An impassioned plea to John Quincy Adams to preserve tariffs on American Piano manufacturers during the Nullification Crisis

(Protection and American piano manufacturing) John MACKAY (1774-1841) Prominent and early industrialist in Boston, he entered the shipping industry in 1796 at age 22 under the direction of his uncle, shipping magnate Mungo MacKay (1740-1811), who was already well established in the trade. By 1798, he was ship’s master conducting international voyages, returning with goods from far afield for the Boston market. In 1815, Mackay and two partners began manufacturing church organs. By 1820, several members of the Mackay family were in partnership with Alpheus Babcock, manufacturing pianos in Boston’s West End. MacKay and Jonas Chickering began manufacturing pianos in Boston in 1830. They constructed a modern factory in 1837 on Washington Street. MacKay died at sea in 1841, en route to South America to procure wood for his piano cases.

Autograph Letter Signed “John MacKay” on recto and verso, 2pp., 188 x 200 mm. (7 1/2 x 7 3/4 in.), [Boston, c. 1832-1833], to John Quincy Adams, imploring the Massachusetts congressman to ensure tariffs high enough to protect American industry, and in particular, American piano manufacturers, from European competition.

MacKay’s plea to Adams, likely written as South Carolina’s nullifiers raged against Clay’s protective tariffs as embodied in the “American System,” reads in large part [with original spellings retained throughout]: “… this is a manufactory where the principal part of the cost is labour and Labour in this Country is so much higher than in any other, without the protection of our Country we Cannot Subsist, we have had to combat against the prejudices of our own Country Saying this was a business or Since that cannot be brought to perfection here but under the aid of a fostering government we have convinced a great portion of the people that we not only make them as good but better but the English & Germans who formerly supplied this Country with that article still continues to import a great number. & as they invoice them at a very low price, owing to the low price of labour they are enabled to sell a great many & if the duties are put so low our Country will be innundated with them to the great detrement of our own Manufacturers, as this is an article which does not interfere with the South… none but the most skilfull… workmen are employed we are compelled to pay a high price for their labour. As your bill had so many Articles it was no wonder it was passed over, I have taken the liberty to suggest my ideas to you & if you think an Amendment to the Bill in favour of the Manufacturer of Piano Fortes should be augmented to thirty five pr. Cent. or if you think that too much, you will please put it as high as your Superior judgment may think best…”

The verso bears what appears to be small portion of another Autograph Letter Signed “John MacKay“, [n.p., n.d.] and reads, in full: “…we employ forty men, and pay upwards of five hundred dollars p. Week, for labour only which Money is Calculated for all the Necessarys of life, we manufacture three hundred piano Fortes p. Year or Business is increasing for we manufacture them well and as the Prosperity of our Country increases so we shall increase the manufacture of Piano Fortes.”

MacKay’s partner, Jonas Chickering (1798-1853), was one of the great pioneers of piano manufacturing, being the first in the world to use one-piece cast-iron frames — one of the most significant technological contributions to the development of the instrument.

Light soiling at lower left margin, light creases, trimmed at margins, else very good.

(EXA 5895) $450

An extremely rare program for the Hampton Student singers

(Hampton Students) Program, Slave Songs of the South by the Hampton Students. ([Hampton, Va?, 1875]), 4pp. 234 x 150 mm. (9 1/4 x 5 7/8 in.) Interior pages present a two part musical program of fourteen songs with a concluding note: “The Hampton Students were nearly all born in slavery, and their music is a faithful rendering of the songs peculiar to slave life. they are members of the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, and are all engaged in a course of study which shall fit them to be teachers of their race.” The names of the ten members of the chorus are listed at the head of the second page.

The front page also promotes a volume of sheet music, Hampton and its Students published in 1874 by G. P. Putnam, New York. The final page features an engraving of Virginia Hall on the campus of the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (today’s Hampton University). A caption below the image notes that “For nearly two years the Hampton Students have been singing to secure funds fro the erection of ‘Virginia Hall.’ Their exertions were seconded by many generous friends, who, stimulated by the efforts of these colored youths to help themselves, contributed so liberally that the building is now completed… An endowment of two hundred thousand dollars is needed, and the Hampton Students have undertaken to aid in securing it.”

Extremely Rare. We have found no examples of this program in any institutional collection, nor have we ever seen an example appear at auction.

