Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - January - 2007 Issue
Important Works Offered by Bauman Rare Books
The prospectus for James Joyce's Ulysses.
In America, the editors of a serial publication that began printing chapters were arrested for obscenity. That led Sylvia Beach and the publishing arm of her Paris bookstore to offer to publish the work. The French were more open. Joyce did not believe it would sell more than a handful of copies, but Ms. Beach called for a print run of a thousand, and while it did not make it off the press until February of 1922, her expectations proved correct. The controversy surrounding the book made it a commercial success and Joyce quickly became a widely known author. The prospectus is priced at $8,800.
Many people probably believe Lewis and Clark were the first to cross the North American continent, but that honor belongs to Alexander Mackenzie. He recounts his amazing travels in Voyages from Montreal, on the River St. Laurence, through the Continent of North America, to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans; In the Years 1789 and 1793. It took until 1801 for Mackenzie to publish his report on these two great trips. On the first, he traveled up the Mackenzie River (you can guess who that was named for) all the way to the Arctic Ocean. On the second, he headed due west, following rivers, mountain trails, and overland, finally descending the Bella Coola River to the Pacific. Mackenzie's journey was across Canada, but Thomas Jefferson and Meriwether Lewis would read his book as they plotted the journey better known to most Americans. Item 123. $9,500.
Item 11 is The Will of General George Washington, by, naturally, George Washington, but published, naturally, posthumously in 1800. Washington, who had no children, divided his estate equally among 23 heirs, assuring no single one would ever fulfill a role as his successor. Washington was, after all, the father to all of his nation, not just a select few. However, what is even more noteworthy of his will was the freeing of his slaves. Wrote Washington, "Upon the decease of my wife, it is my will and desire, that all the slaves which I hold in my own right shall receive their freedom." Washington had provided the example to his countrymen of how to deal with the slavery issue, but their failure to follow his lead would inevitably result in the nation's most bloody conflict six decades later. $18,500.
For those seeking a connection to America's charismatic and mourned young president, John F. Kennedy, item 109 is a 13-paged typed speech, filled with Kennedy's hand annotations. It deals with foreign issues, particularly America's Cold War conflicts with the Soviet Union. The timing is most significant. The speech was prepared on June 14, 1960, as Kennedy was seeking his party's nomination for president. His stands on defense and foreign relations would be key to his successful election that November. $18,000.
We have just scratched the surface of this catalogue, but this should provide an idea of the level of material that is offered. Bauman Rare Books may be found online at www.baumanrarebooks.com, phone number 212-751-0011.
