Search Results: Authors starting with A from McBride Rare Books

Mexico City: Imprenta del Ciudadano Alejandro Valdes, 1833. Very good.. Broadside, approximately 12.25 x 8.5 inches. Two small wormholes at left margin. Light dust soiling and toning. Scarce devotional poem, attributed to Luis Abadiano, for the veneration of depictions of the Señor de Santa Teresa and Maria Santisima de los Dolores. This "Odita," or "little ode," is composed of twelve short, four-line stanzas, printed in double columns within a double border of printer's ornaments, and signed "L.A." at the foot of the second column. A nice copy of a handsome piece of ephemeral, devotional printing; we locate only one copy, at Brown.

New York: S. Tackaberry, 1864. Very good.. Carte de visite photograph, 3.25 x 2 inches, on a slightly larger printed mount. Minor soiling and spotting, light edge wear. One of a series of CDVs featuring recently freed slaves produced in 1863-64 as part of a fundraising effort in the American South. This image is noted as "No. 10" at the top of the verso. According to a notice printed on the verso: "The nett proceeds from the sale of these Photographs will be devoted to the education of colored people in the department of the Gulf, now under the command of Maj. Gen. Banks." The funds were used to establish schools for former slaves in southern Louisiana during the Union occupation of the region. The photograph was taken by Charles Paxson of New York, and copyrighted by S. Tackaberry in the Southern District of that state. The subject of the present photograph is Rosina Downs; she poses in a bonnet and jacket, with her arms crossed, looking left. A handful of photographs featuring Rosa were issued… Read More

Boston: Isaac Knapp, 1836. About very good.. xvi,[13]-238pp. 12mo. Original publisher's blue boards with black sheep spine, gilt. Boards rubbed, corners and spine moderately worn. Text lightly foxed. Scarce work addressing the anti-slavery work of George Thompson following his visit to America. Thompson (1804-1878) was British lecturer and reformer who worked as a commercial clerk. "Thompson first came to prominence in 1831, when he was recruited by the London Anti-Slavery Society's Agency Committee as an itinerant lecturer. In the run up to the Emancipation Act of 1833 he became the most effective British anti-slavery lecturer since Thomas Clarkson.... With the struggle against British slavery apparently won, Thompson was instrumental in reorienting anti-slavery effort towards the Americas and particularly the United States. ... In 1834 he encountered the charismatic American abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. Recognizing Thompson's talent, Garrison invited him to travel to the United States… Read More

Emporia, Ks: March 12, 1859. Very good.. [4]pp. Original mailing folds, short separations along some folds, a couple of short closed tears, a few tiny nicks to edges. A rare correspondence from Kansas at the time of the free state - slave state tensions in the 1850s. Here, the most important early settler of Emporia, Kansas, John H. Watson sends a territorial paean to his father back home in Pennsylvania. In his densely-written letter, Watson ran out of room, and had to sign his name over previously written text along the right edge of its last page. Watson was a Quaker lawyer-physician from Pennsylvania, who moved his entire family west to Kansas in 1858 along with other abolitionists in an effort to ensure the territory entered the Union as a free state. Watson does not mention the bloody political battles taking place at the time, but rather bemoans the state of his inheritance, the cost of his travel, and more, while also providing a firsthand report of the unsettled territory's beauty,… Read More

Pittsburgh, Pa: August 2, 1838. Good.. [2]pp., on a single folded sheet, integral blank addressed on verso. Original mailing folds, somewhat tender along fold lines, a small panel of integral blank chipped away along fold lines, short tear and small area of loss from removed wax seal to first leaf costing or affecting a few words, top edge bumped. An informative manuscript letter written by a notable abolitionist during his travels through Pittsburgh in the summer of 1838. Elias Richards (1802-1887) writes from the United States Hotel to his wife Elizabeth Hunt Richards (1804-1892) in Massachusetts while on a trip intending to locate a place he could settle in business. Both Elias and Elizabeth Richards were prominent abolitionists based in Weymouth, Massachusetts. Richards details his travel from Philadelphia through Pennsylvania, mentioning several towns on the road to Pittsburgh. Richards then provides a description of the Steel City: "This is a very busy city, situated on a point of land,… Read More

