ORIGINAL CIVIL WAR ERA BOOKS

A few reprints & refernce books too.


HYMNS FOR CHRISTIAN WORSHIP

 
 


  This book of "Hymns for Christian Worship", once belonged to E. B. Knowlton. As you can see his/her name is pressed on the front cover in gold leaf. This book was printed in 1855 by Crosby, Nichols & Co. Boston Mass. This little book contains 761 hymns, some familiar others obscure, words only as was the tradition of the day. It is 537 pages long and measures roughly 5 x 7 inches and is 1.5 inches thick, the typical size of a prayer book. The book has been taken good care of but you can tell by the shape of the book it has been well loved. There is a very slight "bow" in the book that is the effect of many Sundays of holding it tightly in the left hand during services. Overall condition is GOOD, at least by my standards. If I can hold, use, read a book without baby-ing it, then I consider the condition good. I will treat the cover and spine with leather dressing for you so when you receive the book it will actually look better than in the photos above. That needs to be done once a year for leather covers, more if you live in very dry conditions or use un-vented gas for heat. I recommend Pecard's leather dressing and yes we sell that. The pages are tight with none missing. The corners are very slightly bumped, not bad at all. If you use a book cradle or hold the book it will last a very, very long time with no need for repairs. Do not lay this or any other leather bound book of this age flat, that will eventually ruin the spine. This is a book you can actually use without undue worry.

HYMNS FOR CHRISTIAN WORSHIP
# ORIG.19 $39.95 BUY NOW!


REV. GEORGE W. WALKER

 
 


  The Brief Recollections of Rev. George W. Walker by Rev. Maxwell P. Gaddis with introduction by Rev. Charles Elliot D.D. Published by Swormstedt & Poe, Cincinnati 1857.
  Rev. G. W. Walker was a very popular and influential Methodist Episcopal preacher in Ohio. The story of how he was converted to M. E. is actually pretty funny. Any ancestral researcher for the Ohio area would kill for this book. I think Rev. Gaddis and Rev. Walker mention every person they ever knew, their wives, their children, where they lived, what they had for supper, etc. etc. The book covers an era from about 1810 to the 1850's. Many of Rev. Walker's letters are included in this book. Of course religion and faith is the large part of this book but there are some interesting stories and facts as well. I especially like the story of how at one meeting the sermon was delivered in English and then in German as so many of the immigrants had not yet learned the language.
  The book is in sound shape. It has a very pretty cloth cover. There is some foxing but the pages are tight and it is bound well. The corners are bumped and there is a tiny tear (1/8 of an inch) in the bottom of the spine. 538 pages.

GEORGE W. WALKER, THE BRIEF RECOLLECTIONS OF
# ORIG.O9 $19.95 BUY NOW!


HAND BOOK OF THE STEAM ENGINE

 
 
 
 


  If you are a nut for tech., navy or steam then this is the book for you. I've only shown you the first page of contents, it goes on for three more pages. No the book is not all math problems. They do discuss just about everything you can imagine related to a ship's steam engine though. We are literally talking stem to stern here. Lot's of litho.s too. This book was published in 1873 but I'm pretty sure that it's first publishing date was 1864 possibly 1865 as the Ram "Dictator was launched in 1863.
  The book itself is sound, no missing pages, pages are pretty tight, no discolorations and the cover is good to very good. Contains 474 pages. If you are going to be a mechanic on a ram you need this book.

HAND BOOK OF THE STEAM ENGINE
# ORIG.O9 $29.95 BUY NOW!


THE AGE OF CHIVALRY





  The Age of Chivalry or Legends of King Arthur by Thomas Bulfinch published 1858. A very good book indeed. It is 414 pages of the legends of King Arthur, a few lithos. The book has a personal inscription as it was given as a gift and dated 1879. As you can see by the photo left there is a small ding near the title. This is the only exterior damage. The text block is loose but not completely broken from front cover, easily repaired. All the pages are tight and there is no foxing. Overall condition would be fair (that may be a little harsh). The book measures roughly 5 x 8 inches. The photo above is only a partial list of contents.

THE AGE OF CHIVALRY
# ORIG.O9 $29.95 BUY NOW!


1861 PETERSON'S MAGAZINE
COMPLETE YEAR



  This is a new offering. The one we offered last week sold the first day it was listed.

