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Whither,
the
AMERICAN Economy?
[Carey, Mathew]. Addresses of The Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of National Industry...Fourth edition. Philadelphia: Pub. by M. Carey & Son, pr. by G.L. Austin, Dec. 20, 1819. 8vo (19.2 cm, 7.625"). xi, [1 (blank) pp., pp. [9]–248.
$350.00
Present here are a series of addresses to the citizenry from the Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of National Industry (nos. I–XIII and I of the "New Series"). With the exception of nos. XII and XIII, which were by Dr. Samuel Jackson, these important essays all flow from the creative and cantankerous genius of Mathew Carey.
They address then-pressing topics: tariffs, protectionism, development of domestic industry, and European foreign policy.
Shaw & Shoemaker 49095; Clarkin, Mathew Carey Bibliography, 1133. Recent quarter tan cloth with paper sides in the style of the era. Ex-library with stamp on title-page; paper brittle and age-toned. One page torn and repaired.
Carey, Mathew. [drop title] Canal policy, no. I–III. Second edition. [Philadelphia, 1824]. 8vo (23.5 cm, 9.25"). 4, 8 pp. [bound with] Pennsylvania Society for the Promotion of Internal Improvements in the Commonwealth. Philadelphia, Jan. 13, 1825. The subscribers, the acting committee of ... respectfully submit the following address on the subject of a canal to connect the waters of the Susquehannah with those of the Alleghany, to the consideration of their fellow citizens. [Philadelphia, 1825]. 8vo. 7, [1 (blank)] pp. [with] Carey, Mathew. Fulton—no. IV. Canals and railways. [Philadelphia, 1825]. 8vo. 4 pp. [with] Carey, Mathew. Canal policy — Fulton — no. V. [Philadelphia, 1825]. 8vo. 4 pp. [with] Carey, Mathew. Fulton, no. VI. Internal improvement. [Harrisburg, 1825]. 8vo. 6, [2 (blank)] pp.
$650.00
Set of pamphlets on canal construction, including “The importance of the views of the Canal policy of New York, presented by DeWitt Clinton .
. . ”. “Fulton — no. IV. Canals and railways” is a continuation
of the series “Canal Policy.”
Click
the image for an enlargement.
The Pennsylvania Society for the Promotion of Internal Improvements in the
Commonwealth was established in Philadelphia, in December 1824, to disseminate
information on the latest improvements in the development of transportation
systems including roads, railways, canals, bridges, etc.; William Strickland,
Mathew Carey, Richard Peters, Jr., Joseph Hemphill, Stephen Duncan, and Gerard
Ralston were among its members.
Shoemaker 15654, 21855, 19953, 19955, & 19949. Light blue
paper–covered boards, spine with printed paper title-label. Light age-toning
and spotting, more pronounced in last few leaves. Final (blank) leaf with
early inked ownership signature; child’s pencilled drawings on one blank
page.
Catalonia.
Laws, statues, etc. [drop-title] Providencia interina para la perfecta
construccion de las estameñas, ratinas, bayetas comunes, cordellates y
demás generos de esta clase. [Barcelona, 1770]. Folio. [2] ff.
$300.00

Quick-Setting
Knox Sparkling Gelatine
Charles B. Knox Gelatine Co. Knox Gelatine desserts salads candies and frozen dishes. [Johnstown, NY]: Charles B. Knox Gelatine Co., © 1933. 12mo. 71, [1] pp. (pagination incl. covers); col. illus.
$27.50
Early printing: Savory and sweet recipes using Knox Gelatine, illustrated with
very attractive chromolithographed images. The recipes include dishes for children's parties and for convalescents.
Click the images for enlargements.
Not in Brown, Culinary Americana (lists 1943 and 1945 eds. only). Publisher's printed paper wrappers; foot of spine very slightly rubbed, else in amazingly fresh bright condition. A beautiful copy. (26049)
Chile. Laws, statutes, etc. Reglamento de aduanas y resguardos del estado de Chile. [Santiago, Chile]: Impr. Nacional, 1822. [1] f., vii, [1 (blank)], 27, [1 (blank] pp., [6] ff.
$1200.00

This is the law that reformed Chile's comprehensive structure for imposing and collecting import and export duties, regulating internal commerce, and protecting national industries. All Chilean imprints of the pre-1830 era are scarce, and early laws are rare. Searches of OCLC and RLIN locates only three copies in the U.S., and some have slightly different pagination.
Briseño, I, 294. Not in Palau. Modern wrappers. Small brown stain on last few leaves. A very good copy.

