• Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 124: Henri Courvoisier-Voisin, et alia, [Recueil de Vues de Paris et ses Environs], depicting precursors of the modern roller coaster, Paris, [1814-1819?]. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 148: Pablo Picasso & Fernando de Rojas, La Célestine, First Edition, Paris, 1971. $30,000 to $40,000.
    Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 201: Omar Khayyam & Edward Fitzgerald, Rubaiyat, William Bell Scott's copy of the First Edition, London, 1859. $20,000 to $30,000.
    Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 223: Charles Dickens, Great Expectations, First Edition, extra-illustrated with hand-colored plates by Palinthorpe, London, 1861. $7,000 to $9,000.
    Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 248: L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, First Edition, inscribed by the illustrator, Chicago & New York, 1900. $20,000 to $30,000.
    Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 305: Tycho Brahe & Pierre Gassendi, Tychonis Brahei Vita, Paris, 1654. From the Collection of Owen Gingerich. $8,000 to $12,000.
    Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 338: Giovanni Battista Riccioli, Almagestum Novum, two folio volumes, Bologna, 1651. From the Collection of Owen Gingerich. $8,000 to $10,000.
    Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 350: Tobias Cohn, Ma'aseh Toviyyah, first edition, Venice, 1707-8. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Swann, Apr. 22: Lot 359: Alan Turing, Computing, Machinery, and Intelligence, first edition, Edinburgh, 1950. $3,000 to $5,000.
  • Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
  • Rose City Book & Paper Fair
    June 14-15, 2025
    1000 NE Multnomah, Portland
    ROSECITYBOOKFAIR.COM
  • Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: BELLEFOREST (François de). La cosmographie universelle de tout le monde. €12,000 to €15,000.
    Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: DESNOS (Louis Charles). Mappe-monde, ou Carte Generale de la Terre. €5,000 to €6,000.
    Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: BLAEU (Willem Janszoon & Joan). Theatrum Sabaudiae. €18,000 to €20,000.
    Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: LINASSI. Ferdinando Ie Maria Anna Carolina nel Litorale in Settembre 1844. €4,000 to €5,000.
    Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: AMBROSOLI (Francesco). Monumento a Francesco Primo in Vienna. €3,000 to €4,000.
    Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: Plano de la plaza de Mesina y de su ciudadel y castiglios. €5,000 to €6,000.
    Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: ROCKSTUHL (Alois Gustav), GILLE (Florent A.). 78 Lithographies du Musée de Tzarskoe-Selo. €1,000 to €1,500.
    Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: Chtchedrovski, Ignatiy Stepanovitch. €2,000 to €3,000.
    Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: DE BRUYN (Cornelis). Voyage au Levant. €3,000 to €5,000.
    Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: ABI ISHAQ AHMAD B. IBRAHIM AL-THAʿLABI (M. 1035) : TROISIÈME VOLUME DU KASHF WA-L-BAYAN ʻAN TAFSIRI AL-QURʼAN. €3,000 to €5,000.
    Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: DESNOS (Louis Charles). L’Afrique. €3,000 to €4,000.
    Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: DE BRUYN (Cornelis). Voyages de Corneille Le Brun par la Moscovie, en Perse, et aux Indes orientales. €1,500 to €2,000.
    Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: DESNOS. (Louis Charles). Amérique septentrionale et Méridionale. €4,000 to €5,000.
    Gros & Delettrez, Apr. 23: ÉLIOT (J.B.) ; MONDHARE (Louis Joseph). Carte du théatre de la guerre actuel entre les anglais et les treize Colonies Unies de l'Amérique Septentrionale. €5,000 to €6,000.

Rare Book Monthly

Articles - August - 2023 Issue

New Collective Biography of 14 Black Civil War Surgeons Expands Knowledge of US Racial, Medical and Military History

“I've tried to tell the stories of these Black surgeons through their own words and their own voices, and not interpret their meaning. I think that their words are powerful and can stand on their own.” Jill L. Newmark

“I've tried to tell the stories of these Black surgeons through their own words and their own voices, and not interpret their meaning. I think that their words are powerful and can stand on their own.” Jill L. Newmark

Without Concealment, Without Compromise, The Courageous Lives of Black Civil War Surgeons” by independent historian Jill L. Newmark is an important contribution to our knowledge of racial, medical and military history. Published earlier this year as part of the Engaging the Civil War” series from Southern Illinois University Press ($29.95 - trade paperback) it portrays a collective biography of fourteen Black doctors who were the first to serve in the Union army during the Civil War.



