bros., [1942]. Without copyright or code markings. * "Power of The Press." Columbia, 1943. With copyright but without code markings. * "They Came To Blow Up America." 20th-Century Fox, 1943. With copyright but without code markings. * "Having Wonderful Crime." RKO, 1944. * "Strange Triangle." 20th-Century Fox, 1945. With copyright but without code markings. * "Singapore." Universal, 1947. * "Whiplash." Warner Bros., 1949. * "Larceny." Universal, 1948. * "Force of Evil." MGM, 1948. * "Sorry, Wrong Number." Paramount, 1948. * "Scene of The Crime." MGM, 1949. * "Thelma Gordon." Paramount, 1949. * "Red Light." Universal, 1950. * "Woman on The Run." Universal, 1950. * "Escape From Crime." Warner Bros., 1942. * "Thelma Jordan." All color litho insert formats, 36 x 14 inches (915 x 355 mm). Scattered repairs to versoes, some creasing & dust soiling, "Thelma Gordon" with hole in image. B-/B+, most B-/B.
Poe, Edgar Allan
The purloined Letter [in] The gift. Philadelphia: Carey and Hart, 1845. First printing of Poe's celebrated story, additional engraved title and frontispiece, illustrations, original red cloth gilt, g.e, very slight occasional browning, wear to edges of binding, cloth torn at head and base of the spine; Conrad, Joseph. The secret agent. London: Methuen, 1907. First edition, original red cloth, spine gilt, foxing to fore-edge; [Clemens, Samuel Langhorne] ("Mark Twain"). The stolen white elephant. Boston: J. R. Osgood, 1882. First American edition, advertisements at end, original pictorial cloth, edges of binding worn, upper joint slightly torn, spine stained; Stevenson, R.L.& L. Osbourne. The wrecker. Cassell & Company, 1892. First edition, illustrated by W. Hole and W.L. Metcalf, original blue cloth, some wear to binding, spine darkened; [Ibid.] The wrong box. Longmans, Green, and co., 1889. First edition, publisher's advertisements at end, issue with contents printed in large type above decorative rule, original red cloth, lettered in black on upper cover, in gilt on spine; Stevenson, Robert Louis and Fanny van de Grift Stevenson. More new Arabian nights. The dynamiter. Longmans, Green, and co., 1885. First edition, original cloth lettered in black, spine creased; 8vo (6)
William Hooper manuscript document, North Carolina, Salisbury District, September 5, 1768, "The Jurors of our Sovereign Lord the King George III do present upon this oath that James Noland late of the County of Anson…with Force and Arms…made an assault on one John Stevens…then and there did Beat Wound and ill treat so that his Life was greatly despaired…did other wrongs…to his great Damage and against the peace of God and our Sovereign Lord the King his Crown and Dignity", signed "Will Hooper Att", docketed on verso, 11-3/4 x 7-3/8 in. 1/4 in. hole affecting two letters in text, separations, toning and small losses at folds, none affecting signature. Private Collection, Charlotte, North Carolina.
AUSTEN, JANE. Emma. 3 volumes. 12mo, contemporary 1/4 brown calf over marbled boards, gilt lettering, bands, and volume numbers on spines, rubbing with loss at edges and tips (which are bumped), more so on volume 3; Volume 1 with creased and loose front endpaper, B3 with 1/4-inch hole affecting text, clean tears at B5 and C2, ink stain on G10, various short clean lower marginal tears throughout, several repaired; Volume 2, marginal repair to leaves M6 and 7, O9 stained, Q4 with 2-inch tear, Q5-8 with repairs to lower margins; Volume 3, chip to lower corner of G11 (affects text), page 215 wrongly numbered as 515 (noted in Gilson), marginal repair to O1; all volumes lack half-titles and contain 19th century booksellers ticket of M. Stapley, Tunbridge Wells, scattered light foxing, soiling. London: John Murray, 1816
first english edition. Austen had a falling out with her first publisher Egerton over publication of Mansfield Park and transferred to John Murray, who published the second edition of that title and the first edition of Emma on the same terms: each was published at the author's expense, with profits to the author after payment of a 10% commission to the publisher. In keeping with Murray's stated views on edition sizes, 2000 copies were printed. Emma is also the only one of Jane Austen's novels to bear a dedication (to the Prince Regent). --Gilson A8.
