Bookman in Business

(PENNSYLVANIA). Receipt for McAllister & Son, Manufacturers. Philadelphia. September 18, 1821. Sheet 6.5” x 8." 1 p. Printed letterhead and ink. Browned, folds, edges uneven, small hole from pen. $85.00

A receipt made out to “Mr. Rogers” for a pair of dividers and a Gunter’s scale--a seaman’s navigational instrument. It is signed received by John McAllister & Son. McAllister’s long standing business was then at 48 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia. The bottom of the sheet says “Bonscastles Reservation (?) or Bonscastles Measuration (?)--a place or an optical instrument?

John McAllister, Jr., (1786-1877) took over his father’s business in Philadelphia in 1811 which carried whips and canes, and later spectacles, glasses, and optical articles. John McAllister, Jr., later devoted himself to the collection of a library connected with the history of Philadelphia. He was the oldest alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania, and the oldest member of the Philadelphia Library Company, of the Athenaeum, and of the St. Andrew's Society.