Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - October - 2018 Issue

A New Selection from The Veatchs Arts of the Book

Catalogue 89 from the Veatchs.

The Veatchs Arts of the Book has issued their Catalogue 89. Since their name gives away what sort of material you can expect to find in the catalogue, we will get straight to some examples. The material in some way or other relates to the book arts, but there is a wide variety of items within this category.

 

We begin with a book that is not a first edition, but is what the Veatchs describe as "undoubtedly the finest printed edition of Eliot's work." That work is Four Quartets, originally published in 1943. This is a 1960 edition by Faber and Faber. The two Fabers was the house where Eliot served as director and was employed most of his working life. This edition features quarter vellum with marbled boards, the top edge in gilt, and a marbled slipcase. It was printed at the handpress of Offcina Bodoni, in Dante type on paper by Fratelli Magnani. The result is you may see it listed under the publishing house location, London, or that of the printing, Verona. The edition was printed in a limited run of 290 copies and was signed by Eliot. This is copy number 193. Item 15. Priced at $3,500.

 

Item 43 is a collection of broadside monthly calendars printed by the Marchbanks Press. Marchbanks printed these calendars as promotions for their business from 1915-1936 and during a brief revival in 1951. Each year they would select a different designer to create the calendars for that year. This collection is not complete, but contains 202 of the calendars, including complete years for 1925, 1927-1930 and 1933. Five other years have 11 calendars. $850.

 

A man who got his start as a salesman for Marchbanks Press in the 1920s was Joseph Blumenthal. However, Blumenthal quickly became tired of standard press work and determined to learn more about fine presses. While still employed by Marchbanks, in 1931, he opened the Spiral Press. He did fine work for clients such as the Limited Editions Club, the Museum of Modern Art, and President Franklin Roosevelt. He closed it for a few years during the Depression and again during the Second World War, but for the most part continued in the business until a final closing in 1971. Lessing J. Rosenwald was also noted for his connection with books, though he was neither a printer nor publisher. Rather, he was a collector. Rosenwald's father was Chairman of Sears, Roebuck, in the days when it was still America's premier retailer, and Lessing succeeded him in that position when he died. Obviously, the Rosenwalds must have made quite a fortune as Lessing retired in 1939 at the age of 48, to devote his life to book collecting and charitable activities. All of this serves as introduction to this self-explanatory 9" x 11" broadside printed by the Bird & Bull Press. It reads, "To all bookmen, collectors, printers of books, librarians, and bibliomaniacs in general. Greetings. Know you that this paper was made from Lessing J. Rosenwald's shirt and Joe Blumenthal's sheet, as a memento of their visit to the Bird & Bull Press, March 14, 1973." I'm reluctant to call this "rag paper" considering the nobility of these two gentlemen, but it is a unique example of papermaking. Item 6. $500.

 

Here is another tribute. The recipient was Robert L. "Doc" Leslie. "Doc" wasn't just a nickname. Though Leslie is best known for his work with typography, he was also a medical doctor. He worked in the printing business to pay for his college tuition, including a stint with Theodore DeVinne. He then went to work as an industrial physician for the publisher McGraw-Hill (I never knew publishers had house physicians). He next began work on the side developing new technology for typesetting, which led to a long career in the business. Item 76 is A Garland of Tributes to Robert Lincoln Leslie for his 100th Birthday, published in 1985. This was not a posthumous tribute. Leslie was still around to enjoy it. The lot consists of 20 printed tributes from individuals and private presses, mostly broadsides, along with a large booklet entitled A Brief Chronology of Printing, 1885-1985, as Experienced or Witnessed by Dr. Robert Lincoln Leslie, by Herbert Johnson. Leslie lived to be 101. $150.

 

Item 84 is a collection of six woodblock engravings of Philadelphia scenes from the 1860s-1870s. The places depicted are Independence Hall, Girard College, Girard Bank, Merchants Exchange, Fairmount Water Works, and a shipyard. All are signed on the back by N. J. Wemmer, who prepared box wood for engravers. Two are signed by "Frazer." It is not clear who Frazer was, but the Veatchs have two possible suspects. $1,800.

 

Next is a triptych entitled Ginsberg's Farm, published by the Caliban Press in 2006. The two outer panels feature a pair of Tibetan deities. The center panel displays a poetic tribute to Allen Ginsberg. It opens to show a previously unpublished silver gelatin photograph of Ginsberg in his garden, holding a large melon. It is housed in a paper portfolio also containing a vial of earth taken from Ginsberg's garden. You will have to take their word on that last one. Item 10. $375.

 

The Veatchs Arts of the Book can be reached at 716-648-0361 or veatchs@veatchs.com. Their website is www.veatchs.com.

Rare Book Monthly

  • 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
  • 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.

Review Search

Archived Reviews

Ask Questions