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Sotheby’s
Important Modern Literature from the Library of an American Filmmaker
8 December 2023Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Kerouac, Jack. Typescript scroll of The Dharma Bums. Typed by Kerouac in Orlando, Florida, 1957, published by Viking in 1958. 300,000 - 500,000 USDSotheby’s, Dec. 8: Hemingway, Ernest. The autograph manuscript of "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." [Key West, finished April 1936]. 300,000 - 500,000 USDSotheby’s, Dec. 8: Miller, Henry. Typescript of The Last Book, a working title for Tropic of Cancer, written circa 1931–1932. 100,000 - 150,000 USDSotheby’s, Dec. 8: Ruscha, Ed. Twentysix Gasoline Stations, with a lengthy inscription to Joe Goode. 40,000 - 60,000 USDSotheby’s, Dec. 8: Hemingway, Ernest. in our time, first edition of Hemingway’s second book. 30,000 - 50,000 USD -
Forum Auctions
Online Sale
Books and Works on Paper
Ending 13th December 2023Forum, Dec. 13: Ackermann (Rudolph) [Views of Country Seats...], 146 hand-coloured aquatints from 'Repository of Arts’. £1,000 to £1,500.Forum, Dec. 13: Campbell (Colen) & others. Vitruvius Britannicus, or The British Architect..., 5 vol., [1751-1819]. £7,000 to £10,000.Forum, Dec. 13: Austen (Jane). The Novels, 12 vol., Edinburgh, John Grant, 1911. £1,500 to £2,000.Forum, Dec. 13: Murder broadside.- Horrid and barbarous murder of a female by cutting off her head, arms, and legs,… £200 to £300. -
Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 2:
John Ford Clymer, U.S. Troops' Triumphant Return to New York Harbor, oil on canvas, circa 1944.Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 44:
Edward Gorey, Illustration of cover and spine for Fonthill, a Comedy by Aubrey Menen, pen and ink, 1973.Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 50:
Harrison Cady, frontispiece for Buster Bear's Twins by Thornton W. Burgess, watercolor and ink, 1921.Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 54:
Ludwig Bemelmans, Pepito, portrait of Pepito from the Madeline book series, mixed media.Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 79:
Gluyas Williams, Fellow Citizens Observation Platform, pen and ink, cartoon published in The New Yorker, March 11, 1933.Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 86:
Thomas Nast, Victory, – for the moment, political cartoon, pen and ink, 1884.Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 91:
Mischa Richter, Lot of 10 cartoons for Field Publications, ink and pencil, circa 1940.Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 111:
Arthur Getz, Sledding In Central Park, casein tempera on canvas, cover of The New Yorker, February 26, 1955.Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 124:
Richard Erdoes, Map of Boston, illustration for unknown children's magazine, gouache on board, circa 1960.Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 155:
Robert Fawcett, The old man looked him over carefully, gouache on board, published in The Saturday Evening Post, June 9, 1945.Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 170:
Violet Oakley, Portrait of Woodrow Wilson, charcoal and pastel, circa 1918.Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 188:
Robert J. Wildhack, Scribner's for March, 1907, mixed media. -
CHRISTIE’S
Valuable Books and Manuscripts
London auction
13 December
Find out moreChristie’s, Explore now
TREW, Christoph Jacob (1695–1769). Plantae Selectae quarum imagines ad exemplaria naturalia Londini in hortus curiosorum. [Nuremberg: 1750–1773]. £30,000–40,000Christie’s, Explore now
VERBIEST, Ferdinand (1623–88). Liber Organicus Astronomiae Europaeae apud Sinas restituate. [Beijing: Board of Astronomy, 1674]. £250,000–350,000Christie’s, Explore now
PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF ALICE & NIKOLAUS HARNONCOURT. Master of Jean Rolin (active 1445–65). Book of Hours, use of Paris, in Latin and French, [Paris, c.1450–1460]. £120,000–180,000Christie’s, Explore now
A SILVER MICROSCOPE. Probably by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723), c.1700. £150,000–250,000Christie’s, Explore now
AN ENGLISH HORARY QUADRANT
C.1311. £100,000–150,000
Rare Book Monthly
Articles - October - 2008 Issue
Arrests Made in Theft of First Book Printed in the American West
The copy of the Maxwell Code sold last year at Cowen's.
By Michael Stillman
Thefts of rare and valuable books from institutional libraries almost seem to be becoming commonplace these days. Such a theft, and thankfully, concomitant arrest, hit the wires from the battleground state of Ohio last month. Stolen was a copy of the cumbersomely named The Laws of the Territory of the United States North-West of the Ohio. It is more commonly referred to as the Maxwell Code, or Maxwell's Code for its printer, William Maxwell. What makes this item remarkable is that it was the first book printed in the great American Northwest, and in 1796, Ohio was still considered part of the Northwest. There are around 15 copies of this Cincinnati first edition still known to exist. However, most of these copies have serious defects, with the stolen copy being one of the best around. This item, especially in good condition, is so rare it is hard to imagine how the thieves could have hoped to fence it, but they were probably unaware how difficult this would be. They are not antiquarians.
The victim of this theft was the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library in Fremont. There is some irony here in that many believe Hayes "stole" his election, but that is an issue for another day. Hayes was never prosecuted for theft, but these three other Ohioans surely will be.
Charged in this case are Joshua McCarty, 31, his reputed girlfriend Angela Bays, 19, both of Columbus, and Zachary Scranton, 21, of Marysville. Along with the Maxwell Code, they are also accused of stealing a copy of the slightly later Freeman Code. According to an FBI affidavit, the theft came down something like this. On June 27, McCarty and Bays asked to view the Maxwell Code, which was kept in a box with the 1798 Freeman Code. When a library employee discovered McCarty emerging from a women's bathroom with the Maxwell Code in hand, the employee retrieved the book and sent McCarty on his way. The employee put this book and the Freeman Code back in the box from whence they came and returned it to the shelf. However, what went unnoticed was that the Freeman Code had been ripped from its binder. It had been bound with many extra blank leaves, so the librarian did not notice at the time it was missing.
Two months later, on August 25, Zachary Scranton entered the library and asked to see the Maxwell Code. According to the FBI, McCarty had offered him $300 to steal it. McCarty is not a generous man, considering the Maxwell Code's value of $100,000-plus. Scranton could not provide the library with any ID, but amazingly, he was given the rare book in return for handing over his backpack as collateral. Scranton later left the building saying he needed to make a telephone call, but never returned. The librarians then noticed the Maxwell Code was missing, and when they looked in Scranton's backpack, all they found were paper towels.
Once the Hays Library realized what had happened, they sent out emails to various booksellers and auction houses concerning the missing Maxwell Code. Several dealers indicated that they had been contacted by McCarty, and that he had sold a copy of the Freeman Code to a bookseller earlier. That dealer in turn sold it to a British collector for $35,000. This led the librarians to check on their copy of the Freeman Code, which they soon learned was also missing. With this information in hand, the FBI tracked down McCarty, who had been arrested in 2007 for stealing $20,000 worth of maps from an Illinois bookstore. He also had other arrests on his record. Cell phone records indicated numerous calls between McCarty and Scranton from the vicinity of the Hays Library on the day of the Maxwell theft, and library workers identified Scranton as the suspect. Scranton reportedly then implicated McCarty. With all of this evidence in hand, the FBI had sufficient cause to bring the charges.
