“Wet Paper” from the Ten Pound Island Book Company
- by Michael Stillman
Steamer trunk advertises the Telegraph.
Enough pleasantness. Item 82 is the play LaPerouse,ADramainTwoActs, by August von Kotzebue. It is a play about the great French explorer who captured the world's imagination by disappearing in 1788. He was never heard from again. The mystery only grew over the years, as attested by this play, published in 1799. It would not be until 1826 that wreckage from his ships were discovered near Vanikoro, where they wrecked upon a reef. Author von Kotzebue would suffer his own personal tragedy two decades later, murdered by a political opponent. $1,250.
Item 57 is a steamer trunk. Measuring 10 x 19 x 8, it is lined with an advertisement on the inside of its top for TheSteamerTelegraph. Another broadside for the Bangor is found on the trunk's bottom. These steamers were active in New England in the 1840s. $500.
