English Verse 1800-1810 from Antiquates Fine & Rare Books
- by Michael Stillman
A grotesque image from Tales of Terror.
This next item comes from a far more serious poet, the highly respected wordsmith of his era Thomas Campbell. This one was destined to become highly popular with American readers, though Campbell was an English poet: Gertrude of Wyoming. A Pennsylvania Tale, published in 1809. This refers to the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania, not the state, though it is believed the popularity of this poem played an instrumental role in the state of Wyoming being named after this area of Pennsylvania. The poem is about the Wyoming Massacre, a one-sided battle during the American Revolution when British loyalists and their Indian supporters slaughtered over 200 people defending what was then frontier settlements in the valley. Campbell's sympathies were clearly on the side of the Americans. Item 41. £150 (US $238)
Next we return to the previously mentioned popular genre of Gothic horror poetry. Item 212 is the anonymously written Tales of Terror, published in 1801. Some attributed this work to Matthew Gregory Lewis, author of Tales of Wonder, but that appears more to have been the result of the publisher seeking to create that illusion, as Lewis was quite popular at the time. It is not clear whether the author's intent was more satirical or serious. Beyond the poems, it is the illustrations that are notable, being grotesque images hard to take seriously. £1,500 (US $2,380).
Item 216 is the youthful work of Connop Thirlwall, Primitiae; Or, Essays and Poems on various subjects, Religious, Moral and Entertaining. Thirlwall, just 11 year old at the time, went on to be the Bishop of St. David's in Wales and an author of scholarly books. His father, also a minister, published this book by his young son, who we are told began writing verse at the age of 7. Perhaps this was a case of a father's pride overcoming a realistic evaluation of his son's work, as Thirlwall later became embarrassed by this book and is said to have acquired copies of it for the purpose of destroying them. This copy escaped his wrath. £125 (US $198).
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.