A Good “Hand” — An Interesting Deal
Church of San Cristobal (Toledo, Spain). Document in Spanish, on vellum. Toledo: 30 October 1485. 4to (26.5 x 19.5 cm; 10.5" x 7.75"). [14 (last blank)] pp.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
An
Expert
Promotes
AMERICAN
Sericulture — His
Son Promotes His Business
Comstock, Franklin G. A practical treatise on the
culture of silk, adapted to the soil and climate of the United States. Hartford: Wm. G. Comstock,
1836. 12mo (19.1 cm, 7.5"). 108 pp.; illus.
$175.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition: Care of mulberry trees and silkworms, and production of silk.
Comstock, who had been a probate judge and postmaster before becoming a gentleman farmer,
was secretary of the Hartford County Silk Society and editor of the Silk Culturist & Farmer's
Manual monthly periodical. This treatise is illustrated with several in-text wood-engravings.The advertisement on the back cover of this volume notes that William G. Comstock (the
author's son and publisher) offered for sale 100,000 white Italian mulberry trees; 10,000 Chinese
mulberry plants; and 2,000,000 “silk worms eggs,” among other items of sericulture.
American Imprints 36859. Publisher's quarter brown cloth and
printed paper–covered sides, moderately rubbed and soiled; spine sunned and a strip of black
cloth tape across its head. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, call number on
pastedown, front free endpaper with inked number covered over by black tape, pressure-stamp on
title-page. No other markings. Pages clean. (26271)

1850 in
Prosperous, Bustling Boston
Coolidge & Wiley. The Boston almanac for the year 1850. Boston: B.B. Mussey & Co., & Thomas Groom (pr. by Coolidge & Wiley), [1849]. 12mo (13.9 cm, 6.45"). 211, [5] pp.; 1 map, illus.
$200.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Opening with an oversized, folding map of New England “exhibiting the rail road
& telegraphic lines now in operation,” this almanac offers the usual calendrical information
along with memoranda pages, brief biographies of the presidents of the U.S., and descriptions of
Boston government, recent laws, and public improvements — the latter illustrated with in-text
steel engravings of the Boston Common fountain, the “new city jail,” the Boston Athenaeum, etc.Boston-area businesses with full-page advertisements in this publication include a
silversmith/jeweler, an apothecary, an upholsterer, a pianoforte manufacturer, and an ink maker;
also provided are both an extensive business directory and an index of the smaller in-text
advertisements promoting local merchants.
Binding: Signed binding of brown straight-grained cloth, front cover gilt-stamped with vignette of
the city and blind-stamped with two female figures representing Agriculture
(holding a scythe) and Law and Order (holding scales), back cover similarly
blind-stamped with central stamp of Benjamin Bradley & Co. bookbinders.
Drake, Almanacs, 4446; Spawn & Kinsella, American
Signed Bindings, 56. Not in Phillips, List of Maps of America.
Binding as above, spine showing minimal wear; clean and beautiful.
Front pastedown with ticket of a Massachusetts bookseller. Endpapers with
offsetting; map age-toned with offsetting, outer edges slightly ragged; one
index page with chip to outer margin, with loss of a few letters. Pages lightly
age-toned.
An excellent copy. (26684)
Crawfurd, John. Journal of an embassy from the governor-general of India to the courts of Siam and Cochin China; exhibiting a view of the actual state of those kingdoms ... second edition. London: Henry Colburn & Richard Bentley, 1830. 8vo (23 cm, 9"). 2 vols. I: Fold. frontis., vii, [1], 475, [1] pp.; 3 fold. plts., 8 plts., illus. II: [2], v, [1], 459, [1] pp.; 4 fold. plts., 7 plts., 1 fold. chart.
$5000.00
Single-click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.
Second edition, following the first of 1828: Description of a diplomatic voyage through Thailand, Vietnam, and the Malay Peninsula, undertaken by a Scottish surgeon who had worked for the East India Company before becoming an envoy and colonial administrator. Following his retirement from public service, Crawfurd dedicated himself to Oriental studies, and published such works as A Grammar and Dictionary of the Malay Language, A Descriptive Dictionary of the Indian Islands and Adjacent Countries, and A History of the Indian Archipelago.
The present account is one of the most important descriptions of the region in the early 19th century, incorporating cultural and religious assessments as well as economic and political. The two volumes are illustrated with 8 oversized, folding plates; 1 folding chart; 15 plates (many depicting variations in regional costume for both men and women), and a number of in-text engravings.
NSTC 2C42639; Goldsmiths’-Kress 26080; not in Maggs, Bibl. Asiatica. On Crawfurd, see: Dictionary of National Biography. Publisher’s dark green cloth, blind-stamped, spines with gilt-stamped title; spines very slightly sunned and showing faint traces of now-absent paper labels, cloth lightly rubbed at corners and spine extremities. Hinges cracked (inside). Front pastedowns rubber-stamped (no other institutional markings). Title-pages with pencilled owner’s name in upper margins; contents pages with inked owner’s name dated 1865. Frontispiece, plates, and a few pages in proximity to plates lightly to moderately foxed; one plate in vol. II torn from inner margin, tear not touching image.
Absorbing reading, evocative images.

