Sep 28, 2017 - Sale 2455

Sale 2455 - Lot 293

Price Realized: $ 875
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
(WHALING.) Cash book of a Maine whale oil merchant. 62 manuscript pages. Folio, worn plain front wrapper present; contents worn, some finger soiling, several leaves excised. Union, ME, 1832-35

Additional Details

While most small-town merchants of this era operated general stores, this unidentified man in coastal Union, Maine was a specialist. Almost every entry here is for the sale of oil--presumably whale oil, which was used for lighting during this period. This crude volume lists customers and amount paid--the bulk of them "to oil" or "oiled." Occasionally the customer's town might be named (presumably if they had come in from outside of Union); customers are spotted from nearby Appleton, Washington and Warren. The merchant's name is not certain. However, the final leaf contains accounts for wool carding done in 1835, apparently recorded by Augustus Alden (1814-1890) of Union.