Rare Book Monthly
Bloomsbury Offers Mid-Range Americana on March 5th
An appealing portrait
By Bruce McKinney
Bloomsbury Auctions, whose Normandy is New York and who came ashore late last summer, is up and running and laying out an aggressive schedule of sales for the balance of the year; 16 from now through the end of the December. In hand is their catalogue for New York 7, their 7th sale to date and first of 2008: Bibliophile Americana & Literature. It's scheduled for March 5th and is well worth a look.
The high quality printed presentation is out-of-keeping with the estimates. They are low so the reader confronts a disconnect between presentation and price. My guess is the prices will be well up from the low estimates and most lots will sell. Across the entire universe of auctions last year 75% of all lots sold. When north of 80% sell it suggests esimates are low. When less than 70% of the lots sell it suggests both the estimates and reserves have been set above the market. In spite of the uncertain economic environment I expect this sale to do well.
The aggregate low estimate is $545,480 for the 594 lots, $800,870 for the aggregate high estimate. This works out to an average low estimate of $916 and an average high of $1,345. Documented sales tend to approach these levels without the great catalogue this one has. For the first six auctions held at Bloomsbury in New York in 2007 the median lot realization was $2,160, the London parent's $534, the Italian division $665. The percent of lots sold in New York was 66%, about 10% below the industry average. The lower estimates for Auction 7 suggest Bloomsbury is estimating material to sell. For buyers, this makes the sale interesting to evaluate.
Jeremy Markowitz has prepared the material. In his previous life, he did the same for Swann where he regularly achieved sell-throughs in the high eighty percents.
As to the material, images, perhaps the strongest part of the works on paper field today, are interspersed with books, manuscript material, autographs, pamphlets and maps. Here are a few examples:
4. AMERICAN REVOLUTION - ADAMS, Samuel. Mr. Samuel Adams. [Newport, RI:] printed by and for Charles Reak & Saml. Okey, April 1775. Mezzotint portrait by Saml. Okey after J. Mitchell (sheet size: 346x247 mm). Condition: cut to the edge of the image on three sides and within the plate-mark at the lower margin, with loss of imprint.
very rare american mezzotint of a revolutionary hero.
In this portrait Adams is standing in front of a table with a paper in his hand, engraved with the words "Instructions from ye Town of Boston" -- probably referring to his famous Circular Letter. Below the title are eight lines of verse in two columns celebrating Adams's opposition to the Intolerable Acts: "When haughty North impress'd wth proud Disdain, / Spurn'd at the Virtue, which rejects his Chain; / Heard with a Tyrant Soon our Rights implor'd, / And when we su'd for Justice sent the Sword: / Lo! Adams rose, in Warfare nobly try'd, / His Country's Saviour, Father, Shield & Guide, / Urg'd by her Wrongs he wag'd ye glorious Strife / Nor paus'd to waste a Coward-Thought on Life."
The painting by J. Mitchell after which the mezzotint was designed was based on J. S. Copley's portrait of Adams now in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Samuel Okey had only a very short working life in the Americas: he engraved and published in Newport from 1773-1775, and had returned to London by 1778. Only one other example of this American mezzotint has appeared at auction, selling in 2005 for $13,800. Another example of this print is in the Emmet Collection (EM 495) in the New York Public Lilbrary. Cf. Bulletin of the NYPL, vol.I, p.163; Grolier. Early American Engraving upon Copper1727-1850 (1908) cat. # 181; Shadwell 46; Stauffer 2370.
