Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - April - 2015 Issue

Western Americana from the William Reese Company

Western Americana from the William Reese Company.

The William Reese Company has issued their 319th catalogue, this time featuring Western Americana. This is an annual presentation offering items they have acquired in the field during the past year. Items range from early Spanish and French visits and colonization in the Southwest and historical Louisiana, to the later conquering of the land by American settlers. In between, there are explorations, Indian battles, overland travels, railroad building, and more. Here are some samples of these works relating to the American West.

 

We start with an item pertaining to the usefulness of much the West, Our Barren Lands. The Interior of the United States West of the 100th Meridian, and East of the Sierra Nevadas, published in 1875. The author was W. B. Hazen, a Union general during the Civil War who served on the western frontier in the years following. The 100th meridian is a north-south line running through the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. It is essentially the western point beyond which moisture from the Gulf of Mexico no longer reaches, making it very dry. As you can guess from the title, Hazen did not believe it would be of much use for agriculture, which was the primary reason for settling the western lands. Hazen would get into a heated debate with General George Custer over the usefulness of this land, with this work being a rebuttal of the latter's claims. Custer claimed the lands were sufficiently fertile; Hazen responded that Custer was motivated by personal interests in his claims. Eventually, Custer would be vindicated, at least to the point that some of the land was irrigated and much used for raising cattle, but as that 1875 publication date reveals, he didn't live to see that vindication. Item 66. Priced at $2,500.

 

The image on the cover of this catalogue is a photograph of a momentous event in the opening of the West. It is a picture of the ceremony of the laying of the Golden Spike, the completion of the Pacific Railroad that allowed Americans for the first time to quickly travel from coast to coast. Construction was authorized by President Lincoln in 1862, with the laying of tracks beginning in earnest with the conclusion of the Civil War. From the east, the Union Pacific laid tracks; from the west, the Central Pacific did the same. They met at Promontory Point in Utah. Andrew J. Russell had taken several excursions along the Union Pacific portion to photograph progress on their behalf. He was present on the momentous day when the two sections were matched together with the hammering of the Golden Spike. Item 125. $38,000.

 

Next we have the biography of a man who helped to tame the West. Samuel Colt helped tame the West from his home in Hartford, Connecticut. Colt was the inventor of the revolver, a gun whose chamber spun with each shot, lining up the next bullet for a quick follow-up shot. He mass produced them, first for the Texas Rangers, and later for Union forces in the Civil War. They would next be used widely in the West, though Colt himself did not survive the Civil War. Item 45 is Armsmear: The Home, the Arm, and the Armory of Samuel Colt. A Memorial, published in 1866. It is a tribute to Colt prepared by his wife after he died. The book describes Colt's career, his business, and his estate in Hartford. Colt's firearms made him a very wealthy man. If you are looking for a book pertaining to important firearms few possess, this is a perfect choice. Only 15 copies of this first edition were specially bound for Mrs. Colt, as was this copy. $3,750.

 

A whole lot of work went into creating this legal work that ended up having a very short useful life. Item 139 is a complete set (13 volumes) of the Laws of the Republic of Texas. They cover laws passed from the beginning of independence in 1836 through 1845, the year Texas became a state. The set includes the index for 1836-1840. The volumes cover laws creating towns and counties, governing the Texas Rangers, Army, and Navy, treaties with foreign nations, and other matters. Reese notes that it is virtually impossible to assemble a complete collection from separate sources today. Perhaps if Texas ever secedes, as its Governor suggested a couple of years ago, these laws will come back in force. $25,000.

 

Item 116 is an account of a major expedition into the American West, perhaps second in importance only to that of Lewis and Clark. It comes with a notable provenance. The book is Exploratory Travels through the Western Territories of North America... by Zebulon Pike, published in 1811. While Lewis and Clark explored the northern part of the newly acquired Louisiana Territory, Pike visited its southern portion, and cheated a bit entering Spanish Mexico to its south. This copy belonged to French Foreign Minister Tallyrand, the clever if cynical diplomat who survived through the regimes of Louis XVI, the French Revolution, Napoleon, the Restoration, and Louis-Philippe. While he would later break with Napoleon, in 1803 he represented the French government during negotiations for the Louisiana Purchase, which sold the land Pike explored to America. $10,000.

 

The William Reese Company may be reached at 203-789-8081 or amorder@reeseco.com. Their website is www.williamreesecompany.com.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000
  • 19th Century Shop
    Catalogue 198 just published
    19th Century Shop. Darwin and Wallace, first printing of the first paper on natural selection
    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
    19th Century Shop. Major Elizabeth Barrett Browning manuscript notebook
    19th Century Shop. Spock's Baby Book, original MS
    19th Century Shop. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, the great celestial atlas
  • Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [AVIATION]. [ARMSTRONG, Neil A.] Aviation Hall of Fame Gold Medal MS64 NGC, Awarded to Neil Armstrong in 1979. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: A VERY RARE ACCOUNT OF BLACKBEARD’S DEATH AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIRATE ITEMS EXTANT. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD

Review Search

Archived Reviews

Ask Questions