Friends and Colleagues,

Many a bookseller has described a large, unwieldy and heavy book as a “door- stopper”.  I have been known to do so myself.  A good example is the Century Dictionary, from the early part of the last century, which was bound in corduroy (no less) and contained around 8500 pages.  Now that’s a door-stopper!

Today we’re offering the two volumes of Picturesque America compiled by William Cullen Bryant in the 1870’s.  Taken together, they are large enough, and heavy enough, to warrant the casual nomenclature “door-stopper”.  However, unlike a massive corduroy-covered dictionary, these brown morocco bindings are just lovely, with elaborate titling in gilt, embossed borders, and dentelle turn-ins

I know it takes all kinds.  But I think these are very handsome indeed.  And not a door-stopper.

 Cheers, NIck

William Cullen Bryant (Editor). [ILLUSTRATED BOOKS] PICTURESQUE AMERICA; OR, THE LAND WE LIVE IN. A DELINEATION BY PEN AND PENCIL OF THE MOUNTAINS, RIVERS, LAKES, FORESTS, WATER-FALLS, SHORES, CANONS, VALLEYS, CITIES, AND OTHER PICTURESQUE FEATURES OF OUR COUNTRY. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS ON STEAL AND WOOD, BY EMINENT AMERICAN ARTISTS. VOL. I & II. (TWO VOLUMES). Price: $750.00	; Illustrated by Thomas Nast. [PERIODICAL] HARPER’S WEEKLY: A JOURNAL OF CIVILIZATION. Price: $200.00

[William Faden]. [PAMPHLET] [ENGLISH LAW] FACTS, RECORDS, AUTHORITIES AND ARGUMENTS; CONCERNING THE CLAIMS OF LIBERTY AND THE OBLIGATIONS OF MILITARY SERVICE: AND PROVING THAT EVERY MAN IN BRITAIN HATH A PERSONAL INTEREST IN THE BILL NOW DEPENDING, FOR GIVING A MORE SPEEDY REMEDY TO THE SUBJECT UPON THE WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS. Price: $150.00	[SPECIAL PRESS] THE BIRTH OF CHRIST FROM THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO SAINT LUKE. Price: $0.00
Alexander Van Milligen; Warwick Goble [Illustrator]. [ILLUSTRATED] CONSTANTINOPLE. Price: $90.00	Charles M. Wallace (an Old Boy). [RICHMOND] THE BOY GANGS OF RICHMOND IN THE DEAR OLD DAYS: A PAGE OF THE CITY’S LESSER HISTORY. Price: $150.00
Thos. Birch’s Sons. [AUCTION CATALOGUE] REVOLUTIONARY MANUSCRIPTS AND PORTRAITS. WASHINGTON’S CORRESPONDENCE WITH HIS AGENT, BATTAILE MUSE, WASHINGTON’S CORRESPONDENCE WITH COL. TENCH TILGHMAN; COL. TENCH TILGHMAN’S CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE “COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCE OF NEW YORK, DURING THE CAMPAIGN OF 1774” ... TO BE SOLD ... TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY AFTERNOONS AND EVENINGS APRIL 5th AND 6th, 1892. Price: $200.00	Louis Ginsberg. [VIRGINIANA] [AUTHOR’S COPY] HISTORY OF THE JEWS OF PETERSBURG 1789-1950. Price: $125.00
[Mary Elise Woellworth] | Desmond Chute [Engravings]. [SPECIAL PRESS] SONGS TO OUR LADY OF SILENCE. Price: $75.00	Carlton Norris McKenny. [RICHMOND] RAILS IN RICHMOND. Price: $100.00
Edward Edwards. [BOOKS ON BOOKS] LIBRARIES AND FOUNDERS OF LIBRARIES. Price: $65.00	Daniel T. Balfour. [VIRGINIANA] SOUTHHAMPTON COUNTY & FRANKLIN A PICTORIAL HISTORY. Price: $150.00
F. K. Howard. [CIVIL WAR] FOURTEEN MONTHS IN AMERICAN BASTILES. Price: $150.00	S. Allen Chambers Jr. [VIRGINIANA] LYNCHBURG AN ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY. Price: $150.00
Gordon, Armistead Churchill. [CIVIL WAR] MEMORIES AND MEMORIALS OF WILLIAM GORDON MCCABE (2 VOLUMES SET). Price: $95.00	Robert Beverly Munford Jr. [RICHMOND] RICHMOND HOMES AND MEMORIES. Price: $60.00
Steven A Colvin. [VIRGINIANA] ON DEEP WATER. Price: $125.00	Gary W. Gallagher [Editor] | Gary W. Gallagher’s copy. [SPECIAL LIMITED EDITION] [SIGNED] THE RICHMOND CAMPAIGN OF 1862 THE PENINSULA & THE SEVEN DAYS. Price: $500.00
John W. Wayland. [VIRGINIANA] THE VALLEY TURNPIKE WINCHESTER TO STAUNTON AND OTHER ROADS. Price: $50.00	Elizabeth Brown Pryor | Nelson Lankford [Editor] | Gary W. Gallagher. [CIVIL WAR] REDISCOVERED: ROBERT E. LEE’S EARLIEST KNOWN LETTER. Price: $150.00
Wyndham B. Blanton, M. D. [MEDICAL] MEDICINE IN VIRGINIA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. Price: $75.00	Gary W. Gallagher. [SIGNED] [CIVIL WAR] CHANCELLORSVILLE THE BATTLE AND ITS AFTERMATH. Price: $75.00
George Otto Trevelyan, M. P. Volumes I & II. [LITERATURE] THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LORD MACAULAY. Price: $175.00