Marginal tears and chips affecting text as shown, light soiling, minor losses to final page, moderate dampstains.

(EXA 4905) $750

Vintage photograph of the Central Park Garden

(Theatrical History) A 6 3/4 x 9 1/2 in. (on a 9 1/2 x 11 1/2 in. mount) photograph by The H. N. Tiemann Company of New York showing the now defunct Central Park Garden on Seventh Avenue near 58th Street which served as a venue for classical music in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The music hall opened in 1868 and for some time was controlled by the opulent financier James Fisk. Standing on the west side of Seventh Avenue between 58th and 59th Street, the Garden offered a restaurant together with nighty concerts in the summer months in an open air “promenade” or “garden” in the rear of the theater. Appleton’s Illustrated Hand-book of American Cities declared that the concerts held at the Garden were “musical entertainments of the highest order.” In 1876 the proprietors of the Garden purchased a larger building (in this image the building just to the left of the three story building bearing the “CENTRAL PARK GARDEN” sign on its roof), and the venue began hosting more diverse events including dramas and natural history lectures. The building remained in use as a music hall until the late 1880s when it became the Central Park Riding Academy. The buildings were demolished in 1921 to make way for Jolson’s 59th Street Theatre, constructed by Lee and J.J. Shubert and named after Al Jolson, who premiered Sigmund Romberg’s musical Bombo there on 6 October 1921. The next several years brought a slew of new owners and consequent name changes to the venue, including the Central Park Theatre (a movie house), the Shakespeare Theatre, the Molly Picon Theatre, the Venice Theatre, The Yiddish Theatre, and twice reverted to honoring the theatre’s original namesake, Al Jolson, before relaunching as the New Century Theatre in 1944. The New Century Theatre was shuttered in 1954, and demolished in 1963 to accommodate the site’s current occupant, the luxury residence 200 Central Park South.

Some toning and soiling toward margins and on mount, else very good overall.

(EXA 3898) $400

Brass ‘ticket’ to the opening performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music

(Theatrical History: Brooklyn Academy of Music) A terrific relic of the opening of this venerable Brooklyn institution, a 1 1/2 x 2 3/4 in. brass ‘ticket’ with a 1/4 in. hole at left, being an unusual invitation to the opening performance and gala for the Brooklyn Academy of Music in January 1861:

“Brooklyn Academy of Music Brooklyn, Jan 5th, 1861. You are respectfully invited to attend the Opening Entertainment of the Brooklyn Academy of Music. On Tuesday Evening, January 15th And Thursday [January] 17th” The reverse describes the opening entertainment: “On the first Evening, grand Vocal and Instrumental Concert, commencing at 8 o’clock. On the Second Evening, Grand Promenade and Ball, at the same hour. Respectfully Yours, Committee of Arrangements.”

The Brooklyn Commercial Advertiser described the opening night on 16 January: “For an opening night the attendance was not large but the unpleasant state of the weather probably tended to prevent many form availing themselves of the opportunity … The full orchestra of the Philharmonic society under the direction of Mr. Theodore Eisfield, opened the entertainment with the overture from der Freischutz which was well performed and elicited well merited applause. Mr. S. B. Chittenden, one of the committee of arrangements, then came forward and, in a brief address, detailed the difficulties with which the committee had to contend in inaugurating this enterprise.He stated that it was not the intention of the directors to allow any theatrical performance within its walls.The want, he said of a fitting hall in which concerts, operas, and musical entertainments could be given, had long been felt in Brooklyn.The citizens also wanted some place where their charitable institutions could hold their anniversaries; where citizens, irrespective of politics or parties, could assemble and devise or consult upon those schemes of charity and benevolence in which they so much delighted; where their musical societies could have their rehearsals and entertainments; in short where the elegant and refined citizens could assemble for any benevolent or artistic purpose. This want is now supplied by the Academy of Music.”

Offered together with Adraian van SINDEREN (1887 – 1963) Document Signed “Adrian Van Sinderen” as President of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, 7 1/2 x 11 in., Brooklyn, 20 May 1925, an engraved stock certificate for twenty shares of stock in The Brooklyn Academy of Music, numbered “2240.” Van Sinderen was a successful banker, Brooklyn civic leader and philanthropist.

Brass ticket bears Some minor scratches and small bend at lower right, very minor tarnish, else fine.The stock certificate is very fine.

(EXA 4312) $750