Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - February - 2006 Issue
Rare Americana from David Lesser Antiquarian Books
none
Sometimes, our heroes of fields like science possess faults we might just as soon forget. We wish all could be like Benjamin Franklin, America's first and one her greatest scientists, and a magnificent humanitarian as well. Samuel Morse was not such a generous human being. His invention of the telegraph enabled the country to communicate instantaneously over long distances, replacing slow carrier services which took days if not weeks to deliver a message. However, Morse had his dark side, possessing virulently Nativist and pro-slavery sentiments. In 1836 (a year before the invention of the telegraph) he was a Nativist candidate for Mayor of New York (he was soundly defeated). Despite being a Northerner, he was an extreme supporter of slavery, even during the Civil War, going so far as to say it was sinful to oppose the despicable institution. He disparaged the Declaration of Independence for its equality sentiments. Morse was also vehemently anti-Catholic, and despised the Irish. In 1835, Morse put some of his ugly sentiments to paper in Foreign Conspiracy Against the Liberties of the United States... Claims Morse, "The ratio of increase in Popery is the exact ratio of decrease in civil liberty." Had Morse his way, there would have been far less civil liberty in America. Item 92. $175.
Item 89 tells a sad story. It is The Memoir of James Monroe, Esq. Relating to His Unsettled Claims upon the People and Government of the United States. Monroe was an extraordinarily popular president, carrying every state in the election of 1820. He ruled during the "Era of Good Feeling." However, by 1828, four years after leaving office, he was broke. In this pamphlet, he petitioned the government for expenses incurred on its behalf long ago, as far back as his mission to France in 1794. Evidently, he didn't need the money then, but now near the end of a wonderful career and life, he had to scrounge for money. Were he a modern politician, Monroe would have made a post-governmental career fortune as a lobbyist for some special interest, but he was a statesman, not a modern politician. $750.
Item 127 is one of those racist diatribes that emanated from those who defended slavery in the days leading up to the Civil War. In the early days of the republic, slavery was largely justified as a "necessary evil," but as the divide between supporters and opponents grew wider, the justifications became more offensive. This book, by J.H. Van Evrie, is called Negroes and Negro Slavery; the First, an Inferior Race - The Latter, its Normal Condition. This is one of the early printings (1853 - second printing) of a book republished at the outbreak of the Civil War. It is a collection of pseudoscience used to "justify" despicable behavior. Lest anyone think southern leaders were really just asserting states rights and self-determination, slavery being only an aside, among those who offered laudatory reviews on the wraps of this atrocity was Jefferson Davis, future President of the Confederacy. $375.
David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books may be found online at www.lesserbooks.com or reached by phone at 203-389-9113.
