Affichage de 172941 résultats

First edition imprint of a charter describing the rules and commercial relations of Catalonia and its colonies in the Caribbean. This edition was printed by Joseph Rico, royal printer to the Spanish crown and member of the Supreme Council of the Indies, and only has 33 pages, ending at section XXVII.

"Containing a rare mid-eighteenth century reference to a synagogue on the Caribbean island of Nevis, this document of 1 February 1761 records the leasing by Samuel Harris Esq. (d.1773?) to John Ward Esq., both 'of the island of Saint Christopher,' of a piece of land, 'by estimation fifteen acres...bounded to the East with lands belonging to Ralph Willett Esquire...To the West with the Common Path...To the North with lands belonging to the said John Ward...To the South with...the common path leading from the Jew's Synagogue...” A Sephardic Jewish community on the island of Nevis is recorded from at least the 1670s to the close of the 1760s. The reference in this document must be to the synagogue at Charlestown (parish of Saint Paul), the capital of the island of Nevis, which is thought to have been built in the 1680s. Born on Nevis, Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804) attended the Jewish school attached to this synagogue in the 1760s." --Description from Samuel Gedge, bookseller

"[ France, 1770s ] - 'Extraits de divers ouvrages que jaij [j'ai] lus, entiers et en prose..." [Excerpts from various works that I have read, whole and in prose]. Manuscript journal of philosophical, entertaining, and politically important texts published mid-eighteenth-century books, specialized journals, private letters, and decrees, the lot compiled by a learned man whose range of interest includes theatre, nobility, politics, and war, as he engages in the period of enlightened thinking. Text is in French. 8vo. 162 pages in manuscript. In the writer's custom-made, elegant full calf binding, four raised bands, ornate tooled borders, titled 'Excerpta' and initialed 'V. F. St.' to front... This uncommon assortment of extracts from eighteenth century works, many of which are scarce or inaccessible today, provides a glimpse into the style of seventeenth century literature and theatre, as well as political and social interests of the period, a time when Europeans challenged themselves to steer away from tradition and to embrace diverse philosophies for betterment. Several texts are drawn from volume three of 'Epitres diverses sur des sujets differens,' by Georges Louis de Baar, published in London between 1750 and 1756 by Philippe Changuion whose shop was on the Strand near Somerset House. The earliest work that the writer had in hand, and partly transcribes in his journal, is a notice dated 18/28 December 1621 during the Thirty Years' War, from the Lord of the Duchy of Bouillon [Henry de la Tour d'Auvergne (1555-1623), Duke of Bouillon]. 'Avis de Monseigneur le Duc de Bouillon...' This manuscript extract of 18 pages concerns the religious wars as the Duke is rallying the inhabitants to stand together and fight for the public cause. He instructs them to create an army, selectively choosing their men for battle, to prepare defenses that will render their land inaccessible to invaders, to guard the forts, to select a legation to join an embassy representing seventeen cantons, and so forth."- Voyager Press

The John Moultrie Collection contains the following three items:

(1) A sales report titled "Copy of Sales of Effects of Estate of John Moultrie" dated 1772. The commodities sold range from a plantation titled Goose Creek to slaves to "bush corn & peas."

(2) A 1786 letter addressed to a Lord Hawke. In this, Moultrie apologizes for having to leave London early and missing an engagement with Hawke, and asserts his gratitude to Hawke on behalf of the people of East Florida.

(3) A leaf excerpt of a letter, chronicling the fate of the British people living in East Florida after the American revolution. The leaf begins: "...about the time or just before the revolt of the Americas the governor of East Florida secured the Kings order restraining him from any further grants of land in the usual manner and terms, and ordering all the vacant lands in the province to be surveyed, advertised, & laid out in certain tracts and to sell them at public sale at certain periods - giving public notice thereof. This of course could not accommodate with lands those unfortunate people who were obliged to fly from their homes in the neighboring colonies on behalf of their attachment to Great Britain, into East Florida held out as a place of refuge by proclamation in consequence of his Majesties instructions to his governor."

The collection also contains typescripts of these documents, and a photocopy of an image of Moultrie.

The Jamaica Manuscripts Collection contains 20 documents, most of which concern Jamaica in a variety of ways (others are regarding the British West Indies at large). Included, among other things, are plantation records, correspondence, journals, official documents such as power of attorney documents and affidavits, notes on the climate of Jamaica, and Spanish reports on English possessions.  Some of these are originals, where others are later 20th century documents about Jamaica or typescripts of letters.

The Florida Documents Collection contains correspondence, diaries, military orders, invoices, receipts, and other documents related to various aspects of Florida history dating from 1777-1979.  Topics covered include, but are not limited to the Seminole Wars, the Civil War, Fort Dallas, the Indian Key Massacre, Alachua County, the Cape Florida Lighthouse, the Cape San Blas Lighthouse, politics, land, and travel.

The collection also contains six diaries on 19th century community development in Florida authored by town developer, carpenter, handyman, and Civil War veteran Capt. Rufus W. Beaujean of Melbourne Beach in Brevard County, Florida. The diaries provide details of the many aspects of his work to develop his new community, repairing the boats of named neighbors, and socializing with, and executing chores for, named male and female residents.

