Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - July - 2005 Issue

Jesse James' Mother, Tom Mix's Horse, & More From Gene W. Baade

Gene Baade's Catalogue 505.

Gene Baade's Catalogue 505.


By Michael Stillman

Gene W. Baade
is offering his Catalogue 505 of "Books on the West." It is certainly an eclectic collection of items you don't often find. They range from old and collectible books to reading copies to more recent publications. The common thread is America's West, and if you share an interest in this subject, then this is a catalogue for you. Here are a few of the items.

We all know the story of Frank and Jesse James, but how about that of their mother, Zerelda James Samuel? Daughter of a respectable Kentucky family, Zerelda married the Reverend Robert James in 1841 at the age of 17. It's hard to imagine what a man of the cloth would think of sons like these, but we will never know, since he died while they were young. She remarried Dr. Reuben Samuel, and both mother and stepfather would be fiercely loyal to the James boys, though their occupation would bring much suffering to the family. The book is titled The Empty Sleeve, and it refers to the right sleeve of her clothing, her arm having been blown off in a raid of her home by Pinkerton detectives. A young son was also killed by the Molotov cocktail-like device thrown through their window. Zerelda was instrumental in promoting the theory that her boys were not criminals, but loyal Confederate soldiers, being persecuted by Radical Republicans for their loyalties. The James brothers had joined a group of Missouri Confederate guerrillas, whose outlaw behavior even the Confederate authorities disowned. It evolved to pure outlawry. However, Zerelda's claim was sufficient to generate support from many who still held onto their Confederate sympathies. Jesse died in 1882, shot in the back of his head for reward money, but Zerelda lived on until 1911. She died on a train trip returning from a visit with her retired, other infamous son, Frank. This 1961 first edition was written by Martha McKelvie, and has her signed presentation. Item 104. Priced at $45.

If we can have a book about Jesse James' mother, how about one on Tom Mix's horse? Tom Mix, for those who have forgotten, and many have, was one of the first cowboys of the silver screen. He was enormously popular, making as much as $10,000 a week in the 1920s, when it took the average citizen a few years to earn that much. Mix was a big favorite of silent movie fans, but his voice was evidently not as appealing as his visual persona. His career slipped along with the economy in the 1930s. But, back in his heyday, before anyone had ever heard of Trigger or Silver, there was Tony the Wonder Horse. Tony learned many tricks, though none quite as spectacular as some portrayed on the screen, such as untying his bound master or running off to summon help in an emergency. Tony appeared in Mix's movies until 1932, when the aging cowboy was no longer confident riding an aged horse. Tony was replaced by Tony II. However, Tony had the good horse sense to retire quietly to the farm. His daring master, who survived all kinds of risky adventures on and off horseback, died in a freak auto accident in 1940, when swerving to avoid road workers in his custom Cord, a suitcase smashed into the back of his head. Tony died two years, to the day, after Tom. The book is Tony and his Pals by H. and F. Christeson, published in 1934. Item 32. $50.

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  • DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
  • Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.

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