nice to see you what's up what is it today oh i brought you in a really amazing piece of american
history if it wasn't for this book we'd probably all be speaking with english accents today
okay it was printed in philadelphia in 1779. the book itself is called the regulations for
the order and discipline of the troops of the united states this was really the first
drill book for the united states army they taught them how to be soldiers
actually it's pretty amazing i keep coming back to the shop because they have a genuine interest in
books and they pay fair prices it's hard to find books that are so important in american history
in their original state this was the american revolution who would have thought of saving a
book when you had to worry about your life i mean these were a bunch of ragtag soldiers and
they're fighting a professional british army so in 1777 washington withdrew to valley forge for
the winter encampment and they didn't know what to do they were losing men they were very unhappy
general washington almost lost his position as commander-in-chief so they brought in this
very famous prussian military officer to start training the american troops baron von steuben
so you're saying this book was written by von steuben yeah this was really a turning point this
allowed general washington to train his troops showing them how to use things like bayonets
teaching them in weapons here's really one of the first times you think of a modern army think of
attention at this word the soldier must be silent stand firm and steady moving either hand nor foot
yeah he was absolutely amazing with the troops and basically transformed you know the citizen
farmer soldier into a soldier exactly some people say that von steuben just showed up one day
looking to get a job others say that he was recommended by ben franklin himself
either way he whipped the american soldiers into shape and we kicked some british ass
there's plates at the back of the book which are quite interesting this actually shows the layout
of the camp okay you know one of the things that he wanted to implement was where do you put the
quartermaster where do you put the surge in where do you put the kitchen this wasn't obvious to you
know untrained army cadets very very interesting do you know if it's the first you know how many
editions there were there were many additions because it became such an important book it
really became what's called the blue book of the american army it was issued to all of many of the
soldiers but this is the actual first edition from 1779 first time it was printed all right
so i'm assuming this is the original binding the paper's right this is all handmade paper
sure i mean it looks rough but it's almost 250 years old i mean my problem is just figuring
out a price yeah i understand completely i'm i'm looking for 6 500 for it i i don't know if that's
absolutely insane number or a fair number you've met rebecca before let me let me
get her down here to take a look at it it's a great number don't even bother calling her sir
that just makes me want to call her even more give me a few minutes no problem i'm happy he's going
gonna call rebecca again i mean she really knows her stuff sometimes she's come in lower than i
would have liked for books in the past uh i could only cross my fingers you know and hope this time
one of my regulars brought in a book that was used to train soldiers during the revolutionary war
if it's as important as he says it's going to be worth a lot of money but i'm not taking his
word for it so rebecca is coming in to tell me what she thinks you brought me another book the
original field manual from the revolutionary war by von steuben himself the baron okay this is a
very cool book the baron actually is a really cool character in himself he was in the prussian army
under frederick the great so he had a good amount of experience in one of the world famous armies so
washington said all right here are 100 men drill them show me so the baron did and proved himself
the barons regulations was essentially the manual that standardized everything dealing with
military troops and discipline washington was a brilliant general but that means nothing if
the soldiers won't follow his orders so now is this the first edition listen there were
five editions published during the american revolution alone 1779 uh steiner insist
this is these are the philadelphia publishers it has uh the plates everything in place it is
a first edition okay it's miraculous that this book would survive and i really like it okay
i kind of want it okay i know different books are graded on condition differently this book
was someone's name scrawled across the front of it yeah rick here's the thing a book in the original
boards to the uninitiated often kind of looks trashy but this is the original binding put on
by the binder robert aitken in 1779. okay that is exceptional by itself any collector of americana
american revolution they're going to want this and they're going to want it bad because you
don't see copies okay so i i mean i'd give it a healthy price i would put the retail up at 18 000.
yeah okay i would surprisingly high more than i expected it this book completely deserves it
i should have never called you on yeah this thing is incredibly rare it's not something
you run into very often at all so even for me i handle rare books every day basis and this
is something that i haven't seen so she said a lot of people really want it very badly yes
the only question is how badly do you want it so i'll give you the 6500 well now that i heard the
experts evaluation i mean i want to be fair to you and everything what about 12 000.
you know how it is i mean the more expensive it is the longer it sits this is a very
important thing it's a very important book i i know that just the way rebecca acted um
let me give you 10 grand for it i think 10 grand is fair i'll make it simple
11 right down the line that's that's a very very fair price
you would be under british taxation if it wasn't for this book you have to pay 11 for it
i'll tell you what next time you're in here with a book you're going to give me a little better deal
i'll give you 11 grand all right i was definitely not intending to spend 11 000 on this book but i
have to admit this is beyond cool i might have to make this a christmas present to myself
you