• Freeman’s | Hindman
    Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana
    November 14
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: LEROUX, Gaston. The Phantom of the Opera. FIRST AM. ED, FIRST ISSUE IN THE VERY RARE DUST JACKET. 1911. $6,000 – 8,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: GOULD, John. A Monograph of the Trochilidae...Humming-Birds. L., [1849-] 1861. $60,000 – 80,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: A COMPLETE RUN of Limited Editions Club publications, v.p. [mostly New York], 1929-2010. $50,000 – 60,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: ORWELL, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. Lon., 1949. FIRST EDITION IN A VERY FINE DUST JACKET. $6,000 – 8,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: GOULD. A Monograph of the Ramphastidae...Toucans. L., [1852-] 54. SECOND ED. $35,000 – 45,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: The Federalist. NY, 1788. FIRST EDITION, THICK PAPER COPY. $60,000 – 80,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: SELBY. Plates to Selby’s Illustrations of British Ornithology. Edin., [1833-] 34. $20,000 – 30,000.
  • Gonnelli:
    Auction 55
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    November 26st 2024
    Gonnelli: Stefano Della Bella, 23 animal plances,1641. Starting price 480€
    Gonnelli: Stefano Della Bella, Boar Hunt, 1654. Starting price 180€
    Gonnelli: Crispijn Van de Passe, The seven Arts, 1637. Starting price 600€
    Gonnelli: Giuseppe Maria Mitelli, La Maschera è cagion di molti mali, 1688. Starting price 320€
    Gonnelli: Biribissor’s game, 1804-15. Starting price 2800€
    Gonnelli: Nicolas II de Larmessin, Habitats,1700. Starting price 320€
    Gonnelli: Miniature “O”, 1400. Starting price 1800€
    Gonnelli: Jan Van der Straet, Hunt scenes, 1596. Starting Price 140€
    Gonnelli: Massimino Baseggio, Costantinople, 1787. Starting price 480€
    Gonnelli: Kawanabe Kyosai, Erotic scene lighten up by a candle, 1860. Starting price 380€
    Gonnelli: Duck shaped dropper, 1670. Starting price 800€
  • Swann, Nov. 14: Stephen Sondheim, autograph musical quotation signed and inscribed, 4 bars from “Send in the Clowns,” 1986.
    Swann, Nov. 14: George Washington, autograph letter signed to Robert Morris, preparing for attack on Philadelphia, 1777.
    Swann, Nov. 14: Autograph album containing over 250 signatures by members of 29th U.S. Congress, 1845.
    Swann, Nov. 14: Charles “The Bold,” letter signed to Duke of Milan written during Burgundian Wars, 1475.
    Swann, Nov. 14: Deng Xiaoping, TIME magazine “Man of the Year” issue signed and dated, 1979.
    Swann, Nov. 14: Theodor Herzl, autograph letter signed to prospective tutor of his children, 1902.
    Swann, Nov. 14: Bourienne’s Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte extra illustrated including 1798 letter signed by Napoleon after Battle of the Nile, 1836.
    Swann, Nov. 14: George Minot, autograph manuscript signed, diary kept during European trip to claim Nobel Prize, 1934.
    Swann, Nov. 14: Thomas Jefferson, autograph letter signed, introducing George Washington’s personal secretary Tobias Lear, 1793.
    Swann, Nov. 14: Winston Churchill, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, signed in second volume, first edition, 1956-58.
    Swann, Nov. 14: John Steinbeck, late typescript drafts of 5 chapters from his posthumously published tales of King Arthur, 1959.
    Swann, Nov. 14: H.G. Wells, group of 14 of his books signed to his mistress Rebecca West or the son they had together, 1910s-40s.
  • Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 37: Archive of the pioneering woman artist Arrah Lee Gaul, most 1911-59. $3,000 to $4,000.
    Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 66: Letter describing the dropping water level at Owens Lake near Death Valley, long before it was drained, Keeler, CA, 26 July 1904. $3,000 to $4,000
    Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 102: To Horse, To Horse! My All for a Horse! The Washington Cavalry, illustrated Civil War broadside, Philadelphia, 1862. $4,000 to $6,000
    Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 135: Album of cyanotype views of the Florida panhandle and beyond, 224 photographs, 174 of them cyanotypes, Apalachicola, FL and elsewhere, circa 1895-1896. $1,200 to $1,800
    Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 154: Catalogue of the Library of the United States, as acquired from Thomas Jefferson, Washington, 1815. $15,000 to $25,000
    Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 173: New Englands First Fruits, featuring the first description of Harvard in print, London, 1643. $40,000 to $60,000
    Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 177: John P. Greene, Original manuscript diary of a mission to western New York with Joseph Smith, 1833. $60,000 to $90,000
    Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 243: P.E. Larson, photographer, Such is Life in the Far West: Early Morning Call in a Gambling Hall, Goldfield, NV, circa 1906. $2,500 to $3,500
    Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 261: Fred W. Sladen, Diaries of a WWII colonel commanding troops from Morocco to Italy to France, 1942-44. $3,000 to $4,000
    Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 309: Los mexicanos pintados por si mismos, por varios autores, a Mexican plate book. Mexico, 1854-1855. $2,000 to $3,000
    Swann, Nov. 21: Lot 8: Diaries of a prospector / trapper in the remote Alaska wilderness, 5 manuscript volumes. Alaska, 1917-64. $1,500 to $2,500.

Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - January - 2012 Issue

Castles and Forts from Yesterday's Muse

Castles and forts.

Castles and forts.

Last month we reviewed the first catalogue from Yesterday's Muse Books. This month they aren't quite ready to pass that signal moment in a bookseller's history, so rather than a second catalogue, we have Yesterday's Muse Catalog Supplement, Containing recently acquired material on castles and military fortifications. Yesterday's Muse focuses on a variety of subjects, including literature, history, and utopian fiction, all fields in which others specialize as well. However, we have not before seen a dealer who specializes in the subject of this supplement. It is filled with prints of various old, primarily English castles and forts, including some of maps and plans as well as images of the structures. Additionally, there are many books as well as prints about castles and military fortifications. For those interested in how the 1% used to live, or how armies used to fight, this supplement provides an excellent window. If you like what you see, it won't cost a king's ransom to own one of these castles or forts, most being priced in just double digits, a few in singles.

There are twelve plates, matted and ready for framing, from Histoire Generale des Voyages by Antoin Francois Prévost. Abbé Prévost bounced between two extremes, a career in the Church and as a military man. Perhaps it was a broken heart from an unsuccessful romance that led him to choose an ecclesiastical career. However, he only spent a limited amount of his time around monasteries, instead becoming a notable writer of the mid-18th century. He wrote histories, novels, and other works, as well as translating the writings of others. This particular work was an extensive account of voyages, with illustrations of various lands. From these, Yesterday's Muse has selected plates specifically illustrating castles and forts. Priced at $90 each.

There are 13 maps and prints from Les plans et profils de toutes les principales villes et lieux considerables de France. Published in 1636, this was one of the works of Nicholas Tassin, who was actually Christophe Tassin. Tassin was appointed Royal Cartographer for Dijon before moving to Paris in the early 1630s where he began issuing collections of maps, plans, and small atlases. He was particularly noted for documenting the French coastline. Tassin was a a military engineer, so his maps and plans are often focused on fortifications. Most are priced at $75 each.

Item 185 is a 1905 print of perhaps the most famous castle in the world – Windsor Castle. It is the longest, regularly inhabited castle in Europe, dating back to William the Conqueror and the Norman invasion of the 11th century. It has also served as a fortification along the Thames river, though such a use has faded as much as has the fear that England will be invaded via the Thames. Today it is home to the royal family, site of state social events, and a major tourist attraction. $45.

Here is a history of a castle with some unpleasant overtones: Royal Fortress: The Tower of London through Nine Centuries. The Tower served as a fortress, royal residence, an armory, home to the Royal Mint, and numerous other uses over the the almost ten centuries since it was built after the Norman Conquest of 1066. However, the Tower of London is best associated with its most notorious use – that of a prison, and a place of execution for those who fell out of favor for whatever reasons. A couple of Henry VIII's wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, made their earthly exits from there so as not to inconvenience Henry by their presence, as did Lady Jane Grey, courtesy of Bloody Mary. This book was written by Peter Hammond and published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office in 1978. Item 203. $6.

Here is a pamphlet that would make a nice companion to the preceding piece. It is a look at some of the less pleasant activities in jolly old England: Torture and Punishment (Treasures of the Tower). Yesterday's Muse describes this as a “highly descriptive survey of torture and its methods through English history.” This one comes from the Department of the Environment, published in 1975. Evidently the EPA has a different role in England than in America. Item 199. $5.

