Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - November - 2006 Issue
Twenty-five Major American Items in William Reese's 250th Catalogue
Charles V letter to Cortes, Monroe Doctrine, and Gettysburg Address.
President James Monroe presided over one of the happiest times in America, the "Era of Good Feeling." Still, what he is best remembered for today is his proclamation, the "Monroe Doctrine," which said the U.S. would regard any further attempt by European powers to colonize the Americas as unfriendly. The U.S. did not have many military resources to enforce this prohibition at the time, but nonetheless it has been for the most part obeyed in the years since. Item 16 is the true first printing of the Monroe Doctrine, effected on December 2, 1823, in the form of a broadside by the National Intelligencer. Reese notes that this is one of but four copies of the first printing known to still exist. $125,000.
The American colonists declared their independence from Britain in 1776 and rose up in revolt, but by the end of that year, things were not looking good for these revolutionaries. The colonists had suffered several military setbacks, and Washington had been routed from New York and was retreating to Pennsylvania. The patriots were in desperate states when the Continental Congress had this broadside, under the signature of John Hancock, printed up in December 1776. The broadside claims the colonists attempted to deal reasonably with the British, but were treated only with contempt and oppression in return by a power that sought to "enslave" them. Hancock calls on Pennsylvania and its neighbors to support the cause, and paints what was at the time an unrealistically positive picture of their military situation. Item 24. $125,000.
On a day in the late fall of 1863, loyal Unionists in America gathered in Gettysburg to witness the dedication of a cemetery to soldiers who had fallen at the battle four months earlier. They came to hear one of the great orators of the time, Edward Everett, a former Secretary of State, Senator, and Massachusetts Governor. Everett did not let them down, speaking for some 1 1/2 to 2 hours. His speech was followed up with some very brief remarks by the President, Abraham Lincoln. Of course, we now know the world little noted nor long remembered what Everett had to say, but Lincoln's words became among the most notable ever spoken. That was a relief to generations of schoolchildren who had to memorize Lincoln's two-minute speech, instead of Everett's two-hour one. Item 11 is the November 22 pamphlet printing from the Washington Chronicle of the events that occurred at Gettysburg on November 19, 1863. Along with featuring Everett's speech, it also contains the first printing of the one made by Lincoln. This is one of three known copies of this first printing, and the only one still available. $850,000.
Among the remaining twenty items in this catalogue are an Oviedo very early history of America, a Lewis Aboriginal Portfolio, a collection of six autographed letters by Frederick Douglass, William Wood's 1635 New Englands Prospect (with map), six autographed documents from Johann Sutter of California's Sutter's Mill, Catesby's early history of Carolina and Florida, and a Ptolemy atlas from 1513. You may find the William Reese Company online at www.reeseco.com, telephone 203-789-8081.
