Rider, Sidney S. An Inquiry concerning the Authenticity of an alleged Portrait of Roger Williams (Rhode Island Historical Tracts. Second Series, No. 2). Providence: Sidney S. Rider, 1891. First Edition. [11334]
Recently bound in blue cloth, gilt titles to spine, 8 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches. Original front of the blue wrapper retained, 31 pp., 3 b/w illustrations. Good. Hardcover.
Limited to 250 copies.
No portrait of Roger Williams was known to exist until 1844, when one first appeared in a small Welsh tract published in New York. A portrait, which, is remarkable in its similarity to one of Benjamin Franklin.
Sidney Smith Rider (1833-1917), b. Brainards' Bridge, New York; d. Providence, Rhode Island. As a lad of 12 years of age he moved with his family to Rhode Island, where he was apprenticed to Charles Burnett, a Providence bookseller. He took an avid interest in Rhode Island history, and was eventually able to acquire Burnett's bookshop. Rider assembled the largest private collection of materials related to the history of Rhode Island, which was purchased for the Brown University Library in 1903. He published several serials on book collecting and Rhode Island History, including The Bibliomaniac, Book Notes, The Literary News, and Rhode Island Historical Tracts.
