Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - May - 2012 Issue

Twenty-Five Books and Other Important Works on Paper from Antiquariaat Forum and Asher Rare Books

Twenty-five special items.

Twenty-five special items.

The Antiquariat Forum and Asher Rare Books have issued their Catalogue 111, Twenty-Five Autographs, Drawings, Manuscripts, Printed Books, and Views. It is always a tip off that the items will be special when you receive a large, finely printed catalogue that contains just 25 items. The catalogue itself is a statement about what’s inside. Inside, as the title implies, is a variety of material, ranging from old to very old, and primarily European, though China and Japan each make their appearances with very early material. Here, now, are a few of these items.

Item 5 is Journal de la Navigation autour de Globe… by Hyacinthe de Bougainville. Hyacinthe is not quite as well-known as his father, explorer Louis de Bougainville, who also made a circumnavigation of the world. However, they were certainly the first father and son to undertake such journeys at different times. Hyacinthe was sent out to reestablish relations between France and Cochin China, as well as visiting many other places. During the years he was at sea, from 1824-1826, de Bougainville picked up much information concerning the natural history of the places he visited, and that is the feature of his account published in 1837. It consists of two text volumes and a folio atlas. Priced at €29,000 (euros, or approximately $38,020 in U.S. dollars).

Guilio Aleni was one of those remarkably dedicated missionaries. An Italian, he was accepted to the Jesuits in 1600, and ten years later headed off to China as a missionary. He was still there when he died in 1649. Along the way, he built several churches, and adopted many of the ways and cultures of the Chinese people, all the while remaining totally loyal to his Christian faith. Item 1 is one of several books he wrote, T’ien-chu sheng-chiao ssu-tzu ching-wen, published in Beijing in 1660. This is a first edition of a work about the omnipotence of God. It was printed using large woodcut Chinese characters, perhaps to make it easier for the old or young to read. €45,000 (US $59,000).

Athanasius Kircher has been described as the “last Renaissance man.” We aren’t sure whether he was the last, but definitely he was one. Kircher was a Jesuit, a contemporary of Aleni, and he wrote an encyclopedia about China. However, he also wrote about almost everything else. He was a great scholar, writing about many branches of science, medicine, Egyptology, fossils, various branches of technology and mechanics, and many other topics. His works tend to combine brilliant insights with at times wild speculation. For example, he translated many ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, but his translations for the main part were inaccurate. However, through his use of the microscope, he theorized (quite correctly) that the plague was caused by tiny microorganisms. Item 14 is D’onder-aardse weereld… a first Dutch edition (1682) that covered many branches of science, the Andes Mountains, Iroquois Indians in Canada, the sun, the moon, beasts and demons, subterranean waters, fossils, poisons, minerals, and various other topics. €13,500 (US $17,700).

Rare Book Monthly

  • 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.
  • Doyle
    The Collection of Mary Tyler Moore
    June 4, 2025
    DOYLE: Peter Max, Portrait of Mary Tyler Moore (Versions 1,2, 5, 6), 2001. Estimate $10,000-15,000
    DOYLE: The iconic screen-used wall-mounted "M" from The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Estimate $5,000-8,000
    DOYLE: The Mary Tyler Moore Show by Al Hirschfeld. Estimate $4,000-6,000
    Doyle
    The Collection of Mary Tyler Moore
    June 4, 2025
    DOYLE: Annie Leibovitz presents Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke for Vanity Fair. Estimate $4,000-6,000
    DOYLE: Al Hirschfeld presents Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke in the CBS Wednesday Night Lineup. Estimate $4,000-6,000
    DOYLE: Richard McKenzie, Portrait of Mary Tyler Moore. Estimate $1,000-2,000
    Doyle
    The Collection of Mary Tyler Moore
    June 4, 2025
    DOYLE: Three Original Bill Hargate Costume Designs for The Mary Tyler Moore Hour. Estimate $600-800
    DOYLE: The famous Bonnie and Clyde "Wanted" broadside. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE: Ticket to the Final Episode of the Mary Tyler Moore Show Estimate $400-600
  • 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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