The Tribune Almanac and Political Register for 1865
Bound in with the Almanac is a 10 page illustrated essay concerning an old house and the finding of the Almanac by J. E. Boos, Albany, New York. New York: The American News Co., 1864.
First Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. [11]; 72 pages; [5]. Gray paper covered boards with blue cloth spine. Gilt title "Almanac" on upper spine. "J E Boos" in gilt letters stamped on lower spine. Light scattered foxing and toning to the contents. Bound with the Almanac, preceding the front wrap, is an essay titled - "An Old House Near An Old Dead Canal" by J. E. Boos, Albany, New York 1931. Following the last page of the Almanac are 5 bound in extra pages. A receipt dated July 27th, 1879 is pasted down on one of the pages and was for Adam Van Vraken donation of $66 to the poor. Another page has a pasted down blank Justice of the Peace form printed by "Websters & Skinners, at their bookstore, in the White House, corner of State & Pearl Streets, Albany". The essay contains 6 typed one-sided pages, 3 photograph plates, and one tipped in photograph print of an old house (Vranken's house?). Page 1 of the narrative has a small circle photograph in the body of the text. Photograph plates include a floral arrangement frontispiece; "The First Bridge between Schenectady and Scotia"; and "Some Horace Greeley Campaign Pins. 1872." In this short narrative Boos recounts a visit to an abandoned house that once belonged to Adam Van Vranken. He writes about the condition of dilapidated house describing plaster on the floors, the roof falling in, scattered toys and pieces of clothing, a torn Courier and Ives print, wreck of a Boston Rocker, a paper box holding locks of children's hair, papers scattered about and much more. He takes the Almanac as a souvenir - "I picked from under a pile an old Almanac that had been printed by the White Coated Philosopher, Horace Greeley. I decided to carry it away before wet and mold caught up with it, because it was sold when Abraham Lincoln was President, in the year of his second inaugural and at the time of the ending of the Civil War." "J. E. Boos October, 1931" is inscribed at the bottom of the last narrative page before the front wrap of the Almanac. Very good. Item #11333
The Special Collections and University Archives (Jean and Alexander Heard Library) at Vanderbilt University in Nashville has a collection of material from John E. Boos of Albany. The collection includes books, ephemera, letters, autographs, etc. much of it relating to the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln.
Price: $250.00