Portrait of an African American Woman in New York City, c. 1915–1920
by [African-American Photographers] Baker, Walter
New York City: Walter Baker’s Studio. Photograph measuring 4 x 6 inches with photographer’s stamp and with pencil markings verso. Previously affixed to a mount with some black cardstock still affixed verso. Some wear mainly not intersecting with subject. Photo with fading to bottom right corner. Overall good to very good.. Studio portrait of an African American woman, taken by African American photographer Walter Baker (1876/8–1926) in New York City. The stamp verso reads “Walter Baker's Studio /... Read More
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Rope & Faggot. A Biography of Judge Lynch
by [African-Americana] White, Walter
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1929. 8vo, publisher’s cloth, 272 pp. Very good with some light normal wear and some tanning to spine, cloth frayed at corners of board, no jacket.. Walter A. White was an activist and author who would eventually lead the NAACP beginning in 1929, the year of this book’s publication. He began his career as the assistant to James Weldon Johnson, traveling to the South to investigate lynchings and racial unrest. This book is... Read More
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Photograph of a Seated Woman, c. 1910s
by [African-American Photographers - New York] Baker, Walter
New York, 1920. Photograph measuring 5 x 3 ½ inches on larger mount. Some fading to image, wear to mount, very good. Very Good. Walter Baker was a founder of the Colored Photographers Association and owned and operated a studio and school on Lenox Avenue at 133rd Street in New York in the early twentieth century. He was one of the best-known and most prolific photographers in Harlem during the period. Offered here is an example of his... Read More
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The Official Central Avenue District Directory: A Business and Professional Guide
by [African-Americana – California] Vinson, Warren (compiler)
Los Angeles, California: New Age Publishing Company, 1940. Printed yellow wraps, staple-bound. Good, with moderate wear, soiling, and fading to covers, one corner of a page missing presumably from a business advertisement cut out near the time of publication. Contents otherwise excellent, quite attractive internally.. A scarce directory documenting the Central Avenue District at its wartime height, when the neighborhood had fully emerged as the center of African American life in Los Angeles. By the early twentieth century,... Read More
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Any Old Place in Yankee Land Is Good Enough for Me. From Bandanna Land
by [African-Americana – Music – Theater – Early Black Musical Comedy] Cook, Will Marion; Smith, Chris; Rogers, Alex
New York City: Gotham-Attucks Music Co, 1908. Folio sheet music, illustrated color pictorial cover with inset photographic portrait of the Robinson Trio. 5 pp. (including cover). Approximately 13 ½ x 10 ½ inches. Several small edge tears and light wear to margins; good to very good overall.. An early sheet music publication from the African American musical Bandanna Land, the 1908 stage production starring the celebrated comedy team Bert Williams and George Walker, two of the most influential... Read More
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Photographic Postcard of Woody Headspeth on His Bicycle in France, c. 1900-1910
by [African-Americana - Sports] [Headspeth, Woody]
France: None Stated, 1900. Postcard measuring 5 ½ x 3 ⅝ inches. Fine condition. Fine. Woody Headspeth - known also as Woody Hadspath or Hedspath, as is written here - was an African-American cyclist who raced mostly in France due to racial prejudice in the United States. Headspeth raced until he was 50 years old in France, working as a mechanic on tracks, and sometimes for Victor Linart. He was in France at the time of the German... Read More
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Three Watercolors for Proposed Intersections in Queens from the Robert Moses Era
by [New York City] [Automobile Age]
New York, 1940. Watercolors on paper affixed to later illustration board, 14 x 26 inches each. Very Good. An attractive set of images from the Robert Moses era in an unknown hand. The images show proposed intersections including two that were never built. The images include "Proposed Parkway Passing over Entrance to Fort Totten," which shows an overpass on the Cross-Island Parkway in Northeast Queens, dated October 1937; "Linden Boulevard Overpass at Southern Parkway," showing an unbuilt intersection... Read More
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1833 Letter from J. B. Toulmin & Son Reporting the State of the Cotton Market
by [Alabama – Cotton – Economic History] Toulmin, J. B.
