With the ending of this episode so too ended Eddyville’s resistance to the changes enveloping the county. The Burr map was retired. The library and school would close and later the post office. With the coming of cars the distance to Rondout, now itself swallowed whole by Kingston, seemed manageable. The canal a few years before had shut down and the railroad was declining. Soon residents would claim to miss the sound of the approaching trains, their steady flow six trains up and six trains down now ebbing. In 1922 all passenger traffic would end.
The Lord does not deal aces to every player and the residents of Eddyville in all its years held only one strong hand, and that briefly, when the D&H opened. But they played their cards well and straight and no man or woman driving on Route 211 past the Eddyville signs should let the moment go unremarked. History was made here.
Editor’s note. We know Eddyville achieved major importance in the early 19th century as the terminus of the D&H Canal, which brought coal from the Pennsylvania coalfields to the Hudson River, and on to New York. We know the early railroads sprung up in the area and perhaps it had an opportunity to retain its importance for a while. We know it was displayed on the Burr map of 1840 as a major point between New York and Albany. Finally, we know from these postcards it was a great fishing hole in the early 20th century. But the rest...
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