Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - August - 2009 Issue
Printed and Manuscript Americana from Michael Brown Rare Books
Inuits are instructed not to murder.
Item 27 tells a most gruesome tale. It is a broadside of a letter supposedly written in 1810 from William Bond of Upper Louisiana to his brother back in Philadelphia. It tells of he, his wife, and ten children being attacked by Indians. Their home is ransacked and burned to the ground, with the youngest children being left to the fire. The others are put on a forced march, 40 miles in a day, until they can walk no more. The Indians then tie the family to trees and use them for tomahawk-throwing practice. All except Bond himself suffer gruesome, thoroughly described deaths. Bond is sold into slavery, but escapes and makes his way to New Orleans. This gruesome broadside includes 11 drawings of coffins, with names and ages. As to whether this is an accurate tale, or a polemic to stir up anger towards Indians is unknown. Only one other copy of this broadside is known to exist. $25,000.
Item 25 is a description of one of the largest paintings ever made: Description of Banvard's Panorama of the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio Rivers. Extensively Known as the 'Three-Mile Painting,' Exhibiting a View of Country Over 3000 Miles in Length... In the days before television and film, John Banvard devised a way to display the Mississippi country to folks back east. He created a long painting, which was rolled into scrolls. He would rent a theater, sell tickets, and roll the painting from one scroll to the next, creating a moving image of the riverside. Banvard exaggerated the size a bit (it was reportedly one-quarter to one-half mile in length, not three miles). Nevertheless, this was a spectacular artistic undertaking, and brought in good crowds during the 1850s (this description was published in 1852). Eventually, the panorama ended up in his basement and succumbed to deterioration. None of it is known to survive. $500.
Michael Brown Rare Books may be reached at 215-387-9808 or mbamericana@mindspring.com. Their website is found at www.mbamericana.com.
You will find many of Michael Brown's rare books listed in "Books For Sale" on this site. Click here.
