1852rif. 34901Glasgow Kentucky: W.S. Brown 1852. Early edition being a reprint of the 1851 Louisville edition. Each page printed within a decorative chain-line frame the stereotyped title-page makes reference to engravings but none are called for in this edition. Tall 8vo in the publisher's original brown cloth the covers with decorative embossing retaining the emblem of the Louisville publishers in blind the spine lettered in gilt and with flat bands ruled in blind powder-blue endpapers. xiii 569 8 8 ads pp. A sound copy the text-block well preserved and complete a bit of expected age toning to the paper and light foxing here and there as usual the binding with some age-wear but still very sturdy strong and tight. ONE OF THE MOST NOTORIOUS PRO-SLAVERY BOOKS PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR. The author stylized himself as "the Rev. Josiah Priest" but was not ordained in any denomination. The present Louisville text evolved from an earlier version titled "Slavery As It Relates to the Negro or African Race" published in 1843. It went through numerous editions and title changes during the 1840s and 1850s reflecting the growing sectional controversy over slavery. The popularity of the work exploded in 1852 as it was viewed as a counter-argument to Stowe's pro-abolitionist epic UNCLE TOM'S CABIN. The work's central claim is that slavery is fully sanctioned and approved of by the Bible. Among his arguments are: people of African descent were descendants of Ham and therefore subject to a divine curse; the racial differences were ordained by God; that slavery was beneficial or natural for Black people; and that abolitionism was a dangerous fanaticism threatening the social order and status quo. Although repugnant to many modern readers the book is historically significant because it demonstrates how slavery's defenders tried to answer the growing abolitionist movement. The title also accurately states that the issue of slavery was going to divide the Republic thus predicting the Civil War. W.S. Brown hardcover
1860rif. 5563Roxboro N.C.: January 15 1860. Good. 2pp. Wrinkled previously folded. A few minor losses at folds not affecting text. Two half-inch closed tears from edges. Light toning and foxing. After arriving in Roxboro North Carolina in mid-January 1860 planter J.C. Barnett writes to his friend and business partner a Colonel Henry to complain about the tight money situation in the state which has forced him essentially to pawn a slave in order to raise cash: "I found monetary matters distressingly stringent in the City and was entirely unable to use the Graham bond at all. I had hoped to get it off at 8 per cent per annum but could not do it at double that amount the consequence was that after making the last payment on my land which was due 1st Jan 61 with the 3 thousand dollar draft I did not have enough left to pay expenses home and had to deposit a negro to get money to leave the city. So you can judge my situation." Furthermore he has other unpaid debts that he hopes to settle with future cotton sales: "I gave R.H. Williams a draft for 93 dollars also Messrs Lea & Cheatham of Louisville one for 111 dollars and owing to the circumstances just mentioned was unable to meet them. You will do me a favor when you see these gentlemen to explain the reason. When you sell my cotton after paying Mr. Batt and yourself the expenses if there is a remainder please apply it to my Louisville and Williams debt. Also Mr. Gratiot has a claim of an hundred dollars. I will write to these gentlemen and tell to apply to you when you sell my cotton." Interesting detail on economic difficulties in the south just prior to the Civil War. January 15 unknown
1788rif. 4111Frederick County Md: March 7 1788. About very good. 1p. folio docketed on verso. Old folds short splits along a couple of fold lines minor toning. An impactful manuscript document from the early national period in Maryland formalizing the sale of a slave woman in Frederick County. The sale was made by Robertson Eastburn whose family emigrated from England to Maryland in the early 18th century. The document reads in part: "In consideration of the sum of forty six pounds in Gold and Silver to me in hand and paid by Frederic Strombol.I do hereby Acknowledge have Bargain'd Sold and Delivered and by these presents doth Bargain Sell and Deliver Unto the said Frederic Strombol One Negro Woman named Torry about thirty years of age To Have and to hold the said Bargained Negro woman unto the said Frederic Strombol." Slavery in Maryland lasted over 200 years from its beginnings in 1642 when the first Africans were brought as slaves to St. Mary's City to its end following the Civil War. In 1664 under the governorship of Charles Calvert 3rd Baron Baltimore the Assembly ruled that all enslaved people should be held in slavery for life and that children of enslaved mothers should also be held to the same standard of law. 19th-century American slave sale documents are growing increasingly scarce in the market. March 7 unknown
