• 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.
  • 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
  • Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000
  • 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

Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - January - 2013 Issue

Early American Material from M & S Rare Books

Early Americana.

M & S Rare Books has released a catalogue of Early American Literature, Medicine & Science, Thought, Reform & History. That may not include everything in the field of early Americana, but a lot of ground can be covered with those subjects. To that we will add these items are not limited to books. There is much in the way of shorter form printed material, such as broadsides, and many manuscript works. In fact, there are many manuscript collections, numerous documents part of a family collection, diaries kept by individuals, and other sizable groups of material. For the most part, these collections originated in the 19th century. These are a few of the items you will find in this new catalogue.

Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote perhaps the most influential book of the 19th century, her 1852 publication, Uncle Tom's Cabin, firing the abolitionist movement like no other work. However, in 1830, she was still a teenager, noted, if at all, as well-known minister Lyman Beecher's daughter, or the little sister of women's education reformer Catharine Beecher. In that year, the younger Miss Beecher gave a copy of her older sister's book, Suggestions Respecting Improvements in Education... to a friend. She inscribed it lightly in pencil, “Miss Mary Ann Giles, from her friend, H. Beecher, Boston, March 20, 1830.” Item 131. Priced at $2,500.

Harriet Beecher Stowe took lots of grief in the South for her book, but probably none any worse then that inflicted on her brother, clergyman Henry Ward Beecher, by Virginia publisher George Bagby. He published this pamphlet, under the pseudonym “Virginian,” to urge people not to attend a lecture by Beecher in Richmond in 1877. Though not a political figure, Beecher was likely the most influential man in America during the era, though his reputation had recently been tarnished by scandal – an alleged affair with a friend's wife. Beecher had been a strong opponent of slavery and Union supporter during the war. The Virginian Bagby was not about to let bygones be bygones, even though the war had ended more than a decade earlier. He writes, “Consider this being in the shape of a man, whose picture disgraces our walls, whose long lecherous upper lip, swine's eyes with drooping lids, narrow bigot's forehead, lank puritanical hair, and pudgy fingers...” Enough. You get the idea. Item 29. $600.

Item 160 is undoubtedly the most important inaugural address ever given. However, it was not momentous for its content. Item 160 is the Inaugural Address. President Wm. H. Harrison, delivered in 1841. William Henry Harrison was the first (of two) Whig presidents, swept into office over the incumbent Democrat Martin Van Buren, the result of a lingering recession. Harrison was one of our oldest presidents, elected at the age of 68, more on change than specifics of his platform. Nonetheless, he had a lot to say the day of his inauguration. Too much. He read the words of this inaugural for two hours, inadequately dressed for the freezing temperatures that early March day in Washington. It weakened his resistance. Harrison took ill, became bedridden, and never recovered, succumbing a month after taking office. This undated broadside appears to have been printed shortly after the address was given, perhaps the first such printing. $5,500.

Item 316 gives us a look at rapidly developing transportation options in the first half of the 19th century. It is the Report of Examinations and Surveys of a Route for a Rail-Road from Canajoharie, Situated on the Erie Canal, to the Village of Catskill, on the Hudson River, by Lt. John Pickell. This was published in 1831, though the railroad was incorporated in 1830. One familiar with New York State geography might wonder what the need was for connecting these two small towns. Their locations by the Erie Canal and Hudson River is the explanation. The Erie Canal, that major gateway to the West, which enabled goods to be affordably shipped from much of the American interior to a port (New York), literally opened the West to trade in 1825. And yet, only five years later, a railroad was contemplated to cut-off a portion of that water route, providing a quicker path and avoiding some of the tricky waters of the Hudson. Canals, the major source of inland transportation, were quickly being overtaken by rails, just a decade old at the time. It was estimated that the railroad could make a go of it with 72 tons of cargo per day. However, while the railway did open for part of the distance in 1836, it was never completed before going broke. $175.

Item 373 is the Instruction Book for Matheson 1910 Model 18 Six-cylinder Car. It includes color plates of different models. If you are interested in a Matheson, you will probably have to settle for this instruction book. There aren't many still on the road. Matheson was formed in 1903 in Michigan, moved to Massachusetts, and then Pennsylvania, where they opened a large assembly plant. Unfortunately, by 1912, the company was in receivership and the last cars in inventory sold. $500.

Item 4 is an apparently unknown broadside from the dawn of American flight. This is not the Wright Brothers, but noted American balloonist John Wise, from the beginning of American aeronautics. Wise began testing his balloons in 1835. He had high aspirations when this broadside was printed in 1839, announcing a flight from Allentown, Pennsylvania. For 50 cents, you could hear various presentations, and in the afternoon, watch Wise alight to the skies. At two miles in height, you could witness Wise drop a dog in a parachute, “which will reach the earth in safety.” That quote would have been reassuring to the dog, who must have been scared witless when pushed out of the balloon. Wise was a believer. He obtained the first air mail contract, but reached the wrong location. He was hired to scout enemy positions during the Civil War, but got caught in the trees. He made a major discovery, the upper air currents that constantly flow west to east, and planned to ride them to Europe, though that never happened. Finally, in 1879, at the age of 71, Wise took off in his balloon from East St. Louis. Neither he, nor his balloon, was ever heard from again. The body of a passenger was found in Lake Michigan, the likely answer. What Wise was never quite able to master was how to steer these things. $30,000.

M & S Rare Books may be reached 401-421-1050 or dsiegel@msrarebooks.com. Their website is found at www.msrarebooks.com.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [AVIATION]. [ARMSTRONG, Neil A.] Aviation Hall of Fame Gold Medal MS64 NGC, Awarded to Neil Armstrong in 1979. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: A VERY RARE ACCOUNT OF BLACKBEARD’S DEATH AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIRATE ITEMS EXTANT. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.
  • 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.

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