1820s Historical Memorabilia

The largest an Imperial Gallon with handles and inscribed Corporation of Lancaster and Imperial Gallon with various test marks. Seven other measures in...

Presented is a rare and magnificent early printing of the Declaration of Independence on silk. The silk broadside was made by H. Brunet, in Lyon, France specifically for the American market. The design was based on the 1819 engraving on paper by William Woodruff. Printed in 1820, this silk broadside was one of the earliest printings of the Declaration, in any form, sold to the American public. Following the War of 1812, Americans began to look back, for the first time with historical perspective, on the era of the founding of the country. With nostalgia and curiosity, many Americans began to examine the details of the nation’s founding. Documents like the debates of the Constitutional Convention, first laws of the United States, and the Declaration were printed for public consumption for the first time. Entrepreneurial publishers hoped to fill this demand and rushed to produce the first engraved printing of the Declaration of Independence. The first to do so was Benjamin Owen Tyler in 1818, who produced an elegantly staid engraving with impressively faithful facsimile signatures. Tyler’s business rival John Binns started his own design more than a year before Tyler, yet his more decorative engraving was not published until 1819, two months on the heels of an eerily similar Declaration design by Philadelphia printer William Woodruff. In this very competitive market, Binns went so far as to sue Woodruff for stealing his design, but was unsuccessful in his lawsuit. These three Declaration designs were followed in 1820 by an ornamental broadside by Eleazar Huntington and the silk broadside offered here. In this 1820 design by Frenchman H. Brunet, the text of the Declaration of Independence is printed in black ink at the center of the silk. The important text is framed by a decorative leaf and acorn wreath border. The border contains distinctive portraits of the first three Presidents, George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferon, two of whom were still living at the time, as well as the official seals of the original thirteen states. The seals and portraits are surmounted by a patriotic display of trumpets, flags, two overflowing cornucopias, and a spread-wing Federal eagle. Although almost identical to the Woodruff broadside, this silk by Brunet differs in several ways. The most noticeable is the addition of a strong black outer border, punctuated with repeating, white six-pointed stars. The arrangement of the body of the text and the calligraphic signatures are slightly different. The title is almost exactly the same, with the additional reference to Woodruff as inspiration in this Brunet printing. It reads "To the People of the United States this Engraving of Declaration of Independence is most respectfully inscribed: Woodruff.” Brunet’s signature can be found in script, wrapping around the bottom center medallion: "Lith di H. Brunet Cie. a Lyon." Although this broadside is not pictured in Herbert Collins' definitive "Threads of History: Americana Recorded on Cloth," Collins refers to its existence in his description of a very similar design lithographed by "Decomberause" of Lyons, France. Lyons was a hub of French silk production during the 1820s and 30s. Interestingly, Collins calls this example a "bandana," but the distinctly rectangular shape is more consistent with a broadside on silk, a documented practice of the time. The other similar examples listed by Collins are more square and might better be considered bandanas. Between 1820 and 1840, it was a common practice to print a very limited number of presentation copies of important broadsides on silk. To give an example, the original ledger book...

Torrey, Jr. Jesse. A Mental Museum for the Rising Generation. With an Appendix, Containing the Declaration of Independence, Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the First Free Circulating Library &c. : Designed for the Middle Classes of Readers in American Schools and Families. Adapted to American Customs and Manners, and Proposed as a Substitute for Foreign Compilations Or Reading Lessons. Philadelphia: Thomas Desilver, 1829. 16mo. In original gilt stamped leather and paper boards with a new archival slipcase. This is a first edition printing of Jesse Torrey Jr.’s "A Mental Museum for the Rising Generation." Published in Philadelphia by Thomas Desilver in 1829, this beautiful book is presented in its original gilt stamped leather and paper boards. Divided into three sections, this book was “designed for the middle classes of Readers in American Schools and Families.” Collectors will appreciate this prime example of early childhood educational text, as well as consider it for its Appendix, which includes very early printings of "The Declaration of Independence," "The Constitution of the United States," and the "Constitution of the First Free Circulating Library." "A Mental Museum for the Rising Generation" was one of several books written by Torrey to entertain, instruct, and edify children and young adults. The book is divided into three parts, as indicated on the title page, “PART I - Familiar conversations on Natural History and the Universe, Reflections on Providence, etc. Part II - Lessons calculated to excite a taste for Reading and Mental Improvement - on Industry, Economy, Preservation of Health, etc. Part III - Various Instructive and Entertaining Articles and Poetry.” The Appendix contains a very early printing of "The Declaration of Independence" and the "Constitution of the United States", as well as the "Constitution of the First Free Circulating Library." Jesse Torrey, Jr., (1787 – 1834) was an American physician, writer, and ardent advocate for abolition, the American education system, and free public libraries. Torrey is most celebrated as an abolitionist who gathered first-hand narratives of African Americans and eye-witness accounts by white observers of slavery and kidnapping. He published these, along with his personal observations, in an early 1817 anti-slavery book, "A Portraiture of Slavery in the United States." Torrey also wrote juvenile guides to moral philosophy, natural history and government. Torrey argued that young readers were important to the early American imagination of its populace, both in terms of the reading public and the broader national community of citizens. He believed that children were not merely witnesses to American history and governance, but rather young reading practices played a crucial role in establishing a free, educated, and engaged populace. To this end, Torrey was the founder of the free public library movement in the United States. In 1804, at the age of 16, he established the Library of the “New Lebanon...

