New Acquisitions from the William Reese Company

The William Reese Company recently issued a catalogue of New Acquisitions. They noted that this is the first Reese catalogue published exclusively by its new owners, James Cummins Bookseller and Peter Harrington. However, followers of the Reese Company will not be surprised as the material is similar to what William Reese offered for many years. They specialize in Americana but also offer literary works from other locales as well. The common thread is that what they present is important and worthy of the best collections. You will not be disappointed. Here are a few samples.

It was a tense time in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when Town Clerk Andrew Boardman hand-wrote this list on December 26, 1774, of items to be considered at town meeting. New England town meeting, still practiced in some smaller communities today, is where everyone in town can gather together to consider and vote on proposals that are raised. It is true participatory democracy. Anti-British sentiments were high at the time. The Boston Tea Party took place the prior year and the Battle of Lexington and Concord was just four months away. There are four items to be considered and all pertain to the situation with England. Essentially, they call on support for the Provincial Congress, which united the towns in their opposition to Britain's behavior. However, the Congress does call on citizens to pay their tax assessments as some people had been withholding them for fear of how they would be used. The Provincial Congress endorsed their being paid. One item asked the citizens whether they should join in a non-importation and non-consumption agreement with other towns and colonies, a boycott of British goods. The final item was a more general question asking whether the town, in support of the other resolutions, “should act and do any thing that they shall think proper for the recovering and securing our Just Rights and Liberties.” Item 4. Priced at $16,500.

King George III of England was once the country's longest serving monarch, and is still the longest reigning king. However, it wasn't an easy life. He succeeded his father in 1761. Throughout his reign, England was almost constantly in some state of war or hostilities with France. However, the war he is known for in America, and his notable failure, was the American Revolution. He became a hated figure in England's colonies. However, his reign did not end with the revolution and he was once again forced to deal with France. This was complicated by George's mental illness. From the late 1780s until 1811, his condition gradually deteriorated. In 1811, he finally was forced to appoint his son as regent, and lived in seclusion the remainder of his days, which ended in 1820. It was in a period of greater clarity that he wrote this letter to his Secretary of State, Lord Hawkesbury. There were more hostilities with France after the French Revolution, but there was an uneasy truce when he wrote this letter on May 12, 1803. The peace would only last six days longer, but George was resigned to the coming of war when he wrote the letter. He writes, “War seems now so certain that Lord Hawkesbury cannot too soon form the negotiations between this country and France into a Manifesto and state the conduct of the latter fully since the conclusion of the Peace as the cause of the steps we have been obliged to take...” George was looking for a written justification of the actions he believed he would soon have to take. Item 27. $20,000.

By the time the year 1865 rolled around, things were looking bleak for the Confederacy. Atlanta had fallen and Sherman had marched to the sea. Lee's successes earlier in the war were replaced by tactical retreats. Still, he fought on, hoping to change the momentum. Item 12 is a circular dated January 12, 1865, signed in type “R. E. Lee.” The caption title reads To the Farmers East of the Blue Ridge and South of James River... Lee pleads with the farmers to “to Furnish with all possible promptness, whatever Breadstuffs, Meat, (Fresh or Salt) and Molasses, they can spare.” Supply lines from Richmond had been cut off, forcing Lee to feed his army with whatever he could find on site. He adds, “Arrangements have been made to pay promptly for all Supplies delivered under this Appeal, or to return the same, in kind, as soon as practicable.” I don't know whether this part of the bargain was kept, as Confederate debt and currency would soon become worthless. This circular is accompanied by a manuscript note from Capt. George Chamberlaine to Paschal Jennings Fowlkes, providing a receipt for corn received (not present) and asking he show the circular to his neighbors. $5,000.

This was the first novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, but you wouldn't have heard it from him. For whatever reason, he was embarrassed by it. The title is Fanshawe, A Tale, published in 1828. It is based on his experiences in Bowdoin College. He may have written it while still a student there. Hawthorne was unable to find a publisher for his first work, but he must have liked it more when he was younger as he paid $100 (a lot of money in 1828) to have 1,000 copies printed. Nevertheless, he still chose to publish it anonymously. You might think it would be fairly common with such a print run but it is actually very rare. Despite generally good reviews, some very good, it did not sell. Many copies were destroyed in a warehouse fire, others destroyed because they did not sell, and Hawthorne himself gathered up every copy he found and destroyed it. He then denied writing the book or having anything to do with it. After his death, his wife, knowingly or not, continued to deny Hawthorne wrote the book. But he did. Item 30. $50,000.

Item 42 is a remarkable sammelband of 15 items mostly relating to the Cherokee nation in the Civil War era. It was put together by John W. Wright of Logansport, Indiana, an attorney who represented the Cherokee during the 19^th century. One item in the sammelband is particularly significant. It is the exceedingly rare printing of President Lincoln's Proclamation of Pardon and Amnesty in 1864, translated into the Cherokee language and distributed in Indian Territory. In it, Lincoln offered amnesty to all Confederates provided they take an oath of loyalty to the Union and accept the abolition of slavery. During the Civil War, as in the “Trail of Tears” period of forced removal from their homeland, the Cherokee were divided by circumstances beyond their control. The circumstance this time was the Civil War, with supporters of John Ross favoring the Union, those of Stand Watie the Confederacy. This Cherokee translation was designed to gather support for the Union among the Cherokee people, and with the Union beginning to gain ascendancy, this was a good time for such an appeal. $125,000.

You can reach the William Reese Company at 203-789-8081 or amorder@reeseco.com.