PDF - William Reese Company

catalogue two hundred eighty - four
Latin American
Independence
W illiam R eese C ompany
409 Temple Street
New Haven, CT 06511
(203) 789-8081
A Note
This catalogue traces the story of the collapse of the Spanish Empire in the New
World and the establishment of independent countries in its wake. Arranged chronologically, it begins with the precursor revolutions in the French Caribbean islands
and the takeover of Louisiana by the United States. The heart of the catalogue
covers the revolutions in South and Central America between 1806 and the 1830s.
Highspots include an association copy of Arrowsmith’s great atlas of 1816, a huge
collection of early Buenos Aires imprints, some remarkable documents relating to
the takeover of Louisiana by the U.S., the official printing of the 1821 Mexican
Declaration of Independence, and a series of important broadsides relating to the
1820 revolution in Caracas.
An index follows the final entry.
Available on request are our recent catalogues: 276, The Caribbean; 277, The American
West in the 19th Century; 278, World Trade: The First Age of Globalization; 279, Pacific
Voyages; 281, Americana in Printing and the Mind of Man; 282, Recent Acquisitions in
Americana; and 283, American Presidents.
Some of our catalogues, as well as some recent topical lists, are now posted on the
Internet at www.reeseco.com. A portion of our stock may be viewed via links at www.
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are uploaded, please e-mail us at [email protected] or send us a fax, specifying whether
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Terms
Material herein is offered subject to prior sale. All items are as described and are considered to be on approval. Notice of return must be given within ten days unless specific
arrangements are made. Connecticut residents must be billed state sales tax. Postage
and insurance charges are billed to all nonprepaid domestic orders. Overseas orders are
sent by air unless otherwise requested, with full postage charges billed at our discretion.
Payment by check, wire transfer or bank draft is preferred, but may also be made by
MasterCard or Visa.
William Reese Company
409 Temple Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Front
Rear
cover :
cover :
Phone: (203) 789-8081
Fax: (203) 865-7653
E-mail: [email protected]
84. [Mexico – Declaration of Independence]: La Regencia del Imperio.... 1821.
45. [Venezuela – Junta Suprema Gubernativa]: Americanos.... Caracas. 1811.
The Beginnings of Major Troubles in St. Domingue
1. [Haiti]: RELATION AUTHENTIQUE DE TOUT CE QUI S’EST
PASSE A SAINT-DOMINGUE AVANT ET APRES LE DEPART
FORCE DE L’ASSEMBLEE COLONIALE...AVEC LA CORRESPONDANCE DES SIEURS DE PEYNIER, GOUVERNEUR,
COUTARD, ET AUTRES COMMANDANTS ET OFFICIERS
TANT DE TERRE QUE DE MER. [Np, but St. Domingue, probably
Au Cap. 1790]. 74pp. Modern three-quarter calf and boards. Repaired paper
loss in titlepage approximately 1½ inches in diameter, affecting first three
letters of title. Light soiling on titlepage and second leaf; very minor foxing.
Good. Untrimmed, several signatures unopened.
“A partisan account of the disturbances at Port-au-Prince and Saint Marc during
July and August, 1790” – Garrett. Though Bissainthe indicates that this imprint
is Parisian, the crudeness and nature of the printing is such that we believe it more
likely that it was actually printed in Saint Domingue. From imprints handled
by this firm we know that there was a rich print culture in St. Domingue on the
verge of the revolution. There were presses at St. Marc, Port-au-Prince, and Cap
Français, with probably two or three different printers at each of the last two. All
Caribbean printing is quite rare.
Only nine copies of this work located in OCLC.
BISSAINTHE 7687. SABIN 75187. GARRETT, FRENCH COLONIAL QUESTION 159. OCLC
$4000.
20694712, 77725342.
Early Martinique Imprint
2. [Martinique]: RELATION AUTHENTIQUE DES EVENEMENS
QUI SE SONT PASSES AU FORT-BOURBON DE LA MARTINIQUE [caption title]. St. Pierre: Imprimerie de P. Richard & le Cadre,
1790. 8pp. on a folded sheet. Toned. Very good. In a half morocco clamshell
case, cloth chemise.
A very early Martinique imprint, which refers to the horrors of the slave revolt there
and gives a play-by-play account of the events that unfolded at Fort Bourbon. The
first recorded printing on the island listed by Swan is in 1784, but we have handled
a newspaper from 1780 and have seen in commerce an imprint from 1762. As with
so much else to do with early Caribbean printing, the story of the press on Martinique is shrouded in mystery. Only one copy in OCLC, at Columbia University.
SWAN, CARIBBEAN PRINTING, p.32. OCLC 123200325.
$3000.
An Unrecorded St. Domingue Imprint
3. [St. Domingue]: ADRESSE DE L’ASSEMBLEE PROVINCIALE DE
LA PARTIE DU NORD DE ST. DOMINGUE, A L’ASSEMBLEE
NATIONALE, DANS LAQUELLE ON PROPOSE LES MOYENS
DE RAPPELLER LA CONFIANCE, LE CALME & LA CONCORDE, & DE FIXER L’UNION ETERNELLE DE LA COLONIE
AVEC LA FRANCE [caption title]. [Cap Français]. June 28, 1790. 12pp.
Folded sheets, unstitched. Dampstained. About very good. Untrimmed. In a
half morocco and cloth clamshell case with cloth chemise.
This apparently unrecorded St. Domingue imprint is an official colonial document
issued by the Assemblée Provinciale du Nord of St. Domingue, in which the Assemblée Provinciale addresses the Assemblée Nationale with the aim of settling
some of the unrest in the colony, caused in part by the French Revolution, but by
this time spreading to slave revolts in the French colony. Sabin and Bissainthe
both list only a Paris edition of this imprint (23pp.). No copies of this imprint are
located in OCLC, and it is evidently unique.
This imprint serves to illustrate the remarkable print culture of pre-Revolutionary
St. Domingue, by far the richest of French sugar colonies. From imprints handled
by this firm we know that there were presses at St. Marc, Port-au-Prince, and Cap
Français, with probably two or three different printers at each of the last two. Among
imprints this firm sold to the John Carter Brown Library there is a Port-au-Prince
edition of this pamphlet, issued by the official printer, Mozard. The present piece,
printed in Cap Français, where the Provincial Assembly had met, is in all probability the first edition. That two separate editions of such a work were issued in
a Caribbean colony in the 18th century is in itself remarkable. That each survives
in a unique copy illustrates how little we know about early Caribbean imprints.
Another edition: SABIN 75040. BISSAINTHE, DICTIONNAIRE DE BIBLIOGRAPHIE HAITI-
ENNE 4382.
$3000.
4. Perez y Lopez, Antonio Xavier: TEATRO DE LA LEGISLACION
UNIVERSAL DE ESPAÑA É INDIAS. Madrid. 1791-1798. Twentyeight volumes. Small quarto. Modern half calf and marbled paper boards, red
and green labels, a.e. red. A clean, very nice set, with only a bit of minor
dampstaining and the odd spot or paper flaw in all the many volumes.
An important, practical, dictionary-like guide to the complicated plethora of legislation (en)acted in the Spanish legal “theater.” An especially useful shortcut to
finding royal decrees, court decisions, etc., on any of the thousands of topics indexed.
PALAU 221275. SABIN 60899.
$4000.
5. [Peru]: REGLAMENTO PARA LAS MILICIAS DE INFANTERÍA
Y CABALLERÍA DE LA ISLA DE CUBA...QUE DEBE OBSERVARSE EN TODO LO ADAPTABLE A LAS TROPAS DE MI-
LICIAS DEL REYNO DE PERU.... Lima. 1793. [4],108,[14]pp. plus
twelve (of thirteen) folding letterpress tables. Original decorative wrappers
bound into later mottled calf, spine gilt, leather label. Extremities rubbed. Old
ink stamp on titlepage; light scattered foxing. Very good.
Military regulations for troops under the control of the Spanish commander in
Cuba, with tables showing the organization of troops, distribution, arms issued, and
the like. The second Lima edition of this work, after the first of 1779, intended to
serve as a model for the organization of troops there. It was first printed in Madrid
in 1769 and reprinted in Havana in 1777. In a larger sense, these regulations were
part of Galvez’s reforms of the Spanish empire in America, and would have had a
direct impact on Louisiana, as troops from Cuba were used to crush the Louisiana
Conspiracy of 1768 in 1769, the year these orders were promulgated. Needless to
say, quite rare. Only two copies are listed in OCLC, at the John Carter Brown
Library and the National Library of Chile.
MEDINA (LIMA) 1775. VARGAS UGARTE 2660. OCLC 55243520, 82622709.
$2500.
6. [Guadeloupe]: PÉTITION A LA CONVENTION NATIONALE,
PAR LES PATRIOTES, CITOYENS DE COULEUR, DÉPORTÉS
PAR LES ANGLAIS ET DÉBARQUÉS A ROCHEFORT, APRÈS
S’ÊTRE RENDUS MAITRES DES TRANSPORTS No. 34 ET 42
PAR LE 41me DEGRÉ DE LATITUDE NORD [caption title]. Paris.
[1794]. 19pp. Quarto. Stitched as issued. Remnants of paper wrappers along
spine edge. Lightly soiled. Very good. Untrimmed.
In the 1790s, with the advent of the French Revolution, revolts broke out in many
of France’s Caribbean colonies, including Guadeloupe, where a sharp division occurred between the monarchists and the republicans, resulting in control of the
island by the monarchists. One of the divisive issues on Guadeloupe was slavery
and the rights of free people of color. A commission speaking on behalf of the
“citoyens de couleur” was actively at work in Paris, striving to end the slave trade
and abolish slavery. This commission was successful in its lobby, and the French
government abolished slavery in 1794. In order to maintain control of the island,
the monarchists asked for British assistance, with the result that the island was
occupied by Britain from April to December 1794. This pamphlet is a petition on
behalf of the citoyens de couleur, asking the French government to rescue republican prisoners from Guadeloupe aboard two British vessels. The petition vilifies
slavery and the monarchists who would continue to enforce it, and lays considerable blame at the feet of the island’s governor, Victor Collot. It includes extracts
of letters by the primary participants and provides significant information on the
rebellion in Guadeloupe.
Only one copy in OCLC, at the British Library; another with a different imprint listed at the Bibliothèque Nationale. Not in Cundall, Sabin, or the Beinecke
Lesser Antilles Collection at Hamilton College. $1250.
A Haitian Printing of the First Constitution of Haiti
7. [Haiti Constitution]: ACTE OFFICIELLE. CONSTITUTION
FRANÇAISE DES COLONIES DE SAINT-DOMINGUE, EN
SOIXANTE-DIX-SEPT ARTICLES...[caption title]. [Cap Français?]:
De chez le veuve Leroux, no. 20, rue de la Vielle-Bouclerie, [1801?]. 8pp.
Modern green boards, gilt leather label. Minor toning. Near fine.
An early printing of the first constitution of Haiti, promulgated by Toussaint
Louverture in the summer of 1801. Divided into thirteen sections with a total of
seventy-seven articles, Toussaint’s constitution proposed equal rights for all races,
freed the slave population of Saint Domingue, and made him governor for life.
It also outlawed divorce, laid out the function and practice of each of the three
branches of government, as well as the army, and established communal farming as a
means of ensuring agricultural production. The Constitution was viewed by France
as the first step to independence, which was highly unacceptable, and Napoleon
would surreptitiously send General LeClerc to Saint Domingue the following year
to remove Toussaint from power.
Despite the attribution given for the widow Leroux as printer, this piece appears to have been printed in Saint Domingue rather than Paris, as implied by that
attribution. The quality and manner of the printing, in addition to several irregularities in the text (including the misprinting of the printer’s address as “rue de la
Vielle-Bouclerie” rather than “rue de la Vielle-Boucherie” as it should be), point
to a Caribbean rather than Continental imprint. All such early Haitian imprints
are rare, and copies of Haiti’s first constitution even more so. This edition is not
present in the Bibliothèque Nationale, which lists only the first edition printed in
Cap Français. $15,000.
Thoughts of a Famous Troublemaker
8. Workman, James: POLITICAL ESSAYS RELATIVE TO THE
WAR OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION; viz. AN ARGUMENT,
AGAINST CONTINUING THE WAR, FOR THE SUBVERSION
OF THE REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT OF FRANCE...AND,
A MEMORIAL, PROPOSING A PLAN, FOR THE CONQUEST
AND EMANCIPATION OF SPANISH AMERICA, BY MEANS
OF WHICH WOULD PROMOTE THE TRANQUILITY OF IRELAND. Alexandria. 1801. 174pp. 12mo. Contemporary calf, gilt morocco
label. Binding rubbed and worn, especially at spine ends; early repair to hinges.
Ink stamp of the New-York Historical Society on titlepage. Lightly tanned,
but overall internally very good. In a half morocco and cloth box.
This copy bears an ink inscription on the titlepage (“from the author”), with the
signature of the recipient, John Pintard, dated 1802, beside it. Pintard in turn
presented this volume to the New-York Historical Society in 1807, as noted by his
inscription to that effect on the front fly leaf. Pintard was a powerful New York
financier, and a founder of the New York Stock Exchange, the New-York Historical Society, and the Tammany Society. As a result of his Tammany connection,
he was surely a friend and associate of Aaron Burr, who was intimately connected
with James Workman and the goals espoused in this volume.
An early document, predating the plans of Aaron Burr (with which Workman
was later implicated), proposing an attack on Florida, Louisiana, and other Spanish
possessions in the Americas. Workman, a British lawyer of the Middle Temple,
emigrated to the United States in 1801 and had this volume published shortly thereafter. The first two essays, on British policy toward Napoleon’s France, had already
appeared in England. The third part, on the plan to liberate Spanish America,
appears here for the first time. Workman argues that the British should take the
opportunity posed by the Napoleonic wars to attack and liberate “Spanish America,”
by which he means not only all of South America, but Florida and Louisiana as
well. In order to achieve this goal Workman proposes using Irishmen to do the
fighting, along with regular troops and volunteers. He lays out specific plans for
such an undertaking, discussing logistics, manpower, and more. Workman had this
volume published in Alexandria, Virginia in November 1801 and sent Jefferson a
copy that same month. Why he thought an American president, especially of Jefferson’s sentiments, would be interested in helping the British conquer territory in
the Americas, is curious indeed.
Workman’s goal of an attack on Louisiana and Spanish America is a dream that
died hard, for just a few years after publication of this volume he became involved
in the so-called “Burr conspiracies.” After a stint as a newspaper editor in Charleston, Workman went to New Orleans, where he was appointed a judge of Orleans
Parish. In that capacity he worked to frustrate the local authorities in political
and legal matters. He took a leading role in forming the “Mexican Association of
New Orleans,” whose avowed purpose was to foment an invasion of Mexico and
set up an independent territory. Aaron Burr joined forces with Workman when he
arrived in New Orleans, the two men sharing the same goals. Those goals had, in
fact, been stated as early as 1801 in Workman’s Political Essays....
This copy is the only one to appear at auction since the Streeter sale. Rare,
and quite interesting.
STREETER SALE 1676. SABIN 105483. SHAW & SHOEMAKER 1690. SOWERBY, JEFFER-
$6000.
SON’S LIBRARY 3272.
A Major Louisiana Rarity
9. Dubroca, Louis: L’ITINÉRAIRE DES FRANÇAIS DANS LA LOUISIANE. Paris: Dubroca, Fuchs, Veuve Deveaux, and Rondonneau, 1802.
[4],104pp. plus large folding map (partially handcolored). 12mo. Original pink
paper wrappers. Spine slightly chipped. Faint dampstaining to a few leaves,
else internally clean. Very good plus, untrimmed. In a red cloth clamshell box.
First edition of this exceedingly rare French imprint promoting the possession
of Louisiana in the early 19th century. It was published during the brief return
of France’s control of the territory between the Spanish and American periods of
ownership between March and December 1803. The large folding map, “Carte de
la Louisiane et du cours du Mississipi avec les Colonies Anglaises,” is a revised
version of Guillaume Delisle’s map first published in 1718. The work includes a
history and description of the colony, a description of the natives of the area and
their customs, and the state of commerce in the region. Dubroca, who evidently
published the work himself, argues for a much greater French presence in Louisiana.
This is the Siebert copy, which, when it sold at auction in 1999, was the only copy
to appear on the market since the Streeter sale ($1500 in 1967). A lovely copy in
original condition.
SABIN 21028. HOWES D526, “b.” STREETER SALE 1572. SIEBERT SALE 682. $13,500.
Issued by the French Government in New Orleans, 1803
10. [Louisiana]: ARRETÉ, QUI MET LE SIEUR ST.-JULIEN EN LIB-
ERTÉ, SOUS CAUTION QU’IL SE REPRÉSENTERA DEVANT
LES AUTORITÉS TOUTES LES FOIS QU’IL EN SERA REQUIS. AU NOM DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE. LE PRÉFET
COLONIAL, COMMISSAIRE DU GOUVERNEMENT FRANÇAIS, APRÈS AVOIR PRIS LA CONNAISSANCE LA PLUS APPROSONDIE DE L’AFFAIRE DU SIEUR LOUIS ST.-JULIEN...
[caption title]. [New Orleans. 1803]. Broadside, 16½ x 13 inches, with
woodcut headpiece of symbolic figure with printed inscription: “Préfecture
Coloniale.” Old fold. Moderate dampstaining and soiling, occasional foxing.
Contemporary inscriptions above text. A good copy. In a cloth clamshell case,
leather label.
An exceedingly rare New Orleans broadside concerning a case of alleged sedition,
printed during the brief return of France’s control of Louisiana between the Spanish and American periods of ownership. The decree is signed in print by Colonial
Prefect Laussat and Commission Secretary Daugerot. The decree “orders the release
under bond of Louis St. Julien, imprisoned in June, 1803, on a charge of sedition
but actually, says Laussat, because of his intense patriotism for France on learning
that Spain had ceded back Louisiana to his mother country” (McMurtrie, Louisiana).
Below the names of Laussat and Daugerot is a certificate printed in italic indicating
that the municipal council had ordered the immediate release of St. Julien under
bond, and that the decree had been approved for printing.
Spain signed a treaty of cession on March 21, 1801, but this was not announced
to the inhabitants of the colony until March 27, 1803. The actual transfer of Louisiana back to France occurred on Nov. 30 of that year, and three weeks later the
territory became a part of the United States. Pierre Clément de Laussat, Colonial
Prefect, arrived in New Orleans from Paris to take formal possession of Louisiana,
and as had already been arranged, transfer title to the U.S. “Laussat’s first official
announcement after his arrival in New Orleans was followed by five other proclamations or edicts in broadside form which have been seen and recorded in the course
of this study, and there were undoubtedly still others which have not come to light.
The purpose of these broadsides was to establish and carry on the machinery of
government and to insure the maintenance of law and order after the automatic
termination of the authority of the Spanish magistrates and office holders. Most of
these bear at the top an interesting woodcut of the typical female figure symbolical
of France, and inscribed ‘Préfecture Coloniale.’ This woodblock was undoubtedly
brought by the commission from Paris” – McMurtrie, New Orleans.
An extremely rare broadside printed during France’s brief control of Louisiana
in the early 19th century. Jumonville records copies at Historic New Orleans
Collection and Tulane; McMurtrie adds two copies at the National Archives in
Washington; and OCLC lists only microfilm copies.
JUMONVILLE 79. HUMMEL 771. McMURTRIE (LOUISIANA) 29. McMURTRIE (NEW
ORLEANS), pp.61-68. SHAW & SHOEMAKER 4542.
$12,500.
The Final Reform of the Laws of the Americas
11. [New Spain]: ORDENANZA GENERAL FORMADA DE ÓRDEN
DE SU MAGESTAD, Y MANDADA IMPRIMIR Y PUBLICAR
PARA EL GOBIERNO É INSTRUCCION DE INTENDENTES,
SUBDELEGADOS Y DEMAS EMPLEADOS EN INDIAS. Madrid:
En la imprenta de la Viuda de Ibarra, 1803. [2],xxxvi,194,[98]pp. Folio. Calf,
spine gilt, leather label. Lightly rubbed at extremities, boards lightly scuffed.
Contents bright and clean. Near fine.
Administrative regulations for Spanish colonial rule in the Americas and the Philippines. These laws represent the last ditch efforts of the Spanish monarchy to bring
reform to the administration of their colonial holdings in the Americas. Six years
later, in 1809, the first declaration of independence from Spanish rule would be
signed in Quito, in modern Ecuador, which would be the first spark of the movement for independence across Spain’s American colonies. With this ordenanza,
Spain hoped to restructure and reform colonial rule in such a way to prevent that
from happening. A nice piece of Spanish-American history.
MEDINA (BHA) 5971. PALAU 202973.
$2750.
British Thoughts on Louisiana in 1803
12. Orr, George: THE POSSESSION OF LOUISIANA BY THE
FRENCH, CONSIDERED, AS IT AFFECTS THE INTERESTS
OF THOSE NATIONS MORE IMMEDIATELY CONCERNED,
viz. GREAT BRITAIN, AMERICA, SPAIN, AND PORTUGAL.
London: Printed by D.N. Shury, 1803. 45pp. Half title. Modern half tan
morocco and marbled boards by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, spine gilt. Occasional
fox mark, some light soiling, but overall a near fine copy.
An important and rare British view of Louisiana Territory just prior to the Louisiana
Purchase. Orr calls for British and American unity against French control in the
Americas: “If the English and Americans but open their eyes, and look forward,
they will perceive, that when the French once settle themselves in North and South
America, they will one day contend for the chief power in those countries. Let
them therefore unite more strictly in the bonds of mutual friendship, and keep a
watchful eye on their common interests....” The American purchase of Louisiana
Territory in 1803 changed things, of course, and made the United States the rival
to Britain in the Pacific Northwest, and to Spain in the Floridas.
HOWES O125, “aa.” SABIN 57652. EBERSTADT 138:410.
$3000.
Commissioner Laussat Writes of the Impending Transfer
of Louisiana to the United States
13. [Louisiana Purchase]: Laussat, Pierre Clément de: [MANUSCRIPT
LETTER, SIGNED, FROM PIERRE LAUSSAT, THE COLONIAL PREFECT OF LOUISIANA, TO FRENCH GENERAL
ROCHAMBEAU, INFORMING HIM OF THE IMPENDING
TRANSFER OF LOUISIANA TO THE UNITED STATES, AND
OF HIS INABILITY TO SEND SUPPLIES TO ROCHAMBEAU
IN HAITI]. New Orleans. September 30, 1803 [i.e. 7 Vendémiaire, an 12].
[3]pp. letter on a folded folio sheet, with engraved scene entitled “Republique Francaise” at the top of the first page. Addressed in manuscript on the
fourth page: “au General en chef Rochambeau, Capitaine General de l’Ile
St. Domingue.” One-inch tear in center vertical fold (with some small tape
repairs), where wax seal had been affixed, not affecting any text. Very good.
An excellent letter from the French Colonial Prefect of Louisiana, informing the
French general in charge of suppressing the slave uprising in Haiti that he has few
supplies to send him, and also transmitting information of the impending transfer of Louisiana Territory to the United States. Laussat’s letter to Rochambeau,
informing him that he has little in the way of supplies to send and that Louisiana
will soon be given to the United States, is a prime example of the United States
finding advantage in Europe’s distress.
The Louisiana Purchase Treaty had been signed on April 30, 1803, and though
rumors of the transaction were rampant, official news of the transfer circulated
slowly throughout French political and military circles. At the time the letter was
written, the impending transaction was still a state secret; the treaty would not be
ratified by the U.S. Senate until the next week. The sale was partially motivated
by circumstances in Haiti, where France was losing the struggle to put down the
independence movement. The fight against the Haitians was costing the lives of
thousands of French soldiers and putting a strain on the treasury. The resumption
of European hostilities meant that the Royal Navy could cut off any supplies from
Europe, and Napoleon had decided to abandon his American strategy. Within three
months of this letter Louisiana would belong to the United States and Rochambeau
would surrender his forces in Haiti to the British rather than be massacred by the
insurgents.
Pierre Clément de Laussat, the last French Colonial Prefect of Louisiana, arrived
there in late March 1803, just a month before the Louisiana Purchase Treaty was
signed. This letter, on his official letterhead (with the seal of the French Republic
and the engraved text, “Marine. Colonie. Louisiane.”), is written to the French
general in command of Saint Domingue (Haiti), Donatien-Marie-Joseph de Vimeur,
the Vicomte de Rochambeau (son of the Comte de Rochambeau, who led French
forces in the American Revolution). Rochambeau had been made commander of
French forces following the death of General Leclerc in 1802. He initiated brutal
tactics against the Haitians, which only served to unite the island’s blacks, mulattos,
and mestizos against the French. The British navy had curtailed supplies to Haiti
from France, and Rochambeau turned to Laussat for supplies to feed his troops.
Laussat writes (in translation from the French):
I’ve learned with a great deal of probability of the cession of Louisiana to
the United States, but up until now I have neither orders, nor instructions,
nor official advice of any kind. If the cutter could have been loaded with
flour, as proposed...I would have taken upon myself to send you some....In
the event that the Government authorizes me to use my resources to assist
you, I would try at once to combine the liveliest and most eager zeal with
the necessary prudence; these resources, I must tell you, General, are fewer
than you would think.
Laussat also criticizes the actions of the captain of the French cutter that had come
to New Orleans to receive the supplies. Dramatic events would take place in Louisiana and Haiti over the next few weeks. On November 18, 1803 the French army
under Rochambeau was devastated by Haitian forces at the Battle of Vertieres, and
proclaimed its independence shortly thereafter. Laussat had been hearing rumors
since his arrival of a potential sale of Louisiana to the Americans, and those rumors
were officially confirmed to him in August. On December 20, 1803 he presided
over the ceremony officially transferring Louisiana Territory to the United States.
This letter from Laussat, sent less than three months before he officially transferred Louisiana to American control and less than two months before France’s
ultimate defeat in Haiti, is a remarkable document. It ably demonstrates the shifting balance of power in North America as the United States more than doubled its
size, and France lost control of its colonies in the Caribbean. $27,500.
Making the Louisiana Purchase Happen,
and an Invitation to the Ball in Honor of the Transfer of Louisiana
14. [Louisiana Purchase]: Laussat, Pierre Clément de: [MANUSCRIPT
LETTER, SIGNED, FROM THE FRENCH COLONIAL PREFECT OF LOUISIANA, LAUSSAT, TO CAPTAIN GUILLERMO
DUPARC, COMMANDANT OF THE POINT COUPEE POST,
TELLING HIM OF THE SPANISH RETROCESSION OF LOUISIANA TO THE FRENCH, AND INSTRUCTING HIM TO TAKE
THE NECESSARY MEASURES TO EXERT CONTROL OVER
HIS PARISH]. New Orleans. December 10 [i.e. 9], 1803 [17 Frimaier an
12]. [1]p. letter on a folded folio sheet, with engraved scene entitled “Republique Francaise” at the top of the first page. A few manuscript notes
and calculations on the second and fourth pages. Old folds. Some soiling
on fourth page, a bit of ink bleedthrough. Very good. [with:] [PRINTED
INVITATION, SENT BY THE FRENCH COLONIAL PREFECT
OF LOUISIANA, LAUSSAT, FOR A GALA IN HONOR OF THE
SPANISH COMMANDER IN LOUISIANA, AND IN ANTICIPATION OF HANDING THE LOUISIANA TERRITORY OVER TO
THE UNITED STATES]. December 11, 1803 [19 Frimaire an XII]. [1]
p., printed on a folded quarto sheet, addressed in manuscript on the fourth
page. Small tear in upper right corner of first page, half-inch split along one
fold. Very good. The pair in a half morocco clamshell case, cloth chemises.
A remarkable pair of documents, announcing to a local French commander the
completion of the transfer of Louisiana from Spanish to French control, and inviting him to an upcoming gala in honor of the local Spanish commander and the
forthcoming transfer of Louisiana Territory to the United States. The letter and
invitation are both addressed to Captain Guillermo Duparc, commandant of the
Point Coupee military outpost, just northwest of Baton Rouge.
Pierre Clément de Laussat, the last French Colonial Prefect of Louisiana, arrived there in late March 1803, just a month before the Louisiana Purchase Treaty
was signed in Paris (on April 30). Spain had ceded Louisiana to the French in the
Treaty of San Ildefonso of 1800, though the provisions of the treaty had remained a
secret; his immediate responsibility was to oversee the transfer from Spain to France.
Laussat had been hearing rumors since his arrival of a potential sale of Louisiana
from France to the Americans, and those rumors were officially confirmed to him in
August. In May 1803 the Spanish commanders of Louisiana, including the Marquis
de Casa Calvo, announced the forthcoming retrocession of Louisiana from Spanish
to French control, a process that was formally completed on November 30, 1803.
In the present letter, dated just nine days after the completion of the Spanish
retrocession, Laussat writes Duparc, sending him (in translation from the French)
“the order which I have issued concerning taking possession of the French Republic
of Louisiana in your district. I reached an agreement on it, in advance, with the
Commissioners of S.M.C. [Sa Majeste Catholique, i.e. King Charles IV of Spain]
dated the 12th of Frimaire [December 4, 1803].” Laussat writes that, along with
the proclamation, he is sending Duparc various decrees regarding the circumstances
of French control and asks him to redouble his efforts for tranquility, peace, and
order in his district. The proclamation and decrees mentioned by Laussat are not
present with this letter. The manuscript letter is on Laussat’s official letterhead,
with the seal of the French Republic and the engraved text, “Marine. Coloniea.
Louisiane.” Interestingly, Laussat has annotated the pre-printed portion of the
letter, changing his title from “Colonial Prefect of Louisiana” to “Colonial Prefect
Commissioner of the French Government,” reflecting the new political situation
after the Spanish hand-over of the territory to the French just nine days earlier.
The printed invitation is also addressed to M. Duparc, and is very rare, located
by Jumonville in only one other copy, at the Historic New Orleans Collection.
Dated December 11, 1803, it invites Duparc to a soiree hosted by Laussat on “next
Thursday,” the 15th of December. The party was being held to commemorate the
transfer of Louisiana from Spanish to French control, and its impending transfer to
the United States. More specifically the party was in honor of the Spanish commander, the Marquis de Casa-Calvo, brigadier of the Spanish armies, in thanks
for the Spaniards’ efforts in recent days, and as a sign of the union and friendship
between the Spanish and French governments. On December 20, 1803, just eleven
days after writing this letter and five days after his gala in honor of Casa-Calvo,
Laussat presided over the ceremony officially transferring Louisiana Territory to
the United States.
Laussat’s manuscript letter and printed invitation of Captain Duparc are rare
survivals, and fascinating evidence of the political, military, and social aspects of
events in Louisiana in 1803, from the Spanish transfer of control of the territory to
France, to the official completion of the Louisiana Purchase by the United States.
Printed invitation: JUMONVILLE 86.
$60,000.
Handcolored Original Plan
of Military Fortifications in Puerto Rico
15. [Puerto Rico]: PLAN OF THE TOWN AND HARBOR OF ST.
JUAN IN PORTO RICO [manuscript caption title]. [Np, but probably
San Juan. ca. 1804]. 13 x 9 inches, plus two supplementary, untitled sketches
of the same size. Executed in an exacting hand. Contemporary reds, greens,
blues, and browns remain bright and clean. Fine.
An attractive Puerto Rican view which shows the town of San Juan, its harbor,
sandbanks, islands, and fortresses. The plan is marked by a compass rose and rhumb
lines. These defenses at San Juan guarded Spanish colonial positions against incursions by the French, Dutch, and British. The primary plan, the only one with its
structures labeled, runs from Isle de Cabras in the west to Fort St. Antonio in the
east. At the center is Moro Castle, the six-level masterpiece of Spanish colonial
architecture that remains at the heart of present-day San Juan. Construction of
the imposing fortress began in 1540 and was completed nearly fifty years later, in
1589. Interestingly, these plans do not show Fort San Cristobel, construction of
which began in 1634. Puerto Rico was opened to foreign trade in 1804, and it is
possible this plan was composed shortly thereafter to provide either American or
British traders with an idea of the island’s infrastructure. A wonderful sketch of
Puerto Rico’s military resources, done in brilliant color. Early Puerto Rico material
is quite rare. $8500.
