Caleb Bingham -- COLUMBIAN ORATOR -- Leather Bound, circa 1800

Description: Measuring about 4-1/4" x 7", this leather bound book - or what's left of it - is "The Columbian Orator" by Caleb Bingham. Unfortunately it is incomplete and in falling apart condition, so let's start there. The front board is entirely detached, and everything before page 11, including the title page, is missing. From there, pages 11 through 116 are held together, with part of the spine attached. The rest of the spine is connected to the back board, and also to pages 117 through 296, but this section is not held together as well as the previous section, with several pages loose or detached. Based on the descriptions of other listings on eBay, I believe the book originally had 300 pages. Without the title page as a crib sheet, I can't definitively tell you when this copy was published, or what edition it is. My best clue to the date is that the letter "s" is printed the archaic way that looks more like an "f". From other listings on eBay, therefore, I would place the publication date somewhere between 1797 (when it was first published) and 1807. There is an 1807 copy on eBay in which the "s" looks like an "s", so I assume that is approximately when that typographic change was made, in which case this copy must have been published prior to 1807. Apart from it being essentially disbound and incomplete and the spine torn to shreds, there is widespread foxing, dampstaining and edge wear to the pages, as well as some torn pages and some pages with writing or scribbles. The cover boards, too, are in heavily worn and abused condition, with scuffs and scratches and edge wear, and inscriptions on both inside covers. International Buyers – Please Note: Import duties, taxes, and charges are not included in the item price or shipping cost. These charges are the buyer's responsibility. Please check with your country's customs office to determine what these additional costs will be prior to bidding or buying. Customs fees are normally charged by the shipping company or collected when you pick the item up. These fees are not additional shipping charges. We won't under-value merchandise or mark the item as a gift on customs forms. Doing that is against U.S. and international laws. COMBINED SHIPPING: See our seller list for other interesting and unusual items, in fact bid on several and you might save on shipping and handling. If you buy multiple items, and if it's feasible and cost-effective for us to ship the items together, we will gladly consider requests to combine shipping at a reduced cost. Just e-mail us, and we can provide combined shipping cost estimates on a case-by-case basis. Depending on weight and other considerations, we typically offer full shipping rate for the first item, then 50 cents or $1.00 per item. And if you are purchasing multiple items, please make the payment as a single payment, rather than trying to pay for each item separately. Oh, and this may sound obvious, but we can't reduce the shipping charges for items on which we offer free shipping. INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING COSTS: If the eBay auto-calculator is not responding, or if you think our shipping costs are too high, please contact us prior to bidding to determine your shipping options and costs. Repeat, prior to bidding, please. FEEDBACK: Because of abuses we've experienced in the past, we have totally given up on the eBay feedback system, so we neither give nor expect feedback. Please, therefore, do not contact us after the auction asking us to leave feedback. If you ever have a problem with an item you purchase from us, please contact us directly about it before giving negative feedback or seller ratings, and especially before invoking eBay's dreaded Grand Tribunal in processes like "Return Requests" or "Opening an Item Not as Described Case." No one is perfect, and we occasionally mis-describe something, or an item arrives late or gets damaged in the mail, but we are always quick to respond to a problem and set it straight in the most mutually agreeable way.

Price: 56.78 USD

Location: Gorham, Maine

End Time: 2024-12-01T21:54:19.000Z

Shipping Cost: 6 USD