“If You Have a Dollar, or Work for One,
YOU are Interested in the Contents of
This Book”
Davies, Thomas Alfred. How to make money, and how
to keep it. New York: G.W. Carleton & Co.; London: S. Low, Son & Co., 1867. 12mo (19 cm,
7.5"). [4], [ix]–322, [10 (adv.)] pp.
[SOLD]
First edition: Pragmatic advice on achieving financial independence for working
people of all classes — laborers, farmers, crafts- and tradespeople, clerks, lawyers, physicians,
investors, etc. Davies recommends training both boys and girls from an early age in the realities
of “the affairs of life” (p. 65); there are chapters on both banking and insurance.
Click the images for enlargements.
Not in Goldsmiths'-Kress. Publisher's textured violet cloth, covers blind-stamped, spine with gilt-stamped title; binding cocked, cloth rubbed and faded, spine sunned.
Front hinge (inside) cracked, back hinge tender. Ex–social club library: call number on front
pastedown, front free endpaper lacking, rubber-stamp on title-page and several others; no other
markings. Some light smudges, pages mostly clean. Very interesting reading from a variety of
perspectives. (26503)

The Economics of Pulque
Delmonte, José; & Andrés Quintana Roo, & others. Representacion de los cosecheros de pulque al honorable congreso del estado de Mexico. Mexico: Imprenta del Aguila dirigida por José Ximeno, 1828. Small 4to (21.2 cm; 8.25"). 15, [1 (blank)] pp.
$675.00
Click the interior image for an enlargement.
The small businessmen who grow maguey plants and who make the indigenous alcohol known as pulque address the state assembly of Mexico on the economics of their entwined businesses, and do so in hopes of an adjustment in the newly proposed tax on maguey and its fruits.
An interesting and detailed, if one-sided, presentation.
The document is signed in type (on p. 15) by more than 30 growers, with Delmonte and Quintana Roo the first two names.
Rare: Both NUC and OCLC locate only the copy at Yale and CCILA locates only the copy in the Lafragua collection in Mexico.
Provenance: Gilt supra-libros of John B. Stetson on the front cover. (Yes, Stetson as in the Stetson hat!)
Not in Goldsmiths-Kress; not in Palau; not in Sutro. Bound in 20th-century red cloth. Very good copy. (24830)
Rare
POLITICAL Chapbook
Dialogue between John and Thomas on the corn laws, the charter, teetotalism, and the probable remedy for the present disstresses. Paisley [Scotland]: Printed for the Author, by G. Caldwell, 1842. 12mo. 8 pp.
$125.00