Doniphan, Ks: Printed at the Crusader of Freedom Office, 1858. Very good.. Single sheet, 3.5 x 7.5 inches. Minor foxing, light edge wear. An uncommon form, printed at James Redpath's Crusader of Freedom office in Doniphan, Kansas. The Scottish-born Redpath originally worked for Horace Greeley's New York Tribune where he published a series of articles compiling Facts of Slavery. In 1855, he moved to the Kansas-Missouri border and reported on the slavery disputes for the Free Soil newspaper, the Missouri Democrat, before starting his own newspaper, the Crusader of Freedom. The motto of his newspaper was "I enroll myself a Crusader of Freedom until slavery ceases to exist." Redpath met John Brown immediately after the fateful Pottawatomie Creek incident and his interview with the fervent abolitionist was Brown's debut in the press with Redpath labeling him a warrior-saint. The journalist became Brown's most vocal supporter in the press, and his report of the Battle of Osawatomie helped… Read More

Washington, D.C.: Buell & Blanchard, 1858. Good.. Twelve issues, each 4pp., printed in seven columns. Large folio. Old folds, varying levels of chipping, fold separations, foxing, and edge wear. Occasional minor loss of text from wear at crossfolds and in one case a tobacco burn. Some issues with ink notations at top left or in the top margin. A dozen issues, published over the course of a decade in the mid-19th century, of the abolitionist newspaper The National Era, edited by Gamaliel Bailey and John Greenleaf Whittier. The National Era was an important source of news and debate over the issue of slavery during its thirteen-year run, and continuously argued for the abolition of the peculiar institution until it ceased operations in February 1860. The most lasting legacy of the newspaper is its serialization of Uncle Tom's Cabin in forty-one weekly installments between June 1851 and April 1852, the first appearance of the novel anywhere.  The present collection of issues includes number 81, 97,… Read More

[Providence: Hiram H. Thomas and Co., late December, 1865. Good plus.. Letterpress broadside, 17.5 x 12 inches, printed in double columns, with decorative floral border. Old folds, two folds neatly strengthened on verso, other folds tender, bottom third darkened. A rare newspaper carrier's address closing out the fateful year of 1865 and looking forward to the transition of the next year. The author personifies the year 1865 as "bent and wrinkled and gray" but also "in excellent health for his age." The end of the Civil War is recounted: "Then thought we how, during the mild reign of Spring, The wrong gave no check to the arms of the free, But only with 'Vict'ry' we made the streets ring, Till so wildly we cried, 'The Surrender of Lee!'" The text also mentions Sherman, Grant, and the assassination of President Lincoln. The tone is celebratory, as the author continues: "'To God give the praise!' for our nation is free! No longer a slave is contained by its shore! No longer the carnage of battle we… Read More

Cedar Rapids, 1894. Very good.. Small broadsheet, 10.5 x 6.75 inches. Previously folded. Minute closed tear at top edge. Light tanning. With accompanying transmittal envelope. Ephemeral, illustrated broadsheet advertisement for two agricultural machines for sale by the Hamilton Bros. company of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in the mid-1890s. The "Sweep Feed Mill" promises to efficiently grind all types and qualities of corn, while the "Mammoth Feed Steamer" promises to save the farmer thirty percent in feed costs. Examples of both are shown on either side of the sheet. With the original transmittal envelope, postmarked 1894.

Chicago: Hays & Thompson, 1854. Very good plus.. Broadside, 15 x 6 inches. Minor soiling. A rare and unusual broadside newspaper extra advertising Evarts' Shingle Mill, with a handsome woodcut illustration of the mill itself occupying a third of the sheet. The Christian Times was a Baptist newspaper published in Chicago from 1853 to 1865. Evarts & Butler herein advertise themselves as "proprietors and manufacturers" of the machine, claiming it "makes better shingles, and more of them than any other mill, from any kind of wood," capable of producing "ten thousand in ten hours." Testimonials as to the machine's efficacy and quality of the mill and its shingles occupy the lower third of the broadside. An unrecorded Pre-fire Chicago broadside advertisement.