Rare Book Hub first met author Newmark in June at a talk she gave at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Fredrick, MD and followed up in July with a phone interview.



I've tried, as much as possible,” she said, “to tell the stories of these Black surgeons through their own words and their own voices, and not interpret their meaning. I think that their words are powerful and can stand on their own,” she said.



Her book, more than 15 years in the making, is clearly a labor of love. She uses painstaking scholarship to track down hard to find biographical information from scant clues using the resources of many US and international libraries, special collections and archives.



Newmark became interested in the subject in 2007 when she was employed as Exhibition Specialist in the History of Medicine Division of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) in Bethesda. In that capacity she worked on Binding Wounds, Pushing Boundaries, an exhibition featuring pioneering Black men and women who served as surgeons and nurses and how their work as medical providers challenged the prescribed notions of race and gender.



That's when I came across Alexander T. Augusta who was the first Black medical officer in the US Army and the first Black professor at Howard University's medical department. I was intrigued by him and wondered how many other Black physicians may have served as surgeons during the Civil War?”



In 2014 she organized a panel for the Society of Civil War Historians on the health of Black soldiers during the war, asking whether more Black surgeons would have meant better health care for those soldiers? “As a result,” she said, “I was approached by Sylvia Frank Rodrigue at SIU Press about a book project. At the time I hadn’t written a page yet; it was all in my head. I did a book proposal and the rest is history.”



Without Concealment expands substantially on the subject first raised by Robert G. Slawson MD in Prologue to Change, a slim 52 page paperback published in 2006. According to Slawson, ”at least thirteen African American physicians served in the Union Army during the Civil War.” He named three who were commissioned officers and ten who served as contract surgeons. All of them served with the United States Colored Troops or in various Freedmen's Hospitals with African American patients, or were involved in recruiting US Colored troops.”



Commissioned officers identified by Slawson were Alexander Augusta (1825-1890), John van Surly DeGrasse (1825-1868). He also put David O. McCord in this category.  



Newmark’s research led her to believe that McCord was miscategorized, and was not actually Black. As she writes in her preface, “If McCord had been identified as an African American man it is unlikely he would be appointed surgeon to an all white regiment in 1862, prior to the start of official recruitment of Black men that began in 1863.”



To those two commissioned officers, Newmark’s book adds twelve more who served as contract surgeons, for a total of fourteen.



They were:

  • William Peter Powell Jr. (1834-1916)

  • Anderson Ruffin Abbott (1837-1913)

  • John H. Rapier Jr. (1835-1866)

  • Richard Henry Greene (1833-1877)

  • Willis Richardson Revels (c.1817-1879)

  • Benjamin Antonius Boseman Jr. (1840-1881)

  • Charles Burliegh Purvis (1842-1929)

  • Cortlandt Van Rensselaer Creed (1833-1900)

  • William Baldwin Ellis (1833-1866)

  • Alpheus W. Tucker (1844-1880)

  • Joseph Dennis Harris (1833-1884)

  • Charles H. Taylor (1844-1875)



The text provides detailed biographical sketches of each one accompanied by photos and excerpts from letters and other manuscript material. All are discussed in detail in this 283-page soft cover book.



You find small amounts of information that leads you to the next level of information and then the next level of information,” she said describing her research method. “It takes persistence, an inquisitive mind, the ability to think outside the box, and a passion for the subject matter.”



Though she retired from the National Library of Medicine in 2020, she found that “working at the world's largest biomedical library had distinct advantages. Being there opened it up for me.” She mentioned the frequent use of inter-library loan and the ease with which facsimiles of various manuscript materials can be transmitted, “now that so many collections have been digitized. That fact has been transformative to research in general.”



Along the way Newmark touches on several recurring themes:



One is the psychological impact of seeing a Black man in the uniform of an officer, and how the authority it symbolized shaped the view these men had of themselves, as well as how they were viewed by others, which she termed “the politics of appearance.”