"A scarce example of a French military commission issued in the Caribbean during the American War of Independence, this document on vellum bears the signature of the French governor general of the island of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), Robert-Maurice, Comte d’Argout (d.1780), Creole sugar plantation owner and former governor of Martinique (1776-1777). Dated 25 June 1779, this commission appoints Jean-Baptiste de Cressac, a Creole owner of plantations of coffee, indigo and cotton as captain in the mixed race infantry ('d’Infanterie Mulatres') in the Saint-Domingue militia, Port-de-Paix batallion, parish of Gros Morne." –Description from Samuel Gedge, bookseller

The Pedro Hernández Lovio Papers consist of the personal and professional documents of Diario de la Marina secretary Pedro Hernández Lovio. They include biographical and geneological information, photographs, clippings, newspaper articles, professional certifications, correspondence, scrapbook and handwritten notes.

"This decree authorized foreign vessels to transport African slaves for sale in Martinique, Guadeloupe, Saint Lucia, and Tobago, to meet the needs of those islands which had been abandoned by French slave traders in favor of the colony of Saint-Dominique; funds raised by the decree, which imposed a payment of 100 livres per head, were to be paid as a bonus rewarding captains of French slave trading vessels who brought slaves to the islands." –description from James Cummins, bookseller

The A. W. Kopp autograph collection contains three books of autographs and various loose autographs. One book is dated 1909 to 1910 and contains an autograph of Gustav Mahler and Sergei Rachmaninoff (with an accompanying musical quote), one is dated 1914 to 1917 and contains an autograph of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, and one is dated 1917 to 1921 and contains an autograph of Harry Houdini, Edgar Lee Hay, and Marjory Stoneman Douglas. Among the loose autographs, there are ones of Daniel Webster and Oliver Wendell Holmes. Also included are a book of receipts from New York dated 1784 to 1786, a book of poetry from residents of Danzig dated 1833 to 1853.

Purchase from the New Antiquarian

Purchase from the New Antiquarian

"Two rare brochures giving the recipe for French physician Gilles-Joseph Decourcelle's patent medicine, l'élixir Américain, as well as advertising the third edition of his medical text of the same name.

Decourcelle lived in Saint-Domingue for thirteen years before establishing a practice as an obstetrician in Vitry-le-François. He claimed to have learned the medicinal properties of Caribbean herbs by observing the way in which they were used by women of African descent, including enslaved women, in the French colony. Upon his return to France, he marketed his élixir Américain by prominently emphasising the exotic origin of the ingredients, and promotion their benefits for a myriad of gynaecological and birth-related conditions. The Nancy imprint describes the elixir as a cure "les maladies de lait," and his medical text contains many endorsements from women whose health problems had been relieved by his remedy.

The plants in the recipe which are specifically described as originating in Saint-Domingue are: Cocos aculeatus (root of grugru palm), Crescentia cujete (calabash), Erythroxilum areolatum (bark of smoke wood), Justicia assurgens (sixangle foldwing), Laurus-Persea (avocado leaves) and Saccharum officinarum (root of cane sugar). Given that Erythroxylaceae are natural producers of cocaine, and that one of the other ingredients is listed as Egyptian opium, the medicine would certainly have been potent, if not prescriptively effective.

The different type-settings and regional imprints of these two versions of the same bifolium can be explained by the fact that they were job-printed locally by the distributors of the elixir. In the back of the 1787 third edition of L'Élixir Américain, as advertised in this brochure, there is a list of authorised dispensaries. For Nancy "chez M. Mandel, Directeur de Bureau de confiance" and for Moulins "chez M. Gueriot, capitaine d'Artillerie."

Whilst revealing the specific instructions for the preparation of such patent medicines seems counter intuitive, the exotic ingredients and complex method outlined in the text of the brochure were perhaps more to endorse the product than to inspire the purchaser to attempt to make their own batch at home. These brochures were likely distributed gratis with a bottle of the elixir." –description from Maggs Bros. Ltd. Rare Books & Manuscripts

A manuscript of financial entries for tenants' rent payments for residences in London.

The Lemuel Adams Papers contains a ledger belonging to Lemuel Adams. There are logged transactions from 1792 to 1804, mostly from Hartford, Connecticut; however, the ledger also contains letters written by Adams, a genealogy of the Adams family, and a few dozen poems by Adams with titles ranging from "On Life" to "Description of the Tea Party."

Thomas Jefferson (1742-1826) was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), Governor of Virginia (1779-1781), the first Secretary of State (1790-1793), second Vice-President of the United Sates (1797-1801), the third President of the United States (1801–1809), the founder of the University of Virginia (1819), and one of the most influential Founding Fathers.

The Thomas Jefferson collection includes four letters by Thomas Jefferson, three official documents, an entry of merchandise, a biography, and twenty-six printed portraits.

"This pamphlet repudiates the secessionist assembly at Saint Marc and declares that real authority resides solely with the King in France. The authors reiterate that Saint Domingue is not a sovereign state but a colony of France and should behave accordingly. The French Revolution fueled unrest in the colony, eventually leading to the overthrow of French rule on the island. This imprint serves to illustrate the remarkable print culture of pre-Revolutionary Saint Domingue, by far the richest of French sugar colonies. From imprints handled by this firm we know that there were presses at Saint Marc, Port-au-Prince, and Cap Français, with probably two different printers at each of the latter two." --Description from William Reese Company

The Johann Heinrich Hesse Papers contains a 1791 manuscript of Johann Heinrich Hesse (1712-1778)'s "Anweisung zum General-Baß," or "Guide to Thorough-Bass."