Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - August - 2015 Issue

New Acquisitions in Americana from the William Reese Company

For readers of all ages?

For readers of all ages?

The William Reese Company has issued their catalogue 323. This one comes with the cover title For Readers of All Ages (complete with a picture of a young girl reading a Reese catalogue on the cover), while the name on the title page is Recent Acquisitions in Americana. I figured...American children's books? I'm still not sure, other than this targets children a bit more mature than most I know. Constitutional issues, Indian captivities, slave revolts and the infamous Mandan O-Kee-Pa ceremony for children? Oh well, might as well teach them early. Meanwhile, the older folks in the family will love this catalogue. Here are a few examples.

 

Copies of the double elephant folio first edition of John James Audubon's Birds of America have sold as high as over $10 million. So how is Reese selling a copy for under $10,000? It turns out that collectors like his illustrations a little more than his text. Audubon is famous for his drawings much more than his writing, but his book about American birds included descriptions as well. However, British law required that books be deposited with nine separate libraries to secure a copyright. The plates for his Birds were very expensive to produce, so to get around the problem, Audubon published the text in five separate volumes from 1831-1839. Item 4 is a set of those volumes, entitled Ornithological Biography, or an Account of the Habits of the Birds of the United States of America. These volumes contain more than just descriptions of the birds Audubon found. He also describes his adventures and anecdotes searching for the birds. He traveled as far south as the Florida Keys and west to the southeastern and border states, and the Mississippi River. Audubon herein recounts his travels. Priced at $9,500.

 

At the time Audubon was traveling west to paint American birds, George Catlin went west to paint America's native peoples. His journeys took him even farther west, as he traveled into the heartland on the other side of the Mississippi. Catlin was one of a few people who realized western influence would soon change Indian culture forever, so he determined to capture as much as he still could through his paintings. Eventually, he would take his paintings on the road, including Europe, to display American native culture to a world that knew virtually nothing about it. However, in time the show ran its course, and after the U. S. Senate voted against a bill to purchase his paintings, Catlin needed to make a living. So instead, he went off on the road promoting Samuel Colt's firearms. He painted various images of Colt's guns in use, both in North and South America. Six of these paintings were turned into lithographs, though apparently very few were made. Item 25 is one of those lithographs, circa 1855-1860, titled Catlin the Celebrated Indian Traveller and Artist, Firing his Colt's Repeating Rifle Before a Tribe of Carib Indians in South America. $13,500.

 

This next item proves that it isn't necessary to say a lot of words to have a major impact (it also proves you can say a lot of words and still not have a major impact). Item 97 is the first printing in book form of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. It comes with the title An Oration Delivered on the Battlefield of Gettysburg (November 19, 1863). The major oration that day was not Lincoln's. It was delivered by Edward Everett, former Senator from Massachusetts who was renown as the greatest orator of the day. It lasted almost two hours, comparing Gettysburg to various battles ranging as far back as Antiquity. Lincoln followed with his brief comments. This first book with his speech, following only a pamphlet edition known in just three copies, features Everett's speech. Lincoln's begins on page 40. Everett realized immediately that Lincoln's concise address was far better than his own, but it took others a little while longer to realize that Lincoln's words were momentous. $32,500.

 

Item 162 was every white slave owner's nightmare, filled with drama to magnify those fears: Authentic and Impartial Narrative of the Tragical Scene which was Witnessed in Southampton County (Virginia) on Monday the 22nd of August Last, when Fifty-five of its Inhabitants were Inhumanly Massacred by the Blacks! Published in 1831, it is an account of the Nat Turner Slave Rebellion. Turner was a slave who had learned to read the Bible and became a preacher. He was evidently quite good at it. Turner believed he had been called to lead in the battle between good and evil, and slavery certainly was a great evil. He viewed an eclipse of the sun to be his calling from God, and led a group of slaves and some free blacks on a killing spree of whites in the area. He wanted slave owners to understand that there would be retribution for their sins if they did not stop. Within a few days, the insurrection was put down, and many blacks, including Turner, were put to death. The fearful white community was left with a decision of finding a way to gradually free the slaves, or dig in their heels and be even more intransigent. They chose the latter. This pamphlet, naturally, focuses on the horrors experienced by whites, not the horrors of slavery inflicted upon the blacks. $13,500.

 

Item 29 offers a contemporary look at the Great Chicago Fire: The Lakeside Memorial of the Burning of Chicago, A. D. 1871, published the following year. It contains essays about the fire that killed several hundred people and laid much of the city to ruin. It also contains photographs. Within the text, there are photographs of locations in the city before the fire. Then there are 12 mounted photographs, evidently taken shortly after the fire. They record the destruction in ways words cannot. $4,000.

