• 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.

Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - December - 2018 Issue

Americana from Donald Heald Rare Books

Americana from Donald Heald Rare Books.

Donald Heald Rare Books has published a catalogue of Americana. There are 100 items and they are pieces of Americana at the highest level. There is little in the way of obscurity here. These are important works, covering the most significant events and personalities in the continent's history. Different aspects of American history are covered, but expect to see much from political and military figures, explorers and artists. Add to that some science, religion, and moral leadership. While most of the items pertain to the middle part of North America, the area now known as the United States, a few of them come from the more southern or northern realms of that continent. Here are a few samples.

 

We begin with one of the earlier visits to America, long before the pilgrims or even Jamestown. It wasn't exactly a visit, nor even a typical exploration. It was a conquering, and the conqueror was the quintessential Spanish Conquistador, Hernan Cortes. With an army of only 500 men and help from some local Indians opposed to the Aztecs, Cortes was able to bring down an entire ancient empire. He had conquered the land then called "New Spain," today Mexico. Cortes wrote five letters to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V recounting his exploits and successes in his mission. Item 1 is the second Latin edition of the second and third letters, published in 1532. The first letter is lost making these the earliest known first hand accounts of the conquering of Mexico. It covers events from 1520-1522. This second edition adds some new material to the Cortes letters, including Peter Martyr's De Insulis, a condensed version of the lost first letter, and three letters written by others from 1531-1532. Priced at $35,000.

 

A few decades later, the French attempted to settle a part of what is now the United States, Florida to be specific. In the 1560s, two French Huguenot expeditions traveled to Florida, led by Jean Ribault and René de Laudonniere. Among those accompanying Laudonniere was an artist, Jacques Le Moyne. All started out well enough, but then things went bad. Early favorable relations with the Indians turned sour, the settlers began to fight among themselves, and then the Spanish from St. Augustine attacked. The Spanish wanted no competition from the French and determined to wipe out the settlers. They achieved most of their aims, but a few of the settlers managed to escape and make their way back to France. Among them was Le Moyne. A couple of decades later, Theodor De Bry wished to publish accounts of American explorations. He wanted to publish a new edition of Laudonniere's journal, but enhanced by adding Le Moyne's illustrations. Le Moyne would not give De Bry his illustrations, but after Le Moyne died, De Bry was able to purchase them from his widow. Forty-two of Le Moyne's illustrations appear in this first Latin edition from 1590 of De Bry's Brevis Narratio eorum quae in florida Americae... These are some of the first depictions ever made of American natives. Item 3. $60,000.

 

Britain and her American colonists worked together to defeat the French in the French and Indian War. However, once that war concluded in 1763, the relationship quickly began to deteriorate. The war had been costly to Britain, leaving debts, expenses going forward to administer its newly captured territory in Canada, plus ongoing defense of the frontier against Indian attacks. They needed more funding, and not surprisingly nor necessarily illogically, expected the colonists to chip in. However, Parliament had no interest in giving the colonists any say in the running of the government, or how their money was spent. To gather those funds, Parliament passed the Stamp Act. It placed a tax on all sorts of paper - newspapers, pamphlets, almanacs, all types of legal and commercial papers. America's representatives in London, including Benjamin Franklin, protested, but to no avail. The reaction in America was swift. There were vociferous protests and evasion of the tax. A year later, surprised by the intensity of the reaction, Parliament rescinded the tax. The damage was done. The relationship was greatly strained, and as Parliament passed replacement taxes and later the Intolerable Acts, it grew worse. The die was cast, the American Revolution inevitable. Item 18 is the first official printing of the Stamp Act, effectively the birth of the Revolution, from 1765. $27,500.

 

In another example of there is nothing new under the sun, here is a sex scandal involving a high government official from the early days of the new republic. The scandal involved Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, and ultimately Hamilton chose to come clean, though not so much in the interest of truth for its own sake as to disprove an even worse false claim against him. Hamilton had been messing around with one Maria Reynolds, wife of James Reynolds. When Mr. Reynolds found out, he did not challenge Hamilton to a duel to defend his honor. Instead, he saw a financial opportunity. Reynolds blackmailed Hamilton, who paid up to hide the affair. Unfortunately for Hamilton, his payments to Reynolds were found out, and the belief was expressed that Hamilton was speculating with government funds, using Reynolds as his conduit. Disproving this false claim was paramount to Hamilton, so much so that he thought it better to reveal the truth, that he was paying bribes to conceal his adultery, then to let people think he was speculating with government funds. Hamilton revealed the sordid truth in this pamphlet, Observations on Certain Documents contained in No. V & VI of "The History of the United States for the year 1794," in which the Charge of Speculation Against Alexander Hamilton, late Secretary of the Treasury, is Fully Refuted. This pamphlet was published in 1797, and Hamilton's family later bought up and destroyed every copy they could lay their hands on, only to have Hamilton's enemies republish it in 1800. While Hamilton's reputation for financial integrity was preserved, his moral reputation was shot, his admission making it virtually certain he would never attain higher office. Item 44. $48,500.

 

Several of the highest prices ever paid at auction for books are for one title and edition, John James Audubon's elephant folio edition of The Birds of America. However, that was not Audubon's only major project. He followed it with almost as ambitious a project, one that would be published under the title The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America. That, too, has an elephant folio edition. Perhaps Audubon would be better remembered for his drawings of animals other than birds if his health had held out longer. Publication began in 1845, but by the time the first of the three volumes had been completed, Audubon's mental facilities had seriously declined. Illustrations were taken over primarily by his son, John Woodhouse Audubon, and text was written by Audubon's friend, clergyman and naturalist John Bachman, with some assistance from another Audubon son, Victor. John Woodhouse and Victor each married one of Bachman's daughters, so the ties were very close. The three volumes of elephant folio broadsheets were issued from 1845-1849, though the text and six later octavo plates were not completed until 1854. Item 75 is an elephant folio of Quadrupeds. $580,000.

 

Donald Heald Rare Books may be reached at 212-744-3505 or info@donaldheald.com. Their website is www.donaldheald.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

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