• <b><center>Sotheby’s<br>Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library<br>Magnificent Books and Bindings<br>11 October 2023</b>
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 11:</b> Francesco Colonna, Hypnerotomachie, Paris, 1546, Parisian calf by Wotton Binder C for Marcus Fugger. $300,000 to $400,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 11:</b> Leonardo da Vinci, Trattato della pittura, manuscript on paper, [Rome, ca. 1638–1641], a very fine pre-publication manuscript. $250,000 to $300,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 11:</b> Paradis, Ung petit traicte de Alkimie, [Paris, before 1540], contemporary morocco by the Pecking Crow binder for Anne de Montmorency. $300,000 to $350,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 11:</b> Capocaccia, Giovanni Battista, A wax relief portrait of Pius V, in a red morocco book-form box by the Vatican bindery, Rome, 1566–1568. $250,000 to $300,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 11:</b> Serlio, Il terzo libro; Regole generali, Venice, 1540, both printed on blue paper and bound together by the Cupid's Bow Binder. $400,000 to $500,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 11:</b> Tiraboschi, Carmina, manuscript on vellum, [Padua, c. 1471], the earliest surviving plaquette binding. $280,000 to $350,000.
    <b><center>Sotheby’s<br>Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library<br>The Aldine Collection A–C<br>12 October 2023</b>
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 12:</b> Anthologia graeca, Venice, Aldus, 1503, printed on vellum, Masterman Sykes-Syston Park copy. $150,000 to $200,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 12:</b> Castiglione, Il libro del cortegiano, Venice, Aldus, 1528, contemporary Italian morocco gilt, Accolti-Landau copy. $200,000 to $300,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 12:</b> Castiglione, Il libro del cortegiano, Venice, Aldus, 1545, contemporary morocco for Thomas Mahieu, Chatsworth copy. $200,000 to $300,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 12:</b> Cicero, Epistolae familiares, Venice, Aldus, 1502, printed on vellum, illuminated, Renouard-Vernon-Uzielli copy. $200,000 to $300,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 12:</b> Colonna, Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, Venice, Aldus, 1499, Gomar Estienne binding for Jean Grolier, Spencer copy. $400,000 to $600,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 12:</b> Crinito, Libri de poetis Latinis, Florence, Giunta, 1505, Cupid's Bow Binder for Grolier, Paris d'Illins-Wodhull copy. $250,000 to $300,000.
  • <center><b>Potter & Potter Auctions<br>Nobu Shirase and the Japanese Antarctic Expedition: the Collection of Chet Ross<br>October 12, 2023</b>
    <b>Potter & Potter, Oct. 12:</b> [BYRD]. VEER, Willard Van der and Joseph T. RUCKER, cinematographers. The 35mm motion picture Akeley camera that filmed the Academy Award-winning documentary “With Byrd at the South Pole”. $30,000 to $50,000.
    <b>Potter & Potter, Oct. 12:</b> [SHIRASE, Nobu, his copy]. RYUKEI, Yano. <i>Young Politicians of Thebes: Illustrious Tales of Statesmanship.</i> Tokyo(?), 1881-84. $15,000 to $20,000.
    <b>Potter & Potter, Oct. 12:</b> SHACKLETON, Ernest H. <i>The Antarctic Book.</i> Winter Quarters 1907-1909 [dummy copy of the supplement to: <i>The Heart of the Antarctic</i>]. London, 1909. $10,000 to $15,000.
    <b>Potter & Potter, Oct. 12:</b> [USS BEAR]. The original auxiliary deck wheel from the famed USS Bear, 1874-1933. “PROBABLY THE MOST FAMOUS SHIP IN THE HISTORY OF THE COAST GUARD” (USCG). $10,000 to $15,000.
    <b>Potter & Potter, Oct. 12:</b> HENSON, Matthew. <i>A Negro Explorer at the North Pole.</i> With a forward by Robert Peary. Introduction by Booker T. Washington. New York, [1912]. $3,000 to $4,000.
  • <center><b>Gonnelli: Auction 46 Books<br>Autographs & Manuscripts<br>Oct 3rd-5th 2023</b>
    <b>Gonnelli:</b> Tilson - Zanotto, Il vero tema. 2011. Starting price 150 €
    <b>Gonnelli:</b> Munari, Storia di un filo. Starting price 400 €
    <b>Gonnelli:</b> Debord, Contre le cinéma. 1964. Starting price 150 €
    <b>Gonnelli:</b> Futurism books and ephemera
    <b>Gonnelli:</b> Travel books
    <b>Gonnelli:</b> Medicine books
    <b>Gonnelli:</b> Levaillant, Histoire naturelle des perroquets. 1801-1805. Starting price 52.000 €
    <b>Gonnelli:</b> Carrera, Il gioco de gli scacchi. 1617. Starting price 3200 €
    <b>Gonnelli:</b> Vergilius, Opera. 1515. Starting price 800 €
  • <center><b>Swann Auction Galleries View Our Record Breaking Results</b>
    <b>Swann:</b> Charles Monroe Schulz, <i>The Peanuts gang,</i> complete set of 13 drawings, ink, 1971. Sold June 15 — $50,000.
    <b>Swann:</b> Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Family Archive of Photographs & Letters. Sold June 1 — $60,000.
    <b>Swann:</b> Victor H. Green, <i>The Negro Motorist Green Book,</i> New York, 1949. Sold March 30 — $50,000.
    <b>Swann:</b> William Shakespeare, <i>King Lear; Othello;</i> [and] <i>Anthony & Cleopatra;</i> Extracted from the First Folio, London, 1623. Sold May 4— $185,000.
    <center><b>Swann Auction Galleries View Our Record Breaking Results</b>
    <b>Swann:</b> William Samuel Schwartz, <i>A Bridge in Baraboo, Wisconsin,</i> oil on canvas, circa 1938. Sold February 16 — $32,500.
    <b>Swann:</b> Lena Scott Harris, <i>Group of approximately 65 hand-colored botanical studies, all apparently California native plants,</i> hand-colored silver prints, circa 1930s. Sold February 23 — $37,500.
    <b>Swann:</b> Suzanne Jackson, <i>Always Something To Look For,</i> acrylic & pencil on linen canvas, circa 1974. Sold April 6 — $87,500.
    <b>Swann:</b> Gustav Klimt, <i>Das Werk von Gustav Klimt,</i> complete with 50 printed collotype plates, Vienna & Leipzig, 1918. Sold June 15 — $68,750.

Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - April - 2019 Issue

Rare Americana from David M. Lesser Antiquarian Books

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Catalogue 166 of Rare Americana.

David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books has published their Catalogue 166 of Significant and Unusual Imprints Relating to America. It is overwhelmingly filled with material from the 18th and 19th century. All kinds of works on paper are offered, though few of full book length. It is more in the form of pamphlets, broadsides, and manuscripts of various sorts. Maybe politics and religion don't mix (or shouldn't), but in a Lesser catalogue they do. They are two of the most common subjects, although crime, railroads, almanacs, slavery, revolution and rebellion are also well represented. Here are a few items from this latest Lesser collection.

 

We will begin with a sermon, but before you say "boring," it needs be pointed out that this one came under most unusual, and unpleasant, circumstances. Indeed, Pastor William Buell Sprague begins his sermon by saying, "never did we meet, in circumstances so appalling, as those which mark the present occasion." The title explains why: Wicked Men Ensnared by Themselves: A Sermon Preached, December 16, 1825, in the Second Parish of West Springfield, At the Interment of Samuel Leonard, and Mrs. Harriet Leonard, His Wife; The Former of Whom Murdered the Latter, And then Committed Suicide, published in 1826. At the end, an appendix recounts the details of the horrible event. By all accounts, Samuel was an unhappy man, who spread his misery to others. He was said to treat his wife cruelly, his children severely. At times he could be threatening, though it is not clear he ever resorted to physical harm until the fateful day. With Harriet turned the other way while washing clothes, he took an ax and struck her on the head, and once more after she fell to the floor. He then pulled a razor from his pocket and slit his own throat. All the while, their 11-year-old daughter looked on. Sprague, a Presbyterian, was willing to put part of the blame on Samuel's more liberal, Universalist religious views. Sprague interprets its doctrine that salvation is open to all as implying that your behavior doesn't matter, so might as well chop your wife's head off if you like. Item 112. Priced at $450.