1996rif. Q-030433264xCassell 1996-03-01. Paperback. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title! Cassell paperback
1759rif. ST19900Philadelphia and Germantown: Benjamin. Franklin and David. Hall or Christopher Sower 1759-60. 192 x 130 mm. 7 1/2 x 5". 1 p.l. collection title 47 1 71 4 76-168 iv 5-43 1 55 1 64 16 pp. Contemporary blind-ruled sheep nicely rebacked to style raised bands. Verso of front flyleaf inscribed in ink in the recipient's hand: "This Book is the Gift of Mr. Anthony Benezett sic to William Anderson October 14th 1760"; front pastedown with ink inscription: "The holy Book To Be Read"; title page with signature of William Anderson dated 1760; front flyleaf and both free endpapers with additional 19th century owner inscriptions. Miller 730; Smith Friends' Books I p. 240. For "Observations": Sabin 4676; Evans 8542. Boards a little dried and scuffed with a couple of small stains text variably toned because of colonial paper quality perhaps a fifth of the text rather browned dampstaining in the upper margin in the middle part of the volume mostly unobtrusive but darker and extending downward on a few leaves. The texts in the kind of problematic condition expected with early American imprints but the binding much better than is normally seen. This is a presentation copy of an important published collection of Quaker texts that includes four works printed by Benjamin Franklin as well as an early significant abolitionist tract that delivers a powerful condemnation of the slave trade. The collection title page lists nine tracts in total six of which were issued with separate title pages comprising: "An Extract from the Spirit of Prayer" by W. Law; "A Discourse on Mistakes concerning Religion" by Thomas Hartley; "Christ's Spirit or a Christian's Strength" "The Stumbling Stone" "The Doctrine of Baptism" and "The Trial of Spirits" all by William Dell; "The Liberty of Flesh and Spirit Distinguished" by J. Rutty; and "Observations on Enslaving Importing and Purchasing of Negroes &c." followed by "The Uncertainty of a Death-bed Repentance" both by Anthony Benezet. Miller asserts that "the first fifth sixth and seventh had previously been printed by Benjamin Franklin and David Hall all in Caslon type. The remainder had been printed by Christopher Saur who owned no Caslon letter." The volume title also in Calson type is attributed to the press of Franklin and Hall for the same reason. According to Miller Anthony Benezet put together this collection of Quaker material in the spring of 1760 in an edition of 500 copies with the hope of reaching those living "in ye back Parts of Maryland Virginia & N. Carolina . . . and Connecticut." First printed in 1759 Benezet's forceful denunciation of the slave trade is notable for using eyewitness accounts from people actually involved with the trade recounting the horrific practices and conditions that were realities of the system. Citing various lines of scripture Benezet argues that slavery runs contrary to Christian teachings and Mosaic law and that those who purchase and keep slaves bear as much guilt as the traders themselves. Born in France to Huguenot parents Benezet 1713-84 was a Quaker abolitionist educator and writer who became one of the earliest and most outspoken advocates against slavery in colonial America. He emigrated to Philadelphia by way of Rotterdam and London in 1731 where he founded Pennsylvania's first secondary school for girls and later opened one of the first schools to welcome black students. ANB says that "Although Benezet is recognized as the most prolific antislavery propagandist of the eighteenth century throughout his lifetime he supported and wrote about a wide variety of causes and topics including assistance for Acadian refugees temperance peace fair treatment of Native Americans religion educational reform and poor relief." His wife Joyce Benezet d. 1786 née Marriott was a preacher in the faith herself. According to Waldstreicher Franklin maintained a "lifelong friendship with Quaker politicians merchants and scientists. . . . He admired Quakerism because of its affirmation of simplicity frugality anti-slavery and humanitarianism." Franklin also saw the possibility of profit in printing for the considerable Quaker population of his colony. Hall 1714-72 came to Philadelphia from London in 1744 to work for Franklin and became a partner in the firm in 1748. As a considerable mark of his regard for Hall Franklin drew up a contract whereby his partner would over an 18-year period buy him out. It is a further sign of Franklin's regard for Hall that the printer is buried beside Franklin and his wife. As to contemporaneous provenance we can speculate with some degree of certainty that our William Anderson was the person of that name who was a Quaker preacher from Haverford near Philadelphia. His wife Margaret--like Benezet's wife Joyce--was also a preacher and these two husband-and-wife teams are dealt with in Rebecca Larson's "Daughter of Light: Quaker Women Preaching and Prophesying in the Colonies and Abroad 1700-1775" 1999 Appendix 2. . B[enjamin]. Franklin and D[avid]. Hall or Christopher Sower unknown
