• <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.
  • <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.

Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - August - 2019 Issue

Law and Related Fields 15th-20th Centuries from the Lawbook Exchange

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Catalogue 94.

The Lawbook Exchange has published a new catalogue with the lengthy title Books, Manuscripts and Ephemera on Law and Related Fields, America, Great Britain and Europe, 15th to 20th Centuries. Or, there is the short title, Catalogue 94. There is a wide range of law-related material here. The earliest, incunable publications are primarily focused on ecclesiastical law. Moving forward, we find early treatises on secular law, various guides to what it is and how it is practiced. Going on to the 19th century, we find lots of crime-related publications, accounts of trials and, at times, terrible crimes. It is fascinating regardless of whether you have a legal background because it's more about us and how we dealt with crime rather than legal practice. These are a few samples of the various items to be found in this new collection.

 

We will soon get to items that don't require a legal background to find interesting, but will start with what is the most important book concerning English (including American) law. The title is Commentaries on the Laws of England by William Blackstone. However, everyone knows it simply as Blackstone's Commentaries. It was first published in England in 1765. Item 7 is the four-volume set of the first American edition, published 1771-1772. It was a reprint of the 1770 fourth edition. Naturally, in 1771, American law was virtually the same as English law. After all, America was still a part of England. However, Blackstone's Commentaries remained the premier American law book for another century. The English common law, that body of legal case law that set precedents for future decisions, was also American common law, and it had developed for centuries by this time. The list of subscribers included John Adams, John Jay, and 16 signers of the Declaration of Independence. It's continued use by lawyers in America resulted from the fact that so many were self-taught and this was their primary resource. So, years later, Abraham Lincoln learned the law from this book. Priced at $12,500.

 

This is a sensational story about a Belgian priest whose bible must have been missing the page containing the Sixth Commandment, the one that says "thou shalt not kill." It's the curse of defective copies. The title is La Vie de Jacques Pierlot, Pretre & Marguillier de la Paroisse de Vervier, Ville de la Principauté de Liege; Avec tous les Détails de son Crime, De sa Degradation, & De son Supplice. That briefly translates to the life of Jacques Pierlot, Priest in Vervier, with details of his crime, degradation, and torture. The not-so-Good Father had a gambling problem, evidently getting himself in debt as a result. One can debate whether gambling is a sin, it not being so stated in the bible. However, what Pere Pierlot did next was unquestionably a sin. He murdered his creditor, along with other members of his household. He was brought before a church tribunal which ordered his "degradation," that is, removal from his clerical office, carried out in public. He could only wish that the worst he faced was church authorities. He was then brought before a municipal tribunal which ordered he be tortured and strangled. One imagines he next faced a third judgment, by God, but that part is not covered in this book. The plates herein depict both his degradation and his less pleasant secular punishment. The book was published in 1786, not surprisingly, the year Pierlot died, and is something of an expression of the anti-clericalism of the Enlightenment in France in the days leading up to the French Revolution. Item 76. $1,850.

 

Next is an almost 200-year-old broadside concerning a political battle important in America at the time, though the principal has mostly been forgotten. The man was John W. Taylor, from Saratoga County, New York, who served two nonconsecutive terms as Speaker of the House of Representatives. He served with the giants of Congress, Webster, Clay, Calhoun, and reached the highest position in the House, but few know him today. He managed to make many enemies, though not a controversial personality. However, he was a strong opponent of slavery in the time before North and South became so widely divided and that made him unpopular with southerners. His later association with John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay would become an issue with those who supported Crawford and Jackson in 1824, and by 1828, Andrew Jackson in particular. That included New York's rising star in politics, Martin Van Buren. First elected in 1812, Taylor was elected ten times before being defeated by New York opponents in 1832. His terms as Speaker ran from 1820-1821, and 1825-1827. The first encompassed the time of the Missouri Compromise. Each time, he succeeded Henry Clay, and each time, he was defeated for reelection. This broadside from 1821 is headed Villany [sic] Detected, and it is a defense of Taylor against charges by his enemies. It goes on, "See the four means to which the unprincipled opponents of JOHN. W. TAYLOR resort to destroy him... Who can witness the composure, this base, underhanded and abominable conspiracy against your tried and faithful representative? Read! Read!" What happened is that one James Kinyon had hired the lawyer-representative to to help him obtain a military bounty. Apparently, Kinyon was satisfied, but later convinced by one of Taylor's enemies that he was overcharged and made such a claim. In this broadside, Judge James Ford, who had recommended Taylor, says the fee was fair and Kinyon himself explains how he was misled into making the claim. Item 14. $1,250.

