Original antique account ledger.
Leather spine, marbled paper over boards.
8 3/8" x 13 1/8"


Most of the account entries are from the years 1868 and 1869.
A later owner of this ledger used it as a scrapbook, and attached various newspaper and magazine clippings to some pages.
The clippings are from the WWI era and the 1920s.
Most of the clippings were attached at the corner, only.  Some of the glued corners have been released to show the original ledger writing on the pages.
( see the photos )
Also attached are some typewritten poems ( around 1919-1920s), including " Hunka Tin " ( which is about Henry Ford cars ; according to the poem, even with the troubles of Ford cars, they are still better and more reliable than a Packard ! ), and " Cling To Those Who Cling To You " ( this poem is dated Oct. 1924 ).

The earlier account entries ( 1868 ) are mostly records of buying and selling , including Flour , Beef , Coffee , etc., with names of person or business bought from and names of persons sold to, along with quantities and price.
The goods bought and sold seem all to be in larger quantities ; this appears to be a wholesale middleman, selling to other businessmen.

The original owner wasn't always successful in his efforts to turn a profit; there are some records of goods sold at below his original purchase price.
Business isn't easy, and remember this is 1868-1869, just a few years after the Civil War had ended ; times were hard.

Later account entries have less detail.

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From the first page of ledger entries :

 " North Orange , April 1st, 1868 ; I commenced business this day with a cash capital of $800 (?)"

" Bot ( bought ) of Geo. B. Mayo 50 bhls. Flour at ($)8 -  ($)400 "

" Bot ( bought ) of Crawford And Coon , 50 Beef at ($)18 -  ($)900 "

" Bot ( bought ) of J. Jones on acct. ( account ) 1000 bushels Potatoes at 60 cents -  ($)600 "

" Sold to Samuel Goodwin 50 bhls. Flour at ($)6 -  ($)300 " ( a loss of $100 in this transaction )

" Sold to A. Sinclair on a/c ( account ) 1000 bushels Potatoes at ($)1 -  ($)1000  " ( a gain of $400 )

" Sold to Geo. E. Young on acct.  50 bhls. Beef at ($)10 -  ($)500 " ( a loss of $400 )

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In following transactions the owner of the ledger seemed to fare better.
For example :

" Bot ( bought ) of R. Worth on acct. 5 H.hds ( hogshead ;  a large cask ) Shugar ( sugar ), 5000# at 5 cents -  ($)250 "

" Sold Geo. Lewis on acct. 3 H.hds. Shugar ( sugar ) 3000# at 9 cents - ($)270 "

( so a better transaction here, already $20 profit with 2 hogsheads of sugar remaining to be sold )

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Turning the page, the businessman is no longer in North Orange , but is now in Boston :

" Boston , July 9, 1868 ; I commenced business with the following resources :
Cash on hand -  ($)1500
Mdse ( merchandise ) 200 bhls. Flour at $5 -  ($)1000 "

Etc., Etc., Etc.

The businessman was something of a wheeler and dealer, trading in merchandise including Flour , Pork , Sugar , Brussells Carpeting , cases of " Yankee Notions " , Webster Dictionaries , Reams of Paper , Blank Books , Coffee , Black Broad Cloth , Blue Broad Cloth , Salt , Firkins of Butter , etc., etc.

( " Yankee Notions " were goods made in New England , made widely known by traveling Yankee peddlers ( salespeople ).
Yankee Notions items included pins, needles, hooks, scissors, combs, small hardware, buttons, thread, ribbon, minor trinkets, knick-knacks, household industries, nails, clocks, tin ware, and miscellaneous novelties. )

There are also records of Railroad Stock being traded, and records of Real Estate being sold.
There is a record of " Cash in Franklin Bank - $2000 "
There are records of Rent paid.
There are several mentions of a " Store " which the businessman owned.
On Dec. 4, 1868 a check on Franklin Bank is noted.

On Feb. 1, 1869 the businessman commenced business in Dorchester , Massachusetts , where he engaged in buying and selling for about 2 months.
By April 1st, 1869, he was in Champlain , New York , buying and selling.

There are records of buying and selling what appear to be Bank Notes ( some of the handwriting is a bit hard to read and the notation isn't familiar ).
There is mention of Bank Metropolis New York , rate of exchange , " discounted note at  % ", State Bank of Illinois (?),  Merchants Bank of Buffalo , etc., etc.

On March 19, 1869 is an entry which says :
" We have disposed of the depreciated currency notes of The State Bank of ---- ( hard to read ) through our agent Spring. "
" Sold C. W. Steele for Cash our Draft no. 2 on Merchant's Bank , Buffalo , at 1% exchange "  ( which raised $800 )

Etc., Etc., Etc.

On May 1st, the entries include :
" Allowed $100 per month for services of an accountant ."

" Warehouse and Wharf corner of Union and Water Streets valued ($)20,000 "
" Furniture and Fixtures ( valued ) ($)500 "
" Two Horses and ---- (?) , ($)400 "
" Cash - ($)3000 "
" W. B. Parsons capital , ($)10,500 "
" B. Chapman capital , ($)7,000 "
" S. ------- ( hard to read ) ($)4000 "
" ( another, hard to read ) ($)2400 "

( presumably this ledger was owned by one [ or all ] of the men named as possessing Capital )

In June of 1869, business was being transacted in Grand Rapids ( presumably Michigan ), but by later in the month the entries recorded are back in North Orange ( possibly New Jersey ? ).

At this point the detailed account entries from the 1868-1869 end.
Several pages later there begins a separate section of entries in North Orange, back at the beginning in 1868.
These are records of cash and expenses, with names, locations and dates but no other details.

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Condition.
As noted above, an owner in the early 1900s used this 1860s account ledger as a scrapbook.
There are clipping pasted in ( pasted at the corners of the clippings ).
Also, the " scrapbooker " removed a number of the pages from the ledger.
( the first present entry is for April 1, 1868, however the first entry at the rear section is January 1, 1868, so it looks like the first 3 months of 1868 were cut from the front of the ledger ).
In the "blank" section, a later owner wrote some non-business entries , such as the lyrics of the Class Song for Becker's Business College, June, 1917, and also added some more clippings to the blank pages.
Toward the rear there are a few entries in different handwriting, from the 1890s.
Some more pages were cut out from the rear of the ledger, presumably because a long-ago owner needed some paper.

The binding is in good condition, with some general wear.
" Scrap Book " is hand-written on a label, pasted to the front cover.
The covers remain well attached, with no splitting in the leather.
The spine leather is scuffed, but is otherwise in quite good condition.

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Over 150 years old.
American business in the post Civil War era.

Carefully packed for shipment to the buyer.