Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - July - 2005 Issue
Personal Letters, Books, Diaries and More from Michael Brown Rare Books
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Many documents in the collection pertain to state and political matters. Sixty-nine letters are from Wisconsin's last Territorial Governor, Henry Dodge. Another 34 are from the first State Governor, Nelson Dewey. In an 1861 letter, Dewey predicts that there is no hope for the Union; that not even a civil war will succeed in holding the South and North together. Another document in the collection grants 640 acres to Francis Thibault, a "half-breed" Winnebago Indian, and contains the signature of President Zachary Taylor. Also included are many letters and other documents pertaining to Delaplaine's four daughters. This amazing family collection includes 311 letters and a total of 1,018 items. $15,000.
Item 91 is two books bound together, Household Manuel of Domestic Hygiene...(1882) and The Hygienic Cook Book...(1874) by John Harvey Kellogg, published in Battle Creek, Michigan. Kellogg? Battle Creek? That sounds familiar. Dr. Kellogg was an eccentric physician who ran a major sanitarium in Battle Creek. In many ways, he was ahead of his time, promoting the use of good diets as a means of maintaining health, and foreseeing a link between smoking and cancer. At other times, his prescriptions for good health were odd, but he was widely followed at the turn of the century. One of his inventions for healthy eating was corn flakes, and this product became so popular that it generated the enormously successful cereal company that today bears his name. However, Dr. Kellogg was not interested in money, only good health, and he lost control of the company to his businesslike brother, who saw corn flakes as a wonderful profit center. However, Dr. Kellogg continued to operate his sanitarium until he died in 1943 at the age of 91. $200.
Michael Brown Rare Books may be found online at www.mbamericana.com or reached by phone at 215-387-9808.