1890rif. 12893N.p. likely London 1890. Lithograph on silk handkerchief approximately 24 x 24 inches with additional lithographed scene printed around the outer margins in brown and blue ink. Previously matted and framed with resultant edge wear and adhesive staining around margins. Old folds some foxing and staining in image area. Overall good plus condition. A very rare and impactful 19th-century British lithograph-on-lithograph the original a view of London's Crystal Palace with the addition of a satirical scene detailing the history of British colonialist activities in Africa. The overall scene is presented in four linear parts one across each mostly blank margin of the Crystal Palace scene; interestingly the two lithographs overlap each other at a few places along the short edge. The scene seems to begin with the part labeled "African Slave Trade" picturing two slave traders leading a chained procession of African slaves men women and children. The next edge is labeled "The Rescue" and shows three British soldiers including one bagpiper freeing the slaves who are pictured free of their chains and dancing and now detaining the two slave traders in chains. The third panel pictures two groups of Africans -- one group running to a rum dealer and another group listening to a man holding a book presumably a missionary preacher. This scene seems to allude to British activities in the West Indies. The final panel labeled "Civilization" is the most varied. It pictures a couple of British railway agents under the banner "Change for Timbuctoo;" a group of African men in Western garb one holding a sign reading "African Times;" an African man riding a bicycle; and a family scene of a man kneeling in front of a seated woman while he kisses her hand and a young man in the background sells matches. How civilized indeed. Each corner of the work is emblazoned with a British lion and the Union Jack amidst a field of African foliage and West Indian palm trees. The scene seems to celebrate the effects of British colonialism while ignoring the country's own history as slaveholders and traffickers the previous century. "The border panels of this printed cotton handkerchief caricature the impact of British colonial policy on Africa. It was probably produced at the end of the 19th century at a period when European colonial rule led to increasing social and political intervention in African societies. It illustrates the rescue of a group of slaves by a British military detachment and their subsequent 'westernization' through the introduction of European goods and commodities." This description comes from the online description of the only other example of this scene we can find which resides at the National Maritime Museum NMM at Greenwich London. The NMM example is printed on a blank cotton handkerchief in brown and red and is slightly smaller on one side than our example. Their dating is likely correct if for nothing else because of the depiction of a chain-driven bicycle which became popular in the UK in the 1890s. unknown
1850rif. 8864Washington: Buell & Blanchard 1850. Disbound. near Very Good binding. Octavo. 8 pp. Removed from volume. Inner margin a bit irregular; horizontal creases from being folded. Stevens rails against "Southern gentlemen" who he argues have obstructed the business of Congress by speeches on the subject of slavery. The remedy Another speech on slavery. And no doubt the subject was indeed occupying Congress and the country. In fact the Compromise of 1850 and its Fugitive Slave Act was just months away from passage when Stevens took the floor with this searing speech against the institution of slavery and the Southern legislators who were holding Congress hostage. Stevens cites Mr. Clingman of North Carolina who in Stevens's words "was selected to open the debate in behalf of human bondage distinctly notified us that unless Congress as a condition precedent submitted to settle the Slavery question according to Southern demands there should be no legislation even the passage of the ordinary appropriation bills necessary to sustain the Government." A heated time indeed! Sabin 91565. Buell & Blanchard unknown
