Rare Book Monthly
Bloomsbury Offers Mid-Range Americana on March 5th
You'll be asked - where did you get this?
53. BOXING - Broadside. Come & See all the New Arrivals at Owen Geoghegan's Old House at Home ... Decoration Day Monday, May 30, 1881. A Grand Testimonial Benefit (In which all the Champions of the English and American Prize Ring will appear). New York: Cameron & Co., 1881. Broadside (700x260 mm). Printed on yellow newspaper stock. Illustrated with a woodcut of two men with gloved hands facing off in a ring. Condition: Few short splits to edges and folds, few small holes in text, a few tears repaired on verso.
While Jimmy Highland ("of Birmingham, England") and Harry Evans (alias "Thumby") were the featured fighters, the card also featured local and travelling boxers such as Charley Norton, Jack Turner and "Jno. Sullivan of Boston" -- almost certainly the John L. Sullivan who became the first heavyweight champion of the world just a few years after this fight. Geoghegan's was a noted (and notorious) bar located at 105 Bowery.
$400 – $600
67. BURTON, Sir Richard Francis. The City of the Saints, and Across the Rocky Mountains to California. London: Longman, Green, Longman & Roberts, 1861. 8vo (222x142 mm). Half-title. Wood-engraved frontispiece, 1 folding engraved map (route marked by hand in red), 1 folding engraved town plan, 7 wood-engraved plates, occasional wood-engraved illustrations. Original green cloth, blocked in gilt and blind, brown glazed endpapers. Condition: some light browning or soiling to margins. Provenance: author's presentation inscription in purple ink on half-title "With the best regards of / the Author" and with Burton’s signature in Arabic script (loosely inserted note from Quentin Keynes confirming the attribution of the inscription). Signed presentation copy of the first edition. Penzer pp.68-69; Sabin 9497.
$2000 – $3000
118. FRENCH & INDIAN WAR - WOLFE, James. Autograph letter signed "Jam: Wolfe" to an unnamed recipient [but Viscount Sidney] recommending works on military tactics. Devises: 18 July 1756. 3 pp, on a folded sheet but since separated (230x185 mm). Docketed on the blank page in an early hand "Original letter from General Wolfe to Lord Sydney." Condition: some browning, separated along the vertical fold, other separations crudely repaired on the blank page.
an important letter by wolfe on the art of war, written at the beginning of the french & indian war and just three years before his death.
Wolfe writes: "You cannot find me a more agreable Employment than to serve or oblige you, & I wish with all my heart that my inclination & abilities were of equal force. I do not recollect what it was that I recommended to Mr. Cornwallis & newphew, it might be the Comet de Turpin’s Book, which is certainly worth looking into, as it contains a good deal of plain Practice. Your Brother, no doubt, is Master of the Latin & French Languages & has some knowledge of the Mathematicks; without this last he can never become acquainted with one considerable Branch of our Business, the construction of Fortifications & the attack & defense of places." This comment on the importance of understanding fortifications would prove prophetic, considering his hero's death at the 1759 assault on Quebec.
The letter continues over the next two pages with reviews of specific works. Wolfe then continues: "In these days of scarcity & in these unlucky Times it were much to be wished that all our young soldiers of Birth & Education would follow your Brother's steps & [as] they will have their turn to command, that they would try to make themselves fit for that important Trust: without it we must sink under the superior ability & indefatigable Industry or our restless neighbour." After this reference to France, Wolfe concludes by commenting, "In what a strange manner have we conducted our affairs in the Mediterranean?"
An early copy of this letter is located at the Houghton Library.
$4000 – $6000
Rare Book Monthly
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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.