HAL DEPUY (DATES UNKNOWN) IT MAY BE RIGHT / IT MAY BE WRONG. 1929.
43 1/2x35 inches, 110 1/2x89 cm. Mather & Company, Chicago.
Condition B+: tears in margins and image; minor losses at edges; punch-holes in top margin; tape on verso. Paper.
ARMSTRONG, John (1717-1795).Autograph letter signed, to his son Dr. James Armstrong, regarding the battles of Lexington and Concord, war preparations in Cumberland County and a visit by Benjamin Franklin . Shippensburg, 11 May 1775. 2 pages, with integral address leaf (12 ¼ x 7 ¼ inches, 310x185 mm). Condition: Foxing, usual folds, separations at folds to the address leaf, hole on address leaf from opening.very rare letter by the hero of kittanning, with superb american revolution content. Best remembered for his service in the French and Indian War, and particularly for leading the Kittanning Expedition against Delaware Indians on the Pennsylvania frontier, Armstrong played a significant role in the early days of the American Revolution. As such a well-regarded (albeit retired) military commander, he was looked upon to lead the Pennsylvania militia.Armstrong begins this letter to his son by relating news of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, which had taken place a month prior. “From my last letter you might naturally about this time have expectations of seeing me in Virginia, but the very alarming news of the late Action near Boston (of which I take for granted you must had some acct) together with the intelligence of 14 Regiments & 15 Frigates beside Horse & Marines having sail'd either for Boston or New York in order to enforce the submission of the Colonies to the late execrable Acts &c. These things, and their natural attendants have for the present prevented me the pleasure of almost every private matter on earth. He continues the letter by describing the state of excitement in Cumberland County, the formation of militias, and writes that the county’s Committee of Safety has asked him to command the forces. “Cumberland is very unanimous in the common cause but their movements not easily directed in any one uniform line. The Committee of this County however, have resolved to Pay five hundred Men for the protection of the Continental Congress if requisite, or any other immergency that the publick servise may require. The whole County are now under a military Association & begining to assemble for exercise. The Committee have been so far wrong as to chase me at this late day of life to Command the Troops they may send…” Although here he protests due to his age, he would accept the position, be commissioned by the state as a Brigadier General, and on 1 March 1776 receive the same rank in the Continental Army.Armstrong continues the letter with news of a visit by Benjamin Franklin, relating military intelligence, and concerning Franklin’s selection of James Wilson to represent the county at the Second Continental Congress. “ Dr. Franklin is lately arrived and chosen a Delgate by our assembly for the Congress, & is our Mr. Wilson who set out yesterday. It's said Franklin brings accounts that only three thousand men with som marines and two or three Troops of Horse (the Horses to be purchased at New York) are at present acoming. A Second action has been daily expected at Boston of which we have yet no advice. These are the most solemn days America ever saw! God to shorten them.” Wilson would become one of the nine Pennsylvania representatives to sign the Declaration of Independence in the session of Congress following this letter. The letter concludes with family news and concerning horses. Armstrong would serve throughout the American Revolution, including playing a significant role in engineering the defenses at Charlestown, SC, as well as leading Pennsylvania troops at the Battle of Brandywine and the Battle of Germantown before serving in the Continental Congress [see the next lot].
[DRAKE, Sir Francis] -- PRETTY, Francis.Le voyage de l'illustre seigneur et chevalier Sir Francis Drach [sic], . . . a l'entour du monde. Paris: Jean Gesslin, 1613. 8vo (172 x 100 mm). [VIII], 90, [II] pp. Lacks the rare world map, but with final blanks. 17th century gilt-panelled burgundy French morocco, spine in six panels, gilt decoration, titled in second. Condition: A4-A6 with small hole to lower margin restored with no text loss; lacks map. Acquisition: purchased from Librairie Thomas-Scheler (1998), $15,000.first edition in french of drake’s circumnavigation. A extraordinary rarity. The engraved folding map by Nicolas van Sype, showing the California coast and a large part of the North American interior, is known in only handful of copies. The only copy to appear at auction in recent times was a copy with the world map, offered at Sotheby's New York, May 1979 $15,000.Leclerc 2743; Palau 76150; Sabin 20844 (giving wrong collation); not in JCB (but in the list of additions, 1973); not in Church .
