• Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD
  • Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Alken (Henry). Sporting Notions, first edition, T.McLean, 1832-33. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Bardi (Lorenzo). Nuova Raccolta delle piu interessanti Vedute della Citta di Firenze…, Florence, Lorenzo Bardi, [c.1840]. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Crawfurd (John). Journal of an Embassy from the Governor-General of India to the Court of Ava..., first edition, 1829. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Dawe (George, engraver). The Life of a Nobleman, first edition, Geo. Henderson, [c.1825]. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: [Doyle (John)], "H.B.". Political Sketches &c., 10 vol. including The Descriptive Key to H.B., Thomas McLean, [1829-51]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Eben (Adolphus Christian Frederick, Baron von) and Nicolaus Heideloff. Modèles de l'Uniforme Militaire Adopté dans l'Armée Royale de Suède, Rudolph Ackerman, 1808. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Geissler (J.G.G.) and Friedrich Hempel. Mahlerische Darstellungen der Sitten, Gebrauche und Lustbarkeiten bey den Russischen, Tartarischen…, 4 parts in 1, Leipzig and Paris, [1804]. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Hunt (Charles). Portraits of Winning Horses...of the Derby, Oaks, & St. Leger, from the Year 1842 to 1849…, Rock Brothers & Payne, 1849. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Kunike (Adolf Friedrich). Zwey hundert und sechzig Donau-Ansichten nach dem Laufe des Donaustromes…, Vienna, Leopold Grund, 1826. £3,000 to £5,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Lasinio (Carlo). [Matrimony], Florence, 1790. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Reinhardt (Joseph). A Collection of Swiss Costumes, in Miniature, second English edition, James Goodwin, [1828]. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Wengen (Gottfried Durst von). Die Öffentliche Maskerade Bamberg am Fastnachts-Montage 1833…, Bamberg, [1833]. £2,000 to £3,000.

Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - December - 2012 Issue

A Miscellany from Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books and Manuscripts

A miscellany from Phillip J. Pirages.

Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books and Manuscripts is now offering their Catalogue 63: A 19th and 20th Century Miscellany, including many modest items. We presume those “modest” items refer to modestly priced items, rather than being some kind of a moral judgment. Pirages provides us with a striking catalogue, filled with thorough descriptions and images, despite there being over 500 items presented. This is accomplished by creating a catalogue the size of a medium-sized telephone book, 308 pages in all. The material is sufficiently varied to make it difficult to describe, so we will stick with the bookseller's description - a “miscellany.” You might find anything here, sort of like that telephone book. Here is a look at about 1% of what is offered.

Here is one of those apparently “immodest” books, though one would hardly think so considering the original recipient was a man of the cloth: Letters of James Boswell, Addressed to the Rev. W.J. Temple, Now First Published from the Original MSS. James Boswell, more often just known as “Boswell,” was a Scottish lawyer and writer whose lasting impact comes through the biography he wrote of the English lexicographer and wit Samuel Johnson. Boswell managed to get into the literary circles of his time which allowed for his association with Johnson. The Rev. Temple was a personal friend through most of Boswell's life, and these letters reveal more about his inner thoughts. The letters were first published here in 1857, over 60 years after Boswell died. A tipped in letter from an earlier owner, Lady Amscott-Ingilby, notes that this book is not recommended “for the young ladies' reading” on account of its indecencies. Item 82. Priced at $275.

Mark Twain found humor in just about everything. Here is an exception. He often found himself in a financial squeeze, so one thing he did not appreciate was someone else exploiting his name for their financial gain. In 1902, the Boston publisher Small, Maynard & Company printed an item called The House Party, purporting to contain stories submitted by 12 writers from a list of 25. They were published anonymously, and readers were invited to send in their guesses as to who wrote each. The first to correctly identify the authors was to receive a $1,000 prize. However, submissions had to be made on a form bound into The House Party. In other words, you had to pay to play, by buying the publication. An angered Twain wrote an article condemning the scheme for the North American Review, which he titled The Game as Played Up North. Item 117 is the autograph manuscript of this article. He had contacted 16 of the authors and found they either had not participated in the writing, or did not realize there would be an element of gambling involved. In his article, Twain condemns the scheme as being an illegal lottery with but a slim chance of winning. He then goes into what really bothered him, that his name was being used without his permission. The manuscript was sent to Clara Spaulding Stanchfield, a childhood friend of his wife and now a close family friend. The text is signed twice as “Mark Twain,” while the cover letter to Stanchfield is signed with Twain's actual initials, SLC. The article was never published. $20,000.

