James Monroe, New U.S. Minister Plenipotentiary to France, Predicts the Fall of Western Europe to the French Revolutionary Forces, Writing to U.S. Senator John Langdon, a Signer of the Federal Constitution
by James Monroe
22/10/1794. Monroe also introduces James Swan, an American living in France and seeking to promote business between the two nations, who can give him details in personHe asks that Langdon and Dr. Elisha Story, father of Justice Joseph Story, assist Swan and his aide in their effortsBy June 1794, France had become weary of the mounting executions (1,300 in June alone) in the Reign of Terror, which was led by Robespierre. On 8 Thermidor (July 26) Robespierre unwisely gave... Read More
Offered by The Raab Collection, LLC
Sec. of State James Monroe Thanks Sec. of the Treasury Gallatin for 3rd U.S. Census
by James Monroe
27/12/1811. The first Census was conducted in 1790, and marshals of the U.S. judicial districts were responsible for the gathering of the Census data for each family in each district. A summary was then transmitted to the President through the Department of State. The second census was conducted in the same way.At that time, the U.S. had no formal means to measure the growth or decline of its manufacturing sectors, though these were an increasingly important part of its... Read More
Offered by The Raab Collection, LLC
President Monroe Gives His Nephew Advice on Life, Career, Education, Residence, and Retirement in a Remarkable Letter to the Boy’s Mother
by James Monroe
18/06/1824. He would have written sooner except he was “engaged in important duties arising from the late adjournment of Congress.” “Some plan ought to be adopted with a view to his future station in life, and on this subject I will communicate to you, freely, my sentiments. Having an increasing family, the improvement of their property for their own comfort and the education and advancement of their children, should be their great object. In fulfilling this, duty, your wishes and... Read More
Offered by The Raab Collection, LLC
Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery’s Shoulder Strap and Field Marshal’s Insignia Worn by Him During World War II
by Bernard Montgomery
Mar-68. Acquired by us from the recipient, these have never before been offered for sale An extraordinary memento of the war from one of its most prominent leaders Allied uniform elements almost never reach the market, these being true rarities[embed]https://vimeo.com/1180585334?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci[/embed] Bernard Law Montgomery, known as ""Monty,"" was the most prominent British field marshal during World War II. His most notable achievements include commanding the British Eighth Army at the pivotal Battle of El Alamein in 1942, which marked a significant turning point... Read More
Offered by The Raab Collection, LLC
A Rare Signed Check of Inventor Samuel Morse
by Samuel Morse
15/12/1865. Part of a collection assembled decades agoDocument signed, December 15, 1865, to J.A. Babcock & Co, in the amount of $42. JA Babcock was a firm that made fine items in silver. It closed in the late 19th century.Checks of Morse are rare. Our research reveals only one other having reached the public market in decades
Offered by The Raab Collection, LLC
Admiral Horatio Nelson Prepares His Fleet for Battle: His Order of Sailing, Written and Sent to His Captain as He Prepared to Meet the Enemy
by Horatio Nelson
10/04/1797. This document was sold by famed autograph dealer Walter Benjamin in 1911 Horatio Nelson is a towering figure in history and perhaps the greatest naval figure of all time. A brilliant tactician, original strategist, fearless fighter and inspiring leader, he reveled in his celebrity, and enjoyed a scandalous extra-marital affair with Emma, Lady Hamilton.At sea, ‘the Nelson touch', as it was called, is evident in his strategic memos to his captains. To Nelson, a major part of his strategy... Read More
Offered by The Raab Collection, LLC
Horatio Nelson Informs One of His Admirals of the Decisive Victory of Lord Keith Over a French Squadron, in the Struggle for Control of the Mediterranean
by Horatio Nelson
12/07/1799. A remarkable and unpublished letter from the collection of Dr. Otto O. Fisher, who bought primarily in the 1930s and 1940s, so this not been offered for sale in nearly a centuryAt the start of 1799 the Royal Navy exercised dominance in European waters. In Northern Europe the Channel Fleet enforced a blockade against the French Atlantic Fleet, based at Brest. Although the Brest fleet was strong, numbering 25 ships with five more nearing completion, it had suffered... Read More
Offered by The Raab Collection, LLC
President Nixon Appoints Henry Cabot Lodge the Chief American Negotiator to the Paris Peace Talks to End the War in Vietnam
by Richard Nixon
22/01/1969. In February 1953, Henry Cabot Lodge was named U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations by President Eisenhower, with his office elevated to Cabinet level rank. The position then was high profile, and Lodge often engaged in debates with the UN representatives of the Soviet Union that were broadcast or covered on television. On the front lines in the Cold War, in 1959 he escorted Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev on a highly-publicized tour of the United States. Lodge left... Read More
Offered by The Raab Collection, LLC
Signed Photograph of Richard Nixon, Likely as Vice President, Inscribed to a Nixon Staff Member
by Richard Nixon
1/1/50. “To Jack Beall, with grateful appreciation for his devoted and effective work as a member of my staff, and with best wishes from his friend, Dick Nixon.”Uncommon, as authentically signed photographs of Nixon have become scarce.
