A Mix of Subjects and Types of Items in McBride Rare Books Third Catalogue

McBride Rare Books has issued their Catalogue Three. It does not have a more detailed title or description, but we can give a brief overview. In keeping with the trends these days of rare book dealers offering more than just traditional books, we find a variety of other types of material. There are numerous photographs, archives, personal letters and various other documents. They are historic in nature, nothing recent. There are items related to slavery and emancipation, Native Americans, gold seekers, U.S.-Mexican disputes and wars in the 19^th century, Cuba, Japanese internment, and numerous other topics. It is an interesting mix and well worth a look. These are a few selections.

I'm not sure which was more challenging – being a teacher in 1873 or being a teacher today. Probably today, though more resources are available, for some reason teachers are no longer held in such high esteem as 1873. Here is a look at a teacher's life in Ohio in that year. An unnamed woman kept this 320-page diary then. She appears to be deeply religious, mentioning church and sabbath school, as well as attending Quaker meetings, though not being a Quaker herself. She gives away a New Testament as a school prize, along with a ladies' book of etiquette. Corporal punishment was used in that day, but she does so with regret, perhaps because of her interest in Quakerism. She writes, “Whipped two of the girls today. I'd have rather taken the whipping myself.” She concludes with some words of wisdom: “Nations are what mothers make them. The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.” She admits she took those lines from a tract entitled “Mothers,” but then adds, “I think there never was two as short sentences uttered that contained as important a truth. I'm glad I'm a woman.” Item 48. Priced at $750.

This is an interesting letter written in 1894 on Arkansas House of Representatives letterhead. The writer was Nathan E. Edwards, a farmer and preacher born in 1855, now a legislator from Chicot County. Edwards was an African American, one of four blacks elected to the Arkansas legislature in 1893. They were the last of their race to be elected in Arkansas until 1972, changes in voting laws making it certain that no more blacks would be elected. The letter was written to Mrs. Elizabeth Snow of Tuscaloosa. He mentions his family and service in the legislature, but it is this part that at least strongly implies what his connection is to Mrs. Snow, most likely a white woman buried in a Tuscaloosa cemetery with her mother, Virginia Snow. He notes that Mrs. Snow had written him earlier with “newes of my old mistress's death.” He then writes that he has “become real anexous to hear from my child hood home.” He continues, “please answer your self or some one of the family letting me know how is every body I may chance to know.” He includes genealogical information about himself and his family. While it isn't certain whether Edwards was born into slavery or, if so, that members of the Snow family were his owner, but it certainly sounds like Virginia Snow was his owner and Elizabeth Snow is her daughter. Item 1. $3,250.

Most people may think that the battles between the Texans and Mexico coming from the Texas Revolution ended with the Texan victory at the Battle of San Jacinto and the capture of Mexican leader Santa Anna. Santa Ana may have acceded to the Texans' demands to be free, but he still dreamed of reconquering what he considered a runaway province. In 1842, he sent troops across the Rio Grande and stormed through undefended territory. The Mexicans captured an unguarded San Antonio and took several officials, including the local judge, prisoner. They would later retreat before the Texans could mount a serious counterattack, but fears continued through South Texas. That explains this next document, a letter signed by 23 citizens of the Republic of Texas to Sam Houston, its President, dated March 8, 1843, requesting he appoint John White Bower Chief Justice of Refugio county. Refugio County is a rural county located between Houston and Corpus Christi, east of San Antonio. They tell Houston that Benjamin Neal, the Chief Justice, “left this country and the Republic...and returned to the United States and your petitioners believe that he has abandoned the Republic...” They pointed out that Santa Anna had captured the town in 1842 and carried off all but two men as prisoners. No wonder the Chief Justice got out of there. They continue, “your petitioners continue to reside in their county under all the discouraging circumstances arising from the troubled state of the frontier, and shall continue to reside here until withdrawn by your excellency or driven off by the enemy – neither of which events they trust will take place.” Unfortunately, with no one having the authority to call an election, they cannot fill the necessary offices to run the county, hence the request. Item 59. $2,250.

This is an archive relating to a long ago tragedy. It relates to William Carson Long, generally known simply as Carson Long, though he was not a participant in creating this archive. That was Theodore K. Long, a wealthy Chicago lawyer and Alderman. Carson was his son, who had been living in Yakima, Washington. He had taken a job with the Cascade Lumber Company when he disappeared. His father initiated a massive manhunt to find him, offering a $5,000 reward, calling in Pinkerton detectives, contacting law enforcement agencies throughout the country and Canada, even a contact from Portugal. It was to no avail. Carson went out for an early morning walk from his job and never returned. His body was later found along a river, arms broken and body badly bruised. It wasn't believed to be foul play. Rather, it appeared that he had been knocked from a railroad bridge by a passing train. The fact that all his personal effects were with him and no money stolen led authorities to that conclusion. This archive contains all sorts of documents, newspaper clippings, and reward posters relating to the search, including a photo of Carson Long. His grieving father bought the Bloomfield Academy in Pennsylvania and renamed it the Carson Long Military Academy in his son's honor, in 1914. It operated for over a century, but with declining enrollment in such institutions, it closed its doors in 2018. Item 70. $2,850.

This item reminds us of an ugly event during the Civil War that took place in the North. The title is Report of the Committee of Merchants for the Relief of Colored People, Suffering from the Late Riots in the City of New York, published in 1863. The infamous draft riots took place in July of 1863 after New York was called on to fill its quota of enrollments for the Civil War. Many of New York's less affluent whites took out their rage on the city's black population. African Americans were forced from their homes. The damage to their neighborhoods was enormous. The Colored Orphans Asylum was burned to the ground. Numerous public buildings and homes of abolitionists were destroyed, along with two churches. Over 100 black New Yorkers were killed, around 2,000 injured, though some estimates are higher. Some of the victims were hanged from trees and lamp posts. President Lincoln had to divert troops from Gettysburg to quell the riots. After order was restored, a group of white New York merchants raised funds to assist their black neighbors and to help them find work. They also published this account, which reports on people assisted, lists of donors, gives names of people killed and how they died, and provides first-hand accounts from some of the African Americans who were attacked. Item 4. $4,750.

McBride Rare Books may be reached at 203-479-2507 or books@mcbriderarebooks.com. Their website is found at www.mcbriderarebooks.com.