Manual of the Corporation of the City of New-York 1864 - INSCRIBED Presentation Copy
New York: Edmund Jones & Co. [for] The Corporation of the City of New York, 1864. First Edition. Original cloth. 8vo. Pp. xiv, [1], 18-856.. Frontis. folding, hand-colored map of "New York City, County and Vicinity." Engraved portrait of Valentine. Title page is engraved and hand-colored. Lavishly filled with maps, charts, facsimile reproductions of old documents, and tinted lithographic views. Bound in original dark green cloth stamped in blind with gilt on front and rear boards, and spine. Frontis. map and portrait are detached, with a couple old tape repairs to verso of map; larger fold-outs with short, closed tears, as usual. Else Near Fine. Inscribed by Valentine on the front free endpaper. Very Good+. Item #7234 David Valentine's Manual remains "one of the best and most used sources for information about New York City during three decades of the nineteenth century ... published annually between 1841 and 1870 (except in 1867)" (Lawrence, Valentine's Manuals: A General Index, p. 1). In 1830, when Valentine became Deputy Clerk of the Common Council, he manifested his interest in city history by staunching the outbound flow of municipal documents being channeled "to second-hand book- and print-shops, and so passed on into the outstretched hands of covetous autograph- and relic-hunters" (Lawrence, p. ix). As Valentine's title suggests, his manuals served as guides to current New York City with contemporary maps, plans, facts and figures (elected officials, demographics, tax rolls, etc.), but also reproduced historical print matter under his care as ad hoc archivist. Thus, in addition to acting as preservationist, Valentine shared his enthusiasm for Gotham history by reproducing, in this volume for example, the a tinted print of the "Public Room of the 5th Ward Museum Hotel;" a contemporary map by John Randel showing the Greenwich Village residences of Thomas Paine before and at the date of his 1809 death; a color lithograph of fourth floor of the Soldier's Hospital, along with early newspaper extracts, all amid the facts and figures of contemporary New York City. The latter includes votes received by politicians, costs of operating jails, a roster of licensed pawnbrokers, names of every policeman and the wards in which they serve, and so forth. A notably well-preserved copy, with text block clean, corners sharp, fold-outs bright.
The inscription reads: "Presented to the Hon. A. D. Russell with the respects of the Compiler, D. T. Valentine, 1864."
Price: $750.00