Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - September - 2004 Issue
John Waite Rare Books<br>Offers
One of the first American racing broadsides
Item 64 is a Boston newspaper that will also be of interest to Michigan collectors. It is Vol. 1 No. 50 of the Boston Chronicle from November 21-28, 1768. This early weekly, which lasted for three years, includes letters regarding taxes and the recently repealed Stamp Act. However, it also includes a report from a correspondent in Michilimackinac, northern Michigan, on the situation concerning Major Robert Rogers. Rogers and his "Rogers' Rangers" gained fame during the French and Indian War, but by this time, laden with debt, he was accused of involvement in illegal trade. The correspondent details the charges against Rogers, of which he was eventually acquitted. $250.
Among the items Waite has is a group of old restaurant menus. For example, there's one from the world famous Copacabana restaurant and club in New York, circa 1940s. Many of the greatest stars of that era performed there, and probably selected items from this menu. Item 45. $95. A business card from the upstate New York (Rensselaer County) Schaghticoke House proclaims "Patronizing us is like making love to a widow. You can't overdo it!" What does that mean? Item 48. $12.
Item 68 is a copy of the book America and Alfred Stieglitz about the famed photographer. This copy comes with an inscription from Stieglitz to his building supervisor. It is dated December 2, 1934. $2,000.
Item 17 is a very early American horseracing broadside. It announces races at the Newmarket track on Long Island, New York, in 1804. Included are instructions to riders and this odd restriction: "The stewards are determined, if possible, to prevent any interruption to the noble sport of horse-racing, and any imposition upon the unwary, by keeping from the course, every species of gambling table." So what was the point of this horseracing anyway? One suspects the "if possible" clause is the answer. Prohibiting gambling was likely impossible. Waite reports that in their research, they were only able to locate one item of American horseracing ephemera that predates this one, and that piece is badly mutilated. $12,500.
It may not be well known, but Dick's House, the medical facility at Dartmouth College, was named after Richard Drew Hall. Hall was a sophomore in the class of 1927 when he died of polio. The sadness must have been immense for his parents, who commissioned the facility in memory of their son. They also had a memorial book privately printed in his honor, Richard Drew Hall 1904-1924. It includes letters Hall wrote and reminiscences of him. Item 61. $35.
You may reach John Waite Rare Books at 802-674-2665. Also, they are listed in our advertising section: www.americanaexchange.com/facilities/classified/home.asp