Original Secret Manuscript Plans for a British Invasion
of Mexico and the Independence of Spanish America
16. Bertrand-Moleville, Antoine François de: MEMOIRE SUR UN
PROJET POUR FORMER DES ETATS MONARCHIQUES
INDÉPENDANTS SUR LE CONTINENT DE L’AMERIQUE
ESPAGNOLE. I. MOTIFS ET MOYENS D’ÉXÉCUTION. II.
AVANTAGES QUE ANGLETERRE RETIRERAIT DE CETTE
ENTREPRISE. III. OBJECTIONS ET REPONSES. IV. NOTES
ET ECLAIRCISSEMENTS. London. Jan. 2 and 7, 1805. Approximately
[58]pp. of neat manuscript text in English and French. Folio. Original gatherings with silk ribbon ties. Crisp and overall very fine. In a half morocco and
cloth box.
This exceedingly interesting and important set of documents comprises Antoine
François de Bertrand-Moleville’s original manuscript plans for the liberation of
Spanish America, including his cover letter conveying the proposal to Jonathan
McArthur, evidently a government official, requesting that the latter convey the
document to Lord Melville, the First Lord of the Admiralty, and the closest political
confidant of the Prime Minister, William Pitt. Also included here is an autograph
letter from McArthur to Lord Melville, transmitting Bertrand-Moleville’s manuscript, together with a précis in English of the proposal.
Bertrand-Moleville, an important French statesman under Louis XVI, was
Minister of the French Royal Marine at the outbreak of the Revolution, and fled
to England as a refugee. In exile, he was a close associate of the Duc d’Orléans,
cousin of Louis XVI. Orléans’ court in exile represented the right wing of French
royalist sentiment. In Bertrand-Moleville’s letter, he requests that McArthur bring
the enclosed manuscripts to the notice of Lord Melville, offering his services in
the execution of his proposed plan. In his letter to Lord Melville, McArthur states
that he has had submitted for his perusal “a plan for alienating the Continent of
South America from Spain, and establishing the Province of Mexico an independent
State,” which he forwards to Lord Melville, together with his own “Translation of
the Substance of Bertrand de Moleville’s plan.” In a postscript he remarks: “Mons.
de Moleville is preparing a plan to be submitted to Mr. Pitt through Mr. Long,
relative to the means to be employed for effecting a Counter Revolution in France,
on principles different from those hitherto proposed or attempted.”
Bertrand-Moleville argues that it would be futile for England to attempt a defensive war only against France, and that since the Spanish monarchy has become
part of the French empire, it is necessary to secure the vast Spanish American territory from Napoleon. Since a war is about to be declared against Spain, England
is advised to act. Bertrand-Moleville recommends a bold action as the opening
salvo: England should strike at the eastern coast of New Spain, and reap the glory of
giving the Mexican people their independence. He describes Mexico as the part of
Spanish America most vulnerable to a British attack, as her coastal fortifications are
scanty and poorly protected. The plan is not to conquer Mexico in the traditional
sense, but to establish the country as an economic dependency, and a revolution is
seen as the easiest and best means of bringing that to pass. The country would be
“seduced,” a leader chosen for the people to rally around, and the stated object of
the insurrection would be “the regeneration of the Natives and Empire of Mexico.”
According to Bertrand-Moleville, the best leader that could be chosen for Mexico
would be the Duc d’Orléans, seconded by his brother, and assisted by a British
army of some fifteen thousand men and an adequate naval force, together with any
necessary financial backing. Bertrand-Moleville considers that the Spanish forces
in Mexico would be no match for such an army, as they are “badly disciplined and
not at all warlike.”
It is further suggested that the invading army might include about five or six
thousand European troops in the employ of England, and British soldiers from
Gibraltar, Malta, the West Indies, and India, all of whom would be sufficiently acclimatized. Black troops from British colonies might be employed, and additional
men could be recruited from the forces of Dessalines, the black emperor of Haiti.
England might create a diversion by leading Spain to expect an attack at Havana,
while in the meantime landing her forces at Vera Cruz, which place might be quickly
overcome. The army could then march into Mexico as friendly “liberators,” recruiting “free Corps” en route to support the new “independent” monarchy.
The remainder of the manuscript is comprised of various profound political
reflections on the motives and means for carrying out the plan. This is augmented
by observations on Mexican topography, the civil and military administration,
population, wealth, revenue, and manufactures, as well as the all-important benefits
which would accrue to England. Bertrand-Moleville provides an outline of the
Proclamation that the Duc d’Orléans might deliver in Mexico, and admits that an
initial South American attack would be advantageous, but much too difficult to
undertake.
At the end of the translation McArthur suggests several amendments, one of
which is that there should be cooperation on the Pacific coast. He also makes
several objections, among which are the great number of troops needed, the apparent contradiction of installing a foreign prince to govern a free Mexico, the use
of black troops, etc.
Bertrand-Moleville’s plan for the Independence of Spanish America was a
product of the overall economic and political turmoil then boiling between the
European powers, as well as a long-standing interest on the part of the British to
deprive Spain of her American colonies. British officials had been sympathetic
to revolutionary projects in Spanish America for some time, as England stood to
gain much from the smoother flow of commerce in America that might result from
such plans. However, continental concerns were of the foremost importance, and
any American campaigns would be subordinate to dealing with France. The two
great battles between England and France in 1805 (Austerlitz and Trafalgar) had
established Napoleon’s control of the continent and England’s naval supremacy.
With her control of the seas, England saw an opportunity to perhaps indemnify
losses in Europe via the economically important New World possessions of her
enemies. By 1805, with Napoleon in control of Spain, the Spanish dominions in
America became a weak point in the French-Spanish alliance, ripe for exploitation
by England. Bertrand-Moleville’s plan can then be considered in the context of
Britain’s overall foreign policy priority of quelling French influence while increasing British economic dominance. Bertrand-Moleville’s manuscript provides vivid
evidence of how the British seriously considered a bold expedition to Spanish
America to achieve foreign policy goals.
The example of another plan of intervention in Spanish America sheds some
light on why Bertrand-Moleville’s proposal was not put into practice. Among the
most important of several intervention plans was that of Francisco Miranda, who in
1803 led an effort to obtain British aid to initiate a Spanish American revolution in
Venezuela. He had sympathetic listeners in William Pitt and Lord Melville, both of
whom believed in the value of Miranda’s plan. In the end, Britain failed to provide
any real military or financial support for Miranda’s cause. The general indecisiveness of the ministry with regard to Miranda’s proposed expedition underscores how
Bertrand-Moleville’s even bolder plan failed to take off. It was the death of Pitt
in January 1806, combined with the impeachment of Lord Melville in the same
year, that provided the final blow to the revolutionary projects. Nevertheless, the
immediacy and highly detailed nature of Bertrand-Moleville’s plan illustrate how
close such plans came to being acted out.
A remarkable manuscript artifact detailing a little-known secret plan of British
intervention in the independence of New Spain.
MAGGS BIBLIOTHECA AMERICANA 2337 (this manuscript). William Spence Robertson, The
Life of Miranda (1929) I, p.282 and passim. John Rydjord, Foreign Interest in the Independence of New Spain
(1935), p.227 and passim. Guadalupe Jimenez Codinach, La Gran Bretana y la Independencia de Mexico
1808-1821 (1991), pp.108-9.
$35,000.
Louisiana-Texas Border Conflicts
17. [ Jefferson, Thomas]: MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT...
COMMUNICATING DOCUMENTS RESPECTING LOUISIANA. DECEMBER 10th, 1805.... Washington: A. & G. Way, Printers,
1805. 29pp. Printed self-wrappers, stitched. Light dampstain in first leaf, not
affecting text; minor foxing. Very good, unopened and untrimmed.
Jefferson conveys to Congress documents graphically illustrating the border tensions between the United States, as the new possessors of Louisiana Territory, and
the recently ousted Spanish. “This gives two depositions made to Dr. Sibley at
Natchitoches in October, 1805, regarding Spanish aggressions, and extracts from
letters from Natchitoches written from October, 1804, to September, 1805, regarding events in Texas, arrival of the new governor Antonio Cordero at San Antonio,
fortifications being erected by the Spaniards on the Trinity, and so on” – Streeter.
STREETER TEXAS 1034. SABIN 42266. SHAW & SHOEMAKER 9572.
$850.
18. Skinner, Joseph, editor: THE PRESENT STATE OF PERU: COM-
PRISING ITS GEOGRAPHY, TOPOGRAPHY, NATURAL HISTORY...THE STATE OF LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY AND
THE ARTS...EMBELLISHED BY TWENTY ENGRAVINGS OF
COSTUMES. London. 1805. xiv,487,[1]pp. plus twenty handcolored plates.
Quarto. Contemporary calf, spine gilt, leather label, rebacked and repaired
with original spine laid down. Original spine cracked and flaking. Rubbed at
extremities. Light, even tanning to leaves; occasional offsetting. Colors bright
and fresh on plates. About very good.
This book provides a detailed overview of the geography, natural history, commerce,
arts, and people of Peru. Included are articles on botanical science in Peru, the
periodicals and other literature of Peru, as well as an account of missionaries in the
unexplored mountain regions of the country. Illustrated with twenty beautifully
colored stipple-and-line engravings depicting the costume of various segments of
Peruvian society, including upper-class ladies, female domestics in Spanish dress,
Indian men and women, a bullfighter, “Virgin of the Sun,” “Mestizo of Quito Professing a Liberal Art,” among others. According to Sabin, this book is an extract
from Mercurio Peruano. This English translation is by Joseph Skinner, under whose
name the work is sometimes listed.
PALAU 315564. SABIN 81615. ABBEY 723. COLAS 2751. LIPPERHEIDE 1629.
$4250.
19. [American Commerce]: THE MEMORIAL OF THE MERCHANTS
& TRADERS OF THE CITY OF BALTIMORE. Baltimore: Warner
& Hanna, 1806. 49pp. Errata slip laid down in lower margin of last leaf. Dbd.
Light uniform browning, old library stamp at head of titlepage. Very good.
This petition, one of many from various merchant organizations, lobbies the President
of the United States and Congress to defend American commerce with Europe in
light of British violation of the “neutral rights,” occasioned by the early years of the
Napoleonic wars. Baltimore merchants were a hotbed of organization for various
American subversive enterprises in Latin America and the Caribbean.
SHAW & SHOEMAKER 10854. KRESS 5070. SABIN 3045.
$500.
20. [Beresford, William C., Maj. Gen.]: EL COMANDANTE BRITANI-
CO, CON EL FIN DE QUE EL COMERCIO DE ESTA PLAZA
PUEDA TOMAR TODA LA ACTIVIDAD DE QUE SON SUBCEPTIBLES LAS PRESENTES CIRCUNSTANCIAS DEL PAIS...
[caption title]. Buenos Aires. 1806. [4]pp. Small folio, removed from an
earlier binding. Portion of inner blank margin of both leaves cut away without
loss of text. Single paper repair in outer margin of first leaf, affecting only
two letters. Two worm holes not affecting text. Old folds. A very good copy.
In a folder within a clamshell box.
A rare ephemeral item printed in Buenos Aires during the brief occupation of that
city by the British in the early 19th century. Printed on a local unidentified press,
these sixteen commercial regulations issued by the British were published five
weeks after Sir Home Popham and Gen. Beresford took Buenos Aires, and only
eight days before the city was retaken by Spanish forces. The document includes
four regulations concerning tobacco, as well as others regarding wine, hard liquor,
horse hides, other skins, and “Yerba del Paraguay.” A rare surviving document of
British attempts to expand into South America in the early 1800s. There are no
copies recorded in NUC or on OCLC.
MEDINA (BUENOS AIRES) 307. FURLONG II:773.
$2500.
21. [Argentina]: A NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION TO, AND
THE STORMING OF BUENOS AYRES, BY THE BRITISH
ARMY, COMMANDED BY LIEUTENANT-GENERAL WHITELOCK. By an Officer, Attached to the Expedition. Bath: William
Meyler, 1807. [2],38pp. plus one engraved plan. Modern half roan and boards,
spine gilt. Occasional minor foxing; minor titlepage repair with no loss of
text. A very good copy, with engraved bookplate of P. Francis K.C.B on front
pastedown.
An anonymous straight-forward account of the British attack on Buenos Aires in
1807, written “without any flourishing or prolix declamation on the calamities of
war, the effects of courage, or the pursuit of wealth and fame.” The unidentified
author includes extensive details on the final engagements leading to the defeat of
the British troops under Lieut. Gen. John Whitelocke by the Spanish citizen army
of Creoles and peasants under the command of Santiago de Liniers. The plan and
accompanying printed explanation of the plate assist in visualizing the narrative of
the battle described in the text. Forced to withdraw from Buenos Aires after this
defeat, Whitelocke was court-martialed and cashiered. An intriguing record of the
British engagement in Buenos Aires with an unusual Bath imprint for such a work.
OCLC records only five copies.
SABIN 51805. ALBERICH 1247.
$2750.
The British Attack on Montevideo in 1807
22. [Tucker, John Goulston Price]: A NARRATIVE OF THE OPERA-
TIONS OF A SMALL BRITISH FORCE, UNDER THE COMMAND OF BRIGADIER-GENERAL SIR SAMUEL AUCHMUTY,
EMPLOYED IN THE REDUCTION OF MONTE VIDEO, ON
THE RIVER PLATE, A.D. 1807. By a Field Officer on the Staff. Illustrated with a Plan of the Operations. London: Printed for John Joseph
Stockdale, 1807. 60pp. plus one engraved plan. Quarto. Original boards, with
letterpress title on front cover and publisher’s advertisement on rear cover, rebacked and recornered. Some soiling on cover, inner hinges reinforced. Light
offsetting of plan onto titlepage, otherwise a very clean copy of the text. Else
a fine copy. In a cloth slipcase.
An anonymous account by a field officer, now attributed to John Goulston Price
Tucker, of Samuel Auchmuty’s capture of Montevideo in 1807. This attack was
one of a series of British incursions in South America in the beginning of the 19th
century. Auchmuty’s original mission was to retake Buenos Aires, which had briefly
been under British control. As this was not possible, he chose instead to attack
nearby Montevideo, which was strongly fortified, but much smaller than Buenos
Aires. The work includes the narrative of the operations and the text of Auchmuty’s
general order declaring victory. An appendix records Auchmuty’s own version of
the events, names of British wounded and killed, prizes taken at Montevideo, and
related proceedings in Parliament. The engraved plan shows the geographic region,
with British troop movements delineated.
SABIN 51819. ALBERICH 1248.
$3250.
A Major Archive of Early Buenos Aires Imprints
23. [Buenos Aires Imprints]: [BOUND COLLECTION OF 224 SOUTH
AMERICAN IMPRINTS, INCLUDING 218 INDIVIDUAL TITLES PRINTED IN BUENOS AIRES BETWEEN 1807 AND
1809]. Buenos Aires. 1807-1809. Three bound volumes, plus nine unbound
or disbound pamphlets, for a total of 224 separate imprints (including one Rio
de Janeiro imprint, two Spanish imprints, and two Buenos Aires duplicates).
All items but one (the Rio de Janeiro imprint at the beginning of the first
volume, printed in Portuguese and French) printed in Spanish. Small quarto.
Contemporary vellum, original leather ties, contemporary ink manuscript titles
on spines. Vellum slightly soiled. In fine condition.
An extraordinary archive of Buenos Aires imprints, composed primarily of newsletters printed at the Imprenta Niños Expòsitos between June 1807 and November
1809. The collection represents over one quarter of the entire recorded output of
the Buenos Aires press during this period and constitutes a major archive of news
stories extracted from Spanish, Portuguese, English, and Brazilian sources and
printed for Argentine readers during a pivotal period in the region’s history. The
news accounts, together with a significant number of manifestos, poems, proclamations, and decrees, cover the invasions and defeats of the British at Montevideo
and Buenos Aires in 1807, the collapse of the Spanish monarchy in 1808, Spanish
efforts against Napoleonic rule, and the battles and effects of the Napoleonic wars
in Europe and the Americas – crucial events in the formation of Argentine selfdetermination and eventual independence from Spain. The first and third volumes
of the collection are largely devoted to newsletters, while the second volume contains
a number of separate pamphlets, manifestos, and political statements.
Virtually all of the imprints in the collection are listed in Guillermo Furlong’s
authoritative Historia y Bibliografía de las Primeras Imprentas Rioplatenses. Exceptions
include an anti-Napoleonic manifesto printed in Rio de Janeiro (Volume 1, item
1); two pamphlets printed for the Spanish government-in-exile at Cadiz (Volume
2, items 84 and 89); and two items not bearing a publisher’s imprint, but for which
context, paper, and printing style all suggest a Buenos Aries origin (Volume 1,
item 56, and Volume 3, item 71). A detailed list of the imprints is available upon
request. $65,000.
24. [Argentina]: AN AUTHENTIC NARRATIVE OF THE PRO-
CEEDINGS OF THE EXPEDITION UNDER THE COMMAND
OF BRIGADIER-GEN. CRAUFURD, UNTIL ITS ARRIVAL
AT MONTE VIDEO; WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE OPERATIONS AGAINST BUENOS AYRES UNDER THE COMMAND
OF LIEUT.-GEN. WHITELOCKE. By an Officer of the Expedition. London. 1808. viii,216,[1]pp. plus four folding maps. Antique-style
three-quarter calf and marbled boards. Minor offsetting and foxing on titlepage and to other leaves facing maps. Old library stamps on first two leaves;
contemporary ownership inscription on titlepage. Errata slip pasted to verso
of titlepage. Very good, untrimmed.
In 1807, Gen. John Whitelocke was sent to the Rio de la Plata with a large force.
His goal was to reinforce British troops already operating there and in Argentina and
to seize Buenos Aires, a move designed to open up the markets of South America
to British commerce and replace those lost on the Continent by Napoleon’s blockade. Despite his large force, Whitelocke proceeded cautiously and ineptly, further
hampered by bad weather. The assault on Buenos Aires was met by civilian as well
as military resistance, when the British had expected local merchants to welcome
them with open arms. Craufurd commanded a light brigade, which led the attack
on Buenos Aires and successfully achieved its objectives. However, a large part of
the attacking force was cut off and forced to surrender while Whitelocke napped
in his tent and Craufurd’s brigade was ordered to surrender with the rest of the
British force. Santiago Liniers, the Spanish commander, proposed a truce if the
British would promise to withdraw in two months, but said he could not answer
for the safety of the prisoners if the attack was renewed. Feeling that the object
of the expedition was now untenable, Whitelocke accepted those terms. The British withdrew to Montevideo and then to England, losing what might have been a
foothold in South America. Whitelocke was the subject of the greatest scorn on
returning to England, where he was court-martialed and cashiered. Though this
work is sometimes attributed to General Whitelocke, the accusatory and wounded
tone of the narrative makes that unlikely.
SABIN 103672. PALAU 375051. HALKETT & LAING 1, p.164. DNB (online).
$2000.
One Other Copy Located
25. [Argentina]: BUENOS AYRES. AN AUTHENTIC NARRATIVE
OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE EXPEDITION AGAINST
BUENOS AYRES, UNDER THE COMMAND OF LIEUT. GEN.
WHITELOCKE. By an Irish Officer. Dublin: Printed by R. Smith and
published by W. Figgis, 1808. 109pp. 20th-century three-quarter morocco and
cloth, spine gilt. Shelf mark plate of Markree Library on front pastedown,
signature of E.S. Cooper on titlepage. A very good copy.
An anonymous account by a field officer relating the unsuccessful British attempt
under Lieut. Gen. Whitelocke to recapture Buenos Aires in 1807. The articles of
the treaty ceasing hostilities between the Spanish and the British signed on July 7,
1807 are included. Following this narrative the author provides a “brief description of the country, and a short account of such circumstances as came under our
observation, in those parts we passed through.” OCLC records only one copy of
this Dublin imprint, located at the National Library of Ireland.
NAYLOR 26. ALBERICH 1210.
$3500.
26. [ Whitelocke, John]: THE PROCEEDINGS OF A GENERAL
COURT MARTIAL, HELD AT CHELSEA HOSPITAL, ON
THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 1808, AND CONTINUED, BY ADJOURNMENT, TILL TUESDAY, MARCH 15, FOR THE TRIAL
OF LIEUT. GEN. WHITELOCKE, LATE COMMANDER-INCHIEF OF THE FORCES IN SOUTH AMERICA. London. 1808.
Two volumes. [8],438,xxxix; [8],439-828pp. plus two folding maps. Modern
three-quarter calf and marbled boards, leather labels. Titlepage of first volume
and both maps backed with stiff paper. Minor toning in text; some minor
scattered foxing. Very good.
The proceedings of General John Whitelocke’s court-martial upon his return from
the failed campaign in Argentina. In 1807, General Whitelocke was sent to the
Rio de la Plata with a large force. His goal was to reinforce British troops already
operating there and in Argentina, and to seize Buenos Aires, a move designed to
open up the markets of South America to British commerce and replace those lost
on the Continent by Napoleon’s blockade. Despite his large force, Whitelocke
proceeded cautiously and ineptly, further hampered by bad weather. The assault
on Buenos Aires was met by civilian as well as military resistance, when the British had expected local merchants to welcome them with open arms. Craufurd
commanded a light brigade, which led the attack on Buenos Aires and successfully
achieved its objectives. However, a large part of the attacking force was cut off and
forced to surrender while Whitelocke napped in his tent and Craufurd’s brigade
was ordered to surrender with the rest of the British force. Santiago Liniers, the
Spanish commander, proposed a truce if the British would promise to withdraw
in two months, but said he could not answer for the safety of the prisoners if the
attack was renewed. Feeling that the object of the expedition was now untenable,
Whitelocke accepted those terms. The British withdrew to Montevideo and then
to England, losing what might have been a foothold in South America. Whitelocke
was the subject of the greatest scorn on returning to England, where he was courtmartialed and cashiered.
SABIN 103677.
$750.
The Rarest Account of the Burr Treason Trial,
with the Rare Portrait by St. Mémin
27. [Wirt, William]: THE TWO PRINCIPAL ARGUMENTS OF WIL-
LIAM WIRT, ESQUIRE, ON THE TRIAL OF AARON BURR,
FOR HIGH TREASON, AND ON THE MOTION TO COMMIT
AARON BURR AND OTHERS, FOR TRIAL IN KENTUCKY.
Richmond. 1808. Title-leaf, leaf of ads, 221pp. Engraved portrait. 16mo. Contemporary tree calf, rebacked in matching style, spine gilt. Corners slightly
worn. Early, neat gift inscription on front fly leaf, bookplate on front pastedown. A very good copy. In a cloth chemise and half morocco slipcase, spine
gilt.
Published the same year that Wirt, then future United States attorney general, was
elected to the House of Delegates. His prestige was increased dramatically when
he appeared for the prosecution of the case against Burr, which prompted Jefferson
to suggest Wirt seek a congressional seat, which the latter declined. A key Burr
item, in which his grand conspiracy to separate the southwestern U.S., foment
rebellion in Mexico, and establish himself as ruler of a vast American empire, is
explored. The fine portrait of Wirt by St. Mémin is often lacking and was probably
not issued with all copies.
HOWES W587. SABIN 104883. COHEN 14120. TOMPKINS 112. STREETER SALE 1693.
SHAW & SHOEMAKER 16753.
$4500.
28. Clark, Daniel: PROOFS OF THE CORRUPTION OF GEN.
JAMES WILKINSON, AND OF HIS CONNEXION [sic] WITH
AARON BURR.... Philadelphia. 1809. [2],150,199pp. Modern paper boards
and label. Very good, untrimmed.
Clark, a former resident of New Orleans and business associate of Wilkinson, produced considerable testimony against the General in the course of the Burr trial,
for which he was subjected to much abuse by Wilkinson partisans. He published
this book to present his case and clear his own good name. He demonstrates that
Wilkinson was receiving payments from the Spanish government, and that he was
actively involved in the Burr Conspiracy and plots for the Southwest to separate
from the Union.
HOWES C431, “aa.” STREETER SALE 1694. SHAW & SHOEMAKER 17221. TOMPKINS
28.
$1250.
29. Havey y Podán, G.: UN INDIO MESTIZO, DEL PARTIDO DE
CHICHAS, EXHORTA A SUS COMPATRIOTAS, Y RECONVIENE A LOS FRANCESES [caption title]. Buenos Aires: Imprenta
de Niño Expósitos, 1809. 14pp. Small quarto. Contemporary waste-paper
wrappers, with engraved geometric figures inside the rear wrapper. Very good
and clean.
A very rare work relating to the political events leading to Argentina’s independence.
During Napoleon’s seizure of Spain, sentiment in Rio de La Plata was patriotically on the side of the Spanish monarchy. This pamphlet attacks Napoleon and
his advances in Spain, which are interpreted as a prelude to France’s ambitions in
Latin America. Although independence from Spain is not called for in the present pamphlet, the text does reflect a fresh assertiveness on the part of the Buenos
Aires Creoles, which eventually led to the establishment of a cabildo abierto, or open
town meeting, paving the way to formal independence from Spain on July 9, 1816.
“Los hostilidades se dilatan, el tiempo urge, la impaciencia de ver a nuestro amado
Monarca en los brazos de los Españoles, exige los mayores exfuerzos de nuestra
parte...Amados peruanos: estamos obligados a transmitir a las generaciones venideras
los hechos mas grandes de la Gran Bretaña en favor de nuestras armas....” The
NUC locates only a single copy of this rarity, at Harvard. Not in Medina’s Buenos
Aires Imprints. “Raro” – Palau.
PALAU 112553.
$1250.
30. [Peru]: DON JOSE FERNANDO DE ABASCAL Y SOUSA...POR
QUANTO EN CARTA ACORDADA DEL SUPREMO CONSEJO
DE INDIAS SE ME PREVIENE LO SIGUIENTE [first line of text].
Lima. 1809. Broadside, 37 x 16½ inches. Old fold lines. Backed with later
paper. Slight worming, affecting small portions of text. Minor soiling. Good.
A bando printing of this proclamation establishing the Junta Central Suprema and
calling members to take the oath of office on an appointed day. One of the first
abortive attempts to rebel against Spanish authority in Peru. No copies are listed
in OCLC.
MEDINA (LIMA) 2136. VARGAS UGARTE 3408.
$750.
31. Workman, James: ESSAYS AND LETTERS ON VARIOUS POLITICAL SUBJECTS. New York: Printed and published by I. Riley, 1809.
165pp. 12mo. Contemporary three-quarter calf and marbled boards. Boards
rubbed, hinges cracking. Early 19th-century lending library bookplate of the
Newark Library Society; old stamp of the New Jersey Historical Society on
titlepage (noting deaccession). Scattered tanning and foxing. Good. In a cloth
clamshell box, gilt leather label.
“Styles itself the “Second American Edition” on the titlepage, as portions had appeared previously” – Howes. Workman, a British lawyer of the Middle Temple,
emigrated to the United States in 1801. After a stint as a newspaper editor in
Charleston, Workman went to New Orleans, where he was appointed a judge of
Orleans Parish. In that capacity he worked to frustrate the local authorities in political and legal matters, focusing especially on William Claiborne, the governor of the
Territory of Orleans. He took a leading role in forming the “Mexican Association
of New Orleans,” whose avowed purpose was to foment an invasion of Mexico and
set up an independent territory, and Workman was also a co-conspirator in Aaron
Burr’s plot to wrest away a portion of the southwest from the United States. In
his judicial role, Workman sought to vacate the arrests of the Burr conspirators
ordered by General James Wilkinson (himself a co-conspirator with Burr). This
resulted in Workman’s own arrest in January 1807. He was charged with treason;
a few weeks later he resigned his judgeship, and was ultimately tried and found
not guilty. These issues are directly addressed in the third essay, which is the most
important essay for the Americanist in this volume, and which is entitled “A Letter
to the Respectable Citizens, Inhabitants of the County of Orleans; Together with
Several Letters to Governor Claiborne, and other Documents Relative to the Extraordinary Measures Lately Pursued in This Territory.” Unlike the other essays, it
carries its own titlepage, though the pagination shows that it is part of the volume
as a whole. In this essay Workman describes his attempts to oppose Wilkinson’s
actions, in particular the arrests of Peter Ogden and Justus Erich Bollman. He
provides several documents that seek to exonerate his actions and defend his legal
opinions. He also uses the essay to further attack Governor Claiborne’s legislative
program, accusing him of dereliction of duty. This essay was also published separately in New Orleans in 1807, and republished in Boston in 1808.
The first two essays, “An Argument Against Continuing the War for the Subversion of the French Government” and “A Letter to the Duke of Portland, Being
an Answer to the Two Letters of the Right Honorable Edmund Burke, Against
Treating for Peace with the French Republic,” were originally published in England
in the 1790s, and were also included in Workman’s Political Essays, published in
Alexandria, Virginia in 1801. They relate to British policy regarding Napoleonic
France. The fourth essay relates Workman’s reasons for opposing a Bill of Divorce
before the Legislative Council of the Territory of Orleans, and the fifth essay
prints Workman’s “Proposals for Publishing a Digest of the Laws of Castile and
the Spanish Indies.”
Though well-represented in institutions, this work is rare on the market. The
Streeter copy brought $550.
HOWES W676, “aa.” SHAW & SHOEMAKER 19278. STREETER SALE 1697. SABIN
105480.
$2500.
Item 33.
Key Document in the Burr-Wilkinson Investigation
32. [Burr-Wilkinson Conspiracy]: REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE,
APPOINTED TO INQUIRE INTO THE CONDUCT OF BRIGADIER GEN. J. WILKINSON. MAY 1st, 1810. Washington: Printed by
Roger C. Weightman, 1810. 217pp. plus five folding tables. Gathered signatures, stitched as issued. Titlepage torn in upper right margin and lower margin, with no loss of text. Scattered foxing and light tanning. Good, untrimmed.
In a cloth clamshell case, leather label.
A rare and important collection of documents relating to the Burr-Wilkinson
conspiracy. Wilkinson, who had a distinguished military career dating back to the
Revolution, was appointed governor of Louisiana Territory by Jefferson in 1805. He
conspired with Burr to carve out an empire in the West, and when Burr was found
out, Wilkinson turned on him. “Report of the congressional inquiry in relation
to Wilkinson’s having received money from Spain and having been an accomplice
with Burr in a plot to dismember the Union. It is an important document of the
conspiracy, containing the secret letters and correspondence of Carondelet, Wilkinson, Power, Philip Nolan, Portell and others; the reports of various members of the
intrigue on the state of the Western Country and people; reports of observation,
negotiation and travel through the Mississippi Valley from New Orleans to Detroit;
with depositions of the informants, etc.” – Eberstadt.
STREETER SALE 1699. TOMPKINS 80. HOWES W432, “aa.” EBERSTADT 134:89. SHAW &
SHOEMAKER 21810.
$3750.
Revolution!
Announcing the Overthrow of the Spanish Government
and Deposing of the Captain General in Venezuela
33. Rivas y Galindo, Francisco: [Text begins:] PROCLAMA QUE HIZO
DON FRANCISCO RIVAS Y GALINDO, JOVEN DE EDAD DE
QUINCE AÑOS, HIJO DE DON VALENTIN RIVAS UNO DE
LOS SS. VOCALES DE LA SUPREMA JUNTA GUBERNATIVA
DE CARACAS, À LOS HABITANTES DE VENEZUELA. Caracas:
Gallagher & Lamb, April 20, 1810. Broadside, 12¼ inches. Minor worming
in foremargin, repaired. A very good copy.
A broadside of the greatest importance, announcing the overthrow of the Viceregal
government in northern South America and the establishment of a new junta. Young
Rivas, son of one of the leaders of the first independent government in Venezuela,
calls on all Venezuelans to unite behind the new authority, saying “the inhabitants of
this city” have overthrown an illegitimate government, have established a “supreme
authority,” and are now breathing “the air of Independence.” He points out the
remaining provinces are the body of the new nation and that without them Caracas
is merely a bodyless head. “Unite or die” is his plea, and by doing so, “[w]e will
form a nation that will know how to maintain the honor of the Spanish people and
that will make all others respect us.”
