Books from William Reese Company - Americana (6 results)

17pp. Original wrappers. Chipping and wear to extremities. Ownership signature in pencil on front wrap, extensive pencil markings on rear wrap. Moderate soiling. A fair copy. The appendix to this work was one of the last efforts of the noted Indianian, Richard Owen.

Seller Inventory # WRCAM27644

Contemporary black cloth photograph album with over 100 mounted silver-gelatin photographs. Minor shelf wear. A few loose photographs. Very good. An interesting vernacular photograph album of a young American's life in the early 20th century. The compiler of the album served with the 36th Artillery Regiment, and trained at Camp McClellan in Alabama, of which there are almost fifty photographs present here. Additionally, most of the photographs are annotated in ink, identifying the soldiers in the photographs, the settings and locations, and the activities in the pictures. The photographs include tanks, a gas mask, a brownie gun, and three shots of an African- American soldier or staffer. Numerous images capture the training in progress, with the soldiers "out on a hike" while they "prepare for action, guns set, ready for loading," and more. One image depicts a simple Alabama farm, and is captioned in manuscript, "Alabama scene." The remainder of the album is devoted to the young man's life in Indiana, with numerous shots of farm life and prairie land, and including a trip to a cabin in Morgan County. These shots are not annotated, but provide an important peek into rural life in the Midwest during the early 20th century.

Seller Inventory # WRCAM54314

263pp. Original cloth backed plain boards. Inner hinges bit weak. Contemporary ink ownership inscription to front endpapers and titlepage. Scattered foxing, else very good. Untrimmed. "A collection of facts, some of which were the result of the writer's own observation." - Thomson. Treats also the states of the Midwest and South. "Narratives of frontier warfare with the Indians, and incidents of Indian life, fill almost all the pages of these interesting volumes" - Field. The plan is of the fort at Boonesboro. The work was widely read and served as an important source for Herman Melville's CONFIDENCE MAN. This is the first edition, issued in a single volume, notwithstanding the notice of "Vol. I" on the titlepage. A revision consisting of two volumes was issued in Philadelphia the following year. HOWES H78, "aa." SABIN 29794. FIELD 636. GRAFF 1737. THOMSON 487. RADER 1743.

Seller Inventory # WRCAM20998

302,19 [i.e. 17],[1]pp. plus engraved frontispiece. Original publisher's cloth stamped in blind and copper. Cloth faded and lightly stained, worn at spine ends, corners worn and bumped, cloth at top of front joint split. Previous owner's blindstamp on front flyleaf, titlepage, and preface leaf. Pronounced foxing to first few leaves, otherwise light marginal foxing. Very good. The fourth edition, following the first of 1847, of one of the classics in American gambling literature, written by Jonathan H. Green (1813-87), renowned professional gambler who eventually repented of his ways and became even more famous as the "reformed gambler." He became a prolific author and crusader, and this work is a lurid expose of crime, cheating, and vice. In the introduction, Green says that this work is unlike any other he has ever written - unlike, in fact, any work ever before published in America: "It is not a mere exposure of gambling, nor yet an attack on the character of particular gamblers. It is a revelation of wide-spread organization - pledged to gambling, theft, and villainy of all kinds." Howes calls this a sequel to Green's GAMBLING UNMASKED. "Exposé of a secret organization of gamblers and criminals. Pages 147-62 relate his trip to Texas and the Choctaws in 1833" - Eberstadt. Green's writings were extremely popular, and this work went through several editions. A scarce work on early American gambling. HOWES G367. SABIN 28534 (ref). EBERSTADT 162:355 (ref).

Seller Inventory # WRCAM55517

192pp. plus six plates (including two copies of the frontispiece, one bound in to resemble a front wrapper). 12mo. Modern three-quarter morocco and marbled boards, gilt leather labels. Tanning and foxing, repair to verso of first frontispiece. Good. First edition of one of the classics in American gambling literature. The author is Jonathan H. Green (1813-87), renowned professional gambler and, later, reformer. Green was a gambler who became a crusader against illegal gambling, and this work is a lurid expose of crime, cheating, and vice. In the introduction Green says that this work is unlike any other he has ever written - unlike, in fact, any work ever before published in America: "It is not a mere exposure of gambling, nor yet an attack on the character of particular gamblers. It is a revelation of wide-spread organization - pledged to gambling, theft, and villainy of all kinds." Howes calls this a sequel to Green's GAMBLING UNMASKED. "Exposé of a secret organization of gamblers and criminals. Pages 147-62 relate his trip to Texas and the Choctaws in 1833" - Eberstadt. A rare work on early American gambling. HOWES G367. SABIN 28534. EBERSTADT 162:355.

Seller Inventory # WRCAM55516

Three volumes. [4],383; [4],487; [4],410pp., plus sixty engravings on thirty plates, and a map of Fort Clark. Lacks the folding map. Half title in each volume. Contemporary three- quarter green morocco and cloth, gilt. Minor wear to extremities. Scattered foxing, moderately heavy at times. Very good. First French edition of this most important work of Western Americana, describing the travels of German Prince Maximilian of Wied in the United States and on the upper Missouri River in 1832-34, accompanied by Swiss artist Karl Bodmer. Prince Maximilian was already an experienced naturalist and explorer in 1832, having made an important scientific expedition to Brazil in 1815-17. His preparations for his trip to North America included retaining Karl Bodmer to prepare illustrations of the journey. Arriving in the fall of 1832, the Prince travelled across Pennsylvania and the Midwest and ascended the Missouri River in the spring of 1833. He went as far upstream as the American Fur Company post of Fort Mackenzie in present-day Montana, and spent the winter at Fort Clark, near the Mandan Indian villages. During this prolonged stay, he and Bodmer had ample opportunity to observe the Indian tribes of the upper Missouri in their full glory, carefully recorded by Bodmer in watercolors. In the spring of 1834 they returned to Europe, and devoted the next five years to preparing the text and plates for this publication. Often eclipsed by the famous Bodmer atlas of the expedition, Maximilian's text remains one of the most important western travel narratives of the fur trade era, and a rare book in its own right. WAGNER-CAMP 76:2. HOWES M443a. EBERSTADT 113:508. CLARK III:115. RADER 3652 (ref). PILLING, PROOF-SHEETS 2522. SABIN 47015.

Seller Inventory # WRCAM47235