The Historical Auction Series No.2 The H. Bradley Martin Sale 1989-1990

Top selling lots from the Americana part of the Martin sale included Lot 2553, a very fine printing of the Declaration of Independence; estimated at $400,000/600,000, this went for $1,595,000 to “Ralph Newman/Chicago Dealer”, breaking sale records in printed Americana in the process; and Lot 2548, George Washington’s copy of The Federalist, estimated at $250,000/400,000, sold for $1,430,000 to an “Anonymous American Private”, breaking records for the sale of association copies in the process. Other top selling Americana lots included William Alexander’s Lord Sterling, a collection of 220 Alexander manuscripts; a work by Prince Maximilian Alexander Phillip zu Wied-Neuwied which was described as “the finest work on American Indian Life and the American Frontier;” a presentation copy of the Lincoln-Douglas debates inscribed and signed by Lincoln; and George Catlin’s North American Indian Portfolio: Hunting Scenes and Amusements of the Rocky Mountains and Praries of America.

Sotheby’s “After-Sale Report” goes on to comment on the Americana Part VII Martin sale:

According to Selby Kiffer, an expert in Sotheby’s Books and Manuscripts department in New York, “Bradley Martin’s small but select collection of Printed and Manuscript Americana contained several lots of enormous importance which sparked enthusiastic competition among collectors. The sale demonstrated a continued interest in American manuscripts and a renewed interest in printed Americana. The prices achieved for the first printing of the Declaration of Independence and Washington’s copy of The Federalist indicate a strong market for works of the greatest rarity.” [Sotheby’s New York, “After-Sale Report” for Part VII Americana, January 31, 1990, graciously passed on to this author by Sotheby’s and quoted with permission.]

Because the Martin sale also took place only 13 years ago, we are lucky in that there are still many book men and women around who vividly remember aspects of it. I’d like to take advantage of this living history now by quoting and/or paraphrasing selectively from some of the book people I was able to interview about the environment and the historic impact of the Bradley Martin sale:

Excerpts and paraphrases from an interview about the H. Bradley Martin sales with Bill Reese of the William Reese Company, New Haven, CT., conducted 7/29/03:

[On what he remembers about the Martin sale:] The first thing that I would remember about the [Martin] sale is that it spanned quite a period of time, and it also spanned an economic backslide which had an effect on the sale towards the end. The sale started in 1989, during a period of boom. In 1990, when it ended, the U.S. was in a period of economic ups and downs that had a definite effect on the sale…