Item 207 takes us to an American fort, originally built by the French: Ticonderoga: Historic Portage, by Carroll Vincent Lonergan, published in 1959. Fort Ticonderoga was built in the 1750s, during the French and Indian War. It is situated along the short section of river between Lakes Champlain and George in New York State. Its location made it a strategic point on the trade route up the Hudson River, and through these lakes to Canada and the St. Lawrence. The fort developed a reputation as impregnable after the French defeated a substantially larger British force in 1758. However, the French withdrew most of their men that winter, and they were driven from the fort the following year. Fort Ticonderoga would next be attacked, and successfully, by the Green Mountain Boys, under the command of Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold in 1775. The Americans would hold the fort until 1777 when the British would recapture it as part of their plan to drive from Canada to New York City, thereby dividing America in half, north and south. They hoped that isolating the colonies' two halves would fatally weaken them, but the Americans would defeat the British plans at Saratoga. After that plan failed, the fort was of little strategic importance any more, and was abandoned by the British after Yorktown. Most of the fort had been destroyed along the way, but has been rebuilt and is a favorite spot now for tourists. $15.

Yesterday's Muse Books may be reached at 585-265-9295 or yesterdays.muse@gmail.com. Their website is found at www.websterbookstore.com.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum Auctions
    A Visual and Historical Voyage into the Ottoman World:
    The Library of a Gentleman
    14th November
    Forum, Nov. 14: Preziosi (Amedeo). Stamboul: Recollections of Eastern Life, first edition, Paris, Lemercier, 1858. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, Nov. 14: Mayr (Heinrich von). Malerische Ansichten aus dem Orient. Vues Pittoresques de l'Orient, first edition in the original 10 parts, Munich, Paris & Leipzig, [1839-40]. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, Nov. 14: Lewis (John Frederick). Illustrations of Constantinople, made during a Residence in that City &c. in the Years 1835-6, first edition, [1838]. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, Nov. 14: Dodwell (Edward). Views in Greece, first edition, ordinary format, Rodwell and Martin, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, Nov. 14: Cassas (Louis François). [Voyage Pittoresque de la Syrie, de la Phoenicie, de la Palæstube et de la Basse-Égypte], 3 vol., first edition, [Paris], [1799]. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    A Visual and Historical Voyage into the Ottoman World:
    The Library of a Gentleman
    14th November
    Forum, Nov. 14: La Chappelle (Georges). Recueil de Divers Portraits des Principales Dames de la Porte du Grand Turc, first edition, Paris, 1648. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, Nov. 14: Fossati (Gaspard). Aya Sophia Constantinople as recently restored by order of H.M. the Sultan Abdul Medjid, first edition, ordinary format, 1852. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, Nov. 14: Pertusier (Charles). Promenades Pittoresques dans Constantinople et sur les Rives du Bosphore, 4 vol., inc Atlas, first edition, Paris, H. Nicolle, 1815-17. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, Nov. 14: Brindesi (Jean). Souvenirs de Constantinople, first edition, [Paris], [1855-60]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, Nov. 14: Le Bruyn (Cornelius). Voyage au Levant, first French edition, Delft, Henri de Kroonevelt, 1700. £3,000 to £4,000.
  • Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction November 25th
    Ketterer Rare Books, Nov. 25:
    H. Schedel, Liber chronicarum, 1493. Est: € 25,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, Nov. 25:
    P. O. Runge, Farben-Kugel, 1810. Est: € 8,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, Nov. 25:
    W. Kandinsky, Klänge, 1913. Est: € 20,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction November 25th
    Ketterer Rare Books, Nov. 25:
    W. Burley, De vita et moribus philosophorum, 1473. Est: € 4,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, Nov. 25:
    M. B. Valentini, Viridarium reformatum seu regnum vegetabile, 1719. Est: € 12,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, Nov. 25:
    PAN, 10 volumes, 1895-1900. Est: € 15,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction November 25th
    Ketterer Rare Books, Nov. 25:
    J. de Gaddesden, Rosa anglica practica medicinae, 1492. Est: € 12,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, Nov. 25:
    M. Merian, Todten-Tanz, 1649. Est: € 5,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, Nov. 25:
    D. Hammett, Red harvest, 1929. Est: € 11,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction November 25th
    Ketterer Rare Books, Nov. 25:
    Book of hours, Horae B. M. V., 1503. Est: € 9,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, Nov. 25:
    J. Miller, Illustratio systematis sexualis Linneai, 1792. Est: € 8,000
    Ketterer Rare Books, Nov. 25:
    F. Hundertwasser, Regentag – Look at it on a rainy day, 1972. Est: € 8,000
  • Doyle
    Stage & Screen
