Apr 16, 2013 - Sale 2310

Sale 2310 - Lot 202

Price Realized: $ 2,880
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600
(NEW YORK.) Waldron, William Watson. Sketch Book of a Traveller. 242, [31] manuscript pages, and engraving of London as frontispiece. 4to, original 1/2 calf, endpapers covered with clippings, needs binding; a few pages worn with minimal loss of text. Westchester, NY, circa 1836
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William Watson Waldron was an Irish-born poet who moved to New York as a young man, being naturalized in 1843. This is apparently his memoir, though he professes to be merely the editor. It begins with his departure from Ireland circa 1825, and includes several chapters on his time in London. He stays with his cousin Francis Danby (1793-1861), a successful painter then at the peak of his fame, and discusses Danby's art at length. The last half of the memoir discusses his emigration to New York circa 1828. Here he describes the harbor upon his arrival: "Islands covered with the most luxurious groves, the shores of the Jerseys, Long and Staten Islands studded with towns, hamlets and villas, fishing vessels scattered around and boats plying about all combined to render this scene unsurpassed in nature" (page 97). He was duly impressed by the metropolis: "New York has the most imposing appearance whether viewed externally from the ocean or the neighbouring heights, and on entering it the highest expectations of the stranger are amply fulfilled in the elegance of its buildings, the splendour of its shops, and the fashion displayed in the streets" (page 109).
One chapter deals in large part with slavery and abolition. He describes a visit to New York's African Free School, praising the learning and manners of the students. He also transcribes three poems by the school's students: "On Slavery " by George Allen, aged 12; "On Freedom" by Thomas Sydney, aged 12; and "Night" by J. Smith, aged 14. These poems appear to be unpublished.
The manuscript also includes an account of a trip by steamer up the Hudson and down the Erie Canal, culminating with descriptions of Niagara Falls and the Seneca village near Buffalo. Other chapters are devoted to a bucolic summer stay at Charlotte Temple's Cottage in Morrisania (now the Bronx); an 1830s visit to Saratoga (including a description of the Shaker community at Niskayuna starting on page 174); and finally a description of the environs of West Point. Waldron published several books after his arrival in New York, but this memoir appears to be entirely unpublished.