[AMERICAN FAMILIES] — American Families

New York: The Americana Historical Society, Inc. 1924. The Magnificent Allerton Copy of the Edition De Luxe One of Only Fifty Numbered and Registered Volumes, Printed on Japon Paper and Lavishly Illustrated with Mounted India-Paper Plates and Heraldic Achievements in Gold, Silver, and Colors [AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY]. American Families. Genealogical and Biographical from Most Authentic Sources, Including Much Valuable Material Drawn from Hitherto Unpublished Family Records, with Accurate Reproduction and Description of Ancient Emblazonry. Compiled by Masters of Genealogic and Heraldic Science. New York: The American Historical Society, Inc. [1924]. Edition De Luxe, from an issue limited to fifty numbered and registered volumes. No limitation statement or number is present in the preliminary leaves of this copy. Large folio. (13 7/8 x 11 inches; 353 x 280 mm.). 230 leaves (460 pages). Printed on Japon paper. Magnificent hand-illuminated title-page, the title and initials heightened in several colors within an elaborate illuminated border; chapter initials printed in red. With a two-page table of contents listing seventy-five American families and an index at the end. Profusely illustrated throughout with numerous portraits, views, historical scenes, documentary facsimiles, genealogical material, and heraldic achievements. Many of the portraits and views are separately printed on India paper and mounted; numerous families are accompanied by inserted photographic coats of arms richly printed in gold, silver, and colors. Several family histories contain additional mounted portraits, views, and documentary illustrations beyond the principal heraldic plate. Publisher's magnificent full dark blue morocco, covers with broad gilt-paneled borders enclosing a wide red morocco onlay elaborately tooled in gilt and centered with the heraldic achievement of the Allerton family, executed with gray and black morocco onlays heightened in gilt, the family name Allerton stamped in gilt beneath; rear cover similarly decorated with the heraldic achievement of the Ford family, incorporating a red morocco onlay and the family motto Bona Bonis ("Good Things for the Good") lettered in gilt. Spine with five raised bands, compartments lavishly tooled and lettered in gilt, "American Families / Genealogical and Heraldic." Gilt-ruled board edges, richly gilt turn-ins, inlaid red morocco doublures, pale gray watered silk endleaves, top edge gilt, others uncut. A remarkably handsome and imposing example of American deluxe subscription book production. A Monumental Record of Seventy-Five Distinguished American Families. Published by the American Historical Society during the great period of American genealogical and biographical subscription publishing, American Families presents substantial accounts of seventy-five families prominent in the colonial, political, commercial, military, and social history of the United States. The volume opens with the families of Pynchon, Mallory, Monroe, and Allerton - an arrangement that appears deliberately to place several of the most historically distinguished colonial lineages at the beginning of the work. Each account combines genealogical descent with biographical narrative, heraldry, portraits, family residences, historic sites, and reproductions of original documents. The Edition De Luxe was produced on an exceptionally lavish scale. The text was printed on Japon paper, while many of the portraits, views, and facsimiles were separately printed on thin India paper and mounted by hand. The inserted heraldic plates, frequently incorporating gold, silver, and multiple colors, are especially striking. Together with the illuminated title-page and sumptuous personalized morocco binding, these features distinguish the deluxe issue decisively from the ordinary edition represented by a small number of institutional copies. OCLC and RLIN record the work as comprising 460 pages, a figure independently confirmed by a physical count of the present copy as 230 leaves. The Allerton Family and the Mayflower The particular importance of the present copy lies in its magnificent personalized binding for the Allerton family, whose history forms the fourth and one of the most substantial sections of the volume. The genealogy begins with the family's English origins and proceeds to Isaac Allerton, one of the passengers aboard the Mayflower, a signer of the Mayflower Compact, and one of the most consequential - if sometimes controversial - figures in the early history of Plymouth Colony. Allerton served as an assistant to Governor William Bradford and repeatedly traveled to England as the colony's agent, negotiating financial and commercial affairs on behalf of the settlement. The chapter traces the family through successive generations to Samuel Waters Allerton, the celebrated Chicago businessman, banker, livestock magnate, landowner, and civic leader, and concludes with his son Robert Henry Allerton. Its illustrations form an exceptionally rich visual record of the family and its historical associations. They include portraits of Samuel Waters Allerton, Lois J. Allerton, Hannah Allerton, and other family members; views of Plymouth Rock, Point Allerton, the Isaac Allerton homestead, New Haven Green, and the church at Leiden; reproductions relating to the Mayflower and the signing of the Compact; a facsimile page from Governor Bradford's journal; and an extensive heraldic plate displaying the arms of associated families, including Sawyer, Hurd, Phillips, Waters, Allen, and French. The result is considerably more than a conventional genealogical entry: it is effectively a privately conceived family memorial, connecting the Allertons' seventeenth-century Pilgrim ancestry with their later prominence in American commercial and civic life. A Personalized Heraldic Binding Surviving examples of the Edition De Luxe display differing family names and heraldic decoration. At least one recorded copy bears the name and arms of the Prince family, although Prince does not appear among the seventy-five principal family histories listed in the contents. This strongly suggests that the deluxe text blocks were bound and decorated individually for subscribers, the purchaser's chosen family name and arms being incorporated into the binding regardless of whether that family appeared in the volume. The present example is particularly desirable because its principal front-cover family - Allerton - is not merely represented in the text but occupies one of the foremost positions in the book and possesses exceptional importance in the history of the Mayflower and Plymouth Colony. The Ford arms on the rear cover may record a second branch of the original subscriber's ancestry or a marriage connection, though the precise relationship has not yet been identified. The Edition De Luxe Bibliographical records and surviving copies establish that the deluxe issue was limited to: "Fifty Numbered and Registered Volumes." Recorded examples include copies numbered 15, 17, and 31, together with similarly described institutional copies at the Huntington Library and the Carlsbad City Library. Approximately eleven additional institutional holdings appear to represent the ordinary issue. No publisher's prospectus, subscription circular, order form, or price announcement has yet been located. Nevertheless, comparison with other surviving copies strongly indicates that the publisher supplied a uniform deluxe text - printed on Japon paper and lavishly illustrated - while permitting subscribers to personalize the bindings with selected family arms and names. Although no limitation stamp or manuscript number appears in the photographed preliminary leaves of the present copy, its illuminated title-page, Japon paper, mounted India-paper illustrations, metallic heraldic plates, and extraordinary personalized morocco binding identify it unmistakably with the highest deluxe production of the work. An Extraordinary American Genealogical and Heraldic Book The combination of serious genealogical scholarship, Mayflower history, elaborate heraldry, hand-mounted India-paper illustrations, illuminated decoration, Japon paper, and individualized binding makes American Families one of the most ambitious American genealogical publications of the early twentieth century. The present Allerton copy is of exceptional interest. Not only does it preserve the most luxurious form of the book, but its binding celebrates one of the earliest and most historically significant families represented in the volume. A magnificent and apparently bespoke copy of an exceptionally scarce American genealogical monument - one of only fifty deluxe volumes, and surely among the most desirable surviving examples. .