Books and Manuscripts

Philadelphia: A. Hart, 1853. First edition. 8vo. (iv), 292 pp. Inscribed by the editor, Milnor Klapp, on front blank. Includes numerous pieces of ephemera relating to gunsmith John Krider and his Philadelphia gun shop laid in and mounted, including newspaper clippings, a photograph of the shop, two carte de visites (one mounted), Krider and John Siner business cards, Krider clipped signature, one mounted printed promissory note made out to Krider from a Lieutenant stationed at Camp Pierpont, West Virginia during the Civil War, as well as one typed document, signed by arms bibliographer and collector Raymond Riling, listing the owners of the parcel of land where Krider's Philadelphia shop was located. Three-quarter brown calf over marbled paper-covered boards, black morocco spine label, stamped in gilt, gilt faded, rear board detached, boards rubbed and worn; top edge gilt, other edges trimmed; front free endpaper loose; ink stamp of S. Harold Croft on second front blank; John Krider ink stamp on recto of rear endpaper as well as on p. 292. Lot includes Price List of Fishing Tackle John Krider...Phildelphia, 1878; printed catalogue; limp wrappers, front and rear wrapper detached. Riling 636

John Krider (1813-86) was a respected Phildelphia-based gunsmith, taxidermist, and ornithologist, who operated a gun and taxidermy shop at 2nd and Walnut streets for most of the 19th-century. Born in West Philadelphia, at the age of thirteen Krider began his career as a gunsmith by apprenticing under French gunsmith Prosper Vallee. Sometime between 1839 and 1856 Krider took over Vallee's shop and renamed it Krider Gun Shop. During the Civil War Krider supplied Union Army soldiers with weaponry and ammunition (as the promissory note mounted in this book attests to), and his shop served as a cartridge loading station. Krider was an avid ornithologist and taxidermist, and his collection was eventually donated to the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, as well as many other collections throughout the country. Upon his death in 1886, the shop was taken over by Krider's colleague John Siner and his family, operating the business until its closure in 1955. The property was soon after demolished and replaced by Bookbinders Restaurant, which still stands.

From the library of bibliographer, bookseller, and arms collector Raymond L.J. Riling (1896-1974), and with his illustrated book-plate mounted to second front blank.