You surely recognize that second phrase. I was reminded of it when I read a post on X Wednesday from my friend . More about that in a few minutes.

Let’s start with the first phrase. “AUT MORS AUT VITA DECORA” appears on the Continental Currency was have this evening. The translation is the phrase above, “Either death or an honorable life,” and the note was printed by Hall and Sellers. Benjamin Franklin established the printing business in Philadelphia in 1728, hired David Hall as a journeyman in 1744, and made him a partner in 1748 ("Franklin and Hall"). In 1776, Franklin sold his share of the business to David Hall. Later that year, Hall brought in his own journeyman, William Sellers, creating the partnership known as Hall and Sellers. The firm continued to publish The Pennsylvania Gazette, which Franklin had run, and managed extensive government printing contracts, including printing every issue of the official Continental Currency authorized by the Continental Congress.

The rest of the story: When the British threatened Philadelphia in late 1777, the press relocated temporarily to York, Pennsylvania, marking the first printing press west of the Susquehanna River. Following David Hall's death in 1772 and William Sellers's death in 1804, the business lineage eventually evolved through ownership changes into publications like the Saturday Evening Post by 1816.

Unfortunately, this currency also gave rise to the phrase, “Not worth a Continental,” though that certainly wasn’t the fault of the printer.

In total, we have six pieces of colonial currency this evening:

• Two Maryland $8 notes dated April 10, 1774. “ . . . receive bills of exchange payable in London, or Gold and Silver . . .” It includes what was then the Great Seal of Maryland on the front, and on the back, “Tis death to counterfeit."

• Delaware 10 shillings dated January 1, 1776. “ . . . passed in the 15th Year of the Reign of His Majesty Geo. the 3d.” (That phrase would disappear from currency printed after July 4, 1776.) You can also see some mica flakes in the paper.

• Pennsylvania 3 pence dated April 10, 1777. Printed by John Dunlap.

• Continental Currency $4 dated January 14, 1779

• State of Massachusetts interest-bearing note for $3 dated May 4, 1780 that is hole cancelled. The paper this was printed on is watermarked “UNITED STATES.”

We recently had two books on USS Constitution that have been purchased, but our earlier two large Naval volumes – Naval Documents of the American Revolution, Volumes 6 (1,641 pp) and 9 (1,147 pp) – were passed over. They’re very interesting to browse – see the photos on the product page – and I decided to make it much simpler: We’re offering them together and price them at $50. We’ll have more on the Navy later.

We earlier had this beautiful medal of the Civil War Centennial offered as part of a framed document. Tonight we have the medal itself in its original box and including the explanatory literature. The medal has this phrase around the pictures of Grant and Lee: “Let us have peace. Consciousness of duty faithfully performed.”

Earlier we had a book that was passed over and it must have been because I did a poor job of explaining it. Let’s start with this: It won the 1982 Pulitzer Prize in History. And then some of the things written about it: "The best of all Civil War memoirs, and one of the most remarkable eyewitness accounts to emerge from that or any other war.” Louis D. Rubin, Jr. in The New Republic. "A great epic drama of our greatest national tragedy.... Provides a sense of the rhythms of ordinary life during those chaotic four years in a way that no other book has done." William Styron in The New York Review of Books. "Here is a book to curl up with over a whole lifetime – to read and reread, to ponder and savor.” Selma R. Williams in The Boston Globe. And one more, Robert Penn Warren’s comment: "As an intimate view of actors and actions of great consequence and as a human picture – tender, outraged, comic – of a great war, there is nothing quite like this book.”

Now, the book: Mary Chesnut’s Civil War. It is 886 pages and I challenge you to open it to any page and not be immediately taken in. (Browse the photos on the product page and you’ll see what I mean.) It’s also very modestly priced.

We have two slipcased sets from American Heritage that are similar to the sets we offered several months ago, just later in the history of our nation: The American Heritage History of the Rise to World Leadership. Volume 1: The American Heritage History of the Confident Years (The Period Between the Civil War and World War I) and Volume II: The American Heritage History of Antiques (From the Civil War to World War I). (I’d never heard the phrase, “The Confident Years,” had you?)

Picking up these sets, I’m reminded of how much we lost when American Heritage went out of business. And that’s also a tip: Beautiful volumes like these aren’t ever going to be produced again.

The Medallic Art Company also made a beautiful medal for the 50th anniversary of Naval Aviation. It is bronze and comes in its original box.

The medal includes a small image of the Wright Brothers’ first plane.

Two years ago in early January we had a very nice small book that was produced following the dedication of the Wright Brothers Bicycle Shop and home when these were moved to Henry Ford’s Greenfield Village. That book was in very good condition. At the same time, I had another copy that had been a library book and wasn’t in as good a condition. It also doesn’t have the photo tipped in that was made from the original plate of the first flight. I put it on the shelf and have been looking at it ever since. It’s still in the same condition and it still doesn’t have the tipped in photo. However, these books are rarely available, so we’re offering it tonight at a very modest price. And I’ve included several photos so you can see that, while there are the typical library markings, it’s in good condition, printed on beautiful, thick, deckled edge paper.

Now to the post on X from my friend @TammiMinoski that I saw Wednesday: "#OTD 1938: British Prime Minister #NevilleChamberlain declared "peace for our time" after returning from signing the Munich Agreement with Adolf Hitler.”

For the last several months we’ve been working on something special for Christmas that we’ll announce in a few weeks. As part of that, I’ve been going back through the New York Times from the first weeks of the war. It is so tragic. So painful.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned one of my favorite Churchill quotes, "An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”

When I saw Tammi’s post I was also reminded one of the products I’m most proud of that we still have: The thick set of Germany briefing documents and maps that were put together for Operation Sea Lion, the German invasion of Britain.

The documents are extraordinarily detailed and we included more than 100 photos on the product page. They drive home the seriousness of the threat like nothing else.

I’ve reduced the price for this week. It really deserves a close look. These are very rare and this set is in extremely good condition.

And a final note on World War II, a beautiful two-volume Easton Press set on FDR: The Soldier of Freedom.

We recently offered, Franklin D. Roosevelt: Selected Speeches, Messages, Press Conference, and Letters, another beautiful Easton Press edition. It is also available.

Best regards –

Lee Wright | Founder