• 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.
  • 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
  • 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.
  • 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

Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - December - 2015 Issue

50 Plus 1 from The Pages of Yesteryear

The Big 5-0 Plus 1.

The Pages of Yesteryear has released a catalogue titled The Big 5-0 Plus 1. Owner John Renjilian celebrated his 50th anniversary in the book trade last year but was unable to publish a catalogue. This makes up for it, combining a 50th anniversary plus the reality that this is really #51. Like its title, the catalogue contains 50 items... plus 1. As usual, he notes this latest catalogue offers a varied selection of material, hard to pin down, but fun to read. There is something here for everyone, including those with unusual taste. These are a few of these 50 plus 1.

 

We begin with a letter from Marinus Willett, evidently intended for some government authority, written in 1791. Willett served as a colonel with the New York State militia during the Revolution. The British were still harassing Americans in upstate New York in 1781, even as the Revolution was coming to its conclusion in Yorktown. Governor Clinton appointed Willett to lead the militia against the British and their Mohawk allies, with Willett and his men achieving a victory at the Battle of Johnstown. To make certain the British couldn't regroup, Willett decided to chase them back toward Canada. However, he needed some help, so he turned to some Oneida Indians with him and made a deal. As he writes in this document, "I promised in case of exerting themselves to overtake the enemy who were put to flight that they each should have a Blanket – That in consequence of this promise they began a vigorous pursuit and in a short time overtook and killed a number of enemy." So here it was – ten years later and the Oneida who had risked their lives still hadn't been given their blankets! Apparently, they never were. In 2004, using a different copy of this document (at least four are known – perhaps used to appeal to different government departments), Andre Deeks sued in federal court for $3 million, claiming that to be the current value, plus interest, of the blankets. His case was dismissed based on the statute of limitations. The bookseller notes that Willett was granted 150 pounds by the New York legislature in 1782 for expenses relating to the campaign, but whether that was meant to pay the Indians or for other purposes is not clear. Item 3. Priced at $2,500.

 

Item 12 is Grace Vernon Bussell, the Heroine of Western Australia: And Other Poems. The poet was Charles Walker Ray, noted more for writing hymns, to whatever extent he is still known. The lead poem celebrates Grace Bussell, a then 16-year-old girl who rode bravely into the sea to save the lives of those fleeing a sinking ship. It all started when Sam Isaacs, an Aborigine who worked for the family, spotted the troubled ship. He rushed to the Bussell home for help, but could find only Grace. The young girl mounted her horse, raced to the scene, and then somehow managed to convince her horse down a steep cliff to the shore. Next, she rode well out into the water, and was able to carry a bunch of women and children to safety. Isaacs was able to save the one remaining male from the ship. Bussell received a silver medal from the Royal Humane Society for her heroism, Isaacs a bronze (most unusual to be given an aborigine in the day). Ray's account of this 1876 event was published in 1878. $350.

 

Item 37 is an 1863 affidavit of Adeline J. Jaques, testifying as to the mental state of Rev. Henry F. Hicks. Hicks began serving at the Unitarian Church in East Needham, Massachusetts, in 1852 but left in 1862, for unstated reasons we can now imagine. In an understatement, Mrs. Jaques says Rev. Hicks "appeared very irregular." In February of 1863, Hicks told Jaques he was going to California, but leaving his wife behind as that would be less expensive. He curiously added, "we may meet again and we may not." In July, he told Jaques that he and his wife had separated, noting that he had "a brain fever and her presence irritates me so that I treated her with violence... I might at such times take her life." He claimed to have suffered from "violent sickness" since he was 10. At a later meeting, Jaques noticed Mrs. Hicks was bruised about the face, and she said he had assaulted her several times and once almost choked her to death. On another occasion, he rushed into the Charles River threatening suicide, and then threatened to drown his wife when she attempted to rescue him. Other unpleasantries included attempting to hang himself, stab himself with a pen knife, and threatening his wife with a razor. It is not clear whether this affidavit was part of an attempt to commit Hicks or protect his wife. Whatever happened to Mrs. Hicks is not known, but Pages of Yesteryear notes that Mr. Hicks lived for another 50 years. $175.

 

Item 10 is one of those unpleasant period pieces, published as a promotional for children by Stewart's Department Store of Baltimore in 1910. Its title is Pickaninnies Little Redskins. Blacks are portrayed in 1910 stereotypical illustrations and text. The bookseller says the Indian children are not treated quite so offensively. Stewart's was a leading department store in Baltimore for most of the twentieth century. It was sold to Caldor's in 1983, which in turn went out of business in the late 1990's. Perhaps this booklet can suggest an alternate team name and mascot for the beleaguered officers of the Washington Redskins football team, in their honor, of course. $150.

 

Item 16 is a single sheet ballad of Murder in the Railway Train, from 1864. It was the first killing reported on a British railway. Thomas Briggs, a 69-year-old banker was beaten and robbed in his compartment and thrown from the train. His gold watch and chain were missing. A cab driver identified German immigrant Franz Muller, and a jeweler picked Muller from a photograph as the man who tried to sell him the chain. Muller was gone, having taken a ship to America. It was a slow boat, enabling Scotland yard to get its agents to America first and arrange for Muller's extradition before he arrived. This ballad, evidently published while Muller was being brought back to London, is sympathetic to him. It points out that Muller had already planned to emigrate to America and made no attempt to hide his movements, there was no proof a hat found in Briggs' compartment belonged to Muller as claimed, and neither of the people who identified him came forward until after a reward was offered. Despite the circumstantial nature of the evidence, Muller was convicted and hung before a crowd of 50,000. $350.

 

The Pages of Yesteryear may be reached at 203-426-0864 or jrenjilian@hotmail.com.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Alken (Henry). Sporting Notions, first edition, T.McLean, 1832-33. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Bardi (Lorenzo). Nuova Raccolta delle piu interessanti Vedute della Citta di Firenze…, Florence, Lorenzo Bardi, [c.1840]. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Crawfurd (John). Journal of an Embassy from the Governor-General of India to the Court of Ava..., first edition, 1829. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Dawe (George, engraver). The Life of a Nobleman, first edition, Geo. Henderson, [c.1825]. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: [Doyle (John)], "H.B.". Political Sketches &c., 10 vol. including The Descriptive Key to H.B., Thomas McLean, [1829-51]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Eben (Adolphus Christian Frederick, Baron von) and Nicolaus Heideloff. Modèles de l'Uniforme Militaire Adopté dans l'Armée Royale de Suède, Rudolph Ackerman, 1808. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Geissler (J.G.G.) and Friedrich Hempel. Mahlerische Darstellungen der Sitten, Gebrauche und Lustbarkeiten bey den Russischen, Tartarischen…, 4 parts in 1, Leipzig and Paris, [1804]. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Hunt (Charles). Portraits of Winning Horses...of the Derby, Oaks, & St. Leger, from the Year 1842 to 1849…, Rock Brothers & Payne, 1849. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Kunike (Adolf Friedrich). Zwey hundert und sechzig Donau-Ansichten nach dem Laufe des Donaustromes…, Vienna, Leopold Grund, 1826. £3,000 to £5,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Lasinio (Carlo). [Matrimony], Florence, 1790. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Reinhardt (Joseph). A Collection of Swiss Costumes, in Miniature, second English edition, James Goodwin, [1828]. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Wengen (Gottfried Durst von). Die Öffentliche Maskerade Bamberg am Fastnachts-Montage 1833…, Bamberg, [1833]. £2,000 to £3,000.
  • 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

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