Offered by The Raab Collection, LLC
Richard Nixon Exhibits Distrust of Mikhail Gorbachev, Advocating a Hard Line With the Soviets in a Letter to Reagan Foreign Policy Advisor Jeane Kirkpatrick
by Richard Nixon
8/3/88. We obtained this letter from the Kirkpatrick family, and it has never before been offered for saleThe Washington Summit of 1987 was meeting between President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev that took place on December 8–10. Reagan and Gorbachev discussed regional conflicts in Afghanistan, Central America, and Southern Africa, arms control issues for chemical weapons as well as conventional weapons, the status of START (limitation on strategy weapons) negotiations, and human rights. Some progress was... Read More
Offered by The Raab Collection, LLC
Vice President Richard M. Nixon Is Proud of the “Magnificent” American Efforts “to discharge American responsibility in meeting the needs of the Hungarian refugees” After the Revolution of 1956
by Richard Nixon
3/1/57. On October 23, 1956, a student demonstration against the Soviet-dominated regime in Hungary became the first serious challenge to Communist authority since the Soviet Union drove the Nazis out and occupied Eastern Europe at the end of World War II. The demonstrators marched to the Parliament building in Budapest, where Hungarian State Security Police detained a group of them who attempted to enter the radio building to broadcast the students_ demands. The police then fired on a group... Read More
Offered by The Raab Collection, LLC
Former President Richard Nixon, Who Initiated Detente With the Soviet Union, Approves of President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, and Feels It Ought to Protect ""our counter-force missile silos which presently are vulnerable to a first strike""
by Richard Nixon
29/08/1986. ""Too much of the debate has focused only on the possibilities of developing a one hundred percent leak-proof population defense which even the strongest proponents agree could not be developed until next century.""President Nixon made his mark in the area of foreign policy. Although he had made his own career as a militant opponent of Communism, Nixon saw opportunities to reduce the temperature of the Cold War by improving relations with the Soviet Union.One of these was the... Read More
Offered by The Raab Collection, LLC
President Richard M. Nixon Immortalizes Egypt’s Assassinated President Anwar el-Sadat in a Letter to His Widow: ""Men are mortal but the spirit of a man of peace is immortal because it lives on in the millions he has inspired.""
by Richard Nixon
12/10/82. Nixon had himself played a key role in aiding the launch of the peace process, mediating the Sinai I disengagement agreement between Egypt and Israel in 1974Israel and Egypt (with its Arab allies) had been engaged in hostilities for three decades, and this resulted in four wars in twenty four years. The hatreds in the region were fierce, and the constant conflicts seemed interminable. The last of these, the Yom Kippur War in October 1973, was launched by... Read More
Offered by The Raab Collection, LLC
Louis Pasteur Arranges for the Publication of One of His Addresses
by Louis Pasteur
01/01/1875. Edward Jenner had discovered that human beings could be protected against smallpox by inoculating them with a vaccine made from cowpox, a disease generally seen in cattle and identical to smallpox yet harmless in humans. Jenner’s discovery was based on exceptional circumstances – the existence of a disease similar to the human disease, but in animals, with a causative agent that triggers a protective response in humans.Louis Pasteur was a French chemist who is recognized as the most... Read More
Offered by The Raab Collection, LLC
The Manuscript Observations and Calculations Relating to Time, Longitude and Latitude of Early University of Pennsylvania Astronomer Robert M. Patterson
by Robert M. Patterson
22/07/1812. He made these unpublished calculations on board a vessel in the Atlantic Ocean, and was, along with his father, a friend of Thomas Jefferson; he was a prominent member of the Philosophical Society and would later be its PresidentThe American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia was the hub of knowledge and its pursuit in the early United States. Among its early members were America’s most prominent scientists of the time, including Thomas Jefferson, and Robert Patterson, early mathematician and... Read More
Offered by The Raab Collection, LLC
The Canal Era: Pennsylvania, Seeing the Tremendous Success of New York’s Erie Canal, Will Rise to the Occasion and Build Canals
by Robert M. Patterson
22/02/1825. With manuscript and printed material documenting the work of the pro-canal Committee of 24 and the Pennsylvania Legislature to open westward communicationBy the close of the year 1824 the State of New York's chief internal improvement project, the Erie Canal, was nearing completion. It was already so successful that the state began to feel the positive economic effects - and also to promote them. It was rapidly tapping the commercial resources of the ""new west""; trading was brisk;... Read More
Offered by The Raab Collection, LLC
Twenty-Six-Year-Old George S. Patton, Jr. Sets Off to Compete in the First Ever Modern Pentathlon as the US Representative
by George S. Patton
