Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - March - 2009 Issue

Civil War Books from the George S. MacManus Co.

Civil War books from the George S. MacManus Company.

Civil War books from the George S. MacManus Company.


By Michael Stillman

The George S. MacManus Company has issued a new catalogue on America's terrible internecine conflict: Civil War, Part I. MacManus purchased much of the inventory of Chapel Hill Rare Books in 2007, and has since been completing the arduous task of combining it with their own. That process now finished, MacManus is starting anew from the beginning of the alphabet to present items from the combined inventories. Part I takes them from A to Hergesheimer. That's Joseph Hergesheimer, who published a book about General Philip Sheridan of the Union side. Here are a few of the remaining 558 books concerning the Civil War that MacManus is offering.

Item 456 preceded the outbreak of war, but not by much. It is the Journal of the Public and Secret Proceedings of the Convention of the People of Georgia, Held in Milledgeville and Savannah in 1861. In December of 1860, South Carolina seceded, but its efforts would have been meaningless without support from its southern neighbors. South Carolina had attempted this 30 years earlier over tariff issues, but failed when no other states would join. This time was different. This journal reports on the Georgia secessionist convention, where that state decided to join South Carolina at the exits. It includes the first printing of the Georgia Ordinance of Secession in book form, the first or second printing of the Confederate Georgia constitution, and an early printing of the Confederate constitution. This copy was owned and is signed by Henry Dickerson McDaniel. The 24-year-old McDaniel was the youngest participant in the Georgia secession convention, and was initially opposed to seceding, though he later went along with the move and rose to the rank of major in the Confederate army. He served as Governor of Georgia in the 1880s (replacing Alexander Stephens, who had been Vice-President of the Confederate States, on his death). Priced at $1,750.

Item 131 is a dramatic 1865 broadside commemorating triumph and tragedy. It celebrates the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves, but mourns the loss of President Lincoln to an assassin's bullet. Along with a portrait of Lincoln, it features vignettes of slaves at work and being auctioned, and a family apparently hearing the terrible news of Lincoln's assassination. $3,000.

The physical war between the Union and the Confederacy ended in 1865, but the resulting legal war between the United States and Great Britain continued until 1871. Item 7 is The Case of the United States, to be Laid Before the Tribunal of Arbitration, to be Convened at Geneva... an 1872 first edition of arguments leading to the 1871 Treaty of Washington. This printing includes various documents concerning the so-called "Alabama claims" by the U.S. against England. During the war, the Confederacy had ordered several ships, to be built in Britain. The most notable was the CSS Alabama. After the war, the United States argued that Britain had violated its neutrality and, in so doing, harmed the U.S. A panel consisting of representatives of nonaligned Switzerland, Italy, and Brazil, along with the U.K. and U.S., met in Geneva, and awarded the U.S. $15.5 million in damages. $65.

Item 60 is one of the earliest, and most important bibliographies of the Civil War. It is a first edition of the 1866 bibliography The Literature of the Rebellion. Author John Russell Bartlett is better known for his 1848 Dictionary of Americanisms, along with other works, and was a participant in the original boundary commission after the Mexican War. This bibliography was printed in a limited edition of just 250 copies. $450.

Item 248 is a look at the last days of the Civil War by the last surviving member of Lee's staff. The title is Just Before and After Lee Surrendered to Grant, by Major Giles B. Cooke, published in 1922. Cooke was with Lee during these final days of the war. He finally got around to publishing his book in 1922, 57 years after the incidents described, though he had no need to hurry. He lived until 1937, passing on at age 98. Cooke spent most of his post-war years as a minister, not a warrior. $500.

You may reach the George S. MacManus Co. and proprietor Clarence Wolf at 610-520-7273 or books@macmanus-rarebooks.com. Their website is www.macmanus-rarebooks.com.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Gros & Delettrez
    Travel: Books & Cartography
    6 February 2025
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 6: MUNSTER (Sebastian). Cosmographiae universalis lib. VI. Basilea
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 6: ORTELIUS (Abraham). Typus Orbis Terrarum. [Antwerp, 1587]
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 6: BRION DE LA TOUR (Louis). Atlas Monde. Paris, Desnos ou Jaillot, [1783 - An XIII-1799].
    Gros & Delettrez
    Travel: Books & Cartography
    6 February 2025
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 6: ORTELIUS (Abraham). Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. Anvers, Christophe Plantin, 1579.
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 6: VISSCHER (Nicolas Joannes). Theatrum praecipuarum urbium [...]
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 6: DE BRUYN (Cornelis). Voyage au Levant.
    Gros & Delettrez
    Travel: Books & Cartography
    6 February 2025
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 6: AZARA (Félix de). Voyages dans l'Amérique Méridionale.
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 6: JOUTEL (Henri). Journal historique du dernier voyage que feu M. de la Sale […]
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 6: LA SALLE (René Robert Cavelier de) ; TONTI (Henri de). Dernières découvertes dans l’Amérique Septentrionale
    Gros & Delettrez
    Travel: Books & Cartography
    6 February 2025
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 6: NOLIN (Jean-Baptiste) ; CORONELLI (Vincenzo). L'Amérique septentrionale, ou, la partie septentrionale des Indes Occidentales […]
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 6: [Caroline du Sud]. A large draft of South Carolina from Cape Roman to Port Royal.
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 6: PÉRON (François) ; FREYCINET (Louis de). Voyage de découverte aux terres australes.
  • Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
    Lot 746. Speed's Dual Atlas of Britain & the World with 96 Maps (1676). Est. $70,000 - $85,000
    Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
    Lot 9. Visscher's Superb Double-Hemisphere World Map with Representations of the Elements (1658). Est. $4,750 - $6,000
    Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
    Lot 58. One of the Most Important 16th Century Maps of the New World (1554). Est. $5,000 - $6,000
    Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
    Lot 745. A Complete Example of Ortelius' Atlas of Ancient Geography (1624). Est. $12,000 - $15,000
    Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
    Lot 73. First English Map to Show California as an Island (1625). Est. $16,000 - $19,000
    Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
    Lot 156. Bachmann's Dramatic View of the Mid-Atlantic Region (1861). Est. $1,800 - $2,200
    Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
    Lot 741. Early Announcement of Continental Congress' Declaration of Independence (1776). Est. $9,000 - $11,000
    Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
    Lot 695. The First Printed Map Devoted to the Pacific (1589). Est. $8,000 - $9,500
    Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
    Lot 733. Superb Image of the Presentation of Jesus in Hand Color (1502). Est. $700 - $850
    Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
    Lot 52. Produced by the Psychological Warfare Branch to Encourage Surrender (1945). Est. $200 - $230
  • Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: ALDROVANDI, Ulisse (1522-1605) - [Opera omnia]. Bologna: Bellagamba, Benacci, Bonomi, Tebaldini, Ferroni, 1599-1668. €22.000-€28.000
    Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: [CANALETTO] - VISENTINI, Antonio (1688-1782) da Giovanni Antonio CANAL (1697-1768, detto 'Il Canaletto') - Urbis Venetiarum prospectus celebriores. Venezia: Giovanni Battista Pasquale, 1742-51. €7.000-€10.000
    Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: LA FONTAINE, Jean de (1621-1695) - Fables Choisies. Parigi: Claude Barbin, 1668. €7.000-€10.000
    Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: MERCATOR, Rumold (1545-1599) - [I continenti] - Europa; Africa; America Sive India Nova; Asia. Amsterdam: S.d. [ca. 1633]. €2.000-€3.000
  • Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR

Review Search

Archived Reviews

Ask Questions