• Doyle
    Stage & Screen
    November 14 & 15
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: A studio-sanctioned Darth Vader Touring Costume from The Empire Strikes Back. $50,000 to $100,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: An original Al Hirschfeld's illustration of the cast of On Golden Pond. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: The largest trove of personal Grace Kelly letters to come to market. $60,000 to $80,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: An Important Archive of Musical Manuscripts of Truman Capote and Harold Arlen's House of Flowers. $40,000 to $60,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: The archive of an original Merrily We Roll Along Broadway cast member. $5,000 to $10,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: Jerry Herman's Yamaha Model C7 Ebonized Grand Piano. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: A large group of Jerry Herman musical posters. $300 to $500.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: Group of awards presented to Jerry Herman. $300 to $400.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: Six pages of original art for "The MAD Game of Basebrawl," a complete story published in MAD #167, pages 31-36, June 1974. $3,000 to $4,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: A MAD book made for Al Jaffee, containing original art and writings from many MAD contributors. 2011. $1,200 to $1,800.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: A Jaffee-themed MAD Fold-In - "What honor should the creator of the MAD Fold-Ins be given?" $800 to $1,200.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: MAD Fold-In - "What developing news story has many Americans totally transfixed?" $800 to $1,200.
  • Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    Printed Books, Maps & Caricatures
    13 November 2024
    Dominic Winter, 13th Nov: The Americas. Blaeu (Willem Janszoon), Americae nova Tabula, Amsterdam circa 1635. £800-1,200
    Dominic Winter, 13th Nov: Witchcraft. Saducismus Trimphatus, by Joseph Glanvill, 2nd edition, 1688. £600-800
    Dominic Winter, 13th Nov: Gillray (James). United Irishmen in Training, 1798. £500-800
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    Printed Books, Maps & Caricatures
    13 November 2024
    Dominic Winter, 13th Nov: Ketham (Johannes de). Fasciculus medici[n]e …, Venice: Cesare Arrivabene, March 1522. £6,000-8,000
    Dominic Winter, 13th Nov: Bible [English]. The Byble in Englyshe of the largest and greatest volume..., 1541. £7,000-10,000
    Dominic Winter, 13th Nov: Chaucer (Geoffrey). The Workes of Geffray Chaucer newlye printed..., 1542. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    Printed Books, Maps & Caricatures
    13 November 2024
    Dominic Winter, 13th Nov: Bible [English]. The Newe Testament of Our Saviour Jesu Christe..., 1566. £7,000-10,000
    Dominic Winter, 13th Nov: Hakluyt (Richard). The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques..., 1599. £4,000-6,000
    Dominic Winter, 13th Nov: Queen Anne binding. A sammelband of 15 almanacks, 1704. £1,000-1,500
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    Printed Books, Maps & Caricatures
    13 November 2024
    Dominic Winter, 13th Nov: Jacobite Uprising. A Grand Consultation concerning the Invasion of England..., 1745. £1,000-1,500
    Dominic Winter, 13th Nov: Holbein (Hans). Imitations of Original Drawings in the Collection of His Majesty, 1792-1800. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, 13th Nov: Wordsworth (William). Yarrow Revisited, 1st edition, presentation copy with author's corrections, 1835. £1,500-2,000
  • Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. 11,135 USD
    Sotheby’s: Edgar Allan Poe. The Raven and Other Poems, 1845. 33,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Leo Tolstoy, Clara Bow. War and Peace, 1886. 22,500 USD
    Sotheby’s: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1902. 7,500 USD
    Sotheby’s: F. Scott Fitzgerald. This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, and Others, 1920-1941. 24,180 USD
  • Freeman’s | Hindman
    Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana
    November 14
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: LEROUX, Gaston. The Phantom of the Opera. FIRST AM. ED, FIRST ISSUE IN THE VERY RARE DUST JACKET. 1911. $6,000 – 8,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: GOULD, John. A Monograph of the Trochilidae...Humming-Birds. L., [1849-] 1861. $60,000 – 80,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: A COMPLETE RUN of Limited Editions Club publications, v.p. [mostly New York], 1929-2010. $50,000 – 60,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: ORWELL, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. Lon., 1949. FIRST EDITION IN A VERY FINE DUST JACKET. $6,000 – 8,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: GOULD. A Monograph of the Ramphastidae...Toucans. L., [1852-] 54. SECOND ED. $35,000 – 45,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: The Federalist. NY, 1788. FIRST EDITION, THICK PAPER COPY. $60,000 – 80,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: SELBY. Plates to Selby’s Illustrations of British Ornithology. Edin., [1833-] 34. $20,000 – 30,000.

