174. Large Collection of Manuscript Letterbooks and ledger, and correspondence from an American commercial agent in Asia and Europe in the 1840s and 1850s. [Various places, 1847-59], $8,500

175. American Merchant Male Harassed by the British navy seeks young New Orleans society female for arranged marriage. New Orleans, 1802. $7,500

To learn more about these items or to read the full item descriptions go to www.reeseco.com , or call them at 203 789-8081. Their address is 409 Temple Street, New Haven, Connecticut 06511.

Flo Silver Books
Catalogue 66: Mexico, Central & South America...

Flo Silver’s catalogues remind me of the inter-relatedness of the Americas. But for many who live in North America they are more likely to travel East or West than they are to travel South. Central and South America are there but somehow just beyond our perceptions most of the time. We have our perceptions and our habits. We tend not to see South America and we tend not to travel there.

Of course, when we stop of think about it we know, or should know, that Columbus never came to New York. He first touched land in the New World in the Caribbean and to the extent he further explored, he tended to explore toward the South. After him Amerigo Vespucci explored the coast of South America and it is from him we have the name America. Christopher somehow came out second and his name was later given to the city of the Buckeyes and to a few other places as well.

North America was relatively slow to develop. The great dramas of stolen wealth and the extraordinary decimation of the indigenous population were first played out in Central and South America. The continent to the North was an after-thought. Even when the Spanish established themselves on the Northern continent in 1565 at St. Augustine, it was a defensive gesture and when they were unsuccessful in locating gold they became disenchanted. They were the apple pickers, not the farmers.

The history that we know about North America generally dates from 1607 at Jamestown and from 1620 at Plymouth and even then development was slow. To the South a complex culture of native populations mixed with Spanish and Portuguese influences was beginning to remake the New World. It is this world that Flo Silver’s books bring to us. Here are a few of the 584 titles in her most recent catalogue:

Cole, Gerold. American Travelers to Mexico. 1821-1972. A Descriptive Bibliography. This book provides a road map for collecting. $45

Haferkorn, Henry. The War with Mexico: 1846-1848. A selected bibliography...1970 reprint of 1914 edition... $25

Agassiz, Professor & Mrs. Louis. A Journey to Brazil, 1868 (second edition). $125

Koster, Henry. Travels in Brazil in the Years from 1809 to 1815. In two volumes. Philadelphia, M. Carey & Sons, 1817, $600

Janvier, Thomas. Stories of Old New Spain. New York, Appleton, 1895 (1891). Stories about Mexico. $65