Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - August - 2012 Issue

The Founding of America from Seth Kaller Historic Documents

Early American documents from Seth Kaller.

Seth Kaller, Inc., Historic Documents & Legacy Collections has issued a catalogue entitled Washington, the Revolution, and the Founding. For Kaller, original documents provide a means “to see the unfolding of America's destiny.” Here, the focus is on the early days of the nation, ranging from the uneasy decade before the colonists decided reconciliation with the British was hopeless and rebelled, through the administration of America's first president and revolutionary leader, George Washington. Indeed, these are the days when America was created and chose the path along which it would rise, and occasionally stumble, as a nation. Here are a few of these seminal documents being offered.

Before George Washington was President, before he was a general, or the father of his country, he was a land surveyor. He trained for the profession at the age of 15, and soon thereafter, he was off to the sticks to begin surveying uninhabited frontier land in Virginia. Washington became connected with the wealthy Fairfax family through his half-brother, Lawrence, which led to an appointment as an official surveyor for Culpeper County, now in West Virginia. It was hard work under difficult, sometimes dangerous conditions, but it also was a well-paying job, and helped to raise the social standing of the ambitious young man who would find himself in the military a few years later. Offered is one of those early surveys Washington made on the frontier. It is dated November 4, 1749, when Washington was 17 years old. It covers 412 acres of land owned by Ann Dunbarr. It contains Washington's signature, generally recognizable though not quite yet matured. Priced at $78,000.

The American Revolution may not yet have been officially declared, but the fighting began in 1775 when the British made their run at Lexington and Concord. The purpose was to capture weapons held by local militias, to prevent their being used against the British. However, unexpected confrontations broke out, dozens on each side were killed, and after reaching their destination, the British were forced back to Boston, American militiamen shooting at them as they fled. Offered is a contemporary account published in the Connecticut Courant and Hartford Weekly Intelligencer. Dated May 8, 1775, less than three weeks after the battle, the account proclaims the British demand shortly before the battle began: “Disperse you damn'd rebels – damn you disperse!” They didn't, someone fired a shot, and the Revolution was on. The article also describes the “express riders” who brought the warning, something of an American legend but here described in a contemporary account. It also lists those killed at Lexington, the first to die in the American Revolution. $8,500.

Despite the fighting at Lexington and Concord, the American colonists would not declare their independence until over a year later, when, as we all know, on July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress made its declaration. July 2? Yes, that isn't a typo. Independence was declared on July 2, but it took two more days for the official document to be drawn up. The June 1776 issue of The Pennsylvania Magazine records this momentous event, though only in the briefest words. Only a small amount of space was available, but that was because the new issue should have already been printed. However, a shortage of paper required a few days delay, leaving just enough time for the announcement: “July 2. This day the Hon. Continental Congress declared the UNITED COLONIES FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES.” Elsewhere in the issue is the text of Pennsylvania's resolution calling for a declaration of independence. $8,000.

