Two (2) books attributed to George Thompson Garrison, son of famous abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. Lot includes: 

1. Manuscript day-book. Boston, 1 July-30 September 1845. 12 pages, folio, 8 3/4 x 14 in. In original wrapper with string binding. Label to front cover reads: "DAY-BOOK. / Established by the present Proprietor, A.D. 1840. / Book-Keeping and Navigation. / COMER'S INSTITUTE, / No. 139 Washington, corner of School Street, / OPEN DAY AND EVENING, for thorough instruction in Penmanship, Arithmetic, Book-Keeping, and the general requirements of the Merchant's Clerk. / NO CLASS SYSTEM. Students aided in procuring suitable EMPLOYMENT. A separate room for Ladies. Complicated Accounts Adjusted, &c. Copying, &c. &c. / THE NAVIGATION DEPARTMENT is replete with all the best instruments and appliances for imparting practical instruction. Also, in Algebra, Geometry, Surveying, &c. / For Sale as above, Comer's Double Entry Book-Keeping, without the Journal, price 63 cents; Blanks, 30 cents per set; Comer's Writing without a Master, 25 cents; Comer's Steel Pens, three sizes, large, medium, and fine, the best ever imported; Gold Pens, Nautical Works, Instruments, &c." 

Garrison's name is mentioned on pages 11 and 12, accompanied by a list of assets on hand and debts due on 30 September. Based on the daybook's front label, perhaps this was a practice ledger from Comer's Initiatory Counting-Room — he would work as an accountant after the Civil War and then as a bookkeeper from 1868-1871, so learning how to balance finances would be an essential skill. 

2. Manuscript cyphering book. [Danvers, Massachusetts], 1854. 24 pages, 8 filled, 8 3/8 x 6 5/8 in. In original wrapper with string binding. Inscription to front in period ink and pencil identifying subject and date. 

Not only is Garrison's name inscribed on the front cover, but on the last filled out page, he writes the following line 21 times: "A sample of penmanship by Geo./George T. Garrison." Cyphering books were used in schools to practice penmanship, as well as arithmetic. He did attend boarding school in Hopedale, Massachusetts, from 1850-1852, then worked in a law office in Danvers, Massachusetts, from 1851-1854, so perhaps this cyphering book was a byproduct of that time in his life. 

Garrison (1836-1904) worked at newspapers across the country during the 1850s, mainly as a printer. Once the Civil War broke out, however, he accepted an officer's commission in 1863 as second lieutenant in Company I, 55th Massachusetts Infantry, which was comprised of Black soldiers and white officers. He stayed in the 55th through 1865, by the end being promoted to captain of Company K, and participated in the Battles of Honey Hill and St. James Island. He was brevetted a major in July 1867, then returned to working at newspapers. 

His father, William (1805-1879), also worked at newspapers, first joining the abolitionist paper Genius of Universal Emancipation in 1829 before establishing his own anti-slavery paper, The Liberator, in 1831. William also founded the American (née Massachusetts) Anti-Slavery Society, of which he was the president and called fort he complete abolition of slavery. He also used his platform to advocate for women's rights, chiefly their suffrage. After the Civil War ended, he closed The Liberator and stepped down as the Society's president, but he continued to write and speak as an advocate for social reforms. 

References: 

"Garrison Family Papers" at Massachusetts Historical Society. 

Slocum, Elliott L. "Comer's Initiatory Counting-Room." Accounting Historians Notebook 15, no. 1 (1992): 25-27. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aah_notebook/vol15/iss1/14 

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs] [African Americana, African American History, Black History, Slavery, Enslavement, Abolition, Emancipation]

Wrapper on day-book partially separated.