Here is a book that used every word you could possibly imagine, though most but once. This, naturally, would be a dictionary. Item 489 is the most important American dictionary ever published, the 1828 first edition of Noah Webster's An American Dictionary of the English Language. It contains 70,000 entries, all compiled by Webster himself. There were only 2,500 copies printed of the first edition, but Webster's work has gone on to be likely the best selling book ever originating in America. $22,500.

Here is a subject that doesn't often warrant its own book: Documents Relative to an Investigation of the Manner in which the Funeral of the Late Matthew Boulton, Esq. Was Furnished. Pirages explains that this item arose from “a lawsuit with attendant publicity that mushroomed to ridiculous proportions.” One George Lander had been hired to furnish headbands and scarves for the funeral of Matthew Boulton, who died in 1809. Apparently the quality was not very good, but even more upsetting to Boulton's only son, Matthew Robinson Boulton, was the bill – almost £545. That may not sound exorbitant until you realize that in today's currency, that is the equivalent of £31,000 or $50,000. Along with suing Lander, the younger Boulton made the public aware of the injustice in this pamphlet, which provides details of comparative pricing to make its point. Item 84. $350.

George Lander was not about to allow his good name to be besmirched, so he responded (also in 1811) with An Answer to the Pamphlet of Matthew Robinson Boulton, Esq. of Soho. Both of these pamphlets are quite rare. By the way, the deceased senior Mr. Boulton was a wealthy man, a business partner of inventor James Watt who made major advances in the design of steam engines. Item 85. $350.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Koller Auctions
    Books & Autographs
    20 March 2024
    Koller, Mar. 20: DADA - Der Zeltweg. Redaktion: Flake, Serner, Tzara. Zürich, 1919. CHF 5,000 – 8,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: Jespers, Floris - Peeters, Jan. Kinderlust. Antwerpen, J. F. Bogaerts & R. R. Dodson, [1923]. CHF 2,000 – 3,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: FARBENLEHRE - Chevreul, M. E. De la Loi du contraste simultané des couleurs et de l'assortiment des objets colorés. Paris, 1839. CHF 4,000 – 5,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: BOTANIK - Schrank, Franz de Paula von. Flora Monacensis, seu plantae sponte circa Monachium nascentes. München, 1811-1818. CHF 20,000 – 30,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: French Bible manuscript. Latin manuscript on parchment. With 81 illuminated, ornamental and figurative initials. Paris, c. 1250. CHF 90,000 – 120,000
    Koller Auctions
    Books & Autographs
    20 March 2024
    Koller, Mar. 20: Gradual for the use of a Dominican convent. Latin manuscript on parchment, with Flemish rubrics in black and red. Mecheln (?), c. 1520. CHF 25,000 – 40,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: Calendar. French manuscript on parchment. With 12 large colored thorn leaf initials on a gold background. Paris, c. 1380/1390. CHF 40,000 – 60,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: Freud, Sigmund. Collection of 23 handwritten letters to Alphonse Maeder in Zurich. In addition to 4 letter drafts from Maeder to Freud. 2 February 1910 - 21 September 1913. CHF 50,000 – 80,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: Jung, Carl Gustav. Collection of 26 autograph and 3 typescript letters and a postcard to Alphonse Maeder. 1911-1918. CHF 20,000 – 30,000
    Koller, Mar. 20: Nietzsche, Friedrich, philosopher. Handwritten letter signed to Richard Wagner. Basel, September 27, 1876. CHF 20,000 to 30,000
  • 19th Century Shop
    Catalogue 198 just published
    19th Century Shop. Darwin and Wallace, first printing of the first paper on natural selection
    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
    19th Century Shop. Major Elizabeth Barrett Browning manuscript notebook
    19th Century Shop. Spock's Baby Book, original MS
    19th Century Shop. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, the great celestial atlas

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