Here is a most upbeat letter from Major John André back home to Mom in England. André was serving with the British in America during the Revolution. On September 1, 1780, he writes, “Good fortune still follows me...I am full of gratitude towards the General for so much Kindness and impress'd with the greatest Zeal to deserve it, but can hardly look back at the steep progress I have made without being giddy.” He notes that his mother's pleasure in hearing of his rise in the military is undoubtedly as great as his own. Unfortunately for Major André, that good luck was about to run out. A few weeks later, he traveled by boat from New York to West Point to meet with the turncoat (still unknown to Americans), Benedict Arnold, but his transportation departed ahead of him when spied by American forces. He tried to escape to New York by land but was captured. When the capturing soldiers realized his mission, André was tried as a spy. The British argued that he was a prisoner of war, but not even Washington was buying that argument. As a prisoner of war, he would have been held until the war concluded, but a spy could be hanged. Just a month after this letter was written, that would be André's fate, though his contact, Benedict Arnold, would manage a successful escape. $39,500.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Roberts (David) & Croly (George). The Holy Land, Syria, Idumae, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia. Lond. 1842 - 1843 [-49]. First Edn. €10,000 to €15,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Incunabula: O'Fihily (Maurice). Duns Scotus Joannes: O'Fihely, Maurice Abp… Venice, 20th November 1497. €8,000 to €12,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: An important file of documents with provenance to G.A. Newsom, manager of the Jacob’s Factory in Dublin, occupied by insurgents during Easter Week 1916. €6,000 to €9,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: WILDE (Oscar), 1854-1900, playwright, aesthete and wit. A lock of Wilde’s Hair, presented by his son to the distinguished Irish actor Mícheál MacLiammóir. €6,000 to €8,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Heaney (Seamus). Bog Poems, London, 1975. Special Limited Edition, No. 33 of 150 Copies, Signed by Author. Illus. by Barrie Cooke. €4,000 to €6,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Binding: Burke, Thomas O.P. (de Burgo). Hibernia Dominicana, Sive Historia Provinciae Hiberniae Ordinis Praedicatorum, ... 1762. First Edition. €4,000 to €6,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: COLLINS, Michael. An important TL, 29 July 1922, addressed to GOVERNMENT on ‘suggested Proclamation warning all concerned that troops have orders to shoot prisoners found sniping, ambushing etc.’. €3,000 to €4,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Scott Fitzgerald (F.) The Great Gatsby, New York (Charles Scribner's Sons) 1925, First Edn. €2,000 to €3,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Yeats (W.B.) The Poems of W.B. Yeats, 2 vols. Lond. (MacMillan & Co.) 1949. Limited Edition, No. 46 of 375 Copies Only, Signed by W.B. Yeats. €1,500 to €2,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Miller (William) Publisher. The Costume of the Russian Empire, Description in English and French, Lg. folio London (S. Gosnell) 1803. First Edn. €1,000 to €1,500.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Miller (William) Publisher. The Costume of Turkey, Illustrated by a Series of Engravings. Lg. folio Lond.(T. Bensley) 1802. First Edn. €800 to €1,200.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Mason (Geo. Henry). The Costume of China, Illustrated with Sixty Engravings. Lg. folio London (for W. Miller) 1800. First Edn. €1,400 to €1,800
  • Sotheby’s
    Fine Books and Manuscripts
    8 December 2023
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: [Austen, Jane] — Isaac D'Israeli. Jane Austen's copy of Curiosities of Literature. 100,000 - 150,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition in boards of the author's debut novel. 70,000 - 100,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Brontë, Charlotte. "I am no bird; and no net ensnares me..." 100,000 - 150,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Eliot, George. The author's magnum opus. 25,000 - 35,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Whitman, Walt. Manuscript written upon the Death of Lincoln, 1865. 60,000 - 80,000 USD
  • Sotheby’s
    Important Modern Literature from the Library of an American Filmmaker
    8 December 2023
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Kerouac, Jack. Typescript scroll of The Dharma Bums. Typed by Kerouac in Orlando, Florida, 1957, published by Viking in 1958. 300,000 - 500,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Hemingway, Ernest. The autograph manuscript of "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." [Key West, finished April 1936]. 300,000 - 500,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Miller, Henry. Typescript of The Last Book, a working title for Tropic of Cancer, written circa 1931–1932. 100,000 - 150,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Ruscha, Ed. Twentysix Gasoline Stations, with a lengthy inscription to Joe Goode. 40,000 - 60,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Hemingway, Ernest. in our time, first edition of Hemingway’s second book. 30,000 - 50,000 USD
  • Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 7, 2023
    Swann, Dec. 7: Samuel Augustus Mitchell, A New Map of Texas, Oregon and California with the Regions Adjoining, Philadelphia, 1846. $3,500 to $5,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: 17th–19th-century case maps of various locations. $1,500 to $2,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Andreas Cellarius, Haemisphaerium Stellatum Boreale Cum Subiecto Haemisphaerio Terrestri, celestial chart, Amsterdam, 1708. $2,500 to $3,500.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 7, 2023
    Swann, Dec. 7: Vincenzo Coronelli, Set of engraved gores for Coronelli’s monumental 42-inch terrestrial globe, Venice, circa 1688–97. $18,000 to $22,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer, group of four navigational charts, Antwerp, 1580s. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Thomas Bros, Block Book of Berkeley, Oakland, 1920s. $800 to $1,200.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 7, 2023
    Swann, Dec. 7: John Nieuhoff & John Ogilby, An Embassy from the East-India Company of the United Provinces, map of China, plan of Canton, London, 1673. $1,200 to $1,800.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Frederick Sander, Reichenbachia, St. Albans, 1888-1894. $5,000 to $7,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Two early illustrated works on horsemanship and breeding, Nuremberg, early 18th century. $700 to $800.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 7, 2023
    Swann, Dec. 7: John Gould, A Monograph of the Ramphastidae, or Family of Toucans. Supplement to the First Edition, London, 1834; 1855. $40,000 to $60,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: John Pinkerton, A General Collection of the Best and Most Interesting Voyages and Travels in All Parts of the World, London, 1808–14. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Oakley Hoopes Bailey, Hackensack, New Jersey, Boston, 1896. $800 to $1,200.
  • CHRISTIE’S
    Valuable Books and Manuscripts
    London auction
    13 December
    Find out more
    Christie’s, Explore now
    TREW, Christoph Jacob (1695–1769). Plantae Selectae quarum imagines ad exemplaria naturalia Londini in hortus curiosorum. [Nuremberg: 1750–1773]. £30,000–40,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    VERBIEST, Ferdinand (1623–88). Liber Organicus Astronomiae Europaeae apud Sinas restituate. [Beijing: Board of Astronomy, 1674]. £250,000–350,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF ALICE & NIKOLAUS HARNONCOURT. Master of Jean Rolin (active 1445–65). Book of Hours, use of Paris, in Latin and French, [Paris, c.1450–1460]. £120,000–180,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    A SILVER MICROSCOPE. Probably by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723), c.1700. £150,000–250,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    AN ENGLISH HORARY QUADRANT
    C.1311. £100,000–150,000

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