Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - January - 2012 Issue

Western Americana from the William Reese Company

Western Americana.

Western Americana.

The William Reese Company has issued a catalogue of Western Americana. There are few subjects that generate as much interest, and consequently are as highly collectible, as the American West. However, this is not a catalogue filled with cowboys and Indians, gunslingers and lawmen. Sure, they make their appearances, particularly America's natives, but not in the stereotypical way we remember from childhood. These are serious looks at the Old West, from the early explorations by Lewis and Clark and those who followed, to the settlement of that vast land, and the Indian wars which enabled that massive land transfer. We even find Davy Crockett, but he is not Fess Parker in a coonskin cap, but a fighter defending the Alamo, as recounted by one of the few witnesses to survive the final battle. Here, now, are a few selections from Western Americana.

Speaking of the Alamo, most of the few who survived were women and children. One from each of those categories were Susanna Dickinson and her daughter, Angelina. Their husband/father perished in the fight. Apparently, Mexican leader Santa Anna wanted to adopt Angelina, but Mrs. Dickinson declined. There were probably hard feelings. Thirteen years later, a bill was raised in the Texas House to provide aid for the Dickinson women. This plea is contained in the Speech of Guy M. Bryan, Member for Brazoria, on a Joint Resolution for the Relief of the Infant Daughter of Susannah and Almiram Dickinson. Bryan was a nephew of the “father of Texas, Stephen F. Austin, and a veteran of the Texas Revolution. Bryan particularly wanted the legislature to raise funds for the education of Angelina, a teenager now in the year of 1849. He calls out for aid to the “christened child of the Alamo, baptised in the blood of a Travis, a Bowie, a Crockett and a Bonham... Give her what she asks, that she might be educated, and become a worthy child of the State!” Neither Bryan's fiery words nor his Texas pedigree made a difference. She was not given what she asked. Bryan's bill passed the House, but died in committee. Perhaps as a result of their stinginess, instead of becoming an educated young woman, Angelina became a drifter, with two failed marriages, and reportedly died in Galveston (or New Orleans) a courtesan. Item 2. Priced at $2,500.

It took several decades for the life of tragedy to unfold for the “child of the Alamo,” but for the men there, it took but a few hours. Item 106 is an autograph letter from James Morgan, which includes a firsthand account of the Battle of the Alamo written less than a month after it happened in 1836. Morgan was a commander in the Texas Revolution, and his letter was written in hopes of securing aid for the Texian army. Morgan was not a witness to the events within the Alamo himself. He would have been killed had he been there. However, he recounts the testimony of a witness, William Travis' slave, Joe, whose life was spared. For once, it was better to be a slave than a master. While the last moments of the famous defenders of the Alamo remain uncertain, it is generally believed that Jim Bowie was ill in bed, and was killed there. According to Joe, he got under the bed, evidently seeking protection, from where he fought to the end using his pistols and famous knife. Davy Crockett, he said, led the defenders as long as he could. “No man could have behaved with more bravery than he did.” Item 106. $75,000.

Item 66 is a rare example of the variety of book commonly known as an “Indian captivity:” A Narrative of the Captivity of Mrs. Horn, and Her Two Children, with Mrs. Harris, by the Camanche Indians, after They had Murdered Their Husbands and Travelling Companions; with a Brief Account of The Manners and Customs of that Nation of Savages... For starters, their manners must not have been very good, killing your guests not being polite behavior. The Horns were Britishers, emigrating first to New York, and then joining the Beale expedition in 1833 to settle lands along the Rio Grande at Delores, Texas. Unfortunately, Delores was not a fun place to live, and the Comanches added an element of danger to the other miseries of the place. In 1836, the Horns and others decided to leave, but with Mexican troops on the move as a result of the Texas Revolution, and Comanches prowling the area, escape was difficult. The group was surprised by the Indians, Mr. Horn and other men killed, and the rest of the family and Mrs. Harris taken off as captives. Mrs. Horn would be separated from her children, whom she would never see again, and was ransomed by traders in New Mexico in 1837. Her health damaged and unable to secure the release of her children, she traveled to Missouri, where she was interviewed for this book by its author, E.A. House. The book was published in 1839, also the year Mrs. Horn died. $16,500.

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

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