Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - June - 2011 Issue

A New Miscellany from Kenneth Karmiole, Bookseller

A new miscellany.

A new miscellany.

Kenneth Karmiole, Bookseller, has issued another selection of varied material. This one is New Miscellany #31. It contains primarily a mix of very old European works, with old, though not quite as old, American books. The older items are frequently in Latin and continental languages, the less ancient in English. Subjects vary. Here are just a few.

 

We start with an antiquarian look at ancient history:  Antiquae Romae Topographia, by Bartolomeo Marliani, published in 1534. This consists of seven "books" Marliani wrote about the topography and archeology of ancient Rome. Ancient Rome had been mostly forgotten until the invention of the printing press allowed for publication of research about the ruins that were little understood at the time. The quality of research might be found wanting by today's standards. No one was participating in archeological digs and careful examination at the time. Nonetheless, Marliani was able to bring some basic understanding of the ancient past to his readers. Offered is a first edition of a book that was reprinted numerous times during the 16th century. Item 62. Priced at $2,500.

 

Item 3 is a report on the Ives expedition up the Colorado River in 1857 by the artist and naturalist Heinrich Balduin (Baldwin) Mollhausen. Mollhausen was a German who befriended the great, now older German explorer of America, Alexander von Humboldt. He had already made two journeys to the American West when Joseph Christmas Ives asked him to participate in his exploration of the Colorado. They began at the mouth of the river and worked their way north as far as the Grand Canyon. Mollhausen's illustrations, some of the earliest of the great canyon, were used in Ives' official report as well as some of Mollhausen's own books. After returning to Germany, Mollhausen became a prolific writer, creating both historical accounts and fiction based on the places he had seen. Item 3 is his Resor I Norra Amerikas Klippberg… This is the first Swedish edition (1867) of a book never translated to English. It was published only in German and Swedish. $600.

 

Item 68 is the first English translation of a major work on the conquest of Mexico. Author Bernal Diaz de Castillo accompanied the conquistador Hernan Cortes on his mission to conquer Mexico, and destroy the Aztec empire in the process. Diaz kept a detailed narrative of the events, both from his own experiences and interviewing others. However, he never published his manuscript. Diaz died in 1585, but his manuscript languished in a Madrid library until finally published in 1632. This first edition in English, titled The True History of the Conquest of Mexico…Written in the Year 1568, was published in 1800. $1,000.

 

Item 85 is a work that sounds like it would still be useful today:  The Universal Directory for Taking Alive and Destroying Rats, and all other Kinds of Four-Footed and Winged Vermin… This is a third edition from 1786 by Robert Smith, self-described as "Late Rat-Catcther [sic] to the Princess Amelia." Based on the date and London imprint, this must be the Princess Amelia who was daughter of King George II. Born in 1711, this Amelia died the year this edition was published at the age of 75. She never married, though she was once mentioned as potential wife for the future Prussian King Frederick the Great. His father said no, and Amelia may have suffered a broken heart. At least she didn't suffer from rats. $475.

 

Item 59 is a long-ago look at linguistics:  Remains of Japhet:  Being Historical Enquiries into the Affinity and Origin of the European Languages. James Parsons' treatise was published in 1767. It was once believed that different languages had descended from the sons of Noah, with the precursor to European languages arising from his son Japheth. $450.

 

For almost as long as there have been books, there has been somebody trying to stop you from reading them. The Catholic Church particularly went into the banned book business in the 16th century, after the Reformation. It began publishing lists of books that could not be read without dispensation. Item 19 is one of those Index Librorum Prohibitorum, this the first list published during the papacy of Innocent XI (1681). Then, as now, getting on a banned books list was the best way to get your book read. $1,250.

 

Kenneth Karmiole, Bookseller, Inc., may be reached at 310-451-4342 or Karmbooks@aol.com.

