The Regular Book of Entries Belonging to David Smith Darmon [business ledger]

Salem, N.J., 1840. Hardcover. Good. [approx. 650] p.; 41 cm. Remains of original leather binding. Ledger book of David Smith Darmon (1815-1879), a saddler in Salem, N.J. The first part of the ledger begins on April 15, 1840, and goes to Feb. 26, 1858, in Salem, N.J. The next page is headed "Philadelphia July 16 1859." The Philadelphia entries run through March 1860. The next page is headed "The Regular Book of Entries Belonging to David S. Darmon" and starts with April 11, 1865, in Salem, N.J. This suggests that the business had been taken over by David Smith Darmon, one of the sons of David Smith Darmon (1815-1879), the latter generally known as Smith Darmon. This section runs to April 1875. The next section begins in Salem in Feb. 1889 but does not identify the person who "Commenced business this date." It runs to the beginning of 1892. The final section contains entries from the 1870s. David Smith Darmon (1815-1879) worked with leather as well as renting out horses and carriages. The entries run from making 16 handles for fire buckets for the Union fire Co. to hiring out a horse and sulky. A rare record of a mid-19th-century New Jersey business. In Good Condition: lacking leather from spine; front board is detached but present; back board is almost detached; front free endpaper is detached with loss from lower section, without loss of writing; otherwise, the pages are solid with occasional soiling or fading.