1826 Handwritten Math Book With Folk Art Levi Chase Portsmouth Rhode Island

Description

1826 Levi Chase Math Manuscript Cypher Book With Folk Art and whimsical Doodles. This nearly 200 year old early American school journal is identified on several pages including page 80 “Levi Chase’s book of Portsmouth, Rhode Island”. Perhaps Levi was daydreaming during class time as he sketched. The primitive elephant (Little Bett ???) was my favorite!
Levi Chase
, (1812 -1885) son of John Chase (1766-1868) and Ruth Pearse (1780-1869) was born in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Levi, a farmer, married Mary Potter (1811–1891) in 1834. His paternal grandfather was Zaccheus Chase (1737-1816) who married Elizabeth Gould (1739-1821). His ancestors on maternal side include Wait Coggeshall born on September 11, 1636, in Boston, her father, John, was 34, and her mother, Mary, was 32. Wait married Daniel Gould on December 18, 1651, in Rhode Island. On his paternal side Levi was a descendant of William Chase born in 1645 in Yarmouth, Massachusetts. Levi is laid to rest in Portsmouth Friends Churchyard.
Folk Art Sketches
; all pictured
Page 37
horse and rider
Page 57
sailboat
Page 64
elephant
{
makes me wonder if this was drawn from his recollection of the elephant named Betty the Fabulous Learned Elephant (or, Little Bett), who was loved by audiences on the East Coast from the Carolinas to Maine. Sadly this elephant was killed in 1826 in Rhode Island}
Page 65
self portrait
?
Page 71
Orange cow
Page 79
ship
with masts and notice the 2 tiny men
Contains mathematical work including
: compound addition, compound subtraction, compound multiplication, practical questions, compound division, reduction ascending, Troy weight, examples in reduction of federal money, apothecaries weight, wine measure, dry measure, cloth measure, long measure, solid measure, time, circular motion, decimal fractions, East India money, rule of three direct, insurance, tare and trett, federal money, short practical rules for sterling money, loss and gain, annuities, etc
Condition and notes
Measures approximately 9” by 14 1/2”
Levi’s name in pencil inside front cover as pictured
All of Levi’s doodles are pictured
First page is numbered 25. Pagination 25-93. 100-188
Very heavy external wear to wraps, detached.
Contents good /fair condition with age toned paper, many chipped edges, a few closed marginal tears. Browning.
Many loose pages.
Poem written on page 62
Levi Chase wrote his name on several pages 38, 40, 41,43, 45, 73,80, 85,113
Identified Portsmouth Rhode Island as pictured
Exterior wraps as found with extremely heavy loss, tears, chips, crackling, rough edges and deteriorating
Age toned paper
Pages are very fragile
Edge wear to pages
String binding of sections mostly perished
Small Marginal tears to several pages but none severely torn
Binding is not sound, his manuscript is in several sections where the nearly 200 year old string could not just hold any longer.
Overall exterior in poor condition as discovered which although poor helped preserve contents
Ink splotches
Scattered foxing
Page 117 heavily browned loose, torn
Almost 200 years old a rare survivor. Would benefit from professional conservation or displayed as discovered. Levi’s sketches take us from ordinary cypher book to extraordinary!
Extremely fragile.
School not identified.
Additional photos on request
Some filters applied to photos
Signature required on delivery