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“The Lament of a Friend O’er the Grave of the Hero of his Country, Commodore Stephen Decatur,” A Lengthy Testament to Early Republic-Era Intimacy Between Men, Written by an Unknown Friend

“The Lament of a Friend O’er the Grave of the Hero of his Country, Commodore Stephen Decatur,” A Lengthy Testament to Early Republic-Era Intimacy Between Men, Written by an Unknown Friend by [Early Republic Era – Male Friendships – US Navy] [Stephen Decatur] Unknown Author

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$3,500.00
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Seller: Auger Down Books
Title
“The Lament of a Friend O’er the Grave of the Hero of his Country, Commodore Stephen Decatur,” A Lengthy Testament to Early Republic-Era Intimacy Between Men, Written by an Unknown Friend
Author
[Early Republic Era – Male Friendships – US Navy] [Stephen Decatur] Unknown Author
Seller
Auger Down Books (United States)
Condition
Overall very good plus.
Description
United States, 1850. Bound lined notebook measuring 8 x 10 ¼ inches. Inscribed “Stephen Decatur / U.S. Navy / 13 W. Cedar St. Boston.” on flyleaf. Eighty-nine pages filled out, totaling appx. 17,000 words. Spine missing, covers coming detached, with wear especially to corners; contents excellent to Near Fine. Overall very good plus.. An unpublished manuscript poem mourning the death of Stephen Decatur (1779–1820), written by a friend who “had known Commodore Decatur upwards of twenty years:— a great portion of that time intimately—under the auspices of a sincere, reciprocal friendship.” A hero of the Quasi-War, War of 1812, and both Barbary Wars, Decatur was killed in March of 1820 in a duel with Commodore James Barron over comments Decatur had made about Barron’s conduct during the Chesapeake–Leopard affair. The poem, which appears to have been re-written by a copyist around the 1840s or 50s, was purportedly written in April of 1820 “at the spot where repose the remains of the great and gallant Decatur”. The inscription on the flyleaf indicates that this copy belonged to Decatur’s nephew, also named Stephen Decatur, and also a Commodore of the US Navy. Interestingly, the author has made several pleas for secrecy about the text; he states that he “sought concealment” so that he could come to Decatur’s grave “in as secret a manner as possible”, and states of the poem that it: “is intended to be placed in an impervious case by the side of the ‘Hero’s Tomb,’ a tribute of affection,— an offering of the Muse,— and a memorial of the grief occasioned by his untimely death. Should it at any future day, be discovered, it will be remembered that it never was intended to go beyond the eye of the author and the sacred sanctuary where it is deposited – It is hoped there it will remain sacred in the concealment the author wishes, which best suits the melancholly motive by which he has been actuated.” It is not clear why secrecy about the text was so paramount to its author. Intimate and ardent platonic friendships between men, described in terms of passion and love, were neither uncommon nor shameful at the time. It seems possible, though, that the author’s feelings may have gone a step beyond this; in particular, in the preamble to the poem he spends a fair amount of words contemplating Decatur’s looks: “With these intrinsic gifts he added a form full of beauty and grace, an appearance that announced instantaneously the just pretensions of their professor, exciting in the beholder an interest and prepossession, sometimes felt, although difficult to be accounted for. His look was impressive in the highest degree, commanding the confidence of all who came within the influence of his eye and voice. “The person of Commodore Decatur was of a manly height, most symmetrically proportioned, erect & imposing – his bust of the finest order, – the chest full and expanded, the neck long and muscular, the head gracefully affixed, – the face oval; – the forehead ample; – the hair of raven hue and curling; the nose aquiline; – the mouth large and highly expressive, – the chin full; – the eye, the index and mirror of the soul, of a deep dark brown, quick and annimated in conversation, grave and solemn in meditation; – and its force, concentrated by inquiry or research, awfully scrutinizing; seeming to penetrate the recesses of the hidden heart; – these constituents combined formed a beautiful and interesting countenance such as identified a Hero fitted for the glorious occupation and circumstance of man; – to command, inspire and electrify.” And, early in the poem, he laments: “Oh God! is here my friend so late I viewed / In all the health and strength of manhood’s prime? / His mind with bright intelligence endued [sic] / His manly beauty still untouched by time –”. He also remarks of their early relationship that “As manhood ripened, I the nearer drew”. At several points, while writing of the loss to Decatur’s wife, Susan Wheeler, the poem verges on taking on her point of view: “No