Americana 2







​Narrative of the Expedition
of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan;
Price $550 Buy Now
Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan: Performed in the Years 1852, 1853, and 1854, Under the Command of Commodore M.C. Perry, United States Navy by Francis Lister Hawks;- Published in New York by Appleton & Company  1857. Engraved full frontispiece portrait of Prince of Idzu, 10 large fold-out Maps and Charts, 75 engraved plates, and numerous wood-engraved vignettes within the text. Original reddish brown three quarter leather binding, with marbled paper to front and back, marbled endpapers within. The leather spine is elaborately decorated in gilt, the spine in six compartment, with five raised bands, gilt-lettered in one, the others decorated with small gilt tools, all edges marbled. The Book is in fine condition, the binding is slightly worn, very clean inside, and the numerous engraved plates are also in fine condition and all present.
1st. single volume Edition of 1857 there was a 3 volume Edition published the year earlier or published in the same year as Perry's official report which was issued in three volumes. Early in 1852, President Millard Fillmore "ordered Perry to take command of the East Asia Squadron for the purpose of establishing official relations with the Government of Japan, a country closed to almost all foreign contact for two and a half centuries. Perry's Naval and Diplomatic experience and his personality, a combination of sternness, tact, and integrity, were ideally suited for this delicate assignment. Perry devised an effective, two-step strategy. He arrived with four warships at the mouth of Edo in Tokyo Bay in July 1853 demanding that a high-ranking Nobleman accept a letter for the Emperor from the President of America requesting that American Naval vessels be allowed access to Japanese Harbours. If the letter was refused, Perry's Naval vessels would proceed by force to the capital of Toyko. After the Japanese reluctantly received the letter, Perry immediately departed. He returned with twice the number of Naval vessels in February 1854 for his answer. Aware of the humiliation China had suffered in the Opium War with Britain and impressed by Perry's combination of firmness and restraint, the internally divided Japanese leadership agreed to the Treaty of Kanagawa on 31 March 1854. This convention gave U.S. Naval vessels access to the Ports of Hakodate and Shimoda for provisions and refuge, and it provided for the stationing of a U.S. consul at Shimoda. There was no agreement to allow trade, but Perry anticipated correctly that the creation of a consulate would lead to commerce. Perry's mission was a turning point for Japan on the road to economic and political change and to world prominence. For the United States, Perry's mission was an early expression of American commercial and strategic advance into the Pacific and East Asia. The arrival of his "black ships, " as the Japanese called them, began an enduring and ambivalent relationship of friendship and friction between the two nations"

Washington Irving;-
Rip van Winkle.
Price $400 Buy Now

Washington Irving;-

Rip van Winkle.

English 1st. Edition

Illustrated  by Arthur Rackham. 1905

Published by William Heinemann. London.,1905;- 1st. edition with 4to.(10.1 x 7.7 inches). Colour frontispiece and forty nine coloured plates, mounted onto thicker paper and with a printed tissue guard. Publishers dark green cloth with gilt lettering to front board and spine. Illustration of Rip Van Winkle stamped in gilt to front board. A fine copy of a highly collectable book;-  Apart from some slight foxing to the first four text pages this is a clean copy internally. A near very good copy of this beautiful book. The first of the famous tipped in coloured plates gift books that made Rackham a household name.:.

Nigger Jokes and Stump Speeches;
Price $650 Buy Now

Nigger Jokes and Stump Speeches : being a collection of approved nigger jokes, stump speeches, conundrums, and the essence of minstrelsy.

Published in London & New York by Samuel French & T. Henry French 1878. Volume 2 only;- 1st. Edition. Full green leather binding, with 64 pages. Index to the front pages. Original paper cover within;- this is a very Scarce book, no other original copies to be found. Highly collectable and rare. Fine copy;- $650

  Astoria;  
By Irving Washington
or, 
Enterprise Beyond the Rocky Mountains. 
Price $150 Buy Now

                   Astoria;  By Irving Washington

                      or, Enterprise Beyond the Rocky Mountains. 

Published by Richard Bentley 1839. 1st. English Edition. Hardcover, VERY GOOD, 440 pp., rebound in dark-brown cloth, with gilt lettering to the spine. Engraved illustration of author on forepage, rice paper, the usual age-spotting, some rubbing to corners and edges; tight copy. Text includes author's introduction dated Sept., 1836 and an appendix, including "Draft of a Petition to Congress, sent by Mr. Astor in 1812"; "Letter from Mr. Gallatin to Mr. Astor, dated New York, August 5, 1835"; "Notices of the present state of the Fur Trade, chiefly extracted from an article published in Silliman's Journal for January 1834"; "Height of the Rocky Mountains" including a letter from Professor James Renwick of Columbia College, New York, February 23, 1836, to W. Irving, Esq.; and "Suggestions with Respect to the Indian tribes, and the Protection of Our Trade". Classic record of the first effort in the United States to settle the Pacific Coast. A Rare book by a Famous Author.  Early American travel book. Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works include biographies of George Washington, Oliver Goldsmith and Muhammad, and several histories of 15th-century Spain dealing with subjects such as Christopher Columbus, the Moors, and the Alhambra. Irving also served as the U.S. minister to Spain from 1842 to 1846. He made his literary debut in 1802 with a series of observational letters to the Morning Chronicle, written under the pseudonym Jonathan Oldstyle. After moving to England for the family business in 1815, he achieved international fame with the publication of The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. in 1819. He continued to publish regularly—and almost always successfully—throughout his life, and completed a five-volume biography of George Washington just eight months before his death, at age 76, in Tarrytown, New York. Irving, along with James Fenimore Cooper, was among the first American writers to earn acclaim in Europe, and Irving encouraged American authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Edgar Allan Poe. Irving was also admired by some European writers, including Sir Walter Scott, Lord Byron, Thomas Campbell, Francis Jeffrey, and Charles Dickens. As America's first genuine internationally best-selling author, Irving advocated for writing as a legitimate profession, and argued for stronger laws to protect American writers from copyright infringement.

