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Washington traveling desk,

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fine and rare painted pine traveling desk box, box top set with period brass drawer pull, old dry painted surface, blue/green painted exterior with hinged lid opening to interior with two small drawers and cubbyholes with yellow and red decorated facings and red-washed cubbyhole interiors, side-opening lid interior painted bright yellow and centering an engraved portrait of George Washington surrounded by red and green wreath decoration and initials "W.B.S." and "N.L." for the Washington Benevolent Society, New England, probably Massachusetts, date 1812 in red, 9-3/4 x 21-3/4 x 11 in.; lot accompanied by [The Textbook of the Washington Benevolent Society,] printed Concord, published by George Haugs Page, 1812, frostispiece with printed and inscribed text "This certifies, that Dudley George has been regularly admitted a member of the Washington Benevolent Society, instituted in the City of New York on the 12th of July A.D. 1808 and established at Hampton County of Rockingham on the 4th day of March 1813, John Loeb(?) President, James Cales(?) Sec'ry." Minor wear and losses to painted surface, especially at molding edges and around lock escutcheon. Provenance: Rockwell Gardiner, Stamford, Connecticut; Given to Nina Fletcher Little by Bertram K. Little as a birthday present; the Bertram K. Little and Nina Fletcher Little Collection, Sotheby's New York, January 29, 1994, lot 195; Estate of the Late William and Priscilla Carlebach, Mystic, Connecticut and Bedford, New York. ** Literature: Nina Fletcher Little, [Neat and Tidy,] 1980, pp. 28-29, figure 11. Little writes that "This unusual box is a rare survival pertaining to the clandestine activities of the once powerful Washington Benevolent Society. Offshoots of the organization constituted active fraternal clubs that operated secretly to gain political influence for the Federalists. The first Benevolent Society was formed in New York City in 1808, soon to be followed by others in Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Vermont, with Massachusetts added in 1812. Branches then sprang up in many small New England cities and towns. This resulted in considerable social ill feeling emanating from the spread of the Society, although it ceased to attract much attention after the close of the War of 1812. Each applicant took an oath to support the Constitution and received a textbook containing Washington's Farewell Address and the Constitution of the United States, with a certificate of membership printed on the flyleaf. In the remaining examples of these little books, the frontispiece presents a little-known bust of Washington inscribed 'A. Todd Sculpt." ** Regarding this particular example, Little notes that it "was probably made to be used by the secretary of one of the Massachusetts Benevolent Societies, a position often held in secret by a locally prominent man such as Harrison Gray Otis, an active Federalist, who was secretary of the Boston society. Fitted with drawers and pigeonholes for writing material and papers, the cover when closed down forms one of the sides of the box so the top does not open upward, making access to the interior not readily apparent to prying eyes."

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