more behold the sparkle of his eye, / His lip once warm with love’s ambrosial sigh.” Of course, twenty-first century norms of interpersonal relationships cannot be imposed here, and the author himself seems to have been married (“Here the unyielding tie – / That made me cling to earth and fear to die: / O! it was bitterness from her to part – / Who by the force of love enchained my heart”). Nonetheless, the relationship was close enough for the author to have contemplated suicide following his loss, finding “naught worth living for below”: ​​“The privilege of friendship still I crave, / To bend in fond devotion o’er thy grave. / Dreaming of wild unutterable things, / Such as a dark imagination brings / From this thy home,– thy long and last abode – / Not by thy country, but by friends bestowed!” He writes, “No dread of a terrific judge had I: / And yet I could not bring myself to die.” In a description of this poem from M&S Rare Books, Daniel Siegel notes that Decatur’s close relationship with fellow officer and childhood friend Richard Somers was discussed in Randy Shilts’ book Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the Military (2005). Shilts wrote that Decatur wore a gold ring belonging to Somers and, after Somers’ death, was similarly inconsolable and continued to wear the ring for the remainder of his life. Much of the poem discusses Decatur’s exploits with the Navy, especially in the Barbary Wars (“Turk upon Turk in dreadful slaughter piled”), proclaiming that: “Known is thy name within that chieftain’s hall – / Is seen inscribed on every mouldering wall – / Thy deeds are sung within his gloomy towers / Thus slaves beguile away his heavy hours – / [...] There stands thy name in deep indented mark / On sombre turrets now grown gray and dark”. Following the poem are a number of annotations giving historical context for specific lines. These include a narrative of an amputation performed by Decatur during one of the Barbary Wars, which the author claims to have witnessed: “Immediately after one of the desperate assaults on the Fortresses and Castles of Tripoli which were so often conducted by Decatur, the Gunboats being withdrawn beyond point blank range, he attended in person to the amputation of several limbs, which it was found necessary from their mutilated condition to take off. While the knife was applied to the leg of a gallant fellow who had been wounded by a Cannon Shot, he continued to asseverate, till he expired, ‘God bless Decatur, and damn the Turks.’ This the author himself heard; being present, he has the incident strongly imprinted on his recollection”. The fact that the author was present for this may give some clues as to his identity. The manuscript was found among the papers that were auctioned in 2010 in a group with items belonging to George Washington Storer (1789–1864), along with Tobias Lear and Stephen Decatur papers. Storer did not begin his Naval career until his appointment as a Midshipman in 1809, ruling him out if the previous anecdote is about the First Barbary War. However, in 1815 he commanded the USS Lynx, which was part of Commodore William Bainbridge’s squadron in the Second Barbary War.[1] Another candidate is Rear Admiral Charles Stewart (1778–1869) who, like Decatur, served in the Quasi-War, War of 1812, and both Barbary Wars. Moreover, Stewart was a childhood friend of Decatur’s; the two met as boys while attending the Episcopal Academy in Philadelphia. Stewart’s first wife, Delia Tudor, was a Bostonian, and the notebook bears the stamp of a Boston stationer despite Decatur’s grave’s location in Philadelphia. Finally, the notebook’s annotations quote a poem about Decatur in Tripoli written by Lieutenant James R. Caldwell. Caldwell was killed in 1804 in the First Barbary War, but the poem appears in a book, The Minstrelsy of Edmund the Wanderer (1810), assembled by Captain Robert Traill Spence (1785–1826/7). Spence served in this war and the War of 1812, and named one of his sons Stephen Decatur Spence.[2] Whoever the author is, the manuscript will be of interest to scholars of the US Navy during the Early Republic era, and more broadly to those interested in close male friendships during that time. Provenance: The manuscript was sold in a group of papers from the Washington Storer estate by James D. Julia auctions to the bookseller Daniel Siegel of M&S Rare Books. Siegel offered it in his catalogue no. 89 at a price of $25,000 where it went unsold, and passed through Siegel’s estate following his death to another dealer through Bonhams, and was the purchased by us in 2026. A second copy of the manuscript is known, auctioned in 1920 by Henckels from the library of Henry A. Smith. That copy was finely bound and originally came from the library of President James Monroe. [1] Gardner Weld Allen, Our Navy and the Barbary Corsairs (Houghton Mifflin, 1905), 293. [2] “Capt. Spence”, Destroyer History Foundation, accessed April 3, 2026, https://destroyerhistory.org/fletcherclass/ns_spence/.
Riders of the Purple Sage

