Recent Acquisitions at the William Reese Company

Item 104 is a twelve-volume set Reese describes as "a foundation work for any collection devoted to Western Americana or cartography." It is also "a testament to one of the greatest government-sponsored projects in our history." This is the detailed report on the surveys made for the Pacific or transcontinental railroad in 1853-54. With the resolution of land disputes with Britain and the Mexican War in the 1840s, America had obtained vast quantities of land. However, the nation had no practical way to seriously tap these enormous resources. Covered wagons and handcarts over rutted trails were not going to open the West. While the concept of a western railroad had been raised as early as the 1830s, the inevitability that this would come to pass became clear by the 1850s. This set is entitled Reports of Explorations and Surveys, to Ascertain the Most Practicable and Economical Route for a Railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. Published between 1855 and 1860, it is filled with information about the West, its natural history, topography, geology and geography. It also contains numerous maps, what Howes described as "the best cartographical work on the West up to its time." Just 15 years after the mission was completed in 1854, the golden spike was hammered into place, completing the western half of America's transcontinental railroad. $10,000.

It didn't take quite as much to impress people back in 1861. Item 12 is a poster from the Barnum Museum, Second Week of the Wonderful Living Hippopotamus from the River Nile in Egypt. Today you will find hippos in just about every zoo, but as P.T. Barnum claimed in August of 1861, this was "…the only animal of the kind ever brought to America…" And, you got double the entertainment since the hippo "…is accompanied by his Arab Keeper Salaama himself a curiosity as an interesting specimen of that historic tribe of the human family…" New Yorkers undoubtedly needed the entertainment as the Civil War had just broken out a few months earlier and life for Americans was about to become filled with tragedy. $3,200.

Item 132 is the rarer second edition of one of America's most collectible books, The Book of Mormon. The first edition, published in 1830, has long been highly desirable among collectors, though hardly a rarity, or even scarce for that matter. The second edition, though "authorized" to be printed in 5,000 copies like the original, evidently was printed in far fewer, as unlike the first, it is rarely seen at auction. This edition was published in 1837 in Kirtland, Ohio, where the Church had moved its headquarters from Palmyra, New York. This edition contains over 2,000 changes, though most are of a typographical nature. However, this is the first edition to describe Smith as having "translated" the book. $75,000.

The William Reese Company may be reached at 203-789-8081 or amorder@reeseco.com. Their website is www.reeseco.com.