Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, life among the lowly. Boston: Jewett, 1852

FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING. “These books are of such paramount historical importance that it is difficult to evaluate them as literature” (Merle Johnson). “Three thousand copies were sold on the day of publication, and before its first anniversary, over 300,000 copies were sold in America … More than twenty London editions appeared in 1852, so the English audience must have been as large as the American. No other American novel has been translated into so many foreign languages” (Grolier/American).

$15,000

Harriet Beecher Stowe. Boston, 1853

This is a fine salt print portrait of Harriet Beecher Stowe by John A. Whipple, a leading early American portrait photographer.

$25,000

Important Pair of Daguerreotypes: Black Caregiver with White Baby and the Child’s Parents. Talbot County, Maryland or Texas, c. 1853

This striking pair of daguerreotypes evokes the complex relationships between enslaved people and their enslavers in the American South, especially between white families and the trusted women who cared for their children.

the pair: $18,500

Leaves of Grass: the original printed paper wrappers. [Brooklyn], [1855]

Although the green cloth bindings for the 1855 first edition of Leaves of Grass are familiar, the rare paper wrappers are little known. This set survived only because Whitman preserved them until his death in 1892.

$6,500

Dred Scott decision – “Important Decision of the Supreme Court:” in National Intelligencer. Washington: Gales and Seaton, March 7, 1857

This is the announcement of the Dred Scott decision, brought as breaking news by a leading Washington newspaper.

$4,500

The Vermont State House. Vermont, [c. 1859]

A fine salt print of the Vermont State House.

$7,000

The Home of Washington, as it appeared May 14th 1859. Baltimore, H.E. Hoyt & Co., 1859

The earliest dated photograph of Mount Vernon, this is one of the very earliest known photographs of George Washington’s home.

$12,500

Marble column being carried on a cart to the Capitol. Washington, 1860

This rare salt print shows a colossal marble column being carried to the Capitol during its construction. The enormous cart is being drawn by team of twelve or more horses.

$7,500

Washington Irving. Mr. Bryant’s address on his life and genius. Addresses by Everett, Bancroft, Longfellow, Felton, Aspinwall, King, Francis, Greene. Mr. Allibone’s sketch of his life and works. With eight photographs. New York: Putnam, 1860

First edition. Presentation copy inscribed by the published to S. Austin Allibone, who contributed the sketch of Irving’s life and works. Allibone ewas a leading American editor, author, and bibliographer who is best known for his Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors. Other contributors include Longfellow, Bryant, Everett, and Bancroft.

$2,500

On the Origin of Species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life.. London: John Murray, 1860

SECOND EDITION. On the Origin of Species is “certainly the greatest biological book ever written” (Freeman) and “the most important single work in science” (Dibner).

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