[Albany, Or, 1880. About very good.. Broadside, 12.5 x 9 inches. Light wear and minor creasing, a few small chips to edges and small areas of loss near center. Minor foxing. Broadside advertisement for "Water Proof Oil Blacking," sold by W.J. John of Albany, Oregon, a small town near Corvallis. The broadside lists seven reasons why this product is the best, beginning with "It is Cheap." Other reasons include durability, waterproofness, and its ability to keep leather soft and prevent cracking. Reason 8 is perhaps the most interesting: "You get a receipt and make it yourself so that you know what it contains, and that every ingredient is a Leather Preserver, as it contains nothing injurious, such as varnish, naptha [sic], benzine or turpentine." Not in OCLC.

[N.p., perhaps Pine Bluff, Ar, 1978. Good.. 58pp. Original wrappers printed in black, stapled. Wrappers rubbed, creased, and soiled, top edge bumped, circular stain on front wrapper, ownership inscriptions from same person on front wrapper, inside front wrapper, and inside rear wrapper. A seemingly unrecorded Arkansas imprint from an African American Masonic organization which once belonged to a member of the Prince Hall Masons in Lonoke, Arkansas. The work includes the group's articles of incorporation, constitution, by-laws, information on electing and the duties of officers, instructions for conducting services, information on masonic burial services and other rituals, instructions for subordinate lodges, and more. According to the last page, this is the third printing of the 1964 revision, which includes an extra leaf inserted as page 20A. OCLC is silent on any copies of any edition of this work.

[N.p., probably Oklahoma City: Langston University, 1948. Very good.. 16pp. Original pictorial wrappers, stapled. Some abrading to the edges, minor soiling, some discoloration to rear wrapper, later three-hole punch throughout. Internally clean. An informative pamphlet touting the educational opportunities at Oklahoma's first and only HBCU, Langston University. The text opens with lists of Oklahoma's regents, state board for vocational education, and the Langston administrative staff, a letter from Governor Roy Turner praising the school for its Trade & Industrial Education program, and a Foreword by Langston President G.L. Harrison. The preponderance of the pamphlet is comprised of photocollages illustrating the various aspects of academic and campus life at Langston, including various campus buildings, classes on the building trades, brick laying and tile setting, a centerfold of over two dozen photos showing "Constructive Activities at Langston That Go Into the Making of Good Citizens," the auto… Read More

San Antonio, 1938. Near fine.. Two black-and-white photographs, each 2.75 x 4 inches. Light edge wear. Developer's stamp on verso of each. A pair of contemporary photographs featuring a neatly-dressed young Black woman with eight of her pupils. The first pictures the teacher and her students seated on the steps of a white clapboard building, with a man in the shadows of the doorway. The second photograph pictures the group in front of a line of shrubbery, perhaps a garden. The glossy photographs were printed by the Fox Company in San Antonio, with the images printed on light paper stock with ornamental borders.

[St. Louis, 1955. Very good.. 52; 40pp. Original pictorial wrappers, stapled. Minor wear and light soiling to each. Internally, both clean. A pair of programs for consecutive years documenting the famous Pine Street YCA's "Y Circus" in St. Louis. The Y Circus was a fundraising event hosted by the Pine Street branch of the YMCA in an attempt to raise money for a children's camp for Black youth in Bourbon, Missouri. Normally the Y Circus involved performances of gymnastics, music, and dance by the youth members of the Pine Street YMCA. Eventually, prominent artists from the African-American community performed at the Y Circus in order to raise the profile of the event. The present programs are wonderful examples of this, covering the Y Circus for 1954 and 1955. The 20th Annual program features headliner Pearl Bailey; the following year, Nat "King" Cole was the featured performer, with the latter featured on the cover of the 21st annual program. The day's program for each year's celebration is featured… Read More

