Map of the State of New York by Jacob Willets, engraved by James D. Stout
Paraclete Potter was a prolific Poughkeepsie printer but he was not artistic. His printings of the Poughkeepsie Journal between 1804 and 1837 are priceless for the unvarnished story of life they portray. He also published books, an indeterminate number but probably altogether about 50. Few if any are anything more than workmanlike. He labored to be effective but labored under the constraints of poor equipment, poor paper, poor bindings and a poor community. Money would have been scarce. Nevertheless he left an impressive mark.
The weekly Poughkeepsie Journal, founded in 1796 with which he became associated in 1804 and its outright publisher for 30 years beginning in 1806, would week by week tell the story of a river-front community on the Hudson emerging as the Hudson River itself emerged, for its limited engagement, as the Broadway of America. This was not to last but for most of the Hudson’s ascendant period [1800 to 1840] Paraclete Potter was recording its story. He would, like his city, fail financially in the mid-1830s, they recover and he relocate to Wisconsin in 1837 but leave behind a stellar account of daily life. His bones are probably sitting beneath a forgotten stone but his spirit is alive in the many examples of his printing that survive.
The Journal, his principal contribution, was not alone in capturing the history of Poughkeepsie and Dutchess County in this era. No less than 7 other newspapers vied for commercial viability in Poughkeepsie between 1801 and 1840 and they are all useful for understanding life in this period. The Journal nevertheless was unique, the only paper to survive the entire period. Not satisfied to publish only his newspaper he would also publish books, most of them reprints in canted forms and awkward bindings. What he hadn’t printed/published prior to 1815, as far as I can find, are large maps.
In that year he published a beautiful example, his Map of the State of New York by Jacob Willets and engraved by James D. Stout. It is to my inexperienced eye a substantial achievement, an exceptional printing, and particularly unusual given it is well beyond anything he had done before or would do later. He would, four years hence publish a series of maps for use in schools that are consistent with his printing and binding capabilities as expressed in the other things he published. He was, in short, a C printer, his 1815 map an A work.
So the question comes to mind. Did he really publish it? Lauren Hewes, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Graphic Arts at the American Antiquarian Society, suggested the engraver or the map’s author may have seen to the printing and Mr. Potter simply born the expense and thereby gained the publisher’s credit.
The Potter family were high achievers. Paraclete’s father twice served in the New York State Assembly and his two brothers, Alonzo and Horatio, become Episcopal Bishops. Perhaps the underwriting of a beautiful map, in such a family, was simply the expected thing to do.
Whatever it is it is a remarkable survival.
And I am left to wonder. Is there more to the back-story? If you have some ideas please contact me.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.
DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
Freeman’s | Hindman Western Manuscripts and Miniatures July 8, 2025
Freeman’s | Hindman Western Manuscripts and Miniatures July 8, 2025
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.