Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - February - 2008 Issue
Rare Americana from David Lesser Antiquarian Books
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An opposing view on the issue was presented in Slavery. By J.L. Baker, Author of "Exports and Imports," "Men and Things," & C. Published in the critical year of 1860, Baker claims the relationship between master and slave is "a very happy one, at least to the slave." If it was not so happy for the master, one wonders why he did not just set his slaves free. Baker attempts a pseudo-scientific study to show that the products of "hybridity" suffer greater mortality rates and illness. Somehow he seems to miss the point that it was the master-slave relationship that was leading to all of that "hybridity." Item 12. $150.
Item 144 is an ironic piece on the subject, Opinions of Martin Van Buren, Vice-President of the United States, upon the Powers and Duties of Congress, in Reference to the Abolition of Slavery Either in the Slave-Holding States or in the District of Columbia. This pamphlet, printed for the 1836 presidential election which Van Buren won, seeks southern support by claiming Van Buren will use his influence to prevent the abolition of slavery in the southern states and D.C. The irony is that Van Buren would lead the first substantial anti-slavery party, the Free Soilers, in the presidential election twelve years hence. $150.
Item 82 is a rare September 11, 1882, first issue of the obscure Daily Outlook , a newspaper from Chattanooga, Tennessee. It proclaims itself "The Workingman's Friend," calling "for the toiling masses to organize against the encroachments of capital upon our public and free institutions." The paper also attacks its competitor, Adolph Ochs and his Chattanooga Times , promising a $25 reward "to any one who will furnish proof that the Times ever uttered one word in defense of the laboring man." The Outlook would lose this competition, and Ochs would move on to buy the New York Times a decade and a half later, a paper still controlled by his descendants. $350.
David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books is found online at www.lesserbooks.com, telephone 203-389-8111.