rif. 1333734212.Gpaperback. Good. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book. paperback
1818rif. 12956Frederick MD: October 2 1818. 1p. docketed on verso. Roughly torn along bottom edge minor foxing and spotting. Good condition. An uncommon document in Maryland slave history in which George Baer the future mayor of Frederick and a few other men attest that another local citizen named Robert Lyles is not a slave trader. The document reads in part: "Lyles is on his way to your house to purchase a family of negroes. We have known Mr. Lyles many years and have never heard of his Trafficking in Slaves nor do we believe that in this instance he has any other view but to purchase them for his own use." Baer served as mayor of Frederick from 1820 to 1823; his correspondent "C. Burney" is perhaps Clotworthy Birney 1765-1845 a farmer and real estate trader living near Taney Town. An unusual Maryland slave document concerning a slave owner who just wants to buy slaves for his own use not traffic in them because that's somehow better. October 2 unknown
1850rif. 12963Charleston SC: Printed by Walker & Burke February 7 1850. Partially-printed document completed in manuscript 13 x 8 inches. Old folds minor toning and offsetting. Very good. A very rare pre-printed form from antebellum South Carolina designed specifically for documenting the sale of slaves in Charleston in the mid-19th century. The document emanates from the Court of Equity and directs the estate of Gilbert C. Geddes to sell five named slaves to James Hopkinson for $2075. The names of the slaves are Sam Nelly Daphne Simon and Jenny. The document is signed by James W. Gray Master in Equity in the case of "Bank of the State of South Carolina vs. the Executrix of Gilbert C. Geddes et al" and by William E. Seabrook as witness. Gray adds a particularly insidious note near the bottom of the document when he writes that Hopkinson is entitled to "have and hold" the aforementioned five slaves "together with the future issue and increase of the females." Geddes 1806-1848 a wealthy Charleston resident owned more than a hundred enslaved people when he died; his father John Geddes served as governor of South Carolina 1818-1820. This is the first example of this document we have seen and a unique record of the transference of five slaves and particularly interesting for granting the new slaveowner the rights to future slave children. Printed by Walker & Burke, February 7 unknown
1840rif. 12966Batesville AR: January 11 1840. 1p. 4 x 5.5 inches docketed on verso. Old horizontal fold toning. Very good. An interesting manuscript record of slave care in Arkansas in the 1830s. The short but impactful document reads in full: "Recd of William McNight Admin. Of Hiram West Decd three dollars for medical attention upon negro boy Jack in 1836. Batesville Ark. Jan 11 1840 DJ Chipman." Such documents are increasingly rare in the market and more uncommon than slave sale documents from the same period. Arkansas has just achieved statehood four years before the presetn document was written. January 11 unknown
rif. 0656338911.Ghardcover. Good. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book. hardcover
rif. 0656291591.Ghardcover. Good. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book. hardcover
rif. 0483584681.Ghardcover. Good. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book. hardcover
rif. 133494363X.Gpaperback. Good. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book. paperback
rif. 0331867133.Ghardcover. Good. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book. hardcover
rif. 0266164226.Ghardcover. Good. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book. hardcover
rif. 1332593208.Gpaperback. Good. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book. paperback
rif. 0243873069.Gpaperback. Good. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book. paperback
1848rif. 37646Washington D.C.: J. & G.S. Gideon printers 1848. First edition. Removed. A very good unopened uncut and intrimmed copy with a mail fold. 14 pp. 8vo. Against Oregon admittance over the slavery issue: "The position I shall assume and attempt to maintain is that Congress has no power to organize what is called a territorial government by ordinance or otherwise; nor has Congress the power to pass laws for the people of the territories of the United States.The speech of the honorable member from Ohio Mr. Root delivered on the 15th of the present month. That speech breathes nothing but hostility to Southern institutions. It was uttered in a tone of defiance and in such language of menace as left the impression that