II, JOHN PAPA. 1800-1870.
Manuscript Letter, in Hawaiian, 2 ½ pp recto and verso, small 4to (conjoined leaves), Lahaina, Maui, January 20, 1829, to Hiram Bingham in Honolulu, tiny marginal seal hole and closed tear near seal (fragment of red wax remains), even toning, near fine.
Wonderfully early letter from a native Hawaiian in Hawaiian, written from Lahaina 2 years before the founding of Lahainaluna high school and to Bingham only 9 years after his arrival in Hawaii. John Papa Ii was a member of the minor Hawaiian nobility and tutor to the Royal children. He was perhaps the most influential native Hawaiian of the mid 19th century, being of central assistance to Hiram Bingham and the Hawaiian government. As an older man, he was the only native Hawaiian to serve the entire term on the Board of Commissioners to Quiet Land Titles and helped to draft the Constitution of 1852.
In this letter Ii is apparently acting as emissary between Bingham and the American missionary, William Richards and asking for advice in how to approach the teenage King (Kamehameha III) about a proposal. The letter is probably in Ii's own hand—he was schooled by Bingham in reading and writing. Loosely translated, in part: "Aloha to you Bingham, Here am I traveling with the child of ours and with my love to you two ... I told Richards your thoughts as you told me / he consented to me / the king is the one who does not want it, only us two / Haalillo has gone to urge it / he and I may go, or perhaps not ... at the time of going to Wailuku / there the king spoke to his people about the three laws saying to all the people to keep God and such is his thought to all of them. Here is my thought to you, you two should look at me traveling with our king: the good of my work or perhaps the mistakes / if your two know tell me if there is wrong in me or if I am right. Love to you it is right that we all love the Lord Savior Jesus Christ."
Ii documents are of extreme rarity.
See illustration.
Schedel (Hartmann) Das Buch der Croniken und Geschichten 330 ff. only (of 332 lacking a2 (with full-page woodcut verso) and 2H6) 2K6 and fol.6 of Register blank mostly double column varying number of lines Gothic letter woodcut double-page map portraits extansive 16th and 17th century ink notes and signatures to blank ff. views and illustrations double-page map divided and bound in wrong order trimmed and repaired with loss e1 lower corner and part of margin repaired with loss of text 2i1 2 5&6; L1; and O3 inner or outer corner torn away with loss of text lower margin to title of register cut away a few ff. with tears within text some repaired (with minor loss) a number of marginal repairs occasionally affecting a chapter heading or page number some staining and spotting several small areas of marginal worming contemporary blind-tooled calf remains of metal clasps rebacked (part of original backstrip preserved in cellophane and loosely inserted) repaired some worm holes rubbed and scuffed housed in a modern half calf drop-back box [Goff S310; Hain 14511] folio [Augsburg] [Johann Schönsperger] 1496.
