Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - July - 2010 Issue
50 Fine Books from Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books
Beatrix Potter's pre-Peter Rabbit bunnies.
Outside of John James Audubon, there is no more notable artist/ornithologist than England's John Gould. He is known for his outstanding illustrated books on the birds of Europe and Australia. However, he did occasionally illustrate some American birds, and some of these are seen in A monograph of the odontophorinae, or partridges of America, issued 1844-1850. Gould visited collections all over Europe, though not America, to see specimens of these birds. The book is dedicated to Charles Lucien Bonaparte, nephew of the previously mentioned Napoleon Bonaparte, who settled in America and was the country's leading pre-Audubon ornithologist. Item 16. £18,500 (US $26,680).
"H.B.P." drew illustrations of animals too, but hardly with the realism displayed by John Gould. Item 29 is a copy of A Happy Pair, by Frederick Edward Weatherly, circa 1890. This was the first work illustrated by "H.B.P.," an unknown children's illustrator and later writer. It would be over a decade before H.B.P., (Helen) Beatrix Potter, would have her breakthrough with The Tale of Peter Rabbit, still a children's favorite today. However, if you go back to this earlier book, the illustrations of this harebrained couple are unmistakably those of Beatrix Potter. £30,000 (US $43,313).
Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books may be reached at +44 (0)20 7493 0876 or [email protected]. Their website is www.shapero.com.
You will find many of Bernard J. Shapero's books listed in "Books For Sale" on this site. Click here.
Rare Book Monthly
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Freeman’s, August 20. President Washington Reaffirms the US Treaty of Friendship and Peace with Morocco, the Longest Unbroken Treaty in US History. $50,000 – 80,000.Freeman’s, August 20. Weeks After Victory at Yorktown, Benjamin Franklin Promises Repayment of a French Loan that Funded the American Revolution. $200,000 – 300,000.Freeman’s, August 20. Rare First Edition of the Foundational Text of the Mormon Church. $100,000 – 150,000.Freeman’s, August 20. President Washington Sends the First Major Law Passed by Congress, the Tariff Act of 1789. $100,000 – 150,000.Freeman’s, August 20. A Scarce Example of Audubon's Depiction of a Brown Pelican, Plate CCLI from his Birds of America. $30,000 – 50,000.Freeman’s, August 20. The Official and First Obtainable Broadside Printing of the Lincoln's Final Emancipation Proclamation. $30,000 – 50,000. -