    November 14 & 15
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: A studio-sanctioned Darth Vader Touring Costume from The Empire Strikes Back. $50,000 to $100,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: An original Al Hirschfeld's illustration of the cast of On Golden Pond. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: The largest trove of personal Grace Kelly letters to come to market. $60,000 to $80,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: An Important Archive of Musical Manuscripts of Truman Capote and Harold Arlen's House of Flowers. $40,000 to $60,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: The archive of an original Merrily We Roll Along Broadway cast member. $5,000 to $10,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: Jerry Herman's Yamaha Model C7 Ebonized Grand Piano. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: A large group of Jerry Herman musical posters. $300 to $500.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: Group of awards presented to Jerry Herman. $300 to $400.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: Six pages of original art for "The MAD Game of Basebrawl," a complete story published in MAD #167, pages 31-36, June 1974. $3,000 to $4,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: A MAD book made for Al Jaffee, containing original art and writings from many MAD contributors. 2011. $1,200 to $1,800.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: A Jaffee-themed MAD Fold-In - "What honor should the creator of the MAD Fold-Ins be given?" $800 to $1,200.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: MAD Fold-In - "What developing news story has many Americans totally transfixed?" $800 to $1,200.
  • Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. 11,135 USD
    Sotheby’s: Edgar Allan Poe. The Raven and Other Poems, 1845. 33,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Leo Tolstoy, Clara Bow. War and Peace, 1886. 22,500 USD
    Sotheby’s: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1902. 7,500 USD
    Sotheby’s: F. Scott Fitzgerald. This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, and Others, 1920-1941. 24,180 USD
  • Finarte, Nov 20-21: Alighieri, Dante - La Commedia, [col commento di Jacopo della Lana e Martino Paolo Nidobeato, curata da Martino Paolo Nidobeato e Guido da Terzago. Aggiunto Il Credo], 1478
    Finarte, Nov 20-21: Alighieri, Dante - La Commedia [Commento di Christophorus Landinus, edita da Piero da Figino. Aggiunte le Rime diverse; Marsilius Ficinius, Ad Dantem gratulatio], 1491
    Finarte, Nov 20-21: Lactantius, Lucius Coelius Firmianus - Opera, 1465
    Finarte, Nov 20-21: Alighieri, Dante - Le terze rime di Dante, 1502
    Finarte, Nov 20-21: Boccaccio, Giovanni - Il Decamerone. Di messer Giouanni Boccaccio, 1516
    Finarte, Nov 20-21: Giordano Bruno - Candelaio comedia del Bruno nolano achademico di nulla achademia; detto il fastidito. In tristitia hilaris: in hilaritate tristis, 1582
    Finarte, Nov 20-21: Petrarca, Francesco - Le cose volgari di Messer Francesco Petrarcha, 1504
    Finarte, Nov 20-21: Legatura - Manoscritto - Medici - Cosimo III de' Medici / Solari, Giuseppe - I Ritratti Medicei overo Glorie e Grandezze della sempre sereniss. Casa Medici..., 1678
    Finarte, Nov 20-21: Alighieri, Dante - La Divina Commedia di Dante Alighieri con varie annotazioni, e copiosi Rami adornata, 1757
    Finarte, Nov 20-21: Lot containing 80 printed guides and publications dedicated to travel and itineraries in Italy
  • Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20):
    Lot 51. Ortelius' Influential Map of the New World - Second Plate in Full Contemporary Color (1579) Est. $5,500 - $6,500
    Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20):
    Lot 165. Reduced-Size Edition of Jefferys/Mead Map with Revolutionary War Updates (1776) Est. $4,750 - $6,000
    Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20):
    Lot 688. Blaeu's Superb Carte-a-Figures Map of Africa (1634) Est. $3,000 - $3,750
    Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20):
    Lot 105. Striking Map of French Colonial Possessions (1720) Est. $2,750 - $3,500
    Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20):
    Lot 98. Rare First Edition of the First Published Plan of a Settlement in North America (1556) Est. $3,000 - $3,750
    Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20):
    Lot 181. Important Map of the Georgia Colony (1748) Est. $2,750 - $3,500
    Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20):
    Lot 547. Ortelius' Map of Russia with a Vignette of Ivan the Terrible in Full Contemporary Color (1579) Est. $1,400 - $1,700
    Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20):
    Lot 85. Homann's Decorative Map of Colonial America (1720) Est. $1,600 - $1,900
    Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20):
    Lot 642. Blaeu's Magnificent Carte-a-Figures Map of Asia (1634) Est. $3,000 - $3,750
    Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20):
    Lot 748. The Martyrdom of St. John in Contemporary Hand Color with Gilt Highlights (1520) Est. $1,000 - $1,300
    Old World Auctions (Nov 6-20):
    Lot 298. Scarce Early Map of Chester County (1822) Est. $2,750 - $3,500

Review Search

Archived Reviews

Ask Questions