Mobile, Alabama, 1833. Single one-page letter measuring 9 x 11 inches. Folded with small tears at folds, large hole at seal intersecting with text; excellent.. J. B. Toulmin is likely John Butler Toulmin (1788–1860), a merchant in Mobile, Alabama, and the son of dissenting minister Rev. Joshua Toulmin of Taunton, England. Toulmin’s brother was Harry Toulmin, a Unitarian minister and Kentucky politician. Interestingly, J. B. Toulmin’s will freed his enslaved people and had them sent to “Jamaica, Libera,... Read More
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Canneries That Produce Deming & Gould Company’s Salmon
by [Alaska, British Columbia, Washington State - Pacific Northwest Fishing Industry - Salmon] Deming & Gould Company
Chicago: Poole Brothers, 1917. Folding map measuring 38 ½ x 26 ¾ inches. Tape repairs to verso, some tears at folds and edges, still bring and attractive, good to very good overall with excellent restoration potential. A map of the canneries in Alaska, British Columbia and Washington operated by the Deming and Gould Company, who were influential in the growth of the Alaskan salmon trade. The map’s date of printing, 1917, suggests that perhaps it was related to the... Read More
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1916–1917 Photo Album of Illinoisan Brothers Ruben and Daniel Dieners in the Territory of Alaska
by [Alaska – Prospecting] Dieners, Ruben; Dieners, Daniel
Alaska, 1917. Photo album measuring 7 ¼ x 11 ½ inches, containing 187 photos (2 unaffixed) and five loose real photo postcards, with a contemporaneous newspaper clipping. Photos approximately 3 x 4 inches, with generally excellent contrast and in Near Fine condition. Overall excellent to Near Fine.. A photo album belonging to brothers Ruben (1892–1984) and Daniel (1895–1969) Diener, documenting their 1916–1917 journey to the Territory of Alaska. The newspaper clipping reproduces a letter from Dan Diener, describing... Read More
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Capital Almanac. 1893
by [Almanacs – Washington, D.C.]
Washington, 1893. 4to, lithographed wraps, 40 pp. Wraps detached, contents excellent, good overall. Good.. A scarce almanac for Washington, D.C., with the first portion containing elaborately illustrated calendars for each month, with accompanying information on natural phenomena for the months including sunrise, sunsets, etc. The second part of the book contains a lengthy description of the federal government, with the final few pages describing the merits of the Louisiana State Lottery. Though the OCLC entry for the book... Read More
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The Great Know Nothing Song, ‘I Don’t Know.’
by [American Politics – Know-Nothing Party] Eastlack, Francis F.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: H. J. Kehr, 1850. Single sheet measuring 6 x 9 ½ inches. Marginal wear; excellent.. A broadside with the lyrics to Francis F. Eastlack’s “The Great Know Nothing Song, ‘I Don’t Know.’” The song lampooned the American Party, known as the “Know Nothing” party for its members’ practice of saying they “knew nothing” in response to any questions regarding specifics about the party. Eastlack describes the Know Nothings: “These men wear white hats all turned... Read More
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Seven Hand-Colored Photographs of Subjects and Architecture in Jerusalem, c. 1890s-1920s
by [Americans Abroad - Jerusalem] American Colony, Jerusalem
Jerusalem, 1920. Silver gelatin photographs measuring 11 ½ x 9 ¼ inches, hand colored. Some light normal wear, near fine overall, quite attractive and suitable for framing. Fine. The American Colony in Jerusalem, started by 1881 by members of a Christian utopian society led by Anna and Horatio Spafford of Chicago, developed in the next fifty years into one of the primary photographic historians of the city prior to Zionism. The Spaffords were joined by the Swedish, American,... Read More
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Carte-de-Visite of Three Meskwaki Subjects in Mixed Attire, c. 1860s
by [American Indian History - Meskwaki] Hudson, Joseph L.
