Some militant souls then suggested shooting it and a caravan of boats was organized. A flotilla of men with guns and liquor set out and near to killed each other when the beast nudged [according to local legend] one of the boats over. The flailing of the men incited a near riot with bullets cleaving the air but no flesh. In the ensuing pandemonium the only thing safe was the fish.
At noon a delegation from Rosendale arrived claiming they had material information and a solution. They explained that Eddy, for that’s what they called it, was well known to them. For some forty years he’s been camped out at the butt end of the town’s sewage pipe, cleaning up what came his way. Recently he disappeared and when word of the ruckus down stream wafted over they suspected they knew the cause. They also knew what Eddy was looking for and encouraged guests at Longshore’s to contribute what they could.
At daybreak next some stout residents set out a pipe into the water and deposited into the slow moving creek what has come down to us as the “Longshore cocktail. Within moments Eddy appeared, seemingly pleased as punch but unaware the repast was salted with liquor, a last minute addition meant as a gift but as it turned out, a fatal contribution. An hour later he was belly-up.
A meeting was then called and representatives of neighboring communities invited. Three undertakers debated embalming or taxidermy and quickly established that the Eddy’s penchant for effluent rendered the meat, estimated at five hundred pounds and increasing with each telling, unappealing. The feast was then offered to Kingston and declined. An emergency mass was announced; the corpus carried through the town to First Baptist, the book of Mark chapter eight the chosen passage, the story of the fishes and loaves. Then in short order the Moby was laid to rest in a nearby swale and tastefully covered with soil, the mound thereafter increasing daily so to contain the beast’s scent.
Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 72. Edwards (George). A Natural History of Uncommon Birds… [and] Gleanings of Natural History, 7 volumes, 1st edition, 1743-64. £7,000-10,000
Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 87. Walcott (Charles D. et al.). Geologic Atlas of the United States, 227-volume set, U.S. Geological Survey, 1894-1945. £500-800
Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 236. A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew…, By B. E. Gent., 1st edition, [1699]. £3,000-4,000
Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 245. Frost Fair Broadside. Upon the Frost in the Year 1739-40, Printed on the Ice upon the Thames at Queen-Hithe, 1739/40. £1,500-2,000
Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 270. Micheli (Antonino di). La Nuova Chitarra di Regole…, 1st edition, Palermo, 1680. £10,000-15,000
Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 280. Elgar (Edward). Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, [1910], signed presentation copy. £500-800
Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 286 - Walton (William, 1902-1983). Autograph manuscript full score for Belshazzar’s Feast, [1930-31]. £20,000-30,000
Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 304. Churchill (Winston). A terracotta maquette of Churchill by Oscar Nemon, c. 1955. £1,500-2,000
Dominic Winter, Jan. 28: Lot 364 - Russian Imperial Archaeological Commission. Mecheti Samarkanda..., Fascicule I Gour-Emir, St. Petersburg, 1905. £2,000-3,000
Sotheby’s Fine Manuscript and Printed Americana 27 January 2026
Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: An extraordinary pair of books from George Washington’s field library, marking the conjunction of Robert Rogers, George Washington, and Henry Knox. $1,200,000 to $1,800,000.
Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: An extraordinary letter marking the conjunction of George Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette, and Benjamin Franklin. $1,000,000 to $1,500,000.
Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: Virginia House of Delegates. The genesis of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. $350,000 to $500,000.
Sotheby’s Fine Manuscript and Printed Americana 27 January 2026
Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: (Gettysburg). “Genl. Doubleday has taken charge of the battle”: Autograph witness to the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, illustrated by fourteen maps and plans. $200,000 to $300,000.
Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: President Lincoln thanks a schoolboy on behalf of "all the children of the nation for his efforts to ensure "that this war shall be successful, and the Union be maintained and perpetuated." $200,000 to $300,000.
Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: [World War II]. An archive of maps and files documenting the allied campaign in Europe, from the early stages of planning for D-Day and Operation Overlord, to Germany’s surrender. $200,000 to $300,000.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 29th January 2026
Forum, Jan. 29: Plato. [Apanta ta tou Platonos. Omnia Platonis opera], 2 parts in 2 vol., editio princeps of Plato's works in the original Greek, Venice, House of Aldus, 1513. £8,000-12,000
Forum, Jan. 29: Book of Hours, Use of Rome, In Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum, [Southern Netherlands (probably Bruges), c.1460]. £6,000-8,000
Forum, Jan. 29: Correspondence and documents by or addressed to the first four Viscounts Molesworth and members of their families, letters and manuscripts, 1690-1783. £10,000-15,000
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 29th January 2026
Forum, Jan. 29: Shakespeare (William). The Dramatic Works, 9 vol., John and Josiah Boydell, 1802. £5,000-7,000
Forum, Jan. 29: Joyce (James). Ulysses, first edition, one of 750 copies on handmade paper, Paris, Shakespeare and Company, 1922 £8,000-12,000
Forum, Jan. 29: Powell (Anthony). [A Dance to the Music of Time], 12 vol., first editions, each with a signed presentation inscription from the author to Osbert Lancaster, 1951-75. £6,000-8,000
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 29th January 2026
Forum, Jan. 29: Chaucer (Geoffrey). Troilus and Criseyde, one of 225 copies on handmade paper, wood-engravings by Eric Gill, Waltham St.Lawrence, 1927. £3,000-4,000
Forum, Jan. 29: Borges (Jorge Luis). Luna de Enfrente, first edition, one of 300 copies, presentation copy signed by the author to Leopoldo Marechal, Buenos Aires, Editorial Proa, 1925. £3,000-4,000
Forum, Jan. 29: Nolli (Giovanni Battista). Nuova Pianta di Roma, Rome, 1748. £6,000-8,000
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 29th January 2026
Forum, Jan. 29: Roberts (David). The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, & Nubia, 3 vol., first edition, 1842-49. £15,000-20,000
Forum, Jan. 29: Blacker (William). Catechism of Fly Making, Angling and Dyeing, Published by the author, 1843. £3,000-4,000
Forum, Jan. 29: Herschel (Sir John F. W.) Collection of 69 offprints, extracts and separate publications by Herschel, bound for his son, William James Herschel, 3 vol., [1813-50]. £15,000-20,000