A 19th century blue and white Staffordshire pottery platter depicting the original Massachusetts General Hospital building in Boston designed in 1818 by Charles Bulfinch (1763-1844) and home of the world's first Ether Dome. The platter is entitled "Hospital Boston" part of the Beauties of America series produced by John and William Ridgway. The neoclassical Federal period building is shown with a horse drawn carriage striding by and a ship anchored nearby, within a border of flowers within reserves. History of MGH (Source: The Russell Museum at MGH website): In 1810, the United States could boast of only two general hospitals, the Pennsylvania Hospital (founded in 1756) and the New York Hospital (founded in 1791). Locally, the marine hospital in Charlestown tended to the needs of sailors and the Boston Dispensary addressed the ambulatory care of paupers, but no New England facility in the early nineteenth century provided round the clock medical care to members of the general public. Rev. John Bartlett, Chaplain of the Almshouse in Boston, dreamed of establishing such a hospital, which would make state-of-the-art medical care available to the physically or mentally ill while affording improved opportunities for practical medical education. He joined with like-minded doctors and leading citizens to organize a fundraising campaign. Dr. James Jackson...

Goodrich, Charles. Lives of the SIgners of the Declaration of Independence. New York: William Reed & Co., 1829. 12mo. Presented in its original leather bo...

This is a wonderful collection of forty-eight oval Grand Tour plaster intaglios, wonderfully arranged in the original beechwood box with five display trays, by Bartolomeo Paoletti an...

A shipyard model of a gaff-rigged Newhaven Smack, the hull carved from the solid with a scored deck, wood and metal fittings including metal anchors with chains, a hawse pipe and winch, deck lights, companionways, tiller, two boats sprung out on davits, a stepped wooden mast with a spacer, standing and running rigging with sheathed blocks and tackle...

Presented is Timothy Ensign’s “Map of the United States,” published in 1828. The map is one of the first to show the United States stretching all the way to the Pacific Ocean. The map’s area covers Oregon to the Atlantic Ocean and Canada to Mexico. It also features a very prominent engraved portrait of George Washington, with inset views and maps of the Capitol, Washington, DC, Boston and a small map of North America. Because this map predates the Texas Revolution, the Mexican American War, and the 1846 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexico comprises much of the southwest, including California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Texas. And yet, by including the large expanse of territory between the Mississippi River and the Pacific, the map is a mirror of American expansionist ambitions of the time. Territorial expansion of the boundaries of the United States westward to the Pacific and beyond was at its peak at the time of this map’s publication. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the country and the Lewis & Clark expedition of 1803-1806 sparked interest in the exploration and settlement of the newly acquired land. Expansionists eager to acquire Spanish Florida were part of the drive for the War of 1812 and Andrew Jackson’s invasion of Florida in 1818 and the subsequent Adams-Onís Treaty established an American claim to the Pacific Northwest as Spain renounced its claim to the Oregon Country...

Francis Joseph I (18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, King of Croatia, King of Bohemia, and monarch of many othe...

Beautiful dark wood box with two gold rimmed liquor glasses and two decanters with red pearls. This lovely Travel Bar was made circa 1820 Biedermeier i...

Rare pair of Campaign plates. One of the pair has 2nd West India Reg on the back, but the two were purchased in England together, circa 1825-1833.  

Six volumes. Octavos. Bound in three-quarter tan morocco leather with marbled boards, top edges gilt, and gilt detailing and raised bands on spines. Published in Edinburgh in 1823...