27/05/1912. Patton would compete on the same team as Jim ThorpeGen. George Smith Patton Jr. was one of the most brilliant soldiers in American history. Audacious, unorthodox and inspiring, he led his troops to great victories in North Africa, Sicily and on the European Western Front after the landings on D-Day. At El Guettar in March of 1943 he won the first major American victory over Nazi arms. In July of that year he leaped from a landing barge... Read More
Offered by The Raab Collection, LLC
Very Rare Signed Photograph of Eva Peron, One of the Great Female Politicians of the 20th Century, Who Paved the Way for Women’s Rights Around the World
by Eva Perón
1950. Also included is a signed photograph of her husband, Juan Peron, President of Argentina Eva Duarte de Peron was one of the greatest woman politicians of the 20th century. She arose from poverty to became the virtual ruler of Argentina and the world’s most powerful woman of her day.Eva was a popular actress in Argentine films, and basically clawed and scratched her way to the attention of rising military leader Juan Peron. Her brilliant political strategy and speeches made... Read More
Offered by The Raab Collection, LLC
From One of the Great Texts of Classical Antiquity: Cicero's De Officiis
by All Medieval Historical Documents|Ancient Philosophers
01/01/1425. A 15th century Italian manuscript showing the proliferation in the period in Italy and also the re-use that allowed them to survive These surviving leaves include portions on the need to follow Nature’s guidance and on the roles of Fortune and Nature in determining a man’s calling, as well as on the duties of the elder members of society and the need to follow the best among themDe Officiis (On Duties, On Obligations, or On Moral Responsibilities) is a... Read More
Offered by The Raab Collection, LLC
Rare Signed Photograph of Pablo Picasso, Inscribed to Close Friend and Literary Figure Pierre Bertrand
by Pablo Picasso
1/1/50. The most prodigious artistic talent of the twentieth century came from his native Spain to settle in Paris at the turn of the century, and art and the art world were never the same again. His companion is writer Pierre Bertrand, to whom the photo is inscribed. 6 7/8 x 4 1/2 inches. A half-length portrait, inscribed on the lower margin: ""Pour Pierre Bertrand / Picasso.""
Offered by The Raab Collection, LLC
The Order to Follow Up the Gadsden Purchase with a Postal Convention in the Acquired Territory, Signed by President Franklin Pierce
by Franklin Pierce
14/11/1855. This is our first ever document signed by President Pierce relating to the Gadsden PurchaseThe Gadsden Purchase was a 29,640-square-mile region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that the United States acquired from Mexico for $10 million. The territory included lands south of the Gila River and west of the Rio Grande, where the United States wanted to construct a transcontinental railroad by a far southern route. This acquisition would allow for the railroad's construction to... Read More
Offered by The Raab Collection, LLC
Autograph Letter Signed of Franklin Pierce, Possibly as President, Relating to Two Men He Would Appoint to High Office
by Franklin Pierce
01/04/1853. Autograph Letter Signed, Saturday morning, no date, to George Saunders residing at the National Hotel in Washington. “My dear Sir: Will you call on me with Curry at 2 o’clock this afternoon. Yr. friend, Fr. Pierce. Come to the library, If not at 2 as early as possible after.” That Pierce was in Washington is obvious if Saunders was, too, but whether it was while Pierce was in Congress or as President is not clear.However, these facts make... Read More
Offered by The Raab Collection, LLC
The West Point Diploma of Langdon C. Easton, Who Would Be General William T. Sherman’s Quartermaster General in the Victorious Georgia Campaign of 1864
by West Point
04/07/1838. This is a very early West Point diplomaLangdon C. Easton graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1838. He served in the Florida and Mexican wars, and during the Civil War. He was Chief Quartermaster of the Army of the Cumberland from December 1863, until May 1864, and of the armies commanded by Major General William T. Sherman from May 4, 1864, until the war’s end, being present during the operations of the campaign from Chattanooga to... Read More
Offered by The Raab Collection, LLC
During the Mexican War, President Polk Appoints an Officer That Saw Action at Monterey and Mexico City
by James K. Polk
24/12/1846. Benjamin H. Arthur served in the Mexican War. He was with General Taylor as adjutant in Northern Mexico, where his unit did gallant service at the capture of Monterey. He was also present during the occupation of Mexico City in 1847. He fought in the Indian wars as well, skirmishing with the Apaches along Live Oak Creek near present-day Batesville, Texas.,This is his commission as First Lieutenant, signed by President Polk. Document signed, with an eagle, stars, flags... Read More
Offered by The Raab Collection, LLC
During the Mexican War, President James K. Polk Appoints a Future Civil War Notable a Quartermaster in the Army
by James K. Polk
24/03/1847. Acquired directly from the descendants and never before offered for sale Letters and documents of Polk from the Mexican War have become quite scarceLangdon C. Easton graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1838. He served in the Florida and Mexican wars, and during the Civil War. He was Chief Quartermaster of the Army of the Cumberland from December 1863, until May 1864, and of the armies commanded by Major General William T. Sherman from May 4, 1864,... Read More
Offered by The Raab Collection, LLC