Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - December - 2011 Issue

The English Colonies in North America from the William Reese Company

Colonial America.

Colonial America.

The William Reese Company has prepared a catalogue of The English Colonies in North America 1590-1763. This is a chronological presentation of works dealing primarily with what would be the Atlantic coastal states of the United States, with an occasional excursion deeper inland, or to Canada to the north. As those dates will attest, it begins long before the Pilgrims first set foot on American soil, to the doomed Roanoke colony. It ends at the high point of British-American cooperation and success, the final triumph over the French in the French and Indian War. Of course, by the next year, that relationship was already beginning to break down, and within 13 years it would be terminated completely, at least from the colonists point of view. Fortunately, we won't have to deal with any of that unpleasantness as this story ends in triumph and friendship. Here are a few of the 75 items being offered.

This author was one of the most important explorers and colonizers of North America, but his name is probably more associated with Pocahontas than anything else. This, of course, would be John Smith, who claimed the fair Indian maiden had saved his life, throwing herself upon him as he was about to be executed by her tribe. Time has cast much suspicion on this story, and perhaps as a result, the accuracy of Smith's accounts in general, though surely something went on in those early days of the Jamestown colony to connect those two and their peoples. But, that was long ago, and in 1614, Pocahontas married Jamestown settler John Rolfe, and John Smith, having left Virginia five years earlier, returned to America, but to New England, not Virginia. It was this visit that he recounts in A Description of New England: or the Observations, and Discoveries, of Captain John Smith... published in 1616. Smith visited New England twice, in 1614 and 1615, and his book became something of a guide for the Pilgrims. Smith listed Plymouth as having a good harbor and being a nice place for a settlement. On his second trip, Smith was captured by pirates and held on a French warship, where he wrote this book. If the French had realized he was writing a book that would encourage British colonization of America, which in would in turn lead to their being thrown off of the continent, they would have shot him on the spot. Item 4. Priced at $125,000.


Soon thereafter, the Pilgrims came, and they were a puritanical lot. One who knew them well in their early days was Thomas Morton, as fun loving and open as the Pilgrims were dour and intolerant. After a visit to Plymouth, he set up a small, rival colony in what is now Quincy, Massachusetts, and developed trade and friendly relations with the local Indians. Morton and his colony were the target of the most virulent abuse by his neighbors, for whom Morton represented sin incarnate. Morton got his opportunity to write about his neighbors in 1637, in this book, New English Canaan or New Canaan. It is perhaps the best account of early New England, covering its natural history, Indians (whom Morton admired), and his annoying neighbors (whom he did not). Eventually, Morton would be driven to Maine to escape their abuse, but his book remains as a testament to the shortcomings of our Pilgrim fathers. Item 7. $125,000.

Item 28 is another important account of early America, though it comes from a far more establishment source. Cotton Mather was the establishment, son and grandson of leading colonial clergymen, and who was the leading religious figure at the turn of the 18th century. He was also a pivotal player in the Salem witch trials, a horror show to which he will always be tied. Cotton Mather was no Thomas Morton. Nonetheless, he provided us with much information about the early days of the colony in Magnalia Christi Americana: or, the Ecclesiastical History of New-England, from the First Planting in the Year 1620. Unto the Year of Our Lord 1698. Despite the title, Mather tells us about far more than mere ecclesiastical matters. $14,000.

If Magnalia Christi is Mather at his best, this one is Mather at his worst: The Wonders of the Invisible World: Being an Account of the Tryals of Several Witches, Lately Executed in New-England... published in 1693 (first British edition). Actually, these women weren't witches at all, except in Mather's imagination. The logic was that spirits were spoken of in the Bible, therefore, if there are no witches, the Bible is not true, and therefore, to establish the truth of the Bible, we better find some witches. Find them they did. Nineteen of them were hanged by the good people of Salem, with Mather's encouragement. Mather would later complain about those who criticized him, though he should have been thankful he was around to respond to those criticisms, unlike the victims. Item 20. $20,000.

