Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - May - 2014 Issue

American (and a few other) Maps from High Ridge Books

Patriotic Civil War era map on High Ridge's latest catalogue.

Patriotic Civil War era map on High Ridge's latest catalogue.

High Ridge Books, of South Deerfield, Massachusetts, has released Catalogue 64. American Maps - 18th to 20th Centuries, Including Wall Maps, Pocket Maps, Sea Charts and More. These are primarily American maps, though Latin America, Canada, England, Europe, even Japan and Australia make an appearance. State and regional maps are common, but many cover much smaller localities, - counties, cities, and small towns. The maps are presented chronologically, starting with 1700. It ends 294 items later in 1940, though only a handful come from the 20th century. Most are from the 19th century, and as a result, railroad tracks are most often the routes displayed. That was the century that started with only water routes and rough carriage roads and ended with hundreds of railroads reaching every major city and very many rural towns as well. The 20th was the century of automobile roads, but only a couple of maps at the end display routes meant for cars. Some of these maps come from atlases or other books, but many were published as stand alone pieces, often folding maps meant for travelers, or wall maps. Here are a few of the maps to be found in this fascinating collection.

 

We will start with the very rare second state of a map that has achieved recognition as the first map to call the new American nation the “United States.” The first state was published with the name in 1778, while this second state comes from 1781. Now this map doesn't spell it out “United States” because it was written in French, using the French equivalent - “Etats Unis.” The title is Carte du Theatre de la Guerre actual entre les Anglais et les Trieze Colonies de l'Amerique Septrionale... That translates to “map of the theater of war between the English and the thirteen colonies of North America.” Note it says “colonies” rather than “states” as was often used at the time. However, it also describes the map's creator, J. B. Eliot, as an “Engineer of the United States,” and that is the first appearance of the new nation's correct name. Of course, the British did not recognize it as an independent nation at the time, but the French did, so it is not surprising that this first such map was printed in Paris. It is a map of the war, with events starting from Bunker Hill, and continuing until later than did the map's first state since it was updated prior to the second printing. Not on the map, but added in manuscript, is a notation about the surrender of Cornwallis at “York river.” Item 11. Priced at $18,500.

 

Item 34 is an interesting map, of sorts:  Comparative View of the Heights of the Principle Mountains, &c in the World. This issue is attributed to H. Morse, but is also described as a “first American” edition taken from the “last English,” which makes it appear that Morse borrowed the earlier work. It is a print in the format of a wall map, but it displays various mountain ranges from around the world in scale, so one can compare the heights of the mountains. Nearly 200 mountains are depicted. $2,350.

 

Item 107 is the 1845 edition of the Map of the World on Mercator's Projection, by S. Augustus Mitchell, published in Philadelphia. For whatever reason, the map includes an inset of New South Wales. There are a couple of interesting features in North America which apply specifically to this time. One pertains to Texas. It is shown as an independent nation. That existed for only a dozen years, though not everyone (Mexico in particular) recognized that independent status. The other shows Oregon extending as far north as 54” 40'. This latitude forms what was the boundary between Oregon and Russian Alaska by treaty between Britain and Russia. The bigger question was who owned Oregon, as both the United States and England claimed ownership. There were voices in America calling for the nation to go to war with England over Oregon all the way north to 54” 40', but President Polk was more intent on expanding into Mexican territory and did not want to start two wars at once. As a result, England and America finally agreed on a boundary at the 49th parallel, leaving England with what is now British Columbia. $3,750.

 

This next map is notable for the unusual names as well as borders. Item 177 is the Johnson & Browning New Illustrated & Embellished...Map of the Republic, dated 1860. It shows a proposed “State of Jefferson or Colona” for what is today Colorado. Residents of the area had actually claimed the area as the Territory of Jefferson, carved out primarily from western Kansas, after the Gold Rush began. However, the U.S. never recognized it. Once the Kansas Territory, east of the current eastern border of Colorado, was granted admittance to the Union as a free state after the beginning of the Civil War, the land was officially declared the Territory of Colorado, becoming a state in 1876. The map also shows a territory of Shoshone in what is today southern Idaho and western Wyoming, and an east-west, rather than north-south, border between New Mexico and Arizona. $7,500.

 

The item you see on the catalogue's cover is a Civil War era map, circa 1862, The New Naval and Military Map of the United States, by J. Calvin Smith. This is a patriotic Union map, featuring three battle scenes and a panoramic view of Washington. Around the borders are portraits of various Union military leaders, President Lincoln and his cabinet. Offered is a rare second state of the map which added to the number of portraits. This map also features one of the earliest appearances of Idaho, which includes all of the current state plus parts of Wyoming and Montana. Item 190. $8,750.

 

High Ridge Books may be contacted at 914-967-3332 or info@highridgebooks.com. Their website is www.highridgebooks.com.

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.
  • 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
  • Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Pietro Aquila, Psyche and Proserpina,1690. Starting price 140€
    Gonnelli: Jacques Gamelin, Memento homo quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris, 1779. Starting price 300€
    Gonnelli: Giorgio Ghisi, The final Judgement, 1680. Starting price 480€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli Goya y Lucientes Francisco, Los Proverbios.1877. Starting price 1000 €
    Gonnelli: Domenico Peruzzini, Long bearded old man, 1660. Starting price 2200€
    Gonnelli: Enea Vico, Leda and the Swan,1542. Starting price 140€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Andrea Del Sarto [school of], San Giovanni Battista, 1570. Starting price 25000€
    Gonnelli: Carlo Maratta, Virgin Mary and Jesus, 1660. Starting Price 1200€
    Gonnelli: Louis Brion de La Tour, Sphére de Copernic Sphere de Ptolemée / Le Systême de Ptolemée. Le Systême de Ticho-Brahe…, 1766. Starting price 180€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Marc’Antonio Dal Re, Ville di Delizia o Siano Palaggi Camparecci nello Stato di Milano Divise in Sei Tomi Con espressevi le Piante…, Tomo Primo, 1726. Starting price 7000€
    Gonnelli: Katsushika Hokusai, Bird on a branch, 1843. Starting price 100€
  • Swann, May 15: Lot 4: Helena Bochoráková-Dittrichová, Z Mého Detství Drevoryty, Prague: Obzina, 1929. First trade edition, signed by the artist. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 10: Nancy Cunard, Negro Anthology, with a tipped-in A.L.S. to Karl Marx's niece, 1934. First edition. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 14: Margaret Fuller, Woman in the Nineteenth Century, 1845. First edition. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 17: Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun, inscribed first edition, 1959. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 28: Margaret Hill Morris, Private Journal Kept during a Portion of the Revolutionary War, for the Amusement of a Sister, 1836. First edition. $3,000 to $4,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 38: Anna Sewell, Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horse, 1877. First edition. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 43: Gertrude Stein, Portrait of Mabel Dodge at the Villa Curonia, signed presentation copy with photograph of Stein, 1912. First edition. $8,000 to $12,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 48: Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse, first edition in the scarce dust jacket, 1927. $6,000 to $8,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 54: Katherine Dunham, large archive of material from her attorney, 1951-53. $20,000 to $30,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 55: Margaret Fuller Signed Autograph Letter, New York City, 1846. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 92: Sonia Delaunay, illus. & Tristan Tzara, Juste Present, deluxe edition with original gouache, 1961. $20,000 to $25,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 93: Flor Garduño, The Sonnets of Shakespeare, 2006. Limited edition. $6,000 to $8,000.

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