Amazing Americana from McBride Rare Books

McBride Rare Books recently published their Catalogue Four. It doesn't have a more descriptive name so I am going to take it on myself to give it one – Americana. This holds some very amazing items in Americana, so if that is your field, you must get a copy. If you can't read, no problem, as there are numerous collections of very old photographs from when photography was young. We'll give you a feel for what is offered with a few selections we found.

I know some people think these are hard times, but our parents and grandparents lived through what were seriously bad times (and didn't complain as much). This item comes from the heart of the Great Depression, when work was scarce, money scarcer. We all know the Grapes of Wrath and the great movement of people from the Dust Bowl to California in search of any work, no matter how bad. However, not even accepting pennies guaranteed a job, so the government stepped in to help those who were otherwise helpless. We begin with California Transient Service: Progress and Methods of Approach August 1933 – April 1935. It describes demographics, policy, and strategies for handling California's transient population, including those uprooted by environmental disasters. It is divided into four parts: emergency relief, individualized service, rehabilitation and work, and future prospects. It describes centers such as Camp California, which offered “an opportunity for rehabilitation to women without dependents, who are down and out financially and emotionally and who are in need of a rest, change of climate and encouragement.” Item 14. Priced at $750.

The Tulsa Race Riot is well-known, but two years earlier, there was the Red Summer of 1919 when there were numerous race riots across the land. One was in a place you might not expect, Omaha, Nebraska, and it was very ugly. Will Brown, a black man, was accused of rape by a white woman. Police arrested him and took him to jail, but they quickly concluded that the claim was false. By then it was too late. A huge crowd, estimated at 10,000, gathered at the court house, demanding Smith be turned over to them. The Mayor and police resisted. They holed up on the fourth floor, one below where the prisoners were held. The police tried to keep the crowd at bay but could not. They dragged out Mayor Edward Parsons Smith, tied a rope around his neck, and hung him from a lamp post. He barely survived when police were able to cut him down before he succumbed. They took him to a hospital. Brown had no chance. He was lynched, his body riddled with bullets, burned, and dragged through the streets. Two participants in the white lynch mob were killed and 120 indicted, but none were convicted or served any prison time. An unvarnished account was published that year by the Educational Publishing Company entitled Omaha's Riot in Story and Picture. Photos include the crowd gathered around Brown's burning body and buildings damaged during the riot. Item 55. $2,750.

This is an extraordinary collection of photographs from Mexico circa 1880s. The title is Vistas Mexicanas and it contains 52 albumin prints, approximately 5” x 8” each. The photographer was Abel Briquet, whose expertise is reflected in these sharp photographs. Briquet was a French photographer, but he closed his Paris studio in 1865. Sometime thereafter, he moved to Mexico and never returned. He was hired by the government to record the building of the Mexican National Railway. He was also hired to photograph other projects for the government, while publishing a few books of photographs such as this one which includes both government commissioned and other photographs. Each of the photographs come with specific information about the scene and were signed by Briquet on the negative. McBride only located three institutions holding copies of Briquet's work. Item 12. $19,500.

Here is another Mexican-related item though it pertains to San Francisco. It was the first attempt to get Spanish speakers to subscribe for telephone service. It was in 1883, which is only five years after the first telephone service was provided to a handful of subscribers in New Haven, Connecticut. The caption title is La Compania del Telefono Mexicano del Pacifico...Lista de Suscritores (list of subscribers to the Mexican Pacific Telephone Company). Presumably, the advantage of this company was Spanish-speaking operators. The list contains space to write in the names of 50 subscribers, but they are blank, which probably reflects the number of subscribers they signed up. There is no record of this company to be found on the internet and it can be assumed that they never became a functioning telephone company. They provided instructions on using this strange contraption. Translated to English they explain, “Directions to call. Turn the handle on the right side of the device three times, and without removing the Receiver Telephone that is not the hook, wait for a response... You must speak at a distance of six inches from the transmitter and with your natural voice, clearly articulating the words, and always having the receiving telephone in your ear during the conversation.” Hola? There are no instructions on accessing TikTok or messaging your friends. No wonder they failed. Item 15. $2,500.

This would have been a very valuable resource for those sailing down the lower Mississippi in 1857. McBride notes this was particularly useful to steamboat captains in the era of Mark Twain. Perhaps he had a copy. The title is The Louisiana Coast Directory of the Right and Left Banks of the Mississippi River from its Mouth to Baton Rouge... It lists all the businesses on both sides of the river from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. It also shows business types, owners names, distances, information for farmers and plantation owners, lists of post offices, sheriffs, clerks, with an alphabetical name index. There are also many advertisements, and here the ugly appears – two slave dealers. One ad reads, “Large Supplies of Maryland and Virginia Negroes; Consisting of Field Hands, House Servants, Cooks, Steamstresses, Washers, and Ironers, Mechanics, &c, All of which will be Sold Low for Cash.” Supplies of humans for sale? Go to the store and buy a Negro? There was something very wrong with these people, and not the ones being sold. Item 34. $6,500.

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