Illustrated Explorations of the
Countryside
Dibdin, Charles. Observations on a tour through almost the whole of England, and a considerable part of Scotland, in a series of letters, addressed to a large number of intelligent and respectable friends. London: G. Goulding & John Walker (pr. by T. Woodfall), [1801–02]. 4to (28.9 cm, 11.4"). 2 vols. I: 404 pp.; 27 plts. II: [2], 406, [2] pp.; 33 plts., 1 fold. map, 1 fold. chart.
$750.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition, published in parts, of Dibdin's epistolary account of his travels as a performer in the provinces. Charles Dibdin the elder was a famed but controversial singer, songwriter, and actor who spent a significant amount of time touring the countryside in an attempt to improve both his reputation and his income; in these Observations he includes remarks on the history, natural history, geography, famous natives, trade and manufacture, and customs of the towns and villages he passed through, as well as on various theatrical, literary, and cultural topics near and dear to his heart. He also denounces circulating libraries, watering places, and female boarding schools (in all three cases due to their detrimental effects on morals), as well as quack medicines and incompetent amateur performers.
The two volumes are
illustrated with 60 copper-engraved and aquatint plates, one folding map, and one folding chart. The copper engravings are done in two different styles; one set consists of large renditions of scenery, the other of smaller depictions of people and everyday life — the former done from Dibdin's own paintings, and the latter from drawings by his daughter Anne.
Anderson, Book of British Topography, 373; Lowndes 638; NSTC D1044. Not in Abbey, Life in England; not in Ray, The Illustrator & the Book in England. On Dibdin, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online. Recent quarter caramel morocco and ochre cloth. Light to moderate foxing; mild offsetting around plates; four pages with patch of offsetting from now-absent laid-in item. Plates depicting people all with small area of waterstaining to upper inner portions, just touching corner of platemark without affecting images; scenic plates unaffected. All edges marbled.
A solid, handsome, satisfying set. (26939)
Dickinson, S.N. The Boston almanac for the year 1848. Boston: B.B. Mussey & Co. and Thomas Groom, [1847]. 12mo (13.7 cm, 5.4"). 189, [3] pp.; 1 fold. map.
$225.00
1848 edition of Dickinson’s almanac series. Although a few public occasions of genuine merit are noted in the calendar of “general events in 1847,” most of the listings run towards the shocking and scandalous, especially involving death by shooting or other catastrophe (“A little girl in Philadelphia died in consequence of over-exertion, by jumping a rope” for May 24); also listed for the reader’s edification are all the fires that took place in Boston in 1847.
The volume opens with an oversized, folding map of the city, with a note that the map is a specimen of a new type of plate printing. An advertisement on the back free endpaper mentions that Dickinson has “sold out his extensive Printing Office . . . [and] will now apply his whole attention to his favorite business, the manufacture of Printing Type,” providing stereotyping and music printing as well as “more than 120 different kinds of Job Type.”
Binding: Signed by Damrell & Moore of Boston, with their blind-stamp on the back cover: Brown cloth embossed with foliate designs, front cover with gilt-stamped decorative title.
Binding as above, covers with small, fairly unobtrusive spots of discoloration, cloth a bit rubbed over corners and edges and chipping over spine extremities. Map with small holes to two corners; pages clean, with memoranda leaves unused.