The revolt of April, 1810 was one of a series which rippled across Latin America
that spring and summer. The catalyst was the proclamation of the Spanish Cortes,
sitting in exile in Cadiz while the Peninsular War dragged on, to establish a Regency
in the name of Ferdinand VII, still a French captive while Napoleon’s brother Joseph
ruled Spain. While outwardly a liberal step, this was in fact a reassertion of Spanish authority in the New World, and alarming to those dreaming of independence.
The commissioners arrived in Caracas on April 19, 1810, and delivered their news.
The next day- the day this broadside was issued- the new junta deposed of the
Captain-General of Venezuela, Emparan, and sent him into exile. The Revolution
had begun, although lip service was still paid of loyalty to Ferdinand VII.
This broadside was printed on the first regularly established press in Venezuela,
and is only the sixteenth item in Pedro Grases’ chronological list of things printed
in Venezuela. The accepted date for “the beginning” of printing in Venezuela is
October 1808, with the arrival of the press of Gallagher and Lamb and the first
publication of Andrés Bello’s Gazeta de Caracas. Grases locates only the copies in
the Public Record Office (London) and the Archivo de Indias (Seville). Searches
of NUC and OCLC fail to find any copy at all. Further, no copies were found
when searching the OPACs of the national libraries of Spain, Venezuela, Colombia,
France, and England, nor was it known to Medina.
A key document in the history of Latin American independence.
GRASES, HISTORIA DE LA IMPRENTA EN VENEZUELA 16. VILLASANA VI:108. Cam-
bridge History of Latin America III:102.
$20,000.
The Revolution in Venezuela
Announcing the Support of the Commercial Class
34. Llamosas, José de las, and Martín Tovar Ponte: [Text begins:] LA SU-
PREMA JUNTA GUBERNATIVA DE ESTA CAPITAL, HA RECIBIDO CON LA MAYOR SATISFACCION EL VOTO SINCERO
Y GENEROSO DE MUCHOS INDIVIDUOS ESPAÑOLES ENROPEOS [sic] DE COMERCIO DE ESTA CIUDAD.... Caracas: Gallagher y Lamb, April 20, 1810. Broadside, 12¼ inches tall. Slight worming in
foremargin, touching but not costing three letters; repaired. A very good copy.
On the day after the coup d’état that deposed the Captain General, the leaders of
the governing junta in Caracas announce that many of the city’s Spanish and European merchants have given their support to the new government. Whether they
did so willingly or because of pressure is not known, but this is clearly a statement
that is directed at both the hold-out merchants and at those hotheads who might
seek to extract compliance extra-governmentally.
Llamosas and Tovar Ponte were among the leading figures of the early Independence movement in Venezuela. The junta paid lip service to continued loyalty to
the Spanish monarch imprisoned by the French; both served as president of Junta
of Defense of the Rule of Fernando VII (later, The Revolutionary Junta), Llamosas
from April 19 to August 1810, and Tovar August 1810 to March 2, 1811. Additionally, Tovar Ponte, the favorite son of an elite family, was a member of the 1811
Congress and a signer of the Venezuelan Act of Independence on July 5 of that year.
This proclamation was printed by Venezuela’s first press, that of Gallagher and
Lamb, which only arrived in Caracas in October 1808. It is the fourteenth item
in Pedro Grases’ chronological list of things printed in Venezuela. Evidently the
third known copy: Grases located only the copies in the Public Record Office in
London and the Archivo de Indias in Seville. Searches of NUC and OCLC fail to
find any copy at all. Further, no copies were found when searching the OPACs of
the national libraries of Venezuela, Colombia, Spain, France, and England.
A highly important document of the Venezuelan Revolution, issued the day of
the overthrow of the old government.
GRASES, HISTORIA DE LA IMPRENTA EN VENEZUELA 14.
$9000.
Item 35.
A Patriotic Hymn Celebrating Venezuelan National Independence,
by the Author of the National Anthem: Only Known Copy
35. Bello, Andrés: [Text begins:] CANCION PATRIOTICA DE CARACAS. Caracas: Gallagher y Lamb, 1810. Broadside, 12¼ inches. Worming in
foremargin repaired. A very good copy.
In the days immediately following the coup that deposed the Captain General
and began the long process of independence, Andrés Bello, Venezuela’s great poet,
collaborated with Cayetano Carreño, “Maestro de Capilla” of the main church of
Caracas cathedral, in the composing of several “patriotic songs.” One of those
early efforts became the national anthem of Venezuela. This is one that did not.
It begins: “Caraqueños, otra época empieza: / De la gloria la senda se abrio.” It was
sung for the first time by Cayetano Carreño and six other voices on the night of
April 23, 1810, three days after the coup, with the accompaniment of the military
orchestra of the “Batallon Veterano.” The performance took place below the balcony
on which were assembled the members of the Supreme Junta.
In addition to the historic collaboration of Bello and Carreño, this fabulous
document has the distinction of having been printed by Venezuela’s first press, that
of Gallagher and Lamb, which arrived in Caracas in October 1808, and was almost
certainly printed on April 24, the day after the hymn was first sung.
This broadside seems to be completely unrecorded. It was unknown to imprint
bibliographers Medina and Pedro Grases. Searches of NUC and OCLC fail to find
any copy at all, as is the case when searching the OPACs of the national libraries
of Venezuela, Colombia, Spain, France, and England.
A stirring Revolutionary moment, by Venezuela’s first great poet. $27,500.
A Supplement to the First Caracas Newspaper
36. [GAZETA DE CARACAS]: SUPLEMENTO A LA GAZETA DE
CARACAS. Caracas: Gallagher y Lamb, April 27, 1810. [1]p. Folio. Worming in foremargin, touching two letters, repaired. Small hole where paper was
thin at center of leaf, with loss of a bit of a rule but no text. Pencilling in
margins. A very good copy.
Newspaper printing did not begin in Venezuela until October 1808, when the
press of Gallagher and Lamb arrived and printed, as its first product, the first issue
of Andrés Bello’s Gazeta de Caracas. The news that Andrés Bello gives to eager
readers in this supplement concerns the total occupation of Madrid by Napoleon’s
forces, the fleeing to Gibraltar of 5000 Spanish soldiers, and other distresses that
the Spanish army was suffering. Rare: Charno locates copies of the supplement
only at the Newberry and University of Texas libraries.
CHARNO, LATIN AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS IN UNITED STATES LIBRARIES, pp.590-
92.
$2500.
“Americanos”: Proclaiming Venezuela
One of the Free Governments of the Americas
37 . [Venezuela – Junta Suprema Gubernativa]: [Text begins:] AMERICANOS. EL ORDEN POLITICO DEL OTRO HEMISFERIO HA
REDUCIDO LA ESPAÑA Á SER VICTIMA DE LA PERFIDIO Y
OORESION Y ESTE PUEBLO GENEROSO CONDUCIDO DE
UNO EN OTRO INFORTUNIO VA YA Á SER BORRADO DEL
CATALOGO DE LAS NACIONES.... Caracas: Gallagher y Lamb, July
1811. Broadside, 12¼ inches tall. Slight worming in foremargin, repaired. A
very good copy.
July 5, 1811 is Venezuela’s official independence day, following more than a year
of wrangling and temporary measures after the deposing of the Captain General
on April 20, 1810 and the establishment of a caretaker government that already
styled itself as “independent,” despite paying lip service to loyalty to Ferdinand VII.
This document dates from immediately after July 5th, as internal evidence shows.
Here the Junta Suprema explains what it perceives as the political reality of Spain’s
dissolution into non-nationhood under Napoleon and thereby justifies “Venezuela
[having] entered now, Americanos, into the number of free nations of the Americas.”
This is the third known copy. Grases locates only the copies in the Public
Record Office (London) and the Archivo de Indias (Seville). Searches of NUC
and OCLC fail to find any copy at all. Furthermore, no copies were found when
searching the OPACs of the national libraries of Venezuela, Colombia, Spain,
France, and England.
An exciting proclamation at the beginning of Venezuelan independence.
GRASES, HISTORIA DE LA IMPRENTA EN VENEZUELA 72. Cambridge History of Latin
$17,500.
America III:110.
First Government Exploration of the Southwest
38. Pike, Zebulon M.: AN ACCOUNT OF EXPEDITIONS TO THE
SOURCES OF THE MISSISSIPPI, AND THROUGH THE
WESTERN PARTS OF LOUISIANA, TO THE SOURCES OF
THE ARKANSAW, KANS, LA PLATTE, AND PIERRE JAUN,
RIVERS...DURING THE YEARS 1805, 1806, AND 1807. AND A
TOUR THROUGH THE INTERIOR PARTS OF NEW SPAIN...
IN THE YEAR 1807. Philadelphia: Published by C. & A. Conrad, & Co....,
1810. [8],105,[11],[107]-277,[3],65,[1],53,[1],87pp. plus six maps (five folding) and three folding charts. Frontispiece portrait. 19th-century three-quarter
brown morocco and marbled boards, gilt-lettered spine. Slight shelf wear.
Offsetting on titlepage as usual. Minor toning and foxing. Contemporary
armorial bookplate on front pastedown. Overall very good.
The report of the first United States government expedition to the Southwest, and
one of the most important of all American travel narratives, including an account of
Pike’s travels to explore the headwaters of the Arkansas and Red rivers, his earlier
journey to explore the sources of the Mississippi River, and his visit to the Spanish
settlements in New Mexico. Pike’s narrative stands with those of Lewis and Clark,
and Long, as the most important of early books on western exploration and as a
cornerstone of Western Americana. The maps were the first to exhibit a geographic
knowledge of the Southwest based on firsthand exploration and are considered
“milestones in the mapping of the American West” (Wheat). “The description of
Texas is excellent” – Streeter Texas.
Item 37.
The Pike expedition probed at the Spanish borderlands, which Jefferson believed
were ripe for collapse. Ultimately his expedition was captured by a Spanish military
force and expelled from New Spain.
HOWES P373, “b.” WAGNER-CAMP 9:1. STREETER SALE 3125. WHEAT TRANSMISSISSIPPI 297, 298, 299. GRAFF 3290. FIELD 1217. STREETER TEXAS 1047C. HILL 1357. BRADFORD 4415. RITTENHOUSE 467. SABIN 62936. JONES 743. BRAISLIN 1474.
$30,000.
39. [Onìs, Luis de]: THE PASSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT’S MES-
SAGE, WHICH RELATES TO THE FORCIBLE OCCUPATION
OF WEST FLORIDA, IMPERIOUSLY CLAIMS THE ATTENTION OF EVERY AMERICAN...[caption title]. [Np. possibly 1810,
but more likely 1811]. 20pp. Errata slip affixed to final page. [bound with:]
Onìs, Luis de: OBSERVATIONS ON THE CONDUCT OF OUR
EXECUTIVE TOWARD SPAIN [caption title]. [Georgetown. 1813].
25,[1]pp. [bound with:] Toze, Eobald: THE FREEDOM OF THE
NAVIGATION AND COMMERCE OF NEUTRAL NATIONS,
DURING WAR, CONSIDERED...[caption title]. [Np. nd]. [153]312pp. All three titles bound in contemporary tree calf, rebacked in modern
calf, gilt morocco label. Uniform light tanning. Ownership signature of Charles
Jared Ingersoll (see below) on front pastedown. Very good. In a half morocco
and cloth box.
The first two of three early and important tracts on the growing controversy between
the United States and Spain over West Florida and Texas, published anonymously
by Luis de Onìs under the pen name of “Verus.” As the Spanish minister to the
United States, Onìs would negotiate the landmark Adams-Onìs treaty of 1819, by
which the U.S. acquired Florida, agreed to a boundary with Spain all the way to the
Pacific Ocean, and fixed the boundary between Louisiana and Spanish-controlled
Texas. In the two tracts present here, Onìs addresses the question of the control
of West Florida and the boundary of Texas. Onìs was not recognized by the U.S.
as the Spanish ambassador until 1815, and so here he writes in the guise of an
American citizen attempting to support Spanish claims to West Florida. He warns
of the “awful consequences” that would likely arise from the “rash, unwarranted, and
ill-fated” American occupation, foreseeing potential military conflict with Spain,
Great Britain, and France. Of the first essay, no copy is known to have a titlepage
or imprint, and all conform to our copy. We can locate five copies, plus the Streeter
copy, of this first tract.
In the second title Onìs again defends Spain’s title to West Florida and attacks
American claims that the Brazos River constitutes the western boundary of Louisiana,
which he calls “ridiculous and unfounded.” He also protests against the Guiterrez
de Lara filibuster from Natchitoches into Texas. Copies of this second tract are
known with and (more commonly) without titlepages. A third anonymous tract
by Onìs appeared in 1817, and all three were published in his Memoria... of 1820,
where he ascribes dates to them. Onìs dates the first essay to 1810, while Servies
argues that it is a response to Madison’s message of Jan. 3, 1811, and therefore
reasonably dates it in that year.
This entire volume bears the ownership signature of Charles Jared Ingersoll
(1782-1862), author of Inchiquin and a history of the War of 1812, and a lawyer
and politician who served in the U.S. House from 1813 to 1815, and again from
1841 to 1849, when he was active in the debate over the annexation of Texas, and
on the sectional controversy. Ingersoll has identified himself as the translator of
the third item in this volume, a treatise on freedom of navigation published in The
American Law Journal (circa 1817).
An important and rare pair of tracts on the growing controversy over West
Florida, and on the boundaries of Texas and the westward reach of the United States.
Passage...: SERVIES 825. STREETER SALE 1534. SABIN 99315. SHAW & SHOEMAKER 20955.
Observations...: SERVIES 837. STREETER TEXAS 1052. SABIN 99313. SHAW & SHOEMAKER
29416.
$5000.
40. [Burr-Wilkinson Conspiracy]: REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE
APPOINTED TO INQUIRE INTO THE CONDUCT OF GENERAL WILKINSON. FEBRUARY 26, 1811. Washington: A. and G.
Way, 1811. 582pp. plus four folding tables. Contemporary three-quarter calf
and marbled boards, gilt morocco label. Boards a bit rubbed. Scattered foxing.
A very good copy.
This copy bears the ownership signature of Stephen R. Bradley at the foot of the
titlepage. Stephen Row Bradley (1754-1830) graduated from Yale and served in
the Continental Army and in a variety of judicial and political posts in Vermont
before becoming the first United States Senator from that state, in 1791. He served
in that position until 1795, and again in the U.S. Senate from 1801 to 1813, as a
Democratic Republican.
An important and scarce collection of documents giving much insight into the
workings of the Burr-Wilkinson conspiracy, issued in the same year that Wilkinson was court-martialed (and eventually found not guilty) for his role in the affair.
Wilkinson, who had a distinguished military career dating back to the Revolution,
was appointed governor of Louisiana Territory by Jefferson in 1805. He conspired
with Burr to carve out an empire in the West, and when Burr was found out,
Wilkinson turned on him. These documents bring together evidence of the charges
that Wilkinson accepted money from Spanish authorities, and that he worked with
Burr in a plot to break off southern and western territories from the United States.
Included are depositions of witnesses both for and against Wilkinson, private letters
to and from Wilkinson, reproductions of correspondence between him and the War
Department, and much, much more. Two of the plates reproduce ciphers that Burr
and Wilkinson used in their secret correspondence.
Tompkins notes that most copies end at page 522, instead of at page 582 (as
in this copy). Howes and Shaw & Shoemaker call for five folding tables, but we
believe that count to be incorrect, as most copies of which we are aware contain
four or fewer folding tables. Tompkins calls for only two sheets of ciphers (both
present in this copy), and the Streeter copy had only three folding tables. Not in
Sabin. Scarce on the market, and important in telling the story of the Burr conspiracy and Wilkinson’s role in it.
HOWES W433, “aa.” TOMPKINS 81. SHAW & SHOEMAKER 24269. STREETER SALE 1702.
EBERSTADT 134:91.
$3750.
41. [Errazuriz y Aldunate, Xavier]: MANIFESTO DEL ALCALDE
ORDINARIO DE ESTA CIUDAD DE SANTIAGO DE CHILE...
[caption title]. [Buenos Aires: Niños Expòsitos, April 20, 1811]. 7pp. Small
piece excised from last leaf, affecting two words. Internally clean. Very good.
In a half morocco box.
A concise summary of a short-lived rebellion that occurred in Santiago on April 1,
1811. Chile, newly independent the previous year, would struggle for the next three
years to establish a solid government. Similar Argentine imprints are extremely
rare. OCLC locates only one copy.
OCLC 29506741.
$1000.
A Havana Imprint Attacking Napoleon
42. Figuera de Vargas, Francisco: LA UNION INDISOLUBLE. AVISO
Á LOS INCAUTOS AMERICANOS CONTRA LA SEDUCCIONES DE NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, Y MAXÍMAS DE LOS NUEVOS FILOSOFOS. Havana: Don Esteban Joseph Boloña, 1811. [6],28pp.
Quarto. Quarter modern polished calf over linen-covered boards, spine gilt.
Minor instances of light foxing at edges of first and last printed leaves. Lower
corner of rear fly leaf torn. A very good copy.
An extremely rare early 19th-century Havana imprint defending the monarchy
and Spanish sovereignty on the Peninsula and in the New World against Napoleon
and the negative influences of other contemporary philosophies. Issued during the
Peninsular War, Figuera de Vargas’ pamphlet was intended to promote the continued
union of the Spanish realm in both hemispheres and to serve as a warning against
the “seductive” elements of the French invasion and other pernicious influences.
Due to a combination of climate and often poor paper quality, colonial-era Cuban
imprints are rare. Not recorded in OCLC, RLIN, or Palau. $3500.
West Floridians Appeal to the United States
43. [Florida]: PETITION OF THE INHABITANTS OF WEST FLOR-
IDA; SIGNED BY GEORGE PATTERSON, AND FOUR HUNDRED AND TEN OTHERS. Washington City: R.C. Weightman, 1811.
7pp. Dbd. Some tearing to spine. Minor foxing. About very good.
A dramatic petition from the residents of West Florida to Congress, imploring the
United States to annex their lands (recently seized from the Spanish) to Mississippi
Territory rather than that of New Orleans. The petitioners argue that West Florida
is far more comparable to Mississippi Territory in terms of climate, politics, and
culture, and that attachment to any other region would jeopardize the “unanimity”
upon which domestic peace in the United States depends. The 1810 rebellion of
West Florida residents against Spanish rule (artfully engineered by Madison, who
considered the region rightfully a part of Louisiana) opened the door for United
States occupation under the guise of liberation. Spain, embroiled in the Napoleonic
wars, was in no position to defend her interests. By March 1811 negotiations had
begun under which Spain would ultimately cede the territory between the Mississippi and Perdido rivers to the United States.
“In 1812, immediately after the admission of the [Orleans Territory] as the State
of Louisiana, the western or Baton Rouge District of West Florida was annexed
thereto by Congress. The middle or Mobile District came into the Union in 1817
and 1819 as the southernmost portions of Mississippi and Alabama” – Cohen.
Good evidence of one of the earliest Washington-born coups in U.S. diplomatic
history. Not in Servies. Scarce.
COHEN 10806. SHAW & SHOEMAKER 24256. OCLC 29145713.
$750.
44. [Funes, Dean]: UN HABITANTE DE ESTA CIUDAD A LOS HA-
BITANTES DE LA PROVINCIA DE BUENOSAYRES [caption
title]. [Buenos Aires: Niños Expòsitos, May 8, 1811]. [3]pp. Self-wrappers.
Minor staining. Old library stamp on recto of first leaf and verso of last leaf.
Very good.
A charged political pamphlet lamenting conditions in Buenos Aires, particularly the
alienation of the surrounding towns from the bustling port city. The independence
movement in Buenos Aires had stalled with the installation of an executive triumvirate led by Bernardino Rivadavia in 1811. Though the triumvirate’s centralist
policies benefited the city, the surrounding towns were quickly marginalized. In
the present pamphlet Funes (identified as the author by OCLC) does not recognize
the legitimacy of the government and encourages a regime change. Such early
Argentine imprints are extremely rare. OCLC locates only two copies.
Jay Kinsbruner, Independence in Spanish America (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1994),
$600.
p.59. OCLC 14769931.
The West Florida Rebellion
45. [Mead, Cowles]: LETTER FROM COWLES MEAD, SPEAKER OF
THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE MISSISSIPPI
TERRITORY, ENCLOSING A COP Y OF A PRESENTMENT
AGAINST HARRY TOULMIN, JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR
COURT FOR THE WASHINGTON DISTRICT IN SAID TERRITORY, MADE BY THE GRAND JURY OF BALDWIN COUNTY.
Washington: R.C. Weightman, 1811. 7pp. Dbd. Very minimal foxing. One
manuscript correction in text. Very good.
A letter to Congress from the Mississippi Territory legislature, expressing their
disapproval of Harry Toulmin. In 1810 insurrection broke out in West Florida, and
leaders of the Tombigbee district (near present-day Mobile) sought to mobilize and
occupy nearby Spanish holdings. Toulmin, previously tainted as a “tool” of James
Wilkinson for skirting the prosecution of Aaron Burr, exercised the full authority of
his position as superior court judge for the territory and prevented the use of force
against the Spanish. Though he managed to prevent an armed conflict, his pacific
actions made him extremely unpopular with his constituency, and many actively
sought his removal. Toulmin survived their accusations and retained his post until
1819. Rare, OCLC locating only three copies.
SHAW & SHOEMAKER 24150. OCLC 22194579. DAB XVIII, p.602.
$500.
46. [ Wilkinson, James]: MEMOIRS OF GENERAL WILKINSON.
VOLUME II [all published]. Washington: Printed for the Author, 1811.
[6],[3]-18,[3]-99,[1],136pp. Modern half morocco and marbled boards, spine
gilt. Two titlepages and advertisement leaf supplied from another copy and
washed. Contemporary gift inscription and ownership signature on front fly
leaves. Evenly tanned. A very good copy, untrimmed.
Second issue of this very rare pre-issue of Wilkinson’s Memoirs..., with the added
titlepage, “Burr’s conspiracy exposed....” Only this “Volume II” was ever issued in
this format. According to the Advertisement for the book, Wilkinson was compelled
to print this single volume of his Memoirs... “to meet the torrent of vilification”
against him as a result of his involvement in the Burr conspiracy. “This book was
issued by Wilkinson in his own vindication, and also as a reply to Daniel Clark,
who had endeavored to prove that Wilkinson was corrupt, and had been concerned
with Burr” – Tompkins. This is Wilkinson’s first public statement on the Burr
Conspiracy, and is an entirely different book from what eventually appeared as the
second volume of his Memoirs... in 1816. It is also exceedingly rare.
STREETER SALE 1700. TOMPKINS 107. SABIN 104028. HOWES W428.
$4500.
47. [Argentina]: EL GOBIERNO SUPERIOR DE LAS PROVINCIAS
UNIDAS DEL RIO DE LA PLATA...[caption title]. [Buenos Aires. Jan.
16, 1812]. Broadside, 11¼ x 7¼ inches. Small piece lacking from left corner of
lower blank margin. Old library stamp on recto and verso. Minor dust soiling.
Small repair in upper left corner, slightly affecting text. Very good.
A broadside decree by the royal government of Buenos Aires regarding the control
and licensing of military arms designed to expose recondite caches of weapons. The
decree came in the midst of a nine-month power struggle for control of Buenos
Aires, one that was lost by the government that issued the present broadside. Such
Argentine imprints are extremely rare. Not on OCLC. $600.
An Important Step to Argentine Independence
48. Monteagudo, José Bernardo de: ORACION INAUGURAL PRO-
NUNCIADA EN LA APERTURA DE LA SOCIEDAD PATRIÓTICA LA TARDE DEL 13 DE ENERO DE 1812. AÑO TERCERO
DE LA LIBERTAD DE LA AMERICA DEL SUD. Buenos Aires:
En la imprenta de niños expósitos, [1812]. 16pp. In Spanish. Dbd. Staining
throughout, affecting but not obscuring a few words of text on most pages.
One small hole and one slightly larger hole, measuring ¾-inch x 1 inch, in
terminal leaf, with loss to several words of text. Good.
The extremely rare and highly significant inaugural speech for the Argentine Societad Patriótica by South American revolutionary Bernardo de Monteagudo. In
the May Revolution of 1810, Buenos Aires installed the first local government in
the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata not designated by the Spanish crown, one of
the first moves toward South American sovereignty on the continent. In the five
years that followed, control of the city and the wider area encompassing present-day
Argentina was contested by various junta members establishing new government in
the name of the Spanish king-in-exile and more radical dissidents seeking full and
permanent independence from Spain. In January 1812, dissatisfied with the slow
progress of the First Triumvirate of the Río de la Plata, which had assumed authority
after the rule of two juntas, José de San Martin, Carlos de Alvear, and Bernardo
Monteagudo formed the Societad Patriótica. Under the slogan, “Independence,
Constitution, and Democracy,” the Society pushed for the swift establishment of
a free, independent republic and allied its cause with other revolutionary groups
throughout Spanish South America. Monteagudo’s speech inaugurating the Society begins with an exposition of Enlightenment ideas of freedom and tyranny and
continues with an analysis of the history of South Americans’ relationship to Spain,
and mentions recent developments in Quito and La Paz. Declaring that “there are
no tyrants without slaves” and that “ignorance is the origin of all the ‘desgracias’
of man,” Monteagudo finally calls his fellow citizens to focus all their energies on
independence. Largely as a result of the efforts of the Societad Patiótica, the First
Triumvirate was dissolved in October 1812, replaced by the Second Triumvirate
and soon thereafter by a series of one-man Directorships. Argentina formally declared independence in 1814. Monteagudo supported the dictatorship of Carlos
Maria de Alvear in Argentina and helped lead independence movements with San
Martin and Bernardo O’Higgins in Chile and Peru. Widely viewed as a tyrant as
his power increased, Monteagudo was assassinated in Lima in 1825. OCLC locates
only one copy, at Brown.
ZINNY, p.71.
$1250.
Early Havana Imprint
49. Solchaga, Francisco de: APOLOGIA REGULAR. ESCRITA POR
F.F.S. Havana: Imprenta de D. Antonio J. Valdes, 1812. [2],26pp. Small
quarto. Modern marbled paper over paste-paper boards. Titlepage slightly
soiled and foxed, with old tape repair over tear (affecting a few words on
verso of titlepage). Author’s name written in a later hand in ink. Remainder
of text clean, with a few instances of light foxing and soiling, a few minor
paper repairs. A very good copy.
An extremely rare early 19th-century Havana imprint defending the Roman Catholic
Church and the Spanish state against Napoleon and the ill effects of the French
invasion of Spain during the Peninsular War. Solchaga, a Spanish Capuchin priest,
wrote several works between 1809 and 1820 concerning religion, politics, and the
state. According to Palau, all were printed in Spain except for the Apologia Regular.
Due to a combination of climate and often poor paper quality, colonial-era Cuban
imprints are rare. No copies are recorded on OCLC or RLIN.
PALAU 317217.
$3000.
Pressuring the Spanish in Florida
50. [Florida]: DOCUMENTS ACCOMPANYING THE MESSAGE
OF THE PRESIDENT...OF THE FOURTEENTH INSTANT, ON
THE SUBJECT OF EAST FLORIDA. JANUARY 26, 1813. PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES.
Washington: Printed by Roger C. Weightman, 1813. 60pp. Stitched as issued.
Titlepage and final page age-toned and dampstained. Moderate age-toning and
dampstaining in text, a few minor instances of soiling. A good copy.
A very rare printing of formerly confidential documents related to a presidential
message delivered by James Madison on Jan. 14, 1813, all relating to Madison’s
high-handed pressures on the Spanish in Florida. Following a single-page motion by Michael Leib “to print certain confidential papers,” documents concerning
Spanish forces in Florida, proposed and actual military attacks on St. Augustine,
and correspondence of Secretary of State James Monroe with administrators in East
Florida, Georgia, and Spanish East Florida are printed. Also included are the texts
of “a report of Tuskegee Tustumugee’s conversation with the Spanish commandant
of St. Marks, and description of the Indian towns of Autochewau (Alachua) and
Alligator, [and]...Reports of French spoliations of American shipping (ca. 18051810)” – Servies. An extremely rare document, possibly produced for very limited
circulation. Not in RLIN; Shaw & Shoemaker locate one copy, at LC; OCLC
records only microform reproductions based on a copy at AAS.
SHAW & SHOEMAKER 30178. SERVIES 850a.
$2750.
51. [Mexico]: LA REGENCIA DEL REYNO SE HA SERVIDO DIRI-
GIRME EL DECRETO QU SIGUE...POR ESPACIO DE DIEZ
AÑOS SERÁN EXENTOS DE TODO DERECHO LOS EFECTOS DE COMERCIO LIBRE NACIONAL QUE SE INTRODUZCAN Ó EXTRAYGAN POR EL EXPRESADO PUERTO DE
GUAYMAS...[caption title]. [Madrid. April 4, 1814]. Broadsheet, 8 x 12
inches. Dbd. Light fold lines, minor edge wear and dust soiling. Very good.
An important decree affecting the economy of Arizona and Sonora. “An early
regulation covering this region and valuable as recognizing Guaymas as the gateway
to the commerce of the Internal Provinces of the West” – Eberstadt. Extremely
rare. Not on OCLC.
EBERSTADT 160:64.
$1750.
52. [Mexico]: SPANISH NORTH AMERICA [caption title]. [Edinburgh].
1814. Colored map, 20¾ x 27½ inches. Small closed tear in upper edge, repaired with tape on verso; small chip in lower edge. Else near fine. Archival
matting, and protected with a mylar sheet.
An attractive map of Mexico, Guatemala, and what is now the southwest of the
United States, made for Thomson’s New General Atlas (1817), but apparently also
sold separately. The map shows all of Mexico, with the administrative provinces
separately colored, and also includes Guatemala in the southeast. Spanish possessions in North America stretch in a wide finger well into New Mexico, and also
include a large portion of Texas. New Orleans and West Florida are shown as part
of the United States, and the northern part of the map is dominated by Louisiana
Territory. The locations of several southwestern Indian tribes are also given. OCLC
lists ten total locations for this map.
PHILLIPS, ATLASES 731. OCLC 43219617, 21805781, 9847908.
$500.
53. [New Spain]: EXMÔ. SEÑOR. = POR EL MINISTERIO DE LA
GOBERNACION DE LA PENÍNSULA SE ME HA PASADO EN
25 DE ESTE MES EL DECRETO SIGUIENTE....SABED: QUE
LAS CÓRTES HAN DECRETADO LO QUE SIGUE...PARA RESOLVER LAS DUDAS QUE SE HAN PROPUESTO POR VARIAS
AUTORIDADES ENCARGADAS RESPECTIVAMENTE DEL
GOBIERNO ECONÓMICO-POLÍTICO DE LAS PROVINCIAS
...[caption title]. [Mexico]. 1814. [3]pp. Folio. Signed in print “Humana”
with accompanying paraph (“rúbrica”), additional manuscript annotation on
p.[3]. Contemporary manuscript docket inscription on verso of p.[3]. Old
folds, with short holes and tears with some paper loss (not affecting text). Two
small clean tears near old fold (no loss of paper or text). Moderate soiling,
particularly at margins and central fold. A good copy.
A Spanish legal document published in Mexico in 1814 reprinting an order issued by the Córtes in Cadiz in August 1813 concerning the ayuntamientos, or city
councils, in the various provinces. Details are provided regarding the membership
of these councils, particularly the process of filling vacant positions. The original
1813 Cadiz decree addresses the issue of council membership both in the Iberian
peninsula and in overseas holdings; this Mexican publication includes the printed
date of April 1814, and the fifteenth day of that month is provided in manuscript.
OCLC records a single copy, at the Bancroft Library.
OCLC 20403276.
$600.
54. [Argentina]: CIRCULAR. DESDE QUE D. JOSÉ ARTIGAS VIÓ
RECOMPENSADOS PRÓDIGAMENTA SUS PRIMEROS TRABAJOS...[caption title]. [Buenos Aires. March 30, 1815]. Broadsheet, 12
x 7½ inches. Trimmed close, occasionally affecting text. Old library stamp on
recto and verso. Overall quite clean. Very good.
