Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - January - 2019 Issue

Canadiana, Maps, Prints, and Rare Books from Patrick McGahern Books

Canadiana and more.

Patrick McGahern Books has released their Catalogue 271. Canadian Rare Books, Maps and Prints, Rare and Antiquarian Books. While Canadiana is McGahern's specialty, it should be noted that the Rare and Antiquarian Books section contains material with no connection to Canada. Travels into the interior of Africa are about as far from Canadiana as I can imagine, and a travel guide to Ireland, while physically closer, is still well outside the field. The majority of the items do still pertain to this northern land. Here are a few examples.

 

We will begin with an item that is of importance to both sides of the border, Canada and the United States, but comes from England. This is the official British printing of a Treaty Between Her Majesty and the United States of America, for the Settlement of the Oregon Boundary Signed in Washington, June 15, 1846. The nations had earlier resolved the border on the eastern half of the continent, but the border along the old Louisiana Territory remained in dispute. Britain claimed the Oregon Territory, today's Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, was theirs. America, chanting the "54 40 or fight" slogan, thought the border should be much farther north, encompassing much of today's British Columbia. Americans were prepared to fight for the land, but with President Polk more interested in grabbing land from Mexico, and unprepared to fight on two fronts, he decided to reach a compromise with the British. The British, in turn, recognizing the reality of American immigration into the territory as a result of the Oregon Trail, were also willing to settle the dispute. This is the treaty that set the border between the two countries in the Pacific Northwest. Item 11. Priced at CA $1,200 (Canadian dollars, or approximately $884 in U.S. funds).

 

Here is a title that describes the beginnings of another historic event, A Trip to Newfoundland; Its Scenery and Fisheries; with an Account of the Laying of the Submarine Cable, by John Mullaly, published in 1855. Leaving aside the scenery and fisheries, this is an account of a major event in communications. Mullaly was part of the team involved in laying a cable between Cape Breton, off the coast of Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. Enabling people in Newfoundland to communicate with Cape Breton islanders was not the aim. This cable would allow communications to run all the way from Newfoundland to New York and beyond. But, not even that was the aim. The next step was to lay a cable under the Atlantic all the way from Newfoundland to Ireland, the first attempt to enable electronic communications from Europe to America. This first attempt to lay a cable 85 miles from Cape Breton to Newfoundland in 1854 was unsuccessful, not a good omen considering the distance ahead. However, there was no quitting and the cable was completed in 1856, and a cable to Ireland was successfully put down in 1858. It worked for three weeks and then failed. It was not until 1866 that a cable was successfully laid on the ocean floor that continued to function for years, enabling transatlantic communications to become a reality. Item 24 CA $600 (US $442).

 

Next we have a pair of handwritten lettergrams concerning another misfortune off the coast of Nova Scotia. The writers were Susanna Lawrence and her brother-in-law James Lawrence, who were sailing on the RMS Columbia from Halifax to Boston. They were written to their husband and brother, wealthy Bostonian Abbott Lawrence. On a foggy day, the Columbia ran into a rock ledge. The ship could not be saved, but miraculously, all 85 of the passengers and crew survived. Susanna Lawrence writes, "...little did I think as we distanced the wharf that all too soon the beautiful, finely built 'Columbia' would be a total wreck, and your father, mother & sister taken from her at the risk of their lives within two hours." Susanna's eight-page letter goes on to describe their stay in Halifax. The letter from Abbott's brother, James, who apparently went to Halifax to arrange their passage back to Boston, reassures, "Here we are rollicking about having a grand time. We have finished talking about shipwrecks, almost, and are enjoying dinner & parties as if we were residents of this magnificent city..." Rather than looking "forlorn & destitute," as shipwrecked people normally do, James assures that "all appear to be happy as possible." The Lawrence family was among the founders of the very successful textile industry of New England, the city of Lawrence, Massachusetts, named for them. The Columbia was one of the first ships of the Cunard Line, but despite this early setback, it went on to achieve great success as well. Item 13. CA $500 (US $368).

 

John J. Bigsby had an unusual combination of careers. He was a physician and geologist. He received his medical degree in Edinburgh and was sent by the British Army as a medical officer to Canada in 1818. He remained for eight years. After a typhus outbreak, he was sent to Upper Canada, along the western Great Lakes, to deal with the epidemic. Along the way, Bigsby developed a deep interest in geology. As a result, he was also commissioned to study the geology of the area. That would continue as he served on the boundary commission, which mapped out the national border along the Great Lakes to Lake of the Woods. Bigsby returned to England in 1826 where he continued his geological studies. In 1850, he wrote this book, which was not so much about geology or medicine as about his experiences in Canada and its customs and people. The title is The Shoe and Canoe, or Pictures of Travel in the Canadas. He describes the squalid condition of Indians living in the cities, elegant hearse sledges with chiming bells to mark a winter funeral, and numerous anecdotes from Quebec to Lake Superior. Item 2. CA $2,000 (US $1,470).

 

Here is one of those books with no connection to Canada. Item 47 is Proofs of Conspiracy against all the Religions and Governments of Europe, carried on in the Secret Meetings of Free Masons, Illuminati, and Reading Societies. Collected from Good Authorities by John Robison. A. M. Professor of Natural Philosophy and Secretary to the Royal Society of Edinburgh. I might have thought his "good authorities" included Alex Jones, but this was published in 1797. McGahern describes this as "a classic eighteenth century work of conspiracy theory: a diatribe accusing Freemasonry of being infiltrated by the Illuminati Order..." Robison was a Scottish physicist, showing that even physicists can be given to flights of fancy. Then again, maybe the Illuminati really are responsible for all of our troubles. Item 4 is a second, "corrected" edition, published the same year as the first. CA $900 (US $661).

 

Patrick McGahern Books may be reached at 613-230-2277 or books@mcgahernbooks.ca. Their website is www.mcgahernbooks.ca.

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

Review Search

Archived Reviews

Ask Questions