Catalogue Review

And then there’s item #8, a letter from Charles Langdon, a former Alabama state legislator and Secretary of State, who also had a brother up North. On the eve of the Civil War, Langdon has a solution to the burning issue of slavery. Essentially, his message to the North is M.Y.O.B. – mind your own business, and everything will be fine. Just stop agitating, he advises. “There is no occasion for the people of the North troubling themselves about it, and they have no business with it. The South feels fully competent to manage the matter for itself…” He goes on to say there are people more worthy of their concern than the slaves. “If all the published accounts are true, the poor white shoemakers of Massachusetts are more oppressed, endure more suffering, and are more slaves than the well-fed, well cared for, contented and happy black slaves of the South, and are more the objects of commiseration. No, my dear brother there is no suffering among the slaves of the South, and if the people of the north would cease talking about it, disband their Abolition societies, and simply mind their own business, and not interfere with the business of others, the question would be settled at once.” As we now know, Langdon’s fantasyland advice was not taken and the rest is history. Price: $650.

In a more humorous vein is item #26, an 1865 letter from the Dakota Territory, explaining how “we barbarians” live. Seems that the author, C.B. Davis, was living just as well as his friend back in civilized Maine to whom the letter was sent. Davis’ home, furniture, and food was as good as back East, and there were fewer mosquitoes. “All we lack is society & the wind blows hard enough to make up for that.” Davis speaks of a friendly dinner visit paid by six Indians, hardly the image created by the typical Hollywood movie, nor even the Dakota-set “Dances with Wolves.” Price: $500.

Item #36 is an interesting historical item. It’s a recently discovered 16-page manuscript by Samuel Gregg, an account of his travels through then present-day Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri in 1816. The Brown catalogue quotes at length from this document. Price: $12,500.

Item #61 is another historical gem, an 1832 letter from James Thornton to his buddy and recent nominee for Congress, the future President Franklin Pierce. Thornton has some choice words for his hometown, Washington. “…Washington is a miserable God-forgotten city; and were it not for the love of filthy lucre which I stand much in need of…I would be off.” Thornton has more such pleasantries for our capitol, sounding much like a modern “outsider” politician, badmouthing the nation’s capitol city while desperately trying to get elected to a job in, where else, Washington. Price: $450.

A few items of local interest are available in this catalogue. Item #38 is a letter from Darius Blake Holbrook, a founder of Cairo, Illinois, describing plans for the city. Price: $350. Item #39 is a letter from William Woodruff concerning lots being sold in the newly developed town of Clinton, Iowa. Price: $250. And then there’s item #65, a diary by one Henry Mahew from 1913-1918, covering his life from 9th grade in school through a difficult courtship and his eventual marriage in rural Texas. Price $500.