[N.p., but likely Johnstown, Pa.]: Johnstown Tribute-Democrat, 1969. Very good.. Sepia-toned photograph, 13.25 x 10.25 inches, mounted on textured backing measuring 20 x 16 inches, typed label at bottom left, reading "85 - 'Reborn' Robert C. Barndt, Jr. Tribune-Democrat." Minor surface wear to photo, light soiling to mount. A wonderful large-format photograph picturing two African American religious officials baptizing an African American woman in an unnamed river, taken by noted Pennsylvania newspaper photographer Robert C. Barndt, Jr. Barndt was born and raised in Pennsylvania. Upon graduating high school in Conemaugh Township in 1946, Barndt spent twenty-three years as the news photographer for the Johnstown Tribune Democrat. In 1969, Barndt quit the paper and transferred his photography skills to retail camera sales for the remainder of his career in Pennsylvania and Arizona. He retired in 1998 and passed away in Phoenix in 2005. The label on the present photograph states that it was taken by… Read More

[Shreveport, La, 1976. Good.. [34]pp. Original pictorial cream wrappers, stapled. Moderate staining and noticeable insect damage to wrappers, some pen notations on covers. A few ink notations and underlinings in the text, but mostly clean, with center gathering detached. An unrecorded pamphlet containing numerous "historical sketches" of the various groups within the 13th District Baptist Association Women's Auxiliary in Shreveport, Louisiana. The work contains a history of the Antioch Baptist Church Missionary Society which began in 1889, and sketches on the women of the Broadway Missionary Church Mission Band, the Lakeside Baptist Church, the Little Union Missionary Baptist Church Mission Society and Woman's Missionary Union, and many, many more groups from area churches. The text is illustrated throughout with dozens of photographs of notable officers, members, and other figures within the groups, various churches, and more. An excellent snapshot of Shreveport-area women's church groups, with no… Read More

Richmond, Va: Saint Luke Press, 1927. Very good.. 12pp. Oblong octavo. Original pictorial self wrappers, stapled. Minor soiling and edge wear, soft vertical crease. [with:] Community Hospital Campaign June 10 - June 25 1927 (Inclusive) To Our Workers...[caption title and beginning of text]. Small broadside, 5.25 x 6.25 inches. Printed in blue on cream cardstock. Moderate soiling, minor edge wear. Small tape abrasion on verso. A rare pamphlet and unrecorded broadside issued to raise funds for "a modern hospital for colored people" in Richmond, Virginia in the mid-1920s. The text calls for help in raising $200,000 for "Richmond's Greatest Need...proper hospitalization to the colored citizens" in two sections relating "Facts Concerning the Hospital Campaign" and "Testimonials." These sections are followed by five pages of portrait photographs of the African-American men and women who served as directors of the various departments of the hospital, including "Mrs. Maggie L. Walker, Director, Business… Read More

Oakland, 1967. Very good plus.. Printed leaflet, 11 x 8.5 inches, with photographic portrait of Muhammad Ali. Minimal edge wear. A very rare small broadside or handbill promoting the 1967 national convention of the Congress for Racial Equality, held at the Oakland Auditorium in the summer of 1967. The motto of the convention is printed at top: "Black Power: 'Blueprint for Survival.'" A portrait of a smiling Muhammad Ali is printed at right, and the text conveys the location, time, and contact information for the convention, along with a long list of other attendees, including Dick Gregory, Rap Brown, Leroi Jones, Dr. Kenneth Clark, two African ambassadors, and "California's Black Legislators." A detailed listing of the "Workshop Sessions" are listed at right; the workshops focused on building and developing CORE chapters and other civil rights activities, with titles such as "Building Black Political Power," "Improvement of Black Self Image," "Development of Black Leadership," and "Mobilization of… Read More

Newark: Cozzolino Printing Co, 1924. Very good.. [4]pp. on a single folded sheet of orange paper. Minor edge wear. A small leaflet or political brochure issued by New Era Colored Democracy in support of the candidacy of William B. Brandon, an African American lawyer in Newark. Brandon was running for the New Jersey General Assembly as a Democrat. The leaflet begins with uplift language regarding the "honest, loyal, hard working, law abiding and faithful" nature of African Americans, then lambasts the Republican Party for "playing tricks on the colored voters." The text then focuses on Brandon himself, described as "an able lawyer, a young man possessed of sterling qualities of leadership, loaded down with zeal and noble purpose" for the improvement of Newark. The brochure concludes with language in support of the Democratic Party, which is "opposed to the Ku Klux Klan and lynching," and a call to action to vote for Brandon on November 4th, touting "Brandon and all Democracy for the Assembly! Boost… Read More