Dorothy Sloan Auction No. 23: an important sale

Lot 190. First edition of Humboldt's Vues des cordillères (Paris, 1819), “the most beautiful and generally interesting of Humboldt’s works,” which “Set a standard for description and illustration which every serious scientific traveler of the nineteenth century strove to emulate" (Miles & Reese). ($20,000-30,000)

Lot 199. Kingsborough's Antiquities of Mexico (London, 1831-1848) in 9 vols. with 741 plates, monumental Americana weighing several hundred pounds, the Havell issue with colored plates, considered among the most important books ever printed on the subject of Mexican and Central American codices and archaeology. ($50,000-70,000)

Lot 213. Very rare Texas pictorial letter sheet showing the Alamo and camels during the great Camel Experiment—with a good, long 1866 letter. ($2,000-4,000)

Lot 216. Linati's Costumes civils, militaires et réligieux du Mexique (1828), the first lithograph plate book on Mexico. ($5,000-8,000)

Lot 234. Alzate y Ramírez. Nuevo Mapa Geográfico de la América Septentrional (1768). Among the rarest maps of the Spanish Southwest, a difficult Martin & Martin selection to acquire. ($20,000-40,000)

Lot 240. Stephen F. Austin's cornerstone map of Texas, the 1836 issue, locating for the first time the Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto. With original pocket covers. ($200,000-250,000)

Lot 271. De Cordova's Map of Texas (1849), very rare first issue of the first official map of Texas as a state, signed in ink by De Cordova and with his rubric. Handsome copy with original pocket covers. ($200,000-250,000)

Lot 284. Sir Robert Dudley's Carta particolare della Baia di Messico con la costa (Florence, 1646-1647), first published sea chart of the Gulf of Mexico, "one of the most significant landmarks in the history of cartography" (Martin & Martin). ($15,000-30,000)

Lot 463. Monte's de Oca's Ensayo ornitológico de los troquilideos (1875), pioneering study on the hummingbirds of Mexico, with vivid hand-colored lithographs by Iriarte. ($4,000-8,000)

Lot 466. Nebel's Viaje pintoresco de Mejico (1836-1839), iconic lithographs of nineteenth-century Mexico, most in full original color. ($40,000-80,000)

Lot 540. Hand-made, vividly hand-painted folded paper fan (ca. 1750) on 24 carved ivory sticks and guards showing La Salle's Texas expedition with an affixed map of Matagorda Bay. A brilliant, highly unusual object d'art, and an amazing survival. ($30,000-50,000)

Lot 561. Venegas. Noticia de la California (Madrid, 1757). First edition of "the first history of California" (Streeter), with a landmark map finally dispelling the myth of California as an island. Zamorano 80. ($7,000-12,000)