$4000 – $6000
Rare Book Monthly
-
Sotheby’s
Shelf Life: Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper from the Library of Stanley J. Seeger and Christopher Cone
25 June – July 7Sotheby’s, July 7: Ludwig van Beethoven. Autograph sketches for the overture "Die Weihe des Hauses", op.124, [1822], UNPUBLISHED. £150,000 to £200,000.Sotheby’s, July 7: Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice, 1813, first edition, 3 volumes, contemporary half calf. £50,000 to £70,000.Sotheby’s, July 7: Walt Whitman. Leaves of Grass, Brooklyn, 1855, first edition, first issue, original green cloth, the Doheny copy. £50,000 to £70,000.Sotheby’s, July 7: Binding—Sangorski & Sutcliffe—Omar Khayyam. Rubaiyat, London, 1872, third edition, in a magnificent jewelled Peacock binding. £15,000 to £20,000.Sotheby’s, July 7: George Eliot. Middlemarch, Edinburgh and London, 1871, first edition in the original parts. £20,000 to £30,000. -
Forum Auctions
The Private Library:
Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
July 9, 2026Forum, July 9: Hassall (Joan) A large collection of over 300 original woodblocks of engravings for various books, v.d., with Hassall's engraver's glass water-globe (Qty) - Est. £10,000-15,000Forum, July 9: Eragny Press.- [Bradley (Katherine Harris) & Edith Emma Cooper], "Michael Field." Whym Chow, Flame of Love, one of only 27 copies, inscribed by Bradley, the rarest book from the press, 1914. - Est. £3,000-4,000Forum, July 9: [Moore (Thomas Sturge)] [Wood Engravings], 71 wood-engravings printed by David Chambers from the original blocks, the only set on Japanese Hosho paper, from an edition of 5 sets, [1970]. - Est. £3,000-4,000Forum Auctions
The Private Library:
Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
July 9, 2026Forum, July 9: La Fontaine (Jean de) Contes et Nouvelles en vers, 2 vol., engraved plates after Eisen, fine early 19th century blue morocco, gilt, by Bradel l'ainé, Amsterdam [Paris], 1762. - Est. £2,000-3,000Forum, July 9: Erotica.- Prostitution.- Pretty Women of Paris (The); Their Names and Addresses, Qualities and Faults..., [Paris], privately printed at the Press of the Prefecture de Police, 1883. - Est. £3,000-4,000Forum, July 9: Vale Press.- Ricketts (Charles) & Lucien Pissarro. De la Typographie et de l'Harmonie de la Page Imprimée…, [one of 216 copies], bound in dark blue morocco tooled in gilt, by Sarah T.Prideaux, 1898. - Est. £1,000-1,500Forum Auctions
The Private Library:
Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
July 9, 2026Forum, July 9: Martin (John) Illustrations of the Bible, complete set of 20 mezzotints, good impressions, rarely found in early states, [c.1831-1835]. - Est. £1,000-1,500Forum, July 9: Golden Cockerel Press.- Four Gospels of the Lord Jesus Christ (The), one of 500 copies, Mary Gill's copy, Waltham St. Lawrence, 1931 with a signed proof of engraving on japon numbered 10/10 (2) - Est. £5,000-7,000Forum, July 9: Boccaccio (Giovanni) The Decameron, 3 vol., vol.1 extra-illustrated by John Buckland Wright with c.150 erotic original drawings in pen & ink and pencil, 1886 [extra-illustrated c.1940]. - Est. £10,000-15,000Forum Auctions
The Private Library:
Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
July 9, 2026Forum, July 9: Cox (Morris) Collection of Gogmagog Press Books, 35 vol., rare complete collection of printed books issued by the press, limited editions, most signed by Cox, 1957-83. - Est. £10,000-15,000Forum, July 9: Wynkyn de Worde.- [Terentius Afer (Publius)] [Comedie...], [Paris, Josse Badius: sold in London by Wynkyn de Worde, & others], [15 July 1504]. - Est. £4,000-6,000Forum, July 9: Mosley (James) Ornamented Types. Twenty-Three Alphabets from the Foundry of Louis John Pouchée, 2 vol., one of 10 copies for presentation, from an edition of 210, 1992-93. - Est. £1,000-2,000 -
Freeman’s, June 30. Thomas Jefferson’s “Birth of the New Nation” letter, carried to Paris with the Treaty of Peace, by a Jewish patriot. $100,000-200,000.Freeman’s, June 30. “The rockets’ red glare.” A British midshipman’s log recording the bombardment of Fort McHenry. $60,000-80,000.Freeman’s, June 30. The Critical Promotion of a Naval Hero, Oliver Hazard Perry Commission signed by James Madison, 1812. $40,000-60,000.Freeman’s, June 30. Born in the USA: First Day of Printing in the United States, July 4, 1776. $15,000-25,000.Freeman’s, June 30. One of the Earliest Printed Announcements of American Independence, in the Exceedingly Rare Original Wrappers, 1776. $10,000-15,000.Freeman’s, June 30. "The Two Big Guns of the N.Y. Yanks": A Striking Type 1 Press Photograph of Lou Gehrig's Hands. $8,000-12,000.Freeman’s, June 30. A Unique Contemporary Manuscript Account of Joseph Smith's Final Words to His Followers, the Day Before his Violent Death. $8,000-12,000.Freeman’s, June 30. The State of Minnesota Officially Certifies the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution Of the United States. $8,000-12,000.Freeman’s, June 30. Extraordinarily Large Manuscript Petition Signed by a Who's Who of Colonial New York to Queen Anne from the Colony of New York. $8,000-12,000.Freeman’s, June 30. Mickey Mantle's First Cover: The Earliest Front-Page Newspaper Image of Mickey Mantle, "Something Good from Joplin". $8,000-12,000.Freeman’s, June 30. A Call to Arms in the Months Following the Declaration of Independence: An Early Continental Army Recruitment Poster. $6,000-9,000.Freeman’s, June 30. Samuel Jones, the Statesman Behind the Newly Discovered "Jones Declaration": His Annotated Set Used in His Working Law Library. $6,000-9,000.