A lengthy broadsheet description of the activities of Banda Oriental liberator Don
José Artigas, and the tenuous hold of the independence fighters over the province
of Buenos Aires. Such Argentine imprints are extremely rare. Not on OCLC.
$600.
55. [Argentina]: DON JUAN JOSE VIAMONT, CORONEL MAYOR
DE LOS EXERCITOS DE LA PATRIA...DEL EXERCITO DE SU
MANO...[caption title]. [Buenos Aires: Niños Expòsitos, 1815]. Broadside,
12½ x 7¾ inches. Moderate edge wear, evenly tanned. Very good.
A rousing once-more-into-the-breach address by Argentine military leader Juan
Jose Viamont, delivered before he and his men marched to the aid of a besieged
Santa Fe. Viamont claims the honor of their country is at stake and assures their
victorious return. Such Argentine imprints are extremely rare. OCLC locates
only two copies.
OCLC 14869484.
$500.
Reading New Orleans Newspapers in Buenos Aires
56. [Buenos Aires Imprint]: NOTICIAS DE LA AMERICA SEPTENTRIONAL. GAZETA DE NUEVA ORLEANS. Buenos Aires: Imprenta
de los Niños Expòsitos, [1815]. Broadside, approximately 12¼ x 7¾ inches. In
Spanish. Light ink inscription, “Dupl.,” in upper margin. Early horizontal fold
and light creasing. Small hole, not affecting text, and minor separation at fold,
affecting but causing no loss to text, both repaired in silk. A very good copy.
A fascinating Buenos Aires imprint, republishing a New Orleans newspaper’s publication of correspondence from Mexico during that country’s war of independence.
The letters, sent from Xalapa on Nov. 5, 1814 and Vera Cruz on Jan. 14 and 15,
1815, are the work of a worried Mexican royalist lamenting the insurgents’ recent
triumphs. The New Orleans journal in which they appeared was presumably the
Louisiana Gazette, published in New Orleans circa 1805-26. The letters are introduced with a commentary noting: “never have the independents or revolutionaries
appeared to have such power.” A clear message of encouragement to freedom fighters in Argentina, who would formally declare independence the following year, and
an interesting piece of evidence for the circulation of New Orleans news in South
America at an early date. Furlong and OCLC together locate ten copies. Scarce.
FURLONG 3250.
$850.
Early Thoughts of an Empire Builder in Spanish America
57. Robinson, William D.: A CURSORY VIEW OF SPANISH AMERI-
CA, PARTICULARLY THE NEIGHBOURING VICE-ROYALTIES
OF MEXICO AND NEW-GRENADA, CHIEFLY INTENDED
TO ELUCIDATE THE POLICY OF AN EARLY CONNECTION
BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND THOSE COUNTRIES.
Georgetown: Richards and Mallory, 1815. 41pp. plus errata page. Dbd. Stain
and chip near foredge of titlepage, barely affecting title. Uniform light tanning.
About very good. In a half morocco box.
An interesting early manifestation of the principles of the Monroe Doctrine. Robinson advocates quick action in foiling the joint designs of England and Spain on
the new territory of Louisiana, citing evidence that the British have been supplying
Indians with arms and munitions in Spanish-controlled Florida. He claims that,
should Spain unite with England, the last vestiges of her independent colonial
power will be forfeited, and that this forfeiture would clear the way for the United
States to rid herself of any remaining European authority in the New World. An
aggressive argument, born out of the crisis of the invasion of Louisiana by the British at the close of the War of 1812. Robinson would later be involved in various
conspiracies in Texas and northern Mexico, including the attempt of Xavier Mina
to seize Texas. Not in Servies.
SABIN 72200. SHAW & SHOEMAKER 35799.
$3250.
58. Arrowsmith, Aaron, Sr.: [ATLAS TO THOMPSON’S ALCEDO; OR
DICTIONARY OF AMERICA & WEST INDIES; COLLATED
WITH ALL THE MOST RECENT AUTHORITIES, AND COMPOSED CHIEFLY FROM SCARCE AND ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS, FOR THAT WORK, BY A. ARROWSMITH, HYDROGRAPHER TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE REGENT].
[London: George Smeeton, 1816]. Small format index leaf mounted on
front pastedown (otherwise mounted on guards throughout). Five wall maps,
handcolored in outline, by Aaron Arrowsmith, on nineteen double-page or
folding engraved sheets, each numbered on a small early paper label pasted to
the verso of each sheet (“North America” on three sheets [numbered “I”-”III”];
“United States” four sheets [“IV”-”VII”]; “Mexico” four sheets [“VIII”-”XI”];
“West Indies” two sheets [“XII”-”XIII”]; “South America” six sheets [“XIV””XIX”]); extra-illustrated with a contemporary pen, ink, and watercolor key
map (sheet size: 17 x 16¼ inches) laid down on a larger sheet of blank wove
paper, the larger sheet mounted on the front free endpaper. Large folio. Contemporary half diced russia over marbled paper-covered boards, the borders
between the leather and marbled paper on the covers marked with a decorative
gilt roll, with the paper armorial book plate of the Earl of Dalhousie pasted
onto the center of the upper cover, the spine divided into seven compartments with semi-raised bands, the bands flanked by gilt fillets, lettered in
the second and seventh compartments. Without letterpress title; various small
tears to folds. Very good. Provenance: George Ramsay, 9th Earl of Dalhousie (1770-1838, lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia [1816-1820], governorin-chief of British North America [1820-1828]). [with:] Alcedo, Antonio
de: THE GEOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL DICTIONARY
OF AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES, CONTAINING AN
ENTIRE TRANSLATION OF THE SPANISH WORK OF COLONEL DON ANTONIO DE ALCEDO...WITH LARGE ADDITIONS AND COMPILATIONS.... London: for James Carpenter [and
others], 1812-1815. Five volumes. 3pp. preliminary list of subscribers in first
volume. Quarto. Contemporary russia, covers with outer border composed from
triple fillets tooled in gilt, enclosing a decorative neo-classical roll in blind,
spine in six compartments with semi-raised bands, the bands highlighted with
a decorative roll in blind and flanked by double fillets in blind, lettered in gilt
in the second and fourth compartments, the others with repeat decoration in
gilt, gilt turn-ins, marbled edges. Very good. Lacks the half titles.
The Dalhousie copy of the most important printed atlas of the Americas of its time,
containing foundation wall maps of the region by the greatest British cartographer
of his generation. This important copy includes contemporary manuscript additions
charting Sir John Franklin’s second Arctic expedition, possibly by Franklin himself.
The atlas is accompanied by a lovely first edition set of the text of Thompson’s
translation and expansion of Alcedo’s classic work on the Americas.
“Aaron Arrowsmith, Hydrographer to the King of England and Geographer to
the Prince of Wales, was the most influential and respected map publisher of the
first quarter of the nineteenth century...His role in cartographic production was
to gather the best information available from a wide variety of sources, weigh the
relative merits of conflicting data, and compile from this the most accurate depiction
possible of an area. Arrowsmith accomplished this synthesis better than any other
commercial map maker of his day and, as a result, his maps were the most sought
after and highly prized on three continents” – Martin & Martin.
Arrowsmith specialized in large multi-sheet maps. These were generally separately issued and are now very scarce. His five great wall maps of the Americas
were particularly well received and became “foundation or prototype maps of the
area and were extensively copied by other publishers” (Tooley). These five wall
maps were of North America (first published in 1795), the United States (1796),
the West Indies (1803), Mexico (1810), and South America (1810). They were
generally republished many times, as new information became available. Thomas
Jefferson considered the 1803 edition the best map of the continent in print at the
time, and it was used extensively in planning Lewis and Clark’s expedition (18056). Likewise, the 1814 edition of North America (offered here) was the first map
to make use of Lewis and Clark’s map of the same year, and the first to combine
Lewis and Clark and Zebulon Pike’s data onto one map.
The Atlas to Thompson’s Alcedo is quite remarkable in that it contains all five
of Arrowsmith’s foundation maps for the Americas gathered together, and bound
into one volume. The Atlas was intended to accompany Antonio de Alcedo’s The
Geographical and Historical Dictionary of America and the West Indies...with Large
Additions and Compilations (London, 1812-15, five quarto volumes), i.e. G.A.
Thompson’s English translation of Alcedo’s Diccionario Geográfico-Histórico de las
Indias Occidentales ó América: Es á Saber: de los Reynos del Perú, Nueva España, Tierra
Firme, Chile, y Nuevo Reyno de Granada (Madrid, 1786-89).
The present atlas is an early version, with the following maps:
1) “A Map Exhibiting all the New Discoveries in the Interior Parts of North
America...A. Arrowsmith...January 1st 1795 Additions to 1811 Additions
to June 1814.” On three folding sheets, overall image area: 48 1/4 x 57 1/8
inches. Browned. This copy bears manuscript additions to the first sheet, in
pencil, drawing on the discoveries made by Sir John Franklin in 1826 on the
north coast between the mouths of the Mackenzie and Coppermine rivers,
and marking the course of the Coppermine south-west towards Great Bear
Lake (see below). According to Stevens and Tree, “This map was repeatedly
re-issued as new discoveries came to light.” The present sixth issue is the
first to include the important discoveries made by Lewis and Clark during
their trans-American expedition. “This issue...remaps the entire continent
west of the Mississippi. The changes between this and the last edition are
monumental” – Rumsey, p.12. HECKROTTE TMC 6/87. RUMSEY 32. STEVENS
& TREE 48 (f ). TOOLEY MCC 68. WHEAT TRANSMISSISSIPPI 313.
2) “A Map of the United States of America Drawn from a number of Critical
Researches By A. Arrowsmith...Jan 1st 1796. Additions to 1802” [but watermarked 1811]. On four folding sheets, overall image area: 46 ¼ x 55 ½ inches.
Stevens and Tree’s fifth issue: “Many new place-names and rivers added. A
copy of third issue had been observed with paper watermarked 1811 [as here].”
RUMSEY 3445, 4309 (both later issues). STEVENS & TREE 79(e).
3) “A New Map of Mexico and adjacent provinces compiled from original documents by A. Arrowsmith...5th October 1810” [but watermarked 1811]. On
four folding sheets, overall image area: 50 1/8 x 62 inches. First issue. PHILLIPS, p.408. RUMSEY 2032 (last issue, of ca. 1825). STREETER TEXAS 1046. (all refs)
4) “Chart of the West Indies and Spanish Dominions in North America by A.
Arrowsmith...1803...Additions to 1810.” On two folding sheets, overall image
area: 47 5/8 x 55 1/2 inches. Small tears at folds of first sheet.
5) “Outlines of the Physical and Political Divisions of South America: Delineated
by A. Arrowsmith partly from scarce and original documents published before
the year 1806 but principally from manuscript maps & surveys made between
the years 1771 and 1806. Corrected from accurate astronomical observations to
1810...Published 4th January 1811...Additions to 1814.” On six folding sheets,
overall image area: 94 x 78 inches. Offsetting, small tears to folds, the fifth sheet
creased. The final sheet includes a large uncolored inset of Patagonia, Tierra
del Fuego, and the Falkland Islands.
In addition, the above maps are preceded by a contemporary manuscript key map.
This was evidently professionally prepared, and may have been produced and boundin by the Arrowsmiths in place of the usual titlepage, at the request of the owner of
the atlas, the Earl of Dalhousie. Dalhousie was appointed lieutenant governor of
Nova Scotia in July 1816. He arrived in Halifax in October 1816, equipped with “an
intelligent and well-stocked mind, an exacting sense of duty, a readiness to command
and an expectation of being obeyed...Conscientious and full of curiosity...With an
appreciative eye for rugged scenery...he adopted the habit of making frequent trips
to the countryside” (Peter Burroughs in Dictionary of Canadian Biography). Given
this lively interest in his new domain, it is safe to assume that the present work
was often consulted by the lieutenant governor. After a relatively successful period
in Nova Scotia, Dalhousie was appointed governor-in-chief of North America in
April 1820. His period in office (1820-28) spanned the opening burst of northwest
passage explorations by the British Navy, events which the governor would have
been duty-bound to follow closely.
In Montreal on Friday, August 24, 1827, one of the early heroes of Arctic Exploration, Captain John Franklin, was given an audience with Dalhousie. Dalhousie
recorded the meeting in detail in his journal:
“On Thursday Capt. Franklin arrived about 3pm and soon after took me aside to
say, that he had brought his charts of the route of the expedition with him, & was
ready to describe them whenever it might be agreeable. As it was late, we fixed on
next day after breakfast and a most interesting forenoon we spent over them. He
had several parts on large scale, starting from Fort William on Lake Superior, &
proceeding to McKenzie’s river, Cape Anxiety and Fog island, where he was stopt
& obliged to turn back. After these he shewed...his general & principal chart,
which comprehends only the country explored this last year, when he started from
Fort Franklin on the Great Bear Lake, S.W. corner...The charts are beautifully
executed by a Mr. Kendall, a young man of whom [Franklin] speaks very highly.
He went over these giving the clearest description of the relative situations of the
MacKenzie & Coppermine rivers, also that of the Rocky Mountains” – Whitelaw.
The manuscript additions to the first sheet in the present atlas (“A Map Exhibiting all the New Discoveries in the Interior Parts of North America”) suggest that
it was used during this meeting. This first sheet of the whole of North America is
on a large enough scale to have allowed Franklin to put his more localized charts
in context, and in three areas Franklin’s discoveries are sketched in pencil and inscribed: “Capt Franklin 1826.” These inscriptions appear to be in Franklin’s hand.
The sketched geographical features record: 1) the coast to the west of the mouth
of the MacKenzie River; 2) the coast between the MacKenzie and Coppermine
rivers; and 3) the approximate course of the Coppermine River southwest towards
Great Bear Lake. Following the meeting Franklin continued back to Britain, ar-
riving in September 1827 to universal acclaim. He was knighted in April 1829, in
recognition of his achievements.
LOWNDES I:26. SABIN 683 (“Copies are sometimes found with an atlas of...maps by Arrowsmith,
but they are rare”). M. Whitelaw (editor), The Dalhousie Journals (Canada, 1982), Vol. III, pp.110-11.
MARTIN & MARTIN, p.113.
$120,000.
Yankee Revolutionary in Chile: The Streeter Copy
59. Johnston, Samuel B.: LETTERS WRITTEN DURING A RESI-
DENCE OF THREE YEARS IN CHILI, CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE MOST REMARKABLE EVENTS IN THE
REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLES OF THAT PROVINCE WITH
AN INTERESTING ACCOUNT OF THE LOSS OF A CHILIAN
SHIP, AND BRIG OF WAR, BY MUTINY, AND THE CONSEQUENT IMPRISONMENT AND SUFFERINGS OF SEVERAL
CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES, FOR SIX MONTHS, IN
THE DUNGEONS OF CALLAO. Erie, Pa.: Printed and Published by
R.I. Curtis, 1816. [9]-205pp. Original plain boards. Spine partially perished.
Each board attached by a single cord. Scattered fox marks. Else a very good
copy in original state, untrimmed, with contemporary ownership inscription
of John Leymour on titlepage. In a half morocco box, spine gilt.
An extremely rare account by a Yankee revolutionary in South America, this copy
owned by both Thomas W. Streeter and Frank S. Streeter, with the former’s pencil
notes on the front pastedown. After briefly describing the voyage from New York to
Valparaiso, the author details his involvement with the Chilean Revolution against
Spain during 1812-14. While in Chile he established the first newspaper there,
La Aurora. Henry Wagner relates in his memoirs how he almost bought a copy of
this rarity at a Chilean auction (“...there was one [book], however, which almost
made my heart stop beating...”), but he was outbid by a prominent local publisher
who happened to be a good friend as well.
“...Johnston had taken part in the revolution against Spain, and in all had a most
exciting time. Johnston arrived at Chile in a voyage around the Horn in the fall of
1811 and in due course travelled from Valparaiso to the capital at Santiago where
J.R. Poinsett was Consul-General and the Carreras in charge of the government.
There is much authentic material about the Chilean revolution” – Streeter. Not
listed by Shaw & Shoemaker or Hill.
STREETER SALE 4136 (this copy). SABIN 36385. WAGNER, BULLION TO BOOKS, pp.230-
31.
$9500.
60. [Texas and Florida]: MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT...RE-
SPECTING A DEMAND MADE BY THE SPANISH GOVERNMENT, FOR A SURRENDER OF PART OF THE STATE OF
LOUISIANA. Washington. 1816. 23pp. Dbd. Very good.
Prints two letters from Onìs (and Monroe’s reply) in which he complains of expeditions being arranged by Robinson and Toledo against Spanish claims. Onìs also
continues his objections to the American seizure of West Florida. Monroe replies
that these activities are beyond the jurisdiction of the U.S., and asserts that the
cession of Louisiana includes the territory as far west as the Rio Grande.
HOWES L502. STREETER TEXAS 1060. SERVIES 887.
$500.
61. [Argentina]: MANIFIESTO QUE HAVE A LAS NACIONES EL
CONGRESO GENERAL CONSTITUYENTE DE LAS PROVINCIAS-UNIDAS DEL RIO DE LA PLATA, SOBRE EL TRATAMIENTO Y CRUELDADES QUE HAN SUFRIDO DE LOS ESPAÑOLES, Y MOTIVADO LA DECLARACION DE SU INDEPENDENCIA. Buenos Aires: Imprenta de la Independencia, 1817. 11pp., with
vignette on titlepage and official coat of arms on first page of text. Quarto.
Half calf and marbled boards, neatly rebacked. Two-page note regarding this
publication by previous owner dated Dec. 3, 1966 on front free endpaper
and front fly leaf. Contemporary ownership inscription on first page of text,
partially over coat of arms. Scattered foxing. A very good copy.
A scarce manifesto issued by the Congress of the United Provinces of Rio de la Plata
during the latter part of the independence period in the region. The work serves as
a justification for pursuing independence from Spain, with much detail regarding
injurious Spanish policies in the region. Dated Oct. 25, 1817 and signed in print at
the end by Dr. Pedro Ignacio de Castro y Barros, Palau notes the text was actually
written by Dr. Pedro Medrano. A reply to this independence manifesto written by
“un Americano del Sud” was published the following year by the Imprenta Real.
OCLC 14930003, 55265288. PALAU 148893. ZINNY 1817:24.
$650.
Regulating Privateering in Newly Independent Argentina
62. [Argentina]: REGLAMENTO PROVISIONAL DE CORSO. A
PROVISIONAL ORDINANCE TO REGULATE PRIVATEERING. [Buenos Aires. 1817]. 73pp. Mid-19th-century vellum over boards,
contemporary blue paper wrappers bound in. Covers and spine moderately
worn, some vellum lacking. Foxed throughout. A half dozen leaves with small
tears at inner margins, not affecting text. A good copy.
An extremely rare set of ordinances, printed in parallel Spanish and English translations, issued by the United Provinces of la Plata during the wars of independence
against Spain. This is one of the very few early Argentinean imprints with English
text. The regulations were intended to control the activities of privateers from various countries who sailed for the United Provinces “against the subjects of Ferdinand
VII, and their properties.” The provisional ordinance, issued on May 15, 1817
and signed by Supreme Director of the provinces Juan Martín de Pueyrredón and
Secretary of War and the Navy Matías de Yrigoyen, consists of forty-six articles
detailing legal and unlawful actions. The work includes additional bilingual sections
devoted to “Penal laws extending to the officers of the Navy” and “Penal laws for
the ordinary crimes of seamen & marines on board the vessels.” Extremely rare,
OCLC locates a single copy at the Biblioteca Nacional de Chile. An additional
copy is located at the Bancroft Library.
PALAU 255378. OCLC 55244635.
$3750.
63. [Palacio Fajardo, Manuel]: OUTLINE OF THE REVOLUTION
IN SPANISH AMERICA; OR AN ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGIN,
PROGRESS, AND ACTUAL STATE OF THE WAR CARRIED
ON BETWEEN SPAIN AND SPANISH AMERICA; CONTAINING THE PRINCIPAL FACTS WHICH HAVE MARKED THE
STRUGGLE. New York. 1817. 219pp. Original pink printed boards. Front
hinge cracked, spine chipped. Contemporary ownership inscription on front
fly leaf. Light dampstaining and foxing in text. Withal good, in original condition. Untrimmed.
In the early decades of the 19th century, the Spanish colonies in South America
struggled to gain their independence from the Spanish Empire. This work, by
Venezuelan humanist writer Manuel Palacio Fajardo, gives some background on the
government of the South American colonies and relates the events of the Bolívarian
revolutions in Venezuela, Argentina, Colombia, etc. This copy bears the ownership
inscription of Benjamin Lincoln Lear, godson of George Washington and son of
Tobias Lear, Washington’s personal secretary.
SHAW & SHOEMAKER 41720. PALAU 209084. SABIN 58265.
$650.
With Original Wash Illustrations
64. Pradt, Dominique-Dufour de: DES COLONIES, ET DE LA REVOLUTION ACTUELLE DE L’AMERIQUE. Paris. 1817. Two volumes.
[4],xxxii,403,[3]; [4],394,[2]pp. plus added frontispiece portrait of the author
and four manuscript illustrations. Pp.305-320 misbound after pp.321-336.
Slightly later three-quarter calf, spines gilt. Extremities rubbed. Light foxing
and toning. About very good.
A discussion of the politics of the revolutions in South America, including the
Spanish, French, and Portuguese colonies there. Pradt wrote a number of books
on European relations with the Americas. Signed by the publisher on the verso of
the titlepage in the first volume, evidently as a certification for state censors. This
copy is made particularly interesting by the addition of four manuscript pen and
wash drawings signed “Janet,” titled as follow: “Colomb. découvre l’Amèrique,”
“Colomb en chains,” “Dames Américaines,” and “Habitants de Quito.”
SABIN 64882. PALAU 235018. SERVIES 911.
$850.
65. [Florida]: MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT...TRANSMIT-
TING THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, AND THE SPANISH MINISTER, RESIDING HERE, SHOWING THE PRESENT STATE OF THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE TWO GOVERNMENTS. [bound with:]
LIST OF PAPERS.... [bound with:] DOCUMENTS.... Washington.
1818. 90,83,114pp. Dbd., portion of leather spine still present. Light foxing
and soiling. Two blank leaves at end partially torn. Good. Untrimmed and
unopened.
Brings together a wealth of valuable correspondence between Spanish minister
Louis de Onìs and American Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, mainly
relating to the Floridas (regarding which the two were negotiating a settlement
of long-standing issues), and ultimately the sale of Florida to the U.S., but also
important with relation to Texas. Also included are supporting documents from
the Spanish and American sides dating back to 1805, in which both parties give
their arguments on what the boundaries of Florida, and indeed of Louisiana, should
be. Streeter discusses the importance of these documents at length: “The papers
included in this public document are a mine of information on the subject of the
boundary between the United States and Texas and other parts of Mexico, and
on the negotiations which finally led to the [Adams-Onìs] Treaty of February 22,
1819.” An important collection of documents regarding American expansion in
the South and Southwest, and not always found together.
STREETER TEXAS 1064. SABIN 48075 (1st part only). EBERSTADT 162:553 (1st part only).
$500.
66. Gillespie, Alexander: GLEANINGS AND REMARKS: COLLECT-
ED DURING MANY MONTHS OF RESIDENCE AT BUENOS
AYRES, AND WITHIN THE UPPER COUNTRY; WITH A PREFATORY ACCOUNT OF THE EXPEDITION FROM ENGLAND,
UNTIL THE SURRENDER OF THE COLONY OF THE CAPE
OF GOOD HOPE, UNDER THE JOINT COMMAND OF SIR D.
BAIRD, G.C.B. K.C. AND SIR HOME POPHAM, K.C.B. Leeds:
Printed by B. DeWhirst for the author, 1818. [1],ii,342pp. plus one folding map and one folding chart. 19th-century three-quarter roan and marbled
boards, spine gilt. Spine and covers worn. Bookseller’s stamp on titlepage,
occasional foxing, pencil annotations on last page of text. A good copy.
Gillespie, a major in the Royal Marines, wrote this account of the British occupation
of Buenos Aires in 1806 and 1807, primarily based on his own observations and
experiences. In the introduction he notes of himself that “alternately a conqueror
and a captive upon the shores of La Plata, it was his lot to derive a privilege from
misfortune, which had been denied for ages to the most favoured foreigner. By this
inverted cause of incidents, he was not only allowed, but compelled to penetrate
many hundred miles within its interior, to have a glance at its productions, and to
associate with its natives...His remarks therefore, must be confined almost within
the narrow line over which he treads.” The narrative concludes with the British
exit from the region and concludes with a summary of the revolution in Buenos
Aires and the provinces of La Plata.
SABIN 27391. NAYLOR 32. ALBERICH 1229.
$1500.
67. Hackett, James: NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION WHICH
SAILED FROM ENGLAND IN 1817, TO JOIN THE SOUTH
AMERICAN PATRIOTS; COMPRISING EVERY PARTICULAR
CONNECTED WITH ITS FORMATION, HISTORY, AND
FATE; WITH OBSERVATIONS AND AUTHENTIC INFORMATION ELUCIDATING THE REAL CHARACTER OF THE
CONTEST, MODE OF WARFARE, STATE OF THE ARMIES,
&c. London. 1818. [2],xv,[1],144pp. Half title. Contemporary half gilt calf
and plain boards. Bit rubbed, corners worn. Handsome engraved armorial
bookplate, occasional light foxing, else very good.
Hackett and a number of other British officers were commissioned to assist the
revolutionaries in Venezuela and Colombia. While remaining sympathetic to the
cause, he felt that the fight should be made “...without the sacrifice of British blood,
or the compromise of British honour.” His insight into the motives of the leaders,
Simón Bolívar in particular, is valuable and interesting. While going to and from the
fray, he and his associates spent a considerable amount of time, in several separate
visits, on the now famous resort island of St. Barts. His descriptions are among the
best from St. Bart’s glory days as a free port in the early part of the 19th century.
SABIN 29476. PALAU 111933.
$1500.
Important African-American Author
68. Saunders, Prince: HAYTIAN PAPERS. A COLLECTION OF THE
VERY INTERESTING PROCLAMATIONS AND OTHER OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS, TOGETHER WITH SOME ACCOUNT
OF THE RISE, PROGRESS, AND PRESENT STATE OF THE
KINGDOM OF HAYTI. Boston. 1818. 156pp. Original orange printed
boards. Spine partially perished, boards lightly warped and soiled. Light foxing and toning. Contemporary inscription on fly leaf. Very good. In a half
morocco and cloth box, spine gilt.
The first American edition, after the first London edition of 1816, of this work by
an African American author. Prince Saunders (1775-1839) attended Dartmouth
and later taught for four years at Boston’s African School. In 1816 he became adviser to Haitian Emperor Henri Christophe, where he set up schools and promoted
emigration to Haiti for American Blacks. After Christophe was overthrown (and
committed suicide) in 1821, Saunders returned to America, but he later emigrated
back to Haiti to escape racial persecution. At the time of his death, Saunders was
serving as attorney general of Haiti.
The fly leaf bears a presentation inscription from John James to Robert Moore,
M.D., dated 1818. James was a Quaker merchant, long involved with the abolitionist movements. In the autumn of 1818, while Saunders was in Philadelphia, James
introduced him to Spanish ambassador Don Luis Onìs. Both James and Moore,
also a fellow Quaker, were party to the 1783 Quaker Anti-Slavery Petition, which
was submitted to the Continental Congress in the form of an Address from the
Friend’s Yearly Meeting. Dr. Moore’s wife was also elected the first president of
the Female Anti-Slavery Society when it was formed in 1833.
Relatively scarce on the market. ABPC shows only two copies of this edition
at auction, both appearing over thirty years ago. This copy is truly lovely, in the
original boards and with an interesting and important association.
SHAW & SHOEMAKER 45637. SABIN 29578. www.blackpast.org
$2750.
69. [Argentina]: THE REPORTS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF
THE UNITED PROVINCES OF SOUTH AMERICA; DRAWN
UP BY MESSRS. RODNEY AND GRAHAM...AND AN INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE, INTENDED TO PRESENT...A VIEW
OF THE PRESENT STATE OF THE COUNTRY, AND OF THE
PROGRESS WITH THE INDEPENDENTS. London: Printed for
Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, 1819. viii,3-358pp. plus folding engraved map.
Modern three-quarter morocco and marbled boards, spine and covers gilt. York
Subscription Library stamp on verso of titlepage and p.114. A very good copy.
C.A. Rodney and John Graham were commissioners sent to Buenos Aires by the
United States government to investigate the political situation and potential resources
of the Rio de la Plata region. This publication includes Rodney and Graham’s
reports submitted to Secretary of State John Q. Adams, related documents, and
additional notes. The reports are mainly concerned with the state of political affairs,
military defenses, and possible commercial interests. The additional documents,
presented in a series of appendices, include a historical review of the revolutions
and translations of numerous documents relevant to the independence and early
constitutional periods in the region. The finely engraved and handcolored map is
of South America.
SABIN 72494.
$1250.
70. Bonnycastle, R.H.: SPANISH AMERICA; OR A DESCRIPTIVE,
HISTORICAL, AND GEOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT OF THE
DOMINIONS OF SPAIN IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE....
Philadelphia: Printed and Published by Abraham Small, 1819. 482pp. plus
folding map and colored plate. Contemporary tree calf, leather label. Corners
a bit worn. Some light foxing on prelims. Very good, with the armorial bookplate of Daniel Webster.
First American edition, after the two-volume London edition of the previous year.
Bonnycastle (1791-1848), a lieutenant colonel in the Royal Engineers, compiled this
work from other primary sources, but apparently spent several years in both North
and South America. He relies heavily on other authorities, especially Humboldt.
Includes sections on California, Florida, New Mexico, New Spain, Spanish possessions in the Caribbean, New Granada, Peru, Buenos Aires, Chile, and the like.
The map shows North and South America. Bonnycastle later published several
books about Canada.
SABIN 6333.
$850.
Patriotic Song of Chilean Independence
71. [Chile]: CANCION PATRIOTICA QUE SE CANTA HOY 12 DEL
PRESENTE EN EN SELEBRACION DEL ANIVERSARIO DE
NUESTRA REGENERACION POLITICA, SACADA POR LOS
PROFESORES ITALIANOS Y DEDICADA LA LETRA À S.E. EL
SUPREMO DIRECTOR [caption title]. [Santiago? 1819]. Broadside,
approximately 10¾ x 8 inches. In Spanish and Italian. Small numerical ink
inscription following first line. Some foxing and light staining. Very good.
A curious and unrecorded imprint celebrating the anniversary of Chile’s independence
with a patriotic song in Italian. The song, dedicated by a group of Italian professors
to Chile’s Supreme Director Bernardo O’Higgins, is printed in parallel columns
in Italian and Spanish. During the first years of independence, it was common in
Chile to contract foreign professors for the teaching of various discipline – in this
case, probably literature. $900.
South American Revolutions
72. Hippisley, G.: A NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION TO THE
RIVERS ORINOCO AND APURE, IN SOU TH AMERICA;
WHICH SAILED FROM ENGLAND IN NOVEMBER 1817,
AND JOINED THE PATRIOTIC FORCES IN VENEZUELA
AND CARACCAS. London. 1819. xix,[1],653,[1]pp., with additional errata slip tipped in. Later calf, elaborately stamped in gilt on covers and spine.
Extremities very lightly rubbed. Some light scattered foxing. Very good, with
bookplate of Alberto Parreño on front pastedown.
Hippisley served as a colonel in the First Venezuelan Hussars, as part of the British
brigade sent to South America to assist in the war for independence in Venezuela.
The account includes a description of the voyage to South America, with stops
at St. Bartholomew, Grenada, St. Lucia, and other points in the Caribbean. The
appendix prints a list of the officers of the First Venezuelan Hussars, as well as
other documents, orders, etc., issued by Venezuelan leaders, including Bolívar. A
fascinating account of South American independence movements, Bolívar, etc.,
notwithstanding Sabin’s assertion that Lord Byron used the book to put himself to
sleep. “An esteemed and scarce work” – Palau.
SABIN 31988. PALAU 114859.
$2250.