Tama County: J.L. Hudson, 1860. Carte-de-visite photograph measuring 3 ½ x 2 ¼ inches on larger mount. Semi-legible ID on lower portion of image in pencil, some normal wear, very good overall. Very Good. An early and interesting image of Meskwaki subjects seated in a studio setting, likely taken in the 1860s or early 1870s in the CDV era. The subjects wear what appears to be a mix of traditional and western dress, with short haircuts and a... Read More
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Collection of Thirty Original Photographs of Native American Subjects Including Kiowa, Comanche and Wichita by the Lenny and Sawyers Photographic Firm in Oklahoma Territory, c. 1890s-1900
by [American Indian History - Photography] Lenny and Sawyers, Photographers
Purcell, 1900. Unmounted gelatin silver prints and one mounted boudoir card, most images measuring 8 x 5 and 7 x 4 ½ inches. Varying levels of fading, else about fine. With gallery stamps of Fenn Gallery, Santa Fe verso. Near Fine. In the years following the Land Run of 1889, which opened land in Indian Territory to Euro-American settlement, professional and amateur photographers alike moved to the region. Their motives varied, with some attempting to document the vanishing... Read More
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Formal Portrait Taken at the Wedding of William Jackson Callahan and Martha Taylor Callahan, at the Kwassui Girls’ School in Nagasaki, 1893
by [American Missionaries in Japan - Methodist Missionary Schools - Kwassui School] Ikuta, Photographer
Nagasaki: Ikuta, 1893. Albumen photograph measuring 5 x 3 ½ inches on a larger mount, with the imprint of Ikuta, Uwajima on mount recto. Slight fading, near fine condition. With identifying marks to verso. Near Fine. A photograph of the wedding party of the American missionary and author William Jackson Callahan and Martha Taylor Callahan, taken at the Kwassui Girls’ School (later Kwassui Women’s University) in Nagasaki. At the time, Taylor was representing the Women’s Board of the... Read More
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Partly Printed Document Signed by Richard Gridley for a Loan of 600 Pounds to Gridley, Joseph Jackson, and Edmund Quincy, from Jonathan and John Amory, Likely for the Purchase of a Furnace, 1772
by [American Revolution - Engineers] Gridley, Richard
Boston, 1772. Single sheet measuring 12 ½ x 8 inches. Notes in margin in an early hand, fine. Richard Gridley was an artilleryman, military engineer, and entrepreneur, who had a prolific career in several conflicts including the Revolutionary War, where he served as an engineer. Offered here is a very rare document likely relating to his forges in 1772, which he would operate in support of the war effort. The document relates to a loan from Jonathan and John... Read More
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The Ratcatcher’s Daughter
by [American Art – Music – Nineteenth Century] Cowell, Sam; Homer, Winslow [Illustration Attributed To]
Boston / New York / Philadelphia / New Orleans, 1856. Lacks stitches at spine, likely removed from a larger volume, lithograph in fine condition, one small tear to margin at final leaf. Very good plus overall.. An uncommon American sheet music printing of the popular comic song
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Poor Cinderella
by [Animation – Gender & Sexuality – African-Americana] Tobias, Charles; Mencher, Murray; Scholl, Jack
New York: Leo Feist Inc, 1934. Folio sheet music, color pictorial cover. 5 pp, 9 ⅛ x 12 inches. Near Fine.. Sheet music for the title song from the Fleischer Studios animated short Poor Cinderella, a 1934 Paramount production starring Betty Boop. Directed by Dave Fleischer and produced by Max Fleischer, the film was issued as part of the studio’s Color Classics series and is notable as the only Betty Boop cartoon originally produced in color during the... Read More
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A Letter Written from Augusta, Georgia, Describing the Author’s Voyage from Boston to Augusta, Georgia in 1818
by [Antebellum South – Travel Narratives] Barnard, Calvin
