Gideon Lee & C.

Catalogue of Sole Leather, to be Sold by Messrs. Franklin & Minturn, on Thursday, August 9th, 1827, at 10 o'clock A.M. at the Stores of Gideon Lee & Co., No. 20 Ferry-Street [New York]. Terms Under $100, cash; from $100 to $500, four months;... The name of the Purchaser will be required, either as Drawer or Endorser. [Caption & text];

New York: 1827. Narrow folio. 332 x 208 mm., (13" x 8-1/8"), [5] pp., Printed on heavy paper, the final page addressed in manuscript to Messrs. Newhall & Eveleth, Boston. Old folds, one small hole where originally sealed. Some migration of ink through the paper. Still, about fine.

Printed auction form consisting of 10 columns: [Lot] No.; Sides; [Total] Pounds; Avg. [Wgt.]; Weights [Range]; Hide [Source]; Tannery; Value; Purchaser; and Price. The first seven columns have printed data entered, the eighth, Value, has figures neatly supplied in manuscript, and the last two have been left blank. The columns are divided into sections according to the location of the material: lots 1-5 are on the "First Floor, Middle Store," lots 6-24 on the "Second Story, Middle Store," lots 25-72 on the "Second Story, Back Store," and so forth. There is a total of 185 lots.

At the end of the printed form (occupying the two blank columns) there is a short manuscript note regarding the sale signed "Gideon Lee & Co." Sale contains tens of thousands of pounds of hides from Carthegena, Pernambuco, Buenos Ayres, Porto Rico [sic], Oronoko [sic], New Orleans, Madagascar, Russia, et al., offered by approximately 25 named tanneries (e.g. Northampton, Cummington, Worthington and Franklin in western Massachusetts), together with a pre-sale value supplied in manuscript for each lot.

Gideon Lee learned shoemaking in Amherst, MA. In 1807 moved to New York and opened his own shop. He became the largest tanner and supplier of leather skins to the trade and his business after passing through three generations was finally absorbed into the United States Leather Company in 1893. In addition to his business acumen Gideon Lee was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1823, Mayor of New York City in 1833, and the United States Congress in 1835-17.

Not in Romaine. Not in OCLC; the earliest leather auction catalogue listed was printed in New York in 1841. See Biographical Dictionary of the U. S. Congress and Hide and Leather: The International Weekly, Vol. 61, No. 1 (January 1921) p. 54 for biographical information.


At the end of the printed form (occupying the two blank columns) there is a short manuscript note regarding the sale signed "Gideon Lee & Co." Sale contains tens of thousands of pounds of hides from Carthegena, Pernambuco, Buenos Ayres, Porto Rico [sic], Oronoko [sic], New Orleans, Madagascar, Russia, et al., offered by approximately 25 named tanneries (e.g. Northampton, Cummington, Worthington and Franklin in western Massachusetts), together with a pre-sale value supplied in manuscript for each lot.

Gideon Lee learned shoemaking in Amherst, MA and in 1807 moved to New York and opened his own shop. Overtime he became the larges tanner and supplier of leather skins to the trade and his business after passing through three generations was finally absorbed into the United States Leather Company in 1893. In addition to his business acumen Gideon Lee was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1823, Mayor of New York City in 1833, and the United States Congress in 1835-17.

Not in Romaine. Not in OCLC; the earliest leather auction catalogue listed was printed in New York in 1841. See Biographical Dictionary of the U. S. Congress and Hide and Leather: The International Weekly, Vol. 61, No. 1 (January 1921) p. 54 for biographical information. Item #298

Price: $1,575.00