• 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
  • Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    30th November, 2023
    Forum Auctions, Nov. 30: Saint Jerome penitent, woodcut with contemporary hand-colouring and letterpress text beneath, [Augsburg], [Johann Froschauer], [c.1498]. £15,000 to £20,000.
    Forum Auctions, Nov. 30: Elimithar (Elluchasem) "Ibn Butlan". Tacuini sanitatis, first edition, Strasbourg, Johann Schott, 1531. £15,000 to £20,000.
    Forum Auctions, Nov. 30: [Missale Romanum], Latin, Incipit ordo missalis secundum consuetudinem Curiae Romani, manuscript in Latin, on vellum, 234ff. [c. 1400]. £15,000 to £20,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    30th November, 2023
    Forum Auctions, Nov. 30: Foyle copy.- [Shakespeare (William)]. Macbeth. A Tragedy: With all the Alterations, Amendments, Additions, and New Songs. As it is now Acted at the Theatre Royal, for Hen. Herringman, 1687. £5,000 to £7,000.
    Forum Auctions, Nov. 30: Dickens (Charles). A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, first edition, first impression, first issue, Chapman & Hall, 1843. £12,000 to £18,000.
    Forum Auctions, Nov. 30: Lawrence (T.E.) Revolt in the Desert, working draft typescript, 1927. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    30th November, 2023
    Forum Auctions, Nov. 30: Hampstead Bindery.- Phillips (Stephen). Marpessa, exquisitely bound by The Hampstead Bindery, almost certainly P.A. Savoldelli, 1900. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum Auctions, Nov. 30: Matisse (Henri).- Joyce (James). Ulysses, one of 1500 copies, this one of 250 signed by the author and artist, New York, The Limited Editions Club, 1935. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions, Nov. 30: Burroughs (Edgar Rice). Tarzan at the Earth's Core, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author to his son, New York, 1930. £5,000 to £7,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    30th November, 2023
    Forum Auctions, Nov. 30: Fitzgerald (F. Scott). Tender is the Night, first edition, first printing, signed by the author, New York, 1934. £15,000 to £20,000.
    Forum Auctions, Nov. 30: Fleming (Ian).- Hooks (Mitchell) and David Chasman. Dr. No, British film poster, Stafford & Co Ltd, [1962]. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum Auctions, Nov. 30: America.- California.- Palou (Francisco). Relacion Historica de la Vida Y Apostolicas Tareas delVenerable Padre Fray Junipero Serra..., first edition, second issue, 1787. £6,000 to £8,000.
  • 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
  • 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.

Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - May - 2013 Issue

19th Century Medical Texts from Forest Books

19th century medical texts.

Forest Books has issued what obviously is a first: Occasional List No. 1. It is subheaded Medical Books, Pamphlets & Offprints from The Birmingham Medical Institute. The Birmingham Medical Institute was founded in 1875 as a medical library. Many of these pieces must have been on their shelves when it opened as they primarily come from the second half of the 19th century, some are as early as 30 years prior to the opening. According to the institute's website, many of the early books were donated to them by doctors. Later books were more likely purchased.

These titles were undoubtedly deaccessioned due to their age. They may have provided the latest techniques in medical practice in the 19th century, but few would want to visit a doctor who relied on them today. Certainly, these were serious medical treatises in their day. These are not promotions for patent medicines, or amateur or quack medical tracts often published during this era by people with no legitimate training. The Birmingham Institute was obtaining the best research available in its day, but by current standards, much would be primitive, other beliefs just plain mistaken. They may no longer be appropriate for a library used to educate doctors, but belong in one designed to preserve and teach about the history of medicine. Here are a few of these items.