Riders of the Purple Sage by Grey, Zane

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$3,000.00
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Seller: Thorn Books
Title
Riders of the Purple Sage
Author
Grey, Zane
Seller
Thorn Books (United States)
Condition
Very good
Description
New York: Harper & Brothers, 1921. First Dunton edition. Hardcover. Very good. 8vo. 336pp plus 5 pp. of publisher's ads. Black cloth, gilt spine and upper board and with a full color paste-on to the upper board. First printing of the Dunton illustrated edition with the proper codes on the copyright page. Frontispiece and eleven full page color plates by Dunton. Spine gilt darkened, light wear to the corners but a very good copy and rare in first Dunton printing. .
Evidence

Evidence by Sultan, Larry

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$850.00
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Seller: Dawson's Book Shop
Title
Evidence
Author
Sultan, Larry
Seller
Dawson's Book Shop (United States)
Condition
Very good, slight foxing at the outer edge of some leaves
Description
Mandel/Sultan, Santa Cruz, [1977]. Very good, slight foxing at the outer edge of some leaves. First Edition 9 x 9 3/4 inches, unnumbered pages, cloth, First edition of this groundbreaking work that recontexualized the meaning of criminal, industrial, and scientific photographs drawn from a wide variety of archival sources.
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Praise Basted In: A Friendship Quilt for Aunt Sallie by [JANUS PRESS] KAUFMAN, Margaret

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$500.00
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Seller: James S. Jaffe Rare Books LLC
Title
Praise Basted In: A Friendship Quilt for Aunt Sallie
Author
[JANUS PRESS] KAUFMAN, Margaret
Seller
James S. Jaffe Rare Books LLC (United States)
Condition
Very fine copy
Description
Newark, VT: The Janus Press, 1995. First edition. One of 100 numbered copies signed by the author and members of The Janus Press (the entire edition). Very fine copy. Square 4to, irregularly shaped decorated pages creating a quilt effect with 9 holograph note cards tipped to a variety of unprinted and patterned papers, original quilted binding of patterned cottons, publisher's clamshell box covered with drummed-on Waverly upholstery cotton with tray stays in tea-stained flowered and purple calico (silk flower bouquet in front tray paper frame). Very fine copy.
The Second Half of the Double Feature

The Second Half of the Double Feature by Charles Willeford

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$200.00
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Seller: Capitol Hill Books, ABAA
Title
The Second Half of the Double Feature
Author
Charles Willeford
Seller
Capitol Hill Books, ABAA (United States)
ISBN
9781930997301
Condition
Near Fine
Description
New Albany, IN: Wit's End Publishing, 2003. Near Fine/Fine. New Albany, IN: Wit's End Publishing, 2003. First Edition, stated. Octavo (22cm); publisher's boards in pictorial dust jacket retaining original price; 329pp. Tiny soil spot to top textblock edge, else just About Fine. Posthumous compilation of short stories, autobiographical sketches, and poetry by the author of Miami Blues.
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Mystère Dévoilé, ou Les Geoliers de Blaye Confondus par eux-memes, par M. L. E.***

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$145.00
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Seller: Savoy Books
Title
Mystère Dévoilé, ou Les Geoliers de Blaye Confondus par eux-memes, par M. L. E.***
Seller
Savoy Books (United States)
Description
Paris: G-A Dentu, 1833. Book. 8vo, orig. printed pink wrappers, stitched. Pp. [viii], 80, uncut. Wrappers a little faded and worn, small ink shelf no. on spine and one leaf, scattered light foxing. A very good copy. First edition. A political fiction, written to revive sympathy for the Duchesse de Berry, who had been held prisoner in Blaye after her failed attempt to lead an incursion into France to regain the throne of Sicily. She gave birth in prison to another son, the child of a secret marriage to an Italian noble, a revelation which destroyed her political credibility, and one that is here doubted as a treacherous lie. NUC and OCLC each note a single copy of a second edition only, at MiU..
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Pioneer to the Past : The story of James Henry Breasted. by Breasted, Charles.

