HOYT

4pp., 4to. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. An important document, not least for the fact that its author discusses the building of a 'tunnel 4 or 5 miles through the [Hoosac] mountain', anticipating the commencement of the construction of the Hoosac Tunnel by 23 years. The letter is closely and neatly written, with the first page headed 'The following Results of my surveys and levels, in the valley of Deerfield River, are respectfully submitted to the Commissioners of Canals, in Massachusetts. | Viz.

Symington (1825-98), a minor Scottish poet, traveller and author, spent a year in America and edited a selection of President Garfield's speeches, and thus was accorded an entry in Appleton's Cyclopaedia. The poem (four pages, 12mo, on bifoliate, very good with light spotting and staining) is printed in blue, with an engraving in black of (according to the poem) 'a Harp [...] of rare beauty [...] On either side, an alabaster Cross | Of snowy whiteness twined with dew-sprent flowers' and a 'white Dove with an olive branch [...] | Descending'.