• 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 - April - 2017 Issue

William Blake – Always in Paradise, from John Windle Antiquarian Bookseller

William Blake Always in Paradise.

John Windle Antiquarian Bookseller has published an outstanding and extensive catalogue of William Blake Always in Paradise. A Catalogue of Artwork and Books by and about Blake and his Circle. The "Always in Paradise" reflects one of his early books, Gates of Paradise, but even more so a quote from Catherine Blake which begins this catalogue: "I have very little of Mr. Blake's company; he is always in Paradise."

 

William Blake was a late 18th century, early 19th century poet, engraver, and artist. He was talented at the first two, but it is his original artwork that stands out most of all. I wouldn't have any idea how to describe it, but his art is captivating. Sadly, Blake was not particularly appreciated during his lifetime, but his a reputation has grown steadily since he died almost two centuries ago.

 

John Windle will offer you books in a variety of fields, but his greatest specialty is William Blake. Last year, Windle opened a William Blake gallery adjacent to his shop in San Francisco. It is likely the first gallery devoted to Blake in two hundred years, when Blake was around to oversee it himself. This catalogue contains hundreds of items related to Blake. It includes Blake artwork, books, illustrations and engravings, then moves on to later facsimile editions of his works, art reproductions, catalogues, bibliographies, biographies, Blake's Circle, works inspired by Blake, books about Blake, and the Trianon Press and William Blake Trust. Naturally, most items from Blake's lifetime are not inexpensive, though, as Windle notes, "modestly priced compared to other artists of his stature." However, there is much in here, and later editions and reproductions are available "at prices that a college student might afford." This is essential as the next generation of collectors will need to whet their appetite on a college student's budget if they are to have an appetite at all. Here are a few selections from this extensive Blake collection.

 

In 1799, Blake was commissioned to create 50 tempera paintings based on the Bible. Tempera used watercolors with glue to create a dense, oil-like paint but with a different effect. Thirty of those have survived, only seven still in private hands. This is the best preserved example of those seven, The Virgin Hushing Young John the Baptist. In the picture, young John, a butterfly in his hand, appears eager to show his prize, while Mary hushes him from waking the sleeping infant Jesus. This painting is priceless, figuratively and literally (no price is given). I think it qualifies for "if you have to ask..."

 

The Gates of Paradise was Blake's first attempt to use images to convey a message. First published in 1793 as For Children, it was later described as For the Sexes. The work is very rare. Windle notes that the first state is known in only one copy, the second in four, the third in one, the fourth in two, and the fifth in eleven. At least five of those 11 are believed to have been printed posthumously, likely by his widow. These plates come from one of those 11 copies of the fifth state printed during his lifetime, circa 1825. They came from an incomplete copy. The Gates of Paradise traces the stages of life of man. It goes from birth through death, including passage through the four elements – water, air, fire, and earth. Offered are six plates, Water, Earth, Air, Hatching ripe, Aged ignorance, and Does thy God. Priced at $40,000 each.

 

Robert Blair is a not well-known Scottish poet who died 11 years before Blake was born. However, Blake was asked to illustrate a new edition of what is essentially Blair's only poem in 1808. The result is that Blair's The Grave is well-known today, though primarily for Blake's illustrations. The Grave was in the headlines in 2016 when Blake's original artwork was discovered, and to the consternation of many, the drawings were divided up and sold separately. Eleven were sold for a total of $7.1 million, the highest priced plate going for $1,584,000. Fortunately, you can own these dreamlike pictures for a far more affordable sum. Windle offers the folio edition of the book for $8,950, the quarto for $5,750. Alternatively, 14 individual plates from the first quarto edition are offered at prices ranging from $275-$875. One is the frontispiece portrait of Blake.

 

Blake was called on to create and engrave illustrations for the 1791 second edition of Mary Wollstonecraft's Original Stories from Real Life. Wollstonecraft is remembered today as an early feminist (along with being the mother of Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein). The book was a collection of morally instructive tales for girls, but the overriding moral of many of Wollstonecraft's very feminist (for its day) books was that women should be educated, that they would be better citizens and wives if allowed to use their brains. Offered is not the book itself, but the six Blake plates. They depict the two girls, their teacher, and sometimes others, at the center of Wollstonecraft's stories in various situations. $3,000.

 

While Blake was fairly obscure in his lifetime and during the 19th century, his works experienced a great revival in the 20th. What was much ignored in earlier times was discovered and finally given the recognition it deserved in the century after Blake died. No one better recognized Blake's genius than Sir Geoffrey Keynes, surgeon, author, and brother of noted economist John Maynard Keynes. Geoffrey Keynes formed the William Blake Trust, and after seeing some facsimiles of Cezanne paintings produced by Arnold Fawcus, partnered with Fawcus to create the Trianon Press. Trianon would go on to produce many spectacular facsimiles of Blake's works, making them accessible to the public. Among those who became involved in the project were noted collectors Lessing Rosenwald, Paul Mellon, and many others. Offered is a collection of the minutes of the William Blake Trust, from its founding in 1948 through 1969. Most of the collection came from Fawcus' wife, Julie. Reports are signed by Keynes with numerous annotations by Fawcus. Papers include financial and legal arrangements for the trust's founding and accounts of its first 20 years of operation. The quality of Trianon's work is such that its facsimiles are barely distinguishable from Blake's original art. $6,500.

 

Now for the some Blake illustrations suitable for the college student's budget, and a great starting point for a potential collector. This is a portfolio of 22 facsimile plates of Blake's illustrations for the Book of Job. They come in a purple paper cover and were produced by the Trianon Press. They were sold only at museums and Blake Trust exhibitions. $100.

 

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

Review Search

Archived Reviews

Ask Questions