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$75.00
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Seller: Rodger Friedman Rare Book Studio
Title
Pioneer to the Past : The story of James Henry Breasted.
Author
Breasted, Charles.
Seller
Rodger Friedman Rare Book Studio (United States)
Condition
Very Good
Description
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1948. Very Good. 24cm; x, [2], 436 pages, frontispiece (group portrait, map. Inscribed to DeForest and Cornelia Grant. Dust jacket frayed at crown and reinforced with cello-tape. Inscribed by the author
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Great Events of Bible Times: New Perspectives on the People, Places and History of the Biblical World - 1st Edition/1st Printing

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Standard Shipping: $7.00
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$50.00
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Seller: Books Tell You Why, Inc.
Title
Great Events of Bible Times: New Perspectives on the People, Places and History of the Biblical World - 1st Edition/1st Printing
Seller
Books Tell You Why, Inc. (United States)
ISBN
9780517142905
Condition
Fine in Very Good+ dust jacket
Description
New York, Avenel: Crescent Books. Fine in Very Good+ dust jacket. 1987. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. 0517142902 . A Fine first Printing of the First Edition in a Very Good+ dust-jacket that has some wear to the edges and general scuffing. There is a previous owner's library stamping on the title page; 4to; 200 pages .
DU PONT: FROM THE BANKS OF THE BRANDYWINE TO MIRACLES OF SCIENCE

DU PONT: FROM THE BANKS OF THE BRANDYWINE TO MIRACLES OF SCIENCE by Kinnane, Adrian

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$21.00
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Seller: Oak Knoll Books/Oak Knoll Press
Title
DU PONT: FROM THE BANKS OF THE BRANDYWINE TO MIRACLES OF SCIENCE
Author
Kinnane, Adrian
Seller
Oak Knoll Books/Oak Knoll Press (United States)
Description
(Wilmington: E.I. du Pont de Neours and Company, 2002. paper-covered boards, dust jacket. Du Pont. 4to. paper-covered boards, dust jacket. (iv), 268 pages. First edition. Issued on the 200th anniversary of this company that started business on the Brandywine River in Delaware. Foreword by Justin Carisio, Executive Editor and James Moore, Managing Editor. Filled with full color illustrations.
DU PONT, ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY YEARS

DU PONT, ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY YEARS by Dutton, William S.

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$19.00
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Seller: Oak Knoll Books/Oak Knoll Press
Title
DU PONT, ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY YEARS
Author
Dutton, William S.
Seller
Oak Knoll Books/Oak Knoll Press (United States)
Description
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1949. cloth, dust jacket. Du Pont. 8vo. cloth, dust jacket. x, 403 pages. B1-2105. Second edition. History of this Delaware industrial family. This edition contains a nine page Epilogue at the end which is not present in the first edition. Jacket chipped with piece missing at head of spine. Ink inscription on free endpaper..
O. C. Desert
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

O. C. Desert by Winstone, H. V. F.

3 to 6 days for delivery
Standard Shipping: $5.00
Details
$25.00
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Seller: McBlain Books
Title
O. C. Desert
Author
Winstone, H. V. F.
Seller
McBlain Books (United States)
ISBN
9780704323308
Condition
Fine
Description
London: Quartet Books, 1982. 1st ed. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. photos, maps, index, x, 246p. dj. 24cm. Name on endpaper.
SWEET EYES

SWEET EYES by Agee, Jonis

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$15.00
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Seller: Revere Books, ABAA & IOBA
Title
SWEET EYES
Author
Agee, Jonis
Seller
Revere Books, ABAA & IOBA (United States)
ISBN
9780517575154
Condition
Fine
Description
NY: Crown, 1991. First edition. Unread copy in Fine condition in a Fine dustjacket with an archival cover. Agee's first novel. A "NYT" Notable Book of the Year. Hardcovers. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. The image is of the book described and not a stock photo.

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