Rare Book Monthly

  • 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
  • Bonhams, Apr. 8: First report outside of the colonies of the American Revolution, from American accounts. Printed broadsheet, The London Evening-Post, May 30, 1775. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: Joyce, James. The earliest typescript pages from Finnegans Wake ever to appear at auction, annotated by Joyce, 1923. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: Joyce's Ulysses, 1923, one of only seven copies known, printed to replace copies destroyed in customs. $10,000 - $15,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: ATHANASIUS KIRCHER'S COPY, INSCRIBED. Saggi di naturali esperienze fatte nell' Accademia del Cimento, 1667. $2,000 - $3,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: Bernoulli's Ars conjectandi, 1713. "... first significant book on probability theory." $15,000 - $25,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: Aristotle's Politica. Oeconomica. 1469. The first printed work on political economy. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: John Graunt's Natural and political observations...., 1662. The first printed work of epidemiology and demographics. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: William Playfair's Commercial and Political Atlas, 1786. The first work to pictorially represent information in graphics. $15,000 - $25,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: Anson's A Voyage Round the World, 1748. THE J.R. ABBEY-LORD WARDINGTON COPY, BOUND BY JOHN BRINDLEY. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: La Perouse's Voyage de La Perouse autour du monde..., 1797. LARGE FINE COPY IN ORIGINAL BOARDS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: Francesca Woodman's Some Disordered Interior Geometries, 1981. Untrimmed publisher's proof sheets. $4,000 - $6,000
    Bonhams, Apr. 8: Charles Schulz original 8-panel Peanuts Sunday comic strip, 1992, pen and ink over pencil, featuring Charlie Brown, Snoopy and Lucy as a psychiatrist. $20,000 - $30,000
  • Dominic Winter Auctioneers

    April 9
    Printed Books, English Bibles, Maps & Decorative Prints
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Johnson (C.). A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most Notorious Pyrates, 1724. £3,000-4,000
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Ordonez de Cevallos (Pedro). Viage del Mundo, 1st edition, Madrid: Luis Sanchez, 1614. £1,000-1,500
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: North America. Merian (Matthaus), Virginia..., 1627 or later. £1,500-2,500
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers

    April 9
    Printed Books, English Bibles, Maps & Decorative Prints
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: World. Waldseemuller (Martin), Tabula Nova Totius Orbis, Vienne: 1541. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Erasmus (Desiderius). The ... paraphrase of Erasmus... 2 volumes, 1st edition, 1549. £3,000-5,000
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Bible [English]. [The Bible and Holy Scriptures conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament, 1562]. £3,000-5,000
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers

    April 9
    Printed Books, English Bibles, Maps & Decorative Prints
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Smith (Lucy). Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet, 1st edition, 1853. £1,000-1,500
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Derain (Andre). Pantagruel, signed limited edition, Albert Skira, 1943. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Austen (Jane). Pride and Prejudice, illustrated by Hugh Thomson, Large Paper edition, 1894. £1,500-2,000
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers

    April 9
    Printed Books, English Bibles, Maps & Decorative Prints
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Ellison (Ralph). Invisible Man, 1st edition, New York: Random House, 1952. £200-300
    Dominic Winter, Apr. 9: Taschen Collector's Edition. Annie Leibovitz, limited edition, 2014. £1,000-1,500
  • Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 1: Bob Dylan, his high school classmate's yearbook with his senior portrait, signed and inscribed to her, 1959. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 4: Various entertainers, Group of 30 items, signed or inscribed, various dates. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 27: John Adams, Autograph Letter Signed to Benjamin Rush introducing Archibald Redford, Paris, 1783. $35,000 to $50,000.
    Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 36: Robert Gould Shaw, Autograph Letter Signed to his father from Camp Andrew, Boston, 1861. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 53: Martin Luther King Jr., Time magazine cover, signed and inscribed "Best Wishes," 1957. $5,000 to $7,500.
    Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 127: Paul Gauguin, Autograph Letter regarding payment for paintings, with woodcut letterhead, 1900. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 169: Suck: First European Sex Paper, complete group of eight issues, 1969-1974. $800 to $1,200.
    Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 173: Black Panthers, The Racist Dog Policemen Must Withdraw Immediately From Our Communities, poster, 1969. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 187: Marc Attali & Jacques Delfau, Les Erotiques du Regard, first edition, Paris, 1968. $300 to $500.
    Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 213: Andy Warhol, Warhol's Index Book, first printing, New York, 1967. $800 to $1,200.
    Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 215: Cookie Mueller, Archive of 17 items, including 4 items inscribed and signed. $3,000 to $4,000.
    Swann, Apr. 10: Lot 249: Jamie Reid, The Ten Lessons / The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle; Sex Pistols, chromogenic print with collage, signed, circa 1980. $20,000 to $30,000.

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