Books on the Battle of Fort Pulaski and Partial ALS of Charles Olmstead 1p 6. x 9.5 in. Partial ALS signed by Charles Olmstead on Chas. H. Olmstead & Co. Bankers letterhead. Savannah n.d but 1880s from preprinted heading. Probably to Matthew Hopkins since he requests the addressee give his regards to Pattie (Hopkins' wife). Moderately toned and separating at folds.Hawes Lilla M. ed. The Memoirs of Charles H. Olmstead. Savannah (GA): Georgia Historical Society 1964. 8vo green cloth gilt spine 192pp. According to the introduction these Memoirs were written for Olmstead's daughters and gives a picture of the ante-bellum South and accounts of Civil War battles. He notes "The vacancy occasioned by the promotion of Edward Lawton I filled by the appointment of my dear old friend Matthew H. Hopkins to the adjutancy. At that time he was an officer of the Guards stationed on Green Island but he accepted the position came to me at once and from that time until the end of the war we were never separated except for a month or so in the Spring of 1864..All memories of army life are associated with him and the tie between us which was strong before knot out souls together indissolubly." (89-90) Excellent condition. Paper label taped to spine. Previous owner's margin notes and underlines.Gillmore Brig.-Gen. Q.A. Official Report to the United States Engineer Department of the Siege and Reduction of Fort Pulaski Georgia February March and April 1862. New York: D. Van Nostrand 1862. Papers on Practical Engineering No. 8. 8vo red cloth with gilt front 4 folding maps and plans 8 plates including frontis 96pp. Water stains and soil on covers about 1 in. at foot of spine missing paper label taped to top of spine.Wilson Adelaide. Historic and Picturesque Savannah. Boston Photogravure Company 1889. 8vo green cloth with gilt front and spine beveled boards 258pp. Frontis is foldout facsimile of James Oglethorpe's will. Corner bumping and wear to spine ends. Sunning of spine. Scattered foxing. Text block tight.Plus newspaper clipping from The Savannah Press 18 Aug. 1926 with Olmstead's account of the "Defense of Fort Pulaski" and photocopy of Olmstead's eulogy for Matthew Hopkins after his death in 1916.Fort Pulaski was constructed on Cockspur Island at the mouth of the Savannah River in the 1830s and 1840s. After the War of 1812 the United States planned a series of coastal defenses having just come through a war with the greatest naval power of the day. The Savannah River was of course the gateway to Savannah the largest port in Georgia. Early planning of the fort fell to recent USMA graduate Lt. Robert E. Lee. Beginning in 1829 Lee saw to the design of the fort and a system of drains and dikes so that the marshy island could support the massive walls of the 5-sided fort. In 1831 Lt. Joseph Mansfield took over the fort's construction which would take nearly a decade and a half.In January 1861 before Georgia's secession from the Union state troops occupied the fort so Union forces could not. They also began repairing the fort which was in bad shape after 15 years sitting empty. The state troops cleaned out the moat and began mounting the guns and when Confederate troops under Col. Charles Olmstead took command of the fort it was nearly restored and ready for action.When Federal troops captured Port Royal South Carolina General Robert E. Lee ordered Tybee Island and others abandoned and defenses concentrated at Fort Pulaski. Lee believed that Pulaski's walls could not possibly be damaged by bombardment from Tybee or any other point being nearly a mile away and he had designed the fort's nearly 8-foot thick walls.In this Lee was wrong. General William Tecumseh Sherman decided to take the fort by siege and put Capt. Quincy Gillmore (Eng. Corps) in charge of constructing defenses on Tybee and other smaller islands to keep the fort from being supplied. Gillmore's men constructed a series of artillery batteries working mostly at night to keep the defenders of the fort from discovering what they were doing. By April 9 Gillmore had 20 cannons and 14 mortars in position. The next morning he demanded the surrender of the fort to which Olmstead replied that he was there to defend it not surrender it. Just after 8am the batteries started a steady fire at the walls. It became apparent after a few hours that the shells from the rifled cannons would be able to break through the walls. Olmstead saw it too and by the next day after a couple of 30-foot holes were opened in the southeast wall shells were striking the interior of the fort. When at least one came close to one of the powder magazines Olmstead decided to surrender knowing that a magazine explosion would only mean the loss of many more lives and no victory. In less than 36 hours the impregnable fort was taken.Federal troops took over the fort and occupied it during the war effectively cutting off Savannah from the sea. It also served as a prison for captured Confederate troops.Charles H. Olmstead (1837-1926) was a member of the 1st Georgia Infantry (Olmstead's Regiment - one of upwards of 30 units calling themselves "1st GA Regt.") organized 31 May 1861. This unit spent most of its time in the Carolinas around Charleston until called out to halt Sherman's advance late in the war. Most of Olmstead's papers are in the Southern Historical Collection UNC.