Another is the pervasive aversion white doctors had to serving with a Black colleague. Even though some of the white physicians mentioned had abolitionist sympathies, or came from abolitionist backgrounds, those views did not extend so far as to be willing to serve with or under the command of a Black doctor. “You have to consider the time,” she said, “many were open, but not that open.” The Black doctors also faced opposition and exclusion when trying to join white-only medical societies.



Also noted multiple times is the difference between the way American Blacks were regarded, as opposed to those who came from other countries, such as Jamaica, Canada or Scotland. Those who were “of color” or “African descent,” but claimed some other country as their homeland or place of medical education, seemed to have faced less prejudice than those who were American born.



Newmark commented,”Ideas of a Black foreigner were not the same as a formerly enslaved American. Everybody has their own prejudices, there is no such thing as color blindness.”



Also of interest is what she calls the “Iowa Connection.” Four of the fourteen (Alpheus Tucker, Joseph Dennis Harris, Charles H. Taylor and John H. Rapier Jr.) received their medical education at Keokuk Medical College in Keokuk, Iowa. Each of the four black men who graduated from the school, also known as the Iowa College of Physicians and Surgeons, “arrived in Iowa from different circumstances, but for the same purpose – to obtain a medical education.”



The reactions to her book have been very good. She mentioned a July review in the Civil War Monitor that comments, (Newmark) “offers a much-needed examination of the inspiring lives of multiple Black men who fought to destroy not only the Confederacy, but also ever-evolving forms of racial discrimination within the U.S. army.” To that she added, The endorsements that appear on the cover and inside my book are a reflection of the response from the scholarly community. Most recognize the detailed and in-depth research that is reflected throughout the book and have given praise for bringing this neglected part of Civil War and medical history to light. “



-------------

Find Jill Newmark’s website at

https://www.blackcivilwarsurgeons.com/

She will speak at Dartmouth College and Yale University in the fall. Dates and times for these and other events are posted on her site, as well as related information.



eMail her at: aacivilwarsurgeons@gmail.com



Other links for Newmark

2010 C-Span, African-American Civil War Surgeons

https://www.c-span.org/video/?292107-1/african-american-civil-war-surgeons



2012-2013 Brief Newmark bio + article on Benjamin Boseman and another article on Contraband Hospital

https://www.blackpast.org/author/newmarkjill/



2020 African American Surgeons in the Civil War Era

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4lJRRZSNWE



2023 Talk before Massachusetts Historical Society https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt5-EIgILZ4



Links related to Slawson's Prologue to Change



2006 paperback

https://www.civilwarmed.org/shop/allbooks/civil-war-surgeons/prologue-to-change-african-americans-in-medicine-in-the-civil-war-era/



2011 - article by Slawson in Black Past

https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/african-americans-medicine-civil-war-era/



2016 by Slawson for National Museum of Civil War Medicine

https://www.civilwarmed.org/africanamericandrs/



Institutional Links

National Museum of Civil War Medicine, Frederick, MD

https://www.civilwarmed.org/



National Library of Medicine (NLM) Binding Wounds,Pushing Boundaries

https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/bindingwounds/index.html



Link Recent Review

July 2023 review in Civil War Monitor

https://www.civilwarmonitor.com/book-shelf/newmark-without-concealment-without-compromise-2023


Posted On: 2023-08-04 17:42
User Name: bkwoman

I'll be looking for that book. It sounds really interesting. I'll never understand that when your are injured and could, maybe die, you would care what color the doctor's skin was?


