Printed & Manuscript Americana

Swann Auction Galleries Sale #2721: Printed & Manuscript Americana will feature an important 1776 diary by an officer from the Revolution named Benjamin Beal, tracing the journey north to reinforce the Invasion of Quebec, only to meet the shattered patriot army decimated by a smallpox epidemic and preparing to retreat. Arriving safely back in Fort Ticonderoga, our diarist is appointed to lead a company of carpenters and detailed across the river to build fortifications at the newly christened Mount Independence, witnessing the aftermath of the Battle of Valcour Island before receiving his discharge.

Also included are several scarce and important early American pamphlets, most notably Benjamin Rush's 1772 Sermons to Gentlemen upon Temperance and Exercise. Most volumes of sermons from this era would not generate much excitement, but this one has the first American discussion of golf. Other early pamphlets include The Indian Physician, Containing a New System of Practice, Founded on Medical Plants from 1828; and the 1764 Declaration and Remonstrance of the Distressed and Bleeding Frontier Inhabitants of the Province of Pennsylvania. A 1784 German history of the American Revolution contains one of the first printed depictions of the Stars and Stripes.

Also on the manuscript front, we have a diary of a participant in the 1901 expedition to relieve Admiral Peary in Greenland; papers of an Erie Canal boat captain; a volume of incendiary correspondence from Kansas during the Civil War era; and a small archive of correspondence relating to the early days of Freedom House, the pro-democracy group foundedin 1941. A strong Mormon section will include early documents and manuscripts. The Latin Americana section is headlined by a rare complete copy of the 1801 illustrated book, Vida de San Felipe de Jesus.

Exhibition Hours
Sat, Nov 15th 12pm - 5pm
Mon, Nov 17th 12pm - 5pm
Tue, Nov 18th 12pm - 5pm
Wed, Nov 19th 12pm - 5pm

Read more in Fine Books & Collections online story: Time-travel Diaries by Nate Pedersen