Swann Galleries Printed and Manuscript Americana auction is set for Thursday, Nov. 20. The sale will feature a selection of Americana covering early depictions of the American flag to diaries documenting heiresses of the Gilded Age. The auction is led by an important 1776 diary by an officer from the Revolution named Benjamin Beal, tracing the journey north to reinforce the Invasion of Quebec, only to meet the shattered patriot Army decimated by a smallpox epidemic and preparing to retreat. Arriving safely back in Fort Ticonderoga, the diarist is appointed to lead a company of carpenters and detailed across the river to build fortifications at the newly christened Mount Independence, witnessing the aftermath of the Battle of Valcour Island before receiving his discharge. The diary is expected to bring $70,000 to $100,000. From the early days of America is an autograph letter signed by George Washington as Commander in Chief to Robert Morris expressing the anticipation of the coming British campaign against Philadelphia. Written in January of 1777, just a few weeks after Washingtons Christmas 1776 crossing of the Delaware River and his victories at Trenton and Princeton, the letter is estimated at $60,000 to $90,000. Also included are several scarce and important early American pamphlets, most notably Benjamin Rushs 1772 Sermons to Gentlemen upon Temperance and Exercise. Most volumes of sermons from this era would not generate much excitement, but this one has the first American discussion of golf. The publication is expected to bring $10,000 to $15,000. Other early pamphlets include The Indian Physician, Containing a New System of Practice, Founded on Medical Plants from 1828 (est. $2,000 to $3,000) and the 1764 Declaration and Remonstrance of the Distressed and Bleeding Frontier Inhabitants of the Province of Pennsylvania (est. $3,000 to $4,000). A 1784 German history of the American Revolution contains one of the first printed depictions of the Stars and Stripes (est. $2,000 to $3,000). Also on the manuscript front, we have a diary of a participant in the 1901 expedition to relieve Admiral Peary in Greenland (est. $5,000 to $7,000); papers of an Erie Canal boat captain (est. $800 to $1,200); and a diary of Brooke Russel (Astor), a young American girl on the Grand Tour (est. $5,000 to $7,500). A Mormon section will include early documents and manuscripts, led by an 1840 mortgage deed signed with Sidney Rigdon and Hyrum Smith at $30,000 to $40,000 and an 1849 commission issued to two Church representatives signed by Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards as the First Presidency, and additionally by Thomas Bullock as clerk, at $25,000 to $35,000. The Latin Americana section is headlined by a rare complete copy of the 1801 illustrated book, Vida de San Felipe de Jesus. The complete catalog and bidding information is available at www.swanngalleries.com.