 

Before moving on, we will have one more sermon from a pastor, this one given in writing, not vocally. The reason for this method of presentation will also be clear from the title: Mr. Hobby's Advice to His People from the Grave. William Hobby was the Pastor of the First Church of Reading, Massachusetts, when he died in 1765. As he tactfully points out in the opening, "Before these lines reach you, the hand that writes them will be mouldering in the dust." Rev. Hobby's advice pertains to the selection of a new pastor. He warns that Satan will try to take advantage of the death of their pastor to lead the flock astray, so he cautions against being led down the wrong path. He then turns to the selection of a new pastor, to which he provides advice on what to look for, which essentially comes down to religious interpretations consistent with his own. Rev. Hobby then does one very nice thing for his successor. He advises they treat their new pastor dearly. "If he sows to you in spiritual things, do not think it much if he reap of your carnal things. A rich ministry, I readily grant, has always been the bane of religion; but let me assure you, that an impoverished ministry always will be so." In other words, take good care of him and pay him well (perhaps Mr. Hobby though he was underpaid?). I will assume here that Rev. Hobby was speaking of worldly things when he used the word "carnal," not more base instincts. He then closes his final words with, "This is the last farewell of your once affectionate Pastor, William Hobby, Now no more!" Item 57. $500.

 

Next is a rare and important broadside from the earliest days of the American Revolution. It was printed in Boston by John Howe and its heading just says BOSTON, 26th of June, 1775. It is an account of the Battle of Bunker Hill (and Breed's Hill) on June 17th. Having been routed at Lexington and Concord, the British attacked the patriots' position on the hill overlooking Boston. The broadside states that the "Rebels" were forced from their positions, leaving five canons behind. It then proclaims, "This action has shown the Bravery of the King's Troops, who under every Disadvantage, gained a compleat Victory over Three Times their Number, strongly posted, and covered by Breastworks. But they fought for their KING, their LAWS, and CONSTITUTION." This was all technically correct. The British "won" the battle, but their losses were so heavy that they never again attempted to chase the patriots from the hills around Boston. From there, the patriots could fire their cannons at the British below, knowing that they could not return the fire as their cannons could not reach the heights above. By the following year, the British concluded it was better to simply desert Boston than try to defend it under such circumstances. Item 21. $20,000.

 

Item 28 is an unusual take on the "Back to Africa" movement of the pre-Civil War days. It was an abolitionist movement which called for freed blacks to resettle in Africa, Liberia in particular. It had mostly white, some black, support. Some supporters believed that blacks would have a better future in a land they controlled than a hostile America. Others simply wanted to get rid of them. Coates was a Quaker who, we will assume, was motivated by good sentiments. His argument was published in 1858 under the title, Cotton Cultivation in Africa. Suggestions on the Importance of the Cultivation of Cotton in Africa, in Reference to the Abolition of Slavery in the United States... Coates believed that if cotton were cultivated in Africa, it would provide competition to that grown in the American South, ultimately making cultivation in the South less competitive, and in turn leading to the collapse of the slave system. $850.

 

Item 15 is The By-Laws and Town-Orders of the Town of Boston, Made and Passed at Several Meetings in 1785 and 1786, published in 1786. It regulates galloping horses, dogs, swimming and skating on the Lord's Day, snowballing, and guns and pistols (this was pre-Second Amendment). Other laws pertain to carriages, chimneys, "Distill Houses," fire engines, vagrants, food, public nuisances, and prohibits "Excess and vain Expense" in mourning ceremonies. They also outlaw the playing of football, or kicking it through any part of town. Every opponent of the New England Patriots wishes that prohibition was still in place!* $1,750.

 

David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books may be reached at 203-389-8111 or dmlesser@lesserbooks.com. Their website is www.lesserbooks.com.

 

*Technically, the Patriots play in Foxborough, but close enough.

Rare Book Monthly

  • <b><center>Case Auctions<br>Fall Fine Art & Antiques Auction<br>October 6-7, 2023</b>
    <b>Case Auctions, Oct. 7:</b> John Speed 1676 Map of Virginia, Maryland, and Chesapeake Bay. $1,000 to $1,200.
    <b>Case Auctions, Oct. 7:</b> Andrew Jackson Coffin Handbill and Political Cartoon. $800 to $900.
    <b>Case Auctions, Oct. 7:</b> Three Andrew Jackson Bank War Cartoons, incl. Way to Arabay. $800 to $900.
    <b>Case Auctions, Oct. 7:</b> Three Andrew Jackson period Political Cartoons inc. Petticoat Affair. $500 to $600.
    <b>Case Auctions, Oct. 7:</b> Cdre. Jesse D. Elliott ALS and Sarcophagus Print, Andrew Jackson & USS Constitution elated. $500 to $600.
    <b><center>Case Auctions<br>Fall Fine Art & Antiques Auction<br>October 6-7, 2023</b>
    <b>Case Auctions, Oct. 7:</b> Presidential Autographs & Portrait Prints incl. Eisenhower Photo, 18 items. $400 to $500.
    <b>Case Auctions, Oct. 7:</b> Group of three Robert E. Lee Cabinet Card Photographs, Miley Studio. $400 to $500.
    <b>Case Auctions, Oct. 7:</b> Eight Fugitive Writer related books incl. Andrew Lytle, R.P. Warren, J.C. Ransom, Allen Tate. $400 to $500.
    <b>Case Auctions, Oct. 7:</b> Group Early Southern and Civil War Era Sheet Music. $300 to $350.
    <b>Case Auctions, Oct. 7:</b> Henry Miller, <i>Insomnia or the Devil at Large;</i> Signed; Loujon Press 1970. $500 to $600.
  • <b><center>Australian Book Auctions<br>Voyages, Natural History &c.<br>October 4, 2023<br>9:00 AM Australian Western Time</b>
    <b>Australian Book Auctions, Oct. 4:</b> PURCHAS, Samuel (circa 1577-1626). <i>HAKLUYTUS POSTHUMUS OR PURCHAS HIS PILGRIMES…,</i> London, 1625-1626. First edition. $40,000 to $60,000 AUD
    <b>Australian Book Auctions, Oct. 4:</b> GOULD, John. <i>THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA,</i> Volume IV. Folio, 104 fine handcoloured lithographed plates. London, 1848. $20,000 to $30,000 AUD
    <b>Australian Book Auctions, Oct. 4:</b> REICHENOW, Dr. Ant. <i>VOGELBILDER AUS FERNER ZONEN, abbildungen und beschreibungen der Papageien.</i> Kassel, 1878-1883. Folio, 33 hand-finished chromolithograph plates. $3,000 to $5,000 AUD
    <b>Australian Book Auctions, Oct. 4:</b> WALLIS, <i>E. WALLIS’S ELEGANT AND INSTRUCTIVE GAME exhibiting the Wonders of Nature, in Each Quarter of the World.</i> Handcoloured view, 26 numbered scenes. $400 to $600 AUD.
    <b>Australian Book Auctions, Oct. 4:</b> GREENAWAY, Kate. <i>ALMANACK FOR 1883</i> [and following years]. Twenty-two volumes, including six duplicates in variant bindings. $1,400 to $1,800 AUD.

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