  This book is a hard bound edition of Peterson's Ladies Magazine for the year 1861. One previous owner, "Laura P. Fitch" penciled her name on one of the blank pages, I can find no other marks. Contrary to popular belief these magazines were seldom collected by an individual and taken to the local book binder (I said seldom, not never). Rather, all of the major publishers offered each year as a bound annual, some even offered "extras" such as having your name embossed on the spine, gift bindings, etc. You won't always find that info in the bound book but you will often see it in the individual monthly magazines. Let's talk about this book now.
  This book is the complete year for 1861, the most relevant year to all sides as fashion magazines were very low priority when filling the hold of a blockade runner. Parthenia Hague wrote in here journal that they did not see a new ladies magazine in central Alabama for the duration of the war.
  The corners of the boards are bumped but still in good condition. The leather spine is cracked at the hinges but intact. I have owned this book for several years and have treated the leather annually. I think the hinges will hold just fine as long as you use a book cradle. Never lay a book this large or this old flat. You will find one very minor page tear. All pages are present and accounted for. Foxing is light and the pages are tight.
  This book contains 10 fashion plates with their descriptions. I will include modern prints of the 2 missing fashion plates so you will have them all. Each month has a song sheet and at least one pattern. The number of black and white prints numbers in the gazillions. There are also a few color prints that are not fashion plates but often illustrations of sewing, crochet or knitting projects. Poems, lots of poems as with all period publications. Some short stories but more often serial stories (tune in next month to find out if Suzy really does jump off the cliff!). I like to joke but actually several very popular works that you would recognize today first ran as serials in C.W. period mags. Several columns which ran every month, "Health Department", "Household Corner" and recipe after recipe with advice on just about everything related to entertaining guest. Lots of suggestions on how to entertain the children with projects for them to do and of course fashion, fashion and more fashion. What to wear, what not to wear.
  I've always preferred Peterson's over Godey's. It's just a personal preference but I think that most of the information offered is more detailed and written in a manner that is easier to understand without re-reading a paragraph several times over. The fashion plates are about the same in either with both being better than most French mags. I can not think of a single source which will offer you more information on a larger variety of subjects relevant to the American Civil War experience than Peterson's.

1861 PETERSON'S LADIES MAGAZINE
# ORIG.O1 $129.95 BUY NOW!

WE HAVE OTHERS, INQUIRE IF YOU LIKE.


1858 LIFE THOUGHTS BY HENRY W. BEECHER

  In the North Eastern United States I can't think of anyone who had a greater impact on the abolition of slavery and the rhetoric which led to the civil war more than the Beecher family. You may remember a little book called "Uncle Tom's Cabin", yeah, that Beecher family. Well here's here's your chance to own a copy of Henry W. Beecher's book, "Life Thoughts", printed in 1858. It contains 299 pages of the Rev.'s thoughts on a lot of subjects, mostly preaching but some of it's actually pretty good. The book measures 5 1/2 inches wide by 7 1/2 inches tall.
  If your impression is that of a pro-abolition Union soldier this would be a great living history piece for your camp.
  This book once belonged to S. P. Statlem from Bedford Pa. He penned his name in the book several times with brown ink. Overall condition is sound. All the pages are tight. The spine has a few problems but nothing that would keep you from using the book.

1858 LIFE THOUGHTS BY HENRY W. BEECHER
ITEM # SP00 $19.95 BUY NOW!



HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE
JUNE THRU NOVEMBER 1861

  This is a hard bound copy of "HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. VOL. XXIII. JUNE TO NOVEMBER 1861. Harper's Magazine was a little larger than most of it's contemporaries. Therefor a complete year was too large to bind. It would have been much to heavy and unmanageable so hard bound copies were offered for sale biannually.
  Harpers is much like any of the other magazines of the day. Their content had to please the entire household so you will find articles written expressly for the ladies as well as for the gentlemen with some small content for the young ones. As with most magazines of the day stories from history were very popular. Stories from the Americas and from Europe, the American Revolution was always a popular subject as was the French Revolution. Contemporary topics of politics here and abroad are regular fare. Exotic tales of far off places and mucho humor. Here in the states Harper's cartoons and satires are second only to those of Vanity Fair or to those of the magazine "Punch" in England.
  Of most interest to our military friends will probably be the reoccurring article, "MONTHLY RECORDS OF CURRENT EVENTS", with all the latest war news. This volume contains a great map of the battle lines at Manassas.
  Of most interest to our lady friends may be the Fashion plates (one example is shown above). Even though the plates found here are not "colored" they do have one thing that Godey's lacked. All articles shown in these plates are drawn from actual articles! Not from an artist conception as with other magazines. All articles found here were available for purchase at the esteemed house of Mr. G. Brodie located at 300 Canal Street, New York. All are drawn by the artist, Voigt who has a remarkable eye for detail. Rouching is easily distinguished from pleats etc. etc. Of course this book is invaluable to the historian but you may be surprised as to it's literary value. It never fails that when I pick one of these books up to "only" find a fact or two. I end up reading the complete article or two. It is as entertaining today as it was then.

