Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - August - 2008 Issue
New Acquisitions in Americana from William Reese
The title page from Edward Beyer's Album of Virginia.
For music collectors, item 48 is a collection of Civil War songs (along with a couple of 1880s songs from a Massachusetts gubernatorial election). Over 225 broadside songs have been bound into a volume, though each was printed separately. These are songs from the Union side, although different points of view are expressed, some being abolitionist, others Northern but anti-abolition. Some commemorate battles; others speak of mothers' and soldiers' sorrows. A few are even humorous (Jeff in Petticoats), while others are written in dialect, both black minstrel and Irish styles. Most of the songwriters are anonymous, though a few notable names appear, such as Stephen Foster and Oliver Wendell Holmes. These songs were usually meant to be sung to the melodies of familiar old songs. $12,500.
Item 74 is the major American scientific work of the 18th century, Benjamin Franklin's Experiments and Observations on Electricity, Made at Philadelphia in America, by Mr. Benjamin Franklin, and Communicated to Mr. P. Collinson, Esq; of London... Franklin had written his friend Peter Collinson of London about his discoveries, and the latter was so impressed by the findings that he took it on himself to publish Franklin's discoveries. Offered is the extremely rare first edition of 1751 of Franklin's breakthrough work, published without his permission. Franklin would add further notes to later published editions. $67,500.
Item 21 is described by Reese as "one of the greatest American view books," Album of Virginia; or, Illustration of the Old Dominion, by Edward Beyer. This 1858 work includes forty tinted lithograph plates, along with a title page containing five vignettes. $45,000.
Item 164 is a broadside auction notice from Augusta, Georgia, to be held August 14, 1860. The headline explains why, with no progress yet made toward the elimination of slavery, the Civil War was virtually unavoidable. The heading says it all: Sale of Negroes, Mills, Mules, Hogs, Farming & Mining Tools, Wagons and Carts. $3,750.
The William Reese Company may be contacted at 203-789-8081 or amorder@reeseco.com. Their website is located at www.reeseco.com.
