Alexander Gordon, President
Catalogue of the Niles Tool Works
Manufacturers of Iron and Steel Working Machinery, Railway, Car, Boiler and Machine Shop Equipments
Hamilton, Ohio: Niles Tool Works. Illustrated and printed by McDonald & Eick, Cincinnati, 1891. 10.25 inches, quarto. Green cloth hardcover, beveled boards, gilt title to front cover and spine, black-stamped decorative tool emblem to front cover. Text block edges lightly stained red. Floral endpapers. (second free endpaper nearly detached — see condition). x, [4], 13-244; collates complete. With a double-page plate captioned "View of Niles Tool Works, Hamilton, Ohio, U.S.A.," in addition to illustrations throughout. Individually numbered copy, "No. 9779,".
Good. Exterior soiled, worn, rubbed, and faded, with some lifting to the cloth; gilt spine title worn but legible; spine tips rubbed and starting to fray; corners rubbed through. Interior shows handling: second free endpaper is nearly detached; tissue guard with a corner missing, several 1-inch edge tears, thumb soiling. Two pencil marks in the text (one to a plate, one in the index). Hinges secure. Overall a genuine working copy, though reasonably well preserved.
A trade catalog of one of America's foremost 19th-century machine-tool builders. This copy with period California ownership and inscription evidence.
Provenance: Front pastedown and second free endpaper signed by a period owner, "J.S. Clement, Healdsburg, Cal."; the second free endpaper additionally carries erased pencil writing. A pencil "remember me" verse appears on the rear endpaper.
