Rare Book Monthly
Articles - October - 2003 Issue
H.P. Kraus Reference Library<br>At Auction This Month
Page from Item 44 by Guglielmo Libri. Courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Under “bookbinding,” there are many combined lots, grouped either by country or personality. For example, Lot 25 includes nine items pertaining to Jean Grolier, including a few published by his namesake Grolier Club. Estimated price is $500-$700. Lot 44 is an interesting work by Guglielmo Libri. Libri’s work contains 60 plates of bindings of books that the not-too-honest author evidently stole from various French libraries. $1,000-1,500. Collector’s of Thomas J. Wise may be interested
There are many wonderful resources in American bibliography available. For example, lot 62 is a collection of 14 references on American Indians. Included are bibliographies from Field, Pilling, two of Indian captivities, and the Ayer collection. $600-$800. Lot 95 is Clarence Brigham’s History and Bibliography of American Newspapers 1690-1820, published by the American Antiquarian Society in 1947, along with three other related titles. $400-$600. Lots 102 and 103 are each 13-item collections of various state bibliographies.
For subscribers to the Americana Exchange Database (ÆD), there is an opportunity to pick up printed copies of several of the important bibliographies contained within that database. Lot 100 is Joseph Sabin and Wilberforce Eames’ Dictionary of Books Relating to America, signed by Eames. $1,000-$1,500. Lot 76 is Charles Evans’ American Bibliography. $1,000-$1,500. Lot 82 contains 27 volumes of the rare American Imprints Inventory. Published during the Depression at the behest of the WPA (1937-1942), these contain bibliographies of various states. The project was discontinued after Pearl Harbor as even bibliographers went off to war. $2,000-$3,000.
Other ÆD items include The Celebrated Collection of Americana formed by the late Thomas Winthrop Streeter (and two other items) - $800-$1,200; numerous Edward Eberstadt catalogues along with many others pertaining to western Americana - $400-$600, and the aforementioned Field and Pilling bibliographies.
The heading of “Cartography Reference” finds many items for those with an interest in maps. For example, lot 131 presents 47 separate pieces published by the Hakluyt Society. $2,000-$3,000. The category of Manuscript Reference rounds out the first session on Tuesday morning.
