“Chief Idaho” and the wonders of drinking radioactive water.
Item 14 is a circa 1939 broadside to see Dolly and Rolly, Pronounced by Doctors and Scientists The World's Greatest Living Exhibit. At least that's what promoter J. Elvin Thompson of National City, California, claimed. Dolly-Rolly was a two-headed cow, and was said to be “the world's only creature ever to live any length of time with two normal heads on one body.” She had three horns, and it was also claimed there were images on her side of a camel, a lamb, a map of the United States, a seagull, a woodpecker, and a two-headed dog. My guess is it took a healthy imagination to see these things. An offer was made to pay $100,000 to anyone who could find another like her, though you can be sure another two-headed cow would not have been good enough to qualify for the reward. $100.
For those looking for something that will “prevent more bodily ills than a modern drug store,” here is your answer: Radium Hot Springs at Idaho Springs, Colorado, “Nature's Way to Health.” The 1930 broadside features a depiction of “Chief Idaho.” Naturally enough, it is claimed that Indians cured their ills in these miraculous radioactive waters. Rheumatism, high blood pressure, gastric ailments, and alcoholism were among the ailments they cured. As this item points out, “the radium water you drink acts like a million little suns giving off the Alpha and Gamma rays, which act as a tonic, stimulating the tissues, the glands, the nerves, and the internal organs.” This pseudo-medical nonsense is downright scarey. One wonders if Dolly-Rolly partook of these waters. Fortunately, the radium content of these waters is very low, so they are harmless, rather than deathly as they would be if the implications of this piece were true. Item 48. $50.
ALDE, Apr. 8: GUEVARA (ANTONIO DE). Histoire de Marc-Aurèle, Empereur Romain, vray miroir et horloge des Princes. Paris, Pierre et Galliot du Pré, frères, 1565. €3,000 to €4,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: HEURES DE LA VIERGE. Horæ in laudem beatissimæ virginis Mariæ ad usum Romanum. Paris, Charles L'Angelier, 1556. €4,000 to €5,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: MONTAIGNE (MICHEL DE). Les Essais. Édition nouvelle, trouvée après le deceds de l'autheur… Paris, Abel L'Angelier, 1595. €6,000 to €8,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: [ROJAS (FERNANDO DE)]. Celestina, tragicomedia di Calisto et Melibea, tradotta de lingua castigliana in italiano idioma… Venise, 1531. €2,000 to €3,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: CAMÕES (LUÍS DE). Os Lusiadas. Lisbonne, Pedro Crasbeeck, 1613. €2,000 to €3,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: CERVANTES (MIGUEL DE). El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Bruxelles, Roger Velpius & Huberto Antonio, 1611. €6,000 to €8,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: LA FONTAINE (JEAN DE). Fables choisies, mises en vers. Paris, Denys Thierry et Claude Barbin, 1678-1694. €6,000 to €8,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: CERVANTES (MIGUEL DE). El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Madrid, Joaquin Ibarra, 1780. €3,000 to €4,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: DIDEROT (DENIS) ET JEAN LE ROND D'ALEMBERT. Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. Paris, 1751-1765. €15,000 to €20,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: [LIVRE TISSÉ]. LAMARTINE (Alphonse de). Les Laboureurs. Poème tiré de Jocelyn… Lyon, J. A. Henry, 1883. €8,000 to €10,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: [LIVRE TISSÉ]. Livre de prières tissé d'après les enluminures des manuscrits du XIVe au XVIe siècle. Lyon, [A. Roux], 1886. €5,000 to €6,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts & Objects from Three Important Collections Open for Bidding 2-17 April
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: [Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun]. Le Roman de la Rose, [Geneva or Lyons, c.1481], first printed edition of the most important medieval French vernacular poem. £200,000 to £300,000.
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Castiglione. Il libro del cortegiano. [Venice], April 1528, first edition, in a magnificent binding by Jean Picard for Jean Grolier. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Jacobus de Cessolis. Schachzabelbuch, Strasbourg, 1483, von der Lasa copy. £50,000 to £70,000.
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: World Championship, 1972. A collection of 84 press photographs of the famed match between Spassky and Fischer. £2,000 to £3,000.
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Ben Franklin. Autograph letter signed, to Lord Shelburne, British Prime Minister, during peace negotiations, November 1782. £15,000 to £20,000.
