David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books moves forward with another catalogue of Rare Americana, this one number 210 in their ongoing series. It contains books and other items related to America from the 18th to the 20th century, the greatest concentration being in the century between those two. It is an account of American history as it unfolded. Here are a few selections.
The unnamed writer of this 1831 pamphlet, tentatively identified as Thomas Cooper, did not hold the clergy in high esteem. It is addressed To Any Member of Congress. He is particularly incensed with the clergy based on their preventing mail delivery on Sunday. He accuses the clergy of observing forbidden practices themselves “that they may live in ease and luxury by this gross and manifest imposition.” He then points out, quite fairly when you think about it, “Sunday is their day of labor; of earning money; but they forbid anyone else to do so.” Item 37. $275.
There was something Andrew Eliot M.A. did not like - people. He had a really low opinion of the human race. Item 51 is Eliot's opinion of his fellow humans, An Evil and Adulterous Generation. A Sermon Preached on the Publick Fast, April 19, 1753. Eliot spells out the evils of this generation – neglect of family religion, impiety, taking the Lord's name in vain, intemperance, oppression and injustice, slander, rudeness, and ungovernableness of children and young people. The last of those applies to all generations, but perhaps the others were more an attribute of those who lived in the mid-18th century. For example, injustice is evidenced by “the Labourer is defrauded of his Hire, or paid in such a Way, as renders him unable to procure the Necessities of Life.” Okay, that applies to later generations too, even today. Item 51. $450.
Poor Millard Fillmore gets no respect these days. The forgotten President's name is something of a punchline. It wasn't always so. Francis J. Fisher was a pro-Union man during the Civil War, but as soft and weakly pro-Union as they came. He sympathized with the Southern cause if not with secession. The Philadelphia philanthropist writes to former Congressman Elisha Potter in 1861, “I must admit even with all the pity I feel for my friends at the South I do not regret the probable failure of their treason, but I cannot bear to think of their total destruction.” Fisher was by no means a Lincoln man, but expresses his preference, “Oh that we had a man such as Fillmore in the Presidential chair...” That was probably the last time anyone expressed such sentiments. Item 55. $600.
Antoine (or Anton) Probst was not a gentleman. Rather, he was one of Philadelphia's worst mass murderers ever. He did it all with his hands, hacking to death the six members of the Deering family (one only two years old), a hired boy and a woman guest. Probst was himself a hired hand, fired, but then taken back (big mistake). He was convicted of murder and, naturally, hanged. His legend of sorts lasted in infamy for a long time thereafter, though by now he is completely forgotten. However, he comes back to life, if only temporarily, on the pages of this sensational book from 1866, The Life, Confession, and Atrocious Crimes of Antoine Probst, the Murderer of the Deering Family. To Which is Added a Graphic Account of Many of the Most Horrible and Mysterious Murders Committed in This and Other Countries. I've read too many accounts of such hired hands to ever hire one myself. Probst got what he had coming, and then a little more. Shortly after death, his still-warm body was used for some electrical experiments, electricity making some of his facial muscles and others move. He could go from sad to smiling with the flick of a switch. His head and right arm eventually went on display, but eventually ended up like the rest of him, put out of its misery over a century ago. This book contains an artist's rendition of Mr. Probst plus illustrations of his crimes in action. Item 129. $650.
Columbia University (né Columbia College) has been on the hot seat lately, with some feeling it discriminates against Jews or Palestinians. This is nothing new. In 1854, it was similarly condemned, except then it was for discriminating against Unitarians. Only the names have changed. Item 137 is Samuel Ruggles' The Duty of Columbia College to the Community, and Its Right to Exclude Unitarians from Its Professorships of Physical Science. Considered by One of Its Trustees. Are Unitarians Bad scientists? Evidently, though Ruggles did not think so. Wolcott Gibbs' credentials to be Professor of Chemistry and Natural and Experimental Philosophy were fine, but then again he was a Unitarian. Ruggles tears this apart, noting that Columbia is a public institution and its trustees are not a religious order. Nevertheless, Columbia would not hire Gibbs, who went on to be a distinguished chemist at Harvard.
David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books may be reached at 203-389-8111 or dmlesser@lesserbooks.com. Their website is www.lesserbooks.com.
