May Catalogue Reviews

69-86: The Life and Public Services of the Hon. James Knox Polk, with a Compendium of his speeches on various public measures. Also, a Sketch of the Life of the Hon. George Mifflin Dallas. [Hickman, George] Before 15 second political advertising on television there was the printed, and often slanderous, word. Here it is in an early incarnation. Candidate Polk takes off after that weasel of a compromiser, Henry Clay. Obviously people had more time then. It takes a full 40 pages to deliver the verdict on Clay that he is guilty, guilty, guilty. One wonders if the other side ever read this indictment. Polk did win so maybe this pamphlet was the deciding factor. But also maybe not. To students of American political campaigns this is a very interesting item. $250

68:195: A Collection of Orations, Eulogies, Poems, Discourses, and Sermons, all printed in America in the year 1800, Commemorating the Death of George Washington. This is a group of 27 items in good + to very good condition printed in a variety of places to remember and appreciate the life of George Washington who died in December 1799. This is a very interesting group because it provides an excellent basis for building a broader collection of Washington material. It should also be interesting to imprints collectors. $3,500

David Lessor can be found on line at www.lesserbooks.com, can be emailed at dmlesser@lesserbooks.com or reached by phone at (203) 389-8111.

Hordern House: Acquisitions – April 2003 77 Victoria Street * Potts Point * Sydney New South Wales * Australia
You don’t have to be a collector of Pacific voyages or the south sea islands to enjoy the catalogues written by Hordern House of Potts Point, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They regularly arrive and are never ignored. They are 8.5” x 11,” usually 16 pages and in full color. Befitting a firm that does much of its business at a substantial remove, their catalogues must make a clear statement about the quality of their material and their business standards. This catalogue, and the many of their others that have landed on my desk in recent years, entice you to read them. And that is the first step for a collector to becoming a customer.

Most of us know that many of Australia’s first imported residents were actually England’s forced exports. For even minor crimes and misdemeanors a person could be “transported,” that is sent, to Australia. Item 1 is a small broadside, “The Transports’ Farewell” dating to circa 1830 that begins,

“Here’s adieu to your Judges and juries, Justices and Old Bailey’s also, Seven years you’re transported you know To a strange country don’t grieve me,....

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