December 2002 Dealer Catalogue Reviews

“This catalogue combines a wide range of material from our stock loosely joined together as ‘the useful arts.’ While the earliest item is dated 1683 and the latest 1895, most of the catalogue falls in the great era of American innovation between the American Revolution and the Civil War. Included are books on astronomy, surveying, botany, physics, medicine, design, technology, agriculture, geology, education, economics, architecture, crafts, and the fine arts. Some fifty-nine of the titles appear in Rink’s landmark bibliography, and many after the others would, except that they fall after his cutoff of 1830. A number of the books listed here have not appeared in any of our previous catalogues.” Reese casts a wide and authoritative net, assembling a wide range of books which proceeds alphabetically by author from item number 1, John Abbott’s Exposition of the Principles of Abbott’s Hydraulic Engine…(1835), to item 249, A.N. Worthy’s A Treatise on the Botanic Theory of Medicine (1842), with many variations on myriad subjects relating to the fine and scientific arts from different centuries sprinkled in between. Once again, Reese has researched and authored a winning catalogue that is as fun and educational to read as it is to order from.

New Acquisitions in Rare Americana (Catalogue 216, William Reese Company). A 181 item long collection of books, pamphlets, broadsides, imprints, photographs and other forms of materials dealing with all aspects of rare and antiquarian Americana, organized alphabetically by author. This is the only catalogue in this series whose theme is essentially Americana, generally speaking, rather than a specific subject under the Americana rubric. It is in this sense a general inventory catalogue, but with Reese even general inventory catalogues are specialty items because of the care and knowledge that Reese and his staff put into them. An introductory note to the catalogue reads:

“This catalogue covers a broad spectrum of recently acquired Americana which has not appeared in previous catalogues. Because we produced a spate of catalogues devoted to very specific themes, a variety of unusual pieces which have not fallen into those genres have not yet been offered. The result is the eclectic mix in this more general grouping. This includes a first edition of Lewis and Clark, an important early edition of Utopia, a book from Thomas Jefferson’s library, an Eakins photograph of Walt Whitman, a presentation of the first edition of Democracy in America, and important Americana from the earliest era of discovery through the close of the 19th century.”

Rare Book Monthly

December 2002 Dealer Catalogue Reviews

Rare Book Monthly

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December 2002 Dealer Catalogue Reviews

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