Rare Book Monthly

  • Jeschke Jádi
    Rare Book Auction 155
    Saturday April 26, 2025
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 962. Baird. United States Exploring Expedition. Philadelphia 1858.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 772. Edith Holland Norton. Brazilian Flowers. Coombe Croft 1893.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 49. Petrarca. Das Gluecksbuch, Augsburg 1536.
    Jeschke Jádi
    Rare Book Auction 155
    Saturday April 26, 2025
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 1496. Jacob / Picasso. Chronique des Temps, 1956.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 8. Augustinus. De moribus ecclesie. Cologne 1480.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 17. Heures a lusaige de Noyon. Paris 1504.
    Jeschke Jádi
    Rare Book Auction 155
    Saturday April 26, 2025
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 13. Schedel. Buch der Chronicken. Nürnberg 1493.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 957. Donovan. Insects of China. London 1798.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 123. A holy martyr. Tuscany, Florence, mid-14th century.
    Jeschke Jádi
    Rare Book Auction 155
    Saturday April 26, 2025
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 438. Dante. La Divine Comédie. Paris 1963.
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 602. Firdausi. Histoire de Minoutchehr. Paris 1919
    Jeschke Jádi, Apr. 26: Lot 994. Westwood. Oriental Entomology. London 1848.
  • Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 748. Second volume of Blaeu's atlas featuring 89 maps of the Americas and Asia (1642) Est. $12,000 - $15,000
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 12. A world map with popular cartographic myths and unique embellishments (1788) Est. $3,000 - $3,750
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 30. One of the most sought-after charts from Cellarius' work (1708) Est. $1,200 - $1,500
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 38. Anti-Vietnam War persuasive cartography on a velvet poster (1971) Est. $350 - $425
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 43. Ortelius' influential map of the New World - second plate (1584) Est. $4,750 - $6,000
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 95. Scarce German map illustrating the French & Indian War (1755) Est. $8,000 - $9,500
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 149. Bachmann's dramatic view of the Mid-Atlantic region (1864) Est. $1,200 - $1,500
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 373. De Jode's very rare map of Europe with costumed figures (1593) Est. $6,000 - $7,500
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 674. De Bry's Petits Voyages, Part VII with all plates and map of Sri Lanka (1606) Est. $1,400 - $1,700
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 704. The first printed map devoted to the Pacific in full contemporary color (1589) Est. $7,500 - $9,000
    Old World Auctions (April 23):
    Lot 734. Superb hand-colored image of the Tree of Jesse (1502) Est. $700 - $850
  • University Archives
    Rare Autographs, Books & Photos; Abraham Lincoln Collection
    April 23, 2025
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Best Image of Abraham Lincoln: "Closest… to ‘seeing' Lincoln… A National Treasure" Original Hesler/Ayres Interpositive. $800,000 to $1,000,000.
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Einstein, 3pp of Unified Field Theory Equations: “I want to try to show that a truly natural choice for field equations exists.” Formalizing His Final Approach, Association to Theory of Relativity. $80,000 to $120,000.
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Marilyn Monroe's Best Personally Owned & Annotated Script for Unfinished Last Film, "Something's Got to Give" (1962). $75,000 to $100,000.
    University Archives
    Rare Autographs, Books & Photos; Abraham Lincoln Collection
    April 23, 2025
    University Archives, Apr. 23: David Ben-Gurion ALS: "The Jewish people have attained the epitome...the State of Israel is born," 1 Day After Signing Israeli Declaration of Independence, Best Ben-Gurion Ever! $80,000 to $100,000.
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Lincoln ALS to Youth: "A young man, before the enemy has learned to watch him...votes... shall redeem the county" Evocative of Famous "Work" Letter. $70,000 to $100,000.
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Lincoln Appointment for Cabinet Member With Largest, Boldest, Full Signature! Important Content: Detente with England. $10,000 to $15,000.
    University Archives
    Rare Autographs, Books & Photos; Abraham Lincoln Collection
    April 23, 2025
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Abraham Lincoln Rare Signed Check To Law Partner W.H. Herndon, Perhaps Unique as Such! $20,000 to $25,000
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Tokyo War Crimes Files of Prosecuting Attorney For POW Camp Atrocities, 500+ Pages, Unpublished Court Documents, Photos and More. $25,000 to $35,000.
    University Archives, Apr. 23: 1698 South Carolina Slavery Archive Huguenot Planters Earliest Rare Plat Maps for Plantations 41 Docs 107 pp. Most Colonial. $25,000 to $35,000.
    University Archives
    Rare Autographs, Books & Photos; Abraham Lincoln Collection
    April 23, 2025
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Adam Smith ALS While Revising “The Wealth of Nations” - A New Discovery Documenting Meeting with Influential Editor. $18,000 to $24,000.
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Margaret Mitchell Rare ALS to Her Editor as Epic Film "Gone With the Wind" Gains Heat "Forgive this scrawl. I haven't written a letter in long hand in years and I've almost forgotten how it's done." $3,000 to $4,000.
    University Archives, Apr. 23: Einstein 1935 TLS, Hopes to Warn Non-Jews of "The true nature of the Hitler regime.” $8,500 to $10,000.

Article Search

Archived Articles

Ask Questions