The Historical Auction Series No.1 The Henry C. Murphy Sale March 3-March 8, 1884
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Here’s a brief snapshot from the same auction catalogue introduction as to Mr. Murphy’s bibliophile collection(s) and his interest(s): ….[in adition to being a published author and one mentioned by Stiles, that great chronicler of Brooklyn],
“It is well to state further and more particularly that in general geography, voyages, travels, the [Murphy’s] library is unusually large, and comprises the collections of Hakluyt, Purchas, Grynaeus, Thevenot, Commelin, Abelyn, and Ternaux-Compans….Of the early editions of Ptolmey’s Cosmographia, the collection is not surpassed in the United States….Besides these are the works of other noted geographers, as Strabo, Pomponious Mela, Abulfeda, Edrisi, Aplan, Ortellus, Mercator, [and others]…New France and Canada are conspicuous…..New Netherland, embracing portions of New York and New Jersey, is probably the most complete of any department. Mr. Murphy was learned in the Dutch language and literature, and no book or pamphlet that related directly or indirectly to the Dutch and Swedish settlements in North America is not to be found in the collection.”
The introduction goes on to list many more areas in which the Murphy Sale Collection and Catalogue are complete or nearly complete, including “Works relating to New York; New England; Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, Florida, and Louisiana; Indian Dictionaries and Vocabularies; early Spanish and Dutch writers; and miscellaneous subjects relating to Americana and the Americas.” (ibid.)
As for his books, they are the fitting companion to an exceptional life. Here are some of the highlights, drawn from the sales details and infused with the wistfulness and import of our modern point of view (prices are all hammer prices at the 1884 sale):
Today a Columbus Letter will bring close to seven figures, the Jesuit Relations $400,000+ and a complete set of DeBry a very high price for a complete set.
Because Mr. Murphy was one of the founders of the newspaper The Brooklyn Eagle, it is not surprising that the sale of his library earned day by day coverage and page one placement in that periodical. It was of course interesting news and in some sense a celebration of his life. And other newspapers covered the sale as well. The New York Times, though not yet the paper that is respected today, provided coverage as did The New York Herald Tribune. Whether his name was news or the library was the news is less certain. But the printed galleys remain to help us remember the event.
Dominic Winter Auctioneers Printed Books, Maps & Wisdens, English Bibles 1500-1800 22nd July 2026
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 83 – Westall & Owen. Picturesque Tour of the River Thames, 1st edition, 1828. £2,000-3,000.
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 88 – Blume. Rumphia, Botanicae de plantis Indiae Orientalis, 1835-1848. £2,000-3,000.
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 101 – Michaux. Histoire des arbres forestiers de l'Amérique septentrionale, 1810-1812. £700-1,000.
Dominic Winter Auctioneers Printed Books, Maps & Wisdens, English Bibles 1500-1800 22nd July 2026
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 102 – Miller & Shaw. Cimelia Physica, 1796 [but c. 1816]. £3,000-5,000.
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 104 – Parkinson. Theatrum Botanicum: The Theater of Plants, London: Thomas Cotes, 1640. £800-1,200.
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 159 – Plancius. Orbis Terrarum..., double hemisphere map, 1594-99. £5,000-8,000.
Dominic Winter Auctioneers Printed Books, Maps & Wisdens, English Bibles 1500-1800 22nd July 2026
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 217 – Illuminated Medieval Manuscript. From a Breviary, 14th/15th c. £3,000-4,000.
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 224 – The newe Testament … By Wylliam Tyndall…, 1549. £3,000-5,000.
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 238 – Douay-Rheims Bible. 3 volumes, 1582/1609/1610. £7,000-10,000.
Dominic Winter Auctioneers Printed Books, Maps & Wisdens, English Bibles 1500-1800 22nd July 2026
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 336 – Ashendene Press. A Treatyse of Fysshynge with an Angle, 1903. £1,000-1,500.
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 393 – Sassoon. Memoirs of an Infantry Officer, signed limited edition, 1931. £800-1,200.
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 402 – Dylan Thomas. Twenty-Five Poems, 1st edition in d.j., 1936. £400-600.
Case Auctions 2026 Summer Auction August 1st and 2nd
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: Timberlake, Henry: A DRAUGHT OF THE CHEROKEE COUNTRY on the West Side of the Twenty Four Mountains, Commonly Called "Over the Hills". $18,000 to $22,000.
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: Manuscript orderly book detailing day to day activities of multiple Virginia regiments in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary,1776-1777. $7,000 to $8,000.
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: Cormac McCarthy, The Orchard Keeper, Random House, New York, 1965. Signed 1st Edition. $3,800 to $4,200.
Case Auctions 2026 Summer Auction August 1st and 2nd
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: Battle of Kings Mountain Pamphlet by Isaac Shelby, April 1823, Signed. $1,800 to $2,200.
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: Large Tintype CSA Lt. Col. Thomas Coke Johnson, 19th GA, w/ Southern Cross, Book. $1,400 to $1,800.
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: Rare Civil War Ambrotype, 19th GA Infantry with Johnson Family of GA. $800 to $1,200.
Case Auctions 2026 Summer Auction August 1st and 2nd
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: A signed note written by Thomas Alva Edison to an unknown recipient, in which he shares his thoughts on Guglielmo Marconi, regarded as the inventor of the radio. $800 to $1,200.
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: Rare 1931 TN Grasslands Steeplechase Book, Gallatin. $800 to $1,000.
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: War of 1812 related Broadside, Petersburg Volunteers. $700 to $800.
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: 2 World War I Posters, “Our Colored Fighters” and “No Slacker”. $800 to $1,000.
