Trivial Pursuit?<br>Collecting Vice-President William R. King
- by Michael Stillman
Vice President, William R. King
By Mike Stillman
Collecting presidents is one of the most popular activities for book collectors. Its subjects are usually well-known, material is plentiful, and it can be quite expensive. The same cannot be said for collecting vice-presidents. Except for those who went on to serve as president, or committed some heinous act (Aaron Burr comes to mind here, or Spiro Agnew), few are remembered. John Nance Garner, FDR’s first vice-president, is supposed to have said the vice-presidency is “not worth a bucket of warm spit.” And that comment is about all people remember Garner for today.
Today’s subject is William Rufus DeVane King, vice-president under Franklin Pierce. Pierce himself is not well-remembered (nor well-loved). King is just plain forgotten. Not even in his native Alabama is he a celebrity, despite being the only Alabaman to ever achieve national elective office. If his name comes up at all today, it’s likely to be as the answer to a trivia question, or as part of some obscure controversy. Who was the only president or vice-president sworn into office outside of the United States? Who was the only vice-president never to set foot in Washington during his term of office? Who is subject to rumors of having a homosexual relationship with a president? Who challenged Henry Clay to a duel? Which vice-president had a county unnamed for him? The answer to all of these unimportant questions is William Rufus King.
The controversies to which his name is tied today would probably have saddened King. He was a man who wanted to avoid controversy. He wished to unite his country in a time when its divisions were becoming so deep that a split was all but inevitable. But, two of these issues are ones we still deal with today, and how we look at King now may tell us more about ourselves than about King and his times.
The rumors of a homosexual relationship, by no means confirmed, with president-to-be James Buchanan are instructive in comparing attitudes at the time with attitudes today. Not a big issue in King’s time, gay rights is in the forefront of political issues today.
And then there’s the question of slavery. King, the Alabaman, was, not surprisingly, pro slavery, and owned slaves himself. Of course, he wasn’t the only early American leader to own slaves. Names like Washington and Jefferson also come to mind. Today it is hard to grasp how people who otherwise seem to be good, decent people could ever have supported so indecent an institution. And King appears to be that - a man otherwise liked and admired by his contemporaries, even anti-slavery northerners, who supported this horrific treatment of a race of people. How should we regard these people today? It’s a question that confronts us more starkly with Jefferson, and to a lesser degree, Washington, but it also applies to the obscure King and so many more.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 156: Cornelis de Jode, Americae pars Borealis, double-page engraved map of North America, Antwerp, 1593.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 206: John and Alexander Walker, Map of the United States, London and Liverpool, 1827.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 223: Abraham Ortelius, Typus Orbis Terrarum, hand-colored double-page engraved world map, Antwerp, 1575.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 233: Aaron Arrowsmith, Chart of the World, oversize engraved map on 8 sheets, London, 1790 (circa 1800).
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 239: Fielding Lucas, A General Atlas, 81 engraved maps and diagrams, Baltimore, 1823.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 240: Anthony Finley, A New American Atlas, 15 maps engraved by james hamilton young on 14 double-page sheets, Philadelphia, 1826.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 263: John Bachmann, Panorama of the Seat of War, portfolio of 4 double-page chromolithographed panoramic maps, New York, 1861.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 265: Sebastian Münster, Cosmographei, Basel: Sebastian Henricpetri, 1558.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 271: Abraham Ortelius, Epitome Theatri Orteliani, Antwerp: Johann Baptist Vrients, 1601.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 283: Joris van Spilbergen, Speculum Orientalis Occidentalisque Indiae, Leiden: Nicolaus van Geelkercken for Jodocus Hondius, 1619.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 285: Levinus Hulsius, Achtzehender Theil der Newen Welt, 14 engraved folding maps, Frankfurt: Johann Frederick Weiss, 1623.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 341: John James Audubon, Carolina Parrot, Plate 26, London, 1827.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue, inscribed by the author pre-publication. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Autograph sketchleaf including a probable draft for the E flat Piano Quartet, K.493, 1786. £150,000 to £200,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
![<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 11:</b> Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] <i>Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,</i> Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/00d5fd41-2542-4a80-b119-4886d4b9925f.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 11:</b> Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] <i>Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,</i> Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.")
