The statistical history of America is frequently at odds with the conventional wisdom of what America was and was becoming. This is an important item.
For the collector of China and America’s connection to it there are 4 lots bearing the bookplate of W. W. Rockhill, diplomat and author of various books on China and Indochina in the 1880s and 1890s. These lots are 3236, 3243, 3244, and 3268. He himself was author of “Journey through Mongolia and Tibet,” an account written for the Smithsonian and published in 1894.
Another item to be carefully considered is 3181, The Revolutionary War Journal of Timothy Newell and written beginning April 19th, 1775 and concluding March 16th, 1776. Mr. Newell served as Selectman for the City of Boston at various times and was witness to many of the storied events in and around Boston at the beginning of the American Revolution. Adding complexity and interest to this lot is a painting of him that is attributed to Henry Sargent.
3181
REVOLUTIONARY WAR JOURNAL.
"OUR PEOPLE BEHAVED WITH THE UTMOST BRAVERY."
Manuscript Diary of Timothy Newell, 22 pp recto and verso, 8vo (158 x 95 mm), [Boston], dated April 19, 1775 to March 16, 1776, with frequent insertions and amendments. Nearly unstitched, first and last leaves a little edgeworn affecting a few letters, fol 4 with a closed tear, generally very good.
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR JOURNAL OF A BOSTON SELECTMAN COVERING THE COMPLETE PERIOD OF THE SIEGE OF BOSTON AND INCLUDING A DESCRIPTION OF THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL.
The Boston Board of Selectmen (usually 7 men) was the governing body of the town of Boston through the colonial period till 1822. Timothy Newell was Selectman for six years: in 1767 and 1768 at the time of the Townshend Acts and the first arrival of British troops; and also from 1772 to 1775, witnessing the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, the Intolerable Acts, etc. John Hancock was a fellow Selectman for all the years in which Newell served. Newell was also a deacon of Brattle Street Church. His entries appear to be written somewhat after the events and so consolidate information. Newell was a moderate. He remained in Boston and did not join the Provisional Congress at Lexington as Hancock and Samuel Adams did at this juncture. However, his journal does show the bias of a patriot, for example in exaggerating the disadvantage that Revolutionary troops ("our people") had at the Battle of Bunker Hill and in his mounting hostility towards General Gage and his men. Boston was the first city to experience action in the Revolutionary War and this account by a prominent citizen is an invaluable primary resource. A few excerpts are as follows. The complete transcript—nearly all of which relates specifically to the siege, cannonade, and skirmishes with the Provincials, and no other matters—is available on request.
