Case 2 will be the one of most immediate interest to AE Monthly readers: It is entitled “Americana” and it contains some breathtaking treasures, including a tiny 12 mo. autograph diary by George Washington dating from January –December 1762 (Collector: Jay I. Kislak); early maps of Florida and New York Harbor; a Theodore De Bry European-Americana item (Collector: Dave M. Davis, M.D., F.A. P. A.); and other key pieces including the item that most drew my eye, a book by Isaac Mendes Belisaro entitled Sketches of Character, In Illustration of the Habits, Occupation and Costume of the Negro Population, in the Island of Jamaica, published in Kingston, Jamaica “by the author at his residence” in 1837. This book, which is opened to a lovely and riveting hand-colored sketch of a fancily dressed Jamaican woman, has been offered to the show by none other than collector William S. Reese, of bookselling fame. [Editor’s Note: see the feature article about William Reese elsewhere in this issue of AE Monthly.] Upon seeing this item this author felt: leave it to Bill Reese to own such a fine piece of what might be broadly termed Afro-American and/or colonization history.
Other items in the “Americana” case include a copy of Isaiah Thomas’s History of Printing in America (Collector: Marcus A. McCorison) and a hand-drawn and colored “Survey Map of Part of Delaware County, New York,” dating to February 1856 (Collector: John H. Keck) and a copy of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense; Addressed to the Inhabitants of America, On the Following Subjects…(Collector: Kenneth W. Rendell). All in all, the “Americana” case is one of the strongest cases in the exhibition, and I’m not just saying that because of this magazine’s open preference for such material. It really is amazing, as are the quotes from the member-collectors that accompany each item.
[Editor’s Note: Because of space considerations, this article unfortunately cannot quote from all of the member-collector-participant’s excellent written statements that accompany their objects. We have chosen, however, to include selections from statements from the Americana collectors. These follow directly below, in no particular order.]
Dave M. Davis, M.D., F.A.P.A., on Theodore De Bry’s Collectiones Peregrinationum in Indiam Orientalem et Indiam Occidentalem…:
This book is the first book to accurately depict America. De Bry collected stories, maps, tales and anything else he could lay his hands on, from explorers, conquerors, priests, settlers, sailors, and adventurers….These satisfied a bit of the curiosity of Europeans who were eager to learn all they could about these previously unknown lands and peoples.
This particular volume is a first printing of the first edition, and subsequent owners have updated later voyages in the seventeenth century in cursive French in margins and overleaves – remember that at the time governments tried to keep such information secret.
I purchased this copy from a New York dealer after long negotiations that involved several meals and fine wines.