 

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

Rare Book Monthly

  • Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    APRES DE MANNEVILLETTE
    Le Neptune Oriental
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    CASSAS
    Eaux fortes de la Sicile et quelques vues d’Espagne
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    CASSINI DE THURY
    Carte générale et particulière de la France.
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    JOUY; GARNERAY
    Vues des côtes de France dans l'Océan et dans la Méditerranée
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    LA PÉROUSE
    Voyage autour du monde
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    LE GENTIL DE LA GALAISIERE
    Voyage dans les Mers de l’Inde
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    LICENT
    Hoang Ho, Pai Ho, Loan Ho, Leao Ho. Itinéraires suivis dans le bassin du golfe du Pei Tcheuly
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    FRENCH SCHOOL FROM THE 19th CENTURY
    Panorama d’Athènes
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    PEETERS
    Description des principales villes, havres et isles du golfe de Venise
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    PÉRON; FREYCINET
    Voyage de découverte aux terres australes
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    STACKELBERG
    La Grèce : vues pittoresques et topographiques.
    Gros & Delettrez, 7 November:
    VALENTINER
    Atlas des Sonnensystems.
  • Forum Auctions
    Online Sale:
    The Detective Fiction Collection of John Cooper
    Ending 7th November, 2024
    Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). The Thirteen Problems, first edition, The Crime Club, 1932. £15,000 to £20,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Dumb Witness, first edition, 1937. £3,000 to £4,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Cards on the Table, first edition, The Crime Club, 1936. £2,000 to £3,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: [Carr (John Dickson)], "Carter Dickson" and John Rhode. Drop to his Death, first edition, Heinemann, [1939]. £600 to £800.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Berkeley (Anthony). Jumping Jenny, first edition, Hodder and Stoughton, 1933. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions
    Online Sale:
    The Detective Fiction Collection of John Cooper
    Ending 7th November, 2024
    Forum, Nov. 7: Marsh (Ngaio). Overture to Death, first edition, The Crime Club, 1939. £600 to £800.
    Forum, Nov. 7: [Day-Lewis (Cecil)] "Nicholas Blake". The Beast Must Die, first edition, 1938. £750 to £1,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Brand (Christianna). Green for Danger, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, John Lane the Bodley Head, 1945. £600 to £800.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Christie (Agatha). Murder is Easy, first edition, signed by the author, 1939. £3,000 to £4,000.
    Forum, Nov. 7: Sayers (Dorothy L.) Lord Peter Views the Body, first edition, Gollancz, 1928. £6,000 to £8,000.
  • Doyle
    Stage & Screen
    November 14 & 15
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: A studio-sanctioned Darth Vader Touring Costume from The Empire Strikes Back. $50,000 to $100,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: An original Al Hirschfeld's illustration of the cast of On Golden Pond. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: The largest trove of personal Grace Kelly letters to come to market. $60,000 to $80,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: An Important Archive of Musical Manuscripts of Truman Capote and Harold Arlen's House of Flowers. $40,000 to $60,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: The archive of an original Merrily We Roll Along Broadway cast member. $5,000 to $10,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: Jerry Herman's Yamaha Model C7 Ebonized Grand Piano. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: A large group of Jerry Herman musical posters. $300 to $500.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: Group of awards presented to Jerry Herman. $300 to $400.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: Six pages of original art for "The MAD Game of Basebrawl," a complete story published in MAD #167, pages 31-36, June 1974. $3,000 to $4,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: A MAD book made for Al Jaffee, containing original art and writings from many MAD contributors. 2011. $1,200 to $1,800.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: A Jaffee-themed MAD Fold-In - "What honor should the creator of the MAD Fold-Ins be given?" $800 to $1,200.
    Doyle, Nov. 14-15: MAD Fold-In - "What developing news story has many Americans totally transfixed?" $800 to $1,200.
  • Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. 11,135 USD
    Sotheby’s: Edgar Allan Poe. The Raven and Other Poems, 1845. 33,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Leo Tolstoy, Clara Bow. War and Peace, 1886. 22,500 USD
    Sotheby’s: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1902. 7,500 USD
    Sotheby’s: F. Scott Fitzgerald. This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, and Others, 1920-1941. 24,180 USD
  • Freeman’s | Hindman
    Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana
    November 14
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: LEROUX, Gaston. The Phantom of the Opera. FIRST AM. ED, FIRST ISSUE IN THE VERY RARE DUST JACKET. 1911. $6,000 – 8,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: GOULD, John. A Monograph of the Trochilidae...Humming-Birds. L., [1849-] 1861. $60,000 – 80,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: A COMPLETE RUN of Limited Editions Club publications, v.p. [mostly New York], 1929-2010. $50,000 – 60,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: ORWELL, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. Lon., 1949. FIRST EDITION IN A VERY FINE DUST JACKET. $6,000 – 8,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: GOULD. A Monograph of the Ramphastidae...Toucans. L., [1852-] 54. SECOND ED. $35,000 – 45,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: The Federalist. NY, 1788. FIRST EDITION, THICK PAPER COPY. $60,000 – 80,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Nov. 14: SELBY. Plates to Selby’s Illustrations of British Ornithology. Edin., [1833-] 34. $20,000 – 30,000.

Review Search

Archived Reviews

Ask Questions