• 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.
  • 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

Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - March - 2017 Issue

Magnificent Books, Manuscripts & Photographs from the 19th Century Shop

Magnificent Books & Photographs.

The 19th Century Rare Book & Photograph Shop has released a catalogue of Magnificent Books & Photographs. We might add that the catalogue is magnificent as well, but nothing less would make sense for the type of material found within. There are books and photographs, as one would expect, along with numerous manuscripts. The names are largely familiar – Lincoln, Roosevelt, Hamilton, Jefferson, Shakespeare, Twain, Wilde, Locke, Whitman, Poe, Newton, Darwin, Watson & Crick, Armstrong, Freud, Muybridge, and many more. Others are related to such things as places rather than specific people. These are amazing items, for collectors at the top end of the market. Here are a few.

 

We begin with a remarkable photographic portrait, one which includes Abraham Lincoln in what may have been the last happy days of his life. It was taken in Springfield, in 1860, before his journey to lead his country through four years of terrible strife. Five years later, he returned in a casket. This picture shows Lincoln standing on the porch of his Springfield home. It is the only house he ever owned. Standing next to Lincoln is his third son, Willie, with his youngest, Tad, mostly obscured by a post. Willie would return to Springfield the same way as his father, dying at the age of 11, while Tad outlived Abe, but died shortly after his 18th birthday. There was much tragedy ahead for this family, but it was not apparent on what looks to have been a nice day. Priced at $18,000.

 

Next is a photograph of the grisly conclusion to the sad Lincoln history. It is a gallows, with a group of people standing on it. Four of them were about to be executed. They were Mary Surratt and three men, all convicted of participating in the assassination of Lincoln or attempts to assassinate the Vice-President and Secretary of State the same day. The trial took seven weeks, and the verdict had to go to President Johnson for approval. He approved it on July 5, 1865, and to the surprise of the defendants, they were hanged the next day. In the photographs, attendants are in the process of putting hoods over the heads of the soon-to-be executed. $20,000.

 

Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain (we'll call him Twain for convenience) is noted for his many humorous stories, but he could be serious on occasion. We can see some of the serious side, humor intermingled, in The Love Letters of Mark Twain. It's hard to imagine that Twain wanted his love letters published, but he had little say in the matter. He had been dead for 39 years when they were published in 1949. The letters span the years of Twain's romance with his beloved wife Livy, from their initial courtship in 1868 until her death in 1904. Livy had rejected his initial entreaties, so he wrote her of his disappointment. In a plaintive cry, he says he can accept her decision since his life has had its share of "grief, disaster & disappointment." "So, I shall bear this last & bittersweet, even though it break my heart." It worked. A couple of months later, they were engaged, and married in 1870. This book has been signed by Twain, both as Twain and Clemens. You might wonder how Twain signed a book 39 years after he died. Good question. Many years earlier, Twain had signed numerous blank leaves for a planned book, but he died before it could be published. Harper & Brothers had these sheets hanging around all these years when Love Letters was published. One was tipped in to each of the 155 copies printed. $12,500.

 

If there was a sense of being a bit overdramatic in that entreaty, this next Twain writing is dark and filled with the deepest despair. It was very real. In 1896, his daughter Susy, just 24 years old, died. Twain suffered multiple tragedies in his later years, outliving his wife and three of his four children. Twain wrote this manuscript in 1902 of In Memory of Olivia Susan Clemens, 1872-1896. It was perhaps a catharsis for the despondent Twain. He intended it to be printed only for private circulation. He wished no one but his closest friends ever to see it. Ultimately, that private edition was never printed. Herein, Twain laments an apparent meaninglessness of life. He writes, "...men are born, they labor and sweat & struggle for bread, they squabble & scold & fight, they scramble for little mean advantages over each other; age creeps upon them, infirmities follow; shames and humiliations bring down their prides and their vanities; those they love are taken from them & the joy of life is to aching grief: the burden of pain, cares, misery grows heavier year by year; at length ambition is dead, pride is dead, vanity is dead, longing for release is in their place; it comes at last, the only unpoisoned gift earth ever had for them & they vanish from a world where they were of no consequence, where they achieved nothing, where they were a mistake & a failure & a foolishness, where they have left no sign that they have existed; a world which will lament them a day & forget them forever. Then another myriad takes their place." Very dark. No humor here. Eventually, this memorial was published posthumously as part of Twain's Autobiography in 1924. Price on request.

 

There are but a few finalists for the most important science text ever written. This is one of them: Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica. This is Isaac Newton's Principia, a first edition, published in 1687. This copy is the first state, or English edition (some copies were printed for distribution in England, others for Europe). Printing and the Mind of Man best expressed its significance with, "Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler had certainly shown the way, but where they described the phenomena they observed, Newton explained the underlying universal laws." Up to that point, it was believed that the laws governing what went on in the sky were different from those that applied on earth. Newton established that they were the same, with gravity and the laws of motion being the forces that determined what went on throughout the universe. $850,000.

 

Who was the earliest born person to have his likeness preserved in a photograph? It is unclear as birth dates in the 18th century were often uncertain, but this man is one of if not the first born. Baltus Stone was a veteran of the American Revolution, and not even one of its younger participants, when he was photographed 1846. He was a common man, one who described himself in 1820 when applying for a veteran's pension as an indigent day labourer unable to work because of decrepitude and infirmity. The inscription on the photograph gives his date of birth as 1744. His obituary listed 1743, his pension application 1754, a family bible as 1747. Other than a slave with an uncorroborated birth year of 1737, 19th Century was unable to find anyone else who was photographed with a birth year listed prior to 1745. Stone died a few months after this daguerreotype was taken. $50,000.

 

There is much more of importance and interest to be found here. There is a Shakespeare Second Folio, Curtis' massive North American Indian photographs, Poe's Raven and Other Poems, the earliest photograph of John D. Rockefeller (as an 18-year-old bookkeeper), the first printed sheet music of the Star Spangled Banner, a Darwin family photo album, pre-earthquake photographs of San Francisco buildings by a Vanderbilt family owner, a large photograph of 19th century Siamese twins Chang and Eng, and much more.

 

The 19th Century Rare Book & Photograph Shop can be reached at 410-602-3002 or info@19thshop.com. Their website is found at www.19thshop.com.

Rare Book Monthly


Review Search

Archived Reviews

Ask Questions