  The condition of this book is sound. As you can see from the photo above I have rebound this copy as it had no cover when it came into my possession. I recycled a cover from an old novel which was bound for the pits of used book hell, never to be purchased nor read again. So at least some good will come from it. The quality of the paper used by Harper's was marginal at best. Dog earing a page is out of the question. Some water stains can be found on the blank outer pages but none on a printed page. There is NO foxing and very little if any darkening of the pages. All pages are present and tightly bound. The only tear I can find is shown in the fashion plate photo above and to a one blank page. You will not have to handle this book as gently as an original bound copy but care should be used to insure it's longevity.

HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE JUNE THRU NOV. 1861
$39.95 BUY NOW!

ALSO AVAILABLE
HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE JUNE THRU NOV. 1855
$39.95 BUY NOW!




WOMEN OF THE SOUTH

  I don't know how I was lucky enough to come into possession of two of these books but I did. I'm keeping the best one and I'm going to offer the other to you. Go to any of the rare book searches and see if you can find another. It took me 3 years to find my first copy. There were two printings of this book. One just before the war and one just after. This is the 1865 copy. There is no content difference between the two printings other than the date.

  This book contains the works of 35 Southern poets with portraits of 7 of them. You see two of them here. The younger is Rosa Johnson of Natchez Miss., the elder is Octavia Walton LeVert of Mobile Ala. The portraits were taken from "recent" photographs so the fashion is current to the 1861. (go ahead, ask me how I know, I dare ya.) All of the work submitted is pre war. Each of our poets biography is included with a few pieces of their work.

  Included here you will find the work of our favorite Tennessee Poetess, Virginia French along with Caroline Gilman, Emma Southworth, Caroline Hentz, Sally Ford, Susan Archer Talley, Augusta J. Evans, Jane Cross, Mary Shindler and many more.

  The condition of the book is "GOOD", all the pages are tight, no tears to pages or binding. Covers are bumped but that's about it. 511 pages of rare insight into the pre-war Southern writers view of just about everything.

WOMEN OF THE SOUTH $169.95 BUY NOW!


YANKEE FROM OLYMPUS, JUSTICE HOLMES
and HIS FAMILY

  Justice Holmes and his family by Catherine D. Bowen, printed in 1944. This book is in very good condition and contains 475 pages.   I know you may not care that much about Justice Holmes and his family but the first half of this book contends with pre war and war date material. Anyone who is interested in the 20 Mass. will find this book interesting as there are 50 pages of Holmes Jr.'s war experiences. Ball's Bluff, Seven Days, Antietam, Wilderness, that's some pretty ruff duty!

YANKEE FROM OLYMPUS $9.95 BUY NOW!


OFFICAL RECORDS VOLUME 28 PART II
SOUTH CAROLINA, GEORGIA & FLORIDA

  I have one extra copy of the Official Records volume 28. This is from the 1890 printing. As you can see from the photo above the spine has a tear. It is still very solid and could be glued back in place if you desire. The covers have some mothing and the edges are bumped.
  Now with that said on to the good stuff. This particular book came from the Virginia Theological Seminary. It covers, and I quote, "Correspondence, orders, and returns relating to operations on the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia, and in Middle and East Florida, from June 12 to December 31, 1863." A wealth of information you can not get anywhere else. If you are interested in the movements of the armies in any of the afore mentioned areas this is the book. Straight from the horses mouth.
No loose, torn or damaged pages.

OFFICIAL RECORDS VOLUME 28 PART II $49.95 BUY NOW!



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