Rarities from the Library
The Sturgis Library and the Clock and Rose Press of Harwich Port are pleased to announce a publishing venture that will make available fine reprints of rare and unusual books from the collections of the Sturgis Library. The project is called "Rarities from the Sturgis Library."
The first series will focus on titles from the Library's maritime collection. The first book in the series is Peter Guillet's Timber Merchant's Guide, originally published in 1823. This is an important, very early book, illustrated with thirty handcolored lithographic plates, each of which illustrates the most economic method of using various tree types to provide the variously shaped and stressed pieces of timber needed in the building of a ship. The Timber Merchant's Guide is the second book printed in America to be illustrated with lithographs, preceded only by J.E. Smith's Grammar of Botany. The plates were produced by Henry Stone, the first lithographer to practice in Baltimore. It is important in the history of art and book publishing in the United States; in military history; the history of wooden shipbuilding; and American history, as well as the history of conservation. The author begins the book with an impassioned plea for federal government intervention in the conservation of the forests as a national resource. Only three examples of the original are now available on the market, each selling for about $5,000.00. The Sturgis Library is making this book available in a fine edition, printed in color on acid free paper, and limited to a printing of 200 copies. The book was published in July of 2005.
The second book in the series is The Whaling Directory of the United States in 1869, with color plates. The Whaling Directory was originally published in 1869 and is now part of Sturgis' maritime archives. It was a unique reference book, with color lithographs of the house flags, printed for sea captains and all those concerned with the whaling industry, which enabled them to correctly identify whaling vessels from United States ports by their house flag, by name, and with the name of their captain and owner both at port and on the high seas.
The books sell for $84.00 each, including postage.
You may order books in this series from: Renee Roberts, Clock & Rose Press, P.O. Box 342, Harwich Port MA 02646. The phone number is: (508) 432-1749. Or, you can purchase the books online through Abebooks.
A percentage of the proceeds from the sale of these books benefits the Sturgis Library, and will be used to enhance library services and preserve our historic collections.