73. Rattenbury, J. Freeman: REMARKS ON THE CESSION OF THE
FLORIDAS TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND ON
THE NECESSITY OF ACQUIRING THE ISLAND OF CUBA BY
GREAT BRITAIN. London. 1819. pp.[261]-280. Later marbled wrappers.
Internally clean. Very good.
Self-styled expanded second edition, “printed exclusively in the Pamphleteer,” after
portions originally appeared in both the Morning Chronicle (Sept. 1, 1819) and Port
Folio (November 1819). An engaging discourse on political implications for Great
Britain should the United States annex Florida. “On the secret acts and resolutions,
1811-1818, which initiated American intervention in Florida. [Rattenbury writes]
Great Britain should oppose U.S. acquisition unless she obtains Cuba” – Servies.
An interesting proposal, particularly in light of Monroe’s desire to sweep European
influence out of North America. Scarce.
SERVIES 996. SABIN 67960. OCLC 1545548.
$750.
74. Bierfreund, F.L.: REVOLUTIONEN I DET SPANSKE AMERIKA
MED EN KORT FREMSTILLING AF DETTE LANDS OPDAGELSE OG HISTORIE FRA DENNE TIDSPUNSKT INDTIL
REVOLUTIONEN. Odense. 1820. [2],492,[5]pp. Original printed wrappers. Wrappers a bit soiled, worn along spine. Occasional slight worming in
inner margin of leaves, not affecting text. A very good copy, untrimmed.
First and only edition of this Danish history of the revolutions which convulsed
South America in the first two decades of the 19th century. The first three chapters
give an overview of the initial three hundred years of Spanish domination of the
continent, while the rest (and the bulk of the text) are comprised of a year-by-year
history of events, beginning in 1810. Not in Palau. OCLC locates only six copies. Scarce.
SABIN 5265. OCLC 13735133.
$500.
75. Chesterton, George Laval: A NARRATIVE OF PROCEEDINGS
IN VENEZUELA, IN SOUTH AMERICA, IN THE YEARS 1819
AND 1820; WITH GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE COUNTRY AND PEOPLE; THE CHARACTER OF THE REPUBLICAN
GOVERNMENT, AND ITS LEADING MEMBERS, &c. London:
Printed for John and Arthur Arch, 1820. x,257,[1]pp. 19th-century threequarter calf and marbled boards. Calf scuffed, corners bumped; both hinges
tender, front hinge nearly detached. Internally very clean. Binding aside, a
fine copy.
Chesterton was captain and judge-advocate of the British legion organized for
service in Venezuela. His narrative covers the two years he resided in the country
and includes descriptions of the land, inhabitants, and natural phenomena. The
military and political situation is well detailed, with particular attention given to
Gen. Morillo’s forces, the royalists, and the people living under their jurisdiction.
Chesterton was also the author of Peace, War, and Adventure (London, 1853) and
Revelations of Prison Life with an Enquiry into Prison Discipline and Secretary Punishments (London, 1856).
SABIN 12550 (indicating the presence of a map not in this copy nor recorded in OCLC). NAYLOR
78. ALBERICH 1300.
$1000.
76. Dauxion-Lavayasse, Jean François: A STATISTICAL ACCOUNT
AND POLITICAL DESCRIPTION OF VENEZUELA, MARGARITA, AND TOBAGO: CONTAINING VARIOUS ANECDOTES
AND OBSERVATIONS, ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE PAST AND
PRESENT STATE OF THESE COUNTRIES.... London. 1820. xxxix,
[1],479pp. plus folding map. Contemporary three-quarter calf and marbled
boards, gilt-stamped spine. Neat armorial bookplate on front pastedown. Internally bright and clean. An excellent copy. Lacks the half title.
First London edition, after the original French edition of two volumes published
in 1813, with unfavorable comments about the British removed by the British editor. “The author sailed from France in 1791 at the age of 18 to visit an uncle in
Guadeloupe. The latter died soon after the young man’s arrival and our writer, left
without resources, fled to Trinidad upon the outbreak of revolution in the French
Antilles and became a resident planter there. He subsequently departed from that
island after it passed under British control, going first to the United States and
later to France...Gives a splendid picture of life in Trinidad from 1792 to 1806 and
contains useful commercial and production statistics” – Ragatz. The folding map
depicts the northern part of South America.
SABIN 18674. RAGATZ, p.222. PALAU 13228. MAGGS 612:422.
$850.
77. [Peru]: INSTRUCCIONES QUE DEBE OBSERVAR EL EJERCITO LIBERTADOR DEL PERU [caption title]. Lima. [after 1820].
4pp. Folio. Dbd.
Instructions from the minister plenipotentiary of Chile to the army of liberation
of Peru. Reprinted, possibly for a collection of documents relating to the Peruvian
independence movement. $750.
The Eve of Peruvian Independence
78. [Peru]: MANIFIESTO DE LAS SESIONES TENIDAS EN EL
PUEBLO DE MIRAFLORES PARA LAS TRANSACIONES INTENTADAS CON EL GENERAL SAN MARTIN Y DOCUMENTOS PRESENTADOS POR PARTE DE LOS COMISIONADOS
EN ELLAS. SE PUBLICAN DE ORDEN DE ESTE GOBIERNO.
Lima: Casa de Ninos Expositos, 1820. 8,[25]pp. Folio. Modern three-quarter
calf and marbled boards. Some minor scattered foxing. Very good.
Manifesto published on the eve of Peruvian independence. San Martin invaded
Peru in September of 1820; negotiations between San Martin and Viceroy Pezuela
took place shortly thereafter, at Miraflores. These proved fruitless, however, since
San Martin would only cooperate if Peru was declared an independent state, which
the Viceroy refused to do. Pezuela was deposed in January of 1821, and San Martin
officially declared Peruvian independence on July 28, 1821. Two copies in OCLC,
at the National Library of Chile and at Duke University.
MEDINA (LIMA) 3436. PALAU 148928. OCLC 55280051, 55974863.
$2250.
79. Robinson, William D.: MEMOIRS OF THE MEXICAN REVOLU-
TION: INCLUDING A NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION OF
GENERAL XAVIER MINA.... Philadelphia. 1820. xxxvi,396pp. Original
boards, paper label. Spine rather chipped, with silk reinforcement. Very occasional fox mark. Overall a good plus copy in original state, untrimmed. In
a cloth case, leather label.
Robinson was a colorful figure during the late colonial and Independence eras. A
native of Philadelphia, he was a merchant who travelled throughout northern Latin
America as a tobacco buyer, getting into trouble just about every place he went.
He actively participated in the Mexican Wars of Independence on the side of the
insurgents, and was captured and imprisoned several times. His narrative is included
in Streeter’s Texas bibliography because of the contemporary account of Gen. Mina’s
expedition from Galveston Island to Soto la Marina, and their subsequent march
into Mexico. This is a fine eyewitness account. “Chief contemporary authority on
the audacious filibustering expedition against Mexico under Mina, launched with
a handful of men through Texas in 1817” – Howes.
STREETER TEXAS 1080. SABIN 72202. HOWES R380. RAINES, p.176.
$500.
San Martin Exhorts Chile
80. [San Martín, José de]: PROCLAMA A LOS HABITANTES DEL
ESTADO DE CHILE. COMPATRIOTAS: AL FIN SE ACERCA
EL DIA TAN SUSPIRADO POR VOSOTROS, COMO POR
NUESTROS HERMANOS DEL PERÚ...[caption title]. [Santiago.
1820]. Broadside, approximately 11½ x 7½ inches. In Spanish. Printed on light
blue paper. Early folds. Ownership ink stamp between third and fourth lines of
text, small numerical ink inscription in upper right corner. A few small holes,
affecting only a few characters of text; chipping in upper right and lower left
corners, with loss to six characters of text in the latter. White paper affixed to
verso reinforcing two folds and areas of loss. Very light staining. A good copy.
A stirring proclamation by South American liberator José de San Martín to the
people of Chile shortly before his departure from that country for Peru. In 1820,
two years after Chile declared and effectively won its independence from Spain, San
Martín assembled a Pacific fleet to sail from Chile to Peru and aid in the struggle
for independence there. The Chilean Navy’s fleet of eight warships and sixteen
transport ships set sail from Valparaíso on Aug. 20 and at Paracas, Peru on Sept. 7.
San Martín’s forces immediately attacked and seized the city of Pisco, beginning a
long campaign of battle and diplomacy that helped lead to Peru’s full liberation in
1824. The present broadside is signed in print by San Martín in Santiago, June 17,
1820. As he prepares for the journey to Peru, he calls on Chileans to keep peace
and order during his absence and encourages patience with the young government.
He concludes with a powerful declaration of the importance of the final stage of
South America’s fight for independence:
Compatriots! I am going to open the most memorable campaign of our
revolution: on it hangs the consolidation of our destinies, the hopes of this
vast continent, the fate of our families, the fortune of our friends, in short
the sacred thing that is our honor. Entrusted in the justice of our cause,
and under the protection of the Supreme Being, I promise you victory, and
I do not doubt that she will crown...the perseverance of the brave ones who
accompany me.
A rare and powerful document. OCLC locates only one copy, at the John Carter
Brown Library. $3000.
81. [Spanish Spoliations]: MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT...
COMMUNICATING TRANSLATIONS OF LETTERS FROM
THE MINISTER OF SPAIN TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
[bound with:] MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT...TRANSMITTING A REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE ON
THE SUBJECT OF CLAIMS OF CITIZENS OF THE UNITED
STATES FOR SPANISH SPOLIATIONS UPON THEIR PROPERTY AND COMMERCE. Washington. 1820. 8; 4pp. plus twenty-seven
folding tables. Modern half morocco and marbled boards. Some occasional
foxing. Overall crisp and very good. Untrimmed.
The first report includes communications of the Spanish minister, General Vives,
regarding the revolting Spanish American colonies, possible Spanish session of
Florida, and other subjects. The second work consists of twenty-seven folding
plates listing the names of American-owned vessels and other property claimed as
Spanish spoliations.
SERVIES 1048.
$350.
82. Wilcocke, Samuel Hull: HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE
REPUBLIC OF BUENOS AYRES; CONTAINING THE MOST
ACCURATE DETAILS RELATIVE TO THE TOPOGRAPHY,
HISTORY, COMMERCE, POPULATION, GOVERNMENT, &c,
&c OF THAT IMPORTANT STATE. London: Printed for Sherwood
[et al], 1820. [4],576pp. plus four plates (two handcolored), one plan, and one
folding map. Original publisher’s plum moire cloth, neatly rebacked with original backstrip laid down, leather label stamped in gilt. Color faded on spine and
portion of front cover, front and rear covers slightly abraded. Minimal soiling
and foxing in text and on plates and maps. A very good copy.
A reissue of the author’s History of the Viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres, published in
London in 1807, only differing from the original in the inserted cancel title. The
preface, the plan, the map, and one of the plates are all dated 1806. As noted on
the titlepage, the book is a compilation of geographical, historical, commercial,
political, and social information related to the Viceroyalty of Buenos Aires. When
deemed to be of particular interest, the author also included similar information
for Brazil, Peru, and Chile.
SABIN 103962. ALBERICH 1259 (noting this reissue as a 2nd edition).
$1750.
Betrayed by Bolivar
83. De la Torre, Miguel: MANIFIESTO QUE PARA SATISFACER AL
MUNDO ENTERO DE LA CONDUCTA FRANCA Y EXCESIVAMENTE GENEROSA TENIDA POR EL GOBIERNO ESPAÑOL CON EL GEFE DE LOS DISIDENTES DE VENEZUELA.
Madrid: Imprenta de Espinosa, 1821. [2],51-89pp. Modern antique-style tree
calf, spine gilt, gilt morocco label, raised bands. Marginal hole in titlepage,
with early paper repair, not affecting text. Minor worming in gutter of last
several leaves, causing separation of terminal two leaves and free endpaper
from binding. Very good.
A manifesto by General Don Miguel de la Torre, commander of the Spanish forces
in Venezuela, declaring the honorable nature of the Spanish government’s conduct
toward Simón Bolívar during the 1820-21 armistice and expressing shock at Bolívar’s
breaking of the armistice treaty in March 1821. In 1820, in the aftermath of the
Napoleonic Wars and in the midst of the South American Wars of Independence
led by Simón Bolívar, Spanish liberals forced King Ferdinand the VII to accept
the Constitution of 1812, which Ferdinand had repudiated shortly after his restoration to the throne in 1814. Under royal mandate Spanish commander General
Pablo Morillo put the Constitution into force in the South American colonies in
the summer of 1820, declared a “junta pacificadora,” and began negotiating with
Bolívar. On November 25, 1820, Bolívar and Morillo met and signed two treaties,
one declaring a six-month suspension of hostilities, the other establishing regulations of war. By his own request, Morillo was recalled to Spain in December, and
his authority was transferred to Miguel de la Torre. Less than four months after
the signing of the armistice, Bolívar wrote to Torre informing him that he would
recommence military action at the expiration of thirty days.
In the present volume Torre reproduces and comments extensively on correspondence between Bolívar, Morillo, and himself from December 11, 1820 to March
23, 1821. He includes Bolívar’s March 10 letter informing Torre of his plans to
break the armistice and writes in horror at its unexpectedness, “incoheren[ce],” and
disastrous implications for the Spanish army – “never,” he laments, “were reason
and good faith so distant” (p.84). By the time the text was printed in Madrid,
it is likely that Bolívar had already advanced on Torre in Carabobo, routing the
outnumbered Spanish forces with the help of the British Legion on June 24 and
effectively winning the war for control of Venezuela.
Palau notes that this is the second part of a larger work, Manifiestos de la Corrspondencia que Ha Mediado Entre los Generales... (Palau 335518), but was issued with
a separate titlepage, which is present here. Neither this title nor Manifiestos... is
located by OCLC. Very rare, and an important record of diplomatic relations between Spain and Simón Bolívar, including significant details about Bolívar often
lost to popular history.
PALAU 335517.
$2250.
The Official Printing
of the Mexican Declaration of Independence
84. [Mexico – Declaration of Independence]: LA REGENCIA DEL
IMPERIO SE HA SERVIDO DIRIGIRME EL DECRETO QUE
SIGUE...ACTA DE INDEPENDENCIA DEL IMPERIO [caption
title]. Mexico. October [10], 1821. [4]pp. on a folded folio sheet. Old light
stain along the fold. Very good. In a half morocco box.
This is the very rare official printing of the Mexican Declaration of Independence,
which was promulgated on September 28, 1821 and printed in Mexico City just a
week later. This declaration formally ended three hundred years of Spanish colonial rule, and was an important step forward in the Latin American independence
movements. In its themes and language, the Mexican Declaration of Independence
echoes the American Declaration proclaimed forty-five years earlier. This document is signed in manuscript at the end by Jose Manuel Herrera, the “Secretary
of Relations” for the new Mexican government, beside his printed signature. The
date “October 8, 1821” is printed in type in the final full paragraph of text, and
at the end of the document “October 1821” is printed in type, with the day “10”
completed in manuscript.
By 1821 the struggle for Mexican independence from Spain had been underway
for over a decade. Throughout the 1810s various revolutionary factions fought
against Spanish forces in a disunited movement. In early 1821, Agustin de Iturbide,
a conservative, aristocratic army officer who had fought the revolutionaries on behalf
of the Spanish crown, decided to form an alliance with one of the revolutionary
leaders, Vicente Guerrero. The two agreed on the “Plan of Iguala” under which
an independent Mexico would be a constitutional monarchy, Roman Catholicism
would be preserved as the official state religion, and there would be racial equality.
On August 24, 1821, Iturbide and representatives of the Spanish crown signed a
treaty at Cordoba recognizing Mexican independence along the lines of the Plan
of Iguala. Iturbide would eventually be crowned emperor of Mexico.
Iturbide and his victorious army entered Mexico City on September 27, 1821
(his thirty-eighth birthday). The next day the thirty-eight men who would serve
as the ruling Junta of Mexico assembled and asked Iturbide to be their president.
The group signed the “Act of Independence of the Mexican Empire,” which is
officially printed in this document. “The sovereignty which Spain had exercised
over the Mexican Viceroyalty thus virtually came to an end on September 28, 1821”
– Robertson. In the declaration, the new rulers state that the Mexican nation,
“which for 300 years has not had its own will, nor a free use of its voice, is leaving
today the oppression under which it has lived” (our translation from the Spanish).
The language of the document is reminiscent of the American Declaration of Independence, stating that (in translation) “this part of the northern hemisphere was
returned to the exercise of the various rights which were given by the Author of
Nature and recognize as inalienable and sacred the civilized nations of the earth,
in all liberty to constitute in the way most convenient to its happiness, and with
representatives who can manifest their will and their plans, starting to use those so
precious gifts, and declare solemnly by means of the Supreme Junta of the Empire,
that it is a sovereign nation and independent from the Old Spain.” The Junta goes
to on to state its desire to have friendly relations with Spain and other nations, and
that it will respect the tenets of the Plant of Iguala and the Treaty of Cordoba. On
October 8th President Iturbide and his cohorts authorized that the Declaration
be printed and circulated to all civil, military, and ecclesiastical authorities. This
copy appears to have been sent to Oaxaca, as there is contemporary ink docketing
at the bottom of the final page that reads: “Inte. Oajaca.” This copy is dated in
manuscript October 10, 1821 and is signed by Jose Manuel Herrera, the “Secretary
of Relations” (i.e. the Foreign Minister).
OCLC locates only two copies, at Yale and the University of California at San
Diego. The Sutro Library apparently has a copy as well, though it is not listed in
their catalogue of Mexican pamphlets. Rare and terribly important in the political
history of Mexico.
OCLC 35649740. William Spence Robertson, Iturbide of Mexico (New York, 1968), pp.51-145.
$37,500.
85. O’Higgins, Bernardo: EL DIRECTOR SUPREMO DE LA
REPÚBLICA DE CHILE. ATIENDO A LOS MERITOS Y SERVICIOS DE [DN. JOSÉ ANDRES DROGUETE;...] [caption title].
[Santiago, Chile. nd, but ca. 1821]. Broadside printed form, 12 x 8 inches.
Accomplished in manuscript, signed by O’Higgins and his secretary, with
paper seal attached. Additional contemporary manuscript inscriptions at top
and bottom of page and on blank verso. A few minor instances of soiling. A
very good copy.
An extremely rare printed form, signed by Bernardo O’Higgins and accomplished
in manuscript. The document confers the rank and privileges of subteniente, or
second lieutenant, on José Andres Droguete, an officer in the first company of the
seventh battalion of the National Guard Infantry in the city of Talca, Chile. The
official form is signed by O’Higgins, the ruler of Chile from its independence from
Spain in 1818 until 1823, and has attached its original official paper seal. Such
printed forms are notoriously rare. OCLC records a single copy, at the Biblioteca
Nacional de Chile, referring to the advancement of another military figure, also
signed by O’Higgins and with a government seal attached.
OCLC 55299549 (ref ).
$850.
86. Onìs, Luis de: MEMOIR UPON THE NEGOTIATIONS BE-
TWEEN SPAIN AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
WHICH LED TO THE TREATY OF 1819. WITH A STATISTICAL NOTICE OF THAT COUNTRY. ACCOMPANIED WITH
AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS
FOR THE BETTER ILLUSTRATION OF THE SUBJECT. Baltimore: Published by Fielding Lucas, 1821. 152pp. Half title. Original plain
paper boards. Boards rubbed and worn, especially at spine ends. Front hinge
a bit weak. Internally clean. Very good.
One of two American editions (also published in Washington the same year) of a
document of central importance in the history of Florida, Texas, and the West, this
report details the negotiations between Onìs, the Spanish minister in Washington,
and Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, concerning mutual claims to Florida and
the boundary of Louisiana. The original Spanish edition was published in Madrid
in 1820 and is quite rare. The discussions culminated in the Adams-Onìs Treaty
of 1819 in which the United States relinquished its claim to Texas in exchange
for control of Florida, and the Louisiana Purchase was understood to include the
Pacific Northwest. The Treaty was a diplomatic triumph for American Secretary of
State John Quincy Adams, and little more than a concession of reality from a weak
Spain on the verge of losing all of its American empire. Spain did, however, retain
Texas, and absolved itself of millions of dollars of financial claims. In this volume
Onìs describes his side of the negotiations, explaining what motivated him to give
the concessions that he did. William Goetzmann aptly states that this treaty “made
America a transcontinental nation,” and the great Samuel Flagg Bemis called it
“the greatest diplomatic victory ever won by an American Secretary of State.” The
negotiations recorded herein were translated by Tobias Watkins and simultaneously
published in Washington and Baltimore. An exceedingly rare second volume of
documents (not present here) was issued, but Watkins did not have access to it and
it is not translated here. Scarce.
STREETER TEXAS 1079b. SABIN 57356. HOWES O98, “aa.” SERVIES 1097. BEMIS, GUIDE
TO THE DIPLOMATIC HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 991 (note). AMERICAN IMPRINTS 6348.
$2500.
87. [Argentina]: EL CENTINELA. PERIÓDICO SEMANAL PARA EL
AÑO DE 1822. Tomo Primero. Buenos Aires: Imprenta de los Expósitos,
1822. [5],397pp. Nos. 1-23 plus supplement to No. 22, paged continuously.
Quarto. Contemporary three-quarter sheep and marbled boards, spine gilt.
Outer joints and corners worn. A few pencil annotations. Occasional minor
foxing. A very good copy.
An extremely rare copy of the complete first volume of the most important Argentinean periodical of the early independence period. Edited by Florencio Varela, Juan
Cruz Varela, and Ignacio Núñez, the issues include news, miscellaneous notices,
and short literary pieces in verse and in prose. El Centinela was published weekly,
and then biweekly, in 1822 and 1823. The two years of the periodical consist of
seventy-two numbers and three supplements. This first volume is complete with
twenty-three numbers and one supplement. Extremely rare. RLIN records one
complete copy, with the supplements, at the JCB; OCLC adds NYPL for the two
volumes for the two years.
PALAU 51467. OCLC 50151967.
$2500.
Early History of Arizona and New Mexico
88. [Arizona and New Mexico]: [Riezgo, Juan Miguel, et al]: MEMORIA
SOBRE LAS PROPORCIONES NATURALES DE LAS PROVINCIAS INTERNAS OCCIDENTALES, CAUSAS DE QUE HAN
PROVENIDO SUS ATRASOS, PROVIDENCIAS TOMADAS
CON EL FIN DE LOGRAR SU REMEDIO, Y LAS QUE POR
AHORA SE CONSIDERAN OPORTUNAS PARA MEJORAR SU
ESTADO, E IR PROPORCIONANDO SU FUTURA FELICIDAD.
[Mexico City]: D. José Maria Ramos Palomera, 1822. 62pp. Small quarto.
Modern speckled calf, red gilt morocco label. Old ink stain on titlepage, not
affecting text; two small worm holes, each about typeface size throughout.
Else near fine.
On April 11, 1822 the last Spanish flag flying in Mexican territory was removed
from the plaza at Monterey. Iturbide’s declaration of independence, and the subsequent bloodless transfer of power, left the new government in Mexico in dire need
of information regarding the various regions of the new nation. The present book,
submitted to the administrative authorities in Mexico City on July 1, 1822, only
two months after independence, attempts to communicate such information as was
needed to govern the western provinces, most notably Sonora and New Mexico. It
contains far-reaching recommendations on how to administer the region politically,
militarily, and economically. The report begins with a description of the provinces
and their capitals, including Santa Fe. The essential recommendation is for greater
local control over the regions. Riezgo proposes that the military chiefs live within
the provinces under their jurisdiction, and that they have wide discretionary powers
within the limits of the constitution. Locations for regional governmental centers
are suggested, and recommendations are made for increased military fortifications.
Riezgo discusses the trade between Santa Fe and St. Louis, recommends that New
Mexico be exempt from taxes on trade for a period of five years, and assesses the
threat to trade posed by Comanche raids. He also makes suggestions concerning
the role of the clergy in the region, and reforms in the educational system.
“An extremely rare work in full description of the regions at the time of Independence, with much on the natural resources, settlements, Indians, future possibilities,
etc.” – Eberstadt. We cannot trace another copy of this work in the marketplace.
It contains more detailed information than the more famous accounts of Pino and
Escuerdo, one published a decade before, the other published a decade after, this
work. Neither Thomas W. Streeter nor Everett D. Graff were able to secure a
copy of this report.
A wide-ranging early Mexican administrative report, and an exceptional southwestern rarity.
EBERSTADT 138:514. HOWES R287, “b.”
$15,000.
89. [Colombia]: CONSTITUTION DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE DE COLOMBIA. [Paris]: de l’imprimerie de Moreau, 1822. [4],iv,175,[1]pp. Antique-style tree calf, spine gilt, gilt morocco label. Binding slightly rubbed.
Occasional minor soiling. A fine copy.
The first Paris edition of the constitution of the republic of Gran Colombia, following the first Spanish edition printed in Caracas the same year. In 1822, French and
Dutch editions were also published in Philadelphia and Amsterdam, respectively.
The formation of the new republic, which included Venezuela, New Granada,
and Quito, was followed with much interest abroad, and the new government also
wished to secure international support. This French edition includes a letter by
the republic’s envoy to foreign governments requesting diplomatic recognition. A
message from President James Monroe to Congress regarding the new republic and
dated March 8, 1822 is also included.
SABIN 14574. OCLC 20375281.
$1000.
90. [Mexico]: INDICACION DEL ORIGEN DE LOS EXTRAVIOS
DEL CONGRESO MEXICANO, QUE HAN MOTIVADO SU
DISOLUCION. PUBLICASE DE ORDEN DEL GOBIERNO.
Mexico. 1822. 16pp. Dbd. Very good.
An important post-independence political tract deriding the defunct Congress for
exciting unnecessary political turbulence upon Mexico’s independence. Calls on all
Mexicans to rest peacefully under the wing of the Emperor and offers encouraging
words to the “virtuous Spaniards” living in Mexico, that they need not fear the new
imperial government. $300.
91. [Mexico]: LA REGENCIA DEL IMPERIO SE HA SERVIDO DI-
RIGIRME EL DECRETO QUE SIGUE...Á TODOS LOS QUE
LAS PRESENTES VIEREN Y ENTENDIEREN, SABED: QUE
LA SOBERANA JUNTA PROVISIONAL GUBERNATIVE HA
DECRETADO LO SIGUIENTE...QUE EN 12 DE CORRIENTE,
HIZO LA CIUDAD DE QUERÉTARO...RELATIVA Á QUE SE
DUPLIQUE EL NÚMERO DE ALCALDES CONSTITUCIONALES; LO QUE DISPUSO SOBRE ESTE MISMO ASUNTO, EN
CUANTO Á ESTA CAPITAL, Y LA CIUDAD DE PUEBLA, Y LO
QUE POR LA DE GUADALAJARA...[caption title]. [Mexico]. 1822.
[3]pp. Folio. Contemporary ink inscriptions on first and third pages, later
pencil inscriptions on blank fourth page. Old folds, browning with slight loss
of paper at folds, soiled, dampstained (affecting portion of manuscript annotation on p.[3], edges worn. A fair copy.
A decree issued in the second year of independence by the Mexican provisional
government stipulating increases in the number of Alcaldes Constitucionales for
the cities of Querétaro, Puebla, Guadalajara, and the capital, Mexico City. Good
ephemeral evidence documenting the newly independent Latin American country’s concern with the mechanics and logistics of government. Not on OCLC or
RLIN. $650.
Forming the Mexican Constitution
92. [Mexican Constitution]: ACTA CONSTITUCIONAL PRESEN-
TADA AL SOBERANO CONGRESO CONSTITUYENTE POR
SU COMISION EL DIA 20 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 1823. Mexico:
Imprenta del Supremo Gobierno en Palacio, [1823]. [2],vi,8pp. Folio. Selfwrappers. A clean, fresh copy. Near fine.
An important report issued by the commission that was established to draw up a
new constitution for the then infant Republic of Mexico. It is the first important
project to be presented by the commission, and is therefore of great significance for
the history of Mexico and the parts of the United States which at the time were
part of Mexico. The states of “the two Californias,” New Mexico and Texas, are
listed as part of the federation. $2250.
93. [Molinos del Campo, Francisco]: FRANCISCO MOLINOS DEL
CAMPO, GEFE SUPERIOR POLITICO INTERINO DE ESTA
CIUDAD Y SU PROVINCIA. Mexico. July 24, 1823. Broadside, 12 x 16¾
inches. Docketed on verso with seals. Signed with flourish of Francisco Molinos del Campo and Fernando Navarro. Old fold marks. Overall very good.
An important broadside, one of the first publications of the separation of the provinces of Sonora and Sinaloa in 1823. An impressive and important document in
the history of the Mexican provinces, which at the time encompassed much of the
present southwestern United States. One of the provisions of the declaration calls
for the Bishop of Durango to place interim vicars in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and
in El Paso del Norte. Another provision announces that the Province of Nueva
Vizcaya is to be divided into two parts: Durango and Chihuahua. $1250.
94. [Peru]: IMPUGNACION AL ARTICULO INSERTO CONTRA
EL FUNDADOR DE LA LIBERTAD DEL PERU, Y LOS JEFES
DE SU EJERCITO EN EL NUMERO 5 DE LA ABEJA REPUB-
LICANA. Lima: Imprenta de D. Jose Masias, 1823. [4],20pp. Folio. Dbd.
Very minor foxing and soiling. Very good.
Pamphlet written and dedicated to “Los Amigos de la Libertad,” two years after
Peruvian independence. Organization of the country proved exceedingly difficult,
due to various factors within Peruvian society, and the early years of independence
were tumultuous. Two copies on OCLC, at the John Carter Brown Library and
the National Library of Chile.
MEDINA (LIMA) 3729. PALAU 118613. OCLC 55259629.
$1250.
95. [Peru]: MANIFIESTO IMPARCIAL DE LOS ACONTECIMIEN-
TOS DE LA CAPITAL DEL PERU DESDE SALIDA DEL EJERCITO EXPEDICIONARIO PARA LOS PUERTOS INTERMEDIOS HASTA FIN DE MARZO DEL PRESENTE ANO [caption
title]. Lima: Imprenta de Masias, 1823. 5,8,[2]pp. Folio. Dbd. Minor foxing.
Contemporary ink markings. Very good.
Pamphlet written two years after Peruvian independence. Organization of the
country proved exceedingly difficult, due to various factors within Peruvian society,
and the early years of independence were tumultuous. Two copies on OCLC, at
Harvard and University of North Carolina.
MEDINA (LIMA) 3731. OCLC 53074542.
$1250.
Smuggling Arms to Rebels in Spanish America
96. [Spanish American Independence]: TESTIMONIO DE LOS AU-
TOS SOBRE EL APRESAMIENTO DE LA CORBETA ANGLOAMERICANA BUDGET SU CAPN. MR. JUAN MEANY, POR EL
CORSARIO ESPANOL NOMBRADO CORA (A) BUENOS AMIGOS DEL CARGO DE SU CAPN. DR. JUAN ESIFA. [Puerto Rico.
1823]. [129]pp. manuscript in Spanish on official stationery. Gathered sheets,
8½ x 13 inches, string-tied. Some edge wear, especially to exterior sheets, but
no loss of text. Very good. In a cloth chemise and slipcase.
Manuscript of a legal case in Puerto Rico involving the American commercial vessel,
Budget, captured in late 1822 by the Spanish privateer, Cora. It would appear that
the Budget was engaged in smuggling arms to rebels in South America. At this
point Bolívar’s campaigns of 1820-21 had destroyed Spanish power in neighboring
Venezuela and Colombia, and Spanish authority was rapidly crumbling in the rest
of its continental possessions. Only the Greater Antilles remained firmly under
Spanish control. Testimony is given by John Meany, captain of the Budget, and by
members of his crew; and by Juan Esifa, in command of the Cora. Written in the
margins throughout are contemporary notes in English explaining the contents and
the proceedings of the trial. Handwritten on printed Spanish forms, this document
also provides a detailed inventory of the cargo that the Budget was transporting from
London to Guyana, including cannons, cannonballs, gun powder, rope, and boxes of
rifles. Various letters, bills of lading, and other items of evidence are transcribed,
including letters from several London merchants in support of Captain Meany,
and evidence supporting the Spanish view that the ship’s cargo was contraband.
