Rare Americana from David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books

David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books has released their Catalogue 206. It is the latest in their long-running series of Rare Americana. There is a lot of material from the antebellum period, but there are items from the early 18^th to the 20^th century here. Most are pamphlets, broadsides, documents, personal letters and similar ephemeral material. These are a few of the items.

Since we recently completed a presidential election, this piece seems particularly appropriate for a wall hanging. It is a 14 x 19 broadside of the first ten Presidents of the United States. The central full body portrait is that of George Washington, a deserved place of honor. He is surrounded by bust portraits of the next nine, which includes its share of greats - Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, a couple of Adamses. Andrew Jackson was once considered a great until someone examined his record with the Indians. Van Buren has never been highly regarded, William Henry Harrison died one month into his term and had no impact, while John Tyler ended up being disliked not only by the opposition but his own party. It's hard to maintain a run of greatness forever. Item 3. Priced at $375.

It is a challenge for anyone not nominated by a major party to become President, which may explain why this gentleman never made it to the top. Or, perhaps there was another reason. Item 1 is a 10 x 15 broadside poster, likely from 1968, proclaiming Alfred E. Neuman for President. It even contains his famed slogan. “What - Me Worry?” Neuman is pictured with his signature grin and missing tooth. Neuman was the face of Mad Magazine, quite literally its face. It is unlikely Neuman would have ever been one of the greats, but there are some Presidents he undoubtedly would have been superior to. $500.

This was one of the great slave cases in America before the Civil War. It revolved around the eight slaves of Jonathan and Juliet Lemmon. The Lemmons and their slaves were moving from Virginia to Texas, one slave state to another, in 1852. They traveled by steamship, but the quickest way to make the trip was via New York. However, New York was a free state, and an 1841 law in that state liberated any slaves brought into the state. Part of the Compromise of 1850 required all states, including free ones, to return fugitive slaves to their owners in the South. However, the Lemmons' slaves were not fugitives, having been taken to New York by the Lemmons themselves. Alerted to their arrival, Louis Napoleon, a free black New York resident, petitioned the court for a writ of habeas corpus. Since the Fugitive Slave Law did not apply, the New York court found for the slaves' freedom, which was upheld on appeal. Napoleon and the slaves were represented by, among others, a future forgotten U. S. President, Chester Arthur. The Lemmons' assigned their legal rights to the State of Virginia, which planned to take the case all the way to the U. S. Supreme Court, but we will never no how that court would have decided. Virginia seceded from the Union first and by the time it returned, the slaves had been emancipated. Item 67 is N.Y. Court of Appeals. Report of the Lemmon Slave Case: Containing Points and Arguments of Counsel on Both Sides, and Opinions of All Judges, published by Horace Greeley in 1860. Item 67. $3,500.

In case the expected results from the explosion of an atomic bomb aren't sufficiently obvious, here is a description that will help make it clearer, The Effects of Atomic Weapons. Prepared for and in Cooperation with the U. S. Department of Defense and the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission. It was published in 1950, in the days when fears of a U. S. - Soviet Union war were growing. The Civil Defense Office “commends this publication as a source of scientific information for technical personnel engaged in civil defense planning activities. Its detailed description of the physical phenomena associated with atomic explosions provides certain basic data helpful in the preparation of practical plans for atomic warfare defense.” Good luck with that. About the only defense to an atomic bomb is not to have one dropped in the first place. Item 6. $250.

Next is an 1860 book by J. L. Baker, Slavery. The author claims that the John Brown uprising “seems to have been the natural and necessary result of the long twenty years' war, waged in the free States upon the Institutions of the South.” He claims this is a case of “zeal without knowledge.” He undertakes a statistical study to attempt to show that increased mortality rates are the result of “hybridity.” Race mixing, he says, would be disastrous, interfering with the relation between master and slave, which is, “a very happy one, at least to the slave.” Perhaps he should have asked the slaves about that. Of course, it was that dominant relation of master to slave that led to all that “hybridity” in the first place. Item 7. $175.

The Lonestar Restaurant Association was an organization for Texas restaurant owners that evidently disappeared a long time ago. Whatever benefits they provided their members, we do have a remainder of one of them. They provided signs. This window sign is undated, though another one had a date from 1942 so presumably this is a reasonable timeline for it. It was designed to flip over, one side simply saying “Closed.” The side to be displayed when the establishment was open had a big “NO” to the left. To the right of the “No” it lists Dogs, Negroes, and Mexicans. No subtlety here. Item 71. $500.

David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books may be reached at 203-389-8111 or dmlesser@lesserbooks.com. Their website is www.lesserbooks.com.