HOWARD FINSTER (AMERICAN, 1916-2001) THE GREAT AMERICAN OXEN, 1995 and OXEN OF AMERICA, 1994 Acrylic on wood: 11 x 16 1/4 in.; 10 x 15 3/4 in. Inscribed: American Oxen The Great American Oxen by Howard Finster; verso: 36.000.290 works by Howard Finster Mar- 29-1995. Time to get ready to meet Jesus who is coming back you will face the son of God what can you say oh God thy art right we are wrong. Jesus is real we failed and Jesus will take his people that ready.; with printed label; Oxen of American by Howard Finster; verso: 34.000.356 works by Howard Finster July 29 1994 God bless you all News cast of July 7 to 17 Georgias biggest flood known water was up to house tops 28 dead 12.000.00 vacated no drinking water big wash out bridges roads and caskets larg deep sink holes opened in the earth some under the edges of house its sichns of our times. get ready for the kingdom of God the coming of Jesus Christ be wise be ready; Finster Folk Art Label (2)
A FEW FRIENDS IN ENGLAND BOUGHT ME AND MADE ME A PRESENT OF MYSELF. (SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) DOUGLASS, FREDERICK. Autograph Letter Signed to [George Alfred] Townsend. 4 small 8vo pages on a folding sheet; diamond-shaped hole at the conjunction of the folds, obliterating a few words, but perfectly understandable in context. Washington, May 5, 1880a letter to one of the civil war's great journalists with exceptional content. Douglass addresses something that Townsend has written about Robert Ingersoll the great orator. "I am obliged to you for a copy of your Tales of the Chesapeake and grateful for the kind notice you've given me in the Graphic, but I did not assent to the picture of your strictures upon R. G. Ingersoll. He is a better man than you paint him and I am not the good considerate and persistent Methodist you describe me to be. In regard to the kind of man Mr. Ingersoll is, let me tell you a true story. More than a dozen years ago, one cold winter night, the ground covered with snow and ice the wind sharp and piercing, I lectured in a little town called Elmwood, Illinois, twenty miles distant from Peoria. In order to reach my next appointment, it was necessary for me to reach Peoria that night after lecturing. I went to the Elmwood Station at Midnight, and was told that I would arrive at Peoria about one o'clock am. On my way to the station I said to Mr. Brown who had entertained me that I dreaded going to Peoria as I expected to be compelled to walk the streets all that night to keep from freezing, as the last time went in Peoria no hotel in that city would receive me. My friend Mr Brown was much troubled by this remark and I was almost sorry that I said anything about the prospect before me. He was silent and perplexed for a while, but at last he said 'Mr. Douglass when you arrive at Peoria, enquire for the house of Robert G Ingersoll.' That will not do, they will all be in bed, I will not disturb them. But he insisted that I should do so. No man should be turned from the door of Robert Ingersoll on such a night as this, no matter what may be his color or his religion. [Ingersoll was a noted atheist.] I went to Peoria that night with all the sin of my hated complexion upon me and found Robert G Ingersoll the Good Samaritan that Mr. Brown described him to be. I was received, warmed by his fire and made at home under his roof. Comment on my part is not necessary. Your own generous nature and fertile brain can furnish all that the incident may seem to require. This was no isolated act of humanity on the part of Mr. Ingersoll. He is known to be as kind noble and humane as any Christian man in Peoria." Douglass continues, "I shall certainly read your Tales of the Chesapeake. A child of the Eastern Shore myself, I share your sentiment for that section, though to me it was slavery and ignorance, and to you liberty and intelligence. You are wrong in saying I bought my liberty, a few friends in England bought me and made me a present of myself. Without any word of prompting on my part. But I [ ? ] up my pen to thank you for the little book you sent me and not to write a letter. Respectfully yours, Fredk. Douglass."
This appears to be a hand-carved paddle for stirring the grain mash when brewing. In modern times it would be mostly beer, but this one is quite old and may have stirred corn mash for moonshine whiskey. It is the totally wrong size and shape to be a canoe, kayak, or paddleboard paddle. Modern paddles have holes; this one has a trough so it could lift out a quantity of wet mash if necessary. Length is 48", fit for a LARGE tank of brew mash. The shaft is a 1-1/2" wood branch, shaved down with a drawknife from a much wider branch. The original wide end of that branch was hand-carved into the paddle/shovel shape. A short cross-handle is nailed to the top, also made from a branch. Condition is very good. The paddle shows wear on the varnish and end of the paddle.