Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - December - 2010 Issue
The Great West Illustrated from the William Reese Company
A deteriorating Bent's Fort around 1870.
Item 4 is a previously unknown drawing of Bent's Fort in its last days, circa 1870. The fort was built as a trading post in the 1830s by the Bent Brothers, primarily to trade with the Southern Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians, as well as fur trappers. It was located in southeastern Colorado along the Santa Fe Trail, the only permanent stop between Missouri and the Mexican settlements in New Mexico. It also served as a stopping point for travelers along the trail, a place where John C. Fremont took on supplies when he began his California explorations, and a staging area for American troops during the Mexican War. However, by 1849, the Bents had abandoned the fort and moved to a new location. It continued to be used, but was allowed to deteriorate. By the late 1860s, it was tended by a lone caretaker as part of a mail route, the structures now a ramshackle collection of deteriorating buildings. It was at this point that the artist sketched the fort, or what remained, possibly the last live image of Bent's Fort. The initials JFK appear in the corner of the image, which may be those of Hudson River School painter John Frederick Kensett, who traveled to Colorado in 1870, but Reese makes clear that no definitive attribution can be made for this drawing. $27,500.
Item 31 is one of those inventions that looks better on paper than in the field. It is a copy of a privately circulated prospectus for the Overland Traction Engine Company. Transportation by Steam from the Missouri River to the Rocky Mountains, published in 1865. While others were trying to build a railroad across the country, Overland was developing the first SUV. This was a massive steam engine that could haul passengers and cargo across the Great Plains on the rough trails, such as they were, without need for rails. The massive 54-ton device would provide the enormous power needed to haul the heavy loads over rough trails. What the inventors failed to account for was the fact these "roads" were not paved. The 54-tons quickly became bogged down in the mud on the first trial run. The plans were soon abandoned. $3,500.
The William Reese Company may be reached at 203-789-8081 or [email protected]. Their website is www.reeseco.com.
Rare Book Monthly
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Dominic Winter Auctioneers
Printed Books, Maps & Wisdens, English Bibles
1500-1800
22nd July 2026Dominic 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 2026Dominic 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 2026Dominic 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 2026Dominic 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. -
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Forum Auctions
The 10th Anniversary Sale
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
July 16, 2026Forum, July 16: Inundation papyrus. P.Michael 4, the ‘Inundation papyrus’, a geographical account of the Nile near Canopus, in Greek, remains of two columns from a manuscript scroll on papyrus, Egypt, second century CE. £12,000-18,000Forum, July 16: Book of Hours, use of Sarum, manuscript on vellum, 6 full-page miniatures, with famous Middle English inscriptions, Southern Netherlands for the English market, [c.1430]. £30,000-50,000Forum, July 16: Qu'ran, Arabic manuscript on burnished, stencilled, and gold-flecked paper, 447ff., Sultanate Gujarat, Ahmadabad, [after 1411 but no later than 1442]. £15,000-20,000Forum Auctions
The 10th Anniversary Sale
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
July 16, 2026Forum, July 16: Turner (William). A New boke of the natures and properties of all wines that are commonly vsed here in England, rare first edition of the first English book on wine, By William Seres, 1568. £20,000-£30,000Forum, July 16: Spenser (Edmund). The Faerie Queene. first edition, Printed [by John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, 1590. £30,000-40,000Forum, July 16: Shakespeare (William). The Comedie of Errors, extracted from the first folio, Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount, 1623. £15,000-20,000Forum Auctions
The 10th Anniversary Sale
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
July 16, 2026Forum, July 16: Fleming (Ian). Casino Royale, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1953. £40,000-60,000Forum, July 16: d'Agoty (Jacques-Fabien Gautier). Anatomie de la Tête, first edition, Paris, chez le Sieur Gautier, 1748. £10,000-15,000Forum, July 16: Martial Arts.- Lee (Bruce). 'Praying Mantis style' Kung Fu book, containing numerous annotations, diagrams and graphs in Bruce Lee's hand, c. 1960. £50,000-70,000Forum Auctions
The 10th Anniversary Sale
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
July 16, 2026Forum, July 16: Warre (Capt. Henry James). Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory, first edition, rare hand-coloured issue, 1848. £30,000-40,000Forum, July 16: Norie (John William). The Marine Atlas, or Seaman's Complete Pilot for all the principal places in the known world..., 1826. £30,000-50,000Forum, July 16: Mao Tse-tung.- Kim Il-sung.-[Note book for visitors from China to Korea], signed by Mao and Kim, [Beijing, 1954]. £10,000-15,000 -
Case Auctions
2026 Summer Auction
August 1st and 2ndCase 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 2ndCase 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 2ndCase 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.