Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - October - 2007 Issue
Americana, Atlases, Directories and More from High Ridge Books
Previously unknown edition of Base Ball Player's Pocket Companion.
Bref Om de Forenta Staterna Forfattade... doesn't sound like an item of Americana, but it is a scarce Swedish travel narrative to America published in Stockholm in 1824. The author was Abel Klinckowstrom, and his two-volume account includes many plates, particularly of New York and Philadelphia. A large view of New York shows pigs roaming freely on Broadway, rooting as pigs do. Apparently pigs were a common nuisance at the time on what is today some of the most urban real estate in the nation, a curiosity that impressed visitors. Item 29. $12,500.
In these days of ever more dangerous hurricanes, item 37 is an intriguing look back: Remarks on the Prevailing Storms of the Atlantic Coast, of the North American States. This book was written by William C. Redfield and published in 1831. Redfield correctly surmised that hurricanes actually spin in a circular motion though the whole storm moves laterally. $750.
Item 40 offers a look at the American theater in the first half of the 19th century: Theatrical Management in the West and South for Thirty Years, by Sol. Smith. This book was published in 1868 and tells of the life of an itinerant actor performing in places like New Orleans, Mobile and St. Louis from 1823-1853. Actors may be regarded as heroes and stars today, but in this era, it was considered something of a disreputable profession. $275.
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