(Texas) — Smith, Ashbel | First edition, presentation copy

Property from the Texana Collection of Howard Wilcox

(Texas) — Smith, Ashbel

First Semi-Annual Report of the Public Schools of Galveston; together with the Report of the Superintendent, (Mr. R. H. McNair, Jun.,) an Address on Education, by Dr. Ashbel Smith, and Extracts from the General Presentment of the Grand Jury of Galveston County. Galveston: Printed at the News Office, 1847

In 4s (224 x 140 mm). Foxed, vertical crease where once lightly folded in half. Original plain green wrappers, stab-sewn; lightly soiled, corners chipped and torn.

First edition. Presentation copy, inscribed and signed on the front wrapper: "Henry Barnard 2d Esq with Ashbel Smith's best regards." The recipient may have been the hugely influential educator Henry Barnard, who was at the time commissioner of the public schools of Rhode Island. The Galveston Public Schools were founded in January 1847 and concluded their first session with a public examination of students at the Presbyterian Church on 27 and 28 June. Smith's address, which occupies seventeen pages of this pamphlet, must have made the event a particularly memorable one for the young scholars. Scarce.

REFERENCE:

Winkler 34

PROVENANCE:

"The Texas Independence Collection" (Sotheby's New York, 18 June 2004, lot 68)