The trip to see the penguins began with almost an hour’s drive across the very bumpy and boggy stretch between the highway and the beach. No road, just up and down humps and bumps. We were lucky and got the wildest cowboy driver who had a huge rack of buck horns attached to the front of his Land Rover. Most folks in Stanley seemed to have Land Rovers and they do go most anywhere. Anyway, we got to the penguin beach where thousands of the fluffy little tykes were waddling or standing around, apparently chatting, and grooming a few babies. The babies were darling; brown, fuzzy balls of fur. The “penguin place” is called Bluff Cove Lagoon and the owners, Hattie and Kevin Kilmartin, have opened their beach area to the public where three kinds of penguins gather – the Magellanics, the Gentoos, and the Kings. The feathered friends were molting at the time so they weren’t as active as they normally would have been and the ground was covered an inch deep in a carpet of tiny white feathers (as well as other less inviting things), but they were great fun to watch. After our sojourn with the penguins, the owners of the nearby Sea Cabbage Cafe served a delicious English tea and the best Coconut Oatmeal Lace cookies I’ve ever had.
The next day we headed back from the Falklands to Chile, the Straits of Magellan, Punta Arenas, and south to the “End of the World”, Ushuaia, Argentina. Then (drum roll please) it was time for the big deal -- twice around Cape Horn. We were a bit nervous, expecting giant rogue waves and hurricane winds, but were a little disappointed about the calm seas with only a bit of rain once or twice, and a surprising amount of sunshine. Kind of a let-down, but we now have our official Around Cape Horn certificates to go with our Crossing the Equator certificates. Maybe even more impressive than the rounding of The Horn; it is just a rocky shore with some lumpy granite rocks, after all, was the trip through the Chilean Fjords. There were a number of beautiful, blue ice glaciers, icebergs, and massive waterfalls springing out of the barren brown hills.
ALDE, Apr. 8: GUEVARA (ANTONIO DE). Histoire de Marc-Aurèle, Empereur Romain, vray miroir et horloge des Princes. Paris, Pierre et Galliot du Pré, frères, 1565. €3,000 to €4,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: HEURES DE LA VIERGE. Horæ in laudem beatissimæ virginis Mariæ ad usum Romanum. Paris, Charles L'Angelier, 1556. €4,000 to €5,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: MONTAIGNE (MICHEL DE). Les Essais. Édition nouvelle, trouvée après le deceds de l'autheur… Paris, Abel L'Angelier, 1595. €6,000 to €8,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: [ROJAS (FERNANDO DE)]. Celestina, tragicomedia di Calisto et Melibea, tradotta de lingua castigliana in italiano idioma… Venise, 1531. €2,000 to €3,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: CAMÕES (LUÍS DE). Os Lusiadas. Lisbonne, Pedro Crasbeeck, 1613. €2,000 to €3,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: CERVANTES (MIGUEL DE). El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Bruxelles, Roger Velpius & Huberto Antonio, 1611. €6,000 to €8,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: LA FONTAINE (JEAN DE). Fables choisies, mises en vers. Paris, Denys Thierry et Claude Barbin, 1678-1694. €6,000 to €8,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: CERVANTES (MIGUEL DE). El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Madrid, Joaquin Ibarra, 1780. €3,000 to €4,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: DIDEROT (DENIS) ET JEAN LE ROND D'ALEMBERT. Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. Paris, 1751-1765. €15,000 to €20,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: [LIVRE TISSÉ]. LAMARTINE (Alphonse de). Les Laboureurs. Poème tiré de Jocelyn… Lyon, J. A. Henry, 1883. €8,000 to €10,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: [LIVRE TISSÉ]. Livre de prières tissé d'après les enluminures des manuscrits du XIVe au XVIe siècle. Lyon, [A. Roux], 1886. €5,000 to €6,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts & Objects from Three Important Collections Open for Bidding 2-17 April
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: [Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun]. Le Roman de la Rose, [Geneva or Lyons, c.1481], first printed edition of the most important medieval French vernacular poem. £200,000 to £300,000.
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Castiglione. Il libro del cortegiano. [Venice], April 1528, first edition, in a magnificent binding by Jean Picard for Jean Grolier. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Jacobus de Cessolis. Schachzabelbuch, Strasbourg, 1483, von der Lasa copy. £50,000 to £70,000.
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: World Championship, 1972. A collection of 84 press photographs of the famed match between Spassky and Fischer. £2,000 to £3,000.
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Ben Franklin. Autograph letter signed, to Lord Shelburne, British Prime Minister, during peace negotiations, November 1782. £15,000 to £20,000.