the honorable speaker thought that empty threats were quite sufficient to intimidate what he was pleased to call “Southern chivalry.What does the gentleman from Ohio mean by this haughty and vainglorious boasting Does he think that the South are to be frightened from their duty to their country and themselves by these empty menaces The proposition to exclude slave labor from the territories of the United States is a proposition to degrade the slave States—to render them inferior to the free States." John Gayle 1792-1859 "was Alabama's seventh governor and also served as a U.S. congressman state legislator and jurist. Gayle was a fervent champion of states' rights and his advocacy laid the foundation for that movement in Alabama in the 1850s and for the realignment of state political parties." Sarah Woolfolk Wiggins: John Gayle Encyl. of Alabama. Sabin 26798. J. & G.S. Gideon, printers unknown
1996rif. 210311010Cassell 1996-03-01. Paperback. Very Good. Softcover. Clean text. Tight binding. Free of any markings and no writings inside. For any additional information or pictures please inquire. Cassell paperback
1857rif. 40445Boston: John Wilson and Son 1857. Paperback. Small 4to. Self-cover. 12pp. Very good. Outer wrappers only faintly age toned. Clean attractive first edition of this lengthy diatribe against President James Buchanan's handling of the slavery issue in Kansas which they considered weak and ineffective followed by his reply and their response to it. "They fervently hope "that you may yet see that in this respect one false principle if adhered to must prove a principle of weakness and decay -- a sure prelude to the end of all our greatness happiness and glory -- a death-spot in the tree of liberty whose leaves like those of the tree of life are for the healing of the nations." Signed in type at the conclusion by these Connecticut congressmen in order: Nathaniel W. Taylor Theodore D. Woolsey Henry Dutton Charles L. English John H. Brockway Eli W. Blake Benjamin Stilliman Jr. Thomas A. Thacher J.A. Davenport Worthington Hooker Philos Blake Amos Townsend James Brewster Eli Ives S.G. Hubbard John A. Blake William H. Russell A.N. Skinner Charles Robinson Joel Hawes G.A. Calhoun Leonard Bacon H.C. Kingsley Benjamin Stilliman Sr. Charles Ives Josiah W. Gibbs James F. Babcock and Alfred Walker. OCLC cites 20 copies. SABIN 52997. John Wilson and Son paperback
1855rif. List3682Philadelphia: Edward L. Walker 142 Chestnut St. above 6th 1855. Folio sheet music pictorial lithographed cover approximately 13.5 × 10.5 inches. Light edge wear and minor toning; very good with a strong impression of the cover illustration. An antebellum piano dance reflecting the plantation imagery that circulated widely in mid-nineteenth-century American popular music. “Cuba Plantation Dance” was composed by Chas. H. Wilson a little-documented composer whose name appears chiefly in connection with this work and issued in Philadelphia during the early 1850s by Edward L. Walker the predecessor firm to the major publishing house Lee & Walker. A copy is recorded in the Levy Collection at Johns Hopkins which dates the publication to 1855. The cover presents a stylized plantation landscape framed by tall stalks of sugar cane with a small central vignette of a dancing Black figure. The use of Cuban plantation imagery reflects contemporary American fascination with the Caribbean sugar economy and with plantation life beyond the United States. During the 1850s Cuba was one of the largest slave societies in the Atlantic world. By the midcentury the island’s sugar plantations relied on hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans and the enslaved population of Cuba was estimated at roughly 400000 people in the 1840s–1850s working primarily in the rapidly expanding sugar industry. Although Spain formally agreed to end the Atlantic slave trade in 1820 illegal importations of enslaved Africans into Cuba continued for decades supplying labor for the island’s plantations well into the 1850s. American publishers frequently borrowed such imagery for plantation-themed dance music marketed to the parlor trade. Pieces labeled “plantation dances” or “Ethiopian dances” formed part of the broader culture of minstrel and plantation entertainment. The title page bears a dedication to “Miss Arabelle Conrad” typical of mid-century sheet music addressed to amateur pianists. Along with the aforementioned copy in the Levy collection we find copies at Michigan and Temple. Edward L. Walker, 142 Chestnut St., above 6th unknown
rif. 133041957X.Gpaperback. Good. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book. paperback
rif. 0243034016.Gpaperback. Good. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book. paperback
