Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - May - 2016 Issue

Recent Acquisitions from John Windle Antiquarian Bookseller

25 Recent Acquisitions.

John Windle Antiquarian Bookseller has released Short List 1. 25 Recent Acquisitions. With just 25 items you might think it would be easy to peg this catalogue, but no such luck. The variety is still too wide to describe it beyond a varied collection of recent acquisitions. So, here are a few of them.

 

We begin with an obscure Latin text that has evidently been quite rare for a long time. The title is Christianissimi Francorum Regis, adversus Imperatorem Electum... published in 1528. The author was Gilbert Bayard, who served in the court of French King Francis I. It covers conflicts between Francis and Spanish King/Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. The two were constantly at odds throughout their reigns, with Francis in the difficult position of being surrounded by empires controlled by Charles. The rarity of this book can be seen by the accompanying letter from the noted early 19th century bibliophile Thomas Frognall Dibdin. Dibdin had evidently been loaned a copy and had previously been unfamiliar with the title. He writes in 1823, "I return to you your curious Latin tract with thanks for the perusal of it. The condition is quite piquante to a Bibliomaniac." Item 3. Priced at $1,750.

 

The next book carries a notable inscription and provenance. Item 18 is The Common School Journal for the Year 1842. Edited by Horace Mann. Mann is known as the "Father of the Common School Movement." It was he who instituted universal, free public education in his native Massachusetts, and promoted it to the rest of the nation. He also promoted the building of normal schools, whose role was to train the teachers needed to serve the schools. While most of his career would be spent in education, later serving as President of Antioch college, he also served a couple of terms in Congress, succeeding John Quincy Adams after the latter died. In Congress, he was a strong voice for abolition, and clashed with Massachusetts legend, Senator Daniel Webster, who sought compromise with the South. Mann's 1847 inscription in this copy is to "C. Sumner." That would be Charles Sumner, who would later serve 23 years in the Senate. At the time, Mann and Sumner were working together to promote public education in Massachusetts, and the two shared intensely anti-slavery views. Neither had yet been elected to public office, but each soon would be, first as Whigs, and then moving to the anti-slavery Free Soil party. This copy also contains the later signature of Mary Chapman, another strong abolitionist, leader of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, an associate of abolition journalist William Lloyd Garrison, and friend of both Mann and Sumner. $4,500.

 

Item 4 is a biography of a very special lady, Memoires sur la vie de Mademoiselle de Lenclos, by Antoine Bret, published in 1751. Anne "Ninon" de l'Enclos entered a convent after he mother died. She left a year later. It definitely was not the place for her. Ninon de l'Enclos was a smart, witty, and beautiful lady. She became a very popular figure in Paris salons, including, soon enough, her own. She determined never to marry. Instead, she took on a series of lovers, serially as she never had more than one at a time. Not more than one at a time, but she had a great many over the course of her lifetime. She would replace them as she tired of them. Her lovers were regularly members of the highest society, but, she did not live off their riches. She became a writer and ably supported herself. Her views, not surprisingly, were those of a freethinker, and her disbelief in religion got her in trouble at times, even imprisoned for a while. Ninon achieved something of a legendary status in France, which explains this book which was published almost half a century after she died. $575.

 

This next book will tell us about the career and tricks of a very strange man: The Adventures of the Strange Man, Dr. H.S. Lynn: With a Supplement Showing how It's Done. Published in 1873, the book was written by its subject, H. S. Lynn. Or John Simmons. Or Washington Simmons. Or Washington Blythe. Or whatever else you may choose. John Simmons was apparently his birth name, and he used H. S. Lynn for this book, but he used many others in between. He was "Washington" when portraying himself as an American overseas, but he was actually from England. He toured America, Australia, Japan, and China, at a minimum, as well as his home country. Dr. Lynn, and he may or may not have earned a medical degree of sorts, was a magician. He may be overlooked today, but not in his time. Houdini credited him with being the inspiration for his own career. He started as a chemical conjurer, one who used chemistry and scientific advances to perform "magic," but soon turned to illusion. His most famous trick was to remove his limbs, even his head. Not really, but audiences thought he did. There is a photograph of Lynn/Simmons absent a head on his shoulders, but his head is neatly tucked under his arm. My own suspicion is that he has stuck his face under the arm of another, whose head is obscured by something matching the background behind it. I could be wrong, but I am confident he never actually removed his head during his performances. Item 17. $3,950.

 

Item 22 is a broadside, A List of the Names of the Provincials who were Killed and Wounded in the late Engagement with His Majesty's Troops at Concord, April 19, 1775. This is not the one issued contemporary with the start of the Revolution, but a reprint published while many of the veterans of that conflict were still alive. Among the names are that of a black soldier who fought despite the limited opportunities for freedom to his people, "Prince Easterbrooks a Negro man." The original printing of this broadside is a great rarity, while even this 1804 facsimile reprint is very scarce. $2,500.

 

John Windle Antiquarian Bookseller may be reached at 415-986-5826 or john@johnwindle.com. Their website is www.johnwindle.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

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