One of the most important advances ever in surgery was beginning to take place in the middle of the 19th century, though some thought it was killing people. Today, it is hard to imagine going under the knife without it – anesthesia. In the 1840s, physicians had begun to use chloroform as well as ether for the first time to knock out their patients during surgery. Both greatly reduced pain, but chloroform had the unwanted side effect of killing too many patients. Dr. James Arnott did a study of hospital patients and published the results in 1854 under the title, The Question Considered; Is it Justifiable to Administer Chloroform in Surgical Operations, After Its Having Proved Suddenly Fatal in Upwards of Fifty Cases, when Pain Can be Safely Prevented, Without Loss of Consciousness, by Momentary Benumbing Cold? Dr. Arnott's answer is obvious from the way he phrased the question. Of course it is not justifiable if there is a safe alternative, but others questioned his conclusions. Chloroform is very dangerous if not properly administered, but research by others found substantially lower fatality rates with careful administration. Meanwhile, the use of numbing cold proved difficult in many surgeries, particularly deep ones. Ultimately, ether became the anesthesia of choice through the 19th century and much of the 20th. Item 12. Priced at £42 (British pounds, or roughly $63 U.S. dollars).


If you are looking for a proven cure for asthma, you won't find many with better results than those described here, even if the cure might sound worse than the disease: Cases of Asthma Nervosum, Successfully and Permanently Cured with Arsenic-Inhalations and Galvanisation of the Pneumogastric Nerves. Dr. Adolphe Wahltuch of Manchester (England) applied this dual therapy to seven patients, two of whom experienced major improvement, the other five complete cures. Basically, the cure was to sniff arsenic and run some electricity through electrodes attached to your neck. After a few months of this, voila... you're cured! Who knew? Obviously Dr. Wahltuch knew, but this cure appears to have been forgotten in the years since. Item 181. Published in 1883. £35 (US $52).


Item 149 is sweeter than sugar, 300 times sweeter to be precise, though its source does not sound all that appetizing: Saccharine: The New Sweet Product from Coal-tar. 300 Times the Sweetening Power of Cane Sugar. A Powerful Antiseptic. Absolutely Non-fermenting. Positively Harmless to the Human System. Would you like some coal tar in your coffee? The artificial sweetener had only been discovered by Dr. C. Fahlberg less than a decade earlier than his description, published in 1887. Apparently he had been performing some chemical experiments when he realized the substance on his hands was extremely sweet. He would go on to produce and market the substance, which has been used for sweetening food ever since. However, it would not reach widespread popularity until the 1950s, when dieting became a craze. In the 1970s, use plummeted and in some cases it was banned when it was determined to cause cancer in laboratory rats. Further studies later revealed that the cancer caused in rats resulted from specific physical issues of rodents that are dissimilar to humans and once again, as Dr Fahlberg had stated so many years ago, it was found that “it is positively harmless to the human system” (it should be pointed out that Dr. Fahlberg never claimed it was positively harmless to rats). Saccharine is readily available again, but it still leaves an unpleasant aftertaste. £45 (US $68).


It was “discovered” at one point that ozonized oils were good for one's health, supposedly slowing the pulse while not weakening it. Apparently this is good for restoring health. Well, if ozonized oil will cure diseases, what could be better than ozonizing the most healthy oil of all? That is what was done, and explained in this 1861 pamphlet written by one “E.E.A.”: Ozonized Cod-liver Oil and Its Medicinal Administration, Especially in Consumption. Ozonized cod liver oil was supposed to be very good for the skin, but this claim was even more important. Curing “consumption,” which most often meant tuberculosis, was a major challenge in the 19th century. It was one of those dreaded diseases that killed millions before the discovery of antibiotics. Alas, this remedy was not the answer, though the sale of this concoction obviously was the answer to some producer's financial woes. Item 43. £45 (US $68).


If ozonized cod liver oil wasn't your cup of tea, how about etherized cod liver oil? That was Balthazar Walter Foster's recommendation in On the use of Ether and Etherised Cod-Liver Oil in the Treatment of Phthisis, published in 1868. “Phthisis” was another term for tuberculosis no longer used today, probably because no one could figure out how to pronounce it. This copy contains the author's presentation inscription. While Foster's confidence in ether was somewhat misplaced, he was a legitimate and well-respected physician and researcher. Later, he served several terms as an M.P. where he promoted public health measures and education and housing for the poor. Item 70. £40 (US $61).


Forest Books may be reached at +44 1949-842360 or bib@forestbooks.co.uk. Their website is www.forestbooks.co.uk.

Rare Book Monthly

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  • 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
  • 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

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