Who's In Charge of What & How Much They Are Paid
Díez de la Calle, Juan. Memorial informatorio al rey nuestro señor, en su real y supremo Conseio de las Indias, Camara, y Junta de Guerra. [Madrid: No publisher/printer], 1645. Small 4to. [11 (of 12)], 31 (of 32) ff. (lacks pi4 and a1).
$4000.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
In Latin American history the 17th century is generally characterized as “the century of decline,” which perception was simply inevitable given the robust and energetic nature of the events of the 16th century! The 17th was also the century of entropy: That is, disorder or randomness was becoming more and more prevalent in the administration of such a vast empire and that system of government was experiencing an inevitable and steady deterioration.
Apprehensive of this, the crown sought to stem its loss of control and to stop the development of regional and social “realities” not in accord with royal guidelines or desires. The contretemps between Viceroy/Bishop Palafox of Mexico and the religious orders wanting to enjoy extraordinary exemptions from governmental oversight provides one example.
To aid in getting a refreshed grip on the administration of the New World, Philip IV of Spain asked Juan Díez de la Calle, a member of the Consejo de Indias, to produce a concise administrative handbook for use solely by the Council of the Indies, the King, and his close advisors. Here one finds all of the administrative divisions with dates of creation; office holders and their salaries and when the office was created; differences existing between administrative districts; and an interesting section on the various “annual” convoys (“armadas”) and the general in charge of each.
Provenance: Ownership signature at top of title-page of “Guill[er]mo Godolphin,” i.e., Sir William Godolphin.
Alden & Landis, European Americana, 645/45; Palau 73741; Sabin 20133. Early limp vellum. Lacking two leaves: “Al Lector” leaf and the sectional title-leaf. A very good copy. (25808)
Duhamel
du Monceau, [Henry Louis]. Art de faire les tapis, façon de Turquie,
connus sous le nom de tapis de la Savonnerie. [Paris: De l’imprimerie de
L.F. Delatour], 1766. Folio (46 cm, 18"). [1] f., 25, [1 (blank)] pp.; 4 plts.
$350.00
First edition of this stand-alone entry from the Description
des arts et métiers, faites ou approuvées par Messieurs de l’Académie
des sciences de Paris, a series of publications on French arts and trades
sponsored by the Académie Royale des Sciences. Based on the papers of
Jacques Noinville, former director of the famed Savonnerie carpet factory, the
work describes the history and techniques of making Oriental-style rugs; the
plates depict workers using looms and devices resembling spinning wheels, as
well as individual pieces of equipment and a sample floral design.
19th-century quarter sheep over paper-covered boards, worn and
abraded with small discolorations; spine leather chipped, with remnants of
gilt-stamped leather title label. Edges untrimmed. Some offsetting and a very
few spots to pages; small area of worm damage in upper margins.

“The Great Discovery” — GOLD
Dunbar, Edward E. The romance of the age; Or, the discovery of gold in California. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1867. 16mo (18.6 cm, 7.3"). Frontis., 134, [10 (adv.)] pp.; 2 plts.
$150.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition: History of California immediately prior to and during the gold rush, based on the author's firsthand observations and on facts “gathered from living witnesses” (p. 9). The volume is illustrated with a frontispiece portrait of John Augustus Sutter and with two steel-engraved plates.
Sabin 21232; Gaer, California Literature of the Gold-Rush, 25; Cowan & Cowan, Bibliography of the History of California, 187. Publisher's textured maroon cloth, front cover with very decorative gilt-stamped title presentation; lightly rubbed, spine sunned and with some other sort of discoloration at top. Ex–social club library: front free endpaper and fly-leaf with inked numerals in a 19th-century hand; title-page, one plate, and one other page rubber-stamped. Pages faintly age-toned, otherwise clean. A nice little book. (26296)

Creationist Guide to the Natural World — A Pretty 4-Volume Set
Duncan, Henry. Sacred philosophy of the seasons; illustrating the perfections of God in the phenomena of the year. Boston: Marsh, Capen, Lyon, & Webb, 1839. 12mo (18.5 cm, 7.3"). 4 vols. I: xvi, 389, [1] pp. II: 391, [1] pp. III: 401, [1] pp. IV: 416 pp.
$250.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First U.S. edition of this widely read contemplation of of natural theology, here with “important additions and some modifications to adapt it to American readers,” done by the Rev. Frances William Pitt Greenwood. The work, which was endorsed by the Massachusetts Board of Education, was praised by Edgar Allan Poe as a “well-arranged and well-digested compendium, embracing a vast amount of information upon the various topics of physical science, and especially well adapted to those educational purposes for which the volumes are designed” (Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, March 1840).
The practical sciences of agriculture, husbandry, and manufacture have their places here along with much on the physical and biological worlds as such.
Bindings: Publisher's half green morocco and marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped title and decorations; very attractive.
American Imprints 55446. Spines slightly darkened; lightly rubbed. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplates, call number on endpapers, no other markings.
A clean, sound handsome set. (27171)
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