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PHILADELPHIA
NOT just Ben . . .
MULTICULTURAL ALWAYS!
A-C Bibles D-F G-L M N-Q R-T U-Z
MENU of a
Major Philadelphia Occasion
Gimbel Brothers. Dinner tendered to Mrs. Franklin Delano Roosevelt upon the occasion of the presentation of the Gimbel Awards... Philadelphia: Gimbel Brothers, [1934]. 8vo. [16] pp.; illus.
$37.50
Click the images for enlargements.
Menu (including Lobster Thermidor and Potato Louisiana) and program for the 1934 presentation of the Gimbel Award for Outstanding Woman of the Nation to Eleanor Roosevelt. A photographic portrait of Mrs. Roosevelt is at the front, and the guest list at the back.
Stapled in original printed cardstock, with decorative silk tassel. Darkening and dust-soiling, definitely more noticeable in person than the photos suggest on some monitors here; still a worthy souvenir. (26059)
Dr. R's Class
Haney, John Louis, ed. Who's who in '98 in 1923. Twenty-five year record of the class of 1898 college, University of Pennsylvania ... 1898–1923. Philadelphia: Printed for private circulation, 1923. 8vo. 79 pp.; illus.
$45.00
This was Dr. A.S.W. Rosenbach's college class. Other members included a number of enterprising women, including one who was a musician and an inventor! Original red cloth, black-lettered on the front. Traces of soiling on covers. Small ink stain on title-page. Author's rubber-stamp on inner margin of p. [5]. Very good. (15956)
Henderson, William M. Patent No. 65,911: Improvement in steam pumps. [Washington, D.C.: United States Patent Office, 1867]. Folio (appr. 40 × 28 cm, 15.75" × 11"). [3], [1 (blank)] ff.
$150.00

Patent granted to William M. Henderson of Philadelphia for “improvements in the mode of constructing and operating direct-action independent steam engines.” F. [1] is the patent itself on an engraved form, with the hand signature of acting Secretary of the Interior W.I. Otto; f. [2] is a drawing, with some coloring in blue and red, of the device as improved upon, and f. [3] is Henderson’s official description of it.
Laced together with a silk ribbon. Some browning, especially adjacent to ribbon and wafer; and a few tiny tears in edges. Short closed tears along the folds, without loss.
Henderson, William M. Patent No. 105,941: Improvement in direct-acting compound engine]. [Washington, D.C.: United States Patent Office, 1870. Folio (appr. 37 × 25 cm, 14.5" × 10"). [2], 2, [1 (blank)] ff.
$150.00
Patent granted to William M. Henderson of Philadelphia for “improvement in direct-acting compound engine.” F. [1] is the patent itself on an engraved form, with the hand signature of acting Secretary of the Interior W.I. Otto; f. [2] is a drawing of the device as improved upon, and the following 2 ff. are Henderson’s official description of it.
Laced together with a silk ribbon. Some browning, especially adjacent to ribbon and wafer.
L'Envoi is
CONSTANCY
Holden, Warren. Autobiography of love. [Philadelphia]: J.B. Lippincott, 1888. 8vo. 59, [1] pp.
$50.00
Uncommon volume by a minor but relatively prolific American poet.
Presentation copy: Front inside cover stamped “With compliments of the author.”
Publisher's cloth in imitation of morocco, front cover with gilt-stamped title; front cover detached, cloth almost entirely lost over spine. Ex-library: covers pressure-stamped by a now-defunct (Philadelphia) institution, title-page and a few others rubber-stamped, back free endpaper with pocket. Sadly hurt, but a sweet effort and a presentation copy. (17770)
A
Philadelphia
“Prep”
Text — The
RARER of
Two
Horatius Flaccus, Quintus. Opera expurgata, notis anglicis illustrata: Quibus præfixum syntagma prosodiale. Cura et studio Thomæ Dugdale. Philadelphiae: Impensis Solomon W. Conrad, excud. Guilelmus Fry, 1815. 8vo. xvii, [1 (blank)], 359, [1 (blank)] pp.
$125.00
Click the title-page image for an enlargement.
Important, early, American college-preparatory/college-level edition.
The preface, explanatory matter, and notes are in English. The editor, Dugdale,
taught in Philadelphia, and several teachers at the University of Pennsylvania
whom he asked to review the volume recommend it to schools and colleges in the
preface.
This is the rarer of two Philadelphia editions of 1815: It is not listed
in NUC Pre-1956 and Shaw and Shoemaker located only one copy (at The
American Antiquarian Society); we do know of some other copies. The other
edition has the imprint reading “Impensis E. Kimber.”
Shaw & Shoemaker 34951. Original treed sheep, leather
label; spine, with gilt-stamped red leather label, a little pulled at bottom.
Significant degrees of browning and foxing, as expectable of the paper used.
Front free endpaper missing; volume opens on title-page. An interesting volume
in attractive condition. (7008)