A fascinating and detailed account of a legal procedure involving contraband
seized at sea, and as such primary evidence of the law of the sea as it was developing in the post-Napoleonic war era. Also of great interest in documenting the final
collapse of Spanish authority in the New World. $8500.
97. Vidaurre, Manuel Lorenzo de: PLAN DEL PERU, DEFECTOS DEL
GOBIERNO ESPANOL ANTIGUO, NECESARIAS REFORMAS.
OBRA ESCRITA POR EL CIUDADANO MANUEL DE VIDAURRE, A PRINCIPIOS DEL ANO DE 10 EN CADIZ, Y HOY AUMENTADA CON INTERESANTES NOTAS...SE DEDICA AL
EXMO. SENOR DON SIMON BOLIVAR, DESDE PHILADELPHIA.... Philadelphia. 1823. 225,[5]pp. Modern half morocco and marbled
boards. Moderate foxing. A very good copy.
The rare Philadelphia printing of this important call for republican reforms in Peru.
Vidaurre began writing in support of South American independence while holding
an official post in Spain, but upon being persecuted for his radical ideas he fled to
the United States, where he published this book. Herein he attacks the Spanish
political system of viceroys, curates, and bosses, and calls for liberal republican
reforms. He passionately attacks slavery and dedicates this volume to the Great
Liberator, Simón Bolívar. In 1824, Bolívar appointed Vidaurre first president of the
supreme court of Trujillo, and afterwards Vidaurre served in a variety of diplomatic
posts. Appleton’s cites a Paris printing of 1822.
SABIN 99491. PALAU 364106. Appleton’s Cyclopædia VI, p.289.
$1250.
98. [Argentina]: LA LIRA ARGENTINA, Ó COLECCION DE LAS
PIEZAS POÉTICAS, DADAS A LUZ EN BUENOS-AYRES DURANTE LA GUERRA DE SU INDEPENDENCIA. Buenos Aires.
1824. [4],515pp. plus folding plate of engraved music. Four-page index misbound between half title and titlepage. Contemporary Argentinean calf, boards
and spine gilt. Binding slightly rubbed, corners bumped and worn. Some corrosion in upper blank margins at beginning and end of text due to oxidation
of old stain, not affecting text. Margins of text lightly dampstained. Folding
plate has small dampstains, a few small clean tears along folds with no loss.
Rear free endpaper detached but present. Still, a very good copy.
The scarce first edition of the first anthology of Argentinean poetry, a fundamental
work for the study of Argentinean literature in the early independence era. Bound
in Argentina in full gilt-stamped calf, the work is complete with the folding plate of
engraved music and words for the “Cancion Patriotica.” In a preface dated May 25,
1823, the anonymous editor writes that the poetic pieces and simple verse produced
in Buenos Aires during the War of Independence were compiled and published
by the desire to rescue the works of the warriors and patriots from oblivion. The
anthology contains numerous types of verse including songs, cantos, odes, hymns,
marches, inscriptions, “cielitos,” “octavas,” “decimas,” “letrillas,” and sonnets.
A scarce copy of this foundation work for Argentinean literature, in a contemporary, finely gilt Argentinean binding. OCLC records three copies in the United
States plus Oxford and the National Library of Chile.
PALAU 138683. SABIN 41409. OCLC 23181793, 54270578.
$2500.
99. Bullock, William: SIX MONTHS’ RESIDENCE AND TRAVELS
IN MEXICO; CONTAINING REMARKS ON THE PRESENT
STATE OF NEW SPAIN.... London. 1824. xii,532pp. plus fifteen plates
(four colored), two folding maps, and folding table. Folding frontis. Modern
half morocco and paper covered boards, morocco label, gilt. Slight offsetting
on maps and plates, but generally a clean, very good copy.
Sabin states that Bullock was “the first English traveller in Mexico since Father
Gage in 1640.” He arrived there in 1823, landing at Veracruz, ascended to Mexico
City, and spent most of his visit in the city or its immediate surroundings in the
valley of Mexico. The text details much of contemporary Mexican life, while the
fine plates, based on Bullock’s own drawings, show natives and landscapes. Particularly striking is the panoramic view of the valley of Mexico, which serves as
a folding frontispiece. The two folding maps show the city of Mexico as it was
when Bullock visited it, and ancient Mexico City. The attractive colored plates
show Mexican dress.
SABIN 9140. ABBEY 666.
$1250.
First Constitution of Mexico
100. [Constitutions]: CONSTITUCION FEDERAL DE LOS ESTADOS
UNIDOS MEXICANOS, SANCIONADA POR EL CONGRESO
GENERAL CONSTITUYENTE, EL 4 DE OCTUBRE DE 1824.
Mexico. [1824]. [4],xviii,62,[3],iii,[2],12pp. plus plate. 16mo. Contemporary
Mexican calf, spine gilt. Small worm hole in several leaves (including titlepage
and plate), repaired by tissue. Overall very good.
This is the first constitution of Mexico as a sovereign state, and the constitution
under which the colonization of Texas by Americans took place. “The first constitution for the Mexican Republic under which operated our present southwestern
states, from Texas to California” – Howes. It is bound with the Acta Constitutiva
de la Federacion Mexicana (as usual), which established the provisional government
and the federal system. The attractive plate, by Jose Mariano Torreblanca, depicts
the Mexican coat of arms above a cactus, with the name of each Mexican state
written on the leaves. Scarce.
HOWES E197. PALAU 59642. SABIN 48379. STREETER TEXAS 1086 (ref ). STREETER SALE
211.
$6500.
101. [Hankshaw, John, or Francis Hall]: LETTERS WRITTEN FROM
COLOMBIA, DURING A JOURNEY FROM CARACAS TO BOGOTA, AND THENCE TO SANTA MARTHA, IN 1823. London:
G. Cowie, 1824. xvi,208pp. plus one folding map. 20th-century tan buckram,
spine gilt, with a wax seal presumably covering a library call number. Bookplate removed from front pastedown. Light scattered foxing. A good, solid
copy.
Published anonymously but attributed by the British Museum to John Hankshaw,
while The Economic Literature of Latin America, Palau, and OCLC assign authorship
to Francis Hall. This record of a journey was published, according to the anonymous author, due to the desire “so universally felt in Great Britain of information
as to the actual condition of the Republic of Colombia. The more that rich and
beautiful country becomes known, the greater will be the interest excited towards
it among all Europeans. So extensive a field for the exercise of European industry
and intelligence has not for ages presented itself.”
A travel journal composed in the form of letters, the author describes the landscape, the inhabitants, the climate and soil, natural resources, commodities, government, and the possibilities for commerce. The highly detailed map of Greater
Colombia is “taken from Humboldt and various other recent authorities.”
ALBERICH 1336. NAYLOR 85. SABIN 14598. PALAU 112082.
$1350.
102. Keene, Richard Raynal: A LETTER OF VINDICATION TO HIS
EXCELLENCY COLONEL MONROE, PRESIDENT OF THE
UNITED STATES.... [Philadelphia. 1824]. 47pp. Errata slip pasted to
verso of title-leaf. Dbd. Occasional light fox mark, else very good.
Richard Keene was a fascinating and shadowy figure who played an interesting role
in the Southwest after the Louisiana Purchase. Implicated in the Burr Conspiracy,
he went to Spain after its collapse and obtained a grant of lands in Texas contingent upon his bringing settlers there. In this pamphlet he claims that there was a
conspiracy against him in the United States, “...by men of high influence, to defeat
my plan of Mexican colonization by impressing the Spanish government with the
belief that I was a secret agent of this government for extending their republican
dominion into Mexico.” He expands at some length on this issue and his efforts
to found a Texas colony and his problems with the American government. Streeter
discusses the significance of this pamphlet in his note on Keene’s proposal to Spain
(see Streeter Texas 1056).
Monroe objected to Keene’s designation as America’s agent to secure the release
of captured American seamen held in Algiers and called him “a most obnoxious
character.” This is Keene’s response, in which he emphasizes his patriotism and
service to his country, while denying charges that he otherwise engaged in “antiAmerican politics.” It prints affidavits from Luther Martin and Robert Goodloe
Harper. “Keene, the first American promised land for bringing settlers to Texas,
was accused of being a party to Burr’s conspiracy...” – Howes.
HOWES K24, “aa.” SABIN 37156. STREETER TEXAS 1056 (note). AMERICAN IMPRINTS
$900.
16766.
The British Proconsul in Argentina Reports
to His Majesty’s Government,
Leading to the First Recognition of Nationhood
in South America by Any European Power
103. Parish, Woodbine: GENERAL REPORT ON THE RISE & PROG-
RESS OF THE PRESENT FREE GOVERNMENT OF BUENOS
AYRES [manuscript title]. Buenos Aires. 1824. 80pp. autograph manuscript
with one manuscript note and eight printed items tipped to six pages. Quarto.
Contemporary three-quarter morocco and marbled boards. Covers faded, spine
lightly abraded, paper label chipped. Internally very clean, report and appendix
in a clear, legible hand in ink; additional contemporary notes throughout the
text in pencil. Text preceded by twenty-six blank leaves, with tabs for the
letters of the alphabet, one indented on each leaf (one blank leaf has pasted
remnant of printed text). In fine condition. In a half morocco and cloth box.
This manuscript report prepared by British consul-general Woodbine Parish for
the British government regarding the political and economic situation in Argentina
in the mid-1820s was a crucial step in the recognition of Argentina’s statehood by
any European power. Parish was an experienced British diplomat who, prior to
going to South America, had served in diplomatic roles in Sicily, Naples, Paris,
Aix-la-Chapelle, and the Ionian Islands. “In 1823 the government determined to
send out political agents to the Spanish American States, and Parish was appointed
commissioner and consul-general to Buenos Ayres...After he had sent home a report
upon the state of the people and their newly constituted government, full powers
were sent to him in 1824 to negotiate with them a treaty of amity and commerce.
This was concluded on 2 Feb. 1825 at Buenos Ayres, and was the first treaty made
with any of the new states of America, and the first recognition of their national
existence by any European power” – DNB. The present manuscript is evidently
that report, which persuaded the British Government to recognize Argentina and
impressed the Foreign Office sufficiently that they promoted Parish to negotiate it.
Parish’s account begins with a brief critical history of the colonies under Spanish rule. He writes:
The origin of the events which have separated the colonies from Spain may be
traced to a variety of well known causes: oppressed, misgoverned and misguided
as they long had been, it was not to be expected that in this enlightened and
liberal age they would much longer continue in the state of degraded and
odious subjection in which they had been hitherto held.
In regards to the vice royalty of Buenos Aires declaring independence from Spain,
he adds that internal “public opinion was long undecided as to the course to be
adopted…But, though the doctrines of liberty were declared, it was…found to be
no easy task to establish a government for a people brought up in such a state of
servility and debasement as hardly to have a distant notion of the blessings of free
institutions.”
Parish mentions various military operations between 1815 and 1820, leading
to a state of disorganization and disorder. It was under these conditions that a
government was formed in 1821 which focused on affairs in Buenos Aires and good
provincial administration.
A radical and systematic reform commenced which has produced in little
more than three years results beyond the most sanguine expectations: From a
state of anarchy and confusion the people of Buenos Ayres are now raised to
a prosperity hitherto unknown to them, and are at present in the enjoyment
of the blessings of a good, well organized, and stable government.
The remainder of the report is devoted to institutions which have been “established
or promoted, and which give them a claim to the eternal gratitude of their countrymen.” These include a representative system of government, executive power, a
law on the inviolability of private property (extended to foreigners residing in the
country), a general amnesty, and the official gazette “in which all the acts of the
government were laid before the public. This was a new measure and obtained for
them a very general degree of confidence.” For all of these institutions, additional
documentation is provided in the appendix in the original Spanish and often in
English translation.
Parish is particularly impressed with cultural changes under independence.
But the most striking change which has been effected at Buenos Ayres is
that with respect to religious opinions: the power of the priesthood under
the dominion of Spain was almost absolute and the most intolerant doctrines
of the Catholic Religion alone were promulgated and severely maintained.
Freedom of conscience and of opinions has arisen out of the revolution.
The author is equally impressed with the state of education, writing that “no measure
however of this government is of greater consequence than the exertions for the
promotion of education.” He notes the establishment of public schools, colleges
for the moral and natural sciences and a university for the clergy. Parish adds that
a library of approximately 20,000 volumes “has been opened to the public which
is well arranged and is daily increasing and several scientific societies have been
formed…It is a new feeling in this country and acts with the greater forces after the
state of ignorance and seclusion in which this people had been so long kept under
the old Spanish system under which even the importation of books excepting upon
religious subjects was utterly prohibited.”
The report includes descriptions of liberty of the press, administration of justice,
confederation and population of the provinces, finances (additional information for
which is provided in the appendix and the addenda), the Banda Oriental, the war
department, and the country’s foreign relations. Regarding international relations,
the report indicates that “the foreign relations of Buenos Ayres have been confined to
treaties of alliance and defence with some of the other free states of South America
[‘Chile and Colombia only’ is added in pencil] and to an exchange of diplomatic
missions with the United States.” Parish notes that for other countries, only official representatives authorized by their governments can negotiate with the newly
independent government of Buenos Aires.
In concluding, Parish provides a positive review of the current conditions in
Argentina and the potentials for British involvement in the future.
The errors of the past will be shunned for the future; and the benefits of a
good government which has been at last established are now quite sufficiently
known and understood to ensure the support of all classes of the people.
Every day adds to its more and physical strength, as education advances so
will the state, as foreign commerce increases, so will the prosperity and resources of the country. Nature has done her utmost in climate and situation,
and it only remains for civilized man in these regions to make the most of
those inestimable blessings which providence on the one hand has bestowed
upon him and a paternal government on the other is anxious by all possible
means to improve.
After this report was received by the British government for internal consideration,
Parish was charged with negotiating a treaty of amity and commerce, in which Great
Britain recognized Argentina, the first formal recognition of any of the former
Spanish colonies in the Americas by a European power, and the second country in
the Western Hemisphere with which England had diplomatic relations (the other
being the United States). “As a mark of his Majesty’s gracious approbation” Parish
was appointed chargé d ’affaires to the new republic, a position he held from 1825
until 1832. His clear and well documented report, including appendix and addenda,
along with his positive impressions for British advancement, ensured his continued
diplomatic service in Buenos Aires. In 1838, his full account on Argentina’s history,
geography, and geology, Buenos Ayres and the Provinces of the Rio de la Plata: Their
Present State, Trade, and Debt..., was published. In 1837, Parish was knighted for
his diplomatic services in Latin America.
DNB XV, pp.213-14.
$13,500.
The Story of a Major Slave Revolt
104. [Smith, John, Rev.]: THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY’S
REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE LATE
REV. J. SMITH, OF DEMERARA, MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL, WHO WAS TRIED UNDER MARTIAL LAW, AND CONDEMNED TO DEATH, ON A CHARGE OF AIDING AND ASSISTING IN A REBELLION OF THE NEGRO SLAVES.... London. 1824. vii,[1],204pp. Modern half calf and marbled boards. Lightly toned.
Contemporary ownership signature on titlepage; titlepage repaired in inner
corners. About very good, untrimmed.
The Rev. John Smith was a Methodist missionary in Demerara (British Guiana) at
the time of a revolt of some ten thousand slaves there. The uprising was precipitated
by rumors that Parliament was moving to ameliorate conditions for slaves, as a step
toward eventual manumission. By the late summer of 1823, slaves on approximately
fifty plantations, believing that their “rights” were being withheld by their masters,
rose in revolt. Emancipation was demanded, and violence ensued, with two or
three whites dying as a result. The Rev. Smith was a minister to the slaves. He
was ordered to join the militia in protecting British property rights but refused.
Smith was charged with promoting “discontent and dissatisfaction in the minds of
the negro slaves” and of not warning of the plot. At his trial several slaves were
called to testify on behalf of the prosecution and the defense, and their testimony
is printed here. On Nov. 24, 1823, Smith was sentenced “to be hanged by the
neck until dead,” but died of “pulmonary consumption” in prison before clemency
arrived from London. This book was issued by the London Missionary Society in
an effort to prove that Smith had been unfairly accused and to clear the name of
the Society. It includes “documentary evidence omitted in the Parliamentary copy”
of the proceedings, letters, and statements of Smith and his wife, and a petition to
the House of Commons by Sir James Mackintosh asking that the sentence against
Smith be rescinded.
An important source of primary information on a major slave revolt in the
Americas.
SABIN 82905. RAGATZ, p.342.
$1250.
105. Mathison, Gilbert Farquhar: NARRATIVE OF A VISIT TO BRA-
ZIL, CHILE, PERU, AND THE SANDWICH ISLANDS, DURING THE YEARS 1821 AND 1822. WITH MISCELLANEOUS
REMARKS ON THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE, AND POLITICAL PROSPECTS OF THOSE COUNTRIES. London. 1825.
xii,478pp. plus four color plates, folding map, errata page, and [2]pp. of advertisements. Contemporary three-quarter calf and marbled boards, spine gilt.
Light wear to edges and extremities. Front hinge starting. Some light foxing
to map, else internally clean. An attractive, very good copy.
The author sailed from Lisbon to Rio in 1821, visiting the Swiss settlement of Nova
Friburgo. He then boarded an American brig destined for Chile and Peru, and at
Callao he took another ship to the Sandwich Islands. Includes a folding map of
the Sandwich Islands and beautiful color plates depicting Peruvian women and a
native Sandwich Islander. Sabin and Borba de Moraes call for four plates, as in
this copy, but the copy in the Hill collection contains only three. “Of the 170pp.
on Brazil the best passage is the description of the attempted Swiss colonization,
at that time in full decay, and general remarks about Brazilian progress” – Borba
de Moraes. A scarce Pacific voyage.
SABIN 46858. HILL 1105. ABBEY 700. JUDD 119. BORBA DE MORAES, p.536. RODRIGUES
1565.
$1850.
The Royalists of Peru Fight On
106. [Olañeta, Pedro Antonio de]: VIVA EL REY. PROCLAMA DEL
GENERAL OLAÑETA A LOS PUEBLOS DEL ALTO Y BAJO
PERU [caption title]. [Oruro (?). 1825]. Broadside, 12 x 8 inches. In Spanish. Early folds. Very light staining, else near fine.
An extremely rare, and possibly unrecorded, example of one of Gen. Antonio de
Olañeta’s final proclamations to the public, issued three months before his death.
Olañeta was a major royalist leader during Bolivia and Peru’s fight for independence,
serving as a major-general and the commander-in-chief of Upper Peru (Bolivia) from
1823 to his death in 1825. In December 1824, after the revolutionaries’ watershed
victory at Ayachuco, Olañeta headed to the south of Chile to make a final stand
for Spain. On April 4, during an attempt to quell a disturbance within one of his
battalions, Olañeta was shot and killed by one of his own soldiers. In the present
proclamation, signed in print at Ururo on Jan. 24, 1825, Olañeta declares that the
Army of the North has been scattered by a treason of the “so-called liberals” and
launches an invective against José de la Serna, Peru’s last viceroy and general-inchief, who lost Ayachuca and whom Olañeta had long opposed. He promises that
the king’s cause in Peru is not all lost, and calls for the towns of upper and lower
Peru to maintain peace in the face of anarchy while the army continues to work to
save them. Not in Palau or OCLC, and possibly unique. $1750.
107. [Peru]: EL SOL DEL CUZCO...[caption title]. Cuzco: Imprenta del
Gobierno, Aug. 27, 1825. [4]pp. Quarto. Self-wrappers. Moderate creasing.
Minor spotting, heavier on verso of last leaf. Good.
Number 35 of this scarce Peruvian newspaper from the earliest period of Peru’s
independence. The present issue includes Simón Bolívar’s plans to establish a public
education system and several hospitals in Lima, Lampa, Azangaro, and Juli. Also
included is commentary on a recently established London mining concern with
interest in the rich mining districts of Peru. Quite rare. Charno locates only one
copy of this issue, at Yale University.
CHARNO, p.523.
$300.
A Remarkable Sammelband
of Early Treaties of the Republic of Mexico
108. [Mexican Treaties]: [COLLECTION OF TWENTY-FIVE TREA-
TIES BETWEEN MEXICO AND OTHER NATIONS MADE BETWEEN 1825 AND 1856, WITH AN APPENDIX CONTAINING
ANOTHER FIVE TREATIES AND DOCUMENTS INVOLVING
THE UNITED STATES, MEXICO, AND LATIN AMERICAN
NATIONS]. [Various places, 1825-1856]. Various paginations, enumerated
below. Most of the treaties are in folio format, with a few (noted below) in
octavo. The entire collection is in a single folio volume bound in 19th-century
three-quarter calf and marbled boards, spine gilt. Fine.
A great collection of Mexican treaties, including sixteen made within the first twenty
years of Mexico’s independence from Spain, and also including the exceedingly rare
Mexican printing of the Gadsden Purchase Treaty, and the official Mexican printing
of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican-American War. In all, the
collection charts the progress of Mexican international relations and diplomacy in
the first thirty-five years after independence and comprises treaties with the United
States (six in all), European powers (including their former mother country, Spain),
and other South American nations. Though the origin of this volume is unknown,
it was quite possibly compiled by a member of the Mexican government or of the
Mexican diplomatic corps in the mid-19th century. The volume is prefaced with
a manuscript title reading: “Coleccion de Tratados Celebrados con la Republica
Mexicana.”
As noted, a highlight of the collection is the extremely rare Mexican printing
of the Gadsden Purchase Treaty of 1853, by which the United States created its
present southwestern border, and Mexico gave up parts of what are now presentday southern Arizona and New Mexico. The United States had also pressed for
the states of Sonora and Baja California as well, but Mexico did not accede to
that deal. The official Mexican printing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (one
of only 500 copies, according to Palau) is also present. Also included is Mexico’s
1823 treaty with Colombia – the first the newly-independent Mexico made with
another nation, as well as the 1826 treaty with Great Britain, which was the first
Mexican treaty with a European power. Several of the treaties with Britain include
articles by which Mexico agrees to end the slave trade. Mexico’s treaty with Spain
of 1838 – by which Spain formally recognized Mexican independence and made
peace with her break-away colony – is included here in the rare official folio edition. Many of the treaties of the 1820s and ‘30s carry clauses accommodating the
relative inequality of Mexican commerce and shipping vis à vis the United States
and European powers.
The treaties, conventions, and other documents – in the order in which they
are bound in the volume – are as follow:
1) [Mexico-Colombia Treaty]: Primeria Secretaria de Estado. Seccion de Estado. El
Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos...[caption title]. [Mexico City. 1825].
[5]pp. Folio. Mexico negotiated a treaty of amity and commerce with the new
republic of Colombia in the fall of 1823, but it was not ratified until Sept.
20, 1825, and printed immediately thereafter. This is the first treaty between
Mexico and another power, and probably the first treaty of Gran Colombia as
well (which then encompassed Ecuador and Venezuela as well as Colombia).
2) [Mexico-Great Britain Treaty]: Primera Secretaria de Estado, Departmento del
Exterior...El Escmo. Sr. Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos...[caption title].
[Mexico City. 1827]. 12pp. printed in double columns in Spanish and English.
Folio. The first treaty between Mexico and a European power, this amity and
commerce treaty was negotiated in London in December of 1826 and ratified
in Mexico on Oct. 29, 1827. This was a significant diplomatic victory for
England, which was embroiled in Caribbean trade disputes with the United
States ( John Quincy Adams would close American ports to British shipping
from Caribbean colonies the next year). The U.S. still lacked a treaty with
Mexico, and this insinuated British influence against American expansion.
3) [Mexico-Great Britain Treaty]: Tratado Para la Abolicion del Trafico de Esclavos,
Celebrado Entre la Republica Mexicana y S.M. Britanica. [Mexico City. 1843].
[2],18pp. printed in double columns in Spanish and English. Folio. Part of
England’s crusade against the slave trade, this treaty was agreed to in 1841
and ratified in 1843. Mexico had outlawed slavery on gaining independence.
4) [Mexico – Slave Trade]: Ministerio de Relaciones Interior y Esteriores...[caption
title]. [Mexico City. 1851]. Folio broadside. An 1851 proclamation calling
for aiding England in enforcing prohibition of the slave trade, and citing the
provisions of the 1841 treaty to that effect.
5) [Mexico-Netherlands Treaty]: Primera Secretaria de Estado. Departamento del
Exterior. El Escmo. Sr. Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos...[caption title].
[Mexico City. 1829]. 9pp. printed in double columns in Spanish and Dutch.
Folio. Treaty of amity and commerce between Mexico and the Netherlands,
negotiated in 1827 and ratified in 1829, the second treaty between Mexico
and a European power.
6) [Mexico-Denmark Treaty]: Primera Secretaria de Estado. Departamento del Esterior...El Escmo. Sr. Presidente de los Estados-Unidos Mexicanos...[caption title].
[Mexico City. 1829]. [9]pp. printed in double columns in Spanish and French.
Folio. This treaty of amity and commerce with Denmark was negotiated in
1828 and ratified in 1829.
7) [Mexico-Hanover Treaty]: Primera Secretaria de Estado. Departamento del Esterior. El Presidente de los Estados-Unidos Mexicanos...[caption title]. [Mexico
City. 1829]. 15pp. printed in double columns in Spanish and French and in
Spanish and English. Mexico’s campaign to establish good relations with
the major European powers continued with this treaty with a major German
state, agreed to in 1828 and ratified the same day as the Denmark treaty, on
Oct. 29, 1829. Actually, only the first two pages (printed in Spanish and
French) relate directly to Hanover, the rest being taken up by a printing of
the Mexican treaty with Great Britain of 1826 (item 2 above). Logical, if
one remembers that the British monarch, George IV, was also the King of
Hanover at the time.
8) [Mexico-United States Treaty]: Primera Secretaria de Estado. Departamento del
Esterior. El Escmo. Sr. Presidente...el Decreto...un Tratado de Amistad, Comercio y
Navegacion Entre los Estados Unidos Mexicanos y los Estados Unidos de America...
[caption title]. [Mexico City. 1832]. 21pp. printed in double columns in Spanish
and English. Folio. This is the second treaty between Mexico and the United
States, negotiated in 1831 and ratified in Mexico on Dec. 1, 1832. The Mexican government had refused to sign a treaty of amity and commerce until a
boundary treaty had been concluded, and that treaty, negotiated in 1828, was
ratified the same day. The clauses were fairly standard for such a commercial
treaty, with the interesting addition of a clause by which the powers agreed
not to incite hostile Indians to attack each other. Since Texas was then a
part of Mexico, this treaty applied to trade with Texas as well, but Streeter
fails to note a Mexican printing of the treaty, only listing the Congressional
printing. MALLOY, p.1085. PALAU 339368.
9) [Mexico-United States Treaty]: Primera Secretaria de Estado. Departamento del
Esterior...un Tratado Para la Demarcacion de los Limites...[caption title]. [Mexico
City. 1832]. 5pp. printed in double columns in Spanish and English. Folio. This
brief treaty adds an extension to the 1828 treaty of limits, which contained a
deadline on ratification, so as to allow its passage with the amity and commerce treaty. Like the 1828 treaty and the amity and commerce treaty, it was
ratified in Mexico on Dec. 1, 1832. MALLOY, p.1084.
10) [Mexico-United States Treaty]: Primera Secretaria de Estado, Departamento
de Exterior...Que a Efecto de Facilitar el Cumplimienio del Art. 3 del Tratado de
Limites...[caption title]. [Mexico City. 1836]. [4]pp. printed in double columns
in Spanish and English. Folio. By this treaty, negotiated in 1835, the United
States and Mexico added a clause to the 1828 treaty of limits, agreeing to
commissioners meeting to survey the boundary of the U.S. and Mexico, especially along the Sabine River. By the time this was ratified the point was
moot; Texas had seized independence and the Sabine boundary no longer
existed. The day set for ratification was, in fact, the same day as the Battle
of San Jacinto. MALLOY, p.1099. STREETER TEXAS 1257a (two copies, and noting
a 1958 auction record of $400).
11) [Mexico-United States Treaty]: Ministerio de Relaciones Esteriores...Convencion
Para el Arreglo de Reclamaciones de Ciudadanos de los Estados-Unidos de America,
Contra el Gobierno de la Republica Mexicana...[caption title]. [Mexico City. 1840].
[4]pp. printed in double columns in Spanish and English. Folio. This treaty,
the fifth chronologically between Mexico and the United States, attempted
to set up a structure for settling claims of citizens. Many U.S. traders in
Mexico had claims there, and many Mexicans who had lost property in the
Texas Revolution now made claims against the U.S. These nagging problems
received no real settlement here. MALLOY, p.1101.
12) [Mexico-United States Treaty]: Tratado de Paz, Amistad, Limites y Arreglo
Definitivo Entre la Republica Mexicana y los Estados-Unidos de America...[Second titlepage, in English, reads:] Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Boundaries, and
Definitive Settlement Between the United States of America and the Mexican
Republic.... Mexico City. 1848. 55pp. printed in Spanish and English on facing
pages. The official Mexican printing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo,
ending the war of 1846-48 between the United States and Mexico, and resulting in the formal cession of the entire Southwest and California to the
United States. Agreements were reached for the withdrawal of American
troops from Mexico, the payment of Mexican claims, and the formal cession
of territory (the U.S. had already occupied all of the land). The theoretical
boundaries were set out and arrangements for boundary commissioners were
made. By this treaty the U.S. made an addition of land only equaled by the
Louisiana Purchase and the Alaska Purchase. An important American treaty,
here in a scarce printing (only 500 copies, according to Palau). MALLOY,
p.1107. PALAU 339389.
13) [Mexico-United States Treaty]: Secretario de Estado y del Despacho Relaciones
Exteriores...un Tratado Entre la Republica Mejicana y los Estados-Unidos de
America...[caption title]. [Mexico City. 1854]. [8]pp. printed in double columns in Spanish and English. Folio. The extremely rare official printing of
the Gadsden Purchase Treaty, agreed to on Dec. 30, 1853, and ratified the
following year. By this agreement the United States purchased what is now
the southern part of the states of Arizona and New Mexico, thus securing
the land needed for the southern route of the transcontinental railroad. The
main U.S. negotiator, James Gadsden, had attempted to buy Baja California
and Sonora as well, but was rebuffed. This was the last addition to the land
mass of the continental United States, and the eighth treaty chronologically
with Mexico. MALLOY, p.1121.
14) [Mexico-Saxony Treaty]: Primera Secretaria de Estado. Departamento de Esterior.
El Presidente de los Estados-Unidos Mexicanos...un Tratado de Amistad y Commercio...el Rey de Sajonia...[caption title]. [Mexico City. 1833]. [5]pp. printed
in double columns in Spanish and French. Folio. Another early Mexican treaty
with one of the German states, following Hanover in 1829. As with that treaty,
the formal signatory was the British king (in this instance William IV ), who
was descended of the House of Hanover.
15) [Mexico-Chile Treaty]: Primera Secretaria de Estado. Departamento del Esterior.
El Vice-Presidente de los Estados-Unidos Mexicanos...un Tratado de Amistad,
Comercio y Navegacion Entre los Estados-Unidos Mexicanos y la Republica de
Chile...[caption title]. [Mexico City. 1833]. [4]pp. Folio. The first Mexican
treaty with Chile, and the second with a South American power, after Gran
Colombia in 1825. The treaty was ratified on Oct. 1, 1833. Not in Palau.
16) [Mexico-Peru Treaty]: Primera Secretaria de Estado. Departamento del Esterior,
El Escmo. Sr. Presidente...un Tratado de Amistad, Comercio, y Navegacion, Entre los
Estados-Unidos Mexicanos y la Republica del Peru...[caption title]. [Mexico City.
1833]. [5]pp. Folio. The first Mexican treaty with Peru, and the third with
a South American power, following closely on the heels of the Chile treaty,
being ratified on Nov. 20, 1833. This was very shortly after independence
was gained from the Spanish, and Peru still included Bolivia. PALAU 339369.