 

There are worse things that can happen to a congressman than losing an election. Congressman Jonathan Cilley may not be well-remembered today, but there was a time in 1838 when his name was on the lips of every American. Cilley was first elected to the Maine legislature in 1830, his service there culminating with a term as Speaker of the Maine House from 1835-36. He then ran, successfully, for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1836. He was a Democrat, associated with Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren's policies. One of those policies was Jackson's decision not to recharter the Second Bank of the United States. In a debate in Congress, Cilley implied that a pro-Whig New York newspaper editor, whom he did not name but everyone interpreted to be James Watson Webb, had changed his position from anti to pro the bank after receiving a $52,000 bribe. Webb gave his friend, Congressman William J. Graves of Kentucky, a letter to Cilley challenging the latter to a duel. Cilley refused to accept it. Graves repeatedly asked Cilley if this meant he did not consider Webb a gentleman, to which he refused to answer. For whatever reason, Graves took this to be a personal affront and challenged Cilley to a duel. Graves was an expert marksman with a pistol, so Cilley chose rifles. Graves still had the advantage. At 90 feet the two men fired. Both missed. Their seconds tried to talk them out of further shots, but to no avail. They fired a second time and missed again. Once more, attempts were made to find a compromise statement to end the duel but were unsuccessful. Now, the two men moved closer together, fired third shots, and this time, the ironically named Graves hit Cilley in an artery. Within two minutes, Cilley had bled to death. Item 68 is an archive of 22 legal documents from 1824-1842 pertaining to Cilley and his estate. Others are concerned with his business activities, some of which are signed. $750.

 

Here is a set that will appeal more to collectors of miniature books than of legal texts. After all, who can actually read miniature books? That task will be even more challenging if you don't read Italian. Item 56 is a five-volume set of Italian legal codes from 1901-1903. Each book is 2 3/4" x 1 3/4" in size. The Lawbook Exchange describes it as a "curious set," which makes sense since it is hard to discern its purpose. $950.

 

The Lawbook Exchange may be reached at 732-382-1800 or law@lawbookexchange.com. Their website is www.lawbookexchange.com.

Rare Book Monthly

  • <center><b>Christie’s<br>Charlie Watts: Literature and Jazz<br>London and online auction<br>15–29 September</b>
    <b>Christie’s, Explore now:</b><br>F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940). <i>The Great Gatsby.</i> New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925. £100,000–150,000
    <b>Christie’s, Explore now:</b><br>Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930). </i>The Hound of the Baskervilles: Another Adventure of Sherlock Holmes.</b> London: George Newnes, 1902. £70,000–100,000
    <b>Christie’s, Explore now:</b><br>Agatha Christie (1890–1976). <i>The Thirteen Problems.</i> London: for the Crime Club Ltd. by W. Collins Sons & Co. Ltd., 1932. £40,000–60,000
    <b>Christie’s, Explore now:</b><br>Dashiell Hammett (1894–1961). <i>The Maltese Falcon.</i> New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1930. £30,000–50,000
  • <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.
  • <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>Jeschke Jadi Auctions Berlin<br>Rare Books, Prints, Historical Photography<br>29 September 2023</b>
    <b>Jeschke Jádi, Sep. 29:</b> Jan Theodor de Bry. <i>Anthologia magna sive Florilegium novum.</i> 1626. 9,000 €
    <b>Jeschke Jádi, Sep. 29:</b> John Locke. <i>Epistola de tolerantia ad Clarissimum Virum T.A.R.P.T.O.L.A.</i> 1689. 9000 €
    <b>Jeschke Jádi, Sep. 29:</b> F. T. Marinetti, Boccioni, Pratella, Carrà, a.o. <i>Collection of 35 Futurist manifestos.</i> 1909-1933. 7000 €
    <b>Jeschke Jádi, Sep. 29:</b> Johann Elert Bode, Rare engraved celestial globe. (1804). 6000 €
    <b>Jeschke Jádi, Sep. 29:</b> Sebastian Brant (ed.). <i>Tertia pars huius operis in se continens glosam ordinariam cum expositione lyre litterali et morali.</i> 1498. 5000 €

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