Augusta, Georgia, 1818. Single letter, three 9 x 16 inch pages, letters with some tape repairs and stray holes at folds, still quite legible. Very good. A letter written by Calvin Barnard to his friend Asa Holman of Bolton, Massachusetts, describing the former’s trip from Boston to Augusta, South Carolina from November 25 to January 1. Barnard first traveled from Boston to Charleston, South Carolina, by boat, from which he notes “almost a continual gagging and vomiting” from... Read More
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![Glamour. [1936 Lithograph by Lydia Gibson]](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/h/064/114/1722114064.0.l.jpg)
Glamour. [1936 Lithograph by Lydia Gibson]
by [Anti-War Art – Political Cartoons – Socialism] Gibson, Lydia
United States, 1936. Lithographic illustration measuring 12 x 13 ¾ inches. Unnumbered, titled and signed recto in pencil, matching handwriting of other known examples. Near Fine.. A lithograph by American socialist artist Lydia Gibson (1891–1964). Gibson contributed artworks to radical publications including The Masses, The Liberator, New Masses, and others. This illustration, titled Glamour, depicts two well-dressed gentlemen labeled “Banks” and “Munitions” courting a bejewelled lady skeleton whose tiara reads “War”. More than a straightforward pacifist sentiment, Gibson... Read More
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Pair of Portfolios Showing the Fine Furniture of the Henry McCleary Residence, Olympia, Washington, 1920s
by [Architecture - Washington State] [Furniture] Henry McCleary Residence, Olympia Washington; Bradford, E.R.; Munago Company
Olympia, 1925. . Limp pebbled calf portfolios measuring 12 ½ x 10 ½ inches, with 106 illustrations, nearly all photographic, of furniture. Interior fine, some wear to portfolios, overall quite well preserved. Near Fine. The Henry McCleary residence in Olympia was built in 1923, sparing no expense. The mansion still stands today on 21st Ave. and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. McLeary, a timber baron and president of the Henry McCleary Timber Company, also... Read More
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A Pair of Photograph Albums Documenting San Francisco, Monterey, and the Surrounding Areas in the Late 1880s
by [California - Early Photography] [San Francisco and the Bay Area]
Northern California, 1880. 4to, one album in burgundy cloth, the other oblong brown pebbled cloth. Seventy-one sepia-toned and cyanotype photographs, most measuring 6 ½ x 4 ½ inches. Near fine with some light wear to albums, photographs very good or better with very good contrast, some showing a hint of fading. A very early pair of vernacular photograph albums, centering on the experiences of a wealthy family in San Francisco, Monterey, and the surrounding areas in the late 1880s.... Read More
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Small Group of Ephemera Relating to Elijah Pierce and his Mammoth Sacred Art Demonstration
by [Art - African-American] Pierce, Elijah
Columbus, 1950. Three items including: "Look. It's your chance to see the Mammoth Sacred Art Demonstration." Printed handbill, 11 x 6 inches. "Pierce's Wood Carving Exhibit: Over 1000 Carvings, Educational, Fascinating, Carved with a Pocket Knife." [2] pages, 5 1/4 x 3 3/4 inches on one folding sheet; Admission ticket to "The Mammoth Sacred Art Display" at 536 Long Street (next door to Pierce's barber shop at 534 Long Street). 2 x 3 1/2 inches, completed in pencil. Overall... Read More
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Ambrotype Folk Art Portrait of a Haitian Revolutionary Officer
by [Haitian Revolution - Folk Art]
American, 1864. First. Sixth plate ambrotype, heavily hand-painted, 2 ½ x 3 inches, cased in 4 ½ x 5 inch thermoplastic hanging frame. Very Good. The Haitian Revolution had a profound affect on attitudes toward slavery in Antebellum America, influencing black attitudes regarding Pan-Africanism and self-governance, stoking fear in southern slaveholding whites of slavery’s bloody aftermath, and fueling the rise of abolitionism. Alfred Hunt, in Haiti's Influence on Antebellum America: Slumbering Volcano in the Caribbean, states: “Haiti became... Read More
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