17) [Mexico-Prussia Treaty]: Primera Secretaria de Estado. Departamento del Esterior. El Escmo. Sr. Presidente...un Tratado de Amistad, Navegacion y Comercio
Entre los Estados-Unidos Mexicanos y S.M. El Rey de Prusia...[caption title].
[Mexico City. 1836]. 11pp. Printed double columns in French and Spanish.
Folio. Treaty between Mexico and the most important of the German states,
ratified on April 16, 1836.
18) [Mexico-Spain Treaty]: Tratado Definitivo de Paz y Amistad Entre la Republica
Mexicana y S.M. Catolica. [Mexico City. 1838]. [7]pp. Folio. Certainly the most
important Mexican treaty before Guadalupe Hidalgo, this treaty with Spain
officially recognized that Mexico was now independent from the mother
country, established peace between the two countries (they had technically
been at war since the Revolution), agreed to conclude treaties on claims and
commerce, and settled other differences. This official folio printing is not
in Palau, who notes only a quarto printing of 1843. PALAU 339375 (another
Mexico printing).
19) [Mexico-Spain Treaty]: Secretaria de Estado y del Despacho de Relaciones Exteriores...una Convencion Entre Esta Republica y la Espana...[caption title]. [Mexico
City. 1854]. [5]pp. Folio. This convention, negotiated between 1851 and 1854,
sought to settle outstanding differences between Spain and Mexico, mainly
relating to claims and commercial problems.
20) [Mexico-France Treaty]: Ministerio de Relaciones Esteriores. El Escmo. Sr. Presidente...un Tratado de Paz Entre Esta Republica y el Reino de Francia...[caption
title]. [Mexico City. 1840]. [4]pp. printed in double columns in Spanish and
French. Folio. This peace treaty ended the so-called “Pastry War” between
France and Mexico. The French had blockaded the main Mexican port of
Vera Cruz in an attempt to collect claims due French citizens. After landing
some troops, an agreement was negotiated and the French withdrew.
21) [Mexico-France Treaty]: Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores. El Escmo. Sr.
Presidente...una Convencion Entre Esta Republica y el Reino de Francia...[caption
title]. [Mexico City. 1840]. [3]pp. printed in double columns in Spanish and
French. Folio. A convention for the settlement of claims which had prompted
the French blockade of Vera Cruz.
22) [Mexico-Hanseatic League Treaty]: Ministerio de Relaciones Esteriores y Gobernacion. El Escmo. Sr. Presidente Provisional...un Tratado de Amistad, Navegacion y
Comercio Entre Esta Republica y la Ciudades Libres y Anseaticas...[caption title].
[Mexico City. 1842]. 11pp. printed in double columns in Spanish and French.
Folio. Commercial treaty between Mexico and the Baltic and north German
ports of Lubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg.
23) [Mexico-Austria Treaty]: Tratado de Amistad, Navegacion y Comercio Entre la
Republica Mexicana y S.M. El Emperador de Austria, Rey de Hungria y de Bohemia.... [Mexico City. 1843]. [2],12pp. printed in double columns in Spanish
and French. Folio. Mexico’s first treaty with the Austro-Hungarian empire,
which later provided its ill-fated emperor, Maximilian. PALAU 339383.
24) [Mexico-German States Treaty]: Tratado de Amistad, Navegacion y Comercio
Celebrado Entre la Republica Mexicana y los Reinos y Estados Goberanos de Alemania.... [Mexico City. 1856]. 14pp. printed in double columns in Spanish and
black-letter German. Folio. General commercial treaty between Mexico and
nineteen German states, including some, such as Prussia and Saxony, with
whom treaties already existed, and numerous smaller principalities.
25) [Mexico-Sardinia Treaty]: Tratado de Amistad, Navegacion y Comercio, Entre la
Republica Mexicana y S.M. El Rey de Cerdena. [Mexico City. 1856]. [2],10pp.
printed in double columns in Spanish and Italian. Folio. Commercial treaty
with Sardinia, then including northern Italy. PALAU 339396.
26) [Mexican War]: Exposicion Dirigida al Supremo Gobierno por los Senores Comisionados Que Firmaron en Guadalupe el Tratado de Paz...[manuscript title].
[Mexico City. 1848]. [3]-28pp. Leaves individually mounted on larger sheets.
Lacks printed titlepage. This pamphlet discusses the Mexican side of the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the new boundary with the United States,
and includes instructions from the Mexican government to their boundary
commissioners. TUTOROW 4125.
27) [United States-Mexico Relations]: Washington, March 23, 1847. Sir: The Government of Mexico Having Repeatedly Rejected the Friendly Overtures of the United
States...[caption title]. [Washington. 1847]. 14pp. Folio. This proclamation,
ordered by U.S. President Polk and promulgated by the Treasury Department,
asserts that since the Mexican government would not make terms: “It is the
right of the conquerors to levy contributions upon the enemy in their seaports,
towns, or provinces....” The document then lays out the taxing powers of the
military government, especially to collect customs revenues. There follows a
table of “Tariff of Duties...giving rates, setting up the customs system, and
providing rates.
28) [United States-Colombia Treaty]: By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation...Whereas a General Convention of Peace, Amity, Navigation and
Commerce Between the United States of America, and the Republic of Colombia...
[caption title]. [ Washington. 1825]. [2],9pp. printed in double columns in
English and Spanish. Folio. The official U.S. printing of the first treaty between the United States and another American power. Eager to extend their
hemispheric influence in the spirit of the Monroe Doctrine, the U.S. was ready
to establish diplomatic ties with the new South American republics. Gran
Colombia, encompassing most of present Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, and
part of Ecuador, was the first of the new Republics to make a treaty with the
U.S. A landmark in American diplomatic history. MALLOY, p.292.
29) [United States-Peru Treaty]: Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation,
Between the United States and the Republic of Peru. [Washington. 1852]. 23pp.
printed in double columns in English and Spanish. Folio. The United States
concluded a treaty with Peru-Bolivia in 1836, but civil war tore that original
republic apart. This is the first treaty with the reconstituted republic, with
boundaries close to those presently existing. This was particularly important
to the United States because of the many American vessels which put into
the port of Lima.
30) [United States-France Convention]: Consular Convention Between the United
States of America and His Majesty the Emperor of the French. [ Washington.
1853]. 10,[1]pp. printed in double columns in English and French. Folio. The
second American consular convention with France, replacing that of 1788.
MALLOY, p.528.
$42,500.
109. [Argentina]: MANIFIESTO DE LA COMISION DE NEGOCIOS
CONSTITUCIONALES DEL CONGRESO GENERAL CONSTITUYENTE DE LAS PROVINCIAS UNIDAS DEL RIO DE
LA PLATA, PRESENTADO JUNTO CON EL PROYECTO DE
CONSTITUCION Á QUE SE REFIERE [caption title]. [Buenos Aires]: Imprenta Argentina, 1826. 12pp. Small quarto. 20th-century three-quarter
morocco over marbled boards, spine gilt. Edges and spine lightly worn, upper
outer joint moderately worn. Contemporary number inscription in top margin
of first page of text. Lower right corners of first two leaves chipped. Moderate
age-toning and foxing. A good copy.
An extremely rare tract concerning the development of the Argentine constitution
in the early republican period of that nation. In April 1819 a constitution was
approved establishing a congress with two legislative branches and an elected chief
executive. Due to the local political situation, however, that constitution was not
fully enacted. A new constitution, promoting a centralized system of government,
was eventually drafted in 1826. This manifesto of the government’s constitutional
commission, presented to the Argentine representatives, reviews various aspects of
the 1819 Constitution and proposes changes to be effected in the new document.
An extremely rare publication concerned with the early constitutional period
in Argentina. OCLC records a single copy at the National Library of Chile. No
copies are located in RLIN.
PALAU 148972. OCLC 55255075.
$2500.
110. [Argentina]: PUBLICAMOS LA SIGUIENTE CARTA CON TE-
MOR DE DISGUSTAR AL SENOR SERRANO, QUE ESTANDO
DESEMPENANDO UNA DISTINGUIDA COMISION, AUN NO
CREERA OPORTUNO EL RECHAZO DE LAS IMPOSTURAS
DE SUS DETRACTORES; PERO A NOSOTROS NOS ES GRATO COMPROBAR QUE SOMOS TAN CELOSOS AMIGOS DE
DICHO SENOR, COMO ENEMIGOS DE LA CALUMNIA [caption title]. Buenos Aires. 1826. 4pp., printed on recto and verso of single
folded sheet. Very good.
Jose Mariano Serrano was apparently accused of publishing a dubious political tract
called El Mosquetero. In a letter to a friend, printed herein by his supporters, Serrano
passionately defends his name. He claims that he was the first to opt for Bolivia’s
independence. Also includes a letter addressed to Serrano from Gen. Alvarez de
Arenales. $250.
111. Duane, William: A VISIT TO COLOMBIA, IN THE YEARS 1822
& 1823, BY LAGUAYRA AND CARACAS, OVER THE CORDILLERA TO BOGOTA, AND THENCE BY THE MAGDALENA TO
CARTAGENA. Philadelphia: Printed by Thomas H. Palmer, for the author,
1826. 632pp. plus two plates. Contemporary calf, gilt morocco label. Calf
rubbed and scraped. Titlepage a bit dusty, some offsetting from the second
plate, scattered foxing. Overall, a very good copy.
An interesting and thorough description of Colombia in the midst of the Latin
American independence movements, by William Duane, the famed publisher of
the Philadelphia Aurora. Duane had been interested in Latin American affairs for
decades, and was asked by several business associates to assist in settling claims
against the government. He travelled there in 1822-23 and produced this lengthy
work on the country, including discussions of its culture, geography, religion, trade,
society, economics, governmental structure, natural history, and people. The result
is an excellent examination of the country by an astute observer. The lovely aquatint plates, which show the Pass of La Cabrera and the Falls of Taquendama, are
from sketches by Duane and were drawn by Thomas Birch, famous for this work
with his father, William, on the pioneering American color plate book, The City
of Philadelphia. The appendix prints the constitutions of Colombia. Relatively
scarce on the market.
SABIN 20994. AMERICAN IMPRINTS 24368. PALAU 76275. NAYLOR 80.
$1850.
112. [Gomez Pedraza, Manuel]: SECRETARIA DE GUERRA Y MARI-
NA. SECCION 2A. EL ECSMO. SR. PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS MEXICANOS SE HA SERVIDO DIRIGIRME
EL DECRETO QUE SIQUE...[caption title]. [Mexico City. March 21,
1826]. [2]pp. plus seven full-page tables (two folding). Self-wrappers. Internally clean. Very good.
“A rare and important decree, setting up a new system for the defense of the frontiers.
The tables show the make-up of the forces of the presidial companies at Tucson,
Tubac, Altar, Bahia del Espiritu Santo, San Antonio de bejar [sic], etc. In all
Sonora and Sinaloa was to have nine presidial companies, New Mexico three, and
Coahuila and Texas seven. The text gives many interesting details of the system in
eleven numbered articles” – Eberstadt. Quite rare. Streeter locates only two copies,
one at the University of Texas, the other being his own. OCLC locates one copy.
OCLC 14375772. STREETER TEXAS 714. EBERSTADT 162:335.
$2000.
113. [Great Britain-Colombia Treaty]: TREATY OF AMITY, COM-
MERCE, AND NAVIGATION, BETWEEN HIS MAJESTY AND
THE STATE OF COLOMBIA, TOGETHER WITH AN ADDITIONAL ARTICLE THEREUNTO ANNEXED...PRESENTED
TO BOTH HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT BY HIS MAJESTY ’S
COMMAND, 1826. London: R.G. Clarke, [1826]. 12pp. printed in double
columns in English and Spanish. Folio. Dbd. Very good.
Official printing of the first treaty between Great Britain and the recently independent Colombia. Both nations agree to perpetual peace and amity, and to reciprocal
trade privileges. Colombia agrees to aid the British in the abolition of the slave
trade. The treaty was signed at Bogota on April 18, 1825. This was the second
former Spanish colony recognized by England, who had recognized Argentina a
few months earlier. No copies of this official British printing are listed on OCLC.
Scarce. $900.
First Constitution of Chihuahua
114. [Mexico]: CONSTITUCION POLITICA DEL ESTADO LIBRE
DE CHIHUAHUA, SANCIONADA POR SU CONGRESO CONSTITUYENTE EN 7 DE DICIEMBRE DE 1825. Mexico City. 1826.
32pp. 16mo. Later plain wrappers, stapled. Near fine.
The Mexico City printing of the first constitution of the state of Chihuahua, the
largest in Mexico. The constitution was approved on December 7, 1825, in the
wake of Mexican independence, and follows the 1824 constitution of the Mexican
Republic. The Chihuahua constitution describes the rights of the citizens, the
powers of the legislature and governor, and the administration of the courts and
the military. Signed in print by Jose de Urquidi, governor of Chihuahua. This
printing is not in the Sutro collection. OCLC locates only three copies, at Yale,
the Newberry Library, and Tulane University. Rare.
OCLC 16518065.
$1750.
115. Antepara, Luis: DEFENSA LEGAL QUE EL CAPITAN LUIS AN-
TEPARA HAVE POR EL GENERAL GRADUADO DE BRIGADA
D. JOSÉ GREGORIO ARANA, EN EL CONSEJO DE GUERRA
QUE HA DE CONOCER EN LA CAUSA QUE SE LE HA FORMADO SOBRE ATRIBUIRSELE EL CRIMEN DE INFIDENCIA.
Mexico. 1827. 77pp. Dbd. Near fine.
The defense set forth by Capt. Luis Antepara against charges of treason brought
against him by Gen. José Gregorio Arana. The charges stemmed from an attempted coup in the turbulent politics of post-Iturbide Mexico. OCLC locates
two copies. Rare.
OCLC 20055285.
$650.
The First Bolivian Constitution
116. [Bolivia]: CONSTITUCION DE LA REPUBLICA BOLIVIANA
REIMPRESA DE ORDEN DEL SUPREMO GOBIERNO....
Chuquisaca: Imprenta Boliviana, May 30, 1827. [2],33pp. In Spanish. Pages
17 and 21 reversed due to printer’s error. Gathered signatures, stitched. Clerical ink inscription (“763 G.R.M.”) in inner margin of titlepage. Minor light
staining. Very good, untrimmed. In a half morocco box.
The extremely rare second and last official edition of Bolivia’s first constitution,
after the slightly less rare first edition of 1826. In 1825, Upper Peru became the
final South American republic to secure its independence from Spain under the
leadership of Simón Bolívar, renaming itself Bolivia in his honor. Bolívar himself
drafted this first constitution of the country in 1825 and handed power to Gen.
Antonio José de Sucre as president for life. The constitution was accepted by the
second Bolivian congress in 1826, and Sucre accepted his appointment, but only
for two years, with the provision that two thousand Columbian troops should
remain with him in La Paz. In late 1827, after repeated uprisings, Sucre and his
army were driven from the capital, and the constitution was changed the following
year. This second edition, which bears a serious printer’s error in the section on
the president, is especially scarce and not recorded by Palau. OCLC records the
imprint but locates no copies.
RENÉ-MORENO, BIBLIOTECA BOLIVIANA 763.
$3750.
117. Molina, Jose Ignacio de: [Peru]: PERU. EL CUMPLIMIENTO DE
LA LEY POR EL ORGANO REPUBLICANO. Lima. 1827. [4],iv,
76pp. Folio. Dbd. Light foxing and soiling. Moderate foxing to last two leaves;
small tears and some chipping to edges. Good.
An important document outlining the constitutional law of Peru. One copy in
OCLC, at the John Carter Brown Library.
OCLC 80651923. SABIN 49895.
$1250.
118. Rengger, Johann Rudolph; Longchamps, Marcelin: THE REIGN
OF DOCTOR JOSEPH GASPARD RODERICK DE FRANCIA,
IN PARAGUAY; BEING AN ACCOUNT OF A SIX YEARS’ RESIDENCE IN THAT REPUBLIC. London. 1827. xvi,208pp. Modern half
calf and marbled boards, spine elaborately gilt, edges marbled. Very minor
foxing and faint dampstaining; front fly leaf loose but laid in. Very good.
The first English language edition of this work, translated from the French, of
the remarkable story of Francia’s dictatorship following the collapse of Spanish
authority. “Long detained by Francia, these trained observers recorded trustworthy
observations that are a major source for the Francia regime” – Griffin. This makes
One Hundred Years of Solitude look like a picnic. ABPC shows no copies at auction
in the last twenty years.
LeCLERC 1931. PALAU 261106. SABIN 69615. GRIFFIN 6175.
$600.
119. Brand, Charles: JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO PERU: A PASSAGE
ACROSS THE CORDILLERA OF THE ANDES, IN THE WINTER OF 1827, PERFORMED ON FOOT IN THE SNOW; AND A
JOURNEY ACROSS THE PAMPAS. London. 1828. iii-xvii,[3],346pp.
plus four plates. Lacks the half title and advertisements. Contemporary threequarter black morocco and marbled boards, spine gilt. Boards and extremities
rubbed. Bookplate on front pastedown. Minor foxing; a touch of dampstaining
along bottom edge, most noticeable toward rear of text. Very good.
“Brand was a lieutenant in the Royal Navy. His book contains much information
on both Chile and Argentina, in addition to Peru. He also visited Rio de Janeiro,
Montevideo, and crossed into Banda Oriental (Uruguay) to Buenos Aires. From
Valparaiso, Chile, he sailed on the Orion to Callao and Lima. On his return trip
aboard the Volador, he visited the Juan Fernandez Islands. After visiting Rio a
second time, Brand made a stop at St. Michaels (Sao Miguel) in the Azores. The
four plates are uncolored aquatints. There was a German edition of the same year
published in Jena, Germany” – Hill.
SABIN 7388. HILL 179. ABBEY 724.
$1000.
Enumerating the Troops Needed in Mexican California
120. [California]: ESTADO QUE MANIFIESTA LA FUERZA QUE
DEBEN TENER LAS SEIS COMPAÑIAS QUE SE CONSIDERAN NECESARIAS PARA LA GUARNICION DE LOS TERRITORIOS DE LA ALTA Y BAJA CALIFORNIA, CON ESPRESION
DE LOS HABERES Y GRATIFICACIONES QUE DEBERÁN
DISFRUTAR [caption title]. Mexico. May 8, 1828. Broadside, 16¾ x 12½
inches. Old folds. Slight wear and a few closed tears at edges. Very good. In
a half morocco and marbled boards folding box, spine gilt.
A scarce broadside, enumerating the number of troops and officers which were
needed for posts in California. The various posts are listed, including San Francisco,
Monterrey, Santa Barbara, San Diego, and Loreto, as well as frontier forces. The
number of soldiers called for at each is given, as well as physicians and surgeons,
inspectors, etc. The annual budgets for the forces are also provided. Signed in print
at the end: “F. Castro.” This broadside is sometimes found with an accompanying
printed circular announcement, not present here. [See the following item for a copy
with the circular]
$2000.
Organizing Military Forces in California, 1828
121. [California]: SECRETARIA DE GUERRA Y MARINA, SECCION 2. – CIRCULAR. [with:] ESTADO QUE MANIFIESTA LA
FUERZA QUE DEBEN TENER LAS SEIS COMPAÑIAS QUE
SE CONSIDERAN NECESARIAS PARA LA GUARNICION DE
LOS TERRITORIOS DE LA ALTA Y BAJA CALIFORNIA, CON
ESPRESION DE LOS HABERES Y GRATIFICACIONES QUE
DEBERÁN DISFRUTAR. Mexico. May 8, 1828. [1]p. circular plus broadside, 16¾ x 11½ inches. Two sheets. One small worm hole in circular and two
small wormholes in broadside, affecting a few letters of text in the former,
else in fine condition. With official ink stamp. In a half calf and cloth folding box, spine gilt.
The circular accompanying the broadside announces the organization of six companies of cavalry in Lower and Upper California, and a new post of commandante
general for Alta California. The large broadside shows the number of troops and
officers which were needed for posts in California. The various posts are listed,
including San Francisco, Monterrey, Santa Barbara, San Diego, and Loreto, as well
as frontier forces. The number of soldiers called for at each is given, as well as
physicians and surgeons, inspectors, etc. The annual budgets for the forces are also
provided. Signed in print at the end: “F. Castro.” An important decree organizing
cavalry companies in California shortly after Mexico won its independence from
Spain. $2750.
In the New State of Colombia
122. Gosselman, Carl August: RESA I COLOMBIA, ÅREN 1825 OCH
1826. Nykoping. 1828. Two volumes. [4],302,[1]; [4],402,[1]pp. plus folding
map. Half title and frontispiece in each volume. Original plain blue paper
wrappers, paper labels. Wrappers spotted and rubbed, small split in front hinge
of second volume. Internally fresh and very good, untrimmed.
First edition of this oft-reprinted report on Colombia. Gosselman was a commander
in the Swedish navy who made several trips to the Americas, producing a number
of books on his travels. In Colombia he visited Cartagena, Bogota, Medellin, and
several other places, and provides information on local history, people, and agriculture. The plates depict Colombians rowing boats on the Magdalena River, and
a Colombian carrying a European on his back up the Andes.
PALAU 106354. SABIN 28065.
$850.
123. [Great Britain-Mexico Treaty]: TREAT Y OF AMIT Y, COM-
MERCE, AND NAVIGATION, BETWEEN HIS MAJESTY AND
THE UNITED STATES OF MEXICO, TOGETHER WITH
TWO ADDITIONAL ARTICLES THEREUNTO ANNEXED...
PRESENTED TO BOTH HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, BY COMMAND OF HIS MAJESTY, 1828. London: R.G. Clarke, [1828]. 13pp.
printed in double columns in English and Spanish. Folio. Later plain paper
wrappers. Small tear in gutter of final leaf, not affecting text. Near fine.
A scarce printing of the first treaty between Great Britain and the recently independent Mexico. The two nations pledge mutual peace and amity, and agree to
trade with each other on an equal and reciprocal basis. Mexico also agrees to join
with Great Britain in suppressing the slave trade. No copies of this official British
printing are listed on OCLC. Scarce. $600.
124. Salazar, J.M.: OBSERVATIONS ON THE POLITICAL REFORMS
OF COLOMBIA...Translated from the manuscript, by Edward Barry. Philadelphia. 1828. [5]-47pp. Modern half morocco and marbled boards.
Foxed. First two leaves of text excised, else a sound copy.
Surveys the forms of government available for a newly independent Colombia, including the federal system and other permutations of central government. Declares
affinity with the United States, yet draws important contrasts by pointing out the
homogenous nature of the Bolivian provinces as opposed to the independent charters
of the American states. A scarce Philadelphia printing of an important work relating to Latin American independence. Palau cites only the original Spanish edition.
SABIN 75576. PALAU 286648.
$1250.
125. Ward, H.G.: MEXICO IN 1827. London. 1828. Two volumes. xix,[1],
591pp. plus five plates (two folding) and folding map; viii,[1],730pp. plus
eight plates (five folding, one in color) and folding map. Contemporary calf,
spines gilt, leather labels. Rubbed at extremities. Hinges cracked and repaired.
Minor scattered foxing. Very good. Lacks the half titles.
One of the most important accounts of the early Mexican republic, called by Streeter
a “classic book on Mexico.” “During his appointment as British chargé d ’affaires in
Mexico from 1825 to 1827, Ward collected the data for this firsthand account of
the political and social climate of Mexico at that time” – Hill. The plates illustrate
the country, the natives, and their customs. Includes a “General Index of Spanish Words.” The maps depict the principle routes to the mining districts, and the
country as a whole. Streeter notes that while the section on Texas is brief, it is one
of the few reliable descriptions and accounts from the 1820s.
HILL 1826. ABBEY 668. STREETER TEXAS 1104A. SABIN 101303.
$1500.
A Certificate of Admission to Austin’s Colony:
One of the Earliest Obtainable Texas Imprints
126. [Austin, Stephen F.]: EL CIUDADANO ESTEVAN F. AUSTIN,
EMPRESARIO, PARA IN TRODUCIR EMIGRAD OS ESTRANGEROS, EN LAS COLONIAS QUE LE TIENE, DESIGNADAS EL SUPREMO GOBIERNO DEL ESTADO DE COAHUILA
Y TEXAS, POR LOS CONTRATOS CELEBRADOS ENTRE EL
DICHO GOBIERNO Y EL MISMO AUSTIN.... [San Felipe de
Austin: Printed by G.B. Cotten, 1829]. Printed document, 6 x 8¼ inches,
completed in manuscript. Signed by Benjamin F. Hughs. Faint age toning
and creasing, ink stain affecting “i” in “Colonias” of title docketed on verso
in contemporary manuscript. Very good. Cloth matted with facsimile portrait
of Stephen Austin and three accompanying plaques, two of which contain
explanatory text.
A rare imprint from the San Felipe de Austin press of Godwin Brown Cotten, being an original certificate of admission to Austin’s colony. “These grants were the
foundation of the colonization of Texas” – Streeter. This document reflects one of
the four essential steps in the colonization process, being the empresario’s certification
stating that the immigrant (in this case a widow named Frances Manifee) had been
admitted as a member of Austin’s colony. The next step would be to present this
certificate to the commissioner charged with issuing land titles in the Colony. This
document is signed in manuscript by Benjamin F. Hughs and dated July 29, 1831.
This is effectively the earliest obtainable Texas imprint, since any earlier ones
are only surmised or exist in a few copies in institutions. It is now extremely rare
in the marketplace. The only recent sale of a copy was of a much inferior one, with
loss in the top margin, which sold at Sotheby’s in the Texas Independence Collection sale on June 18, 2004 for $30,000 including house premium.
STREETER TEXAS 9. EBERSTADT 162:39.
$25,000.
127. [Peru]: MENSAGE DE LA COMISION PERMANENTE DEL
CONGRESO GENERAL CONSTITUYENTE DEL PERU AL
CONGRESO CONSITUCIONAL. Lima. 1829. [2],15pp. Folio. Dbd.
Titlepage bright and clean. Light and even tanning to text. Very good.
Message from the Constituent Congress of Peru, in the early days of the Republic
of Peru. Only two copies on OCLC, at Duke and Harvard.
OCLC 25665912.
$600.
128. [Walton, William]: NARRATIVE OF THE POLITICAL CHANG-
ES & EVENTS WHICH HAVE RECENTLY TAKEN PLACE IN
THE ISLAND OF TERCEIRA, DESCRIBING THE MANNER
IN WHICH THE NATIVES HAVE BEEN OPPRESSED BY A LICENTIOUS SOLDIERY UNDER THE DIRECTION OF A FEW
AMBITIOUS & DESIGNING DEMAGOGUES. London: Redford
and Robins, 1829. 42pp. Contemporary printed wrappers, rebacked with old
archival tape. Minor soiling on wrappers. Internally clean. Very good.
A discussion of Brazil’s political climate, with much on the plan to use Terceira as
a base for a revolt against Portugal. Exceedingly rare. Not in Borba de Moraes,
and OCLC locates only three copies.
OCLC 34994625.
$600.
Decree Splitting the State of Occidente and Creating Sonora
129. [Alaman, Lucas]: PRIMERA SECRETARIA DE ESTADO. DEPARTAMENTO DEL INTERIOR. SECCION 1a. [Mexico. Oct. 14,
1830]. [3]pp. on a folded folio sheet. A crisp, fine copy.
This document stands as the first national publication of the formation of the
Mexican states of Sonora and Sinaloa, out of the former state of Occidente. Since
the state of Occidente was created in 1825, there had been a vigorous opposition
to it by those in the state who wanted Sonora and Sinaloa to go their separate
ways. This dissension had spread throughout northwestern Mexico and Arizona
and had at times become a veritable civil war between partisans of the two sides.
As soon as the legislatures of the state of Occidente voted to split their state into
two, the motion was passed on to the population, which greeted it with applause.
The central government was then notified, and in turn, in this publication for the
first time passed the word onto the people of Mexico. Much detail is provided
regarding the boundaries, laws, elections, offices, naming various localities, deputies
to be elected, and the like. Issued by the famous minister, Lucas Alaman, during
the often overlooked Mexican period for the southwestern United States, after
independence from Spain, but before the American annexation. $1000.
130. [Alexander, Alexander]: THE LIFE OF ALEXANDER ALEXANDER.... Edinburgh: William Blackwood and T. Cadell, London, 1830.
Two volumes. vii,[1],iii,[1],339; [2],iii,[1],327pp. Frontispiece in first volume. 12mo. Contemporary three-quarter calf and marbled boards, black gilt
morocco labels. Armorial bookplate on front pastedown of second volume,
removed in first. Internally bright and clean. Near fine, in an attractive contemporary binding.
An engaging tale of adventure, self-advertised as being in the tradition of Alexander Selkirk, upon whom Defoe based Robinson Crusoe. Following the death of
his father, the present Alexander left Scotland for a life of adventure in the navy,
travelling to the West Indies, Barbados, Martinique, Quebec, Trincomalee, Jamaica,
and a host of other destinations. “The author was overseer on a plantation on Carriaciou” – Beinecke Lesser Antilles Collection. “Includes campaigns in South America
during the Revolutionary War” – Sabin. A charming story of world travel, edited
and with an introduction by the popular John Howell.
BEINECKE LESSER ANTILLES COLLECTION 774. RAGATZ 353. SABIN 719. OCLC
$1250.
6654845, 34014823.
Defense of Bolivar
131. [Rodriguez, Simon]: EL LIBERTADOR DEL MEDIODIA DE
AMERICA Y SUS COMPANEROS DE ARMAS DEFENDIDOS
POR UN AMIGO DE LA CAUSA SOCIAL. Arequipa, Peru. 1830.
iv,158,[1]pp. Later cloth-backed plain wrappers. Worming, slightly affecting
text, else very good.
A rare Arequipa imprint. The author defends Simón Bolívar’s character and seems
to be very conscious of the Liberator’s place in history, asserting that comparing
him to such figures as Washington and Napoleon is impertinent: “In the future the
prophets will dominate, either inspirers or politicians...in such an order, Bolívar
cannot think of becoming King.” Apparently this work was originally circulated
in manuscript form at Chuquisaca (1828) before the present printed version appeared at Arequipa in 1830. “In Bolivia there does not exist a press that will print
anything more than a broadside.”
PALAU 137802.
$1500.
In a Deluxe Presentation Binding
132. [Alaman, Lucas]: MEMORIA DE LA SECRETARIA DE ESTADO
Y DEL DESPACHO DE RELACIONES INTERIORES Y EXTERIORES, PRESENTADA...EN LA DE DIPUTADOS EL DIA 7,
Y EN LA DE SENADORES EL 8 DE ENERO DE 1831. Mexico.
1831. [2],53,[22]pp. Small folio. Contemporary Mexican red calf, gilt, green
silk endpapers, a.e.g. Light wear to boards and corners. Very minor scattered
foxing. Else fine.
The annual report on the state of Mexico by Lucas Alaman (1792-1853), while he
was minister of Interior and Exterior Relations. Alaman was a controversial figure
in 19th-century Mexico. A scientist, politician, historian, diplomat, and writer, he
was conservative by nature and expressed a nostalgia for monarchic rule. He was an
influential politician in the early years of the Mexican Republic and favored a strong
central government. Alaman was also instrumental in the creation of the Mexican
National Archives and the Natural History Museum in Mexico City. This report
is in effect a State of the Union message, reviewing foreign relations, praising the
domestic tranquility and prosperity then reigning, noting the freedom of the press,
and the administration of the country.
PALAU 160863.
$2500.
133. Gutierrez de la Fuente, Antonio: [Peru]: MANIFIESTO DEL JENERAL LA-FUENTE. Santiago de Chile. 1831. 30pp. Folio. Dbd. Light
foxing on first two leaves, else quite clean. Very good.
Antonio Gutierrez de la Fuente (1796-1878) was a Peruvian politician and general.
He was briefly the president of Peru, from June to September 1829, then went into
exile in Chile, where the present pamphlet was published. One copy is listed on
OCLC, at Harvard.
OCLC 34662421.
$750.
