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This volume documents Henry Mathewson's accounts while he served as the master and supercargo of the ships Mercury and Superior from 1820 to 1827, likely provided as defense in legal disputes with Willard W. Wetmore who was a partner with one of the firms involved in the trading venture. It notes the expenses and income generated by voyages under Mathewson's command while at various ports in Germany, Peru, Chile, Brazil, Gibraltar, China, and others. Mathewson's accounts provide insight into general seafaring conditions, Pacific mercantile pursuits in South America and China, and speculation efforts. It records wages for members of the crew, financial transactions relating to cargo purchases along the western coast of South America, dealing with government regulations, and commissions with other merchants and travelers. The accounts also reveal particular details, such as the costs associated with purchasing military arms in Bremen, Germany, and the subsequent financial transactions with the Peruvian government for their sale. Occasional references are made in the volume linking this to Mathewson's ongoing legal disputes. The account book is an oversize volume with heavy paper covers and stab-sewn pages.

This volume documents Henry Mathewson's accounts while he served as the master and supercargo of the ships Mercury and Superior from 1820 to 1827, provided as defense in legal disputes with Willard W. Wetmore who was a partner with one of the firms involved in the trading venture. It notes the expenses and income generated by voyages under Mathewson's command while at various ports in Germany, Peru, Chile, Brazil, Gibraltar, China, and others.

Mathewson's accounts provide insight into general seafaring conditions and Pacific mercantile pursuits. For example, they record wages for members of the crew, financial transactions relating to cargo purchases along the western coast of South America, dealing with government regulations, and commissions with other merchants and travelers. The costs of ship repairs, provisioning, and withstanding quarantine are well documented (pages 6, 12-13). Insights are also provided into the types of cargoes being shipped between South America and China, including timber, cotton, silver, gold, and specie (pages 30-31, 34, 39).

The accounts also reveal more particular details, like the costs associated with purchasing military arms in Bremen, Germany, and the subsequent financial transactions with the Peruvian government for their sale (pages 2, 6, 15, 26). Several entries also relate to hassles dealing with counterfeit or "bad" money (pages 6, 30, 35, 39, 46, 55). The accounts also demonstrate some of the unanticipated challenges of trade, like a failed deal to secure 1000 reams of Spanish Paper from a merchant at Rio de Janeiro (page 18) or being robbed by a steward (page 22). Small details about shipboard life also occasionally come to the surface, like the purchase of equipment for oceanic voyages, including a chronometer and sea charts of the Pacific Ocean (page 2), charts of the coast of Peru (page 26), or recovering money from a crewmember for smuggling gin from Germany to Peru (page 7).

Occasional references are made in the volume linking this to Mathewson's ongoing legal disputes, including accounts linked to unauthorized speculation in goods in 1822 and transactions with his business partners in Rhode Island (page 6). The volume includes a second section of accounts starting on page 41, preceded by the notice: "This statement of account, is exhibited by the Defft. Matthewson, not as the account by which he claims, unless the decision should be adverse to him on the question whether the owners of the Mercury as such had the same interest in the Superior her charter & voyage as they had in the Mercury. If the decision on this question is as Mathewson contends it should be, that the owners of the Mercury had not a joint interest with him in the Superior, these accounts will not be necessary, and are therefore exhibited hypothetically. But otherwise, they are his account of the Superior's voyage & employment."

The account book is an oversize volume with heavy paper covers and stab-sewn pages.

This volume was owned by successive generations of the Hoyt family in Stamford, Connecticut, and Hudson, Michigan, in the 18th and 19th centuries. Its contents include military accounts from St. Johns, Newfoundland; arithmetic problems and solutions; and drawings of animals and natural scenes, including two hunters' encounter with a bear.

This book was owned by successive generations of the Hoyt family in Stamford, Connecticut, and Hudson, Michigan, in the 18th and 19th centuries. The front cover of the hide-bound volume bears the faint remnants of the English royal arms. Writing on the inside of the front cover indicates that the volume was owned by Jonah Hoyt (or Hait) before being presented to his grandson, Fred L. Hoyt, on his 21st birthday. The early pages include 7 pages of accounts for the receipt of military stores and provisions at St. Johns, Newfoundland, between September 1762 and August 1764. The section also contains a birth register regarding the children of Jonah and Anna Polmateer Hoyt.

The bulk of the volume is mathematical problems and solutions, including exercises related to multiplication, division, fractions and decimals, currency reduction, and the rule of three (cross-multiplication). Several measurement conversion tables, brief poems, penmanship exercises, and geometric line drawings are interspersed throughout this portion of the book, which also includes signatures by Jonah Hoyt and his son Lewis. Most of the poems are brief and humorous, with longer poems concerning a visit to London and the virtue of patience. Newspaper clippings regarding the death and funeral of George Washington, the wealth of Cornelius Vanderbilt, presidential election results from 1789 to 1872, and Ralph Waldo Emerson's poem "Boston" are laid and pasted into the volume. A few plants are also laid in, as well as a letter from T. Andrews to Mary Andrews about life in Ypsilanti, Michigan, in February 1837. Decorated cutouts made from colored paper are pasted into the volume.

Emery Hoyt and other family members created many drawings, which appear after the arithmetic problems. Two are colored: a partially colored view of a church resembling a castle and a reproduction of an engraving showing a waterfront scene (the original engraving is laid into the volume). Most of the remaining pictures are pencil drawings and sketches of wild animals, including woodland creatures such as squirrels and deer; farm animals such as horses, cattle, and pigs; and African animals such as elephants, an oryx, and rhinoceroses. Other scenes of note show two hunters during an encounter with a bear, with one of the hunters preparing to hit the bear with the butt of his rifle; a safari hunter beside an elephant; and cavalry officers stabbing and shooting Native Americans. Also included are an outline of the state of Maine and a sketch of a sailing ship.