Rare Book Monthly
Articles - November - 2003 Issue
Second Part of H.P. Kraus <br>Auction This Month
Dolphin and embryo from Pierre Belon’s Natural History. Courtsey of Sotheby’s
Lot 248 is a complete set of the satirical weekly Heraclitus Ridens: Or, A Discourse between Jest and Earnest, where many a True Word is spoken in opposition to all libellers against the Government. Published from 1681-1682, it uses a dialogue between “Jest” and “Earnest” to make its points. The publication is considered to be a forerunner of the famed “Punch” magazine. Number 79 includes some satirical comments on Carolina, implying no one owning more than one shirt would go there. $2,000-$3,000.
For those interested in politics, lot 254 is a collection of rare French political pamphlets from 1614-1616. This collection of 29 pamphlets provides an excellent primary source for issues of the time. $2,000-$3,000.
Lot 540 is a major collection of items pertaining to the last years of the tsarist regime and the Russian Revolution. Included is an almost complete set of minutes of the Provisional Government of 1917, the bridge between the tsars and the communists. The final one of these documents is a stenographic record of the October 7 meeting in which Trotsky’s speech is followed by a walkout of the Bolsheviks. Three days later, the October Revolution begins. Other documents come from the Constitutional Assembly in exile in Paris, and continue as late as reports of meetings in Petrograd in 1920-1921, and the time of the ill-fated Kronstadt Rebellion, where the Soviet government revealed itself through the brutal repression of the Kronstadt sailors’ calls for workers’ and human rights. $35,000-$50,000.
On a lighter note is lot 526, John Reynold’s Discourse on Prodigious Abstinence: Proving that without the Intervention of a Miraculous Power the Texture of Humane Bodies may be so altered, that Life may be long continued without the usual supplies of Meat and Drink. Not that Reynolds treated this matter lightly. This is his investigation of Martha Taylor, the “fasting damsel” of Bakewell, Derbyshire, England. She was one of a handful of women from the 17th to 19th centuries who claimed to go for long periods of time without eating. In Taylor’s case, the fast was supposed to have lasted for over a year while she lay in bed reading (but, naturally, without the bonbons). To be fair, it is said that she did partake of the juice of a raisin. Not much else is known of her or of what conclusions were finally drawn, but burial records indicate she lived for another fifteen years after her return to the lunch line. $600-$800.
The second part of the Kraus auction will take place at Sotheby’s in New York on Thursday and Friday, December 4 and 5. There are morning and afternoon sessions both days, at 10:15 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. There will be 651 lots auctioned, and unlike the earlier auction, most lots consist of single items. For inquiries, call 212-606-7000. Absentee bids may be placed by phone. For a complete listing, go online to Sotheby’s site at http://search.sothebys.com. Under “auction calendar” on the left column, click “view full auction calendar” and scroll down to December 4. You can then go to “Browse Catalogue.”