134. Arenales, José Ildefonso Álvarez de: MEMORIA HISTÓRICA SO-
BRE LAS OPERACIONES E INCIDENCIAS DE LA DIVISION
LIBERTADORA, A LAS ÓRDENES DEL GEN. D. JUAN ANTONIO ALVAREZ DE ARENALES, EN SU SEGUNDA COMPAÑA A
LA SIERRA DEL PERU EN 1821. Buenos Aires: Imprenta de la Gaceta
Mercantil, 1832. xv,[2],142,[2],[145]-247,[5]pp. plus lithographic frontispiece
portrait, one folding table, and two folding maps. [bound with:] Angelis,
Pedro de: BIOGRAFIA DEL SEÑOR GENERAL ARENALES Y
JUICIO SOBRE LA MEMORIA HISTÓRICA DE SU SEGUNDA
CAMPAÑA A LA SIERRA DEL PERU EN 1821. Buenos Aires: Imprenta de la Independencia, 1832. 17pp. Quarto. Late 19th-century threequarter morocco and marbled boards, spine gilt, t.e.g. Boards slightly rubbed.
Bookplate of Maryland Historical Society inscribed “Presented Jose Arenales,”
with release stamp. Titlepage lightly soiled, with Maryland Historical Society
stamp. Minor foxing in margins of frontispiece, otherwise text clean and fresh.
Short, clean tear in one folding map (no loss). A very good copy.
A history of the military operations under Gen. Juan Antonio Álvarez de Arenales
during the South American Wars of Independence. Arenales fought in numerous
battles and became one of the key figures in Argentina’s independence movement.
He also played a significant role in Peru’s independence, fighting under José de
San Martín and eventually attaining the rank of governor of Northern Peru. He
retired in 1822 with the rank of grand marshal. The author, the son of the general,
also served in the military under San Martín and in the congress of the province
of Salta in Argentina. The work consists of a narrative history and an appendix
(pp.[145]-247), the latter not noted by Sabin. The appendix reprints numerous
documents related to two military campaigns in the Sierra. Bound with the Memoria Histórica... is an additional work on Gen. Arenales, also printed in Buenos
Aires in 1832.
SABIN 1930. PALAU 15909; 12494 (Angelis).
$1000.
135. Bustamante, Anastasio: REFLECSIONES SOBRE EL MANIFIESTO. Vera Cruz. 1832. 23pp. Dbd. Title-leaf foxed, else near fine.
During the Mexican War of Independence against Spain, Bustamante, a doctor,
fought for the Spanish as a cavalry officer before joining Iturbide’s forces. He
served as vice president, and president of Mexico in 1830 and again from 1837
to 1841. Bustamante offers an account of his actions during the civil war, as well
as his analysis of the motivations of others, including Santa Anna. Sabin lists an
1832 Mexico City edition in quarto of twenty-two pages, but not the present Vera
Cruz edition. Not on OCLC. Rare.
SABIN 9565 (ref ).
$450.
136. [Serviez, Alfred de]: L’AIDE DE CAMP OU L’AUTEUR INCON-
NU. SOUVENIRS DES DEUX-MONDES, PUBLIÉS PAR MAURICE DE VIARZ. Paris: Duféy et Vizard, Libraires, 1832. viii,404pp.
Publisher’s wrappers. Front and rear covers chipped and stained, front cover
detached, spine frayed. Text block split. Internally very clean. A near good
copy. In a half morocco box.
A scarce account of the independence movement in South America, with questions
regarding authorship still outstanding. Palau notes that some scholars believe that
only the first part of these memoirs were written by Gen. Serviez, a French officer
who became Bolívar’s aide-de-camp and was assassinated in 1816. The text after
page 251 was supposedly completed by the General’s assistant, José Maria Córdoba.
Other scholars have indicated that the entire work is a plagiarism of Lallemant’s
Historia de Colombia, and that the attribution to Gen. Serviez is the work of the
French officer’s relative, novelist Alfred Emmanuel Roergas de Serviez.
Questions of authorship aside, it is known that Serviez served as an officer under Napoleon and was wounded in the French war against Spain. Afterwards he
took refuge with the wife of a French general in England, travelled to the United
States, and eventually made his way to Venezuela, where he devoted himself to the
cause of independence for the Latin American republics. In addition to recounting
Serviez’s experiences before arriving in South America, L’Aide de Camp... provides
much information about Bolívar and the fight for independence through the early
constitutional period, focusing on the northern portion of South America, particularly present-day Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador.
A rare account of Latin American independence, OCLC records four copies
in the United States.
PALAU 4226. OCLC 24624874.
$2000.
137. [United States-Mexico Treaty]: PRIMERA SECRETARIA DE ES-
TADO. DEPARTAMENTO DEL ESTERIOR. EL ESCMO. SR.
PRESIDENTE...EL DECRETO...UN TRATADO DE AMISTAD,
COMERCIO Y NAVEGACION ENTRE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS
MEXICANOS Y LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA.... [Mexico. 1832]. 21pp., printed in double columns in parallel English and Spanish.
Folio. Gathered signatures, stitched. A couple tears slightly affecting text, bit
spotted, a couple worm holes in blank margin. Else good.
This is the second treaty between Mexico and the United States, negotiated in
1831 and ratified in Mexico on Dec. 1, 1832. The Mexican government refused
to conclude a treaty of amity and commerce until a boundary treaty was concluded,
and that treaty, negotiated in 1828, was ratified the same day. The clauses are fairly
standard for such a commercial treaty, with the interesting addition of a clause by
which the powers agree not to incite hostile Indians to attack each other. Since
Texas was then a part of Mexico, this treaty applies to trade with Texas as well, but
Streeter fails to note a Mexican printing of the treaty, only listing the Congressional printing.
STREETER SALE 231.
$750.
Regulating Bolivian Mines
138. [Bolivia]: COLECCION DE SUPREMOS DECRETOS Y DETER-
MINACIONES PARA EL BUEN GOBIERNO Y RÉJIMEN DEL
IMPORTANTE RAMO DE MINERÍA DE LA REPÚBLICA. AÑO
DE 1833. Chuquisaca: Tipografia de Chuquisaca, 1833. [2],33pp. In Spanish.
Pages 17 and 21 reversed due to printer’s error. Small folio. Gathered signatures, stitched. Contemporary ink ownership inscription (“Señor Dn. Manuel
Capiede [?]”) and later clerical ink inscription (“RM No 694”) in upper margin
of titlepage. Ink ownership stamp on titlepage and final page. Light marginal
staining on outer leaves. A very good copy.
A very rare collection of the founding documents of Bolivia’s “Tribunal Jeneral de
Minería,” the mining tribunal created by President Andrés de Santa Cruz in 1829.
The tribunal was established after years of conflict in Bolivia’s fight for independence
from Spain and early internal struggles that left its important mines in a state of
disrepair. The present document contains presidential decrees from Santa Cruz and
numerous communications from the Minister of State from 1829 to 1833 and the
by-laws of the Tribunal, approved Sept. 4, 1830. The by-laws, a major portion of
the document, are largely concerned with the different forms of labor at Bolivia’s
mines. No copies found in Palau or listed by OCLC.
RENÉ-MORENO, BIBLIOTECA BOLIVIANA 694.
$1000.
139. Guzman, Jose Maria: BREVE NOTICIA QUE DA AL SUPREMO
GOBIERNO, DEL ACTUAL ESTADO DEL TERRITORIO DE
LA ALTA CALIFORNIA, Y MEDIOS QUE PROPONE PARA LA
ILUSTRACION Y COMERCIO EN AQUEL PAIS.... Mexico. 1833.
8pp. plus large folding table. Plain paper wrappers. Text lightly mildewed,
as typical. A good copy. In a thicker half green morocco and cloth slipcase,
spine gilt.
One of the most important California works from the Mexican period. The folding table provides population and crop statistics for the California missions. San
Francisco had a population of 361 at the time. “Guzman, head of the Franciscan
College of San Fernando at Mexico City, was well informed of the activities of the
Franciscan missions in Alta California and his report and recommendations on the
economy of the region are of great interest” – Streeter.
STREETER SALE 2467. GRAFF 1696. COWAN, p.254.
$1750.
First Mexican Treaty with Chile
140. [Mexico-Chile Treaty]: PRIMERA SECRETARIA DE ESTADO.
DEPARTAMENTO DESL ESTERIOR. EL VICE-PRESIDENTE
DE LOS ESTADOS-UNIDOS MEXICANOS...UN TRATADO DE
AMISTAD, COMERCIO Y NAVEGACION ENTRE LOS ESTADOS-UNIDOS MEXICANOS Y LA REPUBLICA DE CHILE....
[Mexico. 1833]. [4]pp. Folio. Dbd. Very good.
The first treaty between Mexico and Chile, and the second between Mexico and a
South American power, after Gran Colombia in 1825. The treaty was ratified on
Oct. 1, 1833. $500.
141. [Peru]: EL PERU Y LOS ESTRANGEROS. Valparaiso: Imprenta del
Mercurio, 1833. 47pp. 16mo. Later 19th-century Spanish marbled sheep,
raised bands, leather labels. Unobtrusive private library stamp on front free
endpaper. A very good copy.
A defense of Peruvian patriotism and of Peru’s policies toward Chile and Bolivia.
The unnamed author confronts the issue of Peruvian hatred of foreigners and resulting aggressions towards Chile and Bolivia. At the time the three nations were
in a near constant state of revolutionary turmoil, characterized by rebellion factions
and intermittent power struggles. This work is critical of the leadership of Agustin
Gamarra, whose term as president was drawing to a close in 1833. A rare and early
Valparaiso imprint. Not in Palau nor the NUC. $600.
One of the Most Important Accounts
of Pre-Revolutionary Texas
142. Almonte, Juan: NOTICIA ESTADISTICA SOBRE TEJAS. Mexico: Ignacio Cumplido, 1835. 96pp. plus three folding tables and two index
leaves. 16mo. Original publisher’s printed wrappers. Wrappers dampstained
and soiled, spine partially perished. Later blue pencil inscription in Spanish on
p.10 noting that in 1900 there were 3,000,050 inhabitants in Texas. Moderate
soiling on initial ten leaves, a few other light instances of soiling. A very good
copy. In a half morocco and cloth box, spine gilt.
According to Streeter, “The Noticia Estadistica is based on a visit made to Texas
by Almonte in the spring of 1834, at the order of the Mexican government, to
hear the complaints of the Texans and to gain time for the government to devote
its attention to Texas matters...Almonte arrived at Nacogdoches by way of New
Orleans in May, 1834, and had reached Monclava on the way back to Mexico City
in September, 1834. His work was published in February, 1835...It is an invaluable
account of Texas as it appeared to an intelligent observer in 1834.”
A rare and important work, being the most complete observations by a Mexican
official on the situation in Texas on the eve of the Revolution.
RADER 125. RAINES, p.8. STREETER TEXAS 816. BASIC TEXAS BOOKS 2. HOWES
$15,000.
A186.
Giving the Vote to Delegates from California
143. [California]: Barragan, Miguel: PRIMERA SECRETARIA DE ES-
TADO. DEPARTAMENTO DEL INTERIOR. EL EXMO. SR.
PRESIDENTE...SE HA SERVIDO DIRIGIRME EL DECRETO
QUE SIGUE...QUE EL CONGRESO GENERAL...LOS DIPUTADOS DE LA ALTA Y BAJA CALIFORNIA.... Mexico. October 26,
1835. Broadside on a folio sheet, 11¾ x 8¼ inches. Near fine. In a half calf
and cloth folding box, spine gilt.
A scarce and significant broadside in the political history of California. This decree
states that deputies from Alta and Baja California will have a voice and a vote in
making decrees in the Mexican Congress. Jose Manuel Moreno, Jose R. Malo, and
Atenogenes Castillero are named members of the California deputation. This decree
was issued by the Mexican president, Miguel Barragan, and is signed in print by
Manuel Diez de Bonilla. Just over a year after this decree was made, disgruntled
“Californios” led by Juan Alvarado and Mariano Vallejo rebelled against the central
Mexican authority and declared California a free and independent state. We are
able to locate only three copies of this rare broadside, at the Bancroft Library, the
University of California, San Diego, and Brigham Young University.
OCLC 367539791, 83920830, 21637000.
$2000.
144. Gonzalez, Jose Miguel: [Ecuador]: PRUEBAS Y DOCUMENTOS
CON QUE JOSE MIGUEL GONZALEZ DESVANECE LAS IMPUTACIONES, CON QUE HAN PRETENDIDO MANCILLAR
SU REPUTACION LOS SENORES JOSE MARIA URBINA Y
DOR. JOSE FELIX VALDIVIESO. Quito: Imprenta de gobierno por
T. Campanzano, 1838. [2],32pp. Folio. Dbd. Minor soiling to first two leaves;
very light, even toning. Very good.
A refutation made by Gonzalez of the accusations made against him by Jose Maria
Urbina and Dr. Jose Felix Valdivieso. Gonzalez was the minister of the interior in
Ecuador under Vicente Rocafuerte, Ecuador’s second president (1834-39). Both
Urbina and Valdivieso were exiled for their political views; both returned to Ecuador in 1839, after the end of Rocafuerte’s presidency. No copies are located on
OCLC. $750.
145. [Bolivia]: VIVA LA RESTAURACION. CANCION AL 17 DE SETIEMBRE [caption title]. Cochabamba. 1841. Broadside, 8¼ x 10½ inches.
Some staining, extremities chipped, creased. Good.
A delightful political song glorifying Bolivian independence from Peru: “O libertar
tu patria del tirano, Que perpetuar queria su dominio, Subyugando a la hija de
Bolívar, A la sombra de atroces asesinos.” $300.
146. Alaman, D. Lucas: DISERTACIONES SOBRE LA HISTORIA
DE LA REPUBLICA MEGICANA. Mexico. 1844-1849. Three volumes:
[4], vii,[1],270,[2],30,[4],226,8; [4],325,[1],22,[1],138,13,[2]; [4],392,116,[1]
pp., plus thirty-seven plates (one colored), three folding facsimiles, and a
double-page map. Half title in each volume. Contemporary half green calf
and marbled boards, spines gilt. Boards edgeworn, hinges rubbed. Scattered
light foxing. With the bookplate of the Bibliotheca Lindesiana on the front
pastedown of each volume. A very good set.
An important history of Mexico, covering the years from the first European encounter
and conquest up to the period of Mexican independence. The text is supplemented
by appendices containing valuable documentary information, as well as the many
plates showing important figures in Mexican history. Lucas Alaman was a controversial figure in 19th-century Mexico. A scientist, politician, historian, diplomat,
and writer, he was conservative by nature and expressed a nostalgia for monarchic
rule. He was an influential politician in the early years of the Mexican Republic
and favored a strong central government. Alaman was also instrumental in creating
the Mexican national archives. Along with its comprehensiveness, Alaman’s history
is also notable for its favorable view of the Spanish presence in Mexico.
PALAU 4573. SABIN 580.
$2500.
Demise of the Union of Central America
147. [Central American Union]: [Milla, Jose D.]: OBSERVACIONES
SOBRE EL DISCURSO PRONUNCIADO POR EL BACHILLER
JOSE D. MILLA, EN EL ANIVERSARIO DE LA INDEPENDENCIA DE CENTRO-AMERICA [wrapper title]. Guatemala: Imprenta de
la Aurora, 1846. 11pp. Original printed wrappers. Small closed tear in front
wrapper, wrappers a bit soiled and wrinkled. Very good.
A rare pamphlet carrying on the debate in the aftermath of the demise of the Federal
Republic of Central America. The Central American state was formed in 1823,
and was a federation consisting of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua,
and Costa Rica. Political liberals in the region hoped the state would evolve into
a modern, democratic nation, enriched by trans-isthmian trade. Opposed by conservatives, the federation fell into civil war in the late 1830s, and dissolved in the
early 1840s. Jose Milla y Vidaurre, a prominent Guatemalan man of letters, made a
discourse on the fate of the Federal Republic, which is answered in this anonymous
pamphlet, attributed only to “un Militar.” Apparently not in Palau. OCLC locates
only a single copy, at the University of Texas. Rare.
OCLC 20039117.
$750.
Annex Cuba!
148. [Betancourt Cisneros, Gaspar]: THOUGHTS UPON THE INCOR-
PORATION OF CUBA INTO THE AMERICAN CONFEDERATION, IN CONTRA-POSITION TO THOSE PUBLISHED BY
DON JOSE ANTONIO SACO [caption title]. New York. 1849. [2],
30pp. Original plain yellow wrappers. Wrappers a bit chipped and soiled.
Contemporary notation and later ink stamp on front cover. Light foxing and
dampstaining. About very good.
First edition in English of a pamphlet urging “liberation” of Cuba. The first edition
in Spanish was purported to be published in Havana in 1849; in reality, however,
the Spanish copies were printed in New York by the newspaper, La Verdad, and
clandestinely distributed in Cuba. Eberstadt’s note on this pamphlet (regarding
this copy) reads: “A reply to Saco’s pamphlet of the same title by an anonymous
Patriot who requested La Verdad to publish a few copies in English for American
editors. This copy marked in manuscript for the ‘Evening Post’.” La Verdad was
an enthusiastic supporter of the Lopez plot to seize Cuba and make it another slave
state. The editor of the paper, Jane Cazneau, wrote most of the copy for the paper,
and was a strong proponent of annexing both Mexico and Cuba. She may well
have been the translator of this text. The present English edition is not in Palau,
Sabin, or other standard sources. Only a handful of copies are listed on OCLC.
PALAU 28773 (ref ). EBERSTADT 167:176 (this copy). OCLC 3717095, 79007943.
$750.
An Important Account of Filibusterers in Cuba, 1850
149. Hardy, Richardson, Lieut.: THE HISTORY AND ADVENTURES
OF THE CUBAN EXPEDITION, FROM THE FIRST MOVEMENTS DOWN TO THE DISPERSION OF THE ARMY AT KEY
WEST, AND THE ARREST OF GENERAL LOPEZ. ALSO: AN
ACCOUNT OF THE TEN DESERTERS AT ISLA DE MUGERES.
Cincinnati: Published by Lorenzo Stratton, 1850. 94pp. printed in doublecolumn format, plus [1]p. booksellers’ advertisement. Original printed wrappers. Wrappers worn at edges, two small holes in front wrapper through to
p.11. Light dampstain through top half. Withal, very good.
In the wake of the Mexican War, numerous American expansionists cast covetous
eyes on old colonial possessions in the Americas. At the top of the list was Cuba,
still held by Spain, with the potential of being, in the eyes of the filibusterers, the
richest of the southern states. A number of American adventurers joined the exiled
Gen. Narciso Lopez in attempting to invade and seize Cuba in 1850, launching
their expedition from New Orleans. Many of those Americans, like the author of
the present pamphlet, Richardson Hardy, were Mexican War veterans. “This account by Lt. Hardy of the Kentucky Battalion, is the best source for the Cardenas
expedition, though the author displays strong dislike for certain of his comrades.
Also contains reports by Col. O’Hara [and others]” – Eberstadt. The Spanish
managed to crush the invasion, and many Americans lost their lives. Hardy was
one of the lucky survivors.
A rare work, the NUC locates four copies (DLC, OC, PHi, PPL). Yale also
has a copy. Sabin errs in ascribing a date of 1856 to this pamphlet, as there is only
this 1850 edition.
HOWES H193. SABIN 30356. EBERSTADT 133:54.
$2250.
The Real Jack Aubrey
150. Dundonald, Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of: NARRATIVE OF SER-
VICES IN THE LIBERATION OF CHILI, PERU, AND BRAZIL,
FROM SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE DOMINATION. London:
James Ridgway, 1859. Two volumes. xxii,293; xi,305pp. Original blue pebbled
cloth. Spine ends darkened and lightly worn. Front hinge of first volume
tender. Moderate age-toning, occasional foxing. Very good.
Dundonald had an almost impossibly romantic life, one of the most effective
English naval officers of the Napoleonic era, and the model for the fictional Capt.
Jack Aubrey of “Master and Commander” fame. From an ancient Scottish family,
he had a distinguished career in the Royal Navy until expelled in 1818 on the false
accusation of stock market fraud. He left for South America, becoming the commander of the Chilean Navy from 1819 to 1822 during their war of independence
from Spain. From 1823 to 1825 he occupied a similar position in the Brazilian
navy before returning to Europe to fight for Greek independence. He was later
reinstated in the Royal Navy and became a rear admiral.
The first volume of this work is devoted to Dundonald’s Chilean years, and the
second volume relates the Brazilian period. Besides his naval efforts, there is much
on the politics of the period in both countries. A fascinating narrative by a man
frequently mentioned by other Pacific mariners of the period.
SABIN 21274. NAYLOR 6. DNB IV, pp.621-31.
$2750.
151. Santacilia, Pedro: LECCIONES ORALES SOBRE LA HISTORIA
DE CUBA, PRONUNCIADAS EN EL ATENEO DEMOCRATICO
CUBANO DE NUEVA YORK. Nueva-Orleans: Imprenta de Luis Eduardo
del Cristo, 1859. xi,220pp. Later black morocco and contemporary marbled
boards, spine gilt. Boards worn along edges and extremities. Light scattered
foxing and dampstaining. Bookplates of noted collectors Oscar Benjamin Cintas and Alberto Parreño on front pastedown. Very good.
The author was a Cuban national who came to New York in 1853 as an exile. He
later travelled to Mexico to join the liberal ranks during the War of Reform, joining
the government of the new Republic in the 1860s. Eight lectures are included, in
which Santacilia examines Cuba’s history with a critical eye towards Spanish rule.
PALAU 299379. SWANN PARREÑO SALE, 1978, lot 1358 (this copy).
$500.
The Cuban War for Independence
152. [Cuba]: Aguilera y Zayas, Gabriel: A LOS HABITANTES DE CAL-
ABAZAR, CEJA DE PABLO, QUEMADO DE GIIINES Y RANCHO VELOZ [caption title]. [Cuba]. Sept. 18, 1878. Broadside, 12½ x 8¾
inches. Chip in upper left corner, not affecting text. Small tears in all edges,
several repaired by tape on verso. Good.
A rare and fascinating Cuban political broadside calling for an end to armed struggle
but a beginning to a “struggle for ideas” at the conclusion of Cuba’s “Ten Years’
War,” the battle for independence from Spain that lasted between 1868 and 1878.
The broadside is addressed to the residents of the region around the north-central
coast of Cuba, some 150 miles east of Havana. The text of the broadside is signed
in print by Gabriel Aguilera y Zayas, Secretary of the Partido Union Constitucional
(PUC), one of the two main political parties that developed out of the Ten Years’
War. The PUC, which was a conservative pro-Spanish party led by prominent
Creoles, sought a measure of local political autonomy while favoring continued
Spanish control over Cuba. The text exhorts Cubans to partake in the ideological
struggle that would succeed the armed rebellion, and urges them not to fall into
lethargy but to continue the battle of ideas against radicals seeking independence
from Spanish colonial rule.
Due to their ephemeral nature, as well as the climate of the Caribbean, any such
Cuban broadsides are scarce. No copies of this broadside are located on OCLC.
Important evidence of the political factionalism and the strength of pro-Spanish
sentiment in Cuba in the late 19th century. Rare, and possibly unique. $1250.
153. [Cuba and Puerto Rico]: NEW CONSTITUTION ESTABLISH-
ING SELF-GOVERNMENT IN THE ISLANDS OF CUBA AND
PORTO RICO...WITH COMMENTS BY CUBAN AUTONOMISTS ON THE SCOPE OF THE PLAN AND ITS LIBERALITY AS COMPARED WITH CANADIAN AUTONOMY AND
FEDERAL STATE RIGHTS. New York. 1898. 74,[1]pp. Modern half
morocco, original printed wrappers bound in. Some wear to binding, old shelf
label. Old stamp on front wrapper and titlepage. Else internally clean. Good.
Official English translation of the preamble and the royal decree establishing new
autonomous constitutions for Cuba and Puerto Rico. With interesting commentary
by Cuban “autonomists.” $400.
q
I ndex
(with item numbers)
A rgentina – 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 44, 47, 48, 54, 55, 56, 61, 62, 63, 66, 69, 82,
87, 98, 103, 109, 110, 119, 134
A rizona – 88
B olívar , S imón – 83, 131, 136
B olivia – 116, 138, 145
B razil – 82, 105, 128, 150
B ritish I ntervention – 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 66, 67, 72, 75
C alifornia – 120, 121, 139, 143
C aribbean – 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 42, 49, 58, 96, 130, 148, 149, 151, 152, 153
C hile – 41, 59, 71, 82, 85, 105, 119, 133, 140, 150
C olombia – 63, 67, 89, 101, 111, 113, 122, 124, 136
C uba – 42, 49, 148, 149, 151, 152, 153
E cuador – 136, 144
F lorida – 8, 39, 43, 45, 50, 60, 65, 73, 81, 86
G uadeloupe – 6
G uatemala – 52, 147
G uyana – 104
H aiti – 1, 3, 7, 68
L ouisiana – 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 17, 27, 28, 31, 32, 38, 40, 46, 57
M artinique – 2
M exico – 51, 52, 53, 58, 79, 84, 90, 91, 92, 93, 99, 100, 102, 108, 112, 114, 115,
123, 125, 126, 129, 132, 135, 137, 139, 140, 142, 143, 146
N ew M exico – 88
P araguay – 118
P eru – 5, 18, 30, 77, 78, 82, 94, 95, 97, 105, 106, 107, 117, 119, 127, 131, 133, 134,
141, 150
P uerto R ico – 15, 96, 153
S an M artin , J osé – 80, 134
T exas – 17, 60, 86, 102, 126, 142
T rinidad – 76
U nrecorded imprints – 3, 35, 71, 106
U ruguay – 22, 119
V enezuela – 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 63, 67, 72, 75, 76, 83, 136
F requently C ited R eferences
Abbey – Travel in Aquatint and Lithography 1770 – 1860... London. 1956-57. 2 vols.
Adams Herd – Adams, Ramon F.: The Rampaging Herd.... Norman. [1959].
Adams Six-Guns – Adams, Ramon F.: ...Six-Guns and Saddle Leather...New Edition... [Norman. 1969].
American Controversy – Adams, Thomas R: The American Controversy.... Providence/N.Y.
1980. 2 vols.
AII (State) – American Imprints Inventory. These were compiled for many early imprints by
state as a WPA program in the 1930s, and remain basic references.
American Independence – Adams, Thomas R.: American Independence.... New Haven: Reese
Co. 1980.
Bell – The James Ford Bell Library...Catalogue. Boston. 1981.
Borba de Moraes – Borba de Moraes, Rubens: Bibliographia Brasilian...1504 to 1900.... Rio
de Janeiro. 1983. 2 vols. Revised and enlarged edition.
Church – Church, Elijah D. A Catalogue of...a Part of the Library of E.D. Church. N.Y. 1907.
5 vols.
Clark – Clark, Thomas D.: Travels in the Old South.... Norman. [1956]. 3 vols.
Clark, New South – Clark, Thomas D.: Travels in the New South.... Norman. 1962. 2 vols.
Cowan – Cowan, Robert E. and Robert G.: A Bibliography of the History of California.... S.F.
1933. 2nd edition.
DAB – Dictionary of American Biography.... N.Y. 1928-37. 21 vols.
De Renne – Catalogue of the Wymberley Jones De Renne Georgia Library.... Wormsloe. 1931. 3 vols.
Decker – Peter Decker’s Catalogues of Americana...22 [- 50], 1944 [- 1963].... Austin. 1979. 3 vols.
DNB – Dictionary of National Biography.... London. 1908-12. 24 vols.
Eberstadt – The Annotated Eberstadt Catalogs of Americana.... N.Y. 1965. 4 vols.
European Americana – European Americana...1493 – 1750. N.Y. & New Canaan. 1980- . 6 vols.
Evans – Evans, Charles: American Bibliography...[American imprints before 1801]. Chicago.
1903-34/55. 14 vols.
Field – Field, Thomas W.: An Essay Towards an Indian Bibliography.... New Haven: Reese
Co., 1991.
Gephart – Gephart, Ronald M.: Revolutionary America.... Washington. 1984. 2 vols.
Graff – Storm, Colton: A Catalogue of the Everett D. Graff Collection.... Chicago. 1968.
Grolier American 100 – One Hundred Influential American Books.... N.Y. 1947.
Hill – The Hill Collection of Pacific Voyages.... New Haven & Sydney. 2004.
Howes – Howes, Wright: U.S.iana (1650 – 1950).... New York. 1962. 2nd edition.
In Tall Cotton – Harwell, Richard B.: In Tall Cotton The 200 Most Important Confederate
Books.... Austin. 1978.
JCB – Bibliotheca Americana A Catalogue of Books...in the Library of John Carter Brown....
Providence. 1919. 5 vols.
Jenkins – Jenkins, John H.: Basic Texas Books.... Austin. [1988].
Jones – Adventures in Americana...a Selection of Books from the Library of Herschel V. Jones....
N.Y. 1928/38. 3 vols. incl. checklist.
Kress – The Kress Library of Business and Economics Catalogue.... Boston. [1940/67]. 5 vols.
Kurutz – Kurutz, Gary: The California Gold Rush...1848-1853. S.F. 1997.
Lada-Mocarski – Lada-Mocarski, Valerian: Bibliography of Books on Alaska.... New Haven. 1969.
Lande – The Lawrence Lande Collection of Canadiana.... Montreal. 1965/71. 2 vols.
Low - Low, Susanne M.: A Guide to Audubon’s B irds of A meric a .... New Haven & New
York. 2002.
Meisel – Meisel, Max: A Bibliography of American Natural History.... N.Y. 1967. 3 vols.
Monaghan – Monaghan, Frank: French Travellers in the United States.... N.Y. 1933.
NUC – The National Union Catalogue. Mansell. 1968-81. 752 vols.
Palau – Palau y Dulcet, Antonio: Manual del librero Hispano-Americano.... Barcelona. 1948-90.
28 vols. plus 7 vols. index and addenda vol.
Parrish & Willingham – Parrish, T. Michael, and Robert M. Willingham, Jr.: Confederate
Imprints.... Austin. [1987].
Phillips Atlases – Phillips, Philip L.: A List of Geographical Atlases in the Library of Congress....
Washington. 1909-20/1958-74. 8 vols. incl. vols. 5-8 by Clara Le Gear.
Pilling – Pilling, James C.: Proof-Sheets...American Indian Languages. Washington. 1885.
Reese, Stamped with a National Character – Reese, William S., Stamped with a National
Character: Nineteenth Century American Color Plate Books. An Exhibition. New York. 1999.
Rink – Rink, Evald: Technical Americana.... Millwood, N.Y. [1981].
Rittenhouse – Rittenhouse, Jack D.: The Santa Fe Trail. Albuquerque. [1971].
Rosenbach – The Collected Catalogues of Dr. A.S.W. Rosenbach.... New York. [1967]. 10 vols.
Sabin – Sabin, Joseph: A Dictionary of Books Relating to America.... N.Y. 1868-1936. 29 vols.
Schwartz & Ehrenberg – Schwartz, Seymour I., and Ralph E. Ehrenberg: The Mapping of
America. N.Y. [1980].
Servies – Servies, James A.: A Bibliography of Florida.... Pensacola. 1993.
Shaw & Shoemaker – Shaw, Ralph R., and Richard H. Shoemaker: Americana Bibliography....
[continued as:] ...American Imprints.... N.Y. 1958-97. 45 vols.
Shipton & Mooney – Shipton, Clifford K., and James E. Mooney: National Index of American
Imprints...the Short-Title Evans.... [ Worcester]. 1969. 2 vols.
Six-Score – Reese, William S.: Six Score the 120 Best Books on the Range Cattle Industry. New
Haven: Reese Co., 1989.
Spear – Spear, Dorothea N.: Bibliography of American Directories.... Worcester. 1961.
Streeter Sale – The Celebrated Collection of Americana formed by the Late Thomas Winthrop
Streeter.... N.Y. 1966-70. 8 vols.
Streeter Texas – Streeter, Thomas W.: Bibliography of Texas.... Cambridge. 1955-60. 5 vols.
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Vail – Vail, R.W.G.: The Voice of the Old Frontier. Philadelphia. 1949.
Wagner-Camp – Wagner, Henry R., and Charles L. Camp (ed. by Robert Becker): The Plains
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Wheat Transmississippi – Wheat, Carl I.: 1540 – 1861 Mapping the Transmississippi West....
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