Stenhouse, Mrs. T.B. H. 
Expose of Polygamy in Utah. 
A Lady's Life Among the Mormons. 
Price $250 Buy Now

Stenhouse, Mrs. T.B. H. 
Expose of Polygamy in Utah. A Lady's Life Among the Mormons. A Record of Personal Experience as One of the Wives of a Mormon Elder During A Period of More Than Twenty Years. 
American News Company 8vo,1st. Edition;-1872;- Signed by the Author;-Original light brown cloth, Gilt lettering both to spine and front cover;- illustrated with drawings of H.L. Stephens;-  An early tell all book, which describes the fall out the author had with the Mormon Church, and the living conditions she had to deal with. She also took the opportunity to criticize the leadership of Bingham Young. Perhaps more importantly, she describes the life of Mormon wives a pretty miserable group. They will sometimes be one of a dozen or more wives, and that Brigham Young had 19 wives. While she acknowledges that some of the Mormon faith have good intensions, women find it an often lonely and heart breaking experience $250 Signed

Mr Paine’s letter to Mr. Secretary Dundas -
by Thomas Paine, 1792
Price : CONTACT

Mr Paine’s letter to Mr. Secretary Dundas by Thomas Paine, 1792

  This 1st. Edition, 16 page Pamphlet  was Printed and distributed gratis by the Society for Constitutional Information. The Society for Constitutional Information, which was a British activist group founded in 1780 by Major John Cartwright, to promote parliamentary reform. The Society flourished until 1783, but thereafter made little headway. The organisation actively promoted  Thomas Paine’s “Rights of Man” and other radical publications, After the British Government repression and the 1794 Treason Trials in October, in which the leaders were acquitted, the society ceased to meet. The Title-Page has no date but the page after the Title -Page has a printed note 
    “ At a Meeting of the Society for Constitutional Information, held at the Crown and Anchor, Friday June 15th. 1792. ——Resolve, That Twelve Thousand Copies of Mr. Paine’s letter to Mr. Secretary Dundas, be printed, for the purpose of being distributed to our Correspondents throughout Great Britain”
    This very rare Pamphlet has a few Contemporaneous notes hand-written names to the Title -Page, plus Thomas Paine’s name inked in, almost like a signature to the last page, page16, bottom right. The Contemporary hand-written name of John Jones, three times written, as a signature of one,  John Jones, and two dates 1792 and 1799. (maybe Captain John Paul Jones) 1792? and his Son 1799?? A few slight tears but no damage to the text, page 9 and page 10 top centre of the pages. 
The 2nd Edition of Mr. Paine’s letter to Mr. Secretary Dundas by Thomas Paine was published by J. Parsons, London 1792
    Major John Cartwright wrote The English Constitution, which outlined his ideas including Government by the people and legal equality which he considered could only be achieved by universal suffrage, the secret ballot and equal electoral districts. He became the main patron of the Radical publisher Thomas Jonathan Wooler, best known for his satirical journal The Black Dwarf, who actively supported Cartwright's campaigning. Major John Cartwright had sent a copy of The English Constitution to former President of the United States of America, Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson wrote back to Cartwright in July: "Your age of eighty-four, and mine of eighty-one years, ensure us a speedy meeting. We may then commune at leisure, and more fully, on the good and evil, which in the course of our long lives, we have both witnessed; and in the mean time, I pray you to accept assurances of my high veneration and esteem for your person and character".
    A Pamphlet or Tract is a small booklet or leaflet containing information or arguments about a single subject. A Pamphlet or Tract is also an unbound sheet of paper without a hard-cover or binding It may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a leaflet, or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddled stabled (staples into the spine ) at the crease to make a simple booklet. The pamphlet form of literature has been used for centuries as an economical vehicle for the broad distribution of information. Also due to their low cost and ease of production, Pamphlets have often been used to popularise political or religious ideas. Ephemeral (Pamphlets or Tracts) and to wide array of political or religious perspectives given voice by the format's ease of production, Pamphlets are prized by many Book Collectors, Research Libraries, Private Institutions such as Universities. Substantial accumulations have been amassed and transferred to ownership of academic Research Libraries around the world. Also Pamphlets or Tracts were printed on scarce paper at the time, so when finished were more often then not used as toilet paper, (toilet paper at the time was non existent,) or also used to start a home fire, so paper Pamphlets or Tracts rarely survived, hence there greater value.