Rare Book Monthly

Articles - December - 2007 Issue

<i>Exploring the Early Americas</i> on Exhibit at the Library of Congress

A Columbus letter, on exhibit at the Library of Congress.

A Columbus letter, on exhibit at the Library of Congress.


By Michael Stillman

An absolutely spectacular exhibition for those interested in printed and written Americana will be opening at the Library of Congress this month. If you will be in Washington, you must go. It is entitled Exploring the Early Americas, and they are dead serious about "early." Much of the featured material would have been considered antiquarian by the time the pilgrims arrived.

The focus is on material given the Library of Congress by Florida collector Jay Kislak. His collection included material pertaining to the southeastern part of what is now the United States, as well as Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. For example, there is a Totuguero Box, a Mayan wooden box that includes images and a carved inscription. It dates back to the seventh century. In other words, it was more ancient when Columbus arrived in the New World than Columbus' discovery of that world is today. However, we will concentrate on things more familiar to United States Americans.

The masterpiece of the Kislak collection must be the Columbus letter. This is one of the rare early copies of the report on the New World Columbus prepared for King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. He reports on the land and people he found, and naturally, that he claimed all of the territory for Spain. He was a diplomat as well as discoverer. This is a Latin translation published in 1493.

Not part of the Kislak collection, but an earlier purchase is the most important map in the history of America -- the 1507 Waldseemuller world map. This map contains the first reference to the New World as "America." It is likely that Waldseemuller's attaching this name to the land is why it stuck. Interestingly, in his next map, Waldseemuller dropped the "America" name, possibly because he later realized Columbus was the discoverer, not Amerigo, but by then it was too late. The Library of Congress' copy is the only known survivor of the 1507 "America" map.

George Washington was a regular diarist along with being the father of his country. On exhibit is his 1762 edition, partly a printed almanac, and partly blank pages he filled in. With the exception of the Revolutionary War years, Washington kept a diary from 1747 until he died in 1799. The Library of Congress now has 37 of the 41 he kept.

There is a letter to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V from Bishop Bartolome de Las Casas. The Spanish conquistadors were generally a brutal lot, killing and enslaving so many of the natives they found. De Las Casas was given a land grant in Santo Domingo, to which he traveled in 1502. He was appalled by the treatment of the natives he saw, and spent the rest of his life working to improve their lot. Like Washington, he is an American hero.

Of course there is much more on exhibit. The exhibition opens on December 13 in the Great Hall of the Thomas Jefferson Building. For those unable to go, there is an online version, found at http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/kislak/.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: ALDROVANDI, Ulisse (1522-1605) - [Opera omnia]. Bologna: Bellagamba, Benacci, Bonomi, Tebaldini, Ferroni, 1599-1668. €22.000-€28.000
    Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: [CANALETTO] - VISENTINI, Antonio (1688-1782) da Giovanni Antonio CANAL (1697-1768, detto 'Il Canaletto') - Urbis Venetiarum prospectus celebriores. Venezia: Giovanni Battista Pasquale, 1742-51. €7.000-€10.000
    Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: LA FONTAINE, Jean de (1621-1695) - Fables Choisies. Parigi: Claude Barbin, 1668. €7.000-€10.000
    Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: MERCATOR, Rumold (1545-1599) - [I continenti] - Europa; Africa; America Sive India Nova; Asia. Amsterdam: S.d. [ca. 1633]. €2.000-€3.000
  • Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
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    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
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    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
  • Gros & Delettrez
    Travel: Books & Cartography
    6 February 2025
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 6: MUNSTER (Sebastian). Cosmographiae universalis lib. VI. Basilea
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 6: ORTELIUS (Abraham). Typus Orbis Terrarum. [Antwerp, 1587]
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 6: BRION DE LA TOUR (Louis). Atlas Monde. Paris, Desnos ou Jaillot, [1783 - An XIII-1799].
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    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 6: ORTELIUS (Abraham). Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. Anvers, Christophe Plantin, 1579.
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    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 6: DE BRUYN (Cornelis). Voyage au Levant.
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    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 6: AZARA (Félix de). Voyages dans l'Amérique Méridionale.
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    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 6: LA SALLE (René Robert Cavelier de) ; TONTI (Henri de). Dernières découvertes dans l’Amérique Septentrionale
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    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 6: NOLIN (Jean-Baptiste) ; CORONELLI (Vincenzo). L'Amérique septentrionale, ou, la partie septentrionale des Indes Occidentales […]
    Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 6: [Caroline du Sud]. A large draft of South Carolina from Cape Roman to Port Royal.
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  • Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
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    Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
    Lot 9. Visscher's Superb Double-Hemisphere World Map with Representations of the Elements (1658). Est. $4,750 - $6,000
    Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
    Lot 58. One of the Most Important 16th Century Maps of the New World (1554). Est. $5,000 - $6,000
    Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
    Lot 745. A Complete Example of Ortelius' Atlas of Ancient Geography (1624). Est. $12,000 - $15,000
    Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
    Lot 73. First English Map to Show California as an Island (1625). Est. $16,000 - $19,000
    Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
    Lot 156. Bachmann's Dramatic View of the Mid-Atlantic Region (1861). Est. $1,800 - $2,200
    Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
    Lot 741. Early Announcement of Continental Congress' Declaration of Independence (1776). Est. $9,000 - $11,000
    Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
    Lot 695. The First Printed Map Devoted to the Pacific (1589). Est. $8,000 - $9,500
    Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
    Lot 733. Superb Image of the Presentation of Jesus in Hand Color (1502). Est. $700 - $850
    Old World Auctions (Feb 12):
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