Once Thought to Be by
Benjamin Franklin
Jackson, Richard. An Historical Review of the Constitution and Government of Pensylvania [sic]. London: Pr. for R. Griffiths, 1759. 8vo. viii pp., [9] ff., 444 pp.
$975.00
Click the images for enlargements.
The anonymously published first edition of this important source on the history of the Pennsylvania constitution and the colony's government, treating the terms of the colonial governors chronologically — but not drily. The very table of contents here breathes drama in organization and diction, and the appendix consists of transcriptions of documents relating to conflicts between Pennsylvania proprietaries and representatives of the Crown: a handy compendium of irritations (and worse) that would be remembered 17 years later, in 1776, in the Pennsylvania State House that would come to be called “Independence Hall.”
This was long most commonly attributed to Benjamin Franklin, but recently, on the basis of new scholarship, authorship has been ascribed to Richard Jackson, a London barrister and colonial agent with whom Franklin collaborated in other publications. Franklin and his son, William, certainly supplied many of the materials that formed the basis of the book, which was published during Franklin's first mission to England.
Provenance: Large signature of “Jo. Kirkbride” dated “Septr 30th 1759" on front free endpaper.
Manuscript additions: Under this ownership signature, in a later, much smaller hand, are five lines of speculation as to the work's authorship; a date is corrected on p. 263. Between leaves B3 and B4, a leaf is bound in containing, on its two sides, a handwritten “List of Governors of Pennsylvania — continued”; this, with one addition to the printed list on p. 262, takes the chronology through John W. Geary, inaugurated in 1867.
Sabin 25512 (noting that the editor of the second edition (Philadelphia, 1812) “had no doubt as to [Franklin's] authorship” and supplied his name); Sparks, Franklin, III, 109 (affirming that the volume “was prepared under [Franklin's] direction, and doubtless from copious materials furnished by him”); ESTC T117618. Recent quarter calf, old style, with raised bands accented with gilt beading on each band, a gilt center device in each spine compartment, and a green leather title label. Boards covered with a stone pattern marbled paper. Title-page with two old ink blots; text lightly and uniformly age-toned. Inscriptions/additions as noted. (25085)
Keim,
D[aniel] M[ay]. Broadside. Begins:
“Thomas Shewell. By Major D.M. Keim.” No place, no date [Philadelphia,
ca. 1865–67]. Folio (34.5 cm, 13.75"). [1] p.
$135.00
In this rare broadside Major Daniel May Keim (1806–67) gives a factual
and surprisingly dispassionate account of the life and accomplishments of his
father-in-law, Thomas Shewell, a Bucks County–born successful merchant
in Philadelphia during the period 1796–1832, who died in 1848. In addition
to his business accomplishments, Shewell served for many years as the manager
of the House of Refuge in Philadelphia. Maj. Keim was a native of Bristol, Bucks
County, Pennsylvania, an avid historian and contributor to the Historical Society
of Pennsylvania, himself a merchant, and a Mason. He ends this publication by
promising “in our next number to give a sketch of the life of” Shewell’s
son Joseph B. Shewell.
Rare:
We fail to trace this via NUC Pre-1956, OCLC, RLIN, and the OPACS of
the Library Company, the Free Library of Philadelphia, and the Library of
Congress.
Shallow tears in margin, folded once. Light age-toning. Very
good.
For
more BROADSIDES, click here.

Progressive Charity
Lesley, Susan I. [cover title] Suggestions to ward visitors. A paper read by Susan I. Lesley, before the visitors of the Seventh Ward. October 27th, 1879. Philadelphia: McCalla & Stavely, printers, 1879. 8vo. 24 pp.
$150.00

Susan I. Lesley was a Unitarian and shared a politically progressive vision with her husband J. Peter Lesley, the notable geologist and leader of the American Philosophical Society. Here she addresses the members of a charity organization in Philadelphia's Seventh Ward, a predominantly African-American section of the city though there is no particular sign of that in the text.
Click the image to the right
for an enlargement.
Provenance: Inscribed by the author to William C. Gannett, at top margin of p. [1]. Gannett spent three years in the 1860s working among freedmen in the South; he was afterwards to become a Unitarian minister and pastor of the church where Susan B. Anthony worshipped.
Original dark blue wrappers. A couple of tiny tears at top edge of front cover. Very good. (20940)
Linn,
John Blair. Valerian, a narrative poem: Intended, in part, to describe
the early persecutions of Christians, and rapidly to illustrate the influence
of Christianity on the manners of nations...with a sketch of the life and character
of the author. Philadelphia: Thomas & George Palmer, 1805. 4to (24.5 cm, 9.6").
xxvi, [2], 97, [1 (blank)] pp.
$350.00
First edition: Tale of a young Christian from Rome, written by the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia (not to be confused with the John Blair Linn who served as Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania). This piece was published one year after the Rev. Linn’s untimely death at the age of 27, and is preceded by an account of the author’s life written by his brother-in-law, Charles Brockden Brown.
Shaw & Shoemaker 8790; Wegelin 1038; BAL 1509 (for Brown’s “Sketch”). On Linn, see: Dictionary of American Biography, XI, 281–82. Period-style quarter tan cloth and light blue paper-covered sides, spine with printed paper label. Lacking portrait of author. Title-page and a few others stamped by a now-defunct institution; title-page also with pencilled inscription dated 1830. Pages age-toned and slightly cockled; some staining, with some spots accounted for by laid-in floral matter; occasional stray pencil marks and short edge tears or chips, with repairs to margins and longer tears of first few leaves.
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