Joel Barlow collection
Date Published: 1787 to 1811
Binding: No binding & hard cover
Joel Barlow was a lawyer, diplomat, and Revolutionary War chaplain and pursued his writing ambitions after the war, joining the writers’ group known as the Hartford Wits. He was an ardent proponent of American democracy. Granted French citizenship, he supported the French Revolution in spite of dedicating The Vision of Columbus to Louis XVI. Appointed US minister to France in 1811, he died in Poland on the way to a meeting with the French foreign minister.
This collection includes 7 items dating from 1787 to 1811, specifically 5 books, 1 leaflet, and 1 letter.
1 Letter:
• ALS addressed “Dear Tom” (his seventeen-year old nephew, Thomas Paine Barlow), 3 November 1811, when Barlow was Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to Emperor of the France and King of Italy, “I am going myself in the country this morning & the Ladies [Barlow’s wife, Ruth, and her sister, Clara] will not dine at home. – If you & John have a mind for a walk this morning you can call & see them, & return home to dinner. Your affectionate uncle J. Barlow”. Verso of the letter in Barlow’s hand has Thomas Barlow’s address (“rue des postes no. 26”).
1 Leaflet:
• Décrets de la convention national, nos. 468-477. Issued in l’an second de la République françoise. [Paris]: A GAP, de l’imprimerie du Département, 1793. 8 pp. Contains a decree made on 17 and 23 February 1793 in which the National Convention gave Barlow the title and rights of a French citizen.
5 Books:
• The Vision of Columbus; A Poem in Nine Books. Hartford, Conn.: Printed by Hudson and Goodwin, for the author, 1787. First ed. of Barlow's vast epic of the glorious past and promising future of the Americas, the lands introduced by Columbus to the European world. xxi, [4], 26-258, [14] pp. Evans 20220; BAL 865; Trumbull, J.H. Connecticut, 309; Wegelin, O. Amer. poetry, 10; Sabin 3435; ESTC (RLIN) W029676. List of subscribers’ names at the end of the book after the text. Error in pagination: p. 203 misnumbered 103. Brown leather, rubbed and scuffed, slight tear at the top of the spine, but quite good nonetheless. Endpapers embrowned. Previous owners’ names on the front endpapers and title page.
• Doctor Watts’s Imitation of the Psalms of David, corrected and enlarged… To which is added, a collection of hymns; The whole applied to the state of the Christian church in general. Glasgow: Printed by David Niven; for James Duncan, Bookseller, Trongate, 1786. [4], 348, [24] pp.; 12mo. ESTC N008922. Dark brown leather (some rubbing), marbled endpapers, brown stained fore edges, corners bumped, former owner’s name on the front free endpaper. Nice vignette on the fly leaf drawn by Cynthia Fearing, Marietta, dated 9 January 1804. Less than 10 copies located by WorldCat.
• American Poems, Selected and Original. Litchfield [Conn.]: Printed by Collier and Buel, [1793]. viii, [4], 304, [1-6 list of subscribers], [7 errata], [8 blank] pp. “The copy-right secured as the act directs.” A collection of poems by Trumbull, Dwight, Barlow (pp. 85-107, “The Prospect of Peace”, “A Poem” spoken at the public commencement at Yale College, 12 September 1781), Humphreys, Freneau, and others, edited by Elihu Hubbard Smith. Touted as the first anthology of American poetry. A 2nd vol. promised by the editor was never published. Preface dated June 1793. Collation: [A] [B]² C-U W X-2R . Evans, C. American bibliography 25104; ESTC W4444; Trumbull, J.H. List of books printed in Connecticut, 1709-1800, 270; Wegelin, O. Early American poetry, 489; BAL 4975. This book was owned and is signed by Elisha Bridgman, one of the subscribers. Unfortunately, this copy is in terrible condition. Many pages are ripped and water-stained. The binding is cracked in the middle. Worst of all – pp. 121-142 are missing!
• The Columbian Muse: A Selection of American Poetry from Various Authors of Established Reputation. New York: Printed by J. Carey, 1794. [2], 224 pp.; 12mo. [A]² B-T U . Brown leatherette, probably lacking the half title, pencil markings on the rear leaves, former owner’s name (Franklin) on the last leaf. The second published anthology of American poetry. Contributions by Trumbull, Freneau, Humphreys, Dwight, Barlow and others. Evans 26795.
• The Columbiad: A Poem. Philadelphia: printed by Fry and Kammerer for C. and A. Conrad and Co.; Baltimore: Conrad, Lucas, and Co.. 1807. xvi, 454 pp, [11] leaves of plates. BAL 906; Sowerby, E.M. Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, 4301; Shaw & Shoemaker 12083; Blanck, J. Bibliography of American literature, 906; Wegelin, O., Amer. poetry, 854. An amplification of The Vision of Columbus. Barlow dedicated the book to his close friend, engineer and inventor, Robert Fulton. Fulton financed the book’s publication, one of the costliest for its time. Portrait of Barlow by Fulton and engraved by A. Smith. Other plates engraved by Smith, Bromley, Parker, Goulding [i.e. Golding], Schiavonetti, Cromek, Neagle, Heath, and Raimbach after paintings by Smirke. Includes index. Brown leather, gilt tooling, rebacked; some water staining at the front. Book plate of William J. Smith Collection, Syracuse Public Library, on the front pastedown.
Collection on consignment with LDRB.
Good. Item #8962
$2,500.00 USD
$3,402.01 CAD