Rare Book Monthly

Articles - July - 2011 Issue

A Whale of a Book, A Whale of A Sale

John Renjilian and the first person whaling account 1833-6

John Renjilian and the first person whaling account 1833-6

Thirty-nine months at sea is a long time, and Percival expresses his homesickness more than once.  By December, 1835, he was counting the months: “we shall get home in the course of 12 months.”  There is a three-year break in the journal, and then Percival began an account of another voyage, again under Captain Pitman, this time on the ship Congress.
  

The Congress had its own connections to Melville’s great novel.  The book Herman Melville’s Whaling Years states that on April 1, 1841, a whale towed a boat from the Congress far out of sight.  After cruising in search of the boat for two days, Captain Pitman decided the boat had been sunk, and continued his voyage.  However, the boat managed to make a 1,500 mile voyage to the Marquesas Islands, where the crew were rescued some months later, shortly before Melville was at the Islands and undoubtedly heard the story.  The same book also locates Melville’s Acushnet and the Congress together with other ships at the Galapagos Islands in 1842, where they would certainly have spoken and perhaps visited with each other.

Percival inexplicably stopped writing in his journal, with his last daily entry made on January 28, 1840. We do know the fate of the second ship, however: as reported in the New York Times for October 4th, 1867, the Congress was frozen in the ice and crushed in the Anadir Sea on May 19th; her cargo of oil and whalebone was transferred to the bark Nautilus, and was apparently saved.

You can find this whaling journal as well as other books of interest in the Rare and Collectibles Room at the Booth Book Sale, such all six volumes of the signed collector’s limited edition of Astronaut Library by astronauts Lovell, Aldrin, Carpenter, Glenn, Borman,  Shepard, Schirra.  All Easton Press, each signed by the authors and with Certificates of Authenticity; and  Marlborough .His Life and Times. By Winston Churchill, NY: Scribner, 1933. Six volumes. Red half leather.  Additionally there attractively priced collectibles such as For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway, First edition; Primitive Physic: or, an Easy and Natural Method of Curing Most Diseases by John Wesley (1772) and an extensive collection of pristine Easton Press publications, some still in original cellophane wraps, many limited editions and autographed works donated by the estate of a private collector. There is also an extensive selection of very good condition adult and children’s books signed by author and/or illustrator:  Drawn from New England. Tasha Tudor by Bethany Tudor (New York: Collins, 1979), likely 1st edition, signed by Tasha Tudor and inscribed by Bethany Tudor, her daughter and David the Dreamer. His Book of Dreams by Ralph Bergengren, illustrated by Tom Freud (1922), first edition with illustrations by Sigmund Freud’s niece, Tom Freud, who used a male pseudonym, and was known for her eccentricities, and a wide selection of fine and very good condition comic books in protective sleeves.

The sale will be held July 9 through July 13, at the Reed Intermediate School, 3 Trades Lane, in Newtown, CT.  A $5.00 admission is charged on Saturday only, with other days being free; numbered admission tickets will be on sale beginning at 7.00 AM on Saturday.  Hours for the sale are 9.00-5.00 Saturday and Sunday, 9.00-7.00 Monday (half price day) and Tuesday ($5.00 per bag day), and 9.00-noon on Wednesday (free day).  Further information can be found at www.boothbooksale.org, by emailing boothbooksale@yahoo.com, or by calling 203-426-4533.

Proceeds go to the general library fund.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Bonhams, Nov. 2-12: AUDUBON, JOHN JAMES. Red-Shouldered Hawk. London: R. Havell, Jr., 1829. $2,000 - $3,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 2-12: STEWART, WILLIAM DRUMMOND, SIR. Altowan; or, Incidents of Life and Adventure in the Rocky Mountain... New York, 1846. PRESENTATION COPY. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Nov. 2-12: WILLUGHBY & RAY, JOHN. The Ornithology of Francis Willughby in three books... London, Martyn, 1678. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Nov. 2-12: SUSAN B. ANTHONY. Autograph Quotation Signed, on equal rights "for men and women," Rochester, 1898. $1,000 - $1,500
    Bonhams, Nov. 2-12: FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN. Autograph Letter Signed integrally to Le Comte de Milly arranging a meeting with M. Broignard, Passy, 1778. $10,000 - $15,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 2-12: FRANKLIN, JEFFERSON, & ADAMS. Mansucript Signed by all three architects of the American ideal, requesting a Treaty of Amity and Commerce. $750,000 - $1,000,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 2-12: LINCOLN, ABRAHAM. Endorsement Signed, a pardon for a Confederate soldier, February 6, 1865. $4,000 - $6,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 2-12: NAPOLEON FORMALLY RATIFIES THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. Document Signed ("James Monroe," "Robt. R. Livingston" and "Barbé-Marbois"). $100,000 - $200,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 2-12: JAMES MONROE ON THE DIFFICULTIES OF JAY'S TREATY. Autograph Letter Signed to Thomas Pinckney, Paris, January 17, 1795. $15,000 - $25,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 2-12: GIDEON WELLES FIRST HAND ACCOUNT OF FORT PICKENS AND FORT SUMTER ON THE EVE OF CIVIL WAR. Autograph Manuscript, 44 pp, c.1870. $4,000 - $6,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 2-12: SIGNED BY BORGES. Labyrinths: Selected Stories & Other Writings. 1962. First book publication in English. $4,000 - $6,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 2-12: LORENZO DOW TURNER'S COPY. LOCKE, ALAIN. The New Negro: an Interpretation. 1925. $1,000 - $1,500
  • Forum Auctions
    A Visual and Historical Voyage into the Ottoman World:
    The Library of a Gentleman
    14th November
    Forum, Nov. 14: Preziosi (Amedeo). Stamboul: Recollections of Eastern Life, first edition, Paris, Lemercier, 1858. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, Nov. 14: Mayr (Heinrich von). Malerische Ansichten aus dem Orient. Vues Pittoresques de l'Orient, first edition in the original 10 parts, Munich, Paris & Leipzig, [1839-40]. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, Nov. 14: Lewis (John Frederick). Illustrations of Constantinople, made during a Residence in that City &c. in the Years 1835-6, first edition, [1838]. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, Nov. 14: Dodwell (Edward). Views in Greece, first edition, ordinary format, Rodwell and Martin, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, Nov. 14: Cassas (Louis François). [Voyage Pittoresque de la Syrie, de la Phoenicie, de la Palæstube et de la Basse-Égypte], 3 vol., first edition, [Paris], [1799]. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    A Visual and Historical Voyage into the Ottoman World:
    The Library of a Gentleman
    14th November
    Forum, Nov. 14: La Chappelle (Georges). Recueil de Divers Portraits des Principales Dames de la Porte du Grand Turc, first edition, Paris, 1648. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, Nov. 14: Fossati (Gaspard). Aya Sophia Constantinople as recently restored by order of H.M. the Sultan Abdul Medjid, first edition, ordinary format, 1852. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, Nov. 14: Pertusier (Charles). Promenades Pittoresques dans Constantinople et sur les Rives du Bosphore, 4 vol., inc Atlas, first edition, Paris, H. Nicolle, 1815-17. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, Nov. 14: Brindesi (Jean). Souvenirs de Constantinople, first edition, [Paris], [1855-60]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, Nov. 14: Le Bruyn (Cornelius). Voyage au Levant, first French edition, Delft, Henri de Kroonevelt, 1700. £3,000 to £4,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Online Sale:
    The Detective Fiction Collection of John Cooper
    Ending 7th November, 2024
    Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). The Thirteen Problems, first edition, The Crime Club, 1932. £15,000 to £20,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Dumb Witness, first edition, 1937. £3,000 to £4,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Cards on the Table, first edition, The Crime Club, 1936. £2,000 to £3,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: [Carr (John Dickson)], "Carter Dickson" and John Rhode. Drop to his Death, first edition, Heinemann, [1939]. £600 to £800.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Berkeley (Anthony). Jumping Jenny, first edition, Hodder and Stoughton, 1933. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions
    Online Sale:
    The Detective Fiction Collection of John Cooper
    Ending 7th November, 2024
    Forum, Nov. 7: Marsh (Ngaio). Overture to Death, first edition, The Crime Club, 1939. £600 to £800.
    Forum, Nov. 7: [Day-Lewis (Cecil)] "Nicholas Blake". The Beast Must Die, first edition, 1938. £750 to £1,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Brand (Christianna). Green for Danger, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, John Lane the Bodley Head, 1945. £600 to £800.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Murder is Easy, first edition, signed by the author, 1939. £3,000 to £4,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Sayers (Dorothy L.) Lord Peter Views the Body, first edition, Gollancz, 1928. £6,000 to £8,000.
  • Desa Unicum, Nov. 13: Chronograph Wristwatches. Precious memories of the 20th Century / Cronografi da Polso. Preziose Memorie del XX Secolo, 2013. €3,000 to €5,000. Starting Bid: €10.
    Desa Unicum, Nov. 13: Lanthemann, Joseph. Modigliani 1884-1920. A Catalogue Raisonné, Barcelona, 1970. €320 to €380. Starting Bid: €10.
    Desa Unicum, Nov. 13: Warhol, Andy. The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (from A to B and back again), New York, 1975. Signed by the author. €500 to €600. Starting Bid: €10.
    Desa Unicum, Nov. 13: Vitali, Lamberto. Morandi: Catalogo Generale. I & II, Mediolan, 1983. €1,100 to €1,300. Starting Bid: €10.
    Desa Unicum, Nov. 13: Goldstein, Ann. Christopher Wool, Los Angeles, 1998. €320 to €380. Starting Bid: €10.
    Desa Unicum, Nov. 13: Celant, Germano. Piero Manzoni, 1989. €320 to €360. Starting Bid: €10.
    Desa Unicum, Nov. 13: Ernst, Max. Oeuvre-Katalog. Das Graphische Werk, Cologne, 1975. €420 to €480. Starting Bid: €10.
  • Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    APRES DE MANNEVILLETTE
    Le Neptune Oriental
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    CASSAS
    Eaux fortes de la Sicile et quelques vues d’Espagne
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    CASSINI DE THURY
    Carte générale et particulière de la France.
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    JOUY; GARNERAY
    Vues des côtes de France dans l'Océan et dans la Méditerranée
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    LA PÉROUSE
    Voyage autour du monde
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    LE GENTIL DE LA GALAISIERE
    Voyage dans les Mers de l’Inde
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    LICENT
    Hoang Ho, Pai Ho, Loan Ho, Leao Ho. Itinéraires suivis dans le bassin du golfe du Pei Tcheuly
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    FRENCH SCHOOL FROM THE 19th CENTURY
    Panorama d’Athènes
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    PEETERS
    Description des principales villes, havres et isles du golfe de Venise
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    PÉRON; FREYCINET
    Voyage de découverte aux terres australes
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    STACKELBERG
    La Grèce : vues pittoresques et topographiques.
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    VALENTINER
    Atlas des Sonnensystems.
  • Swann, Nov. 14: Stephen Sondheim, autograph musical quotation signed and inscribed, 4 bars from “Send in the Clowns,” 1986.
    Swann, Nov. 14: George Washington, autograph letter signed to Robert Morris, preparing for attack on Philadelphia, 1777.
    Swann, Nov. 14: Autograph album containing over 250 signatures by members of 29th U.S. Congress, 1845.
    Swann, Nov. 14: Charles “The Bold,” letter signed to Duke of Milan written during Burgundian Wars, 1475.
    Swann, Nov. 14: Deng Xiaoping, TIME magazine “Man of the Year” issue signed and dated, 1979.
    Swann, Nov. 14: Theodor Herzl, autograph letter signed to prospective tutor of his children, 1902.
    Swann, Nov. 14: Bourienne’s Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte extra illustrated including 1798 letter signed by Napoleon after Battle of the Nile, 1836.
    Swann, Nov. 14: George Minot, autograph manuscript signed, diary kept during European trip to claim Nobel Prize, 1934.
    Swann, Nov. 14: Thomas Jefferson, autograph letter signed, introducing George Washington’s personal secretary Tobias Lear, 1793.
    Swann, Nov. 14: Winston Churchill, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, signed in second volume, first edition, 1956-58.
    Swann, Nov. 14: John Steinbeck, late typescript drafts of 5 chapters from his posthumously published tales of King Arthur, 1959.
    Swann, Nov. 14: H.G. Wells, group of 14 of his books signed to his mistress Rebecca West or the son they had together, 1910s-40s.

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