united

A first edition and first issue in English of this classic early work on the Americas includes one of the first views of New York City. The author, John Ogilby (1600-1676), was described as a "miscellaneous writer" of a good family. He translated, edited, and published many books, including several illustrated geographical works. These included America and others on China, Japan, Africa, Asia, and Britain. In 1671, Ogilby published America, translated from Arnold Montanus' original Dutch text.

“The pleasant month of July had again come round, and for full five weeks I was free” – so begins this delightful little tome on the expeditions of self-taught geologist Hugh Miller. Though Mr.

This 1773 collection of poems was the only edition of Phillis Wheatley's work printed in her lifetime. Wheatley was first brought to the United States at age 7 or 8 to be sold into slavery. She was purchased by John Wheatley of Boston and taught to read and write. Having been tutored in the classics by Mrs. Wheatley, Wheatley began to write poetry herself and became well-known for it in Boston's domestic circles. A trip to England in 1773 brought her under the patronage of the Countess of Huntingdon who arranged for this 1773 English edition of her poetry to be published.

The beautiful embossed cover of this 1884 book hints at the delights found inside this paean to the big wheel bicycles of the late 19th century. The author S. Conant Foster was an avid cyclist himself, and his collection includes poems both humorous and somber. One is an ode to a fellow member of a Boston cycling club who died in 1880. But most are lighthearted celebrations of bicycling, and many feature lovely illustrations, including one by renowned American artist Childe Hassam.

In the words of the author himself, this tome is responsible for "the bringing to light of many curious facts, so far as I am aware, never before noticed" about the role of ale and beer in the history of mankind. Starting in ancient Egypt, Bickerdyke traces the evolution of beer and brewing up through the late 1800s.

The publisher cited the author of this illustrated history only as “a Lady of Rank.” We discovered that her name was Lady Mary Margaret Stanley Egerton, Countess of Wilton, who managed to produce this book despite having 11 children and being a woman in nineteenth century England. Perhaps Lady Mary was inspired to write this history of costume by her mother, an actress named Elisabeth Farren, the second wife of the 12th Earl of Derby.

Described by the Literary World Magazine of 1880 as a “superb holiday volume” and printed on toned paper with a gold deckle edge, this volume is illustrated with engravings of many well-known, and not so well-known, American homes. Not surprisingly, it features a detailed description of the White House, as well as an image of the presidential mansion as the book’s frontispiece. The homes of some Founding Fathers are also highlighted, as are homes of writers like Emerson, Longfellow, and Washington Irving.

The Caledonian railway, or The Caley as it was fondly named, was a Scottish railway system that connected Scotland to London from the 1840’s until its dissolution in the 1920’s. This compilation of book excerpts, articles, news clippings, and advertisements chronicles and romanticizes the waning decades of the Caledonian Railway from the turn of the century until 1923 when The Caley was absorbed into the London, Midland, and Scottish Railway by The Railways Act of 1921, an act that streamlined 120 individual British railway systems into just four.