 

Rare Book Monthly

  • Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Pietro Aquila, Psyche and Proserpina,1690. Starting price 140€
    Gonnelli: Jacques Gamelin, Memento homo quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris, 1779. Starting price 300€
    Gonnelli: Giorgio Ghisi, The final Judgement, 1680. Starting price 480€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli Goya y Lucientes Francisco, Los Proverbios.1877. Starting price 1000 €
    Gonnelli: Domenico Peruzzini, Long bearded old man, 1660. Starting price 2200€
    Gonnelli: Enea Vico, Leda and the Swan,1542. Starting price 140€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Andrea Del Sarto [school of], San Giovanni Battista, 1570. Starting price 25000€
    Gonnelli: Carlo Maratta, Virgin Mary and Jesus, 1660. Starting Price 1200€
    Gonnelli: Louis Brion de La Tour, Sphére de Copernic Sphere de Ptolemée / Le Systême de Ptolemée. Le Systême de Ticho-Brahe…, 1766. Starting price 180€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Marc’Antonio Dal Re, Ville di Delizia o Siano Palaggi Camparecci nello Stato di Milano Divise in Sei Tomi Con espressevi le Piante…, Tomo Primo, 1726. Starting price 7000€
    Gonnelli: Katsushika Hokusai, Bird on a branch, 1843. Starting price 100€
  • Swann, May 15: Lot 4: Helena Bochoráková-Dittrichová, Z Mého Detství Drevoryty, Prague: Obzina, 1929. First trade edition, signed by the artist. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 10: Nancy Cunard, Negro Anthology, with a tipped-in A.L.S. to Karl Marx's niece, 1934. First edition. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 14: Margaret Fuller, Woman in the Nineteenth Century, 1845. First edition. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 17: Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun, inscribed first edition, 1959. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 28: Margaret Hill Morris, Private Journal Kept during a Portion of the Revolutionary War, for the Amusement of a Sister, 1836. First edition. $3,000 to $4,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 38: Anna Sewell, Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horse, 1877. First edition. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 43: Gertrude Stein, Portrait of Mabel Dodge at the Villa Curonia, signed presentation copy with photograph of Stein, 1912. First edition. $8,000 to $12,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 48: Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse, first edition in the scarce dust jacket, 1927. $6,000 to $8,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 54: Katherine Dunham, large archive of material from her attorney, 1951-53. $20,000 to $30,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 55: Margaret Fuller Signed Autograph Letter, New York City, 1846. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 92: Sonia Delaunay, illus. & Tristan Tzara, Juste Present, deluxe edition with original gouache, 1961. $20,000 to $25,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 93: Flor Garduño, The Sonnets of Shakespeare, 2006. Limited edition. $6,000 to $8,000.
  • Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Th. McKenney & J. Hall, History of the Indian tribes of North America, 1836-1844. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Biblia latina vulgata, manuscript on thin parchment, around 1250. Est: €70,000
    Ketterer, May 26: M. Beckmann, Fanferlieschen Schönefüßchen, 1924. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: A. Ortelius, Theatrum orbis terrarum, 1574. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer, May 26: M. S. Merian, Eurcarum ortus, alimentum et paradoxa metamorphosis, 1717-18. Est: €6,000
    Ketterer, May 26: PAN, 9 volumes, 1895-1900. Est: €12,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Breviarium Romanum, Latin manuscript, 1474. Est: €15,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Quran manuscript from the Saadian period, Maghreb, 16th century. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer, May 26: E. Hemingway, The old man and the sea, 1952. First edition in first issue jacket. Presentation copy. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Flavius Vegetius Renatus, De re militari libri quatuor, 1553. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer, May 26: K. Marx, Das Kapital, 1867. Est: €30,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Brassaï, Transmutations, 1967. Est: €6,000
  • Leland Little, May 21: Signed Artist Proof of the Monumental G.O.A.T.: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali.
    Leland Little, May 21: Assorted Rare Publications Related to H.P. Lovecraft, Including The Recluse Signed by Vincent Starrett.
    Leland Little, May 21: Two Issues of The Vagrant, Including the First Appearance of H.P. Lovecraft's "Dagon" in Number Eleven.
    Leland Little, May 21: Rare First Printing of Anne of Green Gables, With ALS from the Author.
    Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, In First Issue Jacket.
    Leland Little, May 21: The Limited Paumanok Edition of The Complete Writings of Walt Whitman.
    Leland Little, May 21: Beautifully Bound Limited Flaubert Edition of The Works of Guy de Maupassant.
    Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Bonaparte's Celebrated American Ornithology, With Spectacular Hand-Colored Plates.
    Leland Little, May 21: A Rare Complete Set of Jardine's The Naturalist's Library, With Hand-Colored Plates.
    Leland Little, May 21: Invitation to the Lincoln-Johnson National Inaugural Ball, March 4th, 1865.
    Leland Little, May 21: A Scarce Inscribed First Edition of James Baldwin's Nobody Knows My Name.
    Leland Little, May 21: Picasso's Le Goût du Bonheur, Limited Edition.
  • Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR

Review Search

Archived Reviews

Ask Questions