Sartain's Magazine (Volume X, February, 1852, No.2)

Mattie Griffith et al.

Published by John Sartain & Co., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1852

About this Item

This volume (Volume X) is quite rare. I would guess that it's a first edition, but I really don't know. The binding is a twined soft cover. The front cover is gone. The paper spine is missing as well. The interior of the book is in quite decent condition. The verso of the blank first page (which I guess is now the cover) is an engraving by John Sartain of an original work by T. Blanchard titled 'Columbus And His Companions: Attending the first Christian Religious Ceremonies in the New World.' It has a little bit of rusty foxing and a light corner water stain. It is protected by a tissue guard. On the other side of the tissue guard is another engraving, this one by J. Steel from an original work by T.U. Walter titled 'North East View Of The Capital At Washington: With The New Extension.' It to has a a few light corner water stains, not much affecting the actual engraving. The next page has an engraving by Linton. Its title is Wooings And Weddings and is designed by a Kenny Meadows. The following page has an engraving and a title (Life, it's Joys and Sorrows). The verso of this page is the copyright page. The copyright date is 1851. The facing page has Sartain's Magazine along with 'Philadelphia, February, 1852' and 'Vol. X' and 'No.2'. Below that is a poem by Mattie Griffith that relates to the preceding engraving. It is titled Life. "Mattie" (Martha) Griffith was a poet, an anti-slavery novelist, and a woman's suffragist. The book is pretty decently bound. A fair amount (not the majority) of the pages are missing the lowest twined binding. That means that in those instances you can see right through over the bottom 2 to 3 inches. However, the other bindings along the juncture between the pages are intact so no page is detached. I wouldn't throw the magazine against the wall, but if it's handled with a little extra care I wouldn't expect any detachments to occur. I would describe the pages as being in very good condition. On the whole, they are quite clean. There's only very occasional and very light foxing (the first few pages in the text have a fairly large area of light discoloration). I don't see much by way of soiling on the pages. Some of the top corners over the first third of the magazine are creased or slightly torn. There are also a few pages here and there with very tiny tears at their outer edge because those pages were slightly longer than some others. That's also the case on the bottom edge. But overall, taking into account age, I think these pages are in better than average condition, particularly for a soft cover going back to 1852. There are a few instances of a very light and mostly blending corner water stain. On a few pages it extends onto the print but doesn't affect one's ability to read. The rear cover and rear inside cover have a more obvious water stain coming down from their top corner and also near the gutter. They also have a number of small tears and creasing at their outer edge (see photo) There are no markings anywhere in the magazine. There are no attachments. And no one has written their name or anything else anywhere. The page with 'Sartain's Magazine and Griffith's poem is numbered 8. The verso page, the first essay, titled Columbus And His Companions by William Dowe, is page number 110. It goes sequentially from there and ends at page 200, the last page. Seller Inventory # 003387

Bibliographic Details

Title: Sartain's Magazine (Volume X, February, 1852...

Publisher: John Sartain & Co., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Publication Date: 1852

Binding: